//------------------------------// // Waltz [for] Sunrise (still in progress) // Story: Fallout Equestria: Wasteland Shuffle // by BEBOP! //------------------------------// Fallout Equestria: Wasteland Shuffle ~Bebop n’ Company Chapter 4: Waltz [for] Sunrise “Afraid to get DIRTY?” “So then he says, ‘Only hands can wash hands. If you want to receive, you have to give.’ Or somethin’ like that- wish I could remember the exact words.” Sunrise offered, then laughed, “so what do you make of it?” “Somehow, I doubt Octavia would be quoting G...- Photo Finish’ brother,” I finished after forgetting what the pony’s name had been. Sunset was wise- I hoped I’d one day be like her- so sagely that I could scarce keep up with the things she said at times, her ideas coming forth one after another when she got into it. Whatever “it” was. “Come on, it’s just a dream I had!” the orange and white mare nickered. “And I have a feeling that dream’s going to kill me.” I ended resolutely. I smirked and continued trotting along to our destination- just a little ways ahead. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ I had spent the evening with Tulip. She had been nice, and she was fascinating when she talked- she had a lot to say. She was wise; knew her way around just about everything. She told me about the Wasteland Survival Guide; something she’d seen the cover of, blowing in the wind, but never gotten her hooves on. Personally, I thought she was good enough. SHe told me about taint: something I should avoidaltogether, changelings starting to appear in the west, and the basics of Pony Feathers- a region north west of Ponyville owned by a notorious ancient pony, naming himself after a swear. Sometimes... I didn’t know about these surface ponies. Most of what she told me, I’d already found out on my own, but I still reveled in her new perspective. At some point, Iridescence got up and left for the bar, taling us both by surprise, seeing as she’d been so quiet and quick to listen as well. She came back moments later with two bottles of the beverage I’d come to adore, and a glass of wine for herself. She claimed she was “experimenting.” She left again, soon after/ Tulip and I were allowed to talk on into the night. She was fun: a real ‘hoot an’ a holler’ as they say. She left around midnight, just after DJ-PON3 was finished, the purplish earth pony still laughing, saying, “tick-tick-tickety means get the hell outta there!” I felt good about the next day. ^^^***^^^ Morning came, the rain still pouring. In the distance, you could almost see the sun- an orange-red disc in the sky, just beyond a curtain of clouds. Water dripped from the roof in big rivulettes, splashing against the already drenched earth. I would be joined by Iridescence, who’d spent her night at the salloon, two volunteers I hadn’t yet made the acquaintance of, and Sunrise. When I asked Sunrise why she was going, she said, “‘Cause why not?” It was as good of an answer as any. We started walking at 06:00 according to my pipbuck. it seemed to me that its primary use in the Stable was the primary function on the surface as well. It was a bit of a pain to get up so early. Almost didn’t want to go. Almost. I’d made a promise, though, and I was going to follow through. The mud made it difficult to make progress of any sort, but we kept going. Iridescence and I made them. We didn’t stop. Or, well, not until my hooves hurt to much to go on. There were bloatsprites and all of that, but with as many in the party as there were, they tended to ignore us anyway, but whenever we thought it necessary, we opened fire, and in seconds, they’d disperse or die. My pipbuck gave the occasional warning so as not to be taken aback by a cheeky giant ant or raider that thought it could take us. Iridescence complained the whole way there, saying ‘she wasn’t helpful,’ and, ‘why did she have to go?’ The only thing she thought could’ve made her any use was her pipbuck... which was thoroughly smashed. Every so often, we’d take shelter under outcropping of rocks, or beneath a cluster of dead trees, all of it seeming like it came from a science-fiction book I’d read about the colonization of another planet in our solar system. Rain coming down in buckets, sometimes so heavily that you couldn’t see your own hoof in front of your face. What could cause such a torrential downpour and not have it flood to our necks in hours? Then there were the valleys, intermittently nestled betwixt mountains, filled to their brims, leaking out from one side or more, creating rivers going nowhere across a barren landscape. Our breath hung in the air long after exhaling- the weather only further dampening our moods. No pun intended. We’d reached the point we’d been at the early evening of our first day out when we took out the cram and xander roots. A cola for each, and we were off again. It seemed rather dull and practically routine by the time we got there. There were things that plagued my mind and invaded every thought through the long, loud silence between us, and I’d been given time to mull them over. I took my chance. By the time we’d stopped eating, I’d already come to the conclusion that I thought of Iridescence as a sister. Ever-whining, underfoot, annoying, needy. And yet, there was something about her that made me want to love and care for her. It was possible that I’d always thought of her like that. It was unlikely, however, that Iridescence saw me as a brother. I was too quiet and scolded her too much. Or did that constitute brotherly love? She’d also been sending some mixed messages, though. I wondered what she thought of me. I knew there was a name for it, and that it was right on the tip of my goddess-damned tongue.Tulip was no different of a mystery- there was yet to be a word in my vocabulary that I would be comfortable using to describe her. Yet. Sunrise? Sunrise was something I never pictured myself having in a trillion years... a drinking buddy. A friend. Oh I’d had friends, but none of the felt permanent. This was something nearly palpable though. She was somepony I’d always be happy to spend some time with. Despite her physical appearance, she was undeniably an attractive mare. Not in a sexual way, no, but she had a charisma about her that made me want her to be my comrade. She was, and always will be, an acquired taste. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ In the distance, we could see the green spectacle that was Black Mesa Peak. The marker for my Stable. Along the way, there had been mumblings showing doubt toward whether there was a Stable there or not. It seemed pretty damned obvious to me. I hadn’t a clue how it could’ve gone unnoticed for so long. It had been something like 200 years, right? “How could a graveyard have gone unnoticed for so long?” somepony echoed. Excellent. They were mind readers now. Although, “graveyard” seemed a bit out of place as a description for a Stable with live ponies. I hadn’t told them about the massacre. Then, as we approached it, I saw something I hadn’t on my way out. As we got closer, something became apparent that would never leave me for as long as I lived. Piled against the side of the cliff just out of the periphery of where one would come down, there were bones. Huge bones. Carcasses of something not long-since deceased. Some still had sinew clinging to their remains. “Buffalo boneyard,” Sunset whispered with disapproval. Buffalo. The beings Rainbow Dash had once negotiated with to save Appleoosa, and later, to aid in the war. There were a lot of them there. I’d never seen a picture of a buffalo, but judging from the size of their remains, they were absolutely enormous. I’d also yet to see one out here, yet. They were a rare people even in peacetime. It was at least comforting that we’d put some ina Stable to continue their race and culture. Surely, we attempted to save all of our allies. Rounding the bend and walking up the side, there were barrels scattered about with lit fires in them. The smoke rose and curled until being carried off by the wind. This was a recent addition to the Stable’s décor. It was something I overlooked as an afterthought by the survivors to help us find our way back. Maybe that doesn’t make sense. It did at the time. Nopony was out here but us. This illusion was proven untrue when one of the ponies I didn’t know muttered, “oh shi-et.” “What, ‘oh shi-et?’” I looked back, waiting for an answer. Something told me I’d be regretting this visit back. So quickly after being kicked out, and already things had apparently gone to hell back here. “Ya didn’t bring us ta raiders on purpose, didja?” Sunrise shifted uneasily from hoof to hoof as she said it. I began shifting as well, not sure if I should start blaming myself for what happened yet. “Well, um,” I looked for the right words, “Now that you mention it, this doesn’t look quite right...” we tip-hoofed up a bit closer, until we were right at the old, wooden door leading us to the actual Stable door within. One eye on my E.F.S. at all times. “Yer an idiot. I hope you know that.” I shook my head side to side, my stomach starting to tug me down to the earth. The pegasus’ sarcasm was beginning to get to me. Every step was made with effort, the rain dripped from my mane and brow. Any minute, now, we’d all be fucked and it’d all be my fault. I felt a little better with so many of us here, but happily bringing everypony back was sounding less and less realistic. The mud slushed under hoof, the downpour pitter-pattering, our breath puffing out like smoke. The tension was so thick, you could have ladled it out with a spoon. Appropriate for the weather. Sunrise interrupted the silence, “you know, if I didn’t know any better, I’d say you meant to bring us hear, Mr. Doctor,” while she had a point, the only thing I could think at the time was what a strange combination of titles to be used as a name. There were more important things to think about, to be sure. We pushed open the door cautiously, expecting the unexpected to jump from out of nowhere and kill us all. Decaying bodies from the earlier slaughter had been moved out here. Hundreds piled against the walls, some toppled over and laying scattered elsewhere. There was no way to get to the giant metal doors without stepping on a few. I sighed and shrugged. Iridescence was apologizing profusely under her breath. The hellhound had been put in the corner farthest from the inner-entrance. That is to say, to the side of where you first enter it, giving the others a scare- Sunrise nearly jumping out of her loosely-hanging skin. There was something wrong, though. No, I don’t mean all the dead bodies not having a grave; it felt as though there were more bodies out there than there should have been. Almost like the vault grew by two dozen or so. It was a bit of a strange calculation. Not completely sure where it came from, either, so I wouldn’t ask. “Well this sure as hay wasn’t what I had expected a stable to be like. What went on in here, again?” one of the nameless party members chimed in. “Ponies died,” I wasn’t in the mood to elaborate any further, “from what I’d gathered, a hell hound. Or a bunch of ‘em,” I looked over to Iridescence, “I was actually ‘out’ for the entirety of the event, save the initial murders. Truther be told, Des could probably fill you in a little better,” I continued on in silence, hoping that she’d start telling us... Me... What really happened. “Why’d you call me ‘Des’?” That answered that. Though she had raised a good point. Why had I called her that. I had never had that nick name cross my mind before. The pony mind sure was curious. An eye fluttered open in the pile before closing tight, hoping nopony had noticed. I stared the pony down. Nary another soul paid head. We were only half way there. That pony wasn’t part of the stables. Grey and blue maned with a grey coat, spiked hair, “STOP!” The plea reverberated throughout the tunnel. Sunset, Iridescence, and the other two turn around on their hooves. There was a sigh. It came from the possum-pony unfortunate enough to have me notice him. Water dripped from the ceiling and landed on her as she came up. She grinned toothlessly, bringing her torn ears up to my eye level so I could see through them to the other side, “well shit. You got me, ya stupid light bulb!” “Stupid what?” I guffawed at her expression. “You’re as ridiculously fluorescent as a neon light! Were you trying to be sneaky? ‘Cause I don’t think you could pull that off. In fact, I think that if you were in a room without a speck of light, you’d still manage to light every-” I ignored everything else and turned my direction to my coat, bringing my legs up to my face to get a closer inspection. I’d never considered just how “showy” my coat was. Perhaps because “stealthy” wasn’t a word necessary in a frequently-monitored stable. “And- hey, are you listening to me?” “Err, hmm” I ‘err hmmed.’ The pony before me’s ears twitched in Anger. I refused to look her in the eye, “guys. Come on, let’s do this!” another dozen rose from the dismembered and rotting corpses. Disgusting ponies. “So, Lightbulb, didja do this on purpose er what?” Sunset teased. “That’s what you’re gonna call me now, isn’t it? It’s just one nickname after another out here.” I had hoped “The Doctor” would stick. “Eeyup!” straightforward, that one. “HEY! OVER HERE, MR. FLASHY!” the pony before me stood on the tips of her hooves, leaning into my ear. “WHAT?!” I yelled back in jest. What are you doing, you self-righteous idiot?! I looked down for the first time to see them widen into dinner plates. “You’re supposed to cower in fear, like your friends.” I followed her gaze and saw that they had pushed themselves against a wall, the others moving toward them. I flicked out my glasses for effect, “oh, I’m terribly sorry” mocking my old teacher. They wanted something. “They’re raiders!” one of the nameless ponies spat out after stuttering. “No, they haven’t killed us. They haven’t killed us because they want something. Raiders kill when they want something. QED: they aren’t raiders.” I stared her down as best I could. All I had to do was get us out alive. My adversary’s brow furrowed like a caterpillar in need of a shave. I slipped my glasses onto the bridge of my nose. You’re going to kill us! “Cut your stupid bullshit! Which one of you has the code?” There were several things I’d done in the last week alone that had surprised me. However, on my list of things I’d ever done ever that were confusing even to me, this one topped them all. “You ever been in a shootout, slick?” I was grinning to myself. I didn’t understand why, but I was grinning as though I’d just won an extra day’s rations for a bet. My heart was racing. It had only ever beat this quickly the other night. I think I started to creep her out. She backed up a step, “N-no,” she was beginning to lose her cool. “That’s nice. Neither have I, but how ‘bout this? We play wasteland rules. It’s only something I’d had another describe to me,” you’re talking out of your ass again, “the last pony standing wins. You kill me, and I assure you somepony in here has the code. All I’m gonna do is toss this rock up in the air, and we draw as it hits the ground,” I reached my magic out as far as I could, gripping a rock all the way from the door we’d entered. The concrete and stone wall above us was just high enough for what I needed to do. The others surrounding my team backed off a little and put their weapons away to watch, Iridescence was mouthing, “what. Are. You. Doing?” meticulously and repetitively. I smiled and mouthed, “I. Have. No. Fucking. Idea.” her jaw dropped. I put a magical hold on whatever was in my pack, hoping I’d get a good enough hold of everything to make this happen. It hurt. A lot. I waved the rock around for all to see, forcing a smirk. It went up, up, free of my magic, all eyes on it. The last thing any of them saw was that rock. I tossed everything out of my pack simultaneously, supplies flying everywhere, until I saw something new in there. “Sonic.” Doc must’ve done it. It was the first thing I took- it looked a bit like an inhaler strapped to a fire extinguisher. It read in bold, black lettering, “SPRAY INTO THE EYES.” I followed the instructions before anypony else could realize what I was doing, adrenaline being the only factor in my favour. And time came to a standstill, just for me. I didn’t waste my chance, and took one of everything else on the floor. I could’ve opened up shop as a pharmaceutical caravan merchant with everything in there. I found I could use S.A.T.S. far more efficiently and took six shots- one directly and perfectly accurately at each of their completely exposed glabelli. After that was over, I moved onto the others and lined up shots, one by one until I was certain they were all dead- Octavia working on what must’ve been overtime. By the time the clip was empty, everypony by Sunset and friends was down for the count, leaving only the short one. Everything clattered to the floor; I hadn’t even seen that everything had still been falling from my saddlebags in slow motion. I soon found that my body had been working in hyperdrive, as everything felt like it was on fire, and tears started falling from my eyes. I wanted to fall. This was the most pain I’d ever been in by far. The rock came crashing to the floor and short-pony looked back to me with his gun raised and saw the tears flowing and my legs shaking. None of the chems I had taken had helped. Not to the point I could notice. “Goddesses... what’s wrong with you, now, ya stupid git?” she looked around and saw everything a mess. She tried to sound calm, “I’ll bet you can’t do that again,” she laughed in my face. I pressed Octavia to her head from behind, “Don’t have to.” I was going to drop it. A rumble came forth from her throat with primal rage bursting at the seams. “GO FUCK YOURSELF! I’LL KILL YOU ALL! And if I don’t somepony or something else will do it for me! Goddess strike you-” her scalp was showing bone where her once frizzled mane had been, she was screaming, begging this time, “KILL ME! If you don’t do it, something or somepony else will do it! I can tell you’re a kind pony! Just do it, please, it hurts, please please please!” I was tired of all of this. “Happy to oblige,” I grunted out, and pressed the trigger in, again. Her brain showed through melting bone, hot red. She sounded like a freshly-born foal, right out of the womb, “sorry ‘bout that,” once more and things like her occipital lobe and basal ganglia were soup, a pink and grey soup. I started sobbing, walking excruciatingly slowly to the stable’s main door, leaving everything behind, dropping Octavia without giving it another thought. Two of those I’d shot prior got up and left solemnly avoiding eye contact. They were grey, just like their leader. The crunching of their hooves against bones sent even more shivers down my spine. Sunset was in a tizzy, “What’d you do that for? Do you know what you just took? How much you just took? You might die! You might’ve killed yerself! What’s wrong with you? Why’d you do that? You are one lucky bastard, I hope you know that, I-” I didn’t let her finish. A nasty habit I’d developed. “I don’t know. I don’t give a buck! Don’t ask me anything ‘cause I don’t don’t know! Don’t talk, just shut up!” I practically kicked the corpses as I walked to the main door and entered the password, my birth date. Tears dripping as though from a faucet, splattering all over the ground, “come on!” everypony else was slow to move, but the ponies I’d shot and got up were already gone, “what was so goddess-damned important that they saw fit to fucking do this?!” I slumped to the floor the second I was able to get in, ignoring the terrible groan coming from the opening stable door. I continued to rant, but Iridescence approached me, “your, uh, eyes are twitching,” she looked distraught. I didn’t care: “You know what? I don’t give a shit why they wanted in here. Knowing my luck, they just felt like stealing everypony’s food! Why didn’t they just go around into one of the holes? I mean, FUCK!” I grimaced and fell to my side, “ah damnit, somepony help me up!” I heaved and watched as horror came across the faces of everypony on the trip, “what now? Something wrong with my face? If you haven’t noticed, I’m not that strong or young as it is, and I...” I stopped, “I’m dying,” My heart was beating out of control. It wasn’t slowing. My thoughts were racing, my head ached, my nose bled. My slicked back mane lay over my eyes in streams of green and black. I tried to comb it back into place with my hoof and gasped, “somepony stop it! Stop this!” I gasped again, “please!” I was crying for more than just the pain, now. I sat silently, swallowing back vomit and panting, looking on at the worl in increasingly fuzzier eyes. My glasses slipped off, “why aren’t you helping, you idiots?!” I was shouting at the top of my lungs. No, wait. It came to me: I had been silent the whole way. Mute. Speechless. Useless. I hadn’t been saying anything, just imagining it. Picturing it in my head. You killed us! “Shut up!” I told myself. You sprayed too much of that chem into your eyes, you fool! I didn’t even have the energy to argue with myself. I couldn’t remember my name, the colour of the sky in pre-war posters and books, the Goddesses’ names, or Tulip. There she was, the picture of her without a name framed flawlessly in my mind. Of all the things to flash through my mind in my last moments... And here I couldn’t even remember to form a sentence. I vowed that I would kill myself if I lived through this. I couldn’t feel anything. I could no longer see anything. I was deaf. It was just colour. Not even that, it was the feeling that there was something around me resembling colour. I was in my own personal hell. Forever trapped in a still vastness. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ “A-fucking-gain!” The first words I heard in what felt like hours. It’d been a full five minutes, I knew in my heart. Still too exhausted to put a name to whom the voice belonged. Oh yeah. It was me. “I was just about to say thatm actually,” a stern filly’s voice rang out in the air, right in my ear, “do that again, and I’ll kill you!” There was no joking or happiness. Just malice. “Stop yelling. It hurts.” I croaked and chuckled, hurting my sides. My stomach already hurt, and was not made better by the kick I received, knocking the air out of me. I coughed into the floor, holding back what I’d eaten. “Don’t you laugh! Stop it! StopstopstopstopstopSTOP!” You almost died again! What the FUCK is it with you?!” her voice cracking, “do you want to die? Okay, fine!” she pulled out what I felt was her 10mm pressed against my temple. Her rage took me by surprise. Nopony was helping. I still couldn’tsee, but I could feel her breathing against the nape of my neck and ear, “I’ll do it! I’ll pull the trigger! Goddess-be-damned if I don’t!” I was lost, “You are the dumbest son of a bitch I’ve ever met, and I think I should do the Equine race a favour!” again and again, she thundered in my ear. Her breathing turned shallow and shaky. The pressure on my forehead left and was followed by a gunshot into a wall, making me jump, and all my muscles shout out in disapproval. She bit the ear she’d been berating until I felt a warmth trickle down to my neck- I couldn’t tell the difference between the pain she was causing me, and that which had already infected every inch of my body. I shouted out in pain, my throat already raw. She stopped all at once and susurrated, “fuck you. All you ever are is mean to me. You’re mean to everypony you’ve ever known!” I kept my eyes closed tightly, “die, you evil bastard. You soulless bastard,” something began dripping onto my cheek, “You shouldn’t be alive,” it hurt, all of it. I opened my eyes to find a pink-brown hoof shaking as if under immense pressure. The others had left, presumedly to find the remaining stable members, all I could hear was the sound of a crying filly whispering, “diediediediedie,” over and over again. It transitioned to “poniesarejustnumbersponiesarejustnumbersponiesarejustnumbers,” a rather unpopular philosphy brought down through the years in the overseers’ family since the beginning. For the greater good, we had to stay alive- witness a new dawn together, no matter what. I forgave her: it was my only choice. I could no longer see far away. Only the things directly in front of me. No glasses could help with this. I was essentially blind. She fell into me, her head resting on my neck. I did the only first thing that came to mind. I sang a lullaby my mother had taken to singing me when I was just a colt, “hush now, quiet now. It’s time to rest your sleepy head...” I heard the others down the hall, “hush now, quiet now...” I forgot the rest of the words. “You can’t sing,” she murmured weakly. “I know,” I murmured back. I mustered a smile, “it’s okay, don’t worry about anything. I’m still here.” “Didja shoot ‘im?” Right to the point, Sunset is. “Ah, go drink yourself ta death,” everypony jumped, “y’all haven’t any faith,” I grunted under Iridescence’s weight, “that doesn’t mean I don’t need help getting up, though!” I considered my wording, “ Um. Please?” One of the volunteers spoke up, his western accent really shining through, “yer thuh luckyest non of a gun that ever lived! She really looked like she was gon’ take yew out while you were down!” I sighed. “Two things: one: I’m not that lucky, trust me. I’m just usin’ it all in one go, you’ll see,” I looked for a reaction and found I couldn’t see one. That was nice. Not, “number two: why didn’t you stop her?” I stared blankly toward the shapes in the door frame. *Calm yo nips- I'm not done fixing up the italics and whatnot. Copy+pasting is annoying as shit.