Fallout Equestria: The Great Hoard

by RuinQueenofOblivion

Prologue: Treasure Hunt

War… war never changes.

This isn’t a story about a war, but it is a story that has its roots in one.

Over 200 years ago, at the height of the Great War between Ponies and Zebras, the last Dragon Lord Ember was trying to keep her nation out of the fighting. It was an unpopular decision among the Dragons, but they couldn’t refuse the order of their leader. Still, some of that animosity began to build, and the two warring sides took notice.

Until one day an assassin with a gun enhanced by the rare plant Dragonsbane took aim at Ember and pulled the trigger. As the nation mourned, they looked for who to blame for the death of their leader, and all the evidence pointed to it being a pony assassin.

Believing that the ponies had killed their leader because she had refused to side with them in the war, the Dragons joined the war on the side of the Zebras. But when they searched for the staff that would earn them the title of Dragon Lord, it was missing.

The staff along with the untold riches of the last of the Dragon Lords, had gone missing, and became the stuff of legend. A treasure hoard of unimaginable size, collected from every corner of Equestria and beyond, they say that whoever finds it would have enough gold and jewels to rival even Equestria at its height.

What happened to the hoard? No one knows, but the legends say that if you can find the right clues, they will lead you to the treasure. A lot of ponies have tried to find it with no luck, most of them not even coming back alive.

So, the Great Hoard is still out there somewhere, and we’re going to find it!

I yawned as I woke up and smiled at the feeling of a warm body laying on top of me. I smiled down at the sleeping Unicorn mare and stroked her long curly green mane as she snuggled up to me in her sleep.

I smiled at the sleeping mare as I leaned down and kissed her gently on the forehead. Pure Heart had been my best friend since we met during the Enclave War 8 years ago, and 5 years ago we had started dating.

It hadn’t been a good time for me, I was still getting over the death of my adopted mother and was living with Pure Heart and her family aboard Nomad City. They had been the reason I had managed to recover from that and Pure Heart was the best.

We’ve been together ever since, I loved this mare more than anything in Equestria. I smiled and wrapped my wings around her gently as I held my marefriend close and closed my eyes and sighed happily.

“Mmmm, mornin’ Serenity,” a sweet voice said after a while as I opened my eyes and saw the Unicorn’s green eyes looking up at me.

“Morning Pure,” I said and nuzzled her gently. “We better get up soon, you know Fishy and Callie are expecting us once the city arrives over Crusader Town.”

“Yeah, I know, but I’d rather spend some more time with the most wonderful mare in Equestria,” Pure said with a chuckle as she buried her muzzle in my chest fur.

“Did somepony clone you?” I asked with a laugh as Pure Heart swatted at my flank with a roll of her eyes.

“You know who I was talking about you silly Pegasus,” she said and leaned up and kissed me gently on the lips.

“I know, but I think you’re the most wonderful mare in Equestria,” I said and nuzzled her gently. “After everything you’ve done for me, I can’t think of anypony I love more. I just wish that my mom could’ve been here to see everything…”

“Serenity, you don’t have anything to worry about, Vanilla would be proud of the pony you’ve become,” Pure said and nuzzled me gently.

“I hope so,” I said with a sigh. “I love you so much Pure Heart, you mean the world to me.”

“I feel the same way,” Pure said with a nod and gave me a kiss before she slid down slowly. “You know, we don’t have to go right away…”

I smiled as her kisses started moving down my body slowly and shivers ran up my spine.

We walked into the Stable 99 Bar in Stable 2 (I always found that odd but hey, it’s not my bar) that was part of Crusader Town. The small settlement had grown out over the past few years, now including most of Sweet Apple Acres.

They had apparently tried to re-build the barn above the Stable a few times, but every time it collapsed so they just left it as is. Still, the old Apple family farm had become a nice sized settlement.

But that wasn’t what we were here for as we headed into the bar. A light grey Pegasus mare with a black and purple mane was working on repairing the bar’s music player without looking up.

“Hey Fishy,” I said as we walked over to where the Pegasus mare was working.

The poor mare hits her head on the player dropping the screwdriver from her mouth. “OW!!” She stood up stroking her head with her hoof. “Oh Serenity your….here..I..ow”

“Sorry Fishy,” I said with a flinch. “Are you okay?”

“Eh this ain’t the first time… Callie always comes in and just..Wait she is not with you? Oh..no..” She looked around with a bit of fear in her eyes.

“What?” Pure asked.

Before Go Fish could answer, a light blue Pegasus with a spiked white mane pounced on her from behind causing us to laugh. “Hey Fishy!”

Go Fish’s grey face glows bright red. She stutters “ I..I...H...h..ello Callie…” She tried to say in a shy voice.

“Aww, you two make such a cute couple,” I said with a chuckle as Calypso, or Callie as she was usually called, hugged Go Fish tightly. “What do you think Pure?”

“Oh, definitely,” Pure Heart said with a laugh.

“Ahem..” A metal hoof stomped “I came here to visit and I see Serenity and Pure heart. Hello you two.” The robotic voice said happily.

“Hey Silver,” I said with a smile as I turned around to see Silver Gunner there. “Yeah, Nomad City just arrived this morning so we thought we’d visit these two and see if they finally decided to stop hiding the truth. I see the answer is no.”

Silver chuckles softly. “Ah flesh love. Amazing to watch amazing to see and well it’s interesting to me. Now I am mostly here to see Scootaloo and talk to her. But I felt maybe I would see if Go Fish needed more tips on repairing systems.”

“Tip #1, don’t hurt yourself while working when your friends show up,” Calypso said with a giggle as she hugged Go Fish. “Don’t worry, I think she’ll get the hang of it.”

“Callie...I….” Go Fish tries to speak but can’t. She looks to me with her eyes like she is asking for help.

“Alright, come on Cal, you can make out with her later,” I said with a laugh as I pulled Calypso away. “Come on, we’re not going to be here more than a few days, I was hoping we could have some fun.”

“Fun like you and Pure Heart?” Silver said in a jokey way.

“That’s none of your business!” Me and Pure Heart said in unison as our faces turned red.

Silver laughed just came up to me giving me and Pure Heart a tight hug then simply walked back out laughing.

“I don’t like him sometimes.” Go Fish admitted.

“Wait you two…” Calypso started to say.

“That’s none of your business either!” I said and blushed even deeper.

“Took them long enough,” Calypso said with a smirk. “They’ve been dating what, 5 years?”

“And ...Um we only did it once...while we were drunk?” Fishy said blushing.

“Riiight,” I said with a laugh as we took a seat. “So is there is there anything new going on in town?”

“Well that changeling finally showed himself. After being here awhile. Ponies love him but another thing… is my mothers are being odd. Oh wait...I am the daughter of Blackjack of course they’re odd.” Fishy said with a sigh.

“Try having the former President of the Enclave as your mom,” Calypso said with a chuckle and a shake of her head. “Speaking of which, this might be interesting. My mom gave this to me, it’s supposed to be some sort of map that was in the journals Scootaloo had left when she was exiled.”

She reached into her bags and took out a map that she unrolled and laid out on the table. We leaned in and looked at it curiously. I had been everywhere in Equestria over the past 8 years and I didn’t recognize the area it was.

There looked like there was some sort of large mountain range with markings all around a mostly clear area. I looked at the mountain range curiously as I narrowed my eyes at a familiar symbol.

A gear shaped symbol marked on the map with the number ST-DL-110 next to it.

“Ooooo looks scary!!! Oooooo seriously its fake.” Fishy said, acting like its not even important and looking at bar.

“What makes you say that?” I asked as I looked at her curiously.

“My mothers always told me...don’t follow maps. Heck mom even showed one of her guns to Callie here to scare her.”

“I don’t know, there’s something about this…” I said as I looked at the map closely. “That gear symbol there, I’ve seen that on other maps of Equestria. That’s the symbol used for Stables and they’re always followed by a designation like this, maybe we should ask Scootaloo.”

“Uh we could, but I got a job to finish and…So I’m going to finish that.”

“I think it sounds interesting,” Calypso said with a smile. “Come on, let’s go!”

Calypso grabbed the map and ran off with it. I chuckled and looked back at Go Fish. “Last chance.”

“I have something to...” She paused and looked at the music player shorting out even more. Even starting to spark. “OKAY!! You talked me into it!! Lets go!!”

I chuckled as we headed out of the Stable and off to Crusader Town proper.

Scootaloo lived in a two story house near the old Crusaders Treehouse that was at the center of town. We were about to knock on the door when it was thrown open and a white filly with a pink mane ran past us with a light blue pony with a rainbow mane close behind her.

“Get Back here Silk!” Prism called out as she chased after the filly who looked like she had something in her mouth as she laughed.

“Well, I see Silk hasn’t mellowed out that much since we last visited,” I said with a chuckle.

Go Fish laughed. “Yes… she tried to help me fix the beer dispenser and she made it explode.”

I chuckled as we headed inside. Scootaloo was looking over a map of the area and looked up and gave us a smile as we entered.

“Hey Serenity, Pure Heart, glad to see you both again,” she said with a smile as she noticed that Calypso was holding a map. “What do you have there?”

“We were hoping you could tell us,” I said as Calypso gave the older mare the map and she unfurled it, taking out a pair of glasses and examining it closely. “We saw the symbol and designation on it, I thought maybe you could tell us what we’re looking at.”

“Oh yes, Stable 110, I haven’t thought about this map in years,” Scootaloo said as she examined it curiously as she looked over at Calypso. “Let me guess, your mom had it in my old books?”

“Yeah, she thought I might find it interesting,” she said.

“But none of us know where that is,” I added. “It doesn’t look like anywhere in Equestria to me.”

“Well that’s because Stable 110 isn’t in Equestria,” Scootaloo said as she adjusted her reading glasses. “See this designation? DL, it means the Dragon Lands, 110 was the only Stable built in the Dragon Lands. Or, at least it was going to be before Ember was assassinated, the whole Stable was scraped after the Dragons sided with the Zebras.”

“So is this the same Ember you told me about auntie?” Go Fish asked.

“Yeah, the last Dragon Lord,” Scootaloo said as she frowned a little. “Her death never sat right with me you know? I met Ember a few times when I was young, she was brash, rough around the edges, but she liked ponies. I doubt Equestria would’ve had her assassinated, but that’s just me.”

“The stories my mother told me. That the elites had many shady deals going on during the war. I wanted to see some of those memory orbs she had, but mother Glory told me no.”

“Well plus you kind of need a horn or a recollector,” Calypso pointed out as she poked Go Fish’s wings.

“So, was there anything special about Stable 110?” I asked Scootaloo. Occasionally the Stables would have some special equipment or something in it that would set it apart from the rest of the Stables.

“Not really,” Scootaloo admitted. “Well, unless you believe the stories coming out of the Dragon Lands.”

“Wait, stories?” Pure Heart asked.

“Sure, I’ve talked with Spike a few times,” Scootaloo said. “He mentioned that there are rumors of a Stable being the first step to the Great Hoard.”

Go Fish’s eyes go wide. “Of guns?!” The Blackjack in her started showing.

“You really are Blackjack’s daughter you know that right?” Scootaloo asked with a laugh. “No, no, it’s an old legend in the Wasteland. It’s a Dragon’s Hoard, gold, jewels, treasure beyond measure.”

“Awww no guns?” Go Fish’s ears drooped. “Wait!! I can use it to buy guns!! I can use it to buy cleaning supplies for them!”

“Mmm, I can think of something else I wouldn’t mind using it to buy,” Calypso said and gave Go Fish a quick peck on the cheek.

A deep blush forms on Go Fish face. “I wh..what ..what...Would that be?”

“A nice big house and land around it,” she said. “Somewhere maybe I can live with some friends, or something else. I don’t know, I’m just throwing ideas out here.”

“ I...I could use...use.. It to.. Help mom fix the bar up a bit.” She stutterd face so bright red. “O...or… get a ring...to as...wait no never mind.”

“You’d have to get to it first, and I don’t think your moms would appreciate you running off on a treasure hunt that everypony who’s ever gone on has died on,” Scootaloo said and looked at the four of us. “Look, the Dragon Lands are a dangerous place on a good day, if you go there your safety can’t be guaranteed. I know you’re all old enough to make decisions for yourselves, but you shouldn’t go off being reckless.”

Go Fish finally regains herself. “I could talk to my moms about it. Maybe they will let me go.”

“Same here,” Calypso said.

“Well, my parents kicked me out of the house when I turned 18 anyway,” Pure said with a chuckle.

“Alright, well like I said I can’t stop you,” Scootaloo said and shook her head. “But you’re going to need some help. I suggest talking to Crow if you’re dead set on going. But be careful, I want all of you to come back alive, got it?”

“Okay, okay,” I said and shook my head and took Pure’s hoof in mine. “We’ll be careful.”

“Yeah we will be careful. I Got GUNS!!!” Go Fish yelled out.

“Yeah, definitely talk to Crow,” Scootaloo said and looked at me. “Serenity…”

“Scootaloo, I’ll be fine, it’s just a treasure hunt, it’s not like I’m running off to war… again,” I said with a shake of my head. “I promise I’ll be…”

I let out an oof when Scootaloo hugged me tight and smiled a little. “I know Serenity, I just don’t want to lose you, okay? Any of you, you’re all family to me, and I don’t want to lose you.”

“Okay, we’ll be careful,” I said and hugged Scootaloo back. “I promise.”

“I need to go ask my parents. Oh and auntie where is Cherry?” Go Fish asked.

“Oh, she wanted to go shopping in Nomad City but I had to finish my work here, so Silver went with her,” Scootaloo said with a shrug. “She should be back soon.”

The door opened and as if on cue Cherry walked in and gave Scootaloo a kiss on the lips. “Hey Scoots,” she said and gave us a smile. “Oh hey, what brings the four of you here?”

“Oh you know, potentially dangerous treasure hunt,” I said with a shrug. “We were just leaving actually.”

“Alright, well stay safe,” Cherry said as we headed out of the house and past Silver who was carrying a lot of bags.

“Ah leaving...can’t help me? Please?” Silver asked

“Sorry Silver I need to speak to my parents.” Go Fish yelled back.

I sighed and went to help Silver with Pure Heart before we headed to Nomad City in order to get everything together.

The next day, Go Fish and Calypso had talked with their parents and they had agreed to let them go. Me and Pure Heart spent that time getting supplies and weapons that we could use in the Dragon Lands.

I had picked up a couple of rifles that fit into my battle saddle. I took a deep breath and squeezed Pure’s hoof as we headed to the meeting point on the edge of Crusader Town where Go Fish, Calypso, and Crow were waiting.

“Hey,” Pure Heart said and waved as we approached them.

Crow being in his changeling form had many scars along his body thanks to run in with the Enclave. But for how bad he looked he sure changed after the years. “I’m happy you wanted me to go with you.”

“Well, given we’re going into a pretty dangerous area, I guess we could use the help,” I said with a smile. “I’m glad to have you along though.”

“Yeah, me too!” Calypso said with a smile.

Go Fish was cleaning her mother’s guns with a cloth looking up. “Oh yes yes...we are happy that you came along.. “ She went back to focusing on cleaning the guns

Crow blinked staring at Go Fish and then looked at me. “Here I thought one Blackjack was bad enough.” He said with a chuckle

“Alright, so I asked around and I was directed to a settlement called World’s End,” I said. “It’s the farthest settlement to the East and the closest to the Dragon Lands. It’s also our best bet to get a boat that will take us over there.”

“Boat?!” Go Fish looked up with bit of fear in her eyes. “I get sea sick.”

“Sorry Fishy, we tried to get a VertiBuck, but Nomad City couldn’t spare one for a treasure hunt,” Pure Heart said with a shake of her head. “We’ll figure something out.”

“As long as I’m near Callie I will be fine…” Go Fish said then her cheeks turned bright red. “I mean I will be fine either way!!”

“Will you two just kiss already?” I asked with a laugh as we started out of town together and to the East.

Calypso smirked and leaned in and gave Go Fish a kiss on the cheek.

“I…” Go Fish turned brighter than a tomato and just kept silent.

I just laughed.

“This is going to be an interesting journey with ponies. I find it funny that Callie here we know how she feels about Go Fish. But it’s amazing how silent Fishy is on the subject.” Crow pointed out.

We all just laughed and headed out on our journey.