Chapter 9:
I wasn't sure what I expected when Ruby told me we were going to a small town. For some reason, I was still picturing Ponyville. I hadn't had a chance to see any settlements; traders came to us, we'd never needed to go anywhere unless we were scavenging. There was a hill that looked down at the town from a bit of a distance, giving a good view without risking their security. The town encompassed about 10 city blocks. It was surrounded by a barricade made up of junked train cars, wagons, slabs of concrete, big rocks, and pretty much anything they could fit into place. In the middle was a large apartment building, the living area for almost every pony in town according to Ruby, though there were a number of shops and such that she said ponies both worked out of and lived in. At the gate we were greeted by a purple coated unicorn wearing armoured barding with the word 'security' painted on the side, a small sign sat to the left saying 'welcome to maneville' on the right side sat a small guard house.
“RUBY!” He called happily as we approached, waving to us.
“Ratchet!” She grinned, running up and hugging him.
“How's it going, Beautiful?” He asked, stepping back when she broke the hug. “You went with the injured ponies to the medical center earlier right?”
“Yeah, we arrived really early in the morning and my wagon already had a few injured in it, so we moved out the healthy ones and I took right back off.”
“Well I'm glad you came back, I've missed you.”
“You can buy me a drink and catch me up on your life the last few years.”
“Totally. First bottle of Wild Pegasus is on me.” He grinned. I had just stood back awkwardly for the moment during their exchange, but I took the chance to clear my throat to try and remind them of my presence.
“Oh right.” Ruby grinned, turning back to me. “Cane, this is Ratchet, he's an old buckfriend. Don't be jealous, he's a butt stallion now.”
“A what?”
“I was also Brutus's buckfriend for a while, before I left the collective.” He laughed.
“Ratchet, this is Sugarcane, my fiancee.” She beamed, hugging me close. “So don't go getting any ideas.”
“Oh, you don't need to worry about that,” he said, “I'm married now.”
“No way.” She gasped. “To who?”
“Who do you think?” He laughed. A sharp whistle came from the far side of the gate, and Ratchet's eyes lit up. “Perfect timing!” Hitting a button, the gate slid open to allow us into town. We saw a unicorn stallion coming towards us, with a pair of lunch bags floating along beside him. He was wearing some very fierce looking metal armour, with spikes along the legs and back, a battle saddle with a shotgun in one side, a grenade launcher in the other, plus what had to be a plasma rifle strapped to his back. He was literally able to wield at least three weapons at once with that setup. The armour was well kept but the plates still knocked together, making a kind of banging noise...what was the word for it..?
“Clank!” Ruby giggled.
“That's the one.” I nodded, getting a weird look from Ruby. “Never mind.” I blushed.
The metal clad unicorn smiled warmly. “Ruby, I heard you were in town!” For a minute, I thought my ears were going. His voice was so powerful, but so... feminine. “I couldn't find you! Darling, I'm so happy to see you!” No, I hadn't misheard him. He sounded like a southern mare, I had to stifle a laugh, and was very relieved that no one seemed to hear me. He set the bags down and Ratchet grabbed one of them happily, starting into it without hesitation.
Ruby hugged the newcomer tightly, expertly avoiding the spikes on his armour. “I flew one of the wagons out to the medical centre.”
“Oh, of course you did.” He nodded. He looked up at me and gave me what I could only describe as an evil grin. “Well hell-o, Handsome. Name's Clank, if you need anything while you're in town, and I do mean ANYTHING. You just come on and find me, I'll make sure you're real well taken care of.” He winked at me and was promptly smacked upside the head by bother Ratchet and Ruby. Which, probably hurt them more than him.
“Clank, this is my fiancee. Sugarcane.” Ruby said flatly. “He is strictly hooves off, unless they're MY hooves.” She hugged me tightly for emphasis, I just wheezed, and tried not to cry out in pain when she crushed my wounded side. The whimper that escaped reminded her of that fact and she released me again quickly.
“I'll send Brutus your way if he ever leaves the clinic.” I gasped, trying to recover from Ruby's protective crushing.
“Ooo, I've heard so much about Brute Force.” Clank grinned, looking back at Ratchet, who looked horrified at the thought.
“Nu-uh. Me and Brutus didn't end things on the best of terms. I'd rather not deal with that,” he said, shaking his head fiercely.
“We'll talk about it later.” Clank smirked. “You two headin' into town now, or y'all just here to keep us company?”
“Oh yeah, we're going to see Lily and Fire Bird,” Ruby said.
“Oh good, they'll be happy to see you again, I'm sure,” Ratchet said.
“It's been a long time.” She nodded.
“Well get to it, you still remember the way?” Clank asked.
“Of course.”
“Alright, see you later then,” he said, moving to sit beside Ratchet and get to eating.
“See ya later boys!” Ruby said, starting into town. I just nodded dumbly to them and followed after her quickly.
“What was that all about?” I asked once we were away from them.
“What was what about?”
“The wanting to get rid of us so quickly.”
“Because they were trying to eat lunch, and we were just standing around gabbing.” Ruby shrugged.
“I guess. I just thought that if they hadn't seen you in so long and they were such good friends they'd want to talk for a while.”
She sighed and looked at me coyly for a moment. “They're gonna make out for a while probably... ENJOY each others company, if you get my meaning.”
“You're kidding, while they're on duty?”
“Only Ratchet is on duty. Clank is a caravan guard, he must have just gotten back into town if he's still in his armour. I'm guessing they haven't seen each other in at least a week. You'd have met him a few weeks ago, if you hadn't been buried in your lab work.”
“And you didn't bother mentioning to him that you were engaged back then?”
“I WASN'T engaged back then,” she countered.
“That you had a very special somepony?” I asked in a sappy tone, eliciting a giggle from some fillies in a group of children going the opposite direction of us. I leaned in and kissed Ruby sweetly, cries of 'AUGH' and 'GROSS' from the colts, and 'AWW' and 'CUTE' from the fillies.
Ruby blushed furiously, but she smiled. “And, he didn't mention to me he was married now. We only saw each other for about 15 minutes, because I was actually leaving on a supply run with the others just as they were arriving. They were gone again by the time we got back.” She stopped in front of a three story building with a picture of a phoenix hanging above the door.
“Welcome to my aunt Fire Bird's store,” she said, wandering inside. It was a general shop, a few aisles of food, drink, and basic medicines. A counter sat at the front of the store, a terminal sat across from a cash register. Behind the counter was a locked weapon display and box after box of ammo. A curtained area dividing the display, leading into a back room. A set of stairs lead up to the second floor, which was really only an open walk way around the inside wall of the building. There was a single curtained door on the second floor, the rest was shelf after shelf of books in various states of usability, though most of them looked in excellent condition. A second staircase lead to the top floor, but that was again a full floor, and I couldn't see what was up there.
“Hello?” Ruby called, moving to the counter. “Anypony home?” She stood there for a moment before wandering behind the counter. “Fire Bird? It's Ruby, you here?” She stuck her head through the curtain.
“Should you be wandering around back there?”
“Oh hush, it's fine,” she said, waving a wing at me and vanishing behind the curtain.
“Well hello there, Handsome,” a voice said above me. Looking up I saw a chestnut coloured pegasus mare, floating in the air in the middle of the second floor. I wondered briefly why all these ponies were calling me handsome? Something inside me twisted into a knot, causing me to kick softly at the ground.
“Oh, hello,” I stammered, as the pegasus flew down and landed beside me.
“I really hope you're looking for me,” she cooed, stroking my face with a wing.
“Uhh, you must be Fire Bird,” I said quickly.
“I can be anypony you want,” she whispered, moving back behind the counter.
“No, I'm fine thanks, I'm engaged.”
“Aww well there's no harm in looking.” She shrugged. I could see a lot of family resemblance with Ruby in the personality department that's for sure.
“Uhh Ruby went into the backroom to look for you.”
“She did?” The pegasus moved into the entrance of the backroom. “Hello? Ruby, where are you?” She vanished inside. “Ruby?” She called again, her voice further as she moved further back. I waited a minute before I started to move towards the backroom myself.
“Hi there.” A bubbly voice called from above me. I jumped in surprise and looked up to see a young unicorn looking down at me from the second floor doorway. “You Ruby's friend?”
“Uhh, yeah, she went into the backroom and Fire Bird, I think it was Fire Bird... went to look for her. How big is the backroom?” I asked stupidly, watching the unicorn wander down the stairs to me.
“Really? It's not that big,” she said, looking at the curtain in confusion, moving into the backroom. “Hey! What are you ponies doing back here?” She called, but got no response.
She wandered in further, vanishing past the curtain and I moved quickly to follow her, but a purple Earth Pony popped up in the entrance to the back room. “Hey there hot stuff, care for a romp in the hay?” She asked, batting her eyes at me.
“Not interested.” I said flatly, glaring at her. “I'm worried about Ruby, is she back there or not?” I snapped.
“One second I'll check.” She vanished behind the curtain. “Anypony named Ruby back here?” She called.
“Hey, you're looking for Ruby?” A young pegasus, no older than CB asked, popping out from behind the curtain.
“Yes I am, please get her.”
“You're awful cute when you're mad.” She giggled, vanishing too.
“Come on!” I cried, grabbing the curtain in my magic just as Ruby came out again.
“Hey Sugar, why all the fuss? I was just looking for my aunt.” She sighed. I grabbed her in my magic now and slid her over to me, putting her between me, and the front of the store.
“This place is weird,” I said, keeping an eye on the curtain. “We should just go.”
“Aww Cane, come on, relax,” she said, coming up beside me, and kissing my neck. “Why don't you and me find somewhere quiet to fool around?” She whispered. “I'll help you work out some of that tension.”
“Seriously? Not now,” I grumbled, moving to the curtain and pulling it aside. The backroom wasn't very big at all, in fact I could see all of it save a small bit of space under a staircase that lead upstairs, no pony else was in sight.
“Well have you considered masturbation?” A deeper voice asked me, a voice I recognized as my own. Turning back I was horrified to see myself standing where Ruby had just been.
“OKAY WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK?!” I cried falling back in horror.
I...the other me...burst out into a fit of laughter and I heard Ruby join in. Looking up I realized she was perched on the second floor, pressed back almost out of sight, but looking down at me and rolling on her back in laughter.
“LILITH! WHAT DID I TELL YOU ABOUT TEASING THE CUSTOMERS?!” An angry voice bellowed from the third floor. A chestnut pegasus mare, the same one I'd first seen, appeared at the top of the stairs and started down. The other me kept right on laughing, but with a pulse of green energy I vanished, replaced by a black and green Alicorn looking creature.
“You're a Changling?!” I snapped. Ruby was still laughing, but she drifted down to the ground and hugged the black mare tightly.
“Oh...oh Lil, that was AWESOME.” She managed through renewed fits of laughter, leaning against the other for support.
“Did you see his face?” The other cackled.
“Did I? How could I miss it?” She laughed more. The Chestnut pegasus reached the bottom of the last flight of stairs, and just rolled her eyes at the other two.
“Hello, I'm Fire Bird, I own the Phoenix shop and run the town library,” she said, ignoring them and turning to me. I felt stupid that I was still splayed back on her floor and righted myself quickly.
“Sugarcane, computer nerd and enjoyer of libraries,” I said dumbly.
“I must apologize for my niece and daughter,” she said, putting a hoof to her face as they continued to laugh themselves sick. “They bring out the worst in each other. So if you'd be so kind as to pay them no more mind. How can I help you?”
“Uhh, actually I don't know,” I replied. Now it was my turn to get an annoyed look from Fire Bird.
“W...wait wait...” Ruby said, waving her forehooves. She pushed herself up and sat, giggling a little still, but managing to get herself under control. She took a few deep breaths and nodded. “Remember I told you I had exciting news? Well, Aunt Fire Bird, this is Doctor Sugarcane, my fiancee.” She said proudly. This news obviously surprised both pony and changling.
“Dibs on Mare of Honor!” Lilith said quickly, one of her hooves shooting into the air.
“Also why I was here.” Ruby nodded. “But glad you're already volunteering.”
Fire Bird looked at me intently. “What do you do again?” She asked.
“Uhh, I'm a computer and robotics engineer, I built that.” I said lamely, pointing to the computer sitting behind the counter, connected to the cash register.
“That computer is older than all four of us put together,” she said coldly. Obviously not believing me in the slightest.
“You listen to DJ Pon3 right?” Ruby asked and Lilith nodded vigorously.
“You know how he's been talking about the 'robo-doc' lately? The pony from before the apocalypse?” Fire Bird nodded slowly, and Ruby pointed to me with a wing while I coughed and blushed a little.
“You're kidding.” Lilith said, looking from Ruby to me and back.
“I'm not,” Ruby replied. “Crackshot and Brutus can vouch for it.”
“Hmm... no wonder she's so into you. Living history,” Fire Bird said with a smirk.
“That's exactly what she said,” I replied.
“DJ Pon3 has talked about you like you're the greatest computer expert to ever live ever!” Lilith said.
“Uhh, well I don't know if that is true. In fact, I know it's not true,” I said quickly, blushing all the worse.
“His brother was supposed to be some wiz-colt too,” Ruby said.
“Well, I suppose you're not the worst Ruby could do,” Fire Bird said, shaking her head a little.
“Uhh, thanks?” I said simply, not really sure what else to say.
“Trust me, coming from mom that's a compliment,” Lilith said. I looked back at the changling, and really as an afterthought I tagged her as a priority target in my Pipbuck, so she'd always had a special indicator when she was in range, no more catching me off guard.
“So you're just here to get Lilith and go out to celebrate then?” Fire Bird asked, looking to Ruby.
“You're welcome to come too,” Ruby offered. “Ratchet and Clank are coming too.”
“I think I'll be fine,” she said, shaking her head.
“Well it's not until later tonight, even you close.”
“I'll think about it.”
“Alright, then lets go shopping!” Lilith said, jumping to her hooves.
“Uhh I think I'm gonna stay here,” I said, “I haven't had access to a library in a long time, it'll be nice to look through some books.”
“By all means,” Fire Bird said, gesturing to the stairs.
“Alright then lets go!” Lilith said, pulling Ruby towards the door. “You need a wedding dress!”
“Wha? Lil wait!” She cried, getting pulled along out the door.
Fire Bird chuckled as they vanished, the door closing behind them. “Kids.” She sighed, looking at me for a moment. “She's adopted.”
“What?” I asked, looking from the door to the pegasus behind the counter.
“Lilith. She's adopted.”
“Oh, I see.” I nodded. I hadn't really thought about it. In the world I'd found myself in, I was accepting of most anything.
“Found her when she was just a foal, or whatever you'd call the changling equivalent of a foal. No parents, no bodies, no wreckage, no nothing. Just a scared baby, crying in the middle of a rainstorm.”
“Huh...” I felt the wheels in my head start turning at the idea, I wasn't sure why, but it struck me odd.
“I know you didn't ask or anything but most folks ask sooner or later, so I usually just like to move past it.”
“Well thanks.” I nodded. It was kind of awkward for a moment.
“I guess I'll leave you to the books. If you find any you want just bring em down and call me,” she said, starting for the backroom.
“Yeah thanks.” I smiled and headed upstairs.
//////////
I lost myself in the books. Daring Do, Sherclop Holmes, the big books of computer engineering... I had missed those most of all. After four hours I had ten books stacked up in a pile by the stairs, a number of others had been read, skimmed, deemed unnecessary and put back.
“I don't suppose I could buy these instead of just borrowing them?” I asked Fire Bird when she came back to the counter. “I've read all of them, but I want to read them again, and there's a certain ghoul I want reading them too.”
“You're going to try and get Crackshot to read?” She smirked.
“Yeah, I think I'll try.”
“How 'bout you just hold on to them for as long as you need? And if you lose them, we'll talk about costs to replace them?”
“Fair enough.” I nodded, floating them into my saddlebags while she punched the information into the computer terminal. “So are you coming to the bar?” I asked her once the books were packed away.
“Yeah I suppose I will.” She replied finally.
“Well then shall we?” I asked, opening the door for her with my magic.
“Yes lets.” she said, starting outside. I followed behind and she locked the door and we were off to the bar to meet the others.
Footnote: 50% to next level
This fanfiction is based on Fallout Equestria by Kkat; a familiarity with the source material may aid your understanding.
You can read Fallout Equestria by Kkat on Equestria Daily
The Fallout: Equestria logo used above was designed by DotRook, who, according to the original deviantArt page, allows usage in supplementary materials created for and associated with the series. Images really do make a difference, so he has our eternal gratitude and respect.
If you enjoy Fallout Equestria Side Stories, you will want to check the Fallout Equestria Side Stories post on Equestria Daily and the Fallout Equestria Side Stories thread on Ponychan
The Ponychan group is also a hatching ground that you can join if you want to share your experience, writing or comments with us.