//------------------------------// // Chapter 3 // Story: Fallout Equestria: Equestrian Wanderings // by ed2481 //------------------------------// An: This chapter will ruin one of the bigger reveals in the canon of Fallout Equestria. If you haven’t read that and plan to do so fairly spoiler free then I’d suggest not reading this chapter. Edited by TacoTown Chapter 3: Meh, I’ve killed bigger “Thanks for letting us stay the night Garma.” Ethan told the griffin as they exchanged a firm handshake that lasted only a few seconds longer then a normal one. “It was against regulations, but Gawd never explicitly said that we couldn’t let a human stay with us.” Garma said with a grin. “Try not to die before I see you again.” Ethan said with a wave before he began to walk towards where Holly was pacing impatiently. “The same to you.” Garma agreed with a smile. Ethan walked up to where Holly was pacing and nodded. The two took off in the direction of Tenpony Tower, following the marker on Ethan’s HUD (aka Heads-Up Display), which was supplied by his Pip-Boy. He’d always wondered how a machine that was only attached to his arm was capable of affecting his brain. Then again, Ethan figured that if it could temporarily stop time then it shouldn’t be too hard for it to hook up to his brain and project his enemies’ locations. Science! “I’m surprised about how generous those Talons were.” Holly mused once they were far enough out of the griffins’ earshot. “What do you mean?” Ethan asked. “I mean that those missiles and ammo shouldn’t have been nearly enough to pay them back, pay for our rooms for the night, and get me more ammo for my pistol along with the trade you made with that Sergeant.” She replied. “I was wondering about that.” Ethan agreed as he took the new assault rifle that the griffin had traded him for a hundred caps and the rifle that he’d picked up in MWT hub off of his back. It was better proportioned to Ethan’s size, and its trigger lacked a mouth grip. It reminded Ethan of a few of the rifles that he’s seen out west on his ill-fated journey to see New Vegas. He’d ended up hung-over in bed beside a beautiful redhead, but he’d left before she woke up. He had however left her directions to his house in Megaton of she ever wanted another fling. The rifle itself was semi-automatic and used 5.56mm rounds. Ethan was pretty sure that it was a carbine. “Did you sleep with him or something?” Holly asked with a smirk. “Ha, my barn door doesn’t swing that way. I’m just a people person.” Ethan replied with a chuckle. “For some reason I don’t see it.” Holly replied snarkily. “It doesn’t surprise me; he seems to be quite capable of turning on his charm when he needs to.” Eddie put in. “Then again, it might have been the disturbingly violent war stories that they shared while you were asleep.” The AI added after a second’s or so pause. “Yeah, that would probably get you more leeway than fucking him would.” Holly agreed. “Those griffins love their fucking war stories.” “So Holly, what should I know about this Tenpony Tower place? I mean, where I’m from a place like it is run by a rich asshole who snipes at people for fun, but I’m betting it’s different here if this DJ-PON3 is broadcasting out of it.” Ethan asked the green unicorn. “It’s probably the richest and safest place in the entire wasteland.” Holly answered. “It was also the main Ministry of Arcane Science hub for the City of Manehatten.” Eddie chimed in helpfully in an upbeat voice. “I’m glad that my predictions about it still being there were right, it means that I wasn’t completely useless.” Eddie added while his upbeat voice died away to be replaced by a depressed sounding monotone. “Hey, cheer up Eddie. It’s not like this is your fault.” Ethan told the AI, who sighed. “I guess you’re right.” Eddie admitted, but his voice was still tinged with sadness. “I just hope that the trouble with Red Eye has blown over since they last reported on it.” Holly said. “Who’s Red Eye?” Ethan asked, thankful for the change in subject. “He’s the slave king of Fillydelphia, keeps on preaching about how he’s going to build a new Equestria and how every slave’s sacrifice will be remembered.” Holly answered with a scowl. “Never shuts up on the radio.” She added. “God, it sounds like he’s the unholy love child of Ashur and Eden without Ashur’s good points” Ethan said with a frown. “Who?” Holly asked. “One was an insane AI, the other is a man who I both loathe and respect at the same time.” Ethan replied. “At least he agreed to free the “workers” after a little diplomacy on my end, and now they work for wages.” He added. “I doubt that Red Eye would be willing to do that.” Holly said acidly. “He’s an absolute bastard who deserves to have his Celestia damned head chopped off and then defecated on by a dragon with the fucking runs!” She all but shouted. “I have the oddest feeling that you don’t like him very much.” Ethan said. “Yes, I suppose you could say that.” She said, each word was full of enough venom to kill a deathclaw. “So a pony put himself into power of a large group of other ponies through a use of intimidation and slave power?” Eddie asked. “Yes.” Holly said curtly. “I took something like that happening into my simulations as a possibility, but I hadn’t thought that it would progress as far as you say it has.” Eddie said worriedly. “Eddie, you keep on talking about simulations. What exactly did you do before the bombs fell here?” Ethan asked curiously. “Well I was a-” Eddie began only to be cut off by three loud voices from above. “STOP WHERE YOU ARE! THE GODDESS OF UNITY WISHES TO SPEAK WITH THEE!” The voices were loud enough that it almost made Ethan stagger at first. He looked up and saw three large pegasi flying at him in a small v; they also appeared to have horns, which Ethan felt was rather unfair. The leading one was green while the one flying at her right was purple and the one on the left was blue. “Umm, Holly? What are those?” Ethan asked as his hand fingered his sword handle. “Those are alicorns, agents of the “Goddess”; they go around kidnapping unicorns and generally being giant pains in everyone’s ass.” Holly replied. “Should I be worried?” Ethan whispered. “Yes, they’re strong as fucking hell.” Holly told him. “CEASE YOUR WHISPERING, THE GODDESS WILL NOT BE WHISPERED ABOUT BY WHISPERING WHISPERERS!” The alicorns shouted in unison. “Not real bright are they?” Ethan asked Holly loudly enough for the three alicorns to hear, causing the unicorn to chuckle. “HOW DARE YOU INSULT THE GODDESS!” They shouted. “Sorry, but I’m an atheist so I don’t think it really counts. Besides, even if you are a ‘goddess’ I really couldn’t give three flying fucks about it.” Ethan replied calmly with a shrug as the three alicorns landed in front of the two. “And look, there are three of you. How convenient.” He added with a smirk. “WHY YOU LITTLE-” The alicorns began. “Blah, blah, blah.” Ethan said, mocking them by making his freehand open and close with their mouths. “Let me be perfectly clear with you. If you try and hurt my friend and I we will end you. I don’t care if you’re God’s saggy left testicle or Satan’s hairy frozen dick. You make a move, and it’ll be your own damn fault that you’ve suddenly come down with a case of the deads.” He explained with a cold smile. “WE WILL NOT STAND FO-” They began, but Ethan’s blade slashed out faster than any of them could react and with a snicker-snack decapitated the green alicorn in a single blow, causing the other two to stare at him in shock. “Boring conversation anyways.” Ethan said with a chuckle as the body fell one way and the head fell another with a burst of bright crimson blood. “YOU WILL DIE FOR YOUR INSOLENCE!” The remaining two alicorns shouted. One vanished from sight, and the other flew into the air, horn glowing purple. “Of course invisibility, should’ve known.” Ethan said with a slight sigh as he drew his magnum. “Why is it that you seem to have the urge to anger as many powerful ponies as you can in the period of two days?” Holly asked as she fired at the purple alicorn flying above who easily dodged the bullets. “It’s a gift of mine actually.” Ethan replied with a smirk as he watched the surrounding area for signs of the invisible alicorn. Suddenly, he saw a puff of dust to the right and shot in the direction but hit nothing. Meanwhile, Holly was dodging the purple alicorn’s blasts of purple telekinesis, and returning fire with her 12.7mm pistol. Disturbingly, none of her shots were connecting, much to the unicorn’s extreme annoyance and frustration. Oh, and fear as well, because for every shot she missed the purple alicorn came closer and closer to hitting her with the TK blasts. The air shimmered in front of Ethan, and he barely managed to get his sword up in time to block the horn that would’ve stabbed into his chest if he’d been a few seconds slower. The man swung his sword in a powerful arc at the next shimmer, but it was deflected by the alicorn’s horn. He spotted another shimmer and let off another shot from his magnum, and was rewarded by a shout of pain. Holly barely dodged a chunk of concrete that her opponent launched at her, and returned fire with her pistol, finally scoring a hit on the Alicorn. Crimson blood blossomed from the new hole in the alicorn’s side and it let out a shrill cry of rage before it sent another burst of TK at Holly. The blast caught her in the chest and Holly was thrown several feet into a concrete road divider. She staggered back to her hooves, but was caught in the alicorn’s magical grip which began to tighten around her neck. “Oh no you don’t!” Ethan shouted bringing his magnum to bear on the purple alicorn’s head and pulling the trigger. The bullet sped from the gun and slammed into the alicorn’s chest, causing it to let out a shriek of pain and drop Holly to the ground. Then, a long horn stabbed Ethan in the chest. The blue alicorn materialized in front of him, grinning as his blood dripped down its horn, and then in one powerful heave it threw the man to the ground several feet away. “WE WERE SIMPLY GOING TO ASK YOU TO COME WITH US, BUT NOW WE SHALL MAKE YOU COME BY FORCE!” The alicorns shouted. “Heh, sounds kinky.” Ethan said as he got to his knees before coughing up a bit of blood, which he spit to the side. “I mean, I can already tell that you’re into penetration, but I think you’ve got our roles reversed here.” Ethan told her as he regained his feet completely and the hole in his chest began to slowly mend. “You see, I’m the one who’s supposed to be penetrating you.” He explained “HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE?” The alicorns asked as they stared at the man. “I’m The Lone Wanderer, fuck you.” Ethan said with a cold grin as he lined up another shot and fired directly into blue alicorn’s face, sending up a shower of gore. She really should’ve gone invisible again after stabbing him… The last remaining alicorn, the purple one, turned to Ethan and smashed him into the ground with a blast of TK from above. His knees broke with a hideous snapping sound. Then, she wrapped him in her magic and brought Ethan into the air to float in front of her. His knees snapped back into place with another horrendous snap while the man grimaced. “YOU SHALL SUFFER FOR YOUR INSOLENCE; NO ONE WILL BE THERE TO SAVE YOU AND YOU WILL DIE A PAINFUL DEATH AT THE HOOVES OF THE GODDESS!” The remaining alicorn shouted. Ethan coughed up another bit of blood and spit it into her eye, causing her to scream in rage. “I’ve found a little plot hole in your plan there little miss goddess.” Ethan said with a coughing chuckle. “AND WHAT WOULD THAT BE?” The goddess asked angrily. “That would be ME!” Holly shouted as her pistol barked six times and the large 12.7 rounds slammed into the goddess’s chest. The alicorn’s magic dissipated as it let out a cry of pain and Ethan fell to the ground several feet below. The alicorn’s wings stopped beating, and it fell to the ground in a lifeless heap on top of Ethan, who let out a moan. “Of course, it would just have to fall on me, wouldn’t it?” He asked the universe rhetorically. The man crawled out from underneath the alicorn’s body with a little magical help from Holly, and got to his feet before dusting off his armored legs. “You okay?” Holly asked hoarsely, with a little frown as she watched the hole in Ethan’s chest slowly heal. “Yeah, I’ll be fine; tis’ merely a flesh wound.” Ethan replied with a slightly pained shrug. “I’m more concerned about you.” He added looking at her throat, which was swelling visibly. “I’ll be fine.” She rasped as she gently massaged a spot on her back where she’d impacted against the concrete. “Just need to drink a healing potion and these bruised ribs will heal right up.” She added as she pulled a vial out of one of her barding pouches and downed it in a single long gulp. “Wow, I usually come along to help ponies out, but it looks like you’ve got things covered here.” An unexpected voice from behind them said. Ethan spun sword at the ready to find that a robot that highly resembled an Enclave eyebot floating behind him. “I know that voice…” Eddie whispered to himself. “Are you with the Enclave?” Ethan asked the eyebot. “No way, my name is Wa-” The bot began. “SPIKE!” Eddie shouted in elation. “My calculations were right about something for once, oh thank Celestia!” Eddie continued with a pixilated grin. “Eddie?!” The voice coming through the eyebot asked in confusion. “Yep, it’s me!” Eddie replied enthusiastically. “But I thought your hub got hit!” the eyebot shouted. “Nope, I’ve just been sitting around for the last two hundred or so years, running simulations.” Eddie said. The joy in his voice began to die. “And it turns out that most of those simulations were flawed.” “Should I be confused now? Because I have no idea what’s going on.” Holly whispered to Ethan, who shrugged. “Ask questions later. For now just go with it and smile a lot.” He whispered back. “So if you’re safe then so are the El-” Eddie began, but was interrupted by the eyebot. “Sush, it’s a secret.” Spike said loudly. “Oh, yeah, that makes sense I guess.” Eddie said a little sheepishly. “So how’ve you been for the last two hundred years Spike?” “Bored, sad, and occasionally angry.” The eyebot replied despondently. “How odd, that’s exactly how I felt.” The AI said. “The apocalypse will do that to you. Listen Eddie, I’ve got to go now. Otherwise, someone will notice that I’m here. But you know where my cave is, so come see me at some point, okay?” The eyebot told Eddie before it drifted away playing music. “Well that was random.” Ethan commented with a shrug as he poked at the tender new flesh on his chest. Then he sighed as he felt around the destroyed armored plating that the alicorn’s horn had sheered through as though they were made of butter. “Goddammit, I’m going to have to buy something to repair this with or Riley will kill me for ruining her armor.” He said with another sigh. “Riley?” Eddie asked curiously. “Sexy leader of a mercenary company, I saved her squad once and became an honorary member.” Ethan replied. “And then we occasionally fucked in-between big events, girl is amazing in bed. She just has such talented hands.” He added with a happy grin. “Too much information, way too much information.” Holly rasped; she looked like she was almost fully recovered from the beating the alicorn had given her. “You sure that you’ll be okay?” Ethan asked. “Meh, I’ve had worse. Fucking alicorns and their Celestia damned goddess.” Holly grunted. “So what was all that Unity jumbo that they were talking about?” Eddie asked. “Fuck if I know, that’s what they call themselves. What I do know is that it’s all absolute shit. Ponies that go with them never show up again; they vanish without a fucking trace.” Holly replied. “Your language is getting more colorful the more time we spend with you.” Eddie told her with a smile. “You try hanging out with a naïve AI and a stallion who seems to think that anything less than two hundred ghouls is a normal amount of enemies, and then you tell me how clean your fucking language is.” Holly replied as she reloaded her pistol and stretched. “Well that’s how it always has been for me before; something about this place just seems to enjoy making things disproportionately hard to kill by comparison.” Ethan said with a frown as he loaded four shots into his magnum’s chamber. “Oh well, I’m sure that the longer I’m here the easier it’ll get.” He added with a shrug. “Yeah, look. We should probably get going before more of those fuckers show up.” Holly said, gesturing towards the three large corpses lying on the ground in bloody heaps. “Alrighty then, let’s get moving.” Ethan said with a nod as he began to walk in the direction of Tenpony Tower, which could be seen in the distance from where they were walking. Ethan flipped on the radio to help pass the time. Hello out there Wasteland! This is DJ PON-3, giving you an update. Tenpony Tower is still surrounded by Red Eye’s army, so don’t bother trying to come and see us for the foreseeable future. In other news folks, and you’re not going to believe this, but I received a visit from a member of the Talon mercenary company, who says that they were visited by an honest to Celestia human. Now I know you’re all wondering, ‘PON-3, what the hell is a human, and why the fuck should I care?’ Well kiddies, a human is a mythological creature that was apparently very rare in Equestria, thousands of years before the war, and you should care because every time one of them showed up, big changes happened. According to our source the human’s name is Ethan Smith, and he also goes by the titles The Lone Wanderer and That Crazy Son of a Bitch. Personally, I prefer the Stable Dweller myself. Anywho, he appears to be friendly, so if you see a tall bipedal creature walking around in a leather duster, then don’t shoot him. And that’s your news for the day! Now here’s Sweetie Bell with… “Heh, I guess Garma must’ve sent one his boys over to the tower.” Ethan said with a smile. “It sounds like we won’t have an easy time getting there though, thanks to that Luna damned army of Red Eye’s.” Holly said. “Ha, getting through armies is my special talent.” Ethan replied with a smile as he drew the carbine. He really wished that it had a scope, but the iron sights should be good enough. “I don’t see a cutie mark anywhere.” Holly told him doubtfully. “Cutie what?” Ethan asked in confusion. “Cutie mark, it’s a mark on your flank symbolizes what you’re best at.” Holly replied as if she was talking to a foal. “Huh. I don’t have one of those… so what’s yours?” Ethan asked curiously. “It’s a flower.” Holly replied darkly. “A red flower.” She added. “So you’re best at being a flower?” Ethan asked. “No, I’m good at gardening, and growing plants.” She replied shortly. “I figured it would be something to do with pistols.” Ethan said. “I was the daughter of a farmer.” She said darkly. “Ah, never mind then.” Ethan said dropping the topic sensing the amount of hatred and rage that boiled underneath her words. They continued on in silence except for the music flowing from his Pip-Boy for half an hour as Tenpony Tower got larger and larger in their vision. Then, they came over a rise and saw Red Eye’s army. It was a huge collection of raiders, and Ethan was pretty sure that he saw several griffons wheeling about overhead. The army surrounded the Tower on all sides, but were pulled far enough back that there was a roughly mile wide gap of no man’s land separating them from the tower. “So, how do we get through the slaving assholes?” Holly asked. “Oh, you’ll see. And take my magnum; I’ll need my carbine for this.” He told her as he handed her his magnum. “Why?” She asked worriedly. “Because a man armed with a rifle is more threatening looking then a man with a magnum.” He supplied simply. “So we’re going to bluff our way through an army?” She asked as they began to walk down the slope towards the army which seemed to notice them immediately. “Bluff?” Ethan asked in mock confusion. “Oh no, there’s not going to be any bluffing here.” He added with a grin. “By the way, I’d suggest staying close to me and try not to get hit by stray missiles.” Ethan said as he leveled his carbine on the head of a raider who was in the process of looking at him through the scope of a sniper rifle and fired a single shot. The raider’s head exploded in a cloud of gore as the rifle clattered to the ground next to him, splattering several of the other raiders with his blood. With a great cry of anger an entire portion of the army charged them. Ethan smiled a white toothed smile as he brought up his carbine and fired four more times, one shot for each of the raiders leading the charge. The bodies slumped to the ground as blood blossomed from the large holes in their newly airated chests. Holly, for her part, had just sighed and drawn her pistol the second that he’d started shooting. Now, she was waiting for the raiders to get into range instead of just firing randomly and hoping that she hit something. A smattering of assault rifle fire sped at Ethan from the charging raiders, but most of it was deflected off of his armor and the few shots that weren’t didn’t penetrate. Ethan let lose another burst of bullets. The first struck a raider in the chest, knocking him backwards into the pony behind him causing him to trip along with the pony behind him. The second shot nailed a raider unicorn with a missile launcher in the eye, causing him to fall to the ground with a shout of pain and pull the trigger of the launcher out of reflex. The missile launched straight into the ground where several other raiders were running, causing them to vanish in an explosion of shrapnel, concrete, and blood. Out of the corner of his eye, Ethan saw the flash of a scope and looked up and to the left in time to see a griffin leveling an anti-material rifle at his head. He brought his carbine up and sent two shots directly into the griffon’s head, and looked away before the corpse had hit the ground in time to pulp the brains of another raider who had almost gotten into effective range. “Hello out there! This is Ethan Smith, get the fuck out of my way!” Ethan shouted at the raiders as he began to walk down the slope, firing at the raiders indiscriminately, blowing away several in a rapid storm of semi-automatic lead. A sniper round slammed into his shoulder, making the man stagger under the impact as the round ate into his armor. Other than a thin line of blood that began to run from the shoulder Ethan was seemingly unaffected and returned fire on the sniper with deadly accuracy. The bullets sped out of his gun, blasting the raider’s head open leaving behind a trio of bullet holes. He reloaded just as the first group of raiders closed in on them them. Holly’s 12.7mm pistol barked out as a raider leapt at her and the raider’s head exploded, as did the one next to his as Ethan’s rifle spat a piece of lead into it. A raider emptied a clip of his submachine gun into Ethan’s chest, luckily missing the hole, causing a new trickle of blood to erupt from his body. The man’s carbine turned in the raider’s direction and the raider suddenly had a very difficult time breathing as his throat was torn open by two clean shots from the carbine. Four lightly armored griffons swooped down at him from above, and time stopped. Ethan calmly lined up four headshots, one for each griffon. Time started to move again and the griffons suddenly fell out of the air, headless, and landed on the raiders below with four loud crunches. Holly’s horn glowed a bright blue as she unleashed a powerful blast of concussive force, blasting a raider away from her and sending him crashing him into another raider, who got impaled on the first raider’s horn. “Nice double kill.” Ethan complimented as a 10mm bullet glanced off of the armored plates over his stomach, and he returned fire plastering the offending raider to the ground. “PREPARE TO FEEL THE WRATH OF THE GODDESS!” An angry voice shouted from above. Ethan looked up to see a purple alicorn who’s horn was glowing bright purple floating above him. “Didn’t I already teach these fuckbuckets not to mess with me?” Ethan asked Holly rhetorically before aiming his carbine at the alicorn’s head and pulling the trigger three times. The bullets struck the alicorn in the neck, causing her to let out a cry of pain before she plummeted to the ground below. Ethan reloaded and looked around to find that there had been a temporary stoppage in the number of raiders charging him. “Alright, why aren’t any more charging us?” He asked “Maybe they’ve decided that it’s proving too costly for them to continue sending troops after you two; after all, you did just kill eighty of them.” Eddie suggested hopefully. “Yeah, and I’m fucking Celestia on the side.” Holly shot back. Ethan suddenly heard a sudden whining sound and his head turned rapidly in the direction of the noise. “FUCK!” He shouted before he grabbed Holly by the belly, producing an outraged shout, and started streaking away from the place where they’d just been standing. Ten second later the ground where they’d been exploded in a burst of dirt and concrete. “They have GODDAMNED ARTILLERY! OF COURSE THEY DO!” He shouted over the noise of his ears ringing. He kept up his mad dash as the ground behind him exploded and caught a sniper bullet in the chest; luckily it wasn’t from an anti-material rifle so it didn’t tear up his chest to badly. He couldn’t have afforded the time it would’ve taken to recover if it had. “Next shot likely to be three feet in front of us, turn left and then go straight.” Eddie advised. Ethan nodded and followed his instructions, managing to avoid the blast. Holly had thankfully stopped squirming in his arm, and was now levitating her pistol and Ethan’s magnum in the air in front of her, looking around for good targets. “Two feet to the left, go right.” Eddie informed Ethan, who complied and danced to the right just avoiding the new hole in the ground. “Come over here and fight me like men you cowardly fucks!” Ethan shouted at the raiders, who seemed to be backing farther and farther away from him as he got closer and closer to the gate of Tenpony tower. A griffon in black painted powerarmor touched down in front of him, and Ethan was forced to drop Holly with a thud as he avoided a swing from an extremely sharp sword. “If you’re looking for a real fight then you’ll get one!” The griffin told him with a bloodthirsty grin as it brought the sword up to Ethan’s chest level. “Of course, I’m always looking for a good due-” Ethan began, unfortunately for him Holly had different ideas and the griffon’s head exploded in a splatter of gore. Ethan “Aww, come on! It’s been forever since I had a good workout for my blade skills.” Ethan grumbled. “Fuck that; let’s just get into that tower before they decide to do something worse than try and shell us with artillery.” Holly said shortly. Ethan grumbled a little more, but shrugged and began to run towards the gate to the walls surrounding the tower. The sound of a dozen rifles came from behind them as they ran, but neither looked back as the bullets slammed into the concrete behind them. Once they reached the gate Ethan shoved Holly in front of him while they were forced to stand still. His hand darted out and pressed the button underneath the speaker. “What the hell are you doing out there?!” A voice on the other end shouted. “Oh you know, charging our way through a raider army. Now would you kindly open the goddamned door?” Ethan asked sarcastically. “It’s a thousand caps entry fee each.” The voice on the other end told him. “Fine, we’ve got the caps. NOW LET US IN!” Ethan roared partly in anger, partly in pain as a .50 caliber anti-material rifle round smacked into his shoulders and sent him smashing face-first into the gate, which opened a second later. “Of course it opens a second too late.” Ethan groaned as he crawled through the gate with the assistance of Holly’s magic. The gate closed with a snap. “Are you okay Ethan?” Holly asked as concern filtered into her normally hard, gruff voice. “Oh yeah, give me a few hours of sleep and I’ll be fine. Now if you’ll kindly excuse me, I need to pass out now.” Ethan replied with a smile before his eyes closed and his head hit the ground with a dull smack.