//------------------------------// // Chapter 5 // Story: Fallout Equestria: Equestrian Wanderings // by ed2481 //------------------------------// Edited by TacoTown Chapter 5 Sarah Lyons loved her powerarmor, but she’d long ago learned what she could do without it when she had to. For example, as when she was stuck with only her black under suit and a pair of black pants. She also loved her plasma rifle. Sarah was the kind of woman who preferred to kill things from far away, with minimal danger to herself or her squad mates. Sarah Lyons had also spent every day for the last five years fighting eight foot tall creatures capable of feats of superhuman strength. Thanks to that, Sarah Lyons was an extremely competent and deadly person to be fighting, either at a distance or up close and personal. Star Sentinel Sarah Lyons, daughter of Elder Owyn Lyons, and current Commander of the Lyons Pride also happened to have been trained in personal combat by Paladin Gunny himself. That meant that not only was she extremely proficient at close combat fighting, but she was also extremely dirty at it to. “Well lookie here boys, fresh meat!” A raider pony said to several others. Sarah had no idea how a horse was talking, but she was more willing to bet that it was Ethan’s fault. The fact that she’d just been referred to as ‘meat’ told her exactly what type of being that pony was, specifically that he was raider. The fact that she was being referred to as meat also told her something else, it told her that they were going to try and rape her. This was a very bad idea on their part. There three of them standing several feet away from where she was leaning back against the soot covered building. All were wearing the typical raider garb, which is to say leather, spikes, and lots of blood sprinkled in for good measure. None of them were prepared for what happened next, and even if they had been it wouldn’t have helped them very much. Her body surged forward and she tackled the raider to the ground while smashing her knee into his crotch. She bore him to the ground and delivered an elbow to the windpipe that forced the pony to futilely gasp for breath while Sarah moved onto the next target. The next closest pony was a mare, and Sarah’s hands flashed out and caught her by the back of her head. With a grunt Sarah smashed the raider into the cracked concrete ground face first, and the sound of breaking teeth filled the air for a second before Sarah’s foot stomped down onto the mare in the back of the head in with a sickening crack. It paid to be wearing steel toed combat boots. The other three had recovered from their shock at the first of their numbers’ defeat and were in the process of charging her. “I’m going to kill you!” The last stallion shouted. Sarah froze where she was for a second before she pivoted and slammed both of her fists into the top of his head. The raider staggered backwards, and Sarah pressed her advantage by delivering a powerful kick that caught him in the chest flinging him backwards into a nearby wall. Sarah finished him off with a powerful stomp of her boots. She had just killed three small horses, all of whom could apparently talk, and were dressed up like raiders. She sighed again before her face hardened with resolve. She was going to get out of wherever she was, she was going to find Ethan Smith, and then she was going to carve him a new asshole. A startled gasp from in front of her made the woman look up to see a medium sized blue unicorn stallion looking at her in confusion. “Wha-What are you?” The pony asked in a slightly hesitant voice. Sarah let out a groan; this was going to take some getting used to. “I’m a soldier of the Brotherhood of Steel, and I’m looking for a man named Ethan Smith. Mostly because I’m sure that this is his damned fault” Sarah said slowly in a calm voice. “Have you seen or heard of him?” She asked in a kind voice that she reserved for people who were on a hair trigger. To her surprise, the pony nodded. “Wait, you have?” She asked in confusion. “Actually yes, he’s been all over the radio lately.” The pony said with a slightly relived sigh now that he now both knew she wasn’t going to kill him and that he suspected that he knew what she was. As he flipped a switch on a device that closely resembled a Pip-Boy that was attached to his foreleg an eerily familiar voice came out of the machine. This DJ-Pon3, bringing you some news. Guess what Wasteland, I met the human! His name is Ethan Smith, and he stopped by the studio to give old Pon3 an interview… “Of fucking course.” Sarah groaned. “I really shouldn’t be surprised; this is Ethan, so of course the first thing he does is head for the nearest radio station.” She said sourly “So you’re a human, like this Ethan guy too?” The stallion asked as he took a step towards her curiously. “Yeah, but I’m a woman instead of a man.” Sarah told the buck with a nod. “Like I said. I’m a soldier with the Brotherhood of Steel, what are you?” She added “I’m a unicorn.” The pony said simply “Oh?” Sarah asked. “Oh what? I said I’m a unicorn.” The unicorn said with a slight snort of annoyance. “Fine, that makes sense. Mostly because I have the oddest feeling that Ethan somehow over did it with those cocktail that he decided to make and that I’m actually passed out naked next to him in a chemical induced coma.” Sarah said with a slight sigh. “You’ve got quite the imagination there.” The unicorn told her with a slight chuckle while Sarah began searching the dead raiders for goods. Ordinarily she wouldn’t have bothered, but considering that she was almost naked at the moment it would probably be a good idea to pick up a few items. “So, let’s just say that I’m not in a coma; where the fuck am I?” Sarah asked “Well, you’re in Fillydelphia. It’s a slave city run by a megalomaniac who won’t shut the FUCK up about how he’s going to bring peace back to the Wasteland and how all of the workers will eventually rise up and be good ponies and all the other pretentious bullshit that ponies like him tell themselves.” The blue unicorn said with a scowl. “Of course, why should I be surprised?” Sarah asked rhetorically as she stood up from her looting. The grand total of her loot turned out to be two switchblades and a syringe of Med-X, all of which she stuck into the convenient pockets of her pants. “It isn’t as if there can be any other kind of assholes in the wasteland other than the ones who are either preaching equality or fornicating with the bodies of dead children as they stand on top of a throne of skulls.” She continued with an annoyed frown, getting an amused snort from the unicorn. “So what’s you name anyways? Because right now in my head I’m referring to you as the woman, and it’s getting really annoying.” The unicorn asked. “Sarah, Sarah Lyons.” Sarah told the unicorn with a small smile. “So what’s your name, magical creature who seems to be inhabiting my drunk dreams?” She asked. “Winterberry, my name is Winterberry.” He replied. “Yep, it’s official. I’m drunk out of my mind.” Sarah said with a sigh. “Do you mind if I just call you Winter?” “Works for me. So, friends?” Winter asked, extending a hoof. Sarah bent down to shake it and exchanged a firm handshake with the pony. “Friends.” Sarah replied with a nod. Now that she was standing close enough to shake his hoof she noticed something about Winter. He was malnourished. If her experiences in the Wasteland had taught her anything it was how to blow a super mutant’s head off, and if there was anything else that they’d taught her it was how to tell whether or not someone was currently starving to death. And Winter was starving to death. his ribs weren’t quite pocking out of his side, but they were easily visible if you knew where to look. Furthermore a thick latticework of scaring could be seen beneath the fur of his back and shoulders. A grimace flowed over Sarah’s face and her teeth began to grind together as she thought about what was happening to this poor stallion. He was slowly being worked to death! “Is something wrong Sarah?” Winter asked as he pushed his green mane out of his eyes. “Yes, yes it is.” Sarah replied as a current of palpable disgust flowed through her voice. “It’s disgusting that someone can do this to someone else. I’m not a green initiate who thinks that they can singlehandedly change the world, but I’ve seen the worst the Capital Wasteland can provide, and I’ll be damned if I let this place continue to do what it’s obviously doing to you.” She replied evenly as she reached for the place where her plasma rifle normally hung on her back only to find nothing but air between her fingers. “Ha, I’ve been here for two weeks. It’s much worse for others.” The blue unicorn said with a scowl. “Well then we’re going to be establishing some changes around here.” Sarah told him with a hard voice. “Good luck, we’re in Fillydelphia. The only thing that changes here is the shift.” Winter told her with a frown. “Look, our real problem here is the fact that you’re not a pony. If you were it might be possible to hide you, but you’re not. That means that hiding you is going to be close to impossible unless you’re the stealthy type, and no offence, but you don’t exactly look the type.” Winter continued. “Sneaking has never really been my strong suit.” Sarah admitted. “And you’ve been here for longer than I have so I’ll defer to your judgment for now. So what should I do next?” Sarah asked. “Follow me and I’ll introduce you to my ‘master’-” Winter told her with a scowl “-she’s not so bad as far as slavers go, and I’m sure having you as one of her ‘stock’ would make her look a little more impressive to her betters. All things considered, that’s the best thing that you can do.” Winter explained. “I’m no one’s slave.” Sarah told him. “Well then you’ll be dead sooner rather than later. If you’re not a slave in Fillydelphia then you’d better be a master, otherwise you’re dead.” The blue unicorn explained as his scowl deepened. Sarah’s jaw clenched tightly for a moment as her inner stubbornness appeared, but she sighed and slowly her jaw loosened. “Fine, but the first person to try and rape me is getting the same treatment as them.” She said with a nod towards the now stinking, although they’d smelled bad before, bodies of the raiders. “I’d try and avoid crippling or killing anypony from now on, it hurts productivity.” He said sourly before spitting on the bodies and then beginning to stride out of the alley with Sarah following closely behind him. Sarah coughed a bit as she was met by a wave of sickly ash coated air and immediately began to frown as the fumes of industrial work and suffering hit her in the face. In the alley she’d sensed it, but it hadn’t been overpowering. Here she could see individual pieces of ash as they floated by. “What a shithole.” She muttered just loud enough for Winter to hear. “Heh, tell me about it.” The stallion replied as he came to a stop. It was then that Sarah noticed the multitude of eyes that had begun to track her the moment that she left the alley. Apparently, the scuffle between her and the raiders had been louder then she’d thought, and Winter had been the first one with the balls to see what had happened. There were at least two dozen ponies looking at her in various states of curiosity, all of whom were ragged and starving. They looked at her, and Sarah could tell that some of them were sizing her up, seeing if she’d be easy prey. In answer to their unasked questions Sarah scowled as she wiped some of the raider blood off of her boots so that it was clearly visible to the watchers. A sudden gunshot made all of the slaves jump in surprise with the exception of Sarah, whose only response was to search for the source of the shot. She found it quickly. The mare holding the gun in an odd yellow light that seemed to be coming from her horn was striding purposely towards them. Her red fur was mostly covered in black leather armor, and a yellow mane trailed around her face. A pair of green eyes glared at all the slaves, and they began to slowly back away from Sarah and Winter. “Who are you?” The mare asked slowly in a quiet voice. “Sarah Lyons.” Sarah told her. “Do you belong to anyone yet?” The slaver asked. “To myself.” Sarah replied, her voice was steely and her eyes were hard as solid granite. Winter sighed quietly and rolled his eyes. “Winterberry 23, do you know what happened to my three raiders who were sent to investigate the noise?” The mare asked, turning to Winter, her voice had turned quiet and dangerous. “She killed each of them, unarmed.” Winter answered. “She killed three ponies at once, unarmed?” The mare asked slowly. “To be fair she didn’t kill them all at once master, she killed them one at a time.” Winter answered, he was unable to keep a small smirk off of his face. The grin disappeared as the whip that the slaver carried at her hip cracked across his foreleg and made him jump in pain as a thin trickle of blood began to flow from his wrist. “Keep your wit to yourself Winterberry 23.” The slaver said calmly before turning back to Sarah. “And what do you have to say about killing three of my stock?” She asked. “That they were unskilled fighters and that I didn’t even break a sweat.” Sarah replied coldly. “Hmm…” the mare said before sending the whip slashing out at Sarah’s face. The woman’s hand shot up and caught the whip an inch away from her face. Her eyes were hard and determined, despite the pain that was rushing through her hand and the adrenaline that flowed through her veins. Her fist was clenched around the tip of the whip so tightly that her knuckles were turning white; she’d almost missed catching it. Even though she’d caught it, she could feel blood beginning to well up from her clenched palm. The other slaves had disappeared at this point and the only people around were Sarah, Winter, and the mare. “You’re a soldier of some kind, aren’t you?” The mare asked. “Yes.” Sarah answered simply. “I thought so; you have the look about you.” She mused as she snapped the whip out of Sarah’s hand with a small burst of yellow light, making Sarah’s hand bleed even more. “I suppose I’ll just use you for the jobs I don’t trust my raiders to do…” She said before she trailed off. Then faster than Sarah could react, the whip shot out twice and slashed into her arms opening up two new cuts that began to bleed. “Know your place slave. From now on your name is Sara Lyons 24, or slave. You will address me as Mistress, or Mistress Dove and you will NOT kill anypony who I do not personally tell you to kill.” The mare said it calmly as she coiled the whip back up and reattached it to her hip. “Stay with Winterberry 23, he should be able to keep you from injuring yourself and he can probably find something for you to do while I think of someone that I need you to do.” She continued politely before turning her back to them. “I’m off to inform Lord Red Eye that I’ve acquired you, try not to die while I’m gone.” With that the slaver walked off leaving Sarah alone with Winter, bleeding and angry. “She. Is. Dead!” Sarah muttered as she instinctively reached for the pocket where she kept her stimpacks on the few and far between occasions when she wasn’t wearing her armor in combat. Like the time Ethan had convinced her that poking mirelurks with sticks was fun; they’d been drunk at the time, which really should’ve convinced her to stop drinking with him. Luckily, her stimpacks seemed to have come with her on her journey to magic pony slave city, and she quickly injected one into her arm. “Are those chems?” Winter asked with the sinking suspicion that he was now helping a druggy. “No, they’re stimpacks, they heal and are non-addictive.” Sarah replied curtly as she put the empty syringe back into its pouch. Her arms started tingling and began to heal before her eyes. “Luckily, stimpacks are an all-purpose healer or I’d probably get gangrene or a bad infection from these damn cuts.” Sarah said with a scowl. “How’s your leg?” She added with a look of concern for the light blue stallion. “I’ve had worse, by a lot.” He replied. Winter was already floating a bandage out of his small backpack that Sarah had missed on her initial observation of him. “So… what now?” Sarah asked slowly. “I take you to my humble adobe.” Winter said with a shrug, his voice was full of irony. “As for tomorrow, well, we’ll cross that bitch when we get to her.” *** Ethan awoke in an unfamiliar environment. There was a spotlight pointing down at him from the ceiling, and his Pip-Boy told him that he was surrounded by friendlies. His keen eyes caught the sight of several ponies in cloaks moving around in the darkness beyond the spotlight’s gaze. So they wanted to talk with him. Ethan’s eyes hardened. Oh he’d talk to them all right. “You have ten seconds after I’m done speaking to tell me who you are and why I’m here. If you take longer than that I will kill each and every one of you in ways so unimaginably painful and awful that no one will come looking for you because your dying screams will be so loud and terrible that it will instill a sense of horror so pervasive that the brave will become meek and courageous will become cowardly. I will destroy you piece by piece until all that remains are a scattering of electrons scattered around this room like dust.” Ethan told them in a cold and deadly voice. He waiting just long enough to give them time to recover and he knew that at least one of them was about to answer, but cut the pony off. “We- “Na, I’m just fucking with you.” The man told them lightheartedly with a chuckle. “Seriously though. Who the fuck are you and why aren’t I in my bed?” His voice lowered again, but remained slightly above the deadly hardness that he’d used in his threat. “We are the Twilight Society, and we have some questions for you.” A stallion with a sophisticated accent said. “Oh goodie, I just love it when a bunch of people wearing bed sheets kidnap me and ask me questions.” Ethan told them sarcastically. “You are in no danger; we simply wish to speak with you.” The speaker said. “Well hurry up and say what you’re going to say, I’ve got a tower full of raiders to exterminate and they’re not getting any less rapey while I’m sitting here talking to you morons.” Ethan replied. This response brought about a massive amount of murmuring from the Twilight society members. “Answer our questions and you may leave.” The speaker reassured him. “Well then ask them already!” Ethan exclaimed. “Fine, what is the AI inside of you Pip-Buck?” The speaker asked. “His name is Eddie, and it’s called a Pip-Boy.” Ethan told them with an irritated tone and slight scowl. “Do you know what this Eddie does?” The speaker asked, ignoring Ethan’s annoyed tone for the moment. “Well sure I do, he tells me not to talk to strangers wearing bed sheets!” Ethan replied with a smirk. He heard an annoyed growl from somewhere near the back of the crowd but ignored it. “Look, you blew any chance of me giving you real answers the second that you kidnapped me. Now I’m going to walk out of this room and the first one who tries to stop me is getting punched in the throat.” He told them calmly as he rose to his feet and began to move. “Wait, we just want you to answer our questions!” The voice said. “Yes, and I don’t give a single fuck. You kidnapped me, normally that would be grounds for execution in my book. The only reason why I’m not going to kill any of you is because I wasn’t chained to anything.” Ethan told them. “Here’s a hint, in the future don’t attempt to make people answer your trivia questions after kidnapping them, for some reason it makes people kind of disagreeable.” “I apologize for our-” The original speaker began again, but Ethan cut him off. “I don’t care, fuck off.” He told the group as he began to stride through their ranks. “You’re not supposed to know where we are, if you won’t answer our questions then we’ll have to knock you out and then transport you back to your room.” The stallion told him, his horn began to glow. “Right, well just tr-” Ethan began before he fell over unconscious. “Well that was a waste of time.” A mare said. “I’ve never met someone so infuriating in my life.” The first speaker said with a sigh. “He might have a point though.” Another stallion said. "Perhaps kidnapping ponies isn't the best way to get results." “Bah, let’s just get him back to his room; hopefully he’ll just think this was a dream.” *** Ethan awoke with a wide yawn. Holly looked up from her bed on the opposite side of the room. “Morning.” She said simply. “You sleep well?” “Yeah, I had an odd dream, but other than that I slept great.” Ethan told her as he rolled off of the griffin sized bed that he’d requested. “You ready to go kill some raiders?” He asked with a grin. “Why do you seem so happy about it?” Holly asked with a yawn of her own as she got out of her bed and stretched. “Because killing raiders is fun.” Ethan told her with a smile as he pulled on his armor which had been sent up to the suite, fully repaired, at some point during the night. Donning his duster and checking his pockets to make sure that everything was where he had left it he turned to look back at Holly who was fastening on her combat barding. “Excuse me if I’m not able to indulge my inner blood knight like you are.” Holly told him with a frown as she began to clean her 12.7 pistol, along with a sniper rifle that she’d bought the day before while Ethan had been busy. “Well then you’re excused.” Ethan told her with a chuckle, she glowered at him slightly and the man shrugged. “Anyways, let’s get some breakfast and then go kill some raiders.” *** “We’re being followed.” Ethan intoned quietly as they made their way along the Luna Line. “From where?” Holly asked quietly. “From above, there’s a single Enclave member over there.” Ethan replied with a wry smile. “I was wondering how long it would take them to track us down again.” He added before he turned to a particularly low cloud. “Hey you, pigeon, if you’re going to stalk me would you at least be so kind as to do it in a way that isn’t so painfully obvious?” He shouted up at the cloud. He heard a muffled curse and a single pegasus flew out from behind the cloud. The pegasus was wearing a stealthy lightly armored jumpsuit and a magical energy rifle that closely resembled a plasma rifle was hooked onto his back via a contraption that Ethan had been told was called a battle saddle. The pegasus’s coat was a blue and his mane was a subdued yellow, a pair of brown eyes looked Ethan and Holly over. “So why are you following us?” Ethan asked curiously, he had his hand by his sword hilt, but was doing nothing more threatening than that. “I’ve been tasked with the job of making sure that that AI on your wrist isn’t damaged or destroyed. I was supposed to remain out of sight, but seeing as that’s failed I suppose that I might as well join your little group here.” The stallion said with a small frown. “Well I’ll call bullshit on you trying to stay out of sight, because honest to god I’ve never seen a poorer attempt at stealth in my life. As for joining our group…” Ethan trailed off apparently thinking it over. “Sure, why not.” He decided with a shrug. The pegasus looked shocked, as did Holly. “What, just like that?” The pegasus asked in confusion. “Yeah, what the fuck Ethan?” Holly added. “Well Holly, he’s obviously here to spy on us, and what’s the danger of having someone spy on you if you know that they’re spying on you?” Ethan asked with a smirk. “Besides, the way I look at it we could use a wingman.” He added with a chuckle. “I don’t know…” Holly said trailing off. “Look at it this way Holly, worst comes to worst I can always shoot or decapitate him.” Ethan said with another chuckle. The pegasus had paled slightly at that, but managed to keep his cool. “Fine, but if he fucks us over I’m blaming you.” The green mare said with a snort. “So what’s your name, unless of course you’d just prefer for me to call you Pigeon?” Ethan asked the pegasus. “Day Kicker, I’m in Enclave’s Spec Ops Group.” The pegasus replied. “Works for me. I’m Ethan, and the vulgar mare next to me is Holly.” Ethan explained with a smile as he gestured to himself and then to Holly. “Welcome to the crew, until you decide to betray us at least.” He added with a welcoming grin. “I’m here to keep that AI safe, not to betray you.” The stallion replied. “Wow I had no idea I was so popular before now.” Eddie said from Ethan’s arm. “Look kid, we both know that the Enclave are perfectly willing to cut my arm off for this device. So you’re here to report on my movements and to make sure that in the unlikely event of my death that you can retrieve my Pip-Boy so that you can bring it back to your bosses, right.” Ethan asked the stallion, who nodded slightly. “That was my plan actually.” He consented. “Good, now that we’ve got that out of the way what do you two say we go kill some raiders?” Ethan asked them, his grin was back. Holly and Day exchanged a glance. “What did I just agree to exactly?” Day Kicker asked quietly as the two started walking after Ethan. “We’re taking down a tower full of raiders.” Holly explained. “By ourselves?” The pegasus asked skeptically. “Yes, try and stand behind him.” She replied. “I can already tell that I’ll regret this.” Day said with a sigh. “Welcome to the club.”