//------------------------------// // Chapter 15 // Story: Fallout Equestria - No More Tears // by Darkstarr48 //------------------------------// *BANG!* Mmmmmh, what a night. I woke up all sweaty and warm, pulled deep under the covers with pillows on either side of my head. The alcohol sparked sex fire raged until the sun began to rise, and it was one of the most fun evenings ever. I was still tired from all the activity, and even a little sore. Another thing on my mind was whether or not I should still be considered a virgin. I was blurry on the technicalities. *BANG! BANG!* I was awoken by the sounds of hammers outside, striking on rare occasions. I was more comfortable than I had been in ages, so I opted not to move. I couldn't get last night off my mind. In an attempt to distract myself, I wondered what the others were up to. I imagined Boomer out harassing the bartender, then Wendy and Ditzy playing a hand of cards. Then I imagined Rusty out training a group of colts how to set wounds. *BANG! BANG! POP! POP! POP! BANG!* I groaned, whoever was hammering sounded like they were missing the nail head quite often. I pulled the pillows around my head tighter and attempted to fall asleep. *BANG! BANG! POP! RATATATATATATAT! KABOOM!* "Hey, that last one sounded like..." I turned over in bed, lifting the covers off and scanning the room which was illuminated bt the noon light. My lover was nowhere to be found. "...Lilly's rifle!" I hastily threw the covers aside and frantically searched for my suit which I found inside out in a corner. I pulled it on, checked the pockets, then threw the door open and dashed out to the living room, almost kicking the locker over whilst retrieving my weapon. I levitated my carbine up by my side and rushed out the door. Luckily I hadn't been a total dumbass and realized it wasn't a builder with tourettes. Smoke burned through the air, and as I adjusted to the light, I saw the townsfolk up in the fortifications, returning fire towards the eastern side of town. Right where the train tracks ended. I sprinted across the street lined with barricades and looked upward. Lilly was up in the sky, evading shots, and occasionally stopping to spot a target, dispatch them, and keep dodging. Though she was hardly more than a dot, I could still make her colors out. From above me, a brown earth pony was thrown off of a set of battlements, half of his neck missing, likely from the effects of the hollowpoint. There was no saving him, so I pushed my queasiness aside and climbed up the barricade where he previously sat to observe the situation. I was on the opposite end of town from the train, which made me think that the pony who was just killed was a lucky shot. Scanning up along the main street, the same scene became more frequent the closer the barricades were to the front lines. I saw Rusty sprint across the street, grabbing one of the fallen Appleoosans by the shirt collar and dragging them to safety, he began patching them up, stopped, put his ear to their chest, and started furiously beating on it in what proved to be a futile attempt to restart their heart. Wasting no time he stood up and dashed over, dragging the nearest fallen friendly to safety and repeating the process, this time successfully, as they picked up their weapon and climbed back into their place on the battlements. He was a very good medic. Further up the street, The little blue colt was strafing left and right, darting in and out of buildings, all the while launching grenades out in a steep arc that landed at the enemy's front lines, blowing up slavers, each shot injuring at least one. I couldn't hear his sadistic war cry over the gunfire, but I'm sure he was screaming profanities at our attackers as he turned them to bloody splatters and hamburger meat strewn across the field. This battle was of epic proportions, lines of each side firing into one another, effectively mowing each other down. I turned my head from where I crouched to look at the battlements set up on the opposite side of the street. Three foals, two fillies, one a colt were holding small SMGs in their teeth and firing wildly towards the train. Suddenly, one of the filles heads popped and trailed bloody steamers where the bullet had exited. She slumped back lifelessly and sluggishly slipped off the back of the barricade, busting her head open on impact with the ground. I held my tears and my vomit as I stared at the dead child. One of her two friends turned back around and screamed for them, reaching out to the corpse. The other shook his head and directed her attention back to the train. All of this was happening silently, drowned out by the deafening static of gunfire. I looked at the filly and could tell, even though her head had been busted open, the shot was clean, right through the eye and through the brain. The slavers had a sniper, a sadistic one who murdered children without their cutie marks. I brought my carbine up over the barrier and looked through the attached scope. Unfortunately, its zoom wasn't strong enough to get a clear look at the enemy lines, so I produced my binoculars and scanned. In the back of the train was a large buck on a mounted machine gun who appeared to be laughing as he mowed side to side. I heard the boom of Lilly's rifle and in a bright flash, he simply ceased to exist. Explosive rounds. Neato. From the sides of the train, they had their own barricades set up, and for some reason, we had given them sufficient time to dig adequate trenches. Only about three quarters used them, as the others were out in front unprotected. One would fall every second, save the combos courtesy of my favorite little sadist. I looked about and found him, there he was. The enemy sniper sat at the front of the train, his rifle perched over the canopy of the engine. He had camouflaged himself well, as I couldn't tell he was there save his exposing muzzle flash. I looked towards the sky and saw Lilly was still looping and shooting, unaware of his presence. I needed a way to signal her, which with a little thinking outside of the box, wouldn't be too hard. I climbed down from my fortification, the other two occupants having shared the same fate as the first, and slipped into the nearest building. It was a house and in the far corner was a mare cowered down, she would wince and jerk every time a bullet grazed the building or chipped through the wall. I looked around the house and found what I was looking for, I looked at her and gave her a nod, and slipped into their bathroom, where I punched their mirror and took out a shard about the size of my hoof. I gave her a nod of thanks as I slipped back out and climbed back to my spot. I tilted the mirror around, hoping to catch the glare and shine it across Lilly who was still flying in her erratic patterns. Catching her was easier said than done, because as anyone could guess, the patterns were meant to be evasive. However I eventually caught her, sweeping a bright glare across her eyes. She froze and began descending, eventually reaching the ground and clambering up onto the scaffolding with her rifle in tow. "GLAD TO SEE YOU'RE UP SUNSHINE!" She screamed, It was barely audible, but I could hear her enough to get the gist of what she was saying. "GLAD TO BE HERE!" I screamed back. "I NEED TO TELL YOU SOMETHING!" "WHAT!? YOU NEED TO SPEAK UP!" "I SAID, I NEED TO TELL YOU SOMETHING!" I screamed with all the voice I could muster. "SPIT IT OUT! I NEED TO GET BACK INTO THE FIGHT!" She yelled urgently. "SNIPER! FRONT OF THE TRAIN BEHIND THE CANOPY, TAKE CARE OF HIM" I yelled, leaning in to say it into her ear. I kissed her on the cheek and pulled up her wings, shoving her off of the ramparts where she instinctively took to the air. I brought my binoculars up to my eyes and focused in on the sniper, who seemed blissfully unaware that he was being targeted. That ended when a bullet embedded itself in the canopy, stunning him where he fell off the train with his rifle. He staggered up and began sprinting for cover behind a rock. His dash was stopped as one of Lilly's rounds caught him in the temple, evaporating his head into mist, flinging his body back and sending his hat spinning comically into the air. I chuckled in morbid amusement, then decided I should move up. I looked towards the sky at Lilly who gave me a nod before reaching almost cloud altitude and continuing her erratic flight patterns. I stepped off of the barricade and began running down the side of the street. It was lined with bodies, some of which were dead, others still screaming in pain from their dismemberment and bodies twitching, desperately seeking contact with their nervous system. I stopped behind another barricade which was made from a wagon and watched a skinny medic gallop up to a friendly in the street. His helmet fit him loosely and I watched the little red cross bob up and down as he kneeled by the patient, checking his pulse which had just recently stopped. He began chest compressions on him when a bullet struck his helmet and he fell over in shock. He staggered back up into a sitting position unharmed, removing his helmet and examining the bullet lodged into the side of it. That was something amazing, that looked like a pretty big round too. I watched his head explode as his instantly lifeless corpse dropped the helmet in his hooves. Amazing helmets don't help unless they're on your head. I got up and continued running, narrowly avoiding a spray of bullets that chased me into the clock tower. I climbed the ladder, ignoring that I had almost been mowed down. Inside the watchtower was a slightly less macabre sight. Only one was dead, slumped in the corner who had died from a series of shots to the body. I kneeled by the living Appleoosans and received a wink from our friendly neighborhood Buck the bartender. I nodded back at him and smiled before bringing my rifle up and observing the field. As targets made themselves visible, I would unleash a three round burst reloading when unnecessary. A nice trick I learned was to wound a target, and when their friends came to help, get a double on them. It seemed like a dirty trick, but hey, whatever it took to protect this town. I stood in the watchtower, taking potshots through the narrow slit and taking down targets when I was joined at my side by Wendy. He had been shot in multiple places, but had been patched up pretty well. He smiled at me and asked, "How're you doing?" It was quieter in the tower so we didn't have to scream. "Alive. How are you?" I asked back at him. "Great, sore but alive as well. I came to tell you all to put pressure on the right side, they're trying to come around and bomb from the flanks. The left is watching their side. Silver says that If we keep this defense up, we can push them back, but only as long as our front lines don't fall. Kay?" I nodded and smiled, "Good to see you're alive." "You too." He echoed before fishing a few clips put of his bags and dropping them beside me. He disappeared back down the ladder. A resonant ping brought me back to attention as a bullet glanced off of the bell in the tower and embedded itself beside me in the floor. I shuddered and looked out the slit. A first group was approaching around the right side. "You heard him! Open fire!" I ordered hoarsely. Luckily all of the tower's dwellers respected me enough to shift targets and drop the small team of three in a matter of seconds. The second group came and picked up the explosives and continued their forward movement. I quickly gave the order to "Slot the bastards." And returned to my firing at the train. I popped the head of the gunner on the back and felt accomplished until another pushed his corpse aside and took his place. I continued to fire, and I soon learned the value of S.A.T.S. targeting, snapping between targets with computer aided precision and dropping each one of them, reloading at the end of the firing sequence. Hmm, how deliciously powerful. "SHIT! THEY'VE PLANTED!" Buck yelled, dropping to the ground, No one else did a thing. The explosion was almost deafening, making my ears ring and slamming me back against the wall. The tower swayed back and forth, deciding which way it wanted to fall, I quickly jumped up and grabbed at a support beam and held on, watching in slow motion as the tower chose its fall pattern and as the ground rushed towards me and the other free falling ponies. Oh Shit. The world went black and all I could feel was pain. I sat up. Hazily looking around me. I couldn't remember what I was doing here. What was going on? I tried to recollect my thoughts, but the ringing in my ears was making them scatter like radroaches when you turned the lights on. I lifted my hooves to my face and examined them, covered in the dirt, ash, grime and blood from what I believed to be a battle. Nothing was piecing together as I sat there, contemplating the means of my situation. The world was brought back to me with the screech of gunfire and my aural nerves reconnecting providing my brain with a constant scream of throbbing pain. Oh yeah, I had forgotten where I was, silly me. I staggered up and ran for cover, only my body wasn't following the path my brain had set for me. I swayed all around, strafing back and forth, willing myself forward to the cover, which I eventually reached. I looked around the corner at the front lines. I couldn't judge distances. I lost my depth perception, cause my left eye was sightless once more. I made a check to make sure it was still there, which it was. The shellshock began to wear off and I could feel my body again. I wasn't as dizzy anymore, and the vision in my bad eye flickered as if it were reconnecting. All I could think to do was fire blindly over the barrier into the train. Rusty sprinted up and kneeled beside me, waving a hoof in front of my face. I barely responded, so I felt his hooves pry my mouth apart and pop in a couple of Mint-als. He moved my jaws, chewing for me. The drug began to take effect and with a gasp, all of my senses came back and pain stabbed me up the ribs. I had been shot at least three times while I was in my loopy state. I became totally conscious of my situation and gave Rusty a wink and a smile, pushing my pain away and rushing further up, all the way to the front lines. Nope, hadn't changed since I looked at it through the binoculars. Dead littered the edges of the streets and the edges of the barricades. No Pony's land between the two entrenched sides was speckled with the bodies from both sides that were dumb enough to charge right into the open like that. Peering around the corner, it seemed that the slavers were in fact pulling back. What was left of their forces began seeking cover and jumping back up into the train. "GO GO GO!" Urged Silver Star as I saw him running out into the open. What remained of our forces rushed forth in a push, all of us screaming our own battle cries. Mine being, 'Please don't let this be a stupid idea!' The machine gunner continued spraying into our charge, dropping those running alongside me every now and then. But we had the advantage of numbers. That was until Lilly topped the final gunner in line. Then they were fucked. We surged around their cover, all of us drawing our melee weapons, from combat knives to sharpened spades, we literally cut down all of what remained in a savage push of vengeance unlike anything I imagined the peaceful Appleoosans were capable of. Their sadistic mutilation of the slaver's corpses rivaled that of raiders as we swept forward, crushing the life from the remaining few. Our charge, headed by Silver Star surrounded the very last one, who was quivering, holding a butter knife in his hooves. He began to cry as the sheriff grasped him by the mane and dragged him across the ground, the crowd moshing around him, heading towards the sheriff's office. Whatever they were doing, I didn't want the purity of the Appleoosans to be tainted any more than it already had. Killing that last one would complete the transition from peaceful townsfolk to bloody relentless raiders. I had to settle them down. Pushing my stage fright aside, I clambered atop the train, levitating my carbine above my head. I shouted in the best voice I could, "TODAY, HOPEFULLY YOU ALL HAVE SATISFIED YOUR VENGEANCE. YOU KILLED PROBABLY MOST IF NOT ALL OF THE APPLEOOSA SLAVERS, IF I WERE THEM, I WOULDN'T BE MESSING WITH US ANYMORE! LOOK AROUND AT ALL THE DEATH AND DESTRUCTION THIS FIGHT HAS CAUSED, AND WHILE IT WAS DUE FOR THE SLAVERS, A LOT OF GOOD PONIES DIED TODAY! BUT IN THE END, IT MUST BE WORTH IT! AM I RIGHT?!" As cliche and cheesy as the victory speech was, it still received a lot of victorious screams, whoops and yelling in affirmation. I stumbled down from the top of the train and began the long limp back to the sheriff's office that had been forsaken by the townspeople. I pulled open the door and slumped in a chair next to Rusty, who just happened to be sitting in here with me. I picked up on listening into what was happening between the remaining Slaver and the Sheriff. "Now, we killed nearly all ya'll, and it was rightly so. We've suffered from yer slavin' for way too long, and we ain't havin' it no more. So here's the deal. You can walk back across them mountains with yer tail between yer legs to your superiors, whom I doubt will be pleased to hear this." His voice lowered, but was still audible. "Or you can avoid the red tape." Star slid something across the table which scraped to a halt. He came to the door and walked into this room, standing across from us, lowering his eyes slightly, scowling at the ground. After a long silence, all of us but Star cringed as a pistol round went off in the next room. We heard a body drop, knocking over a chair and shattering what sounded like a shotglass. Star sighed and sat with us. I winced again, this time from pain. I hadn't noticed Rusty had began to treat my wounds. "Lost a lot of good ponies today." Star said with a sigh, removing his hat for the first time I had ever witnessed. "I don't know if it was worth it." "Sure it was." I say. "It may not seem like it now, after all this settles down end everyone realizes what they just did, its going to take a while to *ngh* let the wounds heal." He just shook his head. "We was peaceful folk. Appleoosa used to be a nice hos'pitbal place where anyone and everyone could come and stay without fear. Now, I doubt we can keep that reputation." "But you can always get it back. You may not see it now, but this probably saved a ton of ponies in the future. You all don't have to worry about the slavers anymore." "Ah guess you're right." He said looking up at us. "This town's still around, an once we pick up the pieces, we ain't gotta worry no more." "See? No big deal. In fact, you'll probably be loved by a lot of wastelanders." What I thought would cheer him up actually seemed to worsen his unease. "Yeah, and b'come vilified by Red Eye and his goons." I heard that name before back when I was a slave, and the way Star used it didn't exactly suggest he was friendly. "Who's Red Eye?" I asked, to which the sheriff gave a genuine chuckle. "Red Eye's the head of the wasteland's slave trade. Well, he doesn't really trade them, he just buys and stockpiles them. He's tryin' to make an army to take over whatever's left of Equestria." "If someone's in control of the country again, doesn't that mean we can rebuild? Start over?" Another laugh, this one sarcastic. "Yeah, you'd think wouldn't ya? The problem is the way he goes about it. You wanna unify everyone, not just enslave em. And don't get me started on his real motives." "What are his motives?" "Nothin' like what he says. That's for damn sure." He grumbled. I went to ask another question about how he knew, but was cut off by a yelp of pain as Rusty yanked a bit of shrapnel from my side. It began to bleed, so he stuffed it with a rag and held up a potion which I generously drank. Blood loss had already begun to affect me, but the Mint-als wearing off made it worse. The world began to spin as I stumbled up from my chair. "I'm gonna go lay down, tired." I slurred, tipping over against Rusty who stood up to catch me. Star tipped his hat as Rusty led me out the door. The chaos outside had subsided as everyone began hoofing through the piles of the dead, trying, but hoping not to discern their loved ones from the mass of blood and gore. I was already weak, but the blood and the crying children, parents and even loaners was too much. I put my face into Rusty's neck and ignored all the sounds as he blindly led me across town, back to our house. We opened the door and I rushed inside, letting myself fall down on the sofa, visually staining it every time I moved, but I didn't care, better this than the bed. I sighed and closed my eyes, thinking about Buck. No one else but me survived the falling tower, so I'm sure Buck was with Celestia now, wherever that was. I didn't cry though, I just stared at the ceiling absently, wondering who I wouldn't see again. I guess a rescue mission for his wife and son was unnecessary now. I hadn't even thought about my friends. I pushed those thoughts aside, the thought of losing my friends was unbearable. Rusty left and came back with a pail of water and a cloth. "You may wanna wash up. Don't want those wounds to get infected." I knew the healing potions closed the wound, but it still left the area prone to infection, which I imagined was pretty hard to avoid in the wastes. I nodded in thanks and sat up, unzipping my suit and peeling it off of my coat. Underneath, the hairs of my coat were matted with sweat but relatively clean in contrast to my hooves and any other bit of my body not covered by my suit. I really didn't want a mirror. I laid down on my side, the wounded side up, where I levitated the cloth from the bucket. I began to wash around the little pits created when the potion healed over the open holes in my side. They were tender, but the warm raw soothed the pain away. My Pip-Buck clicked a couple times, signifying the water was radioactive, bur by the temperature, it had been boiled, so It was somewhat clean. By wasteland standards anyway. "Can you take care of yourself?" Rusty asked, standing up from where he was kneeling. "Because I've gotta go help the others who are still alive." I tuned my head and nodded at him. He stood up and turned trotting to the door. "Thanks Rusty." I said with a smile. He turned and nodded a 'your welcome' and stepped out. As he left, I sat up painfully, beginning to wash my face with the rag. I wrung out the rag and sat it beside me, as I dunked my head in the pail. I brought my head up dripping, feeling the hot water run down my neck and off of my back dripping onto the sofa. It had just occurred to me how long it had been since I had taken a shower, it surprised me, and quite frankly offended me that I had forgotten. I don't guess that my friends had cleaned themselves either, and I wondered how none of us had noticed. I dried my face and mane with the wrung out cloth, letting myself relax. Today was going to be a tough day to forget, but luckily we could take as much time off as we wanted to recuperate. I wanted to stomp High n' Mighty so much, but it could wait. They weren't going anywhere. Rush but no rush. I dipped my tail in the bucket and wrung it out with my magic. My thoughts started drifting towards home again. They went through my head painfully. They were the same ones I always had. Parents, Overmare, etc. I dipped the cloth and washed my flanks, wiping blood and soot off of them with each swipe. And what of Lilly? I allowed myself to think about that, about what I would do If I lost her. I had only Known her for over a week, and had dated her for no more than a few days, but It felt like I had known her for years. I guess it was cause she seemed a lot like mom, only more... snarky. The perfect duplicate of my mom out here was Ditzy, they were two of a kind in almost every way aside from cosmetic differences. Shit, I wonder how Ditzy fared. I doubt I could handle losing another mom. I stood and levitated the bucket with me as I walked outside disrobed of any clothing save my Pip-Buck, which wouldn't come off If I wanted it to. I went along the side of the house and levitated the bucket up, I looked up and closed my eyes, pouring its contents over me in a brief shower. It felt nice, like a long lost comfort of home. The bucket emptied, and I wrung out my mane and tail again, undoing the ponytail and letting it fall down along my neck. My hair was actually pretty long when I let it down. I slung it over my shoulder and shook off. I limped over to the porch and overturned the bucket, sitting on it like a stool. Sitting there, a lot of stallions walking past me shot me a quick glance, before continuing on their paths to wherever they were headed. I relaxed a bit, leaning against the wall of the house, watching a dot descend from the sky. In a slow helix, Lilly descended , stopping in the street and trotting over. She gave me a grin, adjusting her mane which had been blown back by the wind, but aside from ruffled hair, appeared mostly untouched. She wasn't distraught like the rest of the ponies, she actually seemed to be in a good mood, but calmer than she usually was. "Hey hey there pretty lady, looking good. Do something with your mane?" I chuckled, glad to have a sweet distraction from the discord around me. "I took a shower and let my mane down, why?" "It seems I'm not the only one taking a look at you." She motioned back to the road and the various passing ponies. "You were cute before, you're looking sexy now." I laughed at the joke. "Hey I mean that!" She quickly said. Realizing it was a complement I felt myself blush, was it even possible to be unwittingly sexy? Damn, nope, cant do this, I'm busy moping. "You alright, you look pretty good yourself." I said, half way complimenting her looks, half way checking to see if she was hurt. "Shot clipped one of my wings but I'm okay, you?" I turned to my side, showing her the three pink dips running up my side, to which she hissed. "You alright? That looks bad." "Yeah, I'm really sore and tired, but other than that, I'm okay." "I'm tired too, wanna go catch some sleep?" She asked. I shook my head, "Nope, I'm gonna stay up as long as it takes to make sure our group gets back together. Rusty just left, and no post battle signs of Boomer or Wendy." "I wouldn't worry too much about Boomer, he's probably just off somewhere gutting a corpse." "Yeah, that's what I'm worried about." I said frowning slightly. I stood up and headed for the door inside. The light was giving me a headache. Lilly followed me inside where we both plopped down on the couch with a box of cereal. It was around 3 o clock when we headed inside. Wendy got home at 4, and Rusty came in at 6. Both were welcomed with happy receptions. All except for Boomer, who much to my worry hadn't shown up yet. We all stayed at home up til around midnight. I began to voice my concern to my friends about his demise. "Don't worry, we checked all of the Intact bodies. Boomer wasn't among them." Rusty assured. "What about the dismembered or decapitated ones?" I asked, still not satisfied. "The torso of a blue colt was found, but it was too big to be Boomer." Well, that surely eased my distress... not. At around 12:30, our front door burst open, and there, reeking of alcohol and blood was the kid we had been waiting on. He staggered in with a nearly empty bottle of vodka, smiling and mumbling out incoherent chatter which sounded along the lines of 'We won.' He brought the bottle up to his lips and chugged the rest, before giving in and vomiting all over the floor, then collapsing into the pungent puddle of liquid in a quivering heap. We all sat, stunned and frankly offended that he had shown up like this, but I levitated him up out of it, glad to see him safe. Safe being a relative term, I doubted that this was his only bottle. I sat him in the sink, and looked around the cabinets for a bottle of dirty water which I poured over him, washing the vomit from his coat effortlessly. I decided that as punishment for showing up like this, I'd let him sleep in the sink. He didn't seem to mind now, being unconscious and all, but it would definitely have a negative impact on him tomorrow. Each of us retreated to our bedrooms, and I slipped back into the spot where I had been so comfortably been laying this morning. Lilly climbed in behind me, and realizing the sensitivity of the subject, wrapped an arm around my front and draping her wing over me. I wordlessly laid into her, pulling up the covers telekinetically before letting myself drift off to sleep. ================================================================================ Footnote: Level Up Perk Added: Pain Train - You've taken some heavy caliber rounds and lived to tell the tale. +15% Damage resistance. Plus another 15% added whenever Mint-als are used. Perk removed: Lover's Respite ================================================================ I'd like to thank KKat for writing the original Fo:E for writing an unbelievably great story, and Somber, for writing Project Horizons, the story that pushed me over the edge and forced me to try my hand in writing.