Fallout Equestria: The (Mis)Adventures of 'Commander Shepard'

by Stormcaller

First Contact

The sound of water dripping echoed throughout the narrow tunnel as a group of four ponies made their way through it.  The water was thankfully from the storm drains and not the sewers, but still smelled badly.  The only light came from the lead unicorn’s horn, which glowed a bright pink in the near darkness of the tunnel.  The other light came from grates located every along the length of the tunnel, where the water from the streets above would flow down.

“I don’t think this is a good idea...” a stallion’s voice said nervously over the steady splash of hooves in water.  “I think we should go back.”  he brought up the rear of the small group of mostly mares, his tan coat half hidden beneath black combat armor.  Across his back was a pair of saddlebags filled with medical supplies that he hoped he wouldn’t need to use.  He had only recently joined the team a few days ago, but was already regretting it.  He had little to no combat experience, but the Commander had taken a liking to him and, now, here he was.

“Oh, don’t be such a scaredy pony,” said a mare to his right and just above him.  Despite the narrowness of the tunnel, the yellow coated pegasus hovered just above the water, keeping her hooves nice and dry.  “It’s not like there’s anything down here we can’t deal with.”  She lightly patted the battlesaddle she wore across her back with a fore hoof; a machine gun and rocket launcher combo.  Like the stallion, she had only recently joined the Commander, but unlike him, she was a fighter and had already served in the war.  She was cocky though, and ready to get to grips with the enemy.

“Leave him alone, Daisy,”  a purple coated unicorn said as she trotted just ahead of the newcomers.  Her long purple mane flowed about her neck as she turned around to regard them.  She was the team's science pony, named Sparkle. She had served with the Commander for the longest, ever since she’d joined the Alliance.  The reason her magic wasn’t being used to help guide the way through the dank tunnels was due to the fact it was busy holding a number of things up in front of her. “He hasn’t seen half the things we have with the Commander.”

“Oh please, Egghead, if he’d seen half the stuff we have, he’d have never signed up to come with us!” the yellow mare said, flinging her fore legs up into the air.

“I’m not an egghead!” Sparkle said, lowering her numerous scientific instruments to glare back at her winged friend.  “I am a scientist!”

“Um... maybe we shouldn’t be making so much noise...” the stallion said, only to be cut off by Daisy as she flew closer to Sparkle.

“Yeah, yeah, whatever you say... Doctor Egghead.”  The pegasus grinned cockily at the unicorn.

“Um...” the stallion blinked and looked uneasily about the tunnel.

“Why you...!”

“Knock it off, the both of you,” the lead mare said, stopping to look back across her armored shoulder at the two.  “If the reports we’ve heard of a creature leaving beneath the city are true, it would have found us easily thanks to your constant bickering.”  The two arguing mares had the decency to at least look sorry for their foolish behavior.  At least before they both pointed a hoof at the other and shouted out in unison.

“She started it!”

The pink mare stomped her fore hoof into the water and began to whirl on the pair when a loud screech echoed from deep within the tunnel.  The noise caused the group to freeze where they stood.

“Wh... what was that?!” the stallion asked, backing up a few steps from the others, eyes wide and ears perked up in alarm.

“I... I don’t know...” Sparkle said, lowering all but one of her scanners and pointing it towards the source of the noise.

“Well, what are we waiting around here for?  Let’s go kill it!” Daisy said before starting to fly off down the tunnel.  At least until a pink glow surrounded her tail and stopped her from going any further.

“No, we stick together,” the Commander said, her voice firm and golden eyes fixed upon the dark tunnel ahead of them.  “According to Command, this thing is very dangerous and has already attacked a number of ponies on this planet.”

“It’s probably just a lone Reaper or something... easy peasy,” Daisy said.  With a flick of her hoof, the weapon’s safety on her battlesaddle was switched off.  A second later, another loud screech echoed up through the dimly lit passage and caused the winged pony to blink.  “Um... maybe... we should stick together.”  The noise down the tunnel changed to that of scurrying and metal sliding against metal.

“It could be trying to escape, Commander!” Sparkle said, looking up from her scanner towards the pink mare ahead of her.  “If it gets out on the streets... there’s dozens of ponies up there!”

“Come on!” Without bothering to see if the others followed her, the pink coated, black armored mare rushed ahead down the tunnel, water splashing up in her wake.  The glow of her horn sped along the walls and ceilings of the tunnel as she galloped full speed, the odd light from an overhead grate passing over her body.  As the noise grew louder, her horn glowed brighter and she pulled her assault rifle off her side.  The M7 Avenger floated up beside her and the safety clicked off.  Behind her, the others gave chase, nopony eager to be left behind in the tunnels.

As the others caught up with their leader, they turned a corner in the tunnel and spotted a shaft of bright light ahead of them.  It was also the most likely source of the noises they had just heard several seconds before.  Pouring on the speed, the pink mare rushed ahead before splashing to a halt and looking about the tunnel for any sign of their quarry.  All around her was empty tunnel, the only sounds were those of her team slowing up to join her and the lap of water against the tunnel walls.

“Where’d it...” Daisy began to ask when the sound of metal screeching from overhead caught her off guard, yelping in surprise.  Bits of rust rained down atop them as something moved.

Bringing her assault rifle upwards, the Commander narrowed her golden eyes and stared into the light coming in from overhead.  In that light, she saw a shadowy shape disappear through an open ponyhole.

“What the hay was that thing!?” the stallion yelped out from beside the Commander.

They’d only caught a glimpse of it, but it had been enough.  It had more limbs than anything should, and an armored hide.

“I... I think it was a Praetorian...” Sparkle said, ears laid back in fear.

“We’ll figure it out on the surface, move ponies!’ the Commander said, placing her pink hooves upon the rusted metal rungs driven into the wall.  Climbing the ladder quickly, she emerged on the surface in an alley off a main street.  As the others hurried to follow her, she looked out of the mouth of the alley, noticing just how many ponies were out at this time of day.

The streets of the city were packed with ponies.  Those going to and from work, as well as those out for an early morning of shopping or a relaxing day with friends.  It made slow going for anypony in a hurry, such as the group who came barreling out from a side alley and into the busy streets.

“Hey!”

“Watch where you’re going!”

“Ouch... that was my tail!!”

The Commander largely ignored the shouts directed her way as she weaved through the tight press of bodies.  The ponies around her quickly went silent as they noticed just how heavily armed she and her companions were.  The assault rifle she floated beside her came forward.

“Did anypony see where it went?!” the mare shouted to her trailing friends, yellow eyes searching for any sign of the thing they’d been chasing.  Beside her, the purple coated unicorn panted and shook her head slowly while floating a scanner up in front of her face.  “Sparkle, report!”

“Sorry, Commander, it’s not showing up on any of my sensors.”  The unicorn pawed at the ground as her purple eyes scanned the surrounding streets for the beast they’d been chasing before shifting to all the ponies around them.  “If it gets out here, the casualties will be high.”

“Not going to happen,” the Commander answered, stomping the ground with a hoof and laying her ears back.  The third member of their group rose up above them, flapping her wings slowly as she got a pegasus eye view on the scene.

“What the hay was that thing anyway?” Daisy asked, her golden coat reflecting what little light made its way through the overcast sky.  “It was huge... nothing that big should be able to move so quickly.”

“They’re a race called Collectors... from the other side of the universe,” the purple unicorn said from below her, looking away from the scanner to Daisy.  “They’ve only recently returned to our galaxy and have been attacking our colonies all across it.”

“Well, they aren’t gonna attack this colony!” the yellow mare said, checking her battlesaddle weapons system for the second time since they stopped to try and get their bearings.

“Calm down, Daisy, we’ve gotta find this thing before you can kill it,” the pink mare said once again.  She looked to the last member of her team, the stallion trailing behind the rest.  “How you holding up?” she asked.

“I’m doing fine, Su... I mean, Commander,” he said, ears folded to the side as he nervously looked at the other ponies around them.  Most had gone back to doing whatever they had been doing before the team burst among them, but a few were giving odd looks.  He shied away from them and moved closer to the Commander.

The pink mare smiled to the stallion and opened her mouth to give him a few words of encouragement when a scream rent the early morning air.  The group as a whole flipped their ears upright and jerked their heads towards the source.  A mare running away from something hidden behind a building.  Before they could see anything else, the crowd around them closed in once more.

“Commander...!” Sparkle began to say, but the Commander was already running towards the source of the disturbances.  The purple mare took off quickly after her along with the pegasus.  The stallion hesitated for a second before he rushed after them all, not wanting to get left behind.

Once again, ponies yelped out as the group rushed between them, and again the pink mare ignored them.  Her focus was on the creature ahead and saving the citizens.  She bobbed and weaved around an elderly couple and around a mother balancing her young foals and grocery bags upon her back.  She excused herself as she bumped into a stallion and again to a mare.

The trail of confusion they left in their wake was marked by fallen ponies and dropped grocery bags and effects.  A couple shouts and shaking hooves were given towards their receding backsides.

The Commander was the first to burst onto the scene (as she was always known to do) and skidded to a halt before the overturned stall.  All its contents spilled out across the sidewalk and out into the street.  However it wasn’t this that the mare was looking at, but the large beast clinging to the stall, waving it’s many legs towards the owner of the stall.

“Ohmygosh, ohmygosh, ohmygosh!” the stallion said as he rushed up behind the others. “That thing’s huge!”

“I got this!” Daisy dove towards the creature before it could attack the downed stall owner, only to be swatted away by one of its many legs. “Ow!” the mare sailed back over the group and crashed into Sparkle, knocking them both down in a heap of brightly colored limbs.

“Ma... maybe we should get some help!” the stallion said, shaking in fear of the black armored creature as it turned its attention upon them.

“There’s no time!” the Commander yelled and brought her rifle up to bear on the target.  She squeezed the trigger and managed to score a hit on the thing’s side.  The armor was thick, but the armor piercing bullet was made for that sort of thing.  Yellow blood spurted from the wound and the creature yelled out in pain and rage, fixing its many red eyes upon the pink mare.

Before she could get off another shot, the beast lunged towards her.  The commander blinked in surprise... it really did move quickly!  There was no time to bring her weapon up to bear and she brought up her right hoof, letting the Omni Blade form to lash out at the beast.  Seconds before it could strike her however, a pair of heavy saddlebags slammed into it’s side and knocked it off course.  

It crashed beside her on it’s back with a thud and began lashing out wildly with its limbs as it attempted to right itself.  Seeing her chance, the mare brought her hoof up and plunged the blade deep into its body, earning another scream of pain from the monster’s throat and more yellow gunk to come from it’s wounds.  A pair of brown hooves to it’s face ended it’s struggles, as the earth pony stallion bucked it for all he was worth.

CRACK!!

The thing gave a final shudder before going still, leaving the two ponies standing beside it panting.  

“Yo - you alright, Commander?” the stallion asked, flopping onto his backside.

“Yeah... thanks to you,” she answered, floating her assault rifle back to her side and sitting beside him.  “Thanks.”  She smiled and wrapped a fore leg around him, pulling him into a hug and making the stallion blush brightly and smile sheepishly.

“Now, to find out just what this thing is and why it’s here...” the mare beside him said.  Before she could do just that, somepony behind them cleared their throat loudly.  The pink mare blinked her eyes as she recognized the sound, “Uh oh...”

The two ponies turned to look behind them, at a mint green unicorn mare standing in the street, a stern look on her face.  A moment later, she opened her mouth to speak...

“Sugar Pie!  Dusty!! Just what do you two think you're doing?!” the mint green unicorn, Spearmint, yelled to the two foals sitting before her on the sidewalk.  All around them was one big mess, starting with an overturned market stall in front of the pair.  Bits of junk salvaged from throughout the wasteland was scattered about them.  Just beside and behind them was a pair of stuffed toys: a purple unicorn that had belonged to her mother and the larger yellow pegasus her Uncle Shadow had won for her just recently.  They’d fallen atop one another in a heap just behind the scattered wares of the stall.  On the other side of the foals was the largest Radroach she’d ever seen.  It’s legs still twitched despite the fact it was very dead, the yellow fluid it leaked out was everywhere.

“What were you two thinking?” Spearmint asked as she approached them.  The foals looked down and brushed their hooves over the ground.  

“Well, after you dropped me off at Dusty’s to play, we heard a noise in the basement and we overheard Doctor Kindheart complaining about having something messing up his stuff.  So me and Dusty decided to go take care of it for him... in case it was one of the Collectors from Mare Effect,” the little pink filly explained.

“Your Uncle really needs to stop reading you that book before bed...” the mare said, tiredly shaking her head and looking back over the mess.  She quickly scanned the two foals more closely to make sure they were unharmed.  One of Sugar’s hooves was covered in the yellow gunk of the giant bug, mostly around a plastic spork she’d wrapped around her hoof.  The weapon the little pink filly carried, however, drew more of the elderly unicorn’s attention.  “Is that your Uncle’s BB gun?”

“Um... maybe?” Sugar answered, looking up to her caretaker with wide gold eyes and downcast ears.  “We was just trying to save the galaxy from the evil Collectors.”

“Or at least Doctor Kindheart’s basement,” Dusty added from his place beside his best friend.

“We’re sorry!” they both said together.  The old unicorn sighed and shook her head.

“Alright... alright, just go back to Doctor Kindheart’s place while I try and get this all sorted out,” Spearmint said, shaking her head to the two foals.

“Alright!”  With that, the pair picked up the two stuffed toys and scampered away down the street, leaving the elderly unicorn to clean up after them.  Before they got beyond Spearmint’s ears, she caught something Sugar was saying to Dusty.  The elderly mare sighed, knowing she’d likely be spending the day running after those two.  Despite it all, she smiled and shook her head.  So much like her mother and uncle...

“We should stop by Nia’s place on the way to your home... I think some bad ponies from Cerb - Curberus?  Anyway, I think they’re trying to make the striped ponies leave their store.  We should stop’em!”

“Um... didn’t Miss Spearmint say we should go straight home?” the young colt asked, nervously looking back at the mess they’d just made.

“Yeah, but it’s on the way... besides, Nia always gives me candy, and maybe she’ll give you some too for saving me from that bad monster!”

“Um.. okay...” Dusty said, hurrying to follow after his friend.