Fallout Equestria: Operation Flankorage

by Kashin

NOT A CHAPTER: Announcement

I would like to apologise, but I will need to miss my two week deadline this time as No One (Fallout Equestria: Heroes) and I are helping A Friendly Hobo (Fallout Equestria: Tales of a Courier) rewrite his story with a heavy restructuring (that and college classes have just started and homework has a bad habit of eating a lot of my writing time.).  I will however have the chapter out next Monday come hell, high water or Ursa Majors.  While these delays are regrettable and I will try to avoid them whenever I can they may happen a few times during the semester.

I will however, not leave all you good people high and dry.  I have a FOE:OF tumbler now where any of the cast can be asked and I will give vectored (the type of digital graphics I use for my pictures) responses whenever I am able.  Artemiev (he has several stories so I’m just linking to his profile here) is beeing kind enough to render some of my pony war machines, the latest two are a zebra tankette (I don’t have a preview for that one) and a custom raptor M2.2 (20% more raptor) for Raimbow Dash. (view image to see full size)
 (you can see the rest of my fleet and some of his other works o his DA)

Next we have FO:E week on Supremacist Fan Fiction Review (with art work done by yours truly).  There will be author interviews and reviews of Heroes, Pink Eyes, Best Laid Plans, Tales of a Courier, Forgotten Light, Operation Flankorage, Project Horizons and Fallout Equestria. (view image to see full size)

Last, but hopefully not least I have the first four pages from chapter nine an apology.  I hope you enjoy them, short as they are. and yet again, sorry for the delay.

        I stretched out my aching neck, producing a loud series of cracks.  Over the course of a few hours I had managed to grow accustomed to the distorted vision of my artificial eye, but the apparatus still easily weighed over four pounds.

        Laden with half a dozen salvage filled saddlebags, I staggered out onto the top floor balcony of the motel.  A stabbing pain coursed through my skull as I closed the door to the last room.  According to BARON, I had to exercise my horn frequently if I wanted regain my full magical potency, despite the pain.  Easy for him to say, he didn’t need to deal with what felt like drill between the eyes.

        I stepped out into the diluted sunlight onto the top floor deck of the motel, overlooking the rest stop.  A respectable parking lot stretched out from the ring shaped building, flanked by the theater on the left and a magical vehicle service station to the right.  The motel its self, the ‘Northern Light Lodge’, stood four stories tall and encircled a hot tub the size of a public pool.  What I wouldn’t have given for a relaxing dip, but without a considerable source of magic there was no way to turn it on.

        My barding chafed my hindquarters and cut off circulation to my extremities as I trotted down the stairs towards the lobby where everypony else was waiting for me to finish snuffling around.  I had lost practically all of my possessions in the tunnels and while my fluffier coat was doing an admirable job of fighting the cold I was loath to run around the wasteland without at least the meager protection my last outfit had provided.  A spare Boxxy Brown Moving Co. jumpsuit that Maple had kept in her bags was serving for The time being, but this one was easily two sizes too small.  Unfortunately armored barding seemed to be a scarce resource in hotel rooms.  All I had managed to dig up that could even fit me was a black tuxedo with a poofy, gold tie; snazzy to be sure, but not something suited to hiking, never mind combat.

        I spotted Echo perched on the ‘Northern Light’ sign, a wavy rainbow with a star at each end, sharpening a set of ice skates.  The Enclave pony hadn’t faired much better than I had in the equipment department.  Aside from her two blue metal blades, she had lost all of her knifes during our flight from the demons and was making do with any item remotely resembling a blade that she could get her hooves on.

        I raised my hoof to give the black pegasus a friendly wave, causing my jumpsuit to pull painfully tight in a very sensitive area.  My involuntary spasm of pain sent me tumbling down the remaining flight of stairs.

        “That is it!”  I yelled as I untangled myself from my numerous saddlebags.  “I can’t wear this thing anymore!”  My struggles to escape my suffocating outfit were apparently quite amusing as I found Echo staring at me and chuckling softly to herself.  “Yeah, yeah,”  I grumbled in her general direction, bowing deeply to stretch out my aching mussels.  “I just live to entertain.”

        “Oh!“  Flight’s voice came from behind me.  The entertainer mare was standing in the open lobby door, blushing and half averting her gaze.  “There you are.“  I had just mooned the poor mare, right when she seemed to be getting used to me.

        I immediately snapped my rear legs under me and dropped to my rump with plop, suddenly finding my own fore hooves quite fascinating…  Actually they were.  I hadn’t noticed before, but there were three sharp growths coming out of the front of each hoof; they sort of looked like little claws.  That couldn’t be a good sign.

        “He was infected by the ferals, his heart beat is supposed to be high.”

        I guess I couldn’t delude myself into thinking I just needed a trim anymore.  I was going to turn into a monster!  A horrific, pony eating monster!  No, no, stop that.  I haven’t hurt anypony.  I’m still a pony.  I’m still a pony.

        “Ocher,”  the lime green unicorn said hesitantly, sitting down next to me and snapping me back to reality.  “I’m sorry for how I treated you.  Rosalyn is sorry too, she’s just too shy to tell you herself.”  She rubbed her fetlock uncomfortably.  “It’s just… we were scared okay?  There are more false saviors in the wasteland than real ones.  Trust me, I know.”

        “How did you wind up with the Unity anyway?”  I asked, discreetly shaking out my fetlock to hide my diminutive claws.

        Flights fiddled absentmindedly with the ruffles of her battered dress.  “My family works in the Crucible;  it’s an entertainment town on the outskirts of Flankorage.”  the green mare replied with something between nostalgia and regret.  “They run a lounge, ‘The Stick and Carrot’.  All my siblings work there as bouncers, barmares, entertainers, everything.  We are quite popular actually, even among several groups of very important ponies, myself specifically… that was actually the problem.”

        “It was a problem that you were popular?”  I asked, bemused.  “Isn’t that usually a good thing?”

        “Not with some of the ponies I was popular with,”  the unicorn continued, getting up and standing in front of me.  “I was a game girl.  My job was to make the customers comfortable and like me so they would drink and gamble more.”  She pantomimed little flirting gestures.  “The problem comes when they like me too much.  I attracted the attention of an aristocrat pony from Manehatten, Bigwig, who was up north on vacation.  He became a bit obsessed with me and asked me to come back to Tenpony Tower with him, but I couldn‘t leave my family so I told him no.”

        She started pacing back and forth.  “He didn’t take no as an answer,”  Flights continued, becoming more agitated with each word.  “The bastard tried to bribe me and even threatened me.  Eventually he resorted to attacking my family.  He hired some pony to rob us blind and then tried to cash in all his chips!”  she was practically screaming and her nervous pacing had become furious stomping.  “He could have ruined us, but he offered to pay our way out of debt if they sold him me.”

        “They didn’t really have a choice,“  the lime green unicorn went on, all of her fury being replaced by morose resignation.  “Anypony who doesn’t pay their dues in the Crucible become the property of the settlement.”  She dropped back to her haunches and stared at the dirt.  “We would have all been enslaved and the fate of community slaves is far worse than being a bed servant to a rich Mainhattenite.”

        “If you were sold to this Bigwig bastard how did you wind up in a Unity slave camp?”  I asked as delicately as I could, shivering slightly as a gust of chill air blew through my shaggy coat.  “Especially one that far off the beaten path?”

        “Tenpony tower doesn’t allow slaves or slavers,”  the entertainer mare responded, looking up at me.  I fought to keep from grinning at the thought of a settlement that didn’t deal with sub equine scumbags like the Unity.  “So he had them sell me to the Unity and planed to have one of his servants ‘save’ me and hire me on as an indentured servant; little more than a slave with a different title.”

        “Hold on,”  I said, standing and trotting over to my discarded uniform.  The cold was getting to be a bit much for me to handle and the padded vest looked adjustable enough not to cause me breathing issues.  “Do you think we should stop by your bar when we get to the city, in case Bigwig finds out you got free and tries to threaten your family?”

        “Thanks,”  the lime green pony said, blushing lightly.  “That means a lot to me, it really does, but they should be fine.  The deal was for them to sell me to the Unity, everything after that was Bigwig’s responsibility.  If he tries anything now he will be breaking his deal and will be enslaved by the settlement.”  Flights stood and used her telekinesis to help me wiggle into my vest.

        “But I could use your help on another issue,”  the entertainer mare continued, magically adjusting my buckles.  “While he can’t do anything against my family directly he can still do the same thing to other mares.  If you could prove he robbed us to the Ladies they can make sure he doesn’t hurt anypony ever again.”

        “Of course I will,”  I replied, finally getting the barding to fit comfortably.  My rump was still chilly, but over all it was an improvement.  “Just one question; who are the Ladies?”

        “The Ladies of Blood and Flame,”  the unicorn said, waving her hoof in mock theatrics.  “They were mentioned on the radio earlier.  Anyway, they are in charge.”

        “That sounds ominous.  Not the most likable of ponies I take it?”

        “Oh, don’t get me wrong,”  Flights responded, trotting back to the lobby door.  “They are both utter lunatics, but they are fair rulers…”  the lime green mare put her hoof on her chin and chewed her lip.  “Though the Lady of Blood has been acting strangely lately.”

        “Strange?”  I asked, pulling my numerous saddlebags back on.  “I need to wonder what qualifies as strange for a pony called Lady of Blood.”

        “She used to be very flamboyant,”  the Crucible mare replied, opening the door.  “She was creepy, but she just livened up any room she entered.  Recently though, she has been more disturbing and almost reclusive.”  She shook her head and stepped into the lobby.  “Just… if you can find evidence, it would probably be safer to bring it to her sister.  She’s the pink one, you can’t miss her.  I need to visit the little fillies room, then I’m going to make sure everypony else is ready to go.”

        I nodded and gently kicked the door shut behind her.  As it would probably take a few minutes for everypony to get ready and do their business I flipped on the radio and tuned to ‘The Voice of Flankorage‘.  It was bound to be depressing, but I was bad at waiting and without Icy to argue with there was little else to do.

        “Beeeed!  Ow!”  a melodious voice bellowed from my PipBuck, accompanied by a dying fanfare.  I had just missed a Sweetie Belle song, wonderful.

        With a pop the fading instruments were replaced with R.F.P.’s measured, deep, rolling voice.  “Good morning Flankorage.  We here at the broadcast station have an exciting news docket for everypony today, but first, we here on the Voice of Flankorage team have a more personal message to share.  If you remember a few days back, one of our brave reporter ponies went missing.  We have received unconfirmed reports from a reliable source in the Frostborn Cavaliers that she is still alive.”

        “You ponies deserve the whole story.  Our reporter was dispatched down south to investigate a potential scandal.  Unfortunately, during her investigations she was snatched up by the Unity and enslaved at one of their camps.  Things were looking bleak for our newspony until that Merchant pony my colleague , DJ-PON3, brought to our attention arrived.  According to our source, he some how managed to get all the slaves out of the camp before returning and exterminating the entire facility.  Merchant, you have our thanks for saving our Scoop, visit us any time.  We would love to have you.  We are also legally required to offer our heartfelt condolences to the Unity for their tragic losses.”

        My stomach turned in knots.  On the one hoof I was overwhelmingly proud for saving Scoop, Echo and the others.  But on the other hoof I had managed to get three ponies killed through my own arrogance and stupidity.  I knew Icy would have said that if I hadn’t showed up they would have all been killed or worse and one had been beyond my help from the start.  Unfortunately, logic did precious little to help alleviate my guilt…  Hold up.  Everypony who knew I was at the timber yard was either with me the whole time or dead.  How in the sphincter of Luna did these news ponies keep learning of everything I did?  Where were they hiding all the damn cameras?

        “Now for local news,”  the announcer pony continued.  “Canterlot Caravans has postponed their shipments to and from the valley once again due to ‘logistical difficulties’.  Many Flankorage industries rely on the supplies imported from the south and if Canterlot Caravans can no longer provide them many will be forced to turn to alternate suppliers such as the Unity.  If these ‘difficulties’ are not resolved soon it could spell the end for one of Flankorage‘s founding factions.”

        “Finally we have some rare news from further north in Zebra territory.  Apparently the Merchant isn’t alone in the fight to protect ponies.  A lone sniper has been disrupting Northern Legion supply lines and defending the Bassy border settlement.  According to witnesses, the zebras have taken to calling this mysterious hero Penumbra and residents have begun using the moniker as well.  As the sniper pony has never actually been seen we have been unable to get a statement.”

        “This news segment has been brought to you by Square and Level Construction; we do it right.  When we come back I will have Hunt Master Blood Moon in the studio with his top five salvaging tips, but first here is Ocatvia‘s Second to accompany the morning calm.”

        “Hunts Master?”  BARON’s borrowed voice scoffed over the soothing cello music that was flowing from my PipBuck.  “Hardly; that one is little more than a glorified bounty hunter.”  I turned with a start to see the armored buck standing less than a leg’s length behind me.  I had to put a bell on all my companions… or actually pay attention to my E.F.S.  “Your entourage is ready to go.  We shouldn’t delay longer if we wish to reach the city by nightfall… Trust me, we want to be there by nightfall.”

        “Right,”  I replied with a nod, turning off my PipBuck.  Twenty miles in a day, that shouldn’t be too hard.