//------------------------------// // Chapter 1 : Dealing The Cards // Story: Fallout Equestria : Dead Mare's Hand // by PBY_Jacko115 //------------------------------// A tower of engineering genius shone gloriously in the night sky. It's patrons however, nonexistent. At the foot of it, stallions and mares stumbled about in their uniforms, their minds free of the outside dangers for a short while. Security bots rolled around, ending any disputes anyone had. Outside, a masked stallion scanned the area, brought up an anti-machine rifle and fired, the .50 caliber bullet spinning through the air and then through a drugged out mare's head, smashing against the broken road. Far off in the hills, a buck watched from a pair of binoculars held by his magic. One of his colleagues ordering others past him. It all ended the night with a group of ponies around an unmoving body, a shallow grave being dug beside him. War... War never changes. Even when atomic balefire has scorched Equus, war never changed. The weapons and tactics changed, but the underlying motive hasn't. Whether for power, lust, greed, or pure bloodshed, war hasn't changed. We were brought here today by a war fought by our ancestors over a reason that could've been changed if it weren't for stubborn aristocrats. And now, 'The Courier' is going to learn firsthand in the following future, of how war can devastate the lives of all that surround him. The only choice is, who to fight for? ---- "Hey, look who decided to wake up." My head was about to split open as that voice spoke. I pushed myself into a sitting position and looked up. I recognized a few of them as Great Mongolers but I couldn't put my hoof one the checkered suit. "Can we just waste him already?" One of them spoke, in impatience. "You Mongols may kill ponies without looking them in the eye, but I'm not a fink, dig?" Sweet friggin' Luna, I already hated him. 'Checkers' looked over towards me and held out my package, a simple platinum chip. He put it back in his pocket and looked at me, the smallest of smirks on his face. "From where you're sitting this may look like a run of 18-karat bad luck. But the truth is," He pulled out a golden inlaid pistol with his magic, "the game was rigged from the start." I barely had a chance to jump at him before he pulled the trigger. Then everything went white. ---- Nothing could describe the splitting pain I was rece-... Okay, maybe that time in Neighvarro was worse but still. I turned my head to the side and moved to get up, only to be stopped by somepony. I opened my eyes and let them focus on the pony beside me. The stallion was in an outfit you would see on many wasteland ranchers nowadays. He had the age lines of pony who knew the wastes all too well. "Whoa there, easy pal! Got quite the head there. How about your name? Can you tell me your name?" What I wanted to say was, 'Apparently Mangy the Mutt.', but instead came out something a little more proper. "Yeah, it's..... Shit, just give me a second Doc..." "Don't worry, we can get it later. Let's get you on your hooves here." The Doc grunted as he rolled me out of bed and onto the cold, hard floor. I'm not going to lie, my head was about to say, 'Adios Brain!'. Letting my very stallion-ish whine roll out, I got to my hooves and waited for more of the Doc's instructions. "Hmph, alright, let's get you to the vigor tester machine over there. No need to hurry, it ain't a race." He motioned over towards the machine against the wall. I stumbled over, threatening to fall a few times before the Doc helped me the rest of the way. I put my hoof into the slot and let the damned thing do it's judgement. Strength : 5 (Damned machine's broken Doc.) Perception : 6 (Better than a goulie, right Doc?) Endurance : 5 (Do~c, the machine is broken again!) Charisma : 5 (WHAT'D YOU SAY YOU PIECE OF SHIT!) Intelligence : 8 (Ma always said I could've been an accountant.) Agility : 6 (Flash! Ah~!) Luck : 5 (Neighvarro was a bitch.) "Well look-y there, maybe them bullets done your brain some good." The Doc let out a soft chuckle as I sighed at the results. Luna be damned machine. "Alright. Only a few more tests before I can let you go. More of a formality really, not expectin' to find a family history of ponies gettin' shot in the head." He had the questioning eye as if to confirm his suspicion. "Nah. Brothers were always street smarter. I had the notion to charge an alicorn with a penknife before." I said lamely as the Doc just stared at me, wide-eyed and mouth open. He laughed with disbelief and grabbed the papers I needed to fill out and threw them to me. Wow, seems like it was made for a school filly after my thorough completion of the test. I handed him back the papers and he scanned through them. "Okay, I'm going to say a word and I want you to say the first word that comes to mind." He cleared his throat and began. I didn't really pay attention, so I just rolled with it until he hit 'mother'. "I'd rather not Doc." "Alright then son. Here's the results." He left me to my own devices as I read the results. Looks like I'm a problem solver, a fixer-upper, a.... Something. Looks like I got my new name. I looked around the house until I found him waiting at the door. "Here," He stopped me before I walked out the door. "These were on you when the bot dug you up. Thought I'd find something about some next of kin but it was just about a platinum chip. Here's some of my old barding too. You didn't have none so you might as well take this. It won't do much for me." I took beaten armor he held out. It had a few holes here and there along with a battle saddle attached. "Being a doctor seems to be more dangerous than I thought when I first entered the wastes. Wish Horse hadn't booted us out of 10." I thought over his words. Surely being any sort of laborer in the wastes was dangerous, but what did 10 have to do with it? "Nice little nine-mil you have. You might want to get something bigger for that saddle though. Get a shotgun or something." He added on, handing me my trusty nine-millimeter Browner's Quick-Shot. Might be on the weak side, but I've got more than enough bullets to compensate. I nodded some thanks to him and proceeded to open the door.