//------------------------------// // Waking up // Story: Fallout Equestria : MaelStorm of The Wasteland // by Harb //------------------------------// "You'll have to go grow a separate part of yourself or you won't make it out here." I woke up with a jolt. Snow fell around me on a frozen tundra So, this is what it's like outside of the stable. Calypso and I where left here to die, never learning what happened to my father, what had just happened, or the chance to pass on my genes. NO! I wouldn't go out like this, freezing on a tundra. No, if I fought then my body heat would dissipate quicker. The best I could do now was to let myself die painlessly. I let the feeling of unconsciousness wrap around me. As my eyes began to close a blurry shadow appeared in my field of vision. "Well, looks like todays your lucky day." My eyes creaked open. I looked up at a roof of wood mixed with metal. A fireplace crackled near me. I was on an old bed apparently in the living room. A earth pony with light gleaming off of his hooves, was sitting at a desk in front of me, writing on notes. He turned his head to me. A light smile came onto his silvery face. "Well I see your awake. Your friend was wondering if you'd pull through." I pulled the blanked off of me. He had me still in my stable suit. "Your friend has been up and worrying about you for some time. It's odd, she woke up faster and recuperated more, must be something with having to be a pegasus." "Who are you?" I asked rubbing my head. "The names IronHooves, as most ponies know me, once you kill a couple of Enclave ponies, they don't take to kindly, they welded my weapon of choice, horse shoes dipped in arcane magic and poison, onto my hooves. So I screwed out the spikes, then I can use as a handy tool, like with surgery." He said gesturing with it to the blood stained apron he wore. "Bye the way, your jumpsuit won't do you no good out here, might wanna go to SteelHeart and Denny's place, they could insulate it for you, or get you a new coat." "Wheres Calypso?" "You're friend? She went to SteelHeart, I gave her the same suggestion to get a coat." I nodded my thanks then opened the door I was next too. A gust of cold wind hit me in the face, it felt like the heat was being sapped out of my body. Snow fell around me like on the plane. I saw through the thick snow a sign saying IronHeart and Denny's saloon and blacksmithing. I shrugged as my body temperature lowered. I walked over to the ramshackle metal door and pushed it open. A roaring fire, a lighted room, a bar, 5 tables with 4 chairs each and 5 stools near the bar. Calypso sat at one the stools talking with a grey and silver maned earthpony stallion. "Hey MaelStorm, over here." She said waving her hoof. I returned the greeting. I walked over there and pulled up a stool. "Well welcome. I'm SteelHeart, back there in the forge is my cousin Denny. If you're here to rob the place I'll Denny back there shoot ya........ I'm just kidding, heres a drink on the house." He slid a drink of whiskey over to me. "No thanks, I don't drink." "Well if you don't then what can I get you, we offer any free service on your first time here, and by judging by your outfit, your here for Denny to insulate it or get a new one. Bye the way, whats with your qutiemark?" "I am a philosopher, it represents how I pondered the thought that intelligence is like a maelstorm, a living entity never to be completely grasped, but to those who try it shall find their hooves singed from the fires of what they have tried to understand, but some of them, just some, can go through the cracks others have made and gain just a fraction of the fraction of what can be gained by the maelstorm of intelligence. that is why my qutiemark is a maelstorm as is my name." 'Well, if you ever get the chance, you might be interested in an old library about a mile south of here, it's huge and has a trove of books that no pony has ever seen, well any wasteland dweller has ever seen." ''I don't think that library would be of much use to you." A gruff voice came from behind me, up against a corner was a dark green earthpony stallion in a leather hat and leather armor. His qutiemark, which was barely visible, was the number 13, it was also tattooed on his neck in black ink. A crossbow with a cylinder under it was slung across his back "No pony gone there has ever returned, some say a guardian guards the knowledge, others say it's a curse that guards it." ''Who are you?" I asked with a raised eyebrow. "I am 13, it's hard to have a name once you wake up in a frozen tundra with nothing but a qutiemark, a crossbow, and a tattoo." I was about to say something then the door to the forge bursted open. A white earthpony stallion covered in soot and wearing a blacksmiths apron. "Well MaelStorm, this is Denny." I raised a hoof in greeting. He did the same. "Hey Denny, would you mind getting him a coat for outside?" Denny nodded then grabbed a bottle of sparkle cola then went back to the forge. "So I take it he doesn't talk much?" Calypso asked. "Well he is a mute." "Wwell I'm sorry that I asked, if it's offensive to him." "Dont be, if he had wanted to talk he would have done it." Denny came back through the door and placed two coats, each a black color with golden stitching around the sleeves and collar. "Well, is see he brought you your coats." "So, as I can judge, your from a Stable, and it looks like you'll need a guide around here." 13 proposed. "Wait, you said you had no memory, and you woke up on a frozen tundra. Sure." I said with the feeling of hilarity welling up inside of me. I turned my head to Steelheart. "Where can we get a job?' I asked. "Check the mayors office, he may have some work." So we put on our coats, armed our guns, then we set off into the night.