//------------------------------// // Chapter 1: Grounded // Story: Fallout: Equestria - Of Wings and Stripes // by PeppermintSparkle //------------------------------// Fallout: Equestria - Of Wings and Stripes By Peppermint Sparkle (AKA Betsy Walker) Chapter 1: Grounded Once upon a time, in the magical land of Equestria... War fell over the world, Balefire Bombs destroyed the landscape and poisoned everything. Nopony who stayed on the surface was safe, but there were the ponies that were put into the Stables, put in the only place they could be safe. I'm a 7th generation Stable pony. My name? Peppermint Sparkle. From Stable Two. Now, your thinking that it's cool that my family got to be saved and all by being put into the stables... No. That we've had seven generations of ponies in this Stable, that means that the surface is still a poisoned, radioactive wasteland that could kill us on the spot. So we're stuck here, for our entire lives. Soooo boring. And another thing... I'm the only Pegasus in this Stable. And only because of somepony being a Pegasus down my mother's line. That makes me different... And that makes this pony have a very small amount of ponies I can call friends. And as if that's not enough... I'm also the only zebra in Two. Well... Kinda. I'm a hybrid. In my red pelt are white stripes, covering my whole body. That's where my name came from, the Peppermint part at least. I kinda look like a Candy Cane. The Sparkle part, well, my mom says that's because my eyes were sparkling when she first picked me up. But the way she says it... Sometimes I was sure she was hiding something. She acted like she cared... But in reality, whenever I looked into that Unicorn's eyes, I saw fear. So as soon as I could, I moved out. She hasn't even tried to contact me since... As for my father... There's no way to determine what buck he is. Could be multiple. If you catch my drift... Anyways... My life here is kinda shitty. But I deal. I make Candy Canes and other candies, mints and candies. I do other stuff at the Fudge's Haus of Sweet Delites where I work but... Peppermint is my specialty. Everything else just... Isn't as good. "Hey, Peppermint!" I heard a familiar voice call down the hall as I flapped back to my room from work. Turning around, I saw that it was one of the only ponies that was truly my friend, and not just using me for a Stable Service project... LittlePip. The mare who had gotten her Cutie Mark last in our class. She was like me: a loner. We only had each other most of the time. "Oh, hey Pip. What's up?" "Other than you?" She smirked. "Long day, so no Pegasus jokes, okay?" I sighed a little, strain in my voice from holding in my tears all day... "What happened?" She asked, sensing my sadness. I hovered in the air for a moment, pondering telling her or not. Finally, I gave in, letting out another sigh. "A couple jerk bucks had pushed me earlier and..." I took a deep breath and said the next part as fast as I could, trying to be inaudible. Tried to bend my wings off and cut off my stripes. Look, it's not-" She cut me off, turning around to face me with a blazing anger in her eyes. "Not a big deal??? Peppermint!!! It IS a big deal!!! You should tell somepony at Security or, Goddesses, go to the Overmare!!!" She stamped a hoof. "I am tired of my friend getting... Bullied because of the way she looks!!! It's outrageous!!!" I smiled, seeing someone get mad over a wrongdoing done to me was a really good feeling when nopony cared for you. She looked up at me after a moment, and laughed a little. "Yeah, you do have people who care, Peppermint Sparkle." She said, and poked me with a hoof. "And don't you ever forget it." I gave her another smile, and we hoofbumped. With that, we went our separate ways. I arrived back at my quarters about a minute later. Closing the door behind me, I slumped into a ball, leaning my head up against the door. Even with Pip's friendliness towards me, I still was a total wreck. I closed my eyes, and tears flowed from them. I sniffled, wiping my face dry every few seconds with my hoof. Sputteringly, I was wailing as quietly as I could. And... as much as I didn't want to, I was instantly reliving the entire ordeal over in my mind. Work had just gotten off, and I was carrying a box of my own freshly made Candy Canes in my hooves as I started flying home. One dark, alleyway like hallway was on the way that I always went, and I pulled out a Candy Cane and popped it in my mouth, licking at the sweet taste of the mint. In that brief moment, I was distracted as I savored my treat. Next thing I knew a dark grey hoof was flying across my muzzle and covering my mouth, and dragging me into the alley. The pony threw me down, and I scrambled up against the wall in fear. I stared into the deep yellow eyes of what I realized to be an Earth Pony, which were sticking out like a sore hoof in his near black coat, and knew that I was in trouble. "Oh look, it's ShittyMint ZebraFlyer. What a joy it'll be beating her to a pulp!" He grinned. "L-leave me alone..." I muttered quietly, wanting to beat my wings in his face and fly off but... That would only draw attention to myself. "What the buck did you just say, bitch?!?" Another one, a blood red coated unicorn buck yelled at me, slapping me across the face with his hoof. "Nothing!!!" I screamed as loud as I could, trying to catch somepony, anypony's attention. "That's what I fucking thought! Midnight, hold her down. It's time to show this little bitch mare why there haven't been any Pegasi in Stable Two in over a century." Two strong hooves from the Earth Pony came down on my shoulders, slamming me face first into the cement. I tried to wiggle free, but the buck was too strong and I wasn't going anywhere. "Flap your Celestia damned wings, you little bitch! Flap them!!!!" The red one yelled at me as he turned around and bucked hard at my flank. "Do it now or I fucking swear to Luna I will let every one of my gang rape you so hard your fucking pussy will break! And then we'll just all stick our dicks in and rape you some more!!! We'll see if you really smell minty all the time!!!!" He laughed, bringing his front hooves down on my back. "FLAP YOUR FUCKING WINGS YOU WHORE!!!!" Crying now, I did as they asked, flapping hard, wishing they could carry me away. I felt hooves on one side of each wing, pushing them together like a sandwich. "That's a good little bitch. Now, we're gonna do something I'd like to call... Dewinging the Bitchy Little Pegasus." He grinned, and slammed my wings down towards the ground, past the point they well... Went. I screamed, and with a huge burst of energy, kicked out my back hooves, pushing my wings upwards, and slamming my hoof in the face of the pony that had been holding me down. I shot upwards, and flapped to get away. Then a strange feeling came over me, and the realization flooded in like... Maybe real sunlight? Anyways, I realized that I was in a grey levitation field. "You know what? Fuck breaking your wings. You ain't just a fucking Pegasus. You're a GODDESS-DAMNED ZEBRA." He glared at me. "It's time for the little Pegasus Zebra BITCH to learn why my fucking name is Blade!!!" He stretched his magic out and pulled out a knife... A switch blade, and suddenly I knew who he was. Switch Blade. One of the first ponies in our class to get his Cutie Mark. At this point, I knew I was screwed. He was a fighter in school and came near killing a few ponies. I mean COME ON. When somepony's Cutie Mark is a knife... Good Celestia, help me! I might as well have been dead already, because I WAS TOTALLY DEAD! Hooves hit my shoulders again, pushing me down as he let me go from his magic. "Do whatever you want to creep the little bitch out, Midnight. No fucking her though. You'll get her later, after we cut the fucking stripes off of her." NOO!!! I screamed in my head. NONONONONONONOOOO!!! THEY ARE MY STRIPES MINE THEY'RE MINE!!! DAMMIT YOU CANT HAVE THEM YOU- A scream flew out of my mouth again, cutting off my thoughts as his blade was thrusted in at least a half an inch deep my leg where I knew one of my stripes was. Again I felt a rush of enegry and pushed up, even stronger than before. My wings ached, and the jump dragged the knife through farther, making it hurt worse. I didn't waste even a second to dash off, powerfully flapping my wings, away from my potential rapists and murderers. Hooves followed behind me, thundering through the ground with each hoof beat. I sped up, my contrail stretching out as I flew for my life. Suddenly the hooves stopped as I heard Switch Blade's voice call out to his thug. "Forget it, Midnight! We ever see the little bitch again, we won't even waste a second to fuck her so hard she dies!!!" With a shudder, I pushed my wings and myself further away. My tear soaked eyes flew open as I felt a hoof rapping against the door.I lifted my head up, and the knocking confined to be persistent. Standing up, I pushed the lever and opened my door. To see Velvet Remedy standing in my doorway. She smiled warmly at me. "Hi, Peppermint. I heard crying so... I figured I should check in on somepony... Goddesses, your leg!!! You're bleeding!!!" I looked down, and saw the stripe where Blade had stabbed me, and it was dripping in blood. Dammit. "Let me in, I can help!" She squeaked, and I moved aside. She came in and shut the door with her magic, instructing me to sit down on the bed. Before I knew what was happening, she was cleaning the blood off with antiseptic wipes and wrapping it up in bandages, tying them tight to stop the blood. "Wow... I didn't know you were good with medic stuff... Velvet." I said, trying to use her name like I was actually her friend. Yeah, right! She was a singer who was on the radio!!!! I mean... I sing too. But nopony wanted to admit that the winged and striped mare was actually talented. "It's... A hobby." She said, sounding like she didn't want to talk about it. Not wanting to seem pushy, I decided to drop it. "Cool... Umm... Thanks for dropping by. I..." Celestia dammit! Another tear rolled down my cheek. "Peppermint, what happened?" She asked, staring up at me with deep blue eyes that seemed even bluer than I felt inside. And that's when I broke down. That's when I started bawling, and told her every single detail of what had happened. By the end of it, I was curled up into a ball like a filly, tears flowing out of my eyes like faucets, and Velvet was hugging me tight as I rocked back and forth miserably. "You should tell somepony in security!" She told me, reiterating Pip's earlier statement. "I can't! Blade's thug... Midnight... I swear remembering that he's in Security!" I sniffled. It was all way too much to handle and keep balled up, and was past the point of caring if somepony saw me crying my eyes out. We sat there in silence for what seemed like ages, me wondering what Velvet was thinking about, until out of nowhere, she started singing. "Don't cry, Peppermint Fear not, Peppermint Don't you know you're not alone? For there is one who is watching you Don't you understand? You're special in the eyes of Celestia Don't let those ponies bend Who you are You can't let them Eat through your soul Oh, no You can't let them Take control..." Having her singing to me... There was something about it that really did make me feel better. Her honey sweet voice... It was healing. Feeling incredibly brave, I suddenly wrapped my hooves around her in a hug. "T-thanks... That was beautiful..." I looked over to see her smile at me. "No problem. If I can help anypony, I'm more than willing to do it. And... That would make a really good song. I'd like to record it... Oh but I used your name... Would you rather me change it?" Thinking back to Blade and Midnight, I nodded. "It'd be way too obvious that I'd told if you put my name in... But that would be awesome if you recorded it..." I let go of her and sat up. "Alright... Well, it's getting late. I've got a show in about an hour. If you want to come down, it might make you feel better. You could even come backstage if you'd like." She gave me another smile, and stoop up, trotting over to the door. "See you around. Hopefully in about an hour!" And with that, she left. And I knew where I was going in an hour. ☁︎☀︎☁︎ 45 minutes later, I was flapping happily towards the Stable Two Saloon, wearing only my PipBuck and my stripes. And I was confident, too. Confident that I would soon be having the time of my life. Confident that I could be happy for a while. Confident that if Velevt accepted me, maybe everypony else would too. And, Confident that my stripes and wings were gifts from the Godesses. And, when I got there, I found the Saloon empty. Completely empty. Something had to be up. Maybe the show had been cancelled? With that thought, I spun out of the Saloon and flew down the hallway as fast as I could. Maybe something had happened to Velevt?!? I'd know if I went to her room, so that's where I headed. Turning a corner, I almost ran into somepony as I found Velvet's room completely surrounded by ponies. At the front of the door stood the Overmare. What was going on?!? "Now, now, everypony. I know this is unbelievable but... Velvet Remedy has left Stable Two. She... Went outside." WHAT?!?! I thought as my reaction was echoed throughout the crowd. But it's toxic outside, radioactive... Right???!? Spinning around, I heard a loud thud. Looking around, I found that the sound had come from a PipBuck dropping to the ground. It was etched, and.... Sweet Celestia, it had Velvet's Cutie Mark on it! It was Velvet's!!! Looking from the ground up, I found that it had been dropped by... LittlePip! "Little... Pip? W...why do you have Velvet's PipBuck???" I whispered to her. "N-no..." She said, backing up. Right into the Overmare. “What. Is. This?” The Overmare spoke slowly, dangerously. Everypony looked at Pip, and she looked like she was past freaked out. Then even the Overmare looked down at her. The Overmare’s voice was low and surprisingly gentle. “Take it and go to your room. Swiftly.” Lifting it into her levitation field, LittlePip slowly backed away, then darted. "Pip, wait!!!" I yelled, jumping up and pushing my wings to fly after her. The Overmare put a hoof up, catching me with it and stopping me in my tracks. "Let her go. She needs to be alone right now." ☁︎☀︎☁︎ Minutes later, I was back in my room, heartbroke once more. Right when I make a friend, they leave the Stable! My heart was sinking, heavier than lead. Velvet was gone. Pip was freaking out, same as me. What more was there to live for? What more to do? Plugging in my earbloom, I turned on the Stable radio. “We are all feeling this loss. But I want to remind everypony that Velvet Remedy chose to do this. She chose to leave her home. To abandon us, her family. She betrayed my trust and she betrayed yours, just as she betrayed the trust of the pony who she tricked into removing her PipBuck, ensuring we could not find her. I know many of you are angry or hurt. I urge you to direct that anger where it truly belongs…” The Overmare spoke through the waves. Like that was going to help anything. Everypony wouldn't like Pip any more than they liked me after this. I felt really bad for her. Velvet had influenced me since I was a Filly. Seeing another pony in the Stable actually get to be a real singer... It made me feel like maybe I could, too. Then I flapped my wings, saw my stripes in the mirror. Really, without Velvet, and with Pip so depressed... Nopony in this Stable cared about me. Nopony! Not a single hoof would be lifted for the mare who's ancestor was a Zebra somewhere down the line... Not a ear would be twitched if the mare who could fly got on the mic... Nothing could change these Stable ponies' idealology about what's acceptable. So what was there here for me? Nothing. And that's when it hit me. If Velvet had been able to open the door and not poison us all... It couldn't be that bad on the surface. Down here I was weird, unacceptable. But maybe... Just maybe... It would be different up there? My mind was made up in that single moment. I was following in Velvet's hoofsteps. I was leaving this shitty Stable. ☁︎☀︎☁︎ Saddlebags loaded up with everything in my small room that I thought might be of any use, I started walking towards the door. A hood pulled over my head for cover, I felt a little safer doing what I was about to do. That's when I saw the eerie green light emanating from the hallway on my left, heading towards the door. The light from a PipBuck! Oh goddesses, no! I was so dead! Flying to the ceiling, I watched the floor below. Stepping out, saddlebags and all... Was LittlePip! What a relief! She didn't see me but... She must have planned on leaving, too!Looking at the guards in front of the door, her horn glowed. They didn't move an inch, unimpressed, and a metal footlocker crashed down on their heads. She quickly stepped up to the door. I realized there was a code right then, and that without her, I was screwed. Guess today was my lucky day! She typed something in, from my perspective it looked like CMC3BFF. Whatever that meant. As soon as she hit enter, though, four security ponies galloped out from the hallways as the Overmare's voice boomed through the load speakers for them to get her. Now even I was freaking out!!! LittlePip practically flew as she threw a switch, and the door started to his as it began to open. “You don’t have to do this… LittlePip, isn’t it?” The Overmare boomed. “Don’t worry. I’ll bring her back.” LittlePip told the voice of the Overmare as she took a step towards the door. Silently, I dashed across the roof through the rafters, getting closer to the door. “No you won’t! If you leave here, you’ll never be let back in!” Okay, that stung for a second... But then I realized that nothing that mattered to me was here anyways, so why worry bout coming back?!? LittlePip stood for a minute, pondering that, before stepping out the door. Without a second glance, I dashed out, past LittlePip, through a dark corridor, and with a push of a cellar door, into the most blinding and beautiful thing I had ever seen: Sunlight. Footnote: Level Up. New Perk: Speed +10% -- Larger areas have now opened up to explore, your wings can now stretch out fully and give you a better boost of speed.