//------------------------------// // Uncharted Territory // Story: Fallout: Equestria - Beyond the Badlands // by A Pony Typewriter //------------------------------// Uncharted Territory The steel, bolts, and gravel that made the railways around the Wasteland once served many, moving in great distances, stretching to all corner of the land. At the present, the tracks became nothing but steel, bolts and gravel, serving as an indicator to settlements ahead for travelers, raiders and traders alike. But at rare occasions, the tracks were remembered, used as it meant to be. Two vehicles sped above the rail, making their way towards a destination that was mystery to all of their passengers. Operated by hands and hooves, it was Past Tale's and the six bizarre beings along with her only means of cutting time reaching New Pegas. At first, she didn't planned to rushed her travels to the city in the desert, but the idea of reaching there faster meant the faster she would get her lost caps back. That was enough for her to take the rails. Past Tale, Dell, Jane and Tavish were in the lead, the rest were on the following velocipede. It had been a day since they left the ruins of Manehattan, with that time, the scenery surrounding them had transformed, from the desolated urban jungle of Manehattan, to an arid landscape of sand and plateaus. Past Tale was mesmerized by her new environment, the desert wind that was blowing onto her face, towering red rocks, and green forked poles that she didn't know the name of, they were all new to her. The beige mare turned to her alien companions and saw their faces, none of them seemed to have been awed by them like she had. Jane and Tavish, who were operating the lead velocipede, slowed the hand operated cart. It came to halt, for the rail ended on the edge of a cliff. Tale moved closer to where the track had ended. On the canyon below, she saw several train cars as wrecks. She whistled, "That's a long way down." "What now ?" asked Misha. "Well we aren't crossing that canyon anytime soon," the mare told them. From her saddlebags, came out the map the old zebra had gave her, enveloped with the same glow of her horn. She inspected the map to where they were right now, her eyes darted left and right to see the location they currently occupy. Dell came kneeling, taking a closer look of the map, and then opened the map on his Pip-Boy. The blinking marker was still there, but the lines and curves that represent roads and rails had became sparse compared to Manehattan. Dell followed the line that was the railway with his finger and pointed where they were on the aging map. He tapped a spot on the map, one on the edge of a darker shade compare to its surrounding, "There," Dell simply said. "Alright, we're going to find this road," she pointed out a line on her map, "then follow it all the way Pegas." Scout who had just arrived, questioned her decision, "Are you sure that's the right road ?" "I'm a hundred percent sure," she said with confident. Placing the map inside her saddle bag once again, she took the lead and began trotting in the supposed direction of the road that led to the city they never visited before. As they made their way towards the road, Past Tale huffed air in short interval during their walk, and kept her eyes locked on a squint, along with the endless drought in her throat. She had experienced all of them, including the heat, but never in such extended period of time and intensity. The mare brought out a bottle of Sparkle Cola, within seconds the container was empty and thrown on to desert. Momentarily it discharged the thirst in the mare's throat, only to make a come back shortly after. She turned to investigate on how her companions were doing, hoping they fared better compared to herself. She was surprised they were faring better, none of them had their tongues lolling out and they weren't huffing air as much as she was. "See I told you we were on the right track," said the beige mare. As they emerge from the desert, the road they search was found. Stepping on to it first, Past Tale glanced behind her, finding an endless stretch of road and sand. Looking forward, was a stretch of road, ending on a cluster of intact structures. "New Pegas," softly said the mare. Without another word the band of men and the mare began taking steps towards the distant city. --- --- --- *huff* *huff* *huff* It hadn't been long since they ditched the rail and left the desert, and the mare's coat had started to glistened. She tried to keep her muzzle close, despite the thirst that kept returning after she emptied bottles after bottles of cola. Focusing on where she was going didn't do any good in trying to ignore the desert in her throat, doing so told her the time of the day. She took a look behind her, basked by the setting sun, there were still six strange being following her. Unlike her none of them seemed to be fazed by the baking sun for the length of their journey. Although the day was nearing its end, Past Tale was still sweating, she was about to took another bottle of cola from her saddlebag, she was stopped of doing so when offered a canteen by Dell. She smiled and took it with her magic, after two gulps of water down her throat she gave the container back to the Ten Gallon wearing Texan, which he returned to the helmeted man. Past Tale and the men came upon a branch on the road, another route, snaking its way towards a collection of buildings. The mare turned on the intersection and approached the town, with six strange beings closely behind. "Ain't we supposed to follow that road ?" Scout pointed out. "Yes," she added, "And we still are." The town they entered was silent, they could hear the afternoon wind blowing into the empty street, rolling a ball of dead grass across it. From where they were, scenery of abandoned dwellings replaced the desert. Wanting to spend little amount of time in town, she made a beeline for the first building they encountered entering the derelict settlement. Opening the door was accompanied by the sound of a bell. Past Tale went in first, into the darkened hallways made by shelves. Instead of searching through the building, the mare went straight to a vending machine close to the register. With two kick, courtesy of the mare's hind legs, the metal resonated loud bangs, followed by two bottles of cola rolling down. With her magic, the mare levitated the fizzy drinks, and stashed them inside her saddlebags. Satisfied with what she had gained, Past Tale made her way out with the helmeted man, which had looted several items from the shelves. It wasn't long before they were on the road to Pegas again. Dell stopped for a moment and turned his head. Their doctor noticed the Texan halted. He asked, "Vhat is it my hard hatted friend ?" "Ah' don't know doc ah'm gettin' a feeling we're being followed," said the Texan. Raising an eyebrow the doctor asked, "By whom ?" "That's the thing, we haven't seen anyone peculiar on tha' way here ain't we ?" the Texan said. "Nein," answered the doctor. There was a moment of silence between the doctor and the wrench beater as they took in the darkening desert behind them, "Let's get goin' " said the Texan. The sky was no longer an orange, radiating warmth to those roaming the sandy Waste, as it now blew bone-chilling cold of the desert night. Past Tale had thought nights in the desert would be pleasant compared to when the sun was up, that thought was dropped with the temperature. The thirst occupying her throat had left, only to be replaced by a blanket of cold wrapping all over her body. Vibrating from the cold, she unfold the collar of her jacket and covered her face. Without warning, the man in helmet stopped. Along with the rest of the six strange beings. Hearing no boots stomping the ground, the mare in lead halted in her place. No movement provided the group with only the night breeze to listen to. Bewildered, the mare asked, "What is it Jane ?" She was answered with a raised hand, and no words from the man. The silence was broken with the sound of galloping hooves in the distant, it became louder and louder, and the set of hooves that galloped increased. Upon hearing them, Jane rushed to the side of the road and the rest followed. Past Tale and the six men kept low as the sound of hooves came closer. A four legged silhouette appeared from across the road, galloping to a side route. Followed by flying sparks. *HISS.......* BOOM ! The blast forced them to lowered their heads. Then came gunshots from the direction where the darkened figure had came from. The beige mare raised her rifle, seven shots, and a last one accompanied by a loud ping. Her shots brought retaliation, in form of gunfire from across the road. Soldier and Scout followed her example and began spending shells. A scream was let out, a sign someone had shot somebody. Jane then pulled out his tin grenade. Searching for more, he found none, the last he gave to Scout. "Make it count !" the helmeted man shouted. Scout armed the makeshift explosive, and threw it hard. Moments later an explosion followed, it stopped the gunfire and the shouting. But then sparks came down landing, on an end of a red stick. Past Tale eyes went wide as the fuse became shorter. The said red stick was picked up by Jane, as he stood to threw it back, Past Tale was struck by an immense force that turned everything black. --- --- --- Her comeback to conscious world was celebrated by an excruciating headache. Opening her eyelids, the unicorn mare found wooden surface above her. Pressing her hooves to lift herself, the floor depressed on the pressure applied. With sight still a blur, Past Tale tapped the ground beneath her. Instead of a tap from her hoof, it was a squeak that resonated. A few blink later, Tale discovered that the ground had turned white and squishy. "Nice to see ya join the living again," Turning her head to the source of the voice , she found a pony, an ageing earth pony stallion making his way toward her with a tray on his back. Before she could say or do anything, the wrinkled stallion undone the dressing wrapping her head . The red stained cloth took Past Tale's attention, she placed a hoof on to the side of her head, only to winced seconds after. The stallion gently removed the mare's hoof from her head, "Now, now you just lay down for a bit." Trying to lift herself out of bed proof to be a vain attempt, as the little amount of energy she muster wasn't enough to do so. Flopping back into the bed provided, she continued her gaze to the ceiling. She pondered how did she ended up in some doctor's house. Being placed by the window, the mare caught the rising sun on her eyes, peering out of the framed glass the ascending ball of fire revealed a number of erect, intact, yet poorly maintained houses with foundation embedded on the desert floor. Taps on the wooden floor indicate hooves were approaching, it was the old stallion again. He set down the tray down on the nightstand, "Here take this," Past Tale shakily took the two tablets on the stallion hoof with her magic, with an audible gulp she sent the hardened powder down her throat. Mintals. The glass of water she then took was good, and didn't taste like metal. She looked at the elderly stallion, "Where am I ?" "Well you're in Goodsprings," he continued, "the name's Hearty but everyone else call me Doc." "Wha-what happened..," she asked again, "How...how did I get here..." "For the matter of what I can't really say," he the told her, "but I can tell how you get here though." Past Tale's head turned to the doctor,a blank, half-opened, drowsy stare. The elderly pony looked at her and started the tale of how she got here, going to the description of a Bloodhound like creature covered in pink skin, the mares eyes slowly widen. Seeing his patient staring, with eyes wide open the elderly doctor stopped his tale. Hesitantly he asked, "Uhm...are you alright..." In a flash, the mare bolted out of the bed and onto the hallway of the house, looking to the right she found a slightly open door with light coming from the gaps. She galloped through the hallway and struck the door, opening it violently. At the speed she was going, the mare missed a step on the porch, sending her tumbling down onto the sand. She got back on her four legs as fast as she fell. It gave her a worried look from Hearty. "You okay there ?" asked the worried doctor. "Where ?" Past Tale asked Bewildered, Hearty replied, "Where ?" "Where are they !" she demanded. The building where they were in had tacky wallpapers that barely stick to the walls, the ceiling was nothing but soaked and holed paper, it was a death trap to the common man, nonetheless it didn't worry the owner and guests, as long as there was alcohol, the discrepancies to building regulation the saloon had were ignored. Scout, Heavy and the Engineer were on the stools, beer bottles on the bar and faces to the shelves holding a collection of liquors fit for horses. There wasn't much to talk about, but many questions to ask, but said question are for whom exactly three of those men don't know, and so they sat quietly while pondering. Dell wasn't exactly pondering, he was fiddling with the information processor attached to his wrist. Jarvis asked, "Why are we tailin' this horse anyway hardhat ?" "Because I don't know where we are right now," Dell told him. "From the looks of it I say we're still in New Mexico," reassured the Bostonian. "With talking ponies ?" Dell reminded. "Well it might be that stupid roommate Soldier decided to live with," said Scout. "Ah'thought we ruled out that one," said the Engineer. Scout explained, "Well he is a wizard who knows what he can do." Dell halted activities related to the Pip-Boy, what Scout said was possible but unlikely, unfortunately it was still possible. Tavish entered the bar once more from the rear entrance with the bar co-owner with a jugs of clear liquid. The stallion that was with him placed three shot glass' on a tray and presented them in front of those sitting on the stools. The Scotsman then fill them with the clear liquid to the brim. At first, the three men in red looked at what presumably a drink, and then to their explosive expert face, who had a wide grin and was holding an open palm that said 'go ahead'. Misha went first, in one go he made the glass empty, Scout went next, he to finished the shot in one gulp, his reaction to it was different from the burly Russian. The young man just stared forward as his face turned red. Dell was the last one to try the mysterious liquid. Crunching his face and setting the glass back to where it was he muttered, "Whooo... that's a helluva poison," "I'll have go to what you got," said the mare behind the bar. A few second later the barmaid and Scout made a thud, and those who weren't knocked by the liquor roared in laughter. BANG ! The front door of the saloon was open, the daylight cast a shadow over whoever decided to open it violently. The figure on the door moved inside, revealing the culprit. It was the beige mare. She sighed in relief. "Look who's back up gain," greeted the cyclops, "c'mere and have a drink." Past Tale did what Tavish told her, she took a seat on a stool and took a sip of Scouts beer. Past Tale left the bar and let her strange companions in it, it was a surprise to her that none of the inhabitants of the small town were to shot them at first sight. After fetching her jacket, which had even more patches the beige mare made her way back to the doctor's office, Hearty insisted while she was at the saloon. Arriving back at the doctors house, she was given a quick check up. "You still have those bruises and scratches to deal with," stated Doc, "but other than that you're fine." "Am I fit to go to Pegas ?" Tale asked. "I've seen you galloped to the saloon," said the doctor, " as much as I hate to say it you are." "Thanks for the patch up Doc," thanked the mare. "Just doing my job," he humbly stated. After giving the Past Tale a few flask containing healing agent, Hearty said farewell to another patient. Before setting off once more, Past Tale made her way to the towns general store across the saloon. As the door creaked open, a stallion appeared from the back room of the establishment, from behind the counter he greeted. "Hi there what can I help you with ?" he asked. Past Tale asked, "Do you have any three-oh-eights around ?" "Sure, let me get them for you," he then disappeared into the backroom once more. Reappearing with the box of ammunition requested, he set it down on the counter. Past Tale choose her own bullets, picking out the ones with unsatisfactory quality. After the rounding the rounds she wanted, the mare asked for pieces of scrap and whether the store have a workbench. She was told there was one outside. "That'll be 90 caps," the store owner announced to her. Past Tale look at the stallion and expressed her disbelief, "That's a robbery you know that." "No it isn't," the stallion leisurely stated, "best I can do is 75 for all, three-oh-eights are hard to find 'round here." She halfheartedly handed the caps required and walked outside the store. Before going back to the saloon, she turned to the side of the store working on refilling the spent clips, and making new ones with the metals she just bought. Preparation finished, the mare headed to the saloon to her strange companions. Dell, who had spent his time in town in the bar, was now on top of a hill with Jane. Said hill served as a graveyard, with view overlooking a town in the distance. Leaning on the fence that made the graveyard, Dell continued his exploration of the Pip-Boy, he was interrupted with a tug on his trousers, looking back and down the little mare asked him to join the rest, in continuation of their journey to the said city in the distance. --- --- --- Once more they were out in the open road, the desert sun was bearable as they depart from Goodsprings on it's last leg of the day. Past Tale kept quiet albeit the commotion from her companions. Several hours went by and they came upon a fork on the highway, one was uniform, wide and can be seen making a straight line to their destination, while the other was smaller and seem to strayed off the path to the city they were going to. Past Tale stopped and ushered everybody to keep quiet and low. "Vhat is it ?" asked the Medic. She didn't answered, instead the mare pulled her rifle. Seeing so, the men in red readied their weapons. Upon doing so, Past Tale quickly moved towards Misha and put a hoof on Sasha, restricting the spinning of the barrels. She gave a shush to the Russian and he nodded in reply. She announced in a meekly voice, "I'm going to check that diner up there." Everyone nodded, and the mare made a dash towards a dilapidated diner on the side of the road, they watch her monitored something obstructed by the ground elevation from where the men were keeping low and quiet. Tavished asked, "Scout ya see anythin'?" "Nope," he answered, "nothin'" "Whatever it is she can see it," said the Texan. Past Tale kept low on the outside wall of the eatery. What she saw, she despised, she hated and feared. What she observed had made holes on the road and sands, they had made where she stood and the surrounding area their nests, which she knew entering one was none but a terrible idea that consequence was death. Through the diner window frame, she observed the road, the highway that led straight to New Pegas, was patrolled by several of what she was afraid of, Hellhounds. Closing the observation, she made a dash to where the men were. "So... whaddya see ?" ask the Bostonian. "Not a pretty sight, " she said, "The whole place is crawling with hounds." "Hounds ?" the Medic asked. Past Tale reminds them,"The big dogs remember ?" "Can't we just waltz right through like we did before ?" the Scout inquired. Quickly she denied the idea, "No way." "Why not ?" asked the Bostonian. "You'll be dead less than minute once they saw you or got your stench," Tale pointed out. "Whaddya suggetin' then ?" inquired the Scotsman. Past Tale brought out and opened her map. She found the fork on the map, where they were, trailing the smaller narrower line on the map with her hoof she plotted an alternate route into the city. "Alright we go this way," led the mare. Taking the long way route around, men and mare continued their journey to the city. There were little conversations among them, as most of men were confused to the decision of not taking the shortest route to her destination. As the sky above the desert turned orange, the group found themselves on the edge of a little town that had few standing houses, and a motel. Past Tale made no stop in the town they encountered, she followed the road, and the six beings followed her. Attracting few eyes and fewer bullets, they made it to the other side of the town and pushed on to the bright lights in the distance. The road she decided to take wasn't the safest, through the evening they encountered several others, clad in makeshift protections and dangerously armed. With the dark as cover and unnoticed movements they slipped through bands of ponies they encountered. That night no shots were fired, and no fire were returned. The mare had lost track of how long she had trotted up until this point, for all she knew, she might had galloped the whole way here. What her evening trip presented now were, the lights and sound of a by gone age, bricks, glass and steel that held fortune and brought misfortunes, the streets that led to endless opportunities. The Scout whoa'd. The Engineer whistled. The Soldier stood. The Medic ooh'd. The Demoman sipped. The Heavy stayed silent. She gazed,"New Pegas"