//------------------------------//
// Chapter 2: Beginnings 
// Story: Fallout Equestria: Broken Dreams 
// by FloRad 
//------------------------------//

Interrogation extract #2 / Subject: classified

"I'd like to start with a simple question: why? Why did you do it?

"I did it for Equestria, for our people. It seemed to be the only option."

“Interesting answer, very interesting.”

End of extract.

The unknown frightens us. We get nervous when we do something new. No matter if you’re brave or curious. I still remember the first time I was issued a gun. It wasn’t my first time at the range, but the first time without the guiding words and hooves of my foster mother. My first night patrol wasn’t much different. I knew the Stable very well, but the darkness scared me a bit. I was neither unarmed nor alone, but still...
Leaving the Stable was no different than that.

We rushed to the end of the entrance tunnel, our weapons primed. The tunnel wasn’t very long, but as soon as the door had closed behind us, we changed from trotting into galloping. No need to waste time or to make us an easy target.

          “Clear!” Hot Shot called out, scanning the surrounding area.
  
I took a look at my PipBuck. Before we left, the commander had updated it with the mission details and the necessary navigation marks.

>Primary objectives:
>Examine senor array.
>Search Coltsboro general hospital.
>Search Coltsboro military base.

          “Ok team, let’s recapitulate what we’re gonna do. First we’ll take a look at the sensor array and maybe we’ll get it to work again. Then we will head for the general hospital and hopefully get some meds. Last waypoint is the Coltsboro military base. We’ll stock up on ammo there. You got that?”

“Yes, Ma’am!” they said in unison.

“Then let’s move out.”

I stepped into the open... and made the mistake of looking up. We learned about the sky in school and how beautiful it used to be. Now I was standing there, looking up, only to see something that closely resembled a ceiling in the Stable. When all of a sudden...
  
“Ow! What the heck was that?”

...I felt a stinging sensation in my left eye.

I felt a drop on my face and another and another. Before I knew it, the rain was pouring.

“I think this is called ‘rain’.” Hot Shot said, astonished.

I continued to look up while blinking several times to take away the pain. The longer I looked up into the sky, the smaller I felt and suddenly the ground underneath me seemed to give way and I struggled not to fall on my haunches. The grey mass of fluffiness that was there above me had something mesmerizing.

“I hate rain! Just look at my mane!,” Cloudy said in a sour tone.

“Your mane and tail are braided, Cloudy” Apples countered.

Another drop, this time in the right eye, snapped me out of my stare.

“I think we should get going before it gets dark. The array isn’t far from here. We can camp there,” I said.

“About time. I don’t want to stand here for much longer.” Cloudy Vision muttered

“Corporal, keep your tongue where I can hear it!”, I hissed.

        I felt my uniform soaking up the raindrops and I wanted to get to somewhere dry as soon as possible.

~~~

On our way we didn’t encounter any problems, except for strange insect like things which my PipBuck classified as ‘Bloatsprites’. I had two questions about that. How did my PipBuck know what they were, and what else was out there? What I didn't know was that one of my questions was soon to be answered.

As we made our way to the array I took notice of the environment. I expected everything to be obliterated, but to my surprise some buildings were still standing. They weren’t more than crumbling ruins, but they were standing. We were near the outskirts of Coltsboro and in the distance I was able to see the remains of the city. They stood there, like forlorn monuments of a past we wanted to forget, reminding us of what we’d done.

The sensor array, which was located about a click east of the Stable, wasn’t much more than what appeared to be a little shack and a bunch of antennas. The signs of the blast were clearly visible; Burn marks and cracks on the walls. It was even a bit tilted. The antennas didn't look any better.

        “Here, hold that please,”, I said, floating my rifle to my sister and drawing Spectre.

I approached the door, not sure what I would find inside. Burned or broken equipment maybe? I floated my pistol next to me, ready to shoot anything hostile. I opened the door, just to find the ugliest thing I had ever seen. It was a pony, but it didn't exactly look like one. Its coat was completely gone, along with parts of the skin and muscle tissue. I suddenly felt my breakfast wanting to say hello to the thing. For a second I just stood there, frozen by the sight of something that seemed to have escaped a nightmare.

“What the fuck is that?” I heard myself saying.

Then suddenly it charged me. I stumbled backwards, shooting wildly at the thing. It jumped at me, sending me flying on my back.

“GET IT OFF! GET IT OFF!” was the only thing I was able to scream while that thing tried to eat my face.

Without any warning its head exploded, covering my face in blood and gore. Its remains went limp and fell down on me. I had to buck them off to roll onto my feet and puke. There went my breakfast.

Apples was screaming and Hot Shot puked too. Only Cloudy Vision stood there, her rifle pointed at the remains of the nightmare.

        “Is it dead now?” she asked while poking the corpse with a hoof.

        “I hope so! What the heck was that anyway?” I asked her.

        “According to my EFS, it’s a ‘Feral Ghoul’ and I can tell you, I hate ghouls from now on.”

        “Good for you. I don’t mind as long as it’s dead,” Hot Shot said, still having a green tint on his face.

It took us a while to come down. I had comfort my sister by hugging her and telling that it’s all over, which isn’t a very good thing. She was a soldier like me after all. I could have shouted at her as well, but I guess that would have made it only worse. The control room itself looked rather unharmed. There was a single terminal stood there amongst other equipment. It was still logged in, even after two hundred years. That was impressive.

>WARNING!
>
>3 critical errors
>No connection to server
>Main processing talismans offline
>Main power supply offline

Oh great, that didn’t look really promising.

“Is it still raining?” I asked my sister, who was standing next to the door, keeping an eye out for any trouble.

        “Yep.”
        
“Ok my little ponies. We’re gonna camp out here ‘till the rain has stopped,” I said to nopony in particular, putting my saddlebags down.

~~~

After the rain had ended I decided to check the room for any clues on how to fix the errors, but the rotten paper wasn’t readable, so I went outside to check the back of the hut. I found something that resembled a generator, but it seemed too damaged to work. I wanted to turn it on anyways, just to see what happened. I magically pushed a button labelled ‘Start’, which didn’t seem to do anything. After a little closer inspection, I found a cable that seemed to have been ripped in two and connected it. Pushing the button again rewarded me with black smoke rising from the generator.

“Fucking *cough* prewar shit *cough* won’t work,” I said while trying to get some fresh air.

“What’s up, sis? Hot Shot is trying to figure out the terminal and you don’t seem to be doing any better,” Apple Tarts said, coming around the corner.

“I Just don’t know what’s wrong. I think the Tailsla coils are burnt out, but I can fix that by bypassing the fuse,” I said while looking at the generator.

“Wait a sec. How do you know so much about generators?” she asked in suspicion.

“I dated one of the engineers for a short time and that stuff is surprisingly good pillow talk,” I answered, flushing a bit.

She facehoofed.

“What? There’s nothing to it, as long as it helps us out here! Now we just need a new fuse.”

Levitating the fuse in front of her gave me an idea.

“Aha, idea!” and then I raced off to the front of the hut.

“Hey Cloudy!” I held he fuse in front of her face.”Of what does this remind you?” I asked her, smiling, while tapping the fuse against the barrel of her rifle.

“I guess a fuse, maybe?” she said, a bit unsettled.

“No corporal, it reminds you of a .308 cartridge. I take it that you shot the, what was it’s name again? The ghoul!”

“Yes I did?” she asked in confusion.

“Good!” I said with a bright smile on my face. “Then let’s go get that cartridge.”

So we went out to find the cartridge. After a while we actually found it, much to my surprise. After putting the cartridge where the fuse belonged and pushing the ‘Start’-button it actually sprang to life and the messages on the terminal changed.

>Main power supply online.
>Main processing talismans 2 and 4 are damaged and need replacement.
>Do you want to continue? y/n
>
>WARNING!
>No connection to server.

        “Wow, where do we get those talismans?” Hot Shot asked over my shoulder.

        “I dunno. I guess we’ll find some on the way,” I answered, puzzled.

        “Yeah, I think there should be some at the military base or the Stable-Tec building,” Apple Tarts said.

~~~

The route to the Coltsboro general hospital us led us into the city. As we trotted along the broken highway I felt more and more insecure. The buildings in the distance grew bigger and bigger and as we reached the outskirts of the city, the number of ruins grew. I put in the earpiece and opened the radio reciever on my PipBuck. I selected an entry called "Coltsboro News Radio"

        “...as we get new and continuing reports on the attacks on Prison. It seems like the Dead City Kings want it so badly that they’re willing to burn their own troops like paper in a campfire. The security force of Prison has had some losses too. I’m not sure how long they’ll be able to withstand the constant stream of cannon fodder. That were the news, this is CNR 99.9, the Coltsboro News Radio and this is Sweetie Bell with ‘Into Each Orchard Some Rain Must Fall’.”        

Ok, so what now? The ‘Dead City Kings’ are attacking a prison? Why would they do that and who were they? I guess there was something or somepony in there. I had the feeling that we would find out one way or another.

I decided to take some time to break the ice between Cloudy Vision and me. I was her boss after all and she wouldn’t be of much use when we were constantly picking on each other. I slowed down a bit to let the others catch up on me.

“Hey Corporal, what do you think about our here mission?” I asked her.

“Permission to speak freely?”

“Granted, Corporal.”

“I don’t like it. Something feels off about it, Ma’am.”

“Ma’am sounds like I’m an old lady. Call me Sarge.”

“Ok, Sarge.”

We continued to trot along on the broken pavement of the highway, Cloudy and I carried on our  little conversation. I learned a bit about her and how her life had been until we left the Stable. I had never really met her before the day we got assigned to this mission and she had always just been the grumpy, gray mare with the light purple main and tail and the deep blue eyes. Her father had been her drill instructor. He had always pestered her to be the best in her platoon. It had made her one of the best soldiers and marksponies in the Stable, but I wasn’t sure if the price was worth it. She didn’t seem all too happy with her life.

I took a glance over my shoulder and saw my sister chatting happily with Hot Shot. I was glad to see her thaw a bit.  She never had too many friends and seemed too lost in her medical training to have something like a social life. She once had told me that she wanted to ‘make up for what she did to Mom’.

Then there was Hot Shot. I didn’t know him very well either and I didn’t read his file before we left, mainly because I don’t really like reading files. He seemed like a nice colt to me. His cutie mark, a scroll, let me think about what might be his special talent. Knowledge, maybe? I decided to ask him some time later, but for now he was occupied with my sister.

~~~

 As we proceeded from the suburbs into the city of Coltsboro itself, I remembered what the radio said about the ‘Dead City Kings’ and that thing with the prison.

“Have your weapons out and stay sharp, guys. We don’t know what’s in there and I don’t want to be surprised after the little incident at the array.”

As we proceeded on our way, more and more I was getting the feeling as if we were being watched. I wasn’t sure whether the bombed out windows seemed to follow each of our steps, or if there was actually somepony watching us.

        “Hostiles at 10 o’ clock,” Hot Shot called out.

        “Affirmative! Remember the basics. Take cover, return fire and don’t get shot,” I answered.

This was my moment. The perfect opportunity to prove myself and to hopefully shut Cloudy Vision up for good. I sneaked up to the corner of the building and took a peek. I counted 3 ponies, a unicorn and two earth ponies, standing in front of some kind of roadblock, which seemed to connect to the buildings on either side of the road. We were at a T-crossing. One way was blocked by debris and the only way was right through that roadblock. The ponies armor that looked like it was made out of pieces of scrap metal. Their bars on my EFS were red.
        
“Ok. I see three, but EFS indicates that there are more, possibly in the building,” I whispered with a serious expression.

        Everypony nodded at me.
        
        “So here’s the plan. Hot Shot will go in first. Use your guns to rip them apart.”
        
        “Hey, did you hear that?” I heard one of them say.

        “Oh shitshitshit,” I whispered, my magic tightening its grip around my rifle.

        “I’ll check it out.” said another.

        I heard him trotting closer and closer.
        
        “Change of plans, on my mark we’re gonna break cover and engage ‘em,”

        The noise of his hooves on the concrete stopped. Then everything seemed to happen at once.
        
“GOGOGO!” I yelled and stepped in to the open, slipping into S.A.T.S.

“Huh?” was the last thing the grey earth pony said before two bullets reduced his brain to pudding.

Hot Shot broke cover behind me, bringing his twin machine guns to bear. With a bite on the mouthpiece he sent a stream of .223 down the road, effectively ripping the unicorn apart and painting the walls a new color. The remaining yellow earth pony took tails and raced off into the left building. I gestured for Apples and Cloudy to stand back. With a nod Hot Shot and me approached the road block. The earth pony emerged from the building, now armed and followed by three other ponies.

“Scatter!” I commanded at Hot Shot.

Unfortunately, our enemies followed my orders too that too. Yellow took tail and disappeared behind the roadblock once again, leaving us with the new ones. Now we had a shotgun, a hunting rifle and what appeared to be a makeshift sword or sabre against us.

“Hey guys. We can talk this out, can we? I don’t really want to kill you.”

The atmosphere was tense. I felt sweat running down my face. This was the first time I had ever killed a pony. Training thought how to kill one, but nopony actually prepared you for it.

“Fuck you bitch! Smoke ’em!” was what I got as answer.

Well, that settled it for me. I slipped into S.A.T.S. and targeted two bullets at the the head of mister hunting rifle. He seemed the only one to be able to do some serious damage at range, provided he knew how to use his gun, which I was sure he was.

I executed the spell, only to have one bullet miss him and the other one streak his face. Shotgun, a unicorn and Blade, an earth pony, charged us. Hot Shot bit his mouthpiece and sent a volley towards Shotgun, who got caught in the hail of bullets. I pulled the trigger several times. Every bullet missed and the boltcatch engaged. As I reloaded my rifle, a ‘pfft’ behind me sent his back head flying. I took a quick look behind me and saw Cloudy aiming her rifle. I hated that sound of an empty mag. At this point I painfully realized that we were trained for combat in confined spaces.

Blade came dangerously close and I had to dodge a blow. He was awfully quick and he only missed my by a few inches. I had to improvise, so I turned my rifle around  and used it as a club. A quick blow sent him staggering backwards and a few rounds to the head put him down for good. I allowed myself a moment to breathe, when out of nowhere, it dawned on me. Where was the last one?

My question was answered, when the buck came around the roadblock, a rocket launcher strapped to his battle saddle. He Charged at us, screaming like a madpony and then he fired. The rocket zipped past me and Hot Shot, hitting the wall behind him. The blast sent him flying through the air, slapping against a wall. My vision turned red and I fired my rifle like crazy until the chamber clicked empty again. I drew Spectre and put a whole magazine into the pony, even although he was dead already. Covered in sweat and blood I rushed to the injured Hot Shot.

        “Oh fuck. MEDIC!”

        “Arrrghhhh... uhhh.... fuuuck...”
        
        “You’re gonna be ok. Stay with me! Don’t do this to me!” I screamed.

What had I done? What the hell was I thinking? Apples sprinted from her cover to us, immediately floating out syringes, bandages and bottles full of purple healing potion. I mindlessly wandered away from her, trying to think about anything else but today. Today had been a mess.

~~~

While Apples tended to Hot Shot’s wounds, Cloudy and I took care of the bodies. As much as I hated it, I ordered her to search them for anything valuable. All we got were some .308 rounds, the combat shotgun, along with some empty drums and some 12 gauge shells. I also decided to keep the makeshift sword. The rocket launcher was simply too big for any of us and we honestly had no idea what to do with it, so we simply took the ammo and left the launcher.  We dumped the bodies in the other building and went to look after Apples and Hot Shot. He looked pretty bad.

“How’s he doing?” I asked her, concerned.

“Not good at all. I can’t give him a healing potion. I fear that the shrapnel would cause an infection under his skin, but I can’t get them all out now. Also, some ribs are broken. All I could do was wrap his head in healing bandages, give him some adrenaline and hope for the best. He needs serious medical treatment.”

        I had to make a decision.

        “We can’t go back to the Stable. As long as he’s not dying we’ll continue,” I said with a stern tone.

“You’ve got to be kidding me! He’s fucking wounded. His face is mutilated! HIS FACE! Do you even realize that?” she shouted at me.

“Oh yes I do, but we have to think of the Stable too. This mission ensures the survival of all its inhabitants. As long as he lives, we carry on. End of discussion.”

        “I... I... You...” she stammered.

With that said I left the building. I felt their eyes on me and I knew how that hurt, but we had a mission and the mission comes first. They knew it as much as I did. I sat down on the street, leaned against a wall and started sobbing. I had failed. Not even 24 hours after we left the Stable, my decisions had led to one of my comrades being badly injured. I looked up at the sky, only to see the clouds. At least it wasn’t raining.

        After a while Cloudy came out as well, bringing my rifle with her.
        
“Thank you. I’ll take the first part of the night watch. You go and get some sleep. I’ll wake you up in six hours.” I said without stopping to stare into the distance.
        
        “Yes, Sarge...”

I was glad for her leaving. I wanted some time alone. Time to think about what to do next. We needed a place to recover and maybe get some intel on what the fuck was going on out here.

~~~

After getting a little sleep we packed up and continued on our way to the hospital. My sister refused to look at me and I couldn’t blame her for it. Hot Shot looked bad, really bad. I was able to took a glance at his injuries when Apples changed his bandages. His face strewn with tiny holes and his left eye was completely gone. I felt sorry for him. It was my fault and I had to make up for it. Not really sure what to do next, I tried to reevaluate our situation. We had a effectively lost a capable warrior and he was now slowing us down. I could neither go back nor leave him to die and our medic now had a permanent occupation too. Then there was the issued with the weapons. Hot Shot had swapped guns with Cloudy, having his rifle slung across his back and she put on the battle saddle.

Following the tag on my EFS proved to be more difficult than I had anticipated. Many roads were blocked by debris and some had ground cracks and wide gaps. I didn’t know much about roads, but I was sure that they weren’t supposed to be like that. From time to time there were gunshots in the distance, but I never got any red bars on my EFS, except for some Bloatsprites and Radroaches. They were easy targets, but I neither wanted to waste ammo nor makes us targets, so I just stabbed them when needed.

At some point, it was about 6 am, we came across a crossing, with some, to my surprise, intact roadsigns. I was glad to finally get something to help our navigation in Coltsboro. No matter how fancy the map may have been, I was glad to finally get something other than a top-down view on things. The city basically like a big Stable, without a roof. Very big, I have to admit, but it still didn’t make me feel any better about it and navigating was so much more difficult.

We had to make a detour because of gaps and debris blocking our path. I t seemed that we were actually getting further away from the hospital as we moved along. It seemed like a maze to me at that time. I looked back between my PipBuck and the signs, when I had an idea. The colt on the radio had mentioned a prison being besieged and we needed some serious medical treatment for Hot Shot. A siege camp would surley have a sick bay, wouldn’t it?

        “Change of plans. We’re gonna make a detour to the siege that was on the news.”

        “What siege?” Cloudy asked in disbelief

“Somepony on the radio,” I said, waving my PipBuck.“Said something about a group called the ‘Dead City Kings’ attacking a Prison. I have no idea why, but we’re gonna go there. Hot Shot needs medical attention and we can’t provide that out here.”

        Apples face lit up and even Hot Shot ears perked when they heard that

        “Yes, Sarge.” Cloudy and Apples said in unison.

I wasn’t sure what to expect there, but I was sure that it would be better than simply wandering around the city without a clue. Maybe we’d find somepony to help us on our mission, who knew?

~~~

The way to the “Coltsboro Detention Center” was surprisingly well signposted. and it seemed like somepony had cleared some of the debris to make paths. As we continued on our way, the gunshots came nearer and nearer.

“You two stay behind. If you hear something, hide. I don’t want the two of you killed!” I said to Hot Shot and Apples, they simply nodded.

        “Ok, Cloudy, you come with me. I need your eyes.”

“Sarge, do you think this is a good idea? We could get into the lines of fire,” she asked me while we made our way towards the noise.

        “Yes I am. Watch your corners!” I replied as we proceeded.

        “Rog’ It’s just that I hate this city,” Cloudy muttered.

        “Don’t care, we have a mission.”

        “I know, bu—”

        “No buts!” I snapped at her

That shut her up for a while. While I hated having to talk to her like that, it was a mandatory evil. I found a bombed out building that offered us a good position to get an overview of the area. I was impressed. The prison itself stood on open ground. No way of sneaking past during daytime. Looking through my binoculars I saw a camp a good distance west of the prison facility. I had two options now. Either go to the prison itself during the daytime or wait until the night falls to get to the camp. I decided to go for the prison. We had no time to waste on our hooves.

“Your opinion on this?” I asked Cloudy.

“I don’t know. The prison seems to be heavily guarded. I think they’ll shoot us on sight.”

“Then we’ll have to be extra careful. We’re gonna go over there, knock on the door and ask them to let us in.”

Cloudy looked at me in disbelief. I was perfectly aware of the fact that my plan was stupid, if not outright deadly to all of us, but it was the only plan I could think of on short notice. I was responsible for the well being of my squadmates and although I hadn’t been able to live up that until now. I took another look through my binoculars. I saw at least two guards on the two towers facing us. There was a good chance of them simply opening fire on sight, but I had to try it. For Hot Shot and for my sister. Cloudy and I headed back to where we had left Apples and Hot Shot behind. I told them about my wicked plan and got the same reactions as from Cloudy.

“Are you sure? It’s just that it’s not entirely unlikely for us be shot at,” Hot Shot enquired.

“Of course I am! It’s not like we’ve got any other options.”

“We could always go back to the Stable.” Apples offered.

“No, we can’t. Going back would be admitting that we failed and failure is not an option.”

I only realized what I had said when it was too late. Looking at Hot Shot I knew it hurt him, but he knew what was at stake just as much as I did.

“The Sarge’s right. We can’t go back.” I heard from behind me.

Now that was interesting. Cloudy Vision actually supporting me? That settled the issue for now, at least for me. Time to move out! Apples gave Hot Shot another shot of Med-X and changed the bandages before we started to make our way to a, hopefully, safe place. It didn’t look too bad from afar. As we came nearer, my sister trotted up to me.

“So what are we gonna do if they don’t let us in?”

“Then we’ll go to the camp.”

“And what if they don’t let us in either?”

I hadn’t really considered that scenario, mostly because I didn’t want to. The worst-case scenario would have been that Apples had to make a field surgery on Hot Shot and although I didn’t know much about medicine, I knew that that wouldn’t have been a very good idea.

A shot rang out out of nowhere and I heard the bullet zip past my head.

“CEASE FIRE! WE’VE GOT WOUNDED!” I yelled.

Another shot, another bullet.

“WE’VE GOT WOUNDED FOR FUCK’S SAKE!”

        And another one.

        “WE SURRENDER.”

        Suddenly we were blinded by a bright light.

        “Drop your guns. You’re going to be taken into custody. Any resistance will be answered with lethal force.”

“We have an injured pony with us, please take him to the sick bay. He’s only running on Med-X and adrenaline!”  Apples begged, gesturing at Hot Shot.

        “We’ll see to it. Who’s your leader?” said a young earth pony buck approaching us.

        “That would be me. Sergeant Apricot Tarts. Pleased to meet you,” I answered with a forced smile.

        He wasn’t very impressed.

        “You’re coming with me. The Director wants to see you.”

As I followed him trough the huge iron gate of the facility, a new navigation tag popped up on my PipBuck. It read ‘Prison’. What a welcoming name. Ah well, certainly better than. ‘Deathtrap’. I trotted past a sign saying ‘Welcome to the Coltsboro Detention Facility’.

        Welcome indeed.

----
Footnote: Promotion (new rank: Private First Class)
New Perk:. Keen Eye - Your experiences with ghouls and raiders have thought you to think before attacking. You gain a +10% accuracy bonus whilst not in S.A.T.S

[Authors note: I’d like to thank Kkat for creating the original Fallout: Equestria. Furthermore I’d like to thank Sir Leadhead and Melon Hunter for helping me so much and then there are the guys from the FO: E sidefic compilation doc. Keep being so awesome!]