Fallout Equestria: War Games

by Livingdeath

Chapter 3: Camaraderie

Chapter 3: Camaraderie

"In such times one can turn to faith, but it's always good to have friends."

Amber looked over to Chance with a hopeful look on her face.

"We're just going to have to make do with what we have, which granted isn't much." Chance rolled his eyes.

"Try nothing at all, between the two of us all we have are two pistols, eighty rounds of ammo, and not a drop of water or speck of food to be found, so how are we going to survive out here?" Amber started to think back to what one of the refugees in their Stable had once said, and suddenly it all came back to her.

"If I remember correctly, there should be a settlement not too far from here." Chance actually managed to smile, after all this was the best news he had heard all day.

"Seriously, well hot damn! What's it called?" Before she could reply, another voice answered the question for her.

"That would be the settlement of New Appleloosa, too bad neither of you will live long enough to see it." Both turned to see Vile standing behind them with a shotgun levitating in front of him, his wounds seemingly still fresh from their previous encounter. He quickly pointed the shotgun in Amber's direction and turned to Chance.

"If you so much as move, I'll blow her fucking brains out, understand?" Chance gritted his teeth as he fought the urge to charge forward and beat the life out of this miserable traitor, and soon enough five other ponies appeared behind Vile.

"What the hell are you doing here?" The lead pony looked over to Vile.

"Grimm sent us to make sure that you don't fuck up again." The pony looked back to Chance and Amber, and let out a light chuckle.

"So, these are the two ponies that beat you within an inch of your life. I thought that you were made of sterner stuff Vile." Vile gave the pony a menacing glare.

"They got the drop on me before, but not this time." He turned his attention back to the duo in front of him.

"This time I got the drop on them." Both stood their ground, refusing to show any fear in their final moments. Once Vile was prepared to end their lives, a new voice could be heard from behind him.

"If I were you two, I'd get behind something." Vile turned around to find the source of the voice, and what he shocked him. It was an earth pony with a pale brown coat and a dark brown mane that had a battle-saddle with a minigun on either side. Both Chance and Amber used this opportunity to duck behind a few large rocks to use as cover. Once they were clear, the mysterious pony opened fire on Vile and his associates, his miniguns quickly dispatching the small group. Once he had stopped firing, the pony shouted to the duo.

"Okay ponies are dead now, you can come out." The duo crawled out from behind their cover only to be greeted with a bloody mess. Chance looked away while Amber began to gag. The stranger rolled his eyes.

"Oh come on, this can't be the worst thing that you've ever seen." However his eyes quickly spotted their Stable security barding, and then he looked back to them.

"Or maybe it is." He walked closer to them and examined them closely.

"The two of you are fresh out of a stable aren't you?" Chance nodded.

"Yeah we were security, until that rat bastard sold us out to some heavily armed insane stallion and his gang." The stranger nodded.

"I see, so were where the two of you heading before you were ambushed?" Amber spoke up.

"We were heading to New Appleloosa to do some trading for food and water." The stranger nodded once again.

"I see, and did the two of you take into account the endless creatures and mutants out there that would like nothing more than to tear you apart and have you for lunch?" Amber became really quiet and Chance looked over to the stranger.

"The who that want to what now?" The stranger seemed surprised.

"You mean to tell me that you aren't prepared to deal with the hideous monstrosities that call the wasteland home?" The duo shook their head in unison, and the stranger sighed.

"Well if there was any doubt before, it's gone now." Amber looked to the stranger.

"I'm sorry, but doubt about what?" The stranger chuckled.

"Doubt about whether I should help the two of you or not, and believe me when I say that you're going to need my help." Chance wasn't so sure.

"So you're just going to help us out of the good of your heart? How do we know that we can trust you?" The stranger gave a quick laugh.

"I'm going to help you because it's what I was taught to do growing up, not to mention that if I didn't my poor old mom would probably roll in her grave, rest her soul." The stranger seemed to get lost in his memories until Amber cleared her throat and the stranger shook himself from his nostalgia.

"So anyway, if you would allow me to I would be more than happy to assist you in your travels across the wasteland, as long as you don't plan on going on a psychotic killing spree that is." Chance looked over to Amber and he nudged his head over to the side, she nodded and he turned back to the stranger.

"Give us a minute to talk it over." The stranger nodded.

"Of course, I'm in no rush." Chance and Amber walked out of ear's length of the stranger and Chance looked over to Amber.

"What do you think, can we trust this guy?" Amber shrugged.

"I don't know, on one hoof we don't know anything about him aside from a story about his mother which might not even be true, but on the other hoof he did save us from Vile and those others, what do you think?" Chance sighed.

"Well he is right about one thing, we don't know anything about the wasteland and if we're going to survive then we're going to need someone that does, so I say we let him tag along for now but we should still keep an eye on him to see if he starts acting too suspicious." Amber nodded.

"Okay, that sounds like a good plan." They turned back around and approached the stranger.

"Well, what have you decided?" Chance looked over to Amber, and she nodded.

"We've decided to accept your offer, so which way to New Appleloosa Mister...." The stranger stepped forward and introduced himself.

"My name is Boomer, and your names are?" Chance nodded.

"My name is Chance, and this is Amber." Boomer smiled.

"Well it's a pleasure to meet the two of you, and to answer your question New Appleloosa is about a three mile walk west of here." Chance nodded.

"Well then, I suggest that we start moving." The other two nodded in agreement and they began to head towards New Appleloosa.

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Grimm was enjoying a long drag on a cigarette in the dining hall, when one of his troops came barging in with a frightened look on his face. Grimm exhaled and watched the trail of smoke rise from his lips before addressing the soldier.

"Do you have something to tell me regarding the slaves that are supposed to be shipping out soon, or do you just want one of my cigarettes? Because if you do, the answer is 'fuck no'." The soldier shook his head.

"No sir, I've been sent to inform you that neither Vile nor the squad that we sent after him have reported back yet." Grimm shrugged.

"Why does this have you so worked up?" The soldier swallowed the lump in his throat as he answered.

"Well sir, we sent them out over forty minutes ago, they should have at least called in by now." Grimm didn't seem too concerned, if at all.

"So what are you doing about this?"

"Well sir, I ordered a second squad to go out and search for them with orders to radio back once they found anything." After he had finished his sentence, the radio on his armor came to life, and a voice soon followed.

"Uh sir, I think we found them." The commander answered the radio.

"What do you mean you 'think you found them'?"

"Well sir, it's kind of hard to tell, it certainly looks like these guys were wearing our armor, but they've been nearly shot to shit. It looks like your escapees either had help, or they're packing some serious fire power." The commander's blood ran cold as he saw the look in Grimm's eyes change from annoyance to anger. Grimm rose from his seat and walked over to the commander, who was visibly shaking from fear of what Grimm was going to do to him.

"Normally I would have you killed, but since this is your first day on the job I'm willing to make a deal with you, what was your name again?" The commander quickly answered his question.

"My name is Bayonet sir." Grimm smiled.

"Well Bayonet, here's the deal. You track down the two escapees, and I won't kill you in the most terribly unimaginably horrible way possible, sound good to you?" Bayonet nodded his head and Grimm smiled.

"Good boy, now get to it." Bayonet nodded, but before he left he remembered something else.

"Oh before I go sir, there was one last thing that I thought you should know." Grimm leaned forward.

"And what would that be?"

"Well sir, we found the pony that you were looking for. You know, the one that was good with computers and the like?" Grimm nodded.

"Ah yes, very good. Have the boys downstairs put him to work before you and your squad head out." Bayonet nodded.

"Of course, right away sir." But before he could leave, Grimm stopped him.

"Hold on a moment, before you leave there is one last thing that I'd like to give you."

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Once the trio arrived at New Appleloosa Boomer turned to the two of them and extended his hoof.

"Your barding, give it to me now." Chance took a single step back.

"Not a chance in hell, this is the only thing standing between me and death, and I'm quite partial to living." Boomer sighed.

"You don't seem to understand, whoever's hunting you down is going to keep sending hit squads after you, and walking around with those outfits on is like walking around with a target painted on your back. Trust me when I say that you'll be much better off with something a bit less conspicuous, like leather armor or something similar to such." Chance and Amber exchanged glances and then looked back to Boomer.

"Alright, but on one condition. We get to pick out our replacement armors, and what we want we get, got it?" Boomer rolled his eyes.

"Fine whatever, I don't suppose that the two of you have any bottle caps do you?"

"Why the hell would we have something as stupid as bottle caps?" Boomer sighed.

"You do know that bottle caps are the currency out here, correct?" This took the two of them by complete surprise, especially Chance.

"What the fuck? Are you fucking kidding me? Who the fuck came to that conclusion, and better yet who the fuck instituted it?!" Boomer shrugged.

"Don't ask me, I haven't been around that long, though I'm sure that if you look hard enough you'll find a few that have." Dismissing this, the trio continued to the general store by the name "Absolutely Everything" but before they could go inside, Boomer stopped them.

"Now listen, before we continue inside I feel the need to prepare you for what the two of you are going to see in there." Chance became rather curious.

"What do you mean?" Boomer sighed and looked at the two of them.

"Well I had hoped to avoid the two of you seeing something like this your first day out of your Stable, but since you insist on choosing what I buy for the two of you it's unavoidable." Amber looked over to Boomer.

"What are you trying to prepare us for?" Boomer sighed.

"Inside the store you're going to see the owner, a Pegasus by the name of Ditzy Doo, and she is one of the kindest gentlest souls that it's ever been my pleasure to meet out in this living hell we call a wasteland." Chance began to get impatient.

"What exactly is so awful about that?"

"Oh absolutely nothing whatsoever, it's just that she's a bit different in the looks department, and the last thing I want is for you to offend her, so please watch what you say." Chance and Amber nodded, and Boomer seemed satisfied enough to open the door to reveal a small filly with a blond mane and a silver coat arranging some shelves. When she turned to see who had entered the shop, and when Boomer saw who it was, his face brightened considerably.

"Hi Boomer." Boomer's smile refused to fade.

"Hey there Silver Bell, it's good to see you again. Hey, is your mom around? My friends here need some new armor and a few other necessities." Silver Bell nodded and called out for her mom, while Chance began to admire the shop and its contents, while Amber admired how well everything was arranged considering how cluttered it should have been. Neither of them could understand what Boomer had been so worried about, this Ditzy Doo's daughter was practically the definition of adorable, how could they possibly find herself to be unattractive in any way?

Soon enough they heard someone walk into the room, and when they saw what it was they nearly froze with fear. Standing there was not a Pegasus, or a kind and caring mother, or even a humble store owner, standing right in front of them was nothing other than a zombie! Both Chance and Amber opened their mouths to scream, but before they could produce sound Boomer quickly wrapped his forelegs around them and used his hooves to cover their mouths.

"Hey there Ditzy! I can't tell you how great it is to see you again." Ditzy smiled at her friend, but then showed a look of confusion as she pointed to the two ponies whose mouths he was covering.

"Who, these two? Oh just some former Stable dwellers I found wandering around and decided to tag along with. They're going to need some new armor so I decided to swing them by here since you not only have some of the finest available, but at a good price as well." Ditzy nodded and turned to look through an assortment of different armors, and when she did Boomer quickly ducked through the door with his two new comrades still in his grip. Once they were outside and he closed the door, he released his grip on their mouths, and they began to scream immediately after, while Boomer just sat back casually.

"That's it, let it all out," he said as they continued to scream. Once they were forced to stop to catch their breaths, Chance turned over to Boomer with a furious look on his face.

"What the fuck was that?! You couldn't have flat out said that we were going to be dealing with a fucking zom-" Before he could finish his sentence Boomer once again placed his hoof over his mouth, and spoke in a low, cold tone.

"Let me make myself perfectly clear, if you ever use that term to refer to her, or others that happen to look like her, I'll cut your fucking tongue out, understand?" Chance stared at Boomer for a few moments and finally nodded his head, and Boomer turned his attention to Amber.

"That goes for you as well Amber." She simply nodded her head.

"Alright, now when we go back into that store and you can't think of anything nice to say to her, keep your fucking mouths shut, got it?" They both nodded their heads and his calm friendly demeanor seemed to come back from out of nowhere.

"Well then, let's not waste any more time." They re-entered the store to find that Ditzy hadn't even noticed their absence, since she was still laying out different armors for them to choose from. Once they had been laid out for them to see, they began to look them over and in the end Chance went with combat armor and Amber decided to get leather armor. Once they changed out of their original Stable security barding and slipped into their new armor and they traded for some food and water, Boomer gave Ditzy their old barding as well as a few caps to complete the trade.

Once they left the store, Boomer quickly spotted the saloon and looked back to his companions.

"Either of you drink?" Once Chance heard that magical sentence he immediately perked up.

"Hell yeah I do!" Boomer looked back to Amber who seemed a little sheepish.

"What's the matter, you don't drink?" Before she could say anything, Chance spoke up.

"Nah, she drinks. She's just a bit cautious because the last time she drank, she got so drunk that she ended up sleeping with the chief." Amber looked over to Chance an smacked him on the back of his head.

"Hey, what the fuck was that for?"

"You swore that you would never tell anyone about that!" Chance thought for a moment, when he realized that she was right.

"Oh yeah, oops." Amber gave him a menacing glare and Chance started to walk just a little bit faster to get ahead of her to avoid any more bonks on the head. Once they got inside Boomer opened the saddle bag that was on his battle-saddle and pulled out a hoof-full of bottle caps and gave them to the bartender.

"Give me and my friends here the best whiskey you've got." The bartender nodded and quickly retrieved a bottle of Apple Whiskey and quickly poured three shots, and sent them down to their intended consumers. Amber and Chance used their magic to levitate their shots, while Boomer very carefully gripped his with his hoof and swallowed the contents. This continued for quite a while until the news came on and the bartender barked at everyone to shut up. Once the bar had quieted down, the music was replaced with a smooth charismatic voice that must have belonged to the DJ of the radio station.

"This is DJ Pon3, and that little number was by Velvet Remedy, singing about one of the greatest feelings in the world. Well you know what time it is, it's time for the news. So I'm sure that you all remember the Wasteland's saving grace, the Stable-Dweller Littlepip right? Well what you might not know is that there's also a stable not too far from New Appleloosa, and believe it or not, it actually has ponies still living in it as well! However, this is where the story starts to get a little sketchy. Sources claim that they were seen being pursued by armed figures, so does this mean that these new guys are nothing more than a band of trouble makers, or is this just part of a bigger picture that we just can't see? Until next time, this is DJ Pon3, and as always-"

Neither Chance or Amber heard past that, they couldn't even believe what they had heard. Not only did someone out there know about their predicament, but they were chronicling it on the news? And what was this about another Stable-Dweller? Just who was this Littlepip, and why were they so important? These were the worst kind of questions, because they were the questions they were sure would go unanswered. After the broadcast ended Boomer smiled and looked over to his companions.

"You two hear that? You're famous now." However, once he thought about it, his smile quickly faded.

"Which may not be such a good thing, especially if DJ Pon3 is going to be reporting about you guys regularly." Just then he heard several sets of hoof steps and he turned around to see eight ponies in very familiar looking armor, and one was heading straight toward the saloon. He turned to his companions.

"Guys, they've found us. We have to go now!" However, before they could do anything, the pony entered, looked over and spotted them.

"I found them, they're in-" Before he could finish his sentence, Chance drew his weapon and put a bullet between his eyes. He looked over to Amber and Boomer.

"Time to go!" They quickly bolted out the front door, only to be met with seven ponies with assault rifles armed and ready to kill. Without thinking, the trio quickly bolted to the right as the other ponies began firing, a few coming pretty close but never actually hitting them. Once the gunfire picked up, everyone began to panic and started to run back or forth trying to find a safe place to hide, a plan not too dissimilar from Chance's. Once they found adequate cover, Boomer dared to peek his head out to try and find a way to flank or sneak past them, and after a few moments, he spotted a way to flank them and he quickly formulated a plan, but he knew that one of them was going to have to go out in the open, and he knew that no one was going to want to do that.

He quickly explained his plan to Chance and Amber, and after the initial shock, Chance finally decided that he would do it, since he was one of the faster members of the group, and he was just buzzed enough to were he was willing to try anything. While Amber and Boomer snuck around to flank their attackers, Chance quickly ran into the open and began shouting.

"Hey, look at me I'm a target!" This was met with the expected barrage of bullets from their assault rifles, and just a little too much laughing from Chance as he began to run in order to avoid being hit. Once Amber and Boomer were in position, they emerged from behind their attackers and began to empty their weapons into their enemies without hesitation. Once they were sure that they were all dead, Boomer did the sensible thing and began to loot their corpses for caps and ammo.

While he was looting, he found a strange tape on one of them, and if he was correct it looked like it could fit in the device on either Chance or Amber's foreleg. He brought it over to them, and Chance place the tape inside of his pip-buck, and once the tape started it was revealed to be a recording of someone that they knew all too well.

"Hello there Chance and, or Amber, this is your old pal Grimm. Right now you may be wondering how I know that the one listening to this recording is one of you two. Well the answer is quite simple, because Bayonet, poor not so innocent Bayonet, has absolutely no idea what he is carrying. That and I'm willing to guess that those fancy pip-bucks on your legs are one of the few things still in existence that can play one of these tapes. Anyway on to the message, you see the two of you pose quite a problem for me and my boss, and we just can't have that. I wanted to let you know that I'm going to be keeping an eye on you two, and anyone else that happens to be with you. If the wasteland doesn't eat you alive, and you ever come back to this Stable then I will. So I suggest that you put any foolish heroic plans of rescuing your Stable behind you, because it's only going to end badly for you, but I know that we'll see each other again soon enough, so until then ta-ta!"

The group just stared at the blankly at Chance's pip-buck, still having a hard time believing what they had just heard. Eventually, Chance looked at Amber and Boomer.

"Well now what are we going to do?" Boomer looked at him with a sly smile on his face.

"I think I may someone that can help us." Chance seemed to regain a little hope from that.

"Who are they, and how can they help us?"

"Her name isn't important, but if there is one pony in the entire Wasteland that can tell us anything, then it's her."

"Well, where is she?" Boomer's smile faded.

"That's the thing, she's not exactly local, honestly it's a long fucking walk to get to her. It's definitely a five day travel on hoof and that's if we don't stop unless it's absolutely necessary." Amber already had her answer.

"I'm up for anything if it helps us get our home back." Boomer nodded and looked over to Chance.

"What about you Chance, are you up for it?" Chance didn't even have to think it over.

"Whatever it takes, so lead the way." Boomer nodded and soon after they left the settlement of New Applelossa, following Boomer's lead.