Fallout Equestria: Revamp

by midworld1999

Chapter 6: Packing Light

Sector: Shackle
100 Years, 6 Months, 24 Days PSR

Wick and I didn't wake up until the next day. I came to first, and found that we had been moved. The ceiling of Hammer Swing's shack was gone, replaced with a cloudless sky. I tried to sit up to look at the rest of my surroundings, but felt brisk pain in my head and abdomen. I lifted a hoof to my chest and found it covered with bandages, and further search revealed a tight wrapping around my forehead as well.

When I turned (with effort) to my side, I discovered Wick was similarly bound in medical tape. Her bandages consisted of several smaller patches all around her body and one large dressing covering her head. I made an instinctual check on her breathing. Steady, unlabored. I let out my own breath of relief and returned my gaze to sky.

"That was really stupid," a voice stated.

I grunted as I subtly maneuvered by body to look at Swiss. "Good morning to you too," I said.

"Really stupid," he repeated.

"Redundancies are redundant," I replied.

"Do you think this is a joke?" he exclaimed. "You didn't just risk your life, you risked Wick's, not to mention every slave in this camp!"

"It was Wick's idea. We both knew what we were doing. We knew the risks. For us, there was a lot of risk. As for for you guys, it would've been around 200 angry, just freed slaves and some gun-toting robots against one griffon."

"That doesn't make it okay for you risk your life on a whim."

"A whim?" Now I was getting angry. "You know what he did to Wick, and you call that a whim?"

"Oh, so this was revenge. Killing every slaver in the camp wasn't enough for you, you had to do it yourself, make it more personal."

"Yes, yes we did," I growled. "He deserved what we gave him."

"Argh! You're fucking impossible! Why'd I have to fall for a dunderhead li–"

"Will you two stop arguing like an old married couple?" groaned Wick. "My headache's bad enough without listening to this."

Swiss lowered his voice to a whisper. "Fine. I'm going. But once you're well again, you're both getting an earful!" He shot us a final glare and trotted away, but just before he left earshot, he said, "Eniac will be by to talk to you in a few minutes."

"He on his period or something?" asked Wick, once Swiss was fully out of hearing range.

By now my demeanor had softened a little. "He's only angry because he cares." Maybe a bit too much. "He's right, what we did was really dangerous."

"I guess. I don't regret it though."

"Neither do I."

"Good."

We fell silent for awhile; there was nothing left to say. We stayed that way until Eniac came, wearing a scavenged travel bag.

"Good morning," she said curtly, businesslike. "How're you feeling?"

"Meh."

"Like a 400 pound griffon smashed me in the face with a gun."

"Alive then," she said. "Fantastic. We'll be breaking camp in five days, so make sure you're okay to walk by then."

"I can barely life my head," I said. Wick grunted an affirmative.

"Should've thought of that before taking on the leader of a slaver camp by yourself. Hope the satisfaction was worth it," Eniac said.

"Well aren't you the Queen of Sympathy," Wick snarked.

"You've got five days. I think you'll be fine to walk by then," said the Queen of Sympathy. "By the way, here's this." She opened her bag and removed a glowing cylindrical device, which she set down by my side. "Even with your suicidal escapade, you still earned this."

I picked it up in my hooves and held it in front of my face. A few small scratches here and there, but overall unharmed and, if the healthy green glow was any indication, fully functional. I slipped the it onto my right forehoof, where it clamped on snugly. My poker face broke, and I erupted into a series of effeminate squees. Wick snickered in amusement and Eniac cracked one of her rare smiles, but I didn't care. I had a motherfucking PipBuck.

Once my adorable noises ceased, Eniac approached Wick. "Even if I didn't intend it at first, you played just as big a roll as Revamp did in making this happen. I don't have anything as lavish as another Pipbuck to offer you, but I did manage to get my claws on this."

She reached into her bag again, this time pulling out a black belt with twin holsters. The holsters were buffalo-woven hoofcraft, each bearing a detailed fire-breathing dragon on the side, identical except for the color schemes. The left dragon was green with red fire, the right red with green fire. On the belt itself was a much simpler design, white numerals embedded into the center of the belt:

XIX

It took Wick a few moments to form a coherent sentence. "Uh, holy shit. Wow."

Eniac nodded. "I thought so too. Believe it or not, I found the thing in an old bowling bag. It must be jinxed, cause that's how I found it, perfectly preserved. Definitely prewar, you don't see craftsmanship like this anymore. Anyway, I remembered your cutie mark, so I thought this might be an appropriate reward." She handed the belt over to Wick.

"Wow," she repeated. "I can't wait to put my carvers in these." She glanced around for her guns. "Where are they, by the way?"

"Your revolvers are somewhere safe," Eniac said. "You can retrieve them as soon as you're well enough."

"Quick question," I said. "You said we were leaving in a couple of days. Where are we planning on going?"

"In five days, we'll be setting off east. Most of the towns these slaves are from are that way. As we go on, I expect several factions will break off, go their own way. I've heard them talking around camp. Some want to look for their families, some want to find out what became of their towns. Anyways, other than our general direction, we're not heading anywhere in particular."

"I have a suggestion."

"What did you have in mind?"

"I knew a ghoul that lived about two weeks walk out east. She's not loaded with supplies, but if these foals go off on their own like you say, we could probably stay a few days. If we stop by, she could give us some advice on what to do next. She knows every settlement in the region, who's friendly and who's not."

Eniac mulled it over a few moments. "Sounds promising. Unless I hear a better idea, we'll be meeting this ghoul friend of yours. She is friendly, right?"

"She won't turn us away," I promised.

"Alright. Trusting you paid off big once. I'm willing to trust you again." She turned to leave. "Until then, just focus on recuperating." She left without another word.

Once she was gone, Wick voiced the questions I'd asked myself the previous night. "What are we going to be doing? Just us two, I mean."

"What did you want to do?" I asked.

Wick sighed, staring at the empty sky. "I don't know, Revamp. I got nothing against the people, but I get the feeling they're gonna wanna settle down. It's just, I've been stuck in here for two fucking years, grounded. I don't like staying in one place. I wanna keep moving. I wanna stretch my wings and fly."

It struck me that the only time I'd seen her fly was when stopped her from escaping our first day in Shackle.

She turned to look at me. "But I don't wanna go it alone, either." She fell silent, unsure of what to say next.

The quiet lingered until I spoke up. "Like I'm gonna let you go alone." Her smile said it all. "If you haven't any preference, I say we head north."

"Why north?"

"Civilization. Nothing but backwater country down here. Biggest city we've got is New Horsleans, and that's half underwater. Up there's the NCR and Manehatten. We're bound to find something interesting up there."

Over the years, I've learned being right can really suck.

---

Sector: Oil Can's Tune Up
100 Years, 7 Months, 8 Days PSR

Eniac settled on stopping for the night in an old repair shop. Over the course of our journey, I noticed that she'd been taking charge more often, voicing her own decisions instead of having Swiss parrot them. Her commands were a bit awkward, as she was still getting used to issuing the orders in person, but no one complained about following her. Most of the former slaves hadn't even realized she'd been giving the orders at all back in Shackle, but instead thought she was one of Swiss's underlings.

I was glad she was finally getting recognition as a decision maker. Using Swiss as a mouthpiece back in Shackle made sense, when the risk of your escape plans being discovered meant catastrophic consequences for whoever was doing the planning. Now that we were free, getting respect and authority from those you led was more important.

Wick and I had taken to scavenging wherever we stopped in the evenings. Surprisingly, there hadn't been much to find in Shackle. Any weapons worth taking had been rigged to explode by yours truly, and most of the stuff we'd been forced to scavenge had already been sold or was worthless. The best thing we'd taken as a group were the three surviving sentry-bots, which I'd programmed to guard our troupe (so far, only from radroaches and bloatsprites). Eniac had also taken the liberty of distributing all caps found in the camp equally among us. We found about 1400 caps scattered around, so we each got about... seven. Talk about winning the lottery.

Over the past week of travel, Wick and I managed to scrounge together patched saddlebags to hold the rest of our cobbled together supplies. Wick found seven .45 rounds for the carvers under the floorboards of a shed, adding to the six that had already been loaded (probably by Hammer). I found some unopened carrot cakes in the back of an old fridge, kept magically fresh by their packaging. Other than that, I just picked up broken down doohickies and spare parts, to play– I mean, experiment with whenever I had a spare moment. Most of these places had already been stripped of any useful stuff, so there wasn't much else to find.

For the moment, Wick and I were picking our way through the garage of the repair shop. Since Eniac had elected that we sleep in the entirely indoor lobby of store, Wick and I had the entire room to ourselves while everyone else slept. This place was already yielding much more than any of the other nightly stops. I managed to break open a jammed desk drawer and find old blueprints for a radio transmitter, while Wick found a pair of binoculars in one of the lockers. It had a broken lens, but once we made it to a town I could learn a spell to fix it.

"Anything left?" asked Wick, closing the toolbox she'd just sifted through.

"Nope. At least there won't be once I get this stupid workbench open," I grunted, trying to pry open the bench as quietly as I could. I didn't want to wake the others.

I gave a hard final tug. The tray snapped open and kept going, flying past my head. Wick jumped to catch it before it slammed into the wall. She brought it down to eye level and gave its contents a quick examination.

"Anything good?" I asked.

"Nothing much. Nuts, bolts, a copy of Wingboner (well, maybe I'll take that, I'm sure we can sell it), a few springs, some goggles–"

"Goggles?"

"Yeah, you wanna look?" She took them out and tossed them over. I caught them with my magic, which I was trying to use often. After being horn-locked for two years, I was rusty.

They were welding goggles, high quality and in good shape, probably from being locked in a drawer for three hundred plus years. I slid them on, and the strap magically conformed to my head, so there was zero chance of them slipping off for no reason. The thick lenses were one way, the outfacing side completely opaque while the inward side toned down the lighting.

I pulled the goggles down to hang around my neck. "What do you think?"

"You look absolutely fabulous!" she said in a high falsetto voice.

"Alright, alright," I said, heading for the door to the lobby. "I think we found all we're going to in here. Wanna turn in?"

"Sounds good."

I opened the door and found myself face to face with Swiss, a frown on his brow and his eyes set on mine. So much for turning in.

I turned to Wick. "Remember that earful we were promised? By Swiss?"

"Yeah."

"It's happening now."

"Joy."

I backed up to let Swiss in. He trotted past and flapped up onto one of the tables. Wick and I sat down next to him.

He took a minute to find his voice. "How could you?"

"How could we not?" countered Wick. "You know what he did! To all those fillies! To me!"

"He deserved what he got," I added.

"I'm not saying he didn't!" Swiss said. "He did deserve it, all of it! But that doesn't matter when you two are putting your lives at risk. He deserved what he got, but it wasn't worth risking your lives!"

"We've already been over this. We both knew the risks," I explained.

"It isn't easy giving the orders," said Swiss. "It's lonely."

"What does that have to do with anything?" asked Wick.

Swiss went on, ignoring her. "Even if I didn't make the orders, I had to give them. I wasn't their leader, but they thought I was! And leaders don't have friends, they have followers!" Tears glistened at the edge of his eyes. "You two were the first to really know I didn't make the rules, just repeated them. You two were my first real friends in that hellhole! And you risked your lives to get personal revenge on some fuck that wasn't even worth it!"

Wick was at a loss for words. I tried to speak up. "We didn't mean–"

"I don't care what you meant!" The tears were streaming now. "You two almost got yourself killed, and you didn't even think about what that might mean for your friends! You were going to leave me alone! I lo-like you a lot, okay?"

"Swiss–"

"And you didn't even say goodbye! You treat it like it's nothing! Do I mean anything to you? Do I–"

I grabbed him in a hug. He buried his face in my shoulder and sobbed. Wick flapped over to his other side and wrapped her arms around him. We held him until his crying subsided into sniffles.

When he let go, he surprised us with a hiccupy chuckle. "S-sorry Revamp, I got your sh-shoulder all snotty."

"No, we're sorry," said Wick. "We didn't even realize what this might mean to you. I feel like a fucking moron."

"Yeah, me too. From now on, we'll let you in on our plans. Okay?" I said.

"Okay."

"Listen, go on to bed, and Wick and I'll be in in a couple minutes."

"Kay," he mumbled. "That was pretty tiring." He yawned, got to his hooves, and went back to lobby.

As he left, two thoughts entered my mind. First He really acts young for his age. He's older than me, and I'm comforting him. He's afraid of us leaving. Then the second thought: He looks taller. I shook my head to clear it. There were more important things to think about.

We were quiet for several minutes, going over what he said again and again in our heads.

I broke the silence. "He's coming with us. North, I mean."

"Oh, no doubt. After that, I don't think I could leave him behind. Besides, three's better than two any day."

"Tell him tomorrow?" I asked.

"Yeah, better sooner than later. Give him time to say goodbyes, if he has any. Maybe to Eniac."

"You know, before that... outburst, I probably would've agreed. But now, I'm not so sure."

"What do you mean?" asked Wick.

"He said leaders don't have friends. Only followers. Eniac was Swiss's leader all along. I think Eniac and Swiss probably have respect for each other, but not friendship, at least from Swiss's point of view. Also, does Swiss see us as leaders? Cause he definitely sees us as friends, and by his way of thinking, that makes us living oxymorons."

Wick groaned. "Stop making my brain hurt! I'm tired."

I yawned. "Yeah, lets turn in. I'm even tireder than earlier."

Wick returned the yawn. "No kidding. Let's go."

We fell asleep without further incident.

---

Sector: Sunflower's Trading Post
100 Years 7 Months 17 Days PSR

We arrived at Sunflower's mid-morning, 10:09 by my PipBuck. By that time, our group of ragtag former slavers, originally over 200 strong, had been reduced to 29. Those that left had generally done so in the middle of the night, in clans of anywhere from five to thirty.

What remained of our group seemed to have no intention of leaving, with the exception of three. The difference with these three was that they informed Eniac of their intentions a week in advance, whereas the others just up and left.

In case you're stupid or weren't paying attention, I'm talking about Wick, Swiss, and I.

Yeah, the whole thing went over pretty well. Swiss was happy just to stay with Wick and I, and when we told Eniac, she took it without a hitch. I almost think she knew we were gonna leave before we did.

"So, this is the place you were talking about?" asked Eniac as the shop came into view.

"Yeah. If you don't mind, I'd like to talk to her first. She'll be more willing to listen to someone she knows than a stranger begging charity," I explained.

Eniac nodded. "Sure, sure. We'll wait outside. Just don't take too long."

"No problem."

As we got closer, my PipBuck made a soft whirring noise, announcing that I'd discovered a new location: Sunflower's Trading Post. It did this whenever I came to a new structure or area, and honestly, it got annoying pretty quick. Unfortunately, there was no way to shut off the indicator from any of the menus, so until I found a way to code out the noise, I was stuck with it.

Once we were all at the building itself, I went up the porch by on my own, took a deep breath, and stepped through the swinging saloon style doors.

Sunflower was playing solitaire on the counter top, casually flipping cards and rearranging them as new moves presented themselves, all the while blowing smoke from a dying cigarette. She didn't even look up when she spoke.

"Whatcha looking for?"

"Hospitality."

Sunflower cackled. "I'm afraid we're fresh out. Try the next town over."

"Look up, Sunflower."

She glanced up. The cigarette fell out of her mouth.

"Holy shit."

She got to her hooves and and walked up to me, placing a shaking hoof on my shoulder.

"Holy shit, you're alive. Are... is Knicky... your parents..?"

I shook my head.

She didn't cry. Her face just sagged for a moment, like another year had been dropped on her back. "I'm sorry. The wasteland is a cruel place, as I'm sure you've learned."

She made her way to the front window. "You can't have made it here on all your own."

"There are about thirty of us. We need to stay a few days, get some supplies and some advice, if you're willing to part with it, then we'll be on our way."

She stared out the window at our band. "Alright. A few days. I may be old, but I'm no gramma. Not a charity either. You'll be paying for any supplies you take. Half price, cause I'm feeling generous. The knowledge, however, is free."

I nuzzled her in a quick hug. "Thank you."

---

Sector: Sunflower's Trading Post
100 Years 7 Months 18 Days PSR

We spent the rest of that first day resting. Everyone was so happy for a prolonged stop that there were no complaints about paying for the food. We spent the night huddled around campfires. Even if it wasn't totally safe, it felt like it was. It was like our whole caravan breathed a collective sigh of relief. For now, the worst was over.

Wick, Swiss, and I had our own fire. We talked and joked and ate. We played cards on the new deck I'd bought from Sunflower, playing poker and blackjack over the last few scraps of meat. Wick won, if that matters. Swiss did voice imitations of the old slavers, making them have stupid conversations for our amusement. The imitations were so good, I was surprised he didn't have a cutie mark for it.

We woke up in the late morning. Many of the others were already awake, playing around the store or talking in groups. After packing away the cards and burying the food scraps from last night, we decided to get breakfast inside. After spending the night in the hot outside, the air conditioning of the indoors would be a welcome change.

We found Sunflower playing solitaire again on the counter top. When she saw us, she swept up the cards and put them away.

"Breakfast?" she asked.

"Yeah, can we get a box of Wonder-Os to share?" asked Swiss.

"Sure. I'm feeling nice, so bowls and spoons are on the house. Just don't break 'em." She distributed the bowls, we paid for the cereal, but when we turned around to eat on the patio, she said, "No, eat in here. I wanna talk withya."

We complied without complaint. She was giving us free bowls, after all.

"You said yesterday you wanted some advice. I've had my eye on you three, and I get the feeling you want a completely different set of advice from the rest of your crew."

"It's not my crew. If it's anyone's, it's Eniac's. She's a young griffon, and'll probably be by later for her advice. You're right, though, about us needing separate advice."

"Better be later today, then. I'm kicking you all out tomorrow."

"How generous of you," said Wick.

"It is generous," replied the ghoul. "My isolation puts me at enough risk as it is. Having a bunch of helpless–"

"We're not helpless!" interjected Wick.

` "Fine, helpless looking foals around isn't exactly good for business. Or staying alive, for that matter. Any sign of generosity is taken for weakness by certain ponies. The kind that would exploit such weakness. I'm doing all of you a big favor just by letting you stay here for more than a day."

"Can we get back to the advice?" asked Swiss.

"Yes we can," said Sunflower. "I got no idea what you wanna know, so just ask away, and I'll answer if I can."

"Alright then. We're trying to head north, to the NCR."

"Good to know you've inherited some of your mother's sense. That's about as good a place as you'll find in the wasteland, and I know a lot about it. Lived up there until about fifty years ago."

"We want to know what to expect out there. The wildlife, what settlements are safe, what we should bring. Anything that could be useful."

It never crossed my mind to ask her why she left.

"That covers a lot of ground. Let me see... did you wanna know what animals to steer clear of, or what's good to eat?"

"Both."

"Most of the stuff up there is just as common down here. A lot of the stuff I know about them is pretty basic. Radhog's can be dangerous in packs, but if you only got two or three, they're usually worth hunting. Radigators are just plain nasty, not to mention they taste awful. Steer clear. Same goes for bloatsprites, just good for nothing pests. Bloodwings are more common up north, giant bat creatures. See a bloodwing, even one, run for cover. They can suck you dry in seconds, and where there's one, there's at least three more. Feral hellhounds too, just one is enough to rip a small group like your's to shreds. Radroaches and radbits are harmless. Radbit will make you a nice stew, and roaches'll do you fine in a pinch. Nothing else I know of worth mentioning."

"What about northern settlements?" asked Swiss through a mouthful of cereal.

"For the first 200 miles, you got slim pickings. When I traveled down south, the last leg of the journey was the hardest. For you, it'll be the first leg. It's not exactly thick wilderness; it's mostly long, tedious grasslands. Easy for you see anything coming, but also easy for it to see you. There might be some towns that popped up since I been through, but I haven't heard of any myself. I did hear a rumor that that feller from the Radioactive station has his set up out there, but I've never met anyone who's been to it.

"Once you're past the grasslands, you shouldn't have too much trouble finding someplace to stay. That's not quite NCR territory, but you're almost there. Off the top of my head, Kleco, R-7 (the NCR capital), Manehatten, Shattered Hoof, Glyphmark, Fillydelphia, and New Apploosa were pretty friendly when I left, if a bit thick-skulled. Ponyville was a dump last time I saw it, a sanctuary for those hellhounds they've 'tamed'. Wasn't exactly a friendly place for the hooved. Tenypony Tower is... harmless, I guess. Snobby bunch, but harmless."

"Damn. I thought there might be at least a few towns between here and the NCR," I said.

"There are. Just not any I know of for the first 200 miles. There're also some settlements out east and west of the NCR. I heard out in Baltimare they got–"

"We're not interested in Baltimare," Swiss broke in.

"Alright, alright. Now, what was it you wanted to know next..."

"Supplies."

"Right, supplies. Let's see... water's your most valuable resource. Best to have at least three waterskins per traveler, just to be safe. Most of the rivers in the grasslands, what few there are, are heavily polluted, so having a way to purify it is invaluable. Talismans are out of your price range, but I can teach you a spell that'll make it safe to drink (won't help the taste, though). You're also gonna want something you can use for a funnel."

"A funnel? What good's a funnel?" asked Wick.

"Good for catching rain. Stick the thin end in your waterskin, you can fill it in a few minutes.

"I would say a map and compass are useful, but you already got them on your wrist there," said Sunflower, indicating my PipBuck. "Uhm... alright, you'll need a way to hunt. You don't wanna waste ammo on food though, since I doubt you have much... I don't know, you might just have to improvise on that one. Learn to make traps or throw spears or something. Oh, a knife'll be a good idea too, they're useful for just about anything.

"Speaking of weapons, guns are another thing you oughtta have. That's out of your price range, so as soon as you get the chance, snag one. Animals will be your primary danger in the grasslands, but raiders and their ilk will need dealing with too. Even so, try to avoid combat if possible. You'll save ammo, and probably your life.

"Probably don't need to tell you this, but don't be shy about picking up anything else that might seem useful. I only covered the basics. Anything that seems useful or valuable, take, as long as it doesn't slow you down.

"Can't think of anything else, so I reckon that about covers it."

"Thanks Sunflower. Your advice won't go to waste, I promise."

"Just make sure you don't bite the dust before I see you again, Sugarcube."

Since we didn't have enough to pay for three waterskins, apiece, we spent the rest of the day helping around the shop as a trade for them. At some point, Swiss told Eniac about tomorrow's imminent departure, so she could get her advice. That evening, Sunflower explained how to use the water cleaning spell as she'd been told, since she couldn't show me herself. By the time I went to bed, I knew enough that I could practice on my own.

---

Sector: Sunflower's Trading Post
100 Years 7 Months 19 Days PSR

There was no big send-off. Only three people actually showed up to wish us luck. Two of them were expected. One wasn't.

Eniac talked to us first.

"I want you all to know that if you ever need somewhere to stay of you head back down here, you can count on us. We'll take you in, help however we can. We all owe you that." Then she spoke to Swiss individually. I didn't hear what they said, but it was followed with what looked like a genuine hug.

Sunflower's farewell was even shorter. "Be careful and be safe." Curt, but you could hear the stifled emotion behind her voice. With that, she trotted back to her store. I hoped it wouldn't be the last time I saw her.

Then came the final fare-thee-weller. She spoke specifically to me.

"You gave me the opportunity to sleep. Now that I'm not under the slavers' schedule, I can get rest during the day, when they're not screaming. I can never repay that. Even so, I need to ask one favor. Please, make the screaming stop. It all started up north. I don't know how I know, but I do. If you can, make it stop. Please."

I swallowed in discomfort. "Uhm, I'll try."

"Thank you. That's all I ask." Without another word, Nebula made her exit.

"What was that about?" asked Wick. "She was talking crazy!"

"Yeah, yeah, crazy... I've got no idea what that was about," I lied.

"Well, no sense in dawdling," said Swiss. "Ready to hit the road?"

"Yep."

"Why wouldn't I be?"

We began our journey north, the sun peeking over the eastern horizon.

Comments

[Deathpony]

Well at least they are free now, good chapter