Fallout Equestria: Fragments

by Dawn Flower

Cancelled Future Plans

Endgame

As the door to the hangar bay opened up, I took to the air to get a better view of my surroundings. I just knew that Major… no, Colonel Hurricane was nearby, and this time, I was going to end it. I never should have let him get away.

I was going to kill him, and I meant it. That was my virtue after all: Dependability. I was a pony of my word. When I say I’ll do something, I will do it. If I promise someone something, then I will do it. If I say that I will protect someone, then I will fight to my last breath in order to protect them. If I have someone at gunpoint and tell them that if they leave then I’ll let them live, I will. Maybe it was more like a vice, getting me into more trouble, but to me it was my virtue; the one thing about myself that I will never compromise, and if I say that that I will kill someone, I will kill them; and I was going to kill Colonel Hurricane. I clutched my star blaster close to my chest as I flew into the room.

The hangar bay was a huge room, filled with Vertibucks. There were six of them in the room, all of them in line with each other, and there was still plenty of room to move around in. Directly ahead of me was the exit. It was a huge steel frame that lowered from the inside to let the Vertibucks out. There was a button just to the right of the frame, which I concluded controlled the opening and closing of the hatch. I would take that way out once I found and finished off Colonel Hurricane. All of the other soldiers I would be happy leaving to the ship exploding, but Colonel Hurricane I wanted to finish off myself. I didn’t want to risk somepony like him making it out of here alive; not after the kind of actions that he ordered; Goodsprings and my hometown the only ones that I was aware of, and even that was two actions too many.

I slowly flew along in the air, clutching my star blaster in my hooves. As soon as I spotted him, I was taking the shot. This would be my second shot with this weapon and I would not need a third.

I continued on as silently as I could. The Raptor suddenly gave a huge shake. I didn’t feel it since I was in the air, but I could tell that that shook the whole ship. The computer voice echoed throughout the intercom again. “Four minutes until self-destruction. Please evacuate immediately.”

I guessed that the ship was beginning a chain reaction in response to the self-destruct sequence being initiated. This was just a warm up before the entire ship was destroyed. Four minutes left to get out until it’s destroyed. All the more reason I had to find Colonel Hurricane quickly. It said over the intercom that he wanted to handle me personally, which meant that he was probably in the area. I had to stay on alert to make sure that I spotted him first. With my star blaster, I only needed one shot.

BLAM!

I suddenly heard a shot from my right, and my eyes widened immediately. I turned around immediately in the direction that I had heard it come from. I raised my star blaster up as quickly as I could, and a fraction of a second later, I saw an energy bolt coming right at me.

I must have had both of the Goddesses watching over me, because the very instant that I turned around and raised my star blaster up in preparation, the energy bolt collided with it instead of me.

The resulting collision created an enormous explosion, with me at the centre of it. My star blaster was completely destroyed in the blast, and the force of the explosion pushed me back at tremendous speeds. I was flung into the hard, steel wall of the hangar bay. I was in more physical pain right now then I had ever been in my entire life from the force of the impact. I heard multiple snaps from behind me as I collided with the wall. The pain was ringing throughout my entire body. After about three seconds, my body simply peeled off the wall, and I fell down to the hard, metal floor with a resounding thud. When I finally had the strength to open my eyes, I saw my sniper rifle fall in front of me, cloven in two.

I hit the floor hard, which in my current condition, only made the intense pain I was feeling all the worse. However, my body was in so much pain already, that I barely registered the prospect of more pain than this. The whole front half of body was screaming out in more pain than I had ever felt before. However, despite the unbearable pain in the front half of my body, on the back side of my body, I couldn’t feel anything. I couldn’t move at all.

I heard hoofsteps coming towards me. It took all of the energy that I had just to lift up my head up and open my eyes a little bit wider.

Slowly lifting my gaze and working my way up, I saw that it was an Enclave soldier, clod head to hoof in power armor. The only exposed parts on the suit that showed any indication of what the pony underneath looked like were the wings. They were a dark blue that I would recognise anywhere, even without having to see their face; Colonel Hurricane stood before me. He was now wearing his helmet, so I couldn’t see his face behind his visor; however, his wings were visible and I would recognise his coat colour anywhere. At this point, it was burned into my memory, whether I wanted it or not.

As I looked at him now, it seemed that my burning hatred for him had been enough to at least restore some of my strength, because I now had the strength to widen my eyes in surprise. There, imbedded into Colonel Hurricane’s power armor, like a battle saddle, I saw it: the weapon that he had shot me with. The weapon that he had destroyed my star blaster with. The weapon that he was now pointing directly at me.

Colonel Hurricane had his own star blaster.

Colonel Hurricane tilted his head down. With his visor up, it was the only indication I had that he was looking right at me. He then spoke to me in a very calm and reserved tone of voice, as the star blaster on his power armor twitched slightly to point right at me.

“Oh how the tables have turned.”

If I had the strength to do it, I would have gritted my teeth in anger and snarled at him just for being here. However, the way it currently stood, all I could do was glare back at him, and even that required a bit of effort on my part.

The Raptor suddenly shook again. Now that I was on the ground, I was able to feel it as the sudden movement caused my whole body to jostle about. Oh, hello pain. I had almost forgotten about you. How have you been?

Colonel Hurricane seemed able to remain standing just fine, no doubt anchored to the ground by his armor. The mechanical voice on the intercom rang out again. “Three minutes until self-destruction. Please evacuate all Enclave personnel.”

Taking my eyes off of him for only a second or two to look at the intercom, I returned my attention to Colonel Hurricane once again. The pain had died down slightly, and I was now able to move my eyes around just fine, without too much pain, and I could even move my head slightly. My wings hung limply by my side, though I could twitch them a little if I focused hard enough.

My wings seemed to be the least affected by the explosion, and the resulting slam against the wall and floor that immediately followed. I seemed to be able to move them normally if I focused hard enough. My hind legs were still completely numb. I tried moving my front legs, but that ended when the Colonel brought his armored hoof down on it. Hard.

He then his tilted his head to the side slightly to show that he was about to address me again. “Well, well, we meet again. If you had any common sense at all, you would have stayed out of my, and the Enclave’s business for good. You are clearly not a smart pony.”

---

The Raptor gave another big shake as it neared total destruction. I was on the ground now so I felt

The movement aggravated my injuries

---

As I left the Raptor, I didn’t so much as fly as fall out of the sky. I plummeted towards the ground below at high speeds; higher than I had ever flown before (which doesn’t really say much). I spread my wings out to the sides to try and calm my descent, however, I was so exhausted that it was all I could do.

As I was falling down, I stole one final glance back up. Over in the distance, I could swear that I saw a large, purple dragon briefly dip beneath the cloud layer before flying back up again.

---

As the fillies and colts began walking back towards the town, I raised my hoof up and placed it on the unicorn filly’s shoulder. She looked back at me and asked, “What’s wrong?”

I then responded, “Could you help me along, please? I can’t feel my hind legs.”

To be concluded…

Footnote: Level Up.

New Perk: Luck of the Pegasi -- You have survived being shot at with a Star Blaster and only lost the use of your hind legs. You must be the luckiest pony in the Wasteland. +1 to your Luck.

Epilogue

“Hey there, children. It’s your good friend, DJ Pon3, bringing you all the latest news from the Equestrian Wasteland. Oh, or should I say, Equestria?

As many of you all know, the ‘Day of Sunshine and Rainbows’ was that marvellous day when the heroic Stable Dweller finally broke that persistent cloud curtain that has hung over our heads for the past two hundred years, and actually brought the Sun back to the world below. Lightbringer, indeed.

However, sadly that day was not all sunshine and rainbows – no pun intended. As it turns out, in the early morning of that faithful day, the town of Goodsprings: the self-proclaimed, ‘Nicest Town in the Wasteland’ came under attack by the Enclave. Reports say that it was an absolute massacre. Ponies slaughtered everywhere you looked; unfortunate ponies didn’t fight back or even antagonize ‘em. They were just in the wrong place at the wrong time, while the pegasi needed to blow off some steam from their many, many losses. If there was anyone who still had any doubts about the Enclave’s true intentions before then, this would definitely hammer it into them.

According to reports, the foals there managed to survive, either by hiding, running away or the Enclave just ignoring them because they’re children; and based on past experiences, I’m guessing it was the former. Afterwards, they were resolved to simply try their best to survive in the only home that they ever knew; by themselves, without any parents to watch over them.

However, one pony wouldn’t stand for that. A good Samaritan – a pegasus even – selflessly decided to personally put a stop to the troops responsible for the attack, and single hoofedly destroyed an Enclave Raptor. My heart goes out to you, Pegasus; keep up the good fight. Shows the rest of us here in the Wasteland that there’s more to the pegasus race than just the Enclave.

This is DJ-Pon3: Bringing you the truth no matter how bad it hurts.

---

The Gardens of Equestria may have cleansed the Wasteland of radiation and taint, but it couldn’t do anything about the pony’s minds, so there were still just as many raiders and slavers around.

The Gardens of Equestria may have made things easier, but the struggle to survive is a war without end, and war – war never changes.

The End

New Perk: Cyberpony -- Your cybernetic enhancements make you stronger, but also slower. Your Strength and Endurance are both increased by 1, but Agility is reduced by 2. Magic Energy is increased by 10. +10% to Poison Resistance and RAD Resistance.