• Published 30th Nov 2013
  • 2,445 Views, 86 Comments

Fallout Equestria: Fallen Angels - Tetragrammaton



Everything changes for an enclave pegasus after she's stranded on the hostile surface of the Equestrian wasteland. Facing not only its inhabitants, but beings from long before the Great War, she seeks a way back home, to the sky.

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Chapter XII: A Gateway to Heaven

I wouldn't loose another friend to the wasteland. At least not without a fight this time.

I burst through the final door, breathing heavily and my right foreleg risen, preparing myself both mentally and physically to take on whoever was making trouble. Taken by surprise, even those shockwave-zombie unicorns would fall to the power of my lethal PipBuck. If it was to protect my friends...

But as my mind had adjusted to the situation in the foyer, my heart missed a beat: the foyer was empty. Not empty empty, the two ponies and the unconscious griffin were still there, indicated by my EFS, just nopony else had entered. And nonetheless, Angel stood in the middle of the room, his pistols raised, and placed shot after shot into the walls around him.

"Where is she?!" he shouted, firing his pistols once again. "What have you done to her?!"

Odd... he wasn't shooting at magical zombie-ponies? I felt almost relieved were it not for the dozens of red dots creeping the edges of my vision, indicating that the threat hadn't disappeared at all. They were still there and if they had somehow lost track of me, Angel's gunshots would most likely lure them here most certainly. On the other hoof, they were probably right behind me at this very moment, so the shooting didn't really matter, as long as Angel would hit his targets. And he always did.

I slowly stepped towards the grey stallion. I was a little scared of him at this moment, I hadn't seen him acting all emotional like this... ever. He always had been restrained and if an outburst of emotion ever occurred, if he yelled at me for being too stupid or naive to get along in the wasteland, he had always quickly drowned out those and returned to his calm self.

"Where is she?!" he shouted, again at nopony in particular.

As I stepped closer, I looked around for Gingerbread and Vergil. They were somewhere in here, I knew that much, but I couldn't see them. That the griffin wasn't preparing for battle or anything was quite obvious, but that the orange unicorn mare didn't do anything to calm Angel down surprised me. Unlike me, she wasn't a greenhorn in the wasteland and even I knew that making a racket like this wasn't under any circumstances advisable in an hostile environment like this.

So either she had left to get more medical supplies, but was still in range for my EFS to catch, or she was afraid of talking to Angel, which was honestly the less likely possibility. Or... no, that were the only reasonable alternatives I wanted to think of. Gingerbread seemed like a loyal pony, she wouldn't abandon us or our griffin patient just like that. She probably knew even fewer things about thins complex than me, left alone an escape route that didn't involve teleporting. Come to think of it, that would come in handy right now.

One of my legs brushed one of the many small piles of rubble that were littering most of the foyer's floor. The barely hearable noise made Angel's ears twitch and he turned around faster than ever, his pistols raised and pointed right at me. He looked both angry and frightened.

"Angel, look, I'm... sorry I yelled at you earlier, but we have a big problem." I started hastily, not sure if I wasn't talking faster as he could hear. Given his confused look, I probably was. "You see, we're not alone here. There are ponies - no, not really ponies, there're more like zombie-ponies. And there are those Goddess-alicorns either and they make shields and the other are able to cause..."

"Are you playing games with me?!"

My heart skipped a beat as the grey unicorn stallion pressed his guns to my forehead. He was looking right through me!

"Angel, what are you talking about?"

"What happened to her?!"

Who was "she"? Gingerbread? She wasn't anywhere to see and...

I gasped as Angel turned his head a bit, thereby revealing the unconscious Vergil on the makeshift sick-bed we had crafted from desks earlier. His wings and large parts of his now armor-less torso were wrapped in healing bandages, some of them already reddened by blood, but it was what was in front of him that shocked me: on the ground, only a few feet away from the unconscious griffin lay Gingerbread, her red robe and mane darkened from... one wasn't supposed to get blood all over one's mane when bandaging a wing! And unconsciousness wasn't supposed to happen either!

What had happened in here?

"You are with them, I can see that." Angel hissed, disdainfully nodding towards Gingerbread, and I began to feel a twinge from his pistols' triangular muzzles. "You will tell me what you've done to her or else, I swear by all princesses and deities, you'll have it even worse."

"What... you... what have you done?"

"She wasn't cooperative, so I tried to help her to become a bit more... nice." Angel said slowly, his eyes fixated at mine and his pistol still pressed against my forehead. "But you look smart and I don't want to hurt... unless you keep concealing where she is and what you've done to her. I'm afraid I'd have no other choice then..."

I gulped.

This... this wasn't Angel. It couldn't be Angel. Sure, this grey unicorn looked like him, his voice sounded like his, and even his two black pistols were the same, but this stallions simply didn't behave like the Angel I had been traveling with for what felt like weeks now. This simply was another pony. A pony who did know neither me nor Gingerbread nor the kind blue-maned unicorn stallion who had dragged me out of the desert.

"Angel, I don't know who you mean..."

"Don't bullshit me!" he shouted, suddenly angry, knocking away my legs from under me with his own, making me plunge to the ground. He stepped closer, levitating both of his pistols in front of him and pointed them down at me. "I don't have the time to play games like that. So I'm going to ask one. Last. Time:" I could hear his pistols click as he cocked them. "Where is she?"

Why wasn't he listening? What was in here that did such things to ponies? Not only did he hurt Gingerbread to get information about the goddesses know what, he was also totally unaware of the danger literally all around us. The zombie-ponies and whatever those alicorn things were were still around as I could see on my EFS. At the same time, I could see Angel's dot constantly switching from blue to red and back. What the heck was going on here?

"I'll count to three and you'll tell me, okay? One... two..."

The second he closed his mouth after saying "two", I forced whatever energy was left in my body into my wings. They hurt terribly from all the small wooden splinters and the crashes, but fortunately I was still able to move them. Bumping upwards, I slammed my hindlegs into Angel's face, causing his magic grip around his weapons to collapse as he was thrown backwards, almost making a full flip backwards. I never thought I was that strong. Although... a pegasus' wing-beat was said to be quite powerful. I got airborne, my teeth clenched together in pain, and dashed away from Angel. Turning my head back, I saw the grey stallion groaning, recovering much faster than I had hoped. By the time I had passed halfway through the spacious foyer, he was already on his hooves again... and he took aim at me!

My time was running out. I knew Angel was a formidable shot. He had hit ponies' heads in a almost fully darkened room, I doubted a moving target would be a challenge for him at all. And what where my options? I couldn't shoot back at him. First he was my companion, my friend, who had saved me several times. Whatever had twisted those ponies and the alicorn was most certainly affecting him too right now. He wasn't responsible for what he had done and was doing. And secondly, I had lost my gun in the fight with the zombie unicorn. And since I had forgotten to recharge magic disruptor and was by now out of reach to begin with, close combat was out of the question too. Despite that, he would have most certainly won that battle too.

So... fleeing? Back to the hordes of red dots beyond the doors of the foyer?

"Playtime is over, turkey!" I heard Angel yell from behind me as I had changed my course and was now heading towards the closest door. "Now get back down!"

Blam!

Searing pain rushed through my body, springing from my right wing. My vision went black for a moment and when I opened my eyes the world span and span around me. I could see drops of red and bloody feathers passing by my face as I became aware that I had fully lost control.

I... I had been shot! Angel had shot me!

And it hurt even more badly than the time the pony hunters had shot my leg. Because he had shot me.

My only saving grace was that I had already set course towards the door, so by the time I crashed down I took the brittle door with me, paving the way for my escape. My rather painful escape. Choking a groan of pain, I dragged myself into the next room. And the next. And another. If Angel was following me, he would have had caught up by now, but apparently he wasn't following me. Sure, I could hear his muffled "chick, chick, chick" calls and a few gunshots now and then through the veil that was lying over my ears. Maybe those zombie ponies were aiding me unwillingly. It was a terrible thing to hope for them to overcome the grey unicorn stallion, he wasn't responsible for what he was doing after all.

I finally collapsed in the corner of anther oddly empty office room. My whole body felt dull, my back and chest were covered in splinters, my blood dripping wing dangled uselessly on my side and my face hurt from my last meeting with the ground. As Angels shouts grew quieter and quieter, I loosened the straps that hold my makeshift saddlebags on my back and emptied it out in front of me. Vergil and Gingerbread would need those bandages right now, but without me being at my best I wouldn't be able to... deal with Angel to get to them. Maybe I should not use all of them on myself.

The good thing about me bandaging my wing was that for five minutes I didn't have to think about what to do next. I couldn't go back to Gingerbread, Vergil and Angel, for the sole reason of the latter most likely killing me on sight. I couldn't hope to lure Angel away from them, since I didn't want him to run into a horde of those pony-eating zombies because of me. And if we all just stayed here we would all die of either hunger, thirst, being eaten by zombies or squashed by alicorns. It felt strange to think about it like that - and I myself felt almost bad for thinking those words - but the only thing on my mind was: we're totally fucked.

Slowly I got up and started moving through the room. There was no point in sitting here while the zombie ponies were all around me. If I would encounter one, I would at least be on my hooves already. And lastly I could just think better if I was moving.

I was just a pegasus. I couldn't teleport or something, I couldn't do a shield spell to protect myself, I couldn't out-range Angel since I had lost my own gun, my only weapon was a close ranged one and even if I would be able to use it on him, it would either kill him or leaving him unarmed but still in melee range. And I doubted I would win a fight like this even if he wasn't able to cast spells. I had been able to knock him down, but only because he didn't see it coming. And I was sure he would be prepared next time.

Yeah, I was totally fucked.

And wounded on top of it.

And why was I here again? Because those stupid alicorns were so effing curious about this place that they just abducted and locked us up with all those ghouls and their apparently insane siblings, with no explanation or aim than "go figure that out"!

Cool down, featherbrain. This isn't the worst situation you're in now. Okay, it is the worst, but there have been other bad situations too. Like the time you were tied up by the pony hunters or when you were chased by the giant RADscorpion, both of which... you wouldn't have gotten away from if it hadn't been for Angel. And Angel - for some reason - was out to kill you right now. So not only does the zombie ponies and alicorns work against you, but a dead-shot unicorn fighter as well, and because the wasteland is just that cruel, there are a griffin and a unicorn in the foyer, who are in desperate need of medical treatment.

Okay, it was pretty bad, but at least there was a silver lining on the clouded horizon. Somewhere. I would just have to look very hard.

I couldn't see Angel's EFS tag anymore. It had been quite easy to track him, since the dot that indicated the grey unicorn stallion had still been changing its color every few seconds. Whatever that meant... uhm, whatever. I had to figure out something, something to get both Angel, Gingerbread and Vergil out of here. I was pretty sure whatever messed with the alicorns and ponies here - unless zombie-fication was normal for ponies down here, which I hoped it wasn't - was messing with Angel now. It had to be this way. It just had to. So if I would manage to lure him out of the building's... range... the problem would hopefully solve itself.

It sounded easy. If one ignored all the threats in my way that weren't Angel and the actual unicorn who would - and I was pretty sure of that after what happened lately - shoot me down the second I appeared in his line of sight. But apart from that, pretty easy.

Stupid featherbrain, you need to come up with a plan. Usually you tell ponies that you're so good at that!

A growl, not to far away from me. Speaking of sounding. My eyes widened as they started to really see stuff again. It was a thing of mine: whenever I started thinking, I oftentimes lost track of what happened around me. But that wasn't important right now. Because what was important was another unicorn zombie that stood at the end of the corridor I was currently walking through. And what what was even more important was that it was looking at me, ready to build up its telekinetic vortex any second.

Any second now.

Any second.

But the zombie pony didn't react. It just looked at me - or rather the corridor I was in - making no move to go away from that position. Thunderstruck I stood there, not really sure what to do. Maybe those creatures track my motions... or something like that. They weren't blind, I could say that almost for sure from what I had experienced earlier and they definitely weren't friendly either. So why didn't anything happen?

This was growing weirder and weirder any second. Even weirder than it already was.

Then, all of the sudden, I heard the slow rataplan of hooves right behind me. Acting against my conscience I span around, completely ignoring the threat that posed the zombie pony at the edge of my vision, and found myself once again in the company of my white-alicorn-hallucination. Could have been worse... but since when could I actually hear that alicorn moving? That hadn't happened before! The last time that creature had come that close to me, strange things had happened and I knew how crazy it was to even think about what the proximity of my hallucination mattered. The white alicorn bowed its head down to mine, looking me into the eyes for a brief moment, before it just...vanished. No purple spark of magic, no sound of rustling feathers, not the *plop*-noise of a bursting balloon.

For a moment, I thought it was just gone, but then - oddly enough - it reappeared right next to the zombie in front of me. Most likely by chance, the zombie unicorn threw its head around, looking towards the white one for a few seconds. The alicorn nodded towards the corridor to the unicorn's right. And then said unicorn just galloped away, into that exact corridor.

Okay.

At this point I just decided not to ask question anymore. After all I was in a most likely underground pre-war complex some pseudo goddesses had teleported me into and right now I was facing more alicorns and unicorns who should be dead given the amount of rotting flesh, but somehow weren't. I guess in a situation like this I shouldn't wonder about one more pony doing crazy stuff, even if it was just me thinking that crazy stuff.

Closing up to where the two... creatures had been a few moments ago, I recognized that the alicorn had vanished again. Strange... no, not strange, perfectly normal given the circumstances. What was strange though was that I hadn't run into any other zombie unicorn or an alicorn in the time I had wandered around. There had been the two I had encountered when I had tried to reach Angel, Gingerbread and Vergil and now there had been this one, but apart from those... not a single one. And this place was swarming with them, if my EFS was to be trusted. Just a bit of luck as a compensation for all the bad luck, most likely.

Maybe something had led the others away just as the alicorn had done it this time. But that was crazy even by my recently set standards.

Shaking off those thoughts I looked down the two corridors that were the possible continuations of my way: the one the zombie pony had galloped into and the... other one. So which to choose? That one path to my left that lead into unknown territory filled with wild, undead ponies or the one to my right, also leading into the unknown and an unknown amount of zombie-ponies plus one. Tough choice...

I then decided to take the right way, because zombie pony or not, from what I remembered this way would lead me closer to Angel again. Even if he was crazy right now and I still didn't have a clue on what I wanted to do about that, the thing I wanted even less was getting lost in this building. If I were where Angel and the others were, then I would be at least close to one known exit. At least.

And there were still no other ponies to be see when I walked down the corridor. They were there - my EFS be praised - but they just... didn't come here apparently. But even if... Angel, the building and me being stupid and unauspicious had already taken care of my daily need for getting hurt: a back full of splinters from smashing through doors stern first and most likely one or two black eyes from smashing through one face first, skinned knees, a hurting face, a now numb wing with a freaking whole in it and I honestly couldn't tell if my legs were hurt or not, because from all the running, stumbling, crash landing and being thrown through stuff they were hurting by default. I was honestly surprised that I could still stand and walk, left alone run away from Angel.

Trotting through the empty corridor, I tried to make up some kind of plan - something concrete - to deal with my unicorn companion. Given that any kind of firearm of mine was still missing, my thoughts quickly arrived at the magic-disrupting device embedded in my foreleg. Speaking of which, I triggered its charge-mechanism with a thought of mine. I wasn't sure how long such a charge would be able to be used, but I just hoped it would be long enough for it to take out Angel's magic. But if I would take out his magic, what would I do next? I would have a few seconds at best and that would only be enough time to...

Suddenly I got aware of the syringes I had stuffed into my jacket's pockets after I had emptied out my saddlebags. After I had taken away the healing bandages for myself, very little had been left, but along those few medical supplies, there had been Med-X, I was sure of that. And what was that drug Angel had used on Vergil called again? Blackout? A modified version of Med-X. I simply hoped that by "modified" Angel had meant "simply stronger dosed". What had I learned about mid-combat medical treatment back home? "A tiny bit too much and you'll be very knocked out very fast." I really hoped that. Or otherwise, my most loyal friend in the whole wasteland would die from an overdose of Med-X I myself would have given to him. "But just a little bit to much and your dear companions will be dead companions. So mind the dosage!" that one instructor had told us.

Settling down in another small office room - this whole complex seemed to be nothing more than office rooms, corridors and some debris here and there - okay, everywhere - I hold the Med-X syringes in front of my eyes and stared hard:

Warning:

Do not mix with alcohol or any other any other anesthetics.

Excessive use might trigger narcotic shock. Please contact a doctor before applying Med-X™.

MediCall Corp. does not assume liability in case of misapplication by laymares.

was written on it in really small letters.

This could only go pear-shaped...

Bracing myself, I stood up again, the "makeshift Blackout" - as I liked to call it now to make less worried - stuffed into my chest pockets. Now I just had to find Angel again.

""")_x_("""

A blue-to-red shifting dot on my EFS, barely visible among all the other red ones which I somehow hadn't stumbled into. There he was. Wasteland luck was a crazy thing. On the other hoof, from all the shooting-noises and the freakish shouts Angel uttered, it hadn't been all that difficult to locate him. And those noises meant that he was still alive and well. Good.

In the half-hour it had taken my to find him again, the consequences and weak points of my "plan" had rushed through my head again and again. Who am I kidding, that plan was one single huge weak point. It would have been far easier to think about ways my maneuver could work than about things that could go wrong. Or not thinking about it at all and just doing it... that sounded like the best way to handle it.

Holding the syringes of improvised Blackout in my one relatively undamaged wing, I lurked forward through the last corridor that lay between me and the trigger-happy grey unicorn stallion. Just get in there, do your job and get them all out of here.

I approached a damaged door that lead back into the foyer Angel was patrolling in, and coincidentally the one I myself had crashed through not long ago. I didn't look all that close, but I could swear there were drips of blood and white - correction, mostly dirty grey by now - feathers littered on floor in front of the door. At least I was at the right place again, so the two blue dots on my EFS really were Gingerbread and Vergil.

"Come out, you bastards!" I heard Angel shout, followed by two bursts of gunfire from his twin pistols. Again followed by the sound of crackling concrete and no death-rattling of another pony, be it zombie or not, meaning he was - again - shooting at thin air. Or he was seeing ghosts or alicorns, like me. Either way, it didn't matter right now. What did matter was that he apparently was a tiny bit distracted. Hopefully that tiny bit would be enough for me...

He walked his round in the room and he did it again and again, shouting and shooting every once in a while, all of it completely mechanical. By now I was sure that this wasn't the Angel I knew. After I had made sure that he would really pass by my position again, I readied the syringes and prepared myself to swoop down on him. As "down" as I was able to right now at least. I started a mental countdown in my head.

Three...

Two...

One...

Go!

As Angel passed by, I launched myself at the grey stallion - as fast as I was able to without my wings at least - and tried to knock his pistols out of his telekinetic grip, to my surprise quite successfully. But I didn't have time to think about it, right now I was wrestling with the much larger unicorn - not only to not get overpowered by him, but because I also needed to put the syringes to use. But doing that proofed to be a lot harder than I had thought, because despite him being an unicorn he was just as capable in hoof-to-hoof combat as I had feared. And without my wings I had lost my speed bonus too. I really should have thought this through again.

Purely by accident, our gazes met in the middle of our fight. But as I looked into his hateful eyes, I felt Angel's body tension trembling a tiny bit. But this tiny bit was enough for me to... Sorry, Angel. I promise I won't do it again. Mobilizing even my last power resources, I span around, delivering what felt like both the most power- and painful buck to the grey unicorn's face.

The awfully familiar and still nauseating noise of something hard hitting bones reached my ears moments before I turned my head to see what I had accomplished. Angel lay a few feet away on his back, his forelegs were wrapped around his terribly hurting face and - with all certainty - broken nose. A small but constant trickle of blood dripped down between his hooves and dyed his grey chest red.

Calm down, Feather, he's not dead. Just hear, he is still screaming in agony.

Fighting down the urge to vomit, I grabbed the syringes of Med-X and stepped closer to the fallen stallion. It was now or never.

"I'm really sorry, Angel." i whispered barely loud enough for him to hear me, "But I have to do this." I raised the syringes, ready to inject the Med-X into his body...

...when something grey and incredible fast punched me right in the face and send me flying across the room.

"Is this the death you had imagined for me...?" Angel asked awfully cold, blood dripping of his deformed nose, as the grey unicorn rose again. "...Raider scum?! I'm not done with you yet. And before I'm not done with you and anypony you hold dear, I refuse to die!"

A magical aura formed around his horn. My eyes darted though the room for the pistols I had knocked away earlier. If he would get a hold of them, I would be finished. Dead. Fried. I saw something covered in a field of grey magic rise at the other side of the room, but without my wings I would have no chance to intercept it. Maybe if I could get my hooves on the other...

A clattering noise right next to me made my head spin around and instantly, my gaze fell on Angel's second black pre-war pistol, wrapped in a telekinetic field. Forcing my ill-treated body to perform one last effort, I launched myself at the gun on the ground, and - as strange as this may sound - ripped it out of Angel's magical grip. But I had no time to be surprised. Taking up the gun, holding it by what seemed like a mouth-piece and trigger, I jumped to my feet and took aim at the unicorn stallion with the other gun.
Stalemate.

"You're quite a crafty pony." Angel said and uttered something remotely resembling an appreciative whistle, but the black gun right in front of his head made it quite difficult to feel anything but terror, not even the insult. "You've got me into an unenviable situation. Two ponies, two fully automated pistols and a full magazine stuffed into each gun. How will proceed further from here, raider?"

"Snap out of it!" I screamed, only barely preventing myself from loosing the hold on my gun, "I am not a raider! We arrived here together! We traveled together! We tried to save Vergil together! This isn't you who's speaking there, something's..."

"Oh yes, you say that. I got that the last time. But where's the evidence that your words are true? My little sister vanishes and all of the sudden, you, the ginger unicorn, all the others ponies in here, you try to attack me and refuse to give me any information about what you did to her."

His... sister? "She" was his... Angel had a sister?

"And even now you're attacking me, you broke my nose and are holding me at gunpoint. You have to admit, it doesn't show you in the best of lights."

"I didn't... I didn't try to attack you! You tried to shoot me! Listen, Angel, you..."

"And you don't even call me by my name. How am I supposed to believe we traveled together, if you didn't even know my name? If you really are my ally, my companion... my friend, then proof it! If it's not my name, tell me... what's my favorite food, my favorite color, what is it I don't like, where was I born. Anything." The gun held in his magical grip clicked as he cocked it. "Proof that you know me."

I hesitated, the counterpart to Angel's gun becoming heavy as the time went by. Proof that you know me. His favorite color? I didn't have the slightest clue. His favorite food? He liked Fancypant's Snack Cakes, but other than that... He didn't like raiders apparently, but what kind of pony liked raiders other than raiders themselves? I had no clue about what he liked...
Then it struck me: I had no clue about Angel at all. I had been traveling with him for a week that felt like months and I didn't know anything about him. I could have just as well met him a few hours ago. Or could have not met him at all before, like a thief... or a raider.

"Now? What's the kind of ponies I don't like at all?" the grey unicorn asked.

I wasn't able to speak. All I could do was stammering. I couldn't answer his question.

"Thought so..." Angel said with a sigh. "Your group thought your pretty face would hinder me to shoot you. I have to admit they were right, shame on me. But come to think of it, to me you're much more useful alive. I still need information about my sister and your gang and you most certainly have what I seek. The only thing that's left to discuss is whether you want to give them freely... or if I have to ask you about it. Like I asked the ginger unicorn. It's entirely up to you, raider."

He almost spat the last word and it hurt just as much as he had intended. I knew nothing about Angel and he was despising me for what was my own fault. I had never asked him. I had never insisted on knowing him better. He who had saved my life time and time again. And now he was out to do to me what he did to Gingerbread, if anything it was unhealthy and most likely very painful. And it would be even more painful because it was him doing it.

"I would like it much better if you would not resist. I'd hate - and I'm sure you think alike - to hurt any more of your body parts. Will you give me the information willingly or not?"

I couldn't give him what he wanted. I didn't knew anything about him or his so-called sister or this group of zombie-ponies he thought of as my allies. But he wouldn't believe me that and that would lead to things I didn't want to think about. My plan with the Med-X/Blackout-imitation had been foiled, the syringes I had selected lay somewhere on the floor outside my field of vision - not that I didn't have a few more syringes, but they were in the pockets of my jacket I couldn't reach without exposing myself. Now the only thing protection me was the gun pointed at my friend and lifesaver.

Sometimes the wasteland really sucked.

"So... what is your answer?"

"I can't give you the answers you seek." I answered hesitantly, stabilizing the shaking pistol I hold. I needed to think. "I'm afraid I... have to leave."

"Is that so? I really can't remember giving you a third choice. As far as I recall, I said either give it willingly or let me make you give them." Slowly Angel shook his head. "Nopony ever talked about departing "in peace". You've already done too much for that. Your answer?"

"You... you seem to forget that I still got one of your guns!" I... well, squeaked. It was all I could do now. Things went south faster than the debris falling from the ceiling. Now I really was threatening him. Goddesses have mercy.

Apparently Angel had caught this inconsistency in my action too. Giving another disappointed sigh, he looked me directly into the eyes. "Please, you couldn't hurt me, even if you'd manage to fire that gun. This was just a test to see if your intention really was good. Well, and you failed the test, my little raider."

A field of grey magic erupted around the gun I held tight and then, Angel started to pull. He was trying to disarm me. If he had wanted to kill me, he had already used his other gun, no, he wanted me alive to be his... source of information. But I didn't want to be his source of information! Not for the Angel who now stood in front of me! As the pistol started to slip from my grip, I did something only the despair I felt was able to make me to do: I bit down on the trigger.

And nothing happened. I just bit down on some hard metal with nothing even closely resembling a tongue trigger. The thing I bit on... was just a piece of metal sticking out Angel's heavy and black gun. Before I could come to a conclusion about whether to be grateful for the fact that the gun didn't fire or become even more desperate because of it, I felt as Angel ripped the gun out of my muzzle, sending me flying backwards and landing on my already terribly hurting back.

"I told you that you couldn't hurt me with those." the grey unicorn said with a confidently undertone. "They aren't meant to be used by the likes of you. They are... special. They are unique and can be used only by a trained magic user such as me." Angel said, now with two pistols pointed at me. "Now with this said, did you change your mind? Or do you have something else to throw at me? If you've got another power up your sleeve, now would be an excellent time to get started."

For a brief moment, my thoughts wandered to the still charged magic disruptor-device Salvation in my foreleg. This would sure come in handy... if Angel wouldn't stand more than three meters away from me. Given his sharpshooting skills, this distance wouldn't matter to him, but I wasn't sure if my disruptor would reach him. I highly doubted it, since by the time I had used it on Gingerbread, Angel and the others had been unaffected. Even if he had been a bit further away than he was now, I couldn't risk a failure. If he would think I was trying to attack him again, he would kill me, despite what he said earlier, I was sure of it.

There had to be a way out of this!

"Now, what is your answer?"

I needed to think of something!

"Tell me, raider!"

This one might work... screw that, there wasn't another way that didn't involve me taking in more bullets than I assumed to be healthy.

"Okay... you win. I'll tell you whatever you want to know." I said hesitantly, careful not to use his name. His fake name. Whatever. And without even thinking about it, I took a step towards the grey unicorn stallion. I assumed he would think that lower distance sure would be better for him to hear me, but... a bullet impacting on the ground one or two inches away from my hoof made me stop dead in my tracks. Apparently Angel didn't think alike.

"I believe you can tell me from other there just as well."

"Do you really mean I'll have to yell all the time?" I asked, needlessly cocky, "If so, my voice might fade halfway through."

Angel frowned, but then he nodded. "It would really be a shame, you're right. A beautiful voice such as yours must not be overstrained. I guess I'll be a gentlecolt and come over to you." This actually worked? He started walking towards me. "I apologize for the inconvenience although."

Then he raised his guns. My eyes widened, I wanted to take off again, but my wing was still bandaged and therefor not moving. And even if I was fast enough to outrun a zombie-pony or even Angel himself, there was no way I would be outrunning his bullets. Stopping maybe a meter away, he looked down at me, his guns floating directly in front of him. "Please understand, madame, that if I come closer to you, I'll have to be sure you're not up to anything." he said casually, "I just want to have a talk after all, no needs for knifes or brass knuckles. It's for your own good too, kinda..."

And with that, he pulled the trigger. Pain erupted in my right foreleg, the same pain I had felt when...no, what was this? Yes, it did hurt, but it didn't hurt as bad as when the Hyaenas had shot through my foreleg. This wound hurt like a... really painful scratch. But not more. But what was even weirder was the sound the bullet made as it dig itself into my limb. Instead of the sickening noise of flesh being ripped apart, the only noise there was was a low *ping* as if it had hit and bounced off a piece of metal. My gaze wandered over to the numb growing limb and the only thing I could see was blood. It felt as if time slowed down as I turned my head back to the grey unicorn that had shot at me. Apparently he was just as confused about what had just happened as I was, indicated by his twin pistols floating floor-wards for a second or two. More than enough for my adrenaline- and pain-driven brain to react.

Now I was armed, Angel was close, confused and that meant open for a counter attack. I just hoped the disruptor's rage was at least a meter. Reaching out for the confused unicorn with my right, bleeding hoof, and bracing myself for what was to come, I started the attack.

Magic Disruptor: charge at 100%
Magic Disruptor: ready

Again my brain felt as if I was hearing a pony scratching the surface of a blackboard, but this time, I was prepared. It was still unpleasant, but I still managed to control my body. Angel, however, could not. Screaming in pain, surprise, confusion or all of that, he threw himself on the ground, the telekinetic field around his pistols vanished and the guns fell to the ground clatteringly, fortunately without loosing a shot. Just like Gingerbread, he held his apparently malfunctioning horn with his hooves. But I had no time to gaze at him, time was of the essence now. I had to get away to think of something else. Maybe about trying the Med-X again. But these were thoughts for another minute, right now I had to get away!

As I darted for the closest door - well, "darted" might not be the right word. Given that my wing was hurting as was my back, my chest, my hindlegs - come to think of it, counting which of my body parts didn't hurt would have been much easier - it was more of a fast limping - I could already hear Angel recovering. By my last Celestia caused sunburn, this guy was tough! And just as I limped past two unconscious... Luna drown me in the high tided sea, I completely forgot about my two other companions! Resting my eyes on the bloodstained Gingerbread for a second too long, I heard how my unicorn adversary launched himself at me. And about a second later, I could feel it too. The impact carried me off my hooves and together we crashed into the ground right next to the unconscious ones.

I landed on my back and felt Angel's wight pressing out the air from my lungs. At this moment though, it didn't hurt anymore. To be correct, it didn't hurt any more, my body had been in almost unbearable pain ever since I had stepped into this goddesses-damned foyer. I just felt numb as he punched my face and I couldn't say if he was using his full strength or not. And to be honest, I didn't really care. My plan was simple. I would let him have what he wanted and would recharge the magic disruptor. And then I would figure out a plan to get away from here. Something involving... I didn't care anymore.

Just as Angel raised his right hoof for another palm probably to my face again - why couldn't my face just stay the way it was? Why did nopony like my face the way it was? - something else than the grey stallion's helpless rage reflecting face above me attracted my attention: the door on the other side of the room - the one I had come from as I had been running away from the zombie-alicorn, was smashed open by a shockwave of magic and forth stepped a purple alicorn. Not one send by this Goddess, this one looked just as tainted and rotten like the green one. Great, now they had found us.

Following my gaze, Angel turned his head as well and saw how the purple alicorn leaped into the air and towards us. I couldn't say if it was using its wings or its magic to fly. All I could say was that it looked weird.

This situation grew worse any second, even worse than it already was.

But as the purple alicorn drew closer I noticed something: different from the Goddess-alicorns, this pony's eyes where of a deep gold. A color I had seen before on only one pony. And just as I finished this thought, said white alicorn literally stepped out of the purple one's shadow. Hovering mere inches above its floating body, it perfectly mimicked the other alicorn's posture.

"Come with me to salvation..." the golden-eyed, purple alicorn said as it was right above us. It's horn began to glow.

"This is my chance." a voice in my mind said.

Then everything vanished in a spark of purple.

""")_x_("""

Level up: 50%

Skill(s): --

Challenge Perk added: Bandage Mare

"What doesn't kill you makes you stronger."
Pain sucks. But why endure it longer than necessary? Healing items such as healing potions restore 15% more health and healing bandages restore damaged limbs twice as fast.

Author's Note:

Finally, Chapter 12. I took me longer than I had expected, but now it's here.
I hope I didn't disappoint anyone, the next chapter will be ready sooner, I promise.

Anyway, I tried to make the chapter shorter (by the word count, I managed). I'm still conflicted whether I should keep the longer chapters or if you people like shorter ones. Just let me know.

As always if you find errors or inconsistencies within the story, feel free to tell me using either the comment section or a PM.

Comments ( 20 )

Okay, now I'm really confused...

5494317
Then I have reached my goal.

5495557

you're evil...

No, I'm not! Take that back or I'll rip your eyes from...
No, I'm not evil I just want to give some characters a bit more background. I could've extended the chapter to the point were something actually new comes into play, but then it would've taken at least another month and... that's nothing I wanted to do.

Okay, now I'm really confused...

I don't see why. I think I made things clear: he's secretly evil because and acts like this for nothing less than.

The absence of any reasoning in this last sentence was intended. This chapter was intended to make Angel as a bit more as a Fallout 3 companion, whose only job is to shoot things without any reason whatsoever. Of course, this whole drama thing will play its part in the future.

Hopefully the next chapter will be finished faster than this one.:twilightblush:

And of course the fimfiction feeds didn'nt say that a chapter was posted. Good thing I scroll my fave page often or I would have never known.

Anyway, sort of a short chapter than I'm used to. Either that or the pace of everything made it seem shorter.

Only thing that nagged me on grammar was that you spelled behind as 'be hind' (insert helicopter pony joke here). Other than that all good.

And we also get a look at Angel and this new place. And I think we're all going to trip out when or if we find out what's going on with this new development.

Look forward to the next chapter.

5527314
It was indeed only half as long as a usual chapter, both to reasons of thematically singularity and time (three months since I published the last chapter, I have to make people believe that this story isn't dead, just walking really slow).

The be hind mistake is fixed now, I don't know how it got in there. Thanks for catching the fugitive.:twilightsmile:

I don't know if you use trip-out as a good or a bad thing... but Angel's character development has just began and that facility also holds another secret or two.

Thanks for the comment as always :twilightsmile: and I'm eagerly waiting for Chivalry's next chapter.

It was indeed only half as long as a usual chapter, both to reasons of thematically singularity and time (three months since I published the last chapter, I have to make people believe that this story isn't dead, just walking really slow).

Oh good. I thought it was just me.

The be hind mistake is fixed now, I don't know how it got in there. Thanks for catching the fugitive.:twilightsmile:

Good to hear. Hopefully the convict can stay where he belongs. In grammar prison. That and the hideous monster 'alot'

I don't know if you use trip-out as a good or a bad thing... but Angel's character development has just began and that facility also holds another secret or two.

That's good to hear. IMHO, Angel's been a slight bit overdue in the development department.

Look forward to the next chapter.

Hopefully I shouldn't have to worry about fallout 4 coming out before the story is finished, but I do have friends on facebook I chat with and they seem to like the ideas coming up in my head. So I hope it doesn't take another half year to get the next chapter out.

5527400

Good to hear. Hopefully the convict can stay where he belongs. In grammar prison. That and the hideous monster 'alot'

I can't find alot in this chapter. But I'll keep my eyes open.

5532345
I meant that as a joke. I didn't find it either. Otherwise I would have posted a picture of an alot

5570001
A big thank you for that comment. It is - to say the least - the biggest one I've ever received.

It's very possible that the first five chapters were worse than the rest, since these first five were done by mostly translating what I had written in my native language. Starting with Chapter V I worked over whole passages and wrote them in English and halfway through Chapter VII I started to write the story completely in English, without writing it down in German before.

Instead of appearing like a xenophobic, reactionary military junta, the Enclave comes off as a pragmatic organization that does have some good souls. Her point of view is undoubtedly influenced by idealism, youth, and propaganda, all of which contribute to the nuances that make Feather a character of depth.

I'm not going to say much about that. There're undoubtedly youth, idealism and a bit of propaganda at work, but I simply refused to believe that the Enclave were made solely of douche-bags. There're good guys everywhere.

About the scavenger encounter... you're right, it was flat out, crass naivety. I did it to better show her development over the story, especially in the chapters VII to IX. She - at least in this phase of the story- believes that all problems can be solved by talking, while Angel thinks every problem or danger to his... associate - to say she's his friend would fall too long given Angel's motivation - , Feather, should be shot.

I hope you liked the story despite its weaknesses.:twilightsheepish:

5575162
Indeed I invested much time (the readers' time) into building up a credible first kill for Feather. All to casual killing is something I see as a weakness not only of the source material (the Fallout games) but many other stories as well. Not that it can't be done, I just didn't think of it as the right way to treat my character. And thank you very much for them compliment about character depth.

5969594
Thank you for the comment and the fav.:twilightsmile: I'm glad you liked it and hope you'll like what's yet to come.

Sienna and Feather are quite similar indeed and that's what I like about Our WIll too.

When are you going to update this? I just finished this chapter and saw that it was published back in january. I wish to see more! :fluttercry:

6029014
I writing right now.
Since I aim for a a bit loser word count, it may be eine soon.

6044265
On the topic of character development: the story does have character development but I like to keep things a bit realistic in making characters change slowly. Characters don't change attitudes from one chapter/day to another outside of stories either,
But thank you nonetheless for the encouraging words.:twilightsmile:
I'm hard at work to get the next chapter done. The main action is thought out, just getting there can be done in sooo many ways that I'm just not satisfied every thime.

I'm really enjoying this but it's been several months since there's been an update. Now I saw a while back you did some editing and I really really hope you haven't fallen into the "Edit before finishing" death spiral that so many fics on this site seem to take. Almost 90% of the stories that get put on hold for editing never get finished, so try not to fall into the trap. I'm really hoping this isn't dead.

Your book has been advertised on the new facebook group page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/foebooks/ :)

6671445
You're right... I didn't think of that.
I'm not all that familiar with military things, but at that moment I thought it to sound nice.

Anyway, thanks for the comment.

Great story, sad to see last updates were a while back.

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