Fallout Equestria: Hunters

by lonely colt

A New Direction

Author's Note:

The trouble author, fueled on Gustavo Santaolalla, cigarettes, and self-doubt, returns.

Appease me with hurtful reviews.

A/N: It's been almost a full year in the making and it's probably awful. Feel free to point out my grammatical, punctuation, and continuity errors.

Welcome back to the party.

New Direction

Blinding light. More scorched rocks. I think something is dripping on me. Most of my senses are shot to hell, my ears won't stop ringing, and I think I may be dead. Looks like I got blown up. Sorry stable ponies, I mucked this one up.
But wait! I'm not dead! My sight's coming back and I can definitely feel something on top of me! It's large, and wet, and squishy, and Oh my fucking Celestia, it's a dead pony.

“Oh my... ech,” I rolled the deceased earth pony off of me and began to crawl out. I shook myself and stared at the dead pony. It actually gets easier, you know? We were somewhat braced for this, and although you can't seem to let go of that nagging feeling of 'Wow, that guy sure is dead and he's never coming back', the initial shock of the wasteland has left. Sure, exploding heads still scare you to Tartarus and back, but for the most part, it's not that bad.

I turned around to be greeted by a very hard hoof to the muzzle. “Damn it, Sunny! What the hell did I tell you!?” Stop. Running. Out.” The owner of the hoof was Lucky. This may be, like, the second, or maybe fourth, time I had run out and gotten myself into a sticky situation. Only now it was more literal, as somepony else's blood was on me.

“Y-yeah, well... you blew me up!” Honestly, I wasn't too worried about it, I was just trying to save face.

“Pfft, yeah. It's called a flash grenade, kid. It's guaranteed to screw up the eyes and ears of both wannabe bandits, as well as over-confident Stable cases like you, without killing them,” She said with a very smug laugh.

“Hey, look, you're bleeding. It's a gunshot wound, but relax, it just grazed you,” She seemed a little more sympathetic now. She pulled out a little vial from a leg pocket and hoofed it to me, “Here. It's a healing potion. Drink up, it's meant for minor injuries.”

“Whoo! That's some next level stuff right there, Luck!” I couldn't believe it, my flesh and fur was growing back right before my eyes. I'd seen these in the Stable, but never first hoof. I must have always missed it whenever one of the other Fighters had an injury.

“Better? Let's go.” Lucky said as she gave me a hoof up and trotted on. We were on our way to New Saint City before being asked to pay a toll. Apparently, ponies with bats and mean looking sticks don't like it when you tell them to bite you. Anyway, making contact with a city would be great for the Stable because then we could trade, ponies could leave the Stable freely, and ponies would call me a hero and I won't be a loser, anymore! Yay, a win-win situation!

“Hey, Sunny, lemme ask you something,” Lucky asked me as she tore me from my inner monologue, “Where you come from, you got gryphons there, right? You got any of those pegasi there?” she seemed to ask through gritted teeth.

“Huh? What's this about pegasi? Are gryphs not good enough for you?” Erő said as he brushed past me, distraught over something. “I-it's not like I'm jealous or anything, that is.” Lucky looked pretty confused about Erő's remark but shrugged it off.

“Whoa, chill out, catbird, I'm just making friendly conversation, yeah? Jeez,” she added back, quickly changing her demeanor, making Erő seem even more defensive.

After about 10 something minutes of walking and crossing over hills, a wall came into sight. A big-ass wall. “Whoa, that's a big-ass wall,” I said to nopony in particular, “is that New Saint City, Lucky?” She didn't respond, she just ran up to the wall and started banging on it. Only then did I realize it wasn't a wall, it was a door. A big-ass door.

“Yo! Dev! Get down here and open this door!” I noticed somepony in a nearby tower train his sights on her. She noticed too. “You keep that gun pointed at me and I'll come over there and shove it up your ass, pal!” she shouted at the stallion in question.

“I'm guessin' she don' make a whole lotta friends, eh?” Jury whispered to me and chuckled himself, eliciting a killer glare from Lucky. After a few minutes of her banging, the door finally opened up, and out trotted a dark purple-colored mare who didn't look too happy at our dear friend, Lucky.

“I swear to the Goddesses, Lucky, you're lucky that we're siblings or I would put you six hooves under,” she said in a unamused tone. “Aaand, you brought friends too. And it looks like one of them is covered in dried blood. Something you need to clue me in on?”

“Hey, we're right here, you know!” Icebox shouted at her before being given back an annoyed 'no shit!'.

“It's nothing to get too bent out of shape over, even if you were into that kind of thing, sis. Just a lil' trouble with some bandits,” It seemed that Lucky was seriously starting to get underneath this pony's skin. “All I'm tryna' say is that it's no big deal, alright? We're not even gonna be here for long.”

“Fine, sure. But you know the same old rules, sister. My town, my rules. You fuck with my town or anypony in it and I will personally break you in two. The same goes for your friends, as well. We clear?” There was certainly something between these two, to say the least.

“Weeell, I don't wanna be rude or anything, but we'd better get going...” I thought it was best before they start throwing punches at each other. After pulling Lucky away, she looked like she was ready to start throwing punches at me. “Look, we still have a job to do, Luck, remember. You have your bounty to turn in and we have... we have...,” I honestly couldn't believe that's it. “We have to go back, Lucky. We established contact, summed up that everyone isn't fucking mental, et cetera, et cetera. Our job is done.” She seemed a bit taken back by this. I didn't want to leave a new friend behind so soon, but I had obligations to keep.

“U-uh, yeah, forgot, heheh. Look, I'll go talk with my sister about some of your Stable higher-ups getting an escort to the city, or something. Politics ain't my field and it never will be, but I'll work something out, I promise.” She turned and trotted off. Surprisingly, Jury Rigger took off after her and Icebox kept behind him.

“Looks like it's just you and me, Erő.” I said to my gryph companion as we trotted off into the city.

I guess after living so long in the Stables, you never understand how easy we had it. Sure, we were trained and conditioned for the inevitable departure from our Stable, but in there, nopony ever went hungry. Nopony ever killed another for a mouthful of water. No died a meaningless death simply because they weren't as strong as the one who did them in.

After a few hours of walking, I began to notice something about these ponies, they didn't seem to care. At all, to be honest. They'd walk past right past the sick and the hungry like they weren't even there. Stallions, mares, and foals, all brushed to the sides of dark and filthy gutters. I wanted to help them, I really did, but Erő kept pulling me back.

"Sorry, Sunny, it's not our place. M-maybe things will be better for them once we get something going with '44, yeah?" he said with a twinge of sadness in his voice.

I just had to follow suit and try not to care. To walk past all of the hurt and forgotten and simply not care. That is, until a dirty, young buck came barreling at me, out of nowhere, yelling for somepony to help him. This was something can I couldn't ignore, Erő's wishes or not.

"What's wrong, kid? Something I can help you with?" I asked him with a hopeful smile.

"M-my older brother! I saw these ponies pull him into an alley, I think they're gonna kill him! You have to help me!" The poor foal looked like he was on the verge of tears. Both Erő and I were in agreement that this needed our attention. Now. We took off after the buck, into a series of winding alleys. He stopped at a corner where screaming and the sounds of something soft being beaten could be heard. I drew a knife that I had pulled off of a bandit a while earlier, and got ready to turn the corner.

What I saw was shocking, to say the least. Two grown stallions kicking and beating a teen-aged buck who couldn't even defend himself. Before words could even leave my mouth, Erő had tackled one of them and wrapped his claws around his throat, fully prepared to choke the life out of this pony. I pulled the other stallion off of the crying buck while Erő thrashed the other.

"Erő, stop! He's had enough!" While I was trying to stop Erő from murdering this pony, I neglected to notice that that the pony underneath me had upholstered a pistol from his dirty, tattered clothing. Luckily, I noticed it at the last second, being able to brush it out of his grip. The shot missed me by a lot, but, unfortunately, grazed my gryph friend on the arm. I wasted no time in shoving my knife through this pony's throat. Realizing what I had done, I felt sickened by it.

After getting off of the stallion, I tried to pull Erő from the other who, surely, had lost consciousness at this point. "Erő, come on, man. He's done for," I pleaded with him. But then, as I placed a hoof along his shoulder in an attempt to comfort him, he pulled back and crushed the pony's throat with a disgusting snap. Before I knew it, he was bearing down over me, murder filling his eyes, "L-look, man, you're scaring me. Just calm down a bit, alright?" Erő seemed to realize what he was doing and backed off, "Somepony had to have heard that gunshot. We have to get out of here before they come looking," I asked with shakiness in my tone.

I just remembered the young buck, crying and holding his battered brother. "M-mister, I-i, thank you," his meager voice trailed off. His brother looked in pretty bad shape, to be honest, but he'd make it. I pulled a syringe of painkillers that Lucky had given me for emergencies out of my bag and gave it to the bleeding buck. Erő didn't try to stop me from helping somepony, this time.

"Look, kid, you and your brother need to get the fuck out of here," my caring friend put it, "don't worry about what happened here. Just go." I was pretty shocked, as the reality of the situation had really began to set it. Only a few hours into this city, Erő and I had already killed two ponies. Only a few days in the wastes, and my friends had already killed ponies. Only a few days into the wastes and I killed a pony. And because of the actions of Erő and myself, Lucky's sister was going to kill us.

"Oh, who am I kidding? I'm no Fighter, I was never meant to be one in the first place." Erő grabbed me and shook me back to reality, "Sunny! This is no time to be daydreaming, okay? You and I need to get out of here and forget this happened, alright?" I took a second to remember that we were sitting in an alleyway after a gun had went off, probably waking up a fuckton of ponies around us, sitting with two dead ponies. I ran as fast as my legs could carry me.

////

I found myself sitting alone with Erő in the moonlit ghettos that we all had set out from during the day. I noticed that Erő pulled a bottle from his bag as he took a deep sip from it, then offered me the bottle as I hesitantly questioned it. "Erő, you know I don't drink," he seemed a little off-put by this, "but, I'll try it anyway, just to make you feel better." I took a small sip from the bottle and was immediately taken back by how strong it was. It was like drinking fire and made me gag. After it had finally settled, I began to feel a warmness in my belly and decided 'why not?' and took a few deep chugs of it.

"Whoa, shit, Gust! Take it down a notch, lightweight! You're gonna be feeling that, later on," Erő said as he took the bottle back and sipped some more. After a few more passes back and forth, the bottle was empty. "Mmmhm, Shunneh, look what I gotsh," Erő slurred as he dug into his bags for another bottle. In hindsight, this was an awful idea, but I honestly didn't care all to much.

////

On the other side of the city, the rest of the team was currently making their way back to Sunny and Erő. After talking to her sister (and by talking, we meant harsh words and making comments about the promiscuity of one's mother, despite having the same mother, that is) about letting some Stable ponies from '44 into the city, it seems that they had reached an agreement and were ready to work something out. The sounds of hooves clopping against broken and beat up roads was disturbed as Icebox spoke up, "Hey, Jury, it suure is cold out, tonight, huh? Say, you wouldn't be all to against sharing body heat, would ya?" she said coyly while rubbing against Jury Rigger's side.

"I'm not sure it's that cold, Ice, but if ya want, I'll give you my jacket," Jury was trying his best but didn't exactly pick up on what Icebox was getting at.

"W-well, I mean, it's not the same, right? And, besides, won't you be cold?" She quickly gave back to Jury in an attempt to swing things her way.

"But, I don't get too cold, Icebox, you know that," Jury said with a hint of confusion.

In front of them, Lucky was listening in on their conversation and decided to give Icebox a helping hoof. She put it in the most subtle and charming way she could muster, "Jury, stop bein' a lil' bitch and cuddle her, dude, seriously." The meaning of Lucky's comment began to dawn on Jury as he looked at an Icebox who was playfully batting her eyes.

"Oh, oooh, I see, now," he said, just now catching Icebox's vibes, "Uh, yeah, sure, Icebox, if ya wanna share body heat, that's fine with me." It seemed that Icebox had gotten her way and everything was calm once again, before Lucky tripped on a hoof sticking out from an alley and gracefully face-planted against the ground.

"Oh, oooh shit," a wobbly voice slurred out, "Oh fuck, ten pointsh, man! Worldstar! Worldstar!" Two ponies were laughing uncontrollably and rolling on the dirty ground as Lucky peeled herself off of the road. "Omigawdess, Luckeh, you've been gone for soooo long, and...," Sunny had to pause for a moment to collect his thoughts, but was interrupted by Erő, who was wrapping himself around Lucky and sobbing into her coat.

"I'm sho shorry, Luckeh, I thoughtsh you were never coming back! Don't do thish to me, man!" Lucky, on the other hoof, was not so much mad, as she was confused, only then, she took a whiff of Erő's breath, which reeked of alcohol. She promptly headbutted him and started yelling, as usual.

"What the hell is wrong with you two!? We were gone for, like, what? Two? Three hours? And not only are you drunk, but-" she was cut off by Erő who was, once again, trying to cry all over Lucky.

"Luckeh, Luckeh... don't you know you're my very beeehst frieeendsh!" After finishing his song, Erő stood up and looked Lucky right in her eyes, "Luckeh, did you at lea- Oh Goddesh!" Going wide-eyed, Erő threw his head into a trashcan and started violently vomiting into it.

"Haahah, shtupid catbird! I told you I wouldn't get sick first! Who'sh the lightweight now, you lil'-" Sunny had reached the same state as Erő and was now vomiting into a rusty and bent trashcan, as well.

"Wow, he's a real charmer, isn't he?" Lucky said with a hint of annoyance in her voice. "He always like this?"

"I always assumed Sunny didn't drink. Guess he really went overboard since it was his first time." Icebox added from behind. "We should probably get going so those two can sleep it off. Three out of five members is concerning."

"I'm on it, don't you two worry," Jury said boldly as he hoisted both Erő and Sunny onto his back. "Ain't no trouble, at all."

On the way out of the city, the group was stopped by Lucky's sister, along with a few armed town guards. "What's the problem, sis? I thought we were clear on the agreement we made earlier," Lucky asked her sister, clearly annoyed by her presence.

"This isn't about that, it's about your gryphon and unicorn friends. Two ponies were found dead in an alley today and witness claim that they saw a gryphon and unicorn stallion running from the scene. Care to explain?" She said in a dark tone, ready to bring down hell over her sister.

"Look," Lucky started, "it couldn't have been them, they wouldn't hurt somepony for no reason. And maybe, maaaybe it was them, there's obviously a completely justifiable reason for it."

"While that's all well and great, sister, they're still suspects for murder. I'm sorry for you, but I'm gonna have to take them back, Lucky." She took a few steps towards Jury, but stopped in her tracks as Lucky pointed her rifle inches from her muzzle.

"Don't. You're my sister and I love you, but if you touch them, I swear on my life, I will put you down." Jury Rigger and Icebox were pretty shocked at this, but couldn't intervene. Holstering her rifle, Lucky started up again at her sister, "You need to trust me on this one, sis. I know it looks bad, it really does, but it couldn't have been these two. I haven't known them for a very long time, but I know in my gut that they wouldn't do this."

"Oh, shit, my head...," a pained voice came from behind, "wh-what's going on? Look, I know I flashed that merchant, but I didn't think he'd sent the guards after me," Erő whined from atop Jury's back, before plopping onto the earth with a heavy thud.

"Erő, you and Sunny are suspects for murder, tell them it isn't true," Icebox said in a hopeful smile.

"What? Yeah, you're damn right it's true!" Erő proclaimed proudly, as if he were winning a contest, "Those two scumbags were lynching a buck and his brother, they got exactly what was coming to them."

"Look, sis, you have to let us go on this one. They still have a job to do, alright? You heard him yourself, he was doing a good deed by cleaning your city up of filth." Lucky, for once it seemed, talked to her sister on an equal level. No bitterness or animosity between the two. Just a genuine request for help.

"Fine. Fine. Just go. You're off the hook, and I will continue looking into this, but for now, you're free to go." Lucky just mouthed a 'thank you' to her, just as she turned to leave. "H-hey, sister, wait!" she called out to Lucky, "Look, I know there's bad blood between us, I know that. And I know that we're probably always going to be bitter at each other, but just remember, we're family, okay? I love you, too, Lucky." Lucky was taken back as her sister embraced her as she began to get misty eyed. "Stay safe, yeah?" She let go and returned to her city before shutting up the gates, leaving the rest of the team and a stunned Lucky sitting there.

"Aaww, holy hell, I'm never touching alcohol again in my life," Sunny had finally returned to the land of the living. "What? Was there something I missed?"

---

Footnote: Level Up!

Your Speech skill has increased!

New perk: Party Colt - You have learned the wonders of binge drinking! No chance for alcohol addiction.