Fallout Equestria: Dark Shores

by SwimmingEagle

Old Blood, New Blood

The morning light poked through holes in the thick clouds. I was already awake. Somepony had to steer this jalopy. Sorry Poseidon, we’ll upgrade soon. However, Éclair and Sorbet had just woken up. I could tell because I swear I could smell biscuits baking, despite the fact that we had no flour or any mix at all. I lifted myself out of the boat and undid my harness.

The ladies had a small fire going, heating up one of the bread loaves. I shook myself moderately dry. Sorbet was still laying down munching on her piece while Eclair tossed me a nice toasty chunk. Warm bread was a nice change of pace. Little bit dry though. Probably needed butter, whatever that was like. I set my piece down and moved over to Sorbet.

“How are you feeling this morning?” I asked. She swallowed the bread in her mouth then winced.

“Well, I’m horribly injured and in terrible pain. So I think I’m par for the course,” She replied making light of the situation. Probably a defense mechanism. That or she was really that optimistic.

“So other than pain you feel fine? No chills, nausea, or light headedness?” I asked. She nodded.

“None of that, just the hurt. But I figure if I can take my mind off it, all is well doc,” She said.

“Please, I never got a medical license.” I smiled. “Well, in the interest of keeping your mind occupied, how about good conversation?”

“What do you want me to talk about?” she asked me. I furrowed my brows as I cycled topics through my head.

“The Mainland.” I replied. She snorted.

“Bit of a broad subject there,” She said. I smirked.

“You have an urgent meeting? A pressing engagement?” I said gesturing to the open blue around us. She burst out laughing then immediately winced and stifled herself.

“Ow, hurts to laugh,” She moaned. After a few moments of collecting herself she asked, “What do you want to know?”

“What is it like over there?” I asked. She nodded.

“Overall? Imagine land as far as the eye can see. And all of it is just a festering wound.” She spat out. “A lawless, hate filled wound bleeding the blood of hundreds of poor souls daily.” That was… eloquent.

“Sooo not a place for a summer vacation.” I offered. She raised an eyebrow. I sucked the comment back in.

“Now, that’s just the general picture. From there it’s got its ups and downs,” She explained further. “You’ve got the beacons of civilization like Tenpony tower and my own Stable City. Then there are pits of Instant death like ‘oofington’s Core and Canterlot, not to exclude Everfree Forest.” I did a double take at the mention of Canterlot being a ‘pit of instant death,’ however I wanted to keep the conversation positive. Good emotions help the sick and wounded recover.

“Could you tell me what Stable City is like?” I asked. Maybe thoughts of home would bring up good vibes. Her shrug told me maybe.

“Well, about say fifty or so years ago, Stable 122 opened and got right to work on making the surface settlement. Tons of building supplies, and tons of eager ponies to use them. It went from an outpost, to a town, to a city in no time at all practically.” She recounted. She took a sip of bottled water.

“We would trade citizenship for any prewar tech anypony could scrounge up.”

“Why would somepony trade tech for citizenship?” I asked. I wouldn’t cut a deal that way.

“Citizenship got you housing, protection, clean water, fresh food, and one of these babies” she waved her hoof out bringing attention to the device on her foreleg. The only tech I really had any knowledge in was cameras and projectors. The only thing I knew about what was on the two ladies’ limbs was that they looked damn uncomfortable.

“And that is…” I gestured to her to continue. Éclair actually jumped in to the conversation

“This is a PipBuck, best bit ov tech to ever be made. It tells time, has maps, has a radio, keeps track of your to do list, manages your junk, points out blokes that want ta get in a scrap with you, and best of all helps you aim!” she listed off cheerfully. How her accent got so different from her mother, I’ll never know. Nevertheless, it seemed like it was useful.

“Can it play movies?” I asked. Maybe this trip wouldn’t be boring after all.

“Nope.” Thus my hopes were dashed to the deck and ground to dust.

“Tough sell, but I’ll pass,” I said.

“All this talk about home is borin’. Tell me about seaponies!” Éclair announced. I looked at Sorbet, who shrugged and rolled her eyes.

“Come bother me when something interesting happens.” Sorbet said as she shuffled her way to her cot and lowered the palm tree drapes. Éclair looked back at me with expectant eyes. I sighed. Despite my job description, I hate preaching.

“Long ago after last day of the Old World, the youngest of three demigods, Poseidon, was born. He was born in form of the seapony, but had the blood and soul of a god within him...” I began. She leaned in closer.

--- --- --- ---

I kept poking her but she was being stubborn.

“Wake up.” I implored. Sorbet slowly tossed herself over to face me. Her eyes were half closed, blinking the sleep from her eyes.

“Where’s the fire?” She asked rubbing her face.

“You told me to wake you up when something interesting happened right?”

“Yeah, and?” she gestured me to continue on. I figured visuals helped more than words. I rolled up the drapes around her cot.

It was foggy outside but the focus of her gaze was clear. The hulking mass of rusted metal next to our mighty Poseidon loomed nearby. Okay, the mighty Poseidon is a bit of an embellishment. The, remarkably still floating, ship hidden in its own little pocket of mist had snuck up on us.

“That’s… pretty interesting.” She finally said; her jaw loose at its hinge. “Is there anyone on it?”

“Doubt it, no life rafts and no lights. We got ourselves a ghost ship.” I said.

“Nopony on board huh.” She said more to herself than anypony. Oh the wheels in her head were a turnin’.

“Salvage?” I offered. She though a couple moments further.

“Salvage” She confirmed. I nodded in return. This boat could have something we need. Medicine, tools, weapons, Casabronco: The Director’s Cut; the possibility was there. All of that said, I’ve seen this movie before. A two hundred year old abandoned ship surrounded by mist appears from nowhere and somepony decides to go treasure hunting? That’s a B-rated horror flick right there. Gotta do this right.

“Okay, since you can’t move that well, I’ll go on board. You and Éclair stay here. You hear something bad, start sailing.” I said my plan. She shook her head.

“No, you take Éclair with you. She’s good at scrounging, and you’ll get done faster with two.” She said. Please let me be paranoid in peace.

“Look, this thing looks like it could fall apart any minute. You want to put your daughter on there?” I put that little tidbit in there for good measure. Her eyes widened a little bit and she glanced at Éclair. Or where she was supposed to be. The Poseidon only had two passengers at the moment.

“You two comin’ or not?” Éclair called to us from the main deck of the rusted hulk. Poseidon protect this child, for she may be the death of me. Or vice versa. Sorbet lurched toward the ship, but then she inhaled sharply. She shouldn’t move like that. She’s liable to open a wound.

“Look calm down, I’ll make sure she’s safe. Yell if you need help.” I tried to reassure her. She nodded, slightly shivering. I really shouldn’t have tried to guilt her into them both staying. I started making my way up the ladder. Whoever designed these things did not have flippers in mind. My telekinesis helped me put weight behind the fins in my tail but by the time I was at the top I breathing heavy.

Éclair stood on top of the fallen remains of a crane. Part of the deck had caved in and brought down the crane. The crane had smashed open a storage container. Smaller brown boxes sprawled out from the wreck. Many of the boxes and their contents were smashed. Éclair was sifting through them.

“Some goodies in here Riptide. Can’t quite tell what though.” She said to me. The scolding I was about to give her had to wait as an unbroken box was tossed to me. It had Equestrian Military markings. I rubbed some of the dust away. M.R.E. Hah, these were soldier’s lunchboxes.

“These are Meals Ready to Eat. I guess these guys were doing some government work.” I answered the filly. Might as well make use of her while she’s here. I’ll spank her later. “Pile up the good ones and we’ll take them with us when were done.”

“Right o’ Boss!” she replied and started carrying a few boxes towards the port side. That’s the left side for those of you that aren’t nautically inclined. I made my way to the cabin towards the back. The door screeched as it opened. My horn glowed. Navy Blue wasn’t the best light for illumination but I could see better than before.

Dust flared up from decades, maybe centuries, of stillness. Immediately before me were stairs going up to what I assumed was the control deck. Stairs down led to the Cargo hold and engine room. Beyond those stairs were two doors. One leading left, the other directly ahead. I walked to the doors. Dust lazily fell as I pushed open both doors. The mess hall and the crew quarters were before me.

There were ten bunks. Five on each wall, most of them were unmade but two were completely bare. A couple of posters were on the wall. Enlist Today! One of them said. Another one was actually a pin up calendar. With mares around artillery with sultry looks or a Rosy Rivets photo. One poster was slightly creepy though. A pink earth pony was staring at me with a huge grin. ‘FOREVER’ was the only word I could make out on it. Tearing my attention away from the posters, I looked for the potential gold mine. Ten Lockboxes were underneath each bunk.

The ones near the unmade beds were empty. Not surprising. They were also the ones without padlocks on them. I took out my club. My horn glowed as I lifted it up. I gritted my teeth as I swung.

“You’ll break it that way.” Éclair said. When the hell did she get here? My club clattered to the ground as my concentration was broken.

“I thought that was the point of me hitting it.” I replied.

“Yeah, you’ll get it open but your club will be busted too.” She moved over to the lockbox, pushing me over. She then brought her mane in front of her face. And pulled out a… Bobby pin? “You got a screwdriver ‘andy?” I sifted through my bags and pulled out the diving knife. She shrugged.

“Eh, That’ll do. Give it here.” She ordered. I nodded and gave it to her.

“Don’t cut yourself.” I warned as she put the bobby pin and the knife into the padlock. She fiddled a little bit, turning the bobby pin. Then she started to turn the lock and CLICK! The padlock came loose from the lockbox. She gave a little curtsey.

“Don’t get cocky now. Let’s see if there’s anything good first.” I said pushing up the lid. Clothes came into view. We started sifting through the stuff. A bag of prewar bits was the first interesting thing we found. Then was book filled with drawings of buildings and ships. And at the bottom of the bin was a thing that made Éclair’s eyes light up. She took it out quickly, giving it the once over. Captain Equestria, Vol. 1 in mint condition.

“There’s no pages missing! This is so awesome!” She started to giggle as she danced in place. She quickly took it and put it in the ‘Take’ pile. I smiled.

“Think you can sort through the rest of these while I check the mess hall?” I asked. She nodded and started on the next box. I walked out the room and into the mess hall. The table in the center was overturned and lots of trash was on the ground. Most likely due to the crane outside falling over. However I wasn’t interested in any of that. I was interested in the first aid kit above the counter. I popped the sucker open. Nothing too good was inside, but useful stuff still. There was gauze, a sewing kit, a few band aids, and most importantly painkillers. They were expired, but an expiration date on medicine only counts if it’s liquid. I emptied the lot into my saddle bags.

The fridge was actually cold, surprisingly. Not much to raid though. I grabbed a few bottles of vodka and Sparkle-Cola and tossed them into my saddlebags. I slid a couple cooking knives into my bags as well. I was the only one with weapons. Which basically means if I’m away, the ladies are defenseless. Given Sorbet’s current state, she’d probably need something more of the shooty persuasion.

I walked back out into the hallway. Éclair had loaded up the ‘take’ pile into two of the lockboxes and was dragging them out towards the pile of MREs. I stepped up the stairs to the control deck. The deck was in disarray. A small section in the corner had a cot with few amenities. Apparently the captain enjoyed a very Spartan existence. A map was pinned on the wall behind the wheel. A slight green glow filled the room. Near the front of the room the glass screen of a terminal was lit. I poked the keys. Words flashed on the screen

]///…… Data corruption due to unauthorized access detected: only recently saved files available….
Enter Password…

Oh crap, okay how did they do this in the movies? Umm.
>c/Registry key log
Processing…
Key Log stores granted…

A huge mess of letters and symbols appeared. Out of the cluster, a few words could be seen. One of these words was the passcode. I tried a couple. And…

Seriously? The password was ‘password’? No wonder they had unauthorized access. I clicked ok. A few files showed up. They were labeled damage report, shipping records, and Captains log. The shipping records told me what these guys were carrying. It wasn’t much, just food and building materials like concrete and rebar.

Wrench just finished figuring out what happened. Engine is crushed. Crane fell through and smashed it after the explosion. Were dead in the water. Short wave is down, can’t raise anyone. The thing is however, Wrench says the explosion didn’t come from the engine. Something blew that cause the crane to crush the engine. And when he was playing with the radio he found cut wire. Something ain’t right.

That’s interesting… Tell me more Captain’s Log.

Log entry #56 Date <#%(*@&#%^>
I have reason to believe that someone on this ship caused the explosion that stopped us dead. Talk amongst the eight of them has turned up reports of tapping noises in the rear cargo hold. I’ll investigate myself. I hope to Celestia whoever did this is a stowaway. If not…

Oooo that’s a good movie plot right there. Wouldn’t mind seeing that back at the theater. Curiosity sated, I pulled the map off the wall and headed back down the main deck. Éclair was waiting at the bottom of the stairs. She cocked her head to the side.

“Nope nothing good. Let’s get downstairs and wrap this up.” I said. She shrugged and began heading down to the cargo hold.

Save for the hole caused by the crane that punctured to the engine room, it was black as pitch. Suddenly A bright light nigh blinded me. I turned to face the peril, only to find that it was Éclair’s Pip-thingy. The new light revealed lots of bags. Bags full of concrete mix. Boring.

We went behind the concrete bags to find I-beams and other such building materials. Nothing we could use. I edged my way past the hole in the floor, the crushed engine rusting in the open air. A small pool of water reflected the daylight back up at us. One door was attached to the wall. With a little effort the door swung open. Then I learned that this boat was never abandoned.

The Bones of eight ponies found their resting place in this room. The tattered remains of the clothes flaked off them in the gentle breeze. I looked at their bodies. There was a hole bored into one of their heads. These ponies died in a firefight. I closed my eyes. The projector started running.

--- --- --- ---

Captain Musket Ball pushed open the rear storage room door. He looked around severely. The First mate was fiddling with something in a box. Tapping against pipes in the wall. He froze and looked at the Captain.

“Captain! You startled me. What are you doing down here?” The first mate asked

“I could ask you the same question dear boy, There has been evidence of foul play. All of it leading to this room, where I find you after hours.”

“You’ll find nothing of the sort here Captain.” The first mate said.

“I hope so. That said, I must have the others detain you. In case you are the culprit and would further seek to sabotage this vessel.” He turned towards the exit.

BANG!

The Captain’s blood leaked out of his forehead as he lay on the ground. The first mate, pistol at the ready walked over to him.

“Don’t worry, I’m already done.” He said coolly. Rushed hoof steps resounded as the rest of the crew burst into the storage room. The visage of the first mate melted away as the zebra infiltrator tossed away his amulet. Gunshots rang out, the first three fell quickly. The other four crewmembers produced rifles and began returning fire. The zebra was perforated with bullets, blood spraying across the wall.

Suddenly the zebra lurched and fired his weapon wildly. The final crewmember fell dead, the door closing behind them.

--- --- --- ---

I gathered the rifles. Standard bolt action 30.06 rifles. Very poor condition though. The actions on each of them were rusted, hell a few wouldn’t even budge, and the ammo itself was unusable in its current state. Strange then was the zebra 9mm pistol being in decent repair. The only problem with the 9mm was that it had no ammo. I turned around to the bones of the crew and bowed my head.

“May Celestia’s light guide you to the afterlife.” I chanted. A snort was heard behind me.

“Ain’t that a nice sentiment?” A rough, smoker’s voice said from behind me. I whipped around. A unicorn with a torn face stood behind me a red tinged glow enveloping a machete. He wore what looked like tires wrapped around his chest. His eyes were yellowed and in a glare. Worse than all of that was, Éclair was nowhere to be found.

“So freak show, you just wandering about huh?” he said advancing toward me. He’s already got his weapon drawn. He’d be on me before I could do anything decent.

“Now what happened to hospitality?” I asked. I went through my assets.

“Shut up, fish stick. Or do I have to smoke you like some salmon.” He smiled, I wish he didn’t. Half his teeth were missing. I didn’t want to, but I started to chuckle.

“What so funny freak show?” he sneered. I knew what I had to do.

“Oh just wondering something.” I mused.

“What’s that?” he was getting angry. Good, this makes it better

“What’s faster?” I whipped the 9mm out and shoved it in his face. “My bullets or your blade.” His eyes widened to dinner plates.

“n-now hold o-” he started.

“Back the fuck up!” I commanded. He stepped back a few.

“n-no problem pal. I ain’t worth a bullet now.” He begged. I kept my gun trained on him.

“Shut up! Keep going!” I said. Had to control the situation.

“Gotcha pal gotcha.” He said, continuing to back up. I kept him on the tips of his hooves.

“Did you see a filly around here?” I asked him. He shook his head. Okay, Éclair alright.

“One last thing.” I ordered. He shook his head up and down.

“Watch your step.” I said. His eyes widened. He looked behind him. He realized he was standing on the edge of the hole the crane made. He looked back at me. Only the distance had been closed. I kicked him into the engine room. No scream. Just a thud sound.

I looked at him. Apiece of rebar found its way through the back of his skull and through his right eye socket. His small intestine was wrapped around a broken piston of the engine. Every odd moment or so, a leg would twitch. I backed away from the hole and nodded. Ow.

I was about to continue on when a small ‘tink’ caught my attention. The unicorn had dropped his machete. My magic wrapped around it as I brought it to my eyes.

“Thanks friend, I think I’ll hold onto this.” I said while putting it into my saddle bags.

“AAAHHHH!” A shrill voice called out. I jerked upward. That was Sorbet! My hooves beat metal as I bolted for the stairs. I burst out onto the main deck. There were four of them. Three earth ponies, One had a rotten top hat on, another had some armor the other (next to Sorbet) had one eye; and a unicorn. They all had knives and machetes. But one of the earth ponies had some bastard of a gun made from a pipe and clock bits. They looked surprised to see me. Sorbet was on the deck, blindfolded and at knife point. Still no sign of Eclair. The pony with the gun must have been their de-facto leader, because he spoke up first and was the most protected.

“The hell kind of toxic muck did you roll in to end up looking like that?” He asked. The rest of them started laughing. Might as well add to the joke.

“Nah, was born this way. The doc said my momma had to stop drinking but noooo” I said. They started laughing some more. A glint of light came from the gun-wielding pony.

“Hah! I like this guy. It’s almost a shame.” He replied.

“How so?” I asked. If tried the gun trick again, he’d just shoot me. Had to think, and the flashing wasn’t helping. It’s distracting enough to figure out its coming from a hatch to the cargo bay.

“See everything on this boat belongs to us now. Since you’re on this boat, so do you.” He said. He gestured to top hatted pony of his crew. He started going towards me, knife drawn.

“Look, you want my stuff? Here, I’ll make it easy for you” I said, pulling a strap on my saddle bags dumping the contents on the deck.

“Nice try, but we’ll do this our way.” The pony heading towards me said. Fine then, we’ll do this your way.

“Fine.” I said, looking up to the sky. Then lurched forward and grabbed the machete in my mouth.

“Think fast!” I screamed. My magic burst behind the kitchen knives I picked up. Like bullets they flew straight into the gun pony. One punctured his throat, the other his eye. I ducked. My ear started to bleed. It got nicked by a knife. The pony was following through his swing. I jammed my machete towards him.

He started gurgling as he drowned in his own blood. A unicorn on the far left launched a knife at me. I shoved the pony I just stabbed into the flying knife.

My spear darted out like a lightning bolt into the chest of the unicorn. Only one remained. The one eyed pony. I glared at him with murder in my eyes. He looked at his fallen comrades. He screamed bringing the knife to Sorbet. I sprinted towards him.

BANG!

Some invisible force had smashed itself into the one eyed pony. I stopped in my tracks. I looked over to source of the sound. Éclair was standing there with a bastard of a gun made from a pipe and clock bits and a smoking barrel. I stood there in raw disbelief.

“Well, that could have been bad.” I stated the obvious. I started to laugh. I was defiantly high on adrenaline. The filly smiled.

“I told yah it helped you aim! Glad you got my plan.” She said.

“What plan?” I smiled back.

--- --- --- ---

It was a good haul. Twelve MRE’s, sixty bits, bandages, pain meds, six knives, a machete, some matches, a 9mm Zebra officer pistol, 9mm pipe rifle, thirty 9mm rounds, 3 30.06 bolt action rifles, a comic book, five blankets, two bottles of vodka, a radio and five bottles of Sparkle Cola.

We were loading the booty on the Poseidon. Busy work. Especially since I had to go down that damn ladder again. But we finished soon. I sighed as I pulled the harness over me. Had to get the boat away from the wreck if we were going to use the sail. I could use a nap. Leaping into the water I heard a thud. The radio fell over and sparked.

“-ow Quiet Now, by Sweetie Bell. Thanks for listening, children! This is DJ Pon3! Telling you the truth, no matter how bad it hurts.”

--- --- --- ---

Level up!
All skills at least 25.
Perk Gained: Heave ho! Thrown Items have 50% more velocity and distance.

Comments

[NeverKnown]

Nice

[Tonto the Trotter]

Excellent chapter, good bit of action, Riptide proves his basassery once again. Looking forward to the next chapter, which I will read right now.

[Nyerguds]

I love how he keeps throwing in these pre-war expressions (medical license, summer vacation) that are SO out of place for a Tribal, but totally justified by the movies he grew up with

"A two hundred year old abandoned ship surrounded by mist appears from nowhere and somepony decides to go treasure hunting? That’s a B-rated horror flick right there. Gotta do this right."

Ahh, gotta love a genre-savvy protagonist
Now, in classic Fallout tradition, he's right, it should be B-horror in there, but since he spelled it out, it's gonna be empty and boring. I'm calling it.

...yup. Called it. Just loot. And comics. Yay comics!

Ohey. And some kind of raiders. Not too clear whether they're ghouls still on the ship, or raiders that made it their home, or just passing pirates, though.

"everything on this boat belongs to us now."

Mkay. The 'now' indicates they only just arrived to claim it. Passing raider-pirate-scavengers it is, then. Not The Horror From The Boat. Movie scenario averted! Man, he's way too good at this.

---

Remarks and corrections! Because, the truth, no matter how bad it hurts
(I'm gonna be less liberal with these, since I already pointed out all the general things. So I'm mostly keeping myself to typos and other such errors. Unless I can't resist, of course )

First of all, space out those separators. They look a lot better with an empty line above and below them, and you seem to just plain forget to do that from time to time. Also, some of them are five blocks of three dashes, and others have some blocks with just two dashes. Make them more consistent. Personally, I just use a simple centered "~ ~ ~" as separator (with some special variety for separating flashbacks, memory orbs, day dreams and other special stuff), but that's your personal choice of course. Just, keep it consistent; it looks neater.

> She’s liable open a wound.
Missing word. "She’s liable [to] open a wound."
> Immediately before me was stairs going up
"were stairs". Stairs being an always-plural word doesn't excuse using it as if it were singular.
> Stairs down lead to the Cargo hold and engine room.
Past tense of "to lead" is "led".
> One leading left the other directly ahead.
comma after "left".
> The table in the center was over turned
"overturned". One word.
> I hope so, That said I must have the others detain you.
Well now. Either you end the first part with a period instead of a comma, or you start with a capital letter, but not both. Personally, I'd advice the first. Also, I'd add a comma after "That said".
> Shut up fish stick.
Comma after "shut up".
> The doc said my momma had to stop drinking but noooo
Comma before the "but noooo". And, as per previously delivered quotation rules, end the whole quote on a comma.
> If tried the gun trick again
Missing word. "If [I] tried the gun trick again"
> See everything on this boat belongs to us now
Comma after "See".
> Look you want my stuff?
Comma after "Look".
> Some Invisible force had smashed itself into the one eyed pony
Errant capital letter on the "Invisible".
> Thanks for listening children!
As mentioned before, separate addressing terms with a comma. In this case, the word "children".

That's all for now! Green LEGO alien, signing off!