Fallout Equestria: The Rangers

by Tytan

Chapter 2: Errands

Chapter 2

Errands

BEEP BEEP CLACK… BEEP CLACK… BEEP BEEP BEEP

Alarm clocks are evil.

“Sweetheart?” a very tired voice from a very tired face buried in a pillow said.

“Yes?”

“I think it’s broken.”

BEEP BEEP BEEP

“You know I think you’re right.”

“Could you fix it please?”

BEEP BEEP SMASH

“Fixed.”

“Works for me.”

It might have been broken, but it still did its job. “Well, I’m up now. How ‘bout you?”

“Can’t talk, sleeping.”

“Of course you are.”

***

Because our Stable was supposedly larger than a lot of others we had more than one restaurant. There were maybe four or five scattered around areas of higher activity, mostly where people worked. I usually frequented the one nearest to my office on the upper levels. Today I decided to take a stroll to The Commissary.

The Commissary was situated closer to the clinic and maintenance offices on the lower levels, and was thus mostly frequented by doctors and techs. It looked a lot like an old timey diner, if that diner were buried under a mountain. There were booths, tables, barstools at the counter, and a kindly old buck with a graying mane manning the grill. It was as closed to a real life cliché as you could get without a laugh track.

After the incident with the clock I made my way down there for some breakfast. Hay bacon and apple fritters; my usual with a coffee chaser. The bacon was crunchy, the apples sweet, and the coffee was creamy and nicely bitter. You couldn’t ask for a nicer breakfast. Lucky for me that coffee didn’t count against meal allowances, so refills were unlimited.

So I sat there for a few hours, sipping my joe and contemplating my severely limited view of the universe. Have you ever had one of those moments where you lose yourself in thought so completely that time loses all meaning, and minutes start to feel like hours or vice versa? I guess I had one of those moments because when I finally noticed my cup was empty the breakfast rush had come and gone. I was almost alone with the exception of Mr. Griddle who was cleaning off plates in his sink.

After considering my lack of beverage I scooted myself out of my nicely warmed spot in a booth and relocated to a stool at the counter. Mr. Griddle was hunched over his sink, but I guess he heard me coming.

He looked over his shoulder and kept scrubbing a plate, “Need anything?”

“Refill would be nice.”

“If you drink anymore your eyes’ll turn brown.”

“How about one more before I go.”

He put down his scrub brush and grabbed the coffee pot. “Alright.” He started pouring, “How’re you doin’? You look like you’ve got the weight of the world on your shoulders.”

“It’s… complicated. You know the Ranger program?”

He stopped pouring my coffee and cocked an eyebrow. “That pre-war thing with the armor? What’s that got to do with anything?”

“No not that. That’s the Steel Ranger program, I think. I’m talking about the thing the council was voting on a few months ago.”

He propped himself up on the counter. “Oh, that thing , where they’re sending ponies outside? Yeah, I heard the bad news the other day. It’s all anypony was talkin’ about.”

“Yeah, that’s the one. Me and some others are next to go out.” I took a sip of my coffee. “Oh, that’s nice.”

“I guess I can understand why you might be a little… cautious about going out. You said others, anypony I’d know?”

“Maybe. Impact Crater?”

“Her? Sure, I know her. Nice filly. Kinda an oddball though, always whispering to her pipbuck.”

“Yeah, she is isn’t she? How about Pin Point?”

“Is she the cop or the plumber?”

“She used to work for security.”

“Yeah I remember her. She broke up a fight in here a while ago, she put a bucks head through one of my table when he took a bite out of her ear; took me forever to clean up the blood.”

“Wow.”

“Yep. It wasn’t even during the fight, apparently some idiot tried was a little sore about getting beaten down by a mare.”

“That definitely sounds like my Pin.” Our little chat was turning into a fun little game. “How about Trauma Bandage?”

That one caught him off guard. “Oh.”

“Oh?” Less fun.

He looked down for a second, like he was considering just saying nothing. “I used to know him pretty well, a lot of ponies that come here did. He’d come in every day, get something to eat, and just talk. Not always with me, but with anypony who would talk back, and even that wasn’t completely necessary. Then one day he didn’t show up at all. He didn’t come back for almost two weeks. When he finally came back he’d clammed up tighter than the Stable door. He only ever opened his mouth to order and eat. Something bad happened to him. You can see it in the way he moves, like his hooves are made of lead, but he just keeps on goin’. He used to be a real happy guy. Must’ve been pretty bad if it got him to stop talkin’.”

I didn’t know how to respond to that. I mean. I knew that something bad had happened, I’m not completely dense, but to hear it like that. It was just, I don’t know, eye opening. And I was shaken. I defaulted to courtesy. “You’ve, uh, really given me a lot to think about. Thank you.” I downed the rest of my cup and passed the cup back. “I’ve gotta go.”

Just as I was almost out the door he stopped me. “Hey!”

I stopped. I briefly considered pretending I didn’t hear him. I turned to face him. His demeanor was considerably less warm than it had been a few minutes ago. “Yes?”

His voice had taken on a harder edge. “He’s like family to a lot of us down here, so if you’re going to take him out there then you have to promise me you’ll talk to him first. I know he hasn’t talked to you alread and judging by your reaction I know that you haven’t thought to.”

“Okay.”

If looks could kill I’d have been a stain on the wall. “Promise me.”

“I promise.” I trotted out the door and let the pneumatics slide it shut. The hall was empty and the artificial sun bulbs were flickering ever so slightly. I just stood there for a while, trying to figure out what I should do. Mr. Griddle was right; if Trauma had a problem then I had to talk to him. If not for the good of the mission, then for his own good.

My train of thought was interrupted by the public address channel flaring to life on my pipbuck. “Ranger Team Blue, please report to General Bullets office immediately.”

My talk with Trauma was going to have to wait until after our meeting with the General.

I made my way up through the levels of the Stable towards the military offices. The Commissary was situated on a lot lower level than my usual place, which meant my walk was considerably longer than usual. By the time I actually got to the Generals office the rest of my team was already there, standing at attention, when I joined them.

The General was wearing the same freshly pressed dress uniform that he’d worn the day before in the atrium and his voice was imposingly deep. “Thank you for joining us,” he said like a fed up teacher.

I seamlessly changed the subject, “What do you need sir?”

He chose his words carefully, so as to not accidentally convey the wrong message. “After yesterday’s events the council convened to vote on whether or not to disband the Ranger Program…”

“But, sir…” Pin interrupted.

The general interrupted her right back, “I wasn’t finished private! As I was saying, we put it to a vote and despite the untimely death of Private Butter Cream we are going to continue according to plan.”

I was mildly surprised, “After yesterday I’m surprised the rest of the council didn’t decide to weld the doors shut and smash the controls.”

“We nearly did. I suggested that we get Red Team in there for their debriefing, to see if it was worth going out or not. Unfortunately, no one seems to be able to find them.”

That I didn’t expect, “It’s a big Stable sir, and if I’d just lost my wife or friend I wouldn’t want to be found either.”

“I can understand that. I can also understand if we couldn’t find one of them, maybe two, but all three?”

He had a point, which worried me, “Perhaps they’re all hiding together.”

“Hmm. Perhaps, but I don’t like it. I want you and your team to do a thorough search of the whole Stable and find them.”

“Sir, I don’t mean to criticize, but you want four ponies to search the entire Stable, by themselves, to find three other ponies who probably don’t want to be found?”

“I’m trying to keep this low key, ponies are already on edge, and the last thing we need is panic. No ponies going to find it odd that you four are walking around together, and if you happen to find your three traumatized friends, then that’s bonus.”

“I understand sir. Permission to speak freely.”

“Go ahead.”

“Sir, this is still going to take forever.”

“Not necessarily. Private Crater!”

Imps mind must have been drifting. She hadn’t expected to be called on and had let her posture slacken, and she had been staring into the ceiling. She immediately snapped back into attention, “Sir!”

“If you needed to disappear for a while, where would you hide?”

“The lower levels. Maintenance is basically a maze, if we didn’t get maps for our pipbucks on our first day we’d have been getting lost constantly.”

“And Water Tank was maintenance prior to enlisting, correct? So he’d know all the good hiding spots?”

“He worked on water filtration and storage, all those pipes and cisterns, lots of nooks and crannies.”

He turned back to me, “Then you’ll start there and work your way up. Any questions.”

“What do we do when we find them?” We all looked at Trauma. His question was probably the most critical.

The general paused for less than a second, “I’ll leave that to your discretion.”

***

The maintenance areas look about how you’d expect them to look. Lots of pipes and ducts hanging from the ceiling, fewer lights than anywhere else, and everything smelled damp. The lights sucked so badly I had to turn on my pipbuck lamp just to see properly. I swear I saw at least three rats down there.

“Would you stop freaking out.” Imp was right behind me. I didn’t know where Pin and Trauma had gone after Imp uploaded the map to our pipbucks and we split up.

I looked over my shoulder and saw her own displeased face lit by her pipbuck, “I’m not freaking out. I just keep nearly hitting my head on all these stupid pipes.”

“Oh the benefits of small stature. Food portions are always big enough, clothes are never too small, and cranial trauma is nigh nonexistent.”

“Yeah yeah. You’re all smiles until you need something of the top shelf. Then you’re all, ‘Help me tall ponies, help me.’ and then all your lack of brain damage is useless.”

“I bet a short pony invented the step ladder.”

I hunched my head lower and continued down the narrow tunnels. A few tunnels converged into a room that I could stand up straight in. “Alright let’s take five.”

“Wuss.”

“Hey. I’m still your CO. I could still punish you or something.”

“Oh, really? How?”

“I could make you do pushups.”

She held her foreleg and waved at me, causing her strength enhancing super suit to whir like a robot.

“I could take away your workshop privileges.”

That got her attention. She narrowed her eyes and nearly hissed at me, “You wouldn’t.”

I smiled back at her, “Calm down, I’m kidding.”

Her eyes widened, “Oh…”

We sat there quietly for a few minutes and rested. There are few thing creepier than a dimly lit maintenance tunnel, which didn’t help when some piece of machinery suddenly gurgled and hissed right behind me. “Sweet merciful Celestia! How did you work down here?”

She just looked at me like I was an idiot. I have to admit she wasn’t far off.

I regained some semblance of composure before asking her a real question, “How much more is there?”

“I don’t know about Pin and Trauma, but we’re pretty much done. We might as well go up to the next level.”

“What’s on the next level?”

“Spark reactors and storage mostly.”

“Mind if we make a stop before we start searching?”

“Why would I care?”

“Right. You lead, I think I’m lost.”

“Can’t you read a map?”

“You call this a map? This think looks like the technical schematics for an artificial cow stomach.”

“Here let me see. Amber! What did I tell you about taking creative license with my files.”

Amber snickered, “Doesn’t it look pretty? And you can still use it!”

“I don’t care, fix it.”

“Fiiine… Done.”

When I looked back down I saw the map was far easier to understand. Instead of looking like some kind of abstract art project it looked like a circular floorplan. “How did you do that?”

Imps pushed her chest out in pride, “I modified my pipbuck to be wireless a while ago. I can broadcast files and other stuff to terminals and pipbuck without having to plug into them.”

“Neat. Why?”

“So I can back up my notes to my terminal.”

“Huh. Can you do anything else?”

Ambers voice started coming from my pipbuck, “This! Wow, it’s nearly empty in here. So roomy!”

“Well, uh, thanks I guess.”

“Yeah, she does that every now and then.”

“Why?”

“Because she can.”

“Huh, well, you lead I’ll follow.”

We both stood up and I followed down the twists and turns of the tunnels. One last turn and we were back at the stairs. Then we were up the stairs and on the next level.

I took a quick look around, “I think I know my way from here, this way.”

The corridors on this level are much nicer compared to the level below. I don’t have to crouch, not even a little, and it’s glorious. And if I remembered correctly it was a right, two lefts, another right, and we’re there. A door just like every other door, with one exception, it has a sign over it that says ‘REACTOR’. I clicked the control and walk through with Imp in tow.

There were three or four ponies milling around, checking readouts, and opening access panels. However, I was only married to one of them. Summer was looking around inside one of the big sparking machines. I snuck up behind her, tip-hoofing and slowing my breath. Ever so slowly I put my hooves over her eyes, “Guess who.”

“Princess Luna and her royal court?”

I spun her around and embraced her, “Not exactly.”

She hugged me right back, “What are you doing down here?”

“Just running some errands for Silver. What are you doing?”

“We’re having some trouble with output, it’s fluctuating like crazy.”

Imp peaked into the machine through the access panel, “Let me take a look.”

Summer looked down at her, “Uh, sure, I guess. Be careful, it’s very sensitive.”

“Don’t worry, I won’t touch anything,” she stuck her pipbuck into the opening and said, “Amber do a scan.”

He pipbuck chimed, “Rodger Dodger!”

Summer and I looked at them for a second then returned our gaze to one another.

“So how much longer are you going to be down here?”

“I can take a break when we figure out what’s wrong. If you can wait, we can get lunch.”

“Sure. Sound okay to you Imp?”

A second later Imps pipbuck chimed, “I don’t think the General will mind if we stop for lunch. How’s it look Amber?”

“I’m detecting an obstruction in the primary capacitor bank.”

Summer was clearly surprised, “Woah, where can I get one of those?”

Imp looked up from her pipbuck, “You already do. Pipbucks are capable of a lot more than we realize. Amber just taps into that potential.”

“Can I ask her a question?”

“Sure.”

“Okay, um, Amber? What kind of obstruction?”

There was a soft hum and Amber spoke again, “Unknown, but it appears to be metallic.”

Summer was wistful for a moment, “That is so cool. Well the access for the capacitors is right over here.” She moved around the giant machine to another panel.

She floated the access panel out of the way. Her horn glowed and illuminated the interior, “I think I see something. What is that?”

BEEP

For a moment I thought I recognized that sound.

BEEP BEEP

Then I realized that I did recognize it. I’d heard it only once before during a weapons demonstration years ago.

BEEP BEEP BEEP

I tackled Summer out of the way and screamed to everyone else, “GET DOWN!”

BOOM

***

Level Up

New Perk: Filly Killer – You have a way with the fillies. You now have unique dialogue options when dealing with the fairer sex. And, just in case, you now do 10% more damage to mares.

Speech – 25

Explosives - 25

Comments

[stringtheory]

not a bad start, I didn't spot any spelling or grammar errors
you do know that a pipbuck can track another pipbuck through its tag, right? so the whole 'you need to search for the missing members' is kinda redundant because someone could just put in their pipbuck tag and their location would show right up
otherwise a pretty good story so far

[Starlight_Tinker]

Welcome to the FoE sidefic herd

[Tytan]

1093387

It is entirely possible that they didn't think of using tags. I'm already planning on addressing it later.

Also, thanks. You have no idea how many times I read it through looking for typos.

[stringtheory]

1093630 oh, and ignore the random down votes, there are some trolls/haters on here who down vote every FO:E story just because they can

[Deathpony]

good I dare say really good