Fallout Equestria: Heartless

by dmgd_mind

Chapter 13: Warmth

Chapter 13: Warmth

“Well, we’re almost there,” Crash stated as he waved his hoof at the barren hills around us. After we had resupplied at the Ponyville ruins the rest of the week had passed uneventfully. Yesterday we had reached the steppes near where Headcrash had claimed Gorge was located. “If I remember right that hill over there, the one with the big ass boulder, was about a mile out from Gorge. I used to hang out there sometimes.” Crash pointed towards a hill with a rather large boulder on it.

The green unicorn moved forward, leading the group towards the hidden settlement. We kept walking for about ten minutes when I slowly became aware of something watching us. I cautiously looked around, attempting to spot what was causing the feeling of discomfort, but I could not find it.

Suddenly, Headcrash came to a halt, causing the rest of us to bunch up behind him in surprise at the sudden stop. “Hey, Trigger, I can tell you’re watching us,” he shouted into the air. His voice echoed around the hills.

“No movements,” a deep, gruff voice ordered from behind us a hooffull of seconds later.

This is what happens when you let emotions get in the way. You fuck up. Emotions didn’t have anything to do with this.

We obeyed the order and waited. A few moments later a pony wearing the armor of the Steel Rangers strode into view. A pair of light machineguns was pointed at us from his battle-saddle. His gaze drifted over us cautiously, determining how much of a threat we were. He stopped in what seemed to be surprise as his gaze fell on Crash. “Headcrash?! Is that you?! What the fuck!” the armored pony exclaimed.

Crash kicked at the dirt in front of him nervously. “Yeah, it’s me Trigger,” He returned.

“What are you doing back here?” Trigger continued with a little less enthusiasm. “Last time we saw you, you were just a blank flank colt without his cutey mark claiming he was going to make his fortune in the wastes. How the actual fuck are you still alive?”

“Well, um, everything was okay for a while. It turns out I’m pretty damn good with computers so I did odd jobs with that for a while at New Appleloosa. But then I got bored again and left and got captured by some fucking slavers and then I was at Laketown until I got rescued by him,” he rambled, finishing his explanation by pointing at me.

Trigger cocked his head to the side and looked at me. I hadn’t worn my skull mask in a while so I looked like a normal wastelander, minus the massive rifle strapped to my back. “Why did you come back,” he began, before taking note of how close River was standing to Crash. “Oh, nevermind. Didn’t think you were one to settle down. Damn were you an energetic colt.”

Crash blushed and rubbed the back of his head. “Yeah, well, everypony has to grow up eventually, right? Can we go into Gorge?”

“You trust these ponies you brought?” Trigger asked, his voice quickly changing to a serious tone.

“Yeah, yeah I do.” Crash answered honestly.

“Alright, fine. You can go in. But if any of you prove a danger to the town I’m going to tear you to pieces, you got that?” Trigger asked, turning to us.

Canter swallowed nervously as River and I nodded.

“Good,” Trigger stated, “I’ve got to get back to my patrol so Crash’ll have to take you the rest of the way.” He began walking away, somehow moving silently in his massive suit of armor. “Oh, and one other thing,” he called over his shoulder, “welcome to Gorge.”

We all watched him disappear over the top of a hill, and then turned to Crash. River held up her board.

Make your fortune in the wastes?

“Yeah, well, I was pretty damn sheltered growing up here so I didn’t really know what it was like in the wastes. And then when I did find out what it was like I didn’t want it to seem like I couldn’t handle myself so I didn’t come back. Come on, it’s really close.” He turned and began walking.

River snorted a laugh and followed, Canter and I close behind.

“Oh, and I don’t think any of you really would, but don’t mess with Trigger.” Crash called back.

---

Scarcely fifteen minutes later we crested a ridge and below us was Gorge. It was built in and around a deep depression. Around sixteen shacks dotted the area, and most of them had a small field with sickly looking plants growing next to it. A large well sat in the settlement’s center. Ponies milled about, some working the fields, some going about other daily tasks, and some just lounging and talking with each other.

As we began to make our way down the small dirt path leading into the area more and more of the inhabitants took notice of us. They stopped what they were doing and whispered nervously amongst themselves and for a brief moment I thought they had recognized me, but Crash quickly allayed my fears.

“Visitors have always been pretty rare so you’ll need to get used to ponies staring,” he stated casually, “They should get used to us after a while.”

We made it to the edge of town were the ponies had gathered, murmuring quietly to each other. They had blocked our way, although I could not tell if it was intentional or not. Crash stepped forward and cleared his throat. “Hey, uh, hello everypony. I don’t know if you remember me or not-”

He was abruptly cut off by a powder blue earth stallion around his age. “Hey, it’s Crash!”

An eruption of realization blew through the crowd as they realized that the stallion was correct. Crash blushed again and pawed at the ground in embarrassment. I found it entertaining seeing my friend this uncomfortable and a slight grin found its way to my lips.

“What happened to finding your fortune?” the stallion asked over the noise, not quite mockingly.

“Well I, uh, I found somepony to um, settle down with.” Crash answered, his embarrassment growing.

“Why is she hiding,” the stallion moved forward, now openly mocking Crash.

“Shut up and leave her alone Frostbite,” Crash retorted.

“Heh, you sure ‘she’s’ not your little buck lovetoy?” Frostbite continued. Most of the crowd had backed off by this point, leaving four other stallions close to Frostbite’s age at his back. They let out a few snickers at their leader’s insult. I got the sense that Crash and this Frostbite had an unfriendly past.

“I said fuck off,” Crash growled, stepping up to the stallion in front of him and getting very close. The blue pony was a good deal larger than Crash. River moved up to Crash and put her hoof on his shoulder, shaking her head.

That was when Frostbite made one of the biggest mistakes in his life. “Hah, listen to your slave you pussy, back off and we won’t hurt you.”

At the word slave River let out a sound somewhere in between a hiss and a growl. Before Frostbite could say anything else Crash threw himself at the blue stallion, roaring in anger and beating his hooves against his body.

Frostbite’s friends moved to help him out and River and I moved in between them and their leader. “Back off,” I growled at the younger stallions. Two of them charged at me while another smirked and threw a kick at River. The last moved back into the crowd with a nervous expression on his face.

Civilian targets, remember to pull punches.

I ducked the first one and met the second head on, using my superior abilities in hoof to hoof fighting to turn his weight against him and drive him into the ground with a thud. He groaned and didn’t attempt to get up. I grimaced as the first pony drove a kick into my side. I could taste blood and was pretty sure I had a bruised rib. I spun and faced him, narrowly ducking another kick. I dodged a few more attacks and then drove my right forehoof into his jaw with enough force to crack the bone. He collapsed with a gargle.

I turned to see if River needed any help only to see her standing over a badly bruised stallion cowering with his head between his forelegs.

“You fucking piece of shit!” Crash shouted behind me, followed by a heavy thud and a yelp of pain. I twisted around and was a little surprised to see him on top of a whimpering and bloody Frostbite, throwing punch after punch into his face. He raised one hoof above his head. “Don’t you ever fucking call her that again!” He brought the hoof down hard, impacting the blue pony’s head with an audible crack. The crowd around us groaned sympathetically.

Crash got off of Frostbite and brushed himself off, still fuming. “Fuck you,” he spat as he kicked the unconscious pony once more for good measure.

“Took you long enough Crash,” a mare in the back of the crowd stated, before the gathered ponies erupted into a series of cheers and ‘welcome home’. The group surrounded us and began to push towards a large building in the center of town. The word BAR was on a sign above it in all capital letters. I grimaced a few times as my side was jostled.

As soon as we got inside the building jaunty music began to play and the ponies all began moving about cheerfully. Liquor and alcohol was produced from behind the counter and soon everypony was drinking happily.

“Hey, hey Crash,” an older slate colored unicorn slurred as he lifted a tankard to his lips with magic. “Tell us about what happened to ya.”

His request was immediately met with a chorus of agreements and cheers. “Come on Crash,” a filly near to where we were sitting begged, her eyes wide and pleading.

“Alright, alright,” Crash began as he stood up on our table so the crowd could see him.
“Well, after I left here I found my way to New Appleloosa…”

We spent the rest of the night surrounded by the friendliest, happiest ponies I had ever met. Canter couldn’t stop smiling and I could have sworn I had even seen Riverbed grin under her hood.

It felt like a home.

---

Days passed into weeks and weeks passed into months. There had been one unoccupied house in town so Canter, Crash, River, and I had settled in. At first, living together was uncomfortable, but the house was big enough that there was a modicum of privacy. After the first time Crash and River walked in on Canter and I making love we decided it would be best if we had scheduled times where one of the pairs was out of the house for a time. After that, awkward incidences died down, although Crash kept ribbing me for how much cuddling had been involved.

A kindly old stallion and his wife had shown us all how to take care of our garden. Crash, but especially River took to it well. Within weeks the small pegasus had a number of lively green plant shots popping up out of the ground. Canter’s kind and gentle spirit quickly won her the love of the settlement’s foals. Soon she was taking care of the young fillies and colts on a daily basis, tending to the rambunctious youngsters while their parents worked. I found use aiding Trigger in defending the town, and he slowly grew to be another pony I considered a friend.

Thankfully Frostbite, the pony that had given us trouble when we first showed up, left us alone after that point. It turns out he and his friends had always given Crash trouble when he was a colt, and for some reason they hadn’t changed at all in the ten years Crash had been gone. In fact, they barely acknowledged each other’s existence most of the time now.

“You know, no matter how slow this place is it really is peaceful,” Crash stated as we sat around our kitchen table.

I laughed and agreed. In the past months I had begun to talk more and more. The voices in my head had almost completely faded; I went weeks at a time without hearing from them.

We finished our meal with more small talk, and after about an hour Riverbed and Headcrash left to hit the bar. It was our turn to have the house to ourselves. Canter turned and smiled at me, kissing me softly before taking my hoof and leading me to our bedroom. I grinned as I watched her flanks swing side to side while she walked. She had gone from the malnourished captive to something bordering on pudgy, although she managed to wear it in a good way.

She sighed contentedly and flopped down onto the bed and snuggled into a pillow. I laid down next to her and put my foreleg over her, stroking her stomach absentmindedly. I slowed the motion and felt over a peculiar bump. “Canter, are you….?” I began, a mix of worry and hope in my voice.

She sniffed as a couple happy tears came to her eyes. “Remember when I was in heat last month and we, um…?” she asked. I nodded in response. “I think I’m pregnant.”

The world spun around me as I took my mare in my arms and kissed her long and hard. She was a little surprised at first but soon returned the affection with an equally strong kiss. She nipped at my lip as we pulled away.

“Canter,” I whispered hoarsely to her, my voice stolen by the power of the emotions currently running through me, “this is wonderful.”

She grinned and laughed nervously, “are…are you sure we can do it? Can we raise a foal?”

“I know we can,” I replied, “you are great with foals. Plus, I’m sure River and Crash would help us if we really needed it, but I’m sure we’ll be just fine.”

She smiled and pulled me close as I turned out the room’s lights, our bodies entwining in the darkness.

Comments

[FudgeFiend]

'try to use the word "I" a bit less in future.'

This, very much this.

Give a me some time to get round to reading it properly and I can give you better crit.

[dmgd_mind]

ha, thanks! I just now got back into writing it thanks to encouragement from my brony MWO clan, so all that stuff I just uploaded was written in the last few weeks.

Sorry about the wait.

[dmgd_mind]

Yep. I'm part of the EQRG.

They're some pretty good guys. Encouraging and nice.

If you want, their web address is this

[dmgd_mind]

Well Regs your comment isn't seeming to show up for me for some reason anymore, nor is the response I wrote to it, but your idea was very good and I went with it. Thank you.

[dmgd_mind]

I have absolutely no drive to write right now. Objectively I want to, but since I write for my own pleasure I can't just crap out a story for all of you. Hopefully I'll get the itch in a month or so, but I can not in good faith give any sort of a time zone. Sorry

I feel really bad about not feeling up to writing more right now.

[dmgd_mind]

2274073

Whoa, holy shit, I thought this fic had died. Yeah, there are definitely problems with it but I can't see myself fixing them any time soon. I can't really deal with existentially depressing FoE stuff anymore, and honestly it all seems kinda like crap to me. Ever see that South Park episode where Stan starts seeing everything as crap? Yeah, that.

Anyway, thanks for giving it a read though, and thanks for commenting .

[Coconut of Doom]

story looks dead comment-wise, but I look forward to reading the story.

[AlmanacP]

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

[treegrowth]

This was a good story, although, It feels unfinished at the end.
It's making me think that a sequel is coming up, though if this isn't your plan that I suppose this is acceptable.