Fallout Equestria: Black Cat

by Rixizu

Chapter 19

“Fire!” Break screamed at the top of her lungs. “Fire!”

If the gunfire didn’t cause ponies to panic, the sight of an open and spreading fire certainly did. It was pandemonium. Ponies fought to get out of the front door. Some tried to put the fire out, but the old building proved to be too flammable. Break thanked Celestia the fire alarm still worked and its ear-splitting blare traveled throughout the building. Many of the guard ponies sent to kill Break ran to safety instead of completing their mission to kill her. Some tried to fire at her, but the spread of the fire kicked their self-preservation instincts and they realized it wasn’t worth it and fled instead.

One guard, a yellow unicorn with a grey mane with a white streak through it, worked to make sure that everypony fled to safety. He directed ponies in a voice that pierced the fire alarm and directed them to a safe exit. His calming presence helped ease down the panic and more ponies were leaving in an orderly manner. Break guessed that he might be one the head guards. He had the aura of a pony used to being in charge.

Break felt guilty about what happened. She didn’t mean for this to happen, and now some innocent ponies might not get out in time and die from either the fire or smoke inhalation. She wanted to help, but with her legs like this what could she do? A part of her wanted to rush upstairs and help ponies and get them out, but the smoke level was already becoming unpleasant and it constricted her lungs. As much as she hated it, her only course of action was to flee.

Break considering just flying through the front door, but that didn't seem like a wise choice. Stones guards were out there, and the last thing she wanted was a firefight in a crowd powers or not. She pulled up a mental map in her head and found the door that led to the fire escape she planned to escape from earlier. She couldn’t use her ghost for it would take too long, so she used her gravity powers to fling herself towards the door. Break grunted in pain as she impacted the door with her shoulder. She didn’t stop the flow of gravity soon enough.

Break hissed and pushed the door open with a hoof. She looked back at the progress of the fire, it covered almost the entire room now. The smoke was getting worse. It made her eyes sting. Break flung herself across the hallway and skidded to a stop a few hooves away from the entrance to the next hallway. She hissed from the impact rubbing the fur that hit the carpet wincing from the carpet burn. She used her power to walk the rest of the way into the next hallway. Break’s heart leaped with joy as she saw the fire escape she was looking for.

Another awkward attempt to throw herself close her objective later, Break pushed herself towards the door and push the door open and froze at the sight behind the door. There were several Stones thugs lounging about waiting for something. They popped up as soon as they spotted Break.

“We found her!” One guard yelled. “She’s over here!”

“Get her!” A voice that Break recognized as Tact Coat yelled from a distance. “Everypony converge on that exit. Don’t let her escape!”

“Oh crap!” Break cursed. Tact Coat must have spread guards at each exit so she wouldn’t escape. The guards fired on her and Break used her ghost to block the bullets.

Break growled in frustration as more guards came towards her and fired at her. She was helpless without her power to move around and stuck there unless she did something. Break changed gravity and tossed herself out of the doorway and back into the casino. She coughed for the smoke was getting worse.

“Get the minigun!” Tact Coat yelled. “Bring the whole building down on her if you have to!”

“You have got to be kidding me!” Break screamed when gunfire almost ripped her to shreds as the Stones fired through the walls. She pushed herself away in time down the next hall, and it tore through the walls easily. There almost wasn’t enough time to deflect the high-speed bullets. Break coughed unable to stop the smoke from entering her lungs. The Stones fired at her with full force now filling almost her entire line of sight with bullets.

Break saw her only hope was to find another exit on the other side or make one herself. She pushed herself down another corridor blocking any bullets coming her way. She used her PipBuck to navigate the maze of hallways. Constantly crashing into walls or floors was painful, but escape was the only thing that mattered to her right now. She saw another fire escape coming up, but Eyes Foward Sparkle showed several red dots near it.

Break winced. Of course, they would run for this fire escape. It was the nearest one. No doubt they would fire on sight the minute she opened the door. This wasn’t working. She needed to escape from somewhere they weren’t looking. She didn’t have much time, and the place didn’t seem to have much life left to it. This building was large so they can’t guard every side, or at least not with a lot of them. She needed a side that wasn’t defended too well, then she could just punch a hole through the wall and fly to safety. If only she had her legs, this would be so much easier.

Break pondered if she should fly to the other side of the building, but she didn't know how long that would take. She saw on her PipBuck that the stairs were nearby, and she could go upstairs and do the unexpected by fly above them unless they knew about her gravity powers. Break growled in frustration and rubbed her hair. There were so many unknowns. She had to stop second-guessing herself. She should just stick with one plan and work through whatever problems show up during it. After some thirty seconds of thought, she went with the other side plan.

There was an audible crack as she used her ghost’s legs to cushion the landing and they smashed right through the wall this time and her face impacted the wall causing a jolt of pain. The last few attempts made her realize that she didn’t have as much control over power as she liked. She tried to fling herself than thrust gravity in the other direction to slow herself down, but that only caused bursts of pain from the sudden jolt. She found that she could make herself float if she changed the flow of gravity up and down constantly, but that didn’t prove to be much of a help at the moment.

It was a relief to learn she could use her ghost as she landed softening the blow. It made moving around easier and almost painless, but she still crashed into walls despite her best efforts. The worst part is that she had to rush like this. The fire was easy enough to avoid being able to fly above or around it with ease, but the smoke was a real problem. It was getting almost intolerable now and she was afraid of smoke inhalation. She used her coat to help block out the smoke. There were audible creaks throughout the building. She just knew there wasn’t much time left. Break cried out in triumph as she saw that she was near the back end of the building and there were only two red dots nearby. All she needed do was punch through the wall in front of her and she was home free.

Break winced again as the building creaked again. She was about to punch the wall at full force then thought better of it out of a lingering fear of bringing the building down on herself. With a few punches of her ghost, she was through the wall. It appeared to be a concert hall. Break was sure that it would have been quite spectacular in its heyday. Despite being on fire, there were signs of it once being lavishly decorated and she could imagine it being ornamented with flowers of various colors and shapes. The stage stood in the back standing tall its stage and curtains covered in flames.

Break eyed the flames in front of her with unease. It was much higher than she thought it would be. There wasn’t a safe spot in the whole room. She yelped in front as she heard a loud crashing sound behind her. The building was, for sure, falling to pieces now. Break thought she didn’t have much choice, but go through this terrible room. If she lingered, it would mean death and she didn’t have the time needed to find a safer room to go through.

“I really hate my life sometimes.” Break said as she prepared herself.

She knew she could fly over the flames, but that would mean going through the thick smoke impossible to see through at all and the heat of the room was oppressive and the smoke was almost too thick to see through. Another crashing sound behind her pushed her forward. Break screamed curses at the top of her lungs, held her breath, and pushed herself into the air with her power into the smoke.

Break eyes watered as she went through the smoke which turned out to be more oppressive than she expected. It already felt like it was choking her. Despite this, she held on and held her breath. She did not want to breathe in what was around her. She feared that she already damaged her lungs from the smoke and didn’t want to make it worse. It seemed like an eternity, but it was most likely only a few seconds when her ghost’s front hooves impacted the back wall. Not wanting to waste time, she punched through the wall and it gave in with little resistance and she pushed herself full force outside as the wall succumbed to her attacks not wanting to waste a second.

Break laughed as she breathed the fresh air around her. Not for the first time she actually felt happy to see the deadened gray sky with its oppressive cloud cover. It was odd considering she saw it earlier today, but she felt electrified at the moment happy to be alive. A fit of coughing interrupted her revelry reminding her that she needed a doctor right now.

Break heard cries of surprise as she flew through the air. She wasn't surprised to hear yells of "Get her!" and "Shoot her down!", but Break was moving too fast for them to do anything flying in between buildings making following her difficult. Break stopped and pushed herself high into the air. Higher than she thought safe, but it gave her a good view of the town. She reversed gravity back and both hoovering her in the air at the moment even if it felt jerky with constant changing of up and down. She needed to find Scavenger and prayed that he would be outdoors at the moment. Everypony seemed like a small dot from this distance, but she recognized coat colors well enough.

"Found him!" Break cried out with glee. She almost broke out into tears with how happy she was at the moment. She coughed again but was too happy to care at the moment. He was in a crowd of ponies watching the fire. No doubt he had a concerned look on his face. The building in question was emitting large clouds of smoke. Then in a blink of an eye, the right part of the casino collapsed into itself. Dust and smoke exploded everywhere making the crowd choke and cough. The rest of the casino didn’t last much longer before it also fell to pieces.

Break wasn’t sure how she felt about this. The Stones tried to kill her, but this casino was the lifeblood of the town and brought in ponies from all over the wasteland. The Stones might be able start up a new one, but it wouldn’t have the old-world charm and décor of the last one. Without it, she doubted the town would have much life after it. Sure, it would still be a settlement, but it won’t have the trade and power it had before. The Stones were most likely doomed to extinction and the Cosas would take over the town.

How in Equestria did it ever come to this? Break asked herself and not for the first time. Can’t change anything now. Maybe it’s better this way? The Stones seemed keen on starting a gang war with the Cosas. I just don’t know. I better just leave. The faster, the better.

“How do I get down exactly?” Break wondered.

She knew she got carried away pushing herself up to this height and wasn't sure if she could get herself down in any safe way. She spotted a nearby roof and flew towards it. It seemed like the best spot for a landing. She made herself drop a few hooves and made a sudden stop in repetition until she landed on the roof with a thud. She did not enjoy that one bit.

Break made a sigh of relief. She should really be more careful about how high she flies. Getting down is a pain. It isn’t like she can just freefall and suddenly stop herself. That would turn her body to jelly.

Break looked around and found that, while the building didn't have stairs that led down, it had a hole in the roof that was usable. The next floor appeared abandoned, so she lowered herself down with care with her ghost doing her best to avoid further injuring her back legs. This appeared to be an office building for some time. She did a cursory glance for anything useful. Nothing of note was noticeable since it was just your typical office building after all except a poster on a wall caught her eye. It showed a heroic Steel Ranger surrounded by evil-looking zebras menacing him. The words “Better Wiped Than Striped! Join the Steel Rangers Today!” were written in bold letters.

I am sure glad I live in a post-apocalyptic world where every day is a struggle to survive! That's so much better than being ruled by zebras! Break thought sourly. She glared at the poster blaming it for all her and her world’s troubles. If it wasn’t for that stupid war.... She had the sudden urge to tear it down out of spite. It was an urge she wasn’t able to resist, and the poster was soon torn to pieces. Sure, it was a petty act she had to admit, but considering Break’s day, she deserved the right to vent a little.

She focused back on the task at hoof, she found a staircase nearby and used it to get to the bottom floor. Most of the bottom floor was in tatters and many of the walls had huge holes in them. From the staircase, a group of onlookers was visible and she found Scavenger with no difficulty. He was near the back of the crowd and had a nervous and worried expression on his face. Break crept to an alley behind Scavenger. Nopony paid her much notice distracted by the fire and devastation of the casino.

“Psst!” Break hissed to get his attention from an alley. “Scavenger.”

Scavenger looked around and almost jumped when he noticed Break. He ran to her scooped her up into a hug.

“Break!” Scavenger cried out. “W-where have you b-been? W-what h-happened?”

He looked Break over and cried out in alarm when he saw her new leg and injuries. “What the hay happened to you?!” His mouth dropped agape in complete disbelief.

“It’s a long story.” Break sighed and coughed. She breathed in and out trying to get as much fresh air as she could. “We need to get out of here! The Stones want me dead, and they aren’t too happy about what happened to their casino. It’s best we leave town, then find a doctor to patch me up. Don’t argue.”

Scavenger opened his mouth, then closed it seeing the logic in her words.

“Put me on your back.” Break said. “I can’t really walk on my own. The general confusion should give us the perfect opportunity to leave town.”

Again, Scavenger had questions, but he nodded and picked her up upon his back. He was a bit lanky, but he had enough strength to carry Break with little difficulty.

Scavenger kept to the shadows and stayed out of sight as much as possible. He kept focused on his task, but he gave Break quick glances sometimes. He stared at her new white leg not really believing it was there. She could understand the feeling. It seemed like almost a dream sometimes that it even exists.

Break grunted in frustration when they got to one of the gates. It was more well-guarded than she expected. Tact Coat must have predicted this and sent her guards the minute she escaped from the casino. It scared Break a bit just how single-minded that mare was about killing her.

“W-what n-n-now?” Scavenger asked eying the guards nervously. “T-there a-are a-a-a-at l-least t-t-ten o-of t-them.”

Break thought about it. Maybe she could fight past them, but the guards were heavily armed and one had a flamethrower.

“Hey!” A pony said yelling at one guard. “I want out of here! What gives? None of these thugs are letting me through! I thought anypony could leave when they wanted!” Some other ponies yelled in agreement.

“Tact Coat’s orders.” The guard replied bored. “Nopony leaves this place until the boss says otherwise.”

“And when will that be?”

The guard shrugged and looked forward. She made sure that her weapon was visible and made it clear it was ready for use. The ponies gathered grumbled, but when one guard pointed a gun at them, the crowd got the hint and left.

“W-w-w-hat n-now?” Scavenger asked. He took her to a secluded alley with nopony about to bother them.

Break didn’t know. They would search the entire town for her not resting until they killed her. Break slapped herself. Why didn’t she think of this sooner? She could just lift herself and Scavenger in the air and over the barrier. Simple.

“Don’t be alarmed.” Break said. “I have an idea.”

“What?”

Break used her powers to change the gravity up. Her body itself was being pulled up, but otherwise didn’t move in the direction she desired which puzzled her. Scavenger stared at her confused since her mane was pointing up which made no sense to him. Break let go of her passenger and sure enough, she traveled up as expected. Break turned the gravity to normal.

“W-what t-t-the h-hay w-was t-t-that?” Scavenger asked startled.

Come on. Break groaned. Don’t tell me I can only use my power on myself! Or maybe I am just too heavy with another pony? Either way, I can’t escape with him in toll. At least I found this out now instead of later.

“Okay, this might sound really strange, but I have gravity powers now.” Break said not sure how else to say it.

“What?” Scavenger said flummoxed. “T-that’s i-i-i-i-i-impossible!”

“I know, but it’s true.” Break sighed. “It’s part of the reason I have this white leg now.”

Scavenger looked lost for words at the moment. “F-fine. Y-you h-have a l-lot of e-explaining t-to do.”

Break let out a small chuckle that was interrupted by a fit of coughing. “That’s for sure.”

“ W-what now?” Scavenger asked. He looked terrified now. Not surprising considering their situation.

“I guess we will just have to hide out for now.” Break said after a moment of thought. “They can’t keep up this constant guard forever.”

I can at least get my legs back to normal for now and find out if I hurt my lungs. There might also be a chance to break through the wall surrounding the town, but she didn’t want to attempt that right now. She just wanted to sleep right now.

“Hey!” A voice whispered, and they both stood to attention. Break relaxed when she saw who it was.

“Who are you?!” Scavenger challenged. He could be tough when the situation demanded it.

“It’s okay.” Break said easing Scavenger’s fears. It was the pony with the accent. "Um…" This introduction was bit awkward without knowing his name.

“Boomerang Jack miss.” He did a bow. “I saw you coming this way and decided to help.” There was another pony with him. She was a unicorn mare with a yellow coat with an orange mane and pink streak through it. Break identified her as one of the slaves she rescued.

“Um.” Break said unsure of the presence of this unknown pony was a good thing.

“Don’t worry, lass. “Boomerang Jack gave a charming smile. “Brights Brightly promises not to bite.”

“Okay.” Break said after a moment deciding to go with it. She turned away to cough.

“Let’s go.” Boomerang Jack said turning to leave. “This place ain’t safe. I got a perfect place to hide ya until we patch you up. Seems the fire might have hurt you. Escape can wait.”

“I have a relative we can hide out at. “Brights Brightly said sheepishly. “He owns a bar across town. He’s no friend of the Stones.”

Scavenger looked towards Break for confirmation and she nodded. It was a good of a plan as any.

“Good good.” Boomerang Jack said smiling. “No time to dawdle let’s get moving.”

The bar they ended up at was called the Silver Stone Bar. The building it used to be before the war was a clinic. The name of the clinic was painted over in red text with the new name. The building was in decent shape and any damage to the building was either fixed or minimized. They entered through the back door and Break was sure nopony saw them enter. It was a tiny storeroom with shelves full of alcohol and foodstuff.

“Silver Stone, I’m back!” Brights yelled and an elderly stallion with a grey mane and a dark gray coat entered to greet them.

“Now what is going on here Brights?” Silver Stone asked with an inquisitive eyebrow raise.

"It's a bit of a long story." Brights said. "This is the hero of Foalsom Prison and she needs medical attention."

Break sighed. “I have a name. It’s Break Point.” For some reason, nopony ever felt inclined to learn her actual name.

“Right, Break Point.” Brights nodded.

“Bring her over here and I will have a look at her.” Silver Stone said. “I’m not a doctor, but I have a nice cache of healing supplies.”

“My injuries are minor.” Break said and a fit of coughing interrupted her mid-sentence. Scavenger found a chair and set her on it. “Just a stab wound and gunshot to my back legs with a few bruises. I also breathed in some smoke and it worries me a little.”

“Oh, no problem then.” Silver Stone brightened. “Removing bullets isn’t too hard. A healing potion should help with any smoke damage you might have gotten. You should be right as rain.”

“And, um, she might be sorta wanted by the Stones for burning down their casino and they are not too happy about it and want her dead!” Brights said all in one breath.

Silver Stone just smirked. “Those filthy slavers got what they deserved then.” He walked towards a back shelf and scavenged through it.

“Don’t worry Break, I will look out for you.” Silver Stone promised. “I’m grateful for what you did. Those bastards killed my daughter and cause my wife to die of heartbreak.”

Break’s ears flattened. “I’m sorry to hear that.”

“Nice of you to say.” Silver Stone said. “Glad somepony feels that way. Ah, here it is.”

“So, Break, what is the thing about the whole magic ghost thing?” Brights asked. “That is just weird.”

Scavenger gave her a confused look. “D-do you m-mean the g-g-gravity p-powers?”

“Right, that!” Brights confirmed.

“What now?” Silver Stone pulled out a med pack.

“Yes, why do you have those powers?” Boomerang asked. “They aren’t something you would think an earth pony would have.”

Break sighed. “Okay, I swear all this is true, even if it sounds nuts.” Break began her story as Silver Stone began work on her. He removed her makeshift bandages and examined her wounds with a critical eye. The stallion seemed to know what he was doing.

Break was not surprised by the incredulous looks given to her during the tale. She waved her white leg to prove that at least the part about the white stallion giving her his leg was true.

After giving the full story, Scavenger spoke up. “B-Break, o-only y-you c-c-could e-ever h-have s-s-something like t-t-this h-h-happen to y-you.”

“I know.” Break said in a solemn tone. The story of her life.

“That is some tale.” Silver Stone said. It sounded like he didn’t believe even a little.

“You truly are a special filly. “Boomerang said in wonder. “No wonder Milo couldn’t kill you.” Brights just looked at Break with wide eyes and admiration.

“S-seriously, I-I leave y-you for one m-minute and t-that h-happens to y-you!” Scavenger exclaimed.

“At least we have a clue on where Green Mile might be.” Break said and scowled. “I think she might be in bad company.”

“I-I w-was a-afraid of t-this.” Scavenger said sighing. “G-Greens is a f-forceful p-pony.”

Break’s worry for her cousin was palpable. She had to hurry and find Green Mile before she did something bad. Break had a bad feeling.

“What is your power called?” Brights asked eyes sparkling.

“Excuse me?” Break was too lost in her thoughts to hear a word of that. She winced in pain as Silver Stone removed a bullet from her leg with some tweezers and wrapped the leg with a new bandage. He gave her a healing potion, and she drank it in one swig. The potion seemed to improve her breathing and her coughing stopped. Some strength returned to her legs, but they were far from healed. Some sleep and another healing potion would work wonders to return her to normal. Sleep sounded so good right now.

“Your ghost.” Brights clarified. “What is its name?”

“I haven’t really thought to give it one.” Break admitted. Sure, it had a face and a body, but it didn’t have a life or consciousness so she didn’t see the need to give a name.

“Come on!” Brights challenged. “Everything has to have a name!”

“Well.” Break thought about it. She guessed she might as well give it one. She didn’t really know what it was yet, but it was a part of her and every bit as real as she was. Break summoned her power and looked at it. Nopony in the room noticed it unsurprisingly.

“How about, Good Times Bad Times?” Break suggested. She liked the way it went off the tongue.

“Oh! Like how it brings good times to you and bad times to your enemies!” Brights said grinning.

“No.” Break replied. She gave it that name to remind her that life is never full just bad things and to never ignore the good in life no matter how bad things get. What in the world was Brights talking about? Then she understood.

Oh no, she thinks I’m some hero from a comic book or something. Break thought. That is the last thing she wanted. It was bad enough to have her exploits announced over the radio. She didn’t want anypony looking at her like she was a hero. She was just a pony.

“Look, I...” Break didn’t get to finish as another pony slammed open the back door. It was a pony that recognized from the slaves she rescued.

“We need to hide fast!” The stallion announced. He started at the sight of Break, but he ignored her for the moment. “It’s the Stones, they are searching every house and building. If anypony refuses, the building is burned down without a second thought! Tact Coat has lost her mind! She’s on a warpath of death!”

Comments

[firehawk732]

Boomerang Jack always comes back
I had to I'm sorry

[Rixizu]

8575689

Thanks. You're right. I really need to go over my older chapters. I have been meaning to, but I have been putting it off. Thanks for reminding me.