Fallout Equestria: The Wild West

by Tigerdovefan34

Enclave Republic Raider Cleanup

I arrived in the cafeteria, grabbing a tray in my wings and grabbing several things that looked interesting from the bar and walked to the table James was sitting at. As I begin to dig in, I immediately enjoyed the taste of the sweet substance, it exploding in flavor every time I took a bite. James just smiled and shook his head. "How you holding, Shadow?" He asked, himself taking a small bite of his food. I had taken a big mouthful so I needed time to chew. It was faaaar better than Slave food and I wanted to savor every bite.

"I'm doing great. I feel a lot better since your doctor operated on me a few minutes ago." I replied after swallowing the food. I was feeling far better than I was only a day previous, but then again, I hadn't eaten in a day.

"You like Flashack eggs? I'll guess I'll write it down for future reference." He said chuckling after I had already ate 2/3rds of the "egg" that I had. "Flashack are a giant insect that fly very quickly and have a very poisonous stinger. It is really hard to get those eggs so it's nice to see you enjoy them." He stated after my confused glance hit his eyes. "Anyways, once your finished with that, go downstairs and take a left. Once you reach a room with an open door, go in. It's the briefing room. The First Lt. wants to give you n operation. I've told him about you in the time we talked before the Caliphate raid earlier and how much of a great shot you were. I doubt Recruits Lyons and Arcade haven't told him about how you did so suffice to say, he's very interested in you." He said, standing up with his tray, which was empty since he ate his meal, and walked away. I continued my egg, savoring every bite slowly and calmly. Eventually I finished it and placed my tray on the cleaning table, or at least, that's what I thought it was, and began to walk the direction toward the briefing room. The way to the room was quite open and I had to admit, the multiple flags were quite the decor, gray with a black cross an black E and circle in the upper left corner, but there were also tally marks, I believe counting the number of days they've been here.

As I neared the room, I saw a pegasus pony walking towards the room as well. Walking up to them, I quietly and politely tapped on their shoulder to get their attention. "Hello. Are you going to the briefing room as well?" I asked and they nodded.

"Yes'm." He (I could tell they were a he from their voice) replied. "I'm Sergeant Major Thunder Storm, 4th in command of the Enclave republic. I already to know who you, Shadow Flower. I hope that you stay with us and serve the republic. It would be an honor to fight along someone like you, ma'am." He said.

"Why thank you but I think after this, I'll be leaving. I don't want to give you the brunt of Caliphate forces looking for me." I replied and he nodded as we both entered the briefing room, where Arcade, Lyons, two mares, and James was sitting on benches in front of a screen with a pretty big pony, by the looks of it a stallion, standing behind a projector.

"Hey, Shadow Flower. Glad you made it here. The First Lt. is about to start." James told me after I took a seat next to him. As if on cue, A rather large Blue stallion with Amber eyes walked into the room, his eyes watching all of us.

"At ease you 6." He said and I had just noticed that the 6 Enclave Republic Members around me were all standing up and saluting the stallion. 'That must be the First Lt. I thought as my mind put two and two together. Why else would 6 soldiers salute to a stallion? "Before we begin, I would like to give a promotion. Sergeant First Class James Mattis, Please stand." James stood up on all 4 hooves. "Come here and place your hoof on the Enclave Republic's Code of Law." James did as he told and went toward the Stallion, placing his left hoof on a book the stallion had in his own own hooves. "Repeat after me: I, state your Name."

"I, James Mattis."

"Do Solemnly swear,"

"Do solemnly swear,"

"To hold up the laws of the Enclave Republic with my new position as Command Sergeant Major."

James was silent for a few minutes before replying, the shock from this surprise to much for him. "T-to hold up the laws of the Enclave Republic with my new position as Command Sergeant Major." He said, his face lighting up in a large smile.

"Congratulations James. You deserve after all that you've done for the Republic. Please take a seat again." The stallion congratulated and James sat back down next to me, his smiling still ever present on his face. "Now, other than the promotion, there is a reason we are all here. Also, I would like to welcome miss Shadow Flower to Alpha Outpost. We all hope she stays a while. This is all related. I'm sure 3 of you 7 know who Jim is." Jim?

"excuse me, Mr. First LT.-"

"Just call me Jackson Featherstorm, never much for formalities." He interrupted and I began my sentence again.

"Jackson, I think I know who Jim is. Yesterday, I was attacked by several, what do you call them, Raiders? Before they began talking to me, one of them talked about a Jim. Is this the same Jim that you're talking about?" I asked him. It could be a coincidence, but judging from how close James was when he rescued me, I doubted it.

"You are correct, Shadow Flower. Jim was a raider we faced before, back at Marechester when it was just a few buildings and had only 6 residents. 46 years ago, he was part of a larger raider group that attacked the village hoping to get loot, food, and, sickeningly enough, slaves. We were able to arrive to the village in time and kill every raider but him, as a message to other raiders to stay away. Sadly, around 6 years ago, Raiders have begun attacking our patrols and we have reason to believe that Jim is the head of the raiders in this region. The newly appointed Command Sergeant Major--" At This, James sat up. "--At Ease-- found evidence of where Jim's hideout is. We have reason to believe that the raiders are held up in this shack just North-East of here." Upon him saying that, an image of the building that was in front of the dune in where I fought the two raiders from yesterday. The picture was from a distance and colored green but the "shack" had damaged walls and the benches I fought Viper Dash near was there, though the bodies weren't. The picture was most likely taken before I arrived there. "We need a new base and it just so happens, Jim's hideout is located near a important road for the Caliphate. We take the Shack, we can take the Road. We take the Road, the Caliphate is just that much weaker. You're mission is to go to this Hideout and clear out all the raiders so we can come in and establish an Outpost there. James Mattis will be your commander for this operation and our visitor will go with you. May the Goddesses guide your path." Jackson ended as several more pictures appeared on the screen.

"You will come in quietly from behind the shack and clear our any Raiders within the area. Following that, if there is one, you shall go underground and clear out the rest of the raiders. Our last Raptor Cloudship will fly you in. Good luck." Finally, the screen went black and the lights, as I had just noticed they were dimmed, brightened. "Dismissed." With that, all 7 of us who were sitting down began to leave the room.

I decided to follow them to where the hangar was without asking idiotic questions about where it was. The trip to the armory was quick as we all got our weapons before walking into the hangar, I was specifically given Corporal armor, or at least, James told me it was armor for a corporal. It was a tight fit but I still felt somewhat comfortable with it on, as the metal had nice cloth padding on the inside to keep me comfortable without giving up protection. Was this how armor the other had felt? The giant opening between the Outpost and the Wasteland just outside was great as blue light shined in here why thick inky darkness appeared nearly impenetrable out there. Getting on, the Raptor, I felt my stomach drop as we took to the air.

"So you three want to introduce yourselves to Shadow Flower, as a way to show you trust her before we arrive?" James began, talking to Sergeant Major Thunder Storm and the two mares. Thunder storm smiled.

"I already met her on the way to the briefing room." We all turned to the other two mares, who looked at us shyly.

"I'm corporal Lucky Petal and this is Sergeant Electric Snowflake. It's an honor to go on this mission with you, Shadow Flower. We heard how many caliphate soldiers you killed a few hours ago and let's just say, we don't think the raiders will fair to well against us." One of the mares stated. I nodded and offered my hoof as way to say "Nice to meet you." To which they both shook it. After a few more seconds, I felt our Raptor land and the door opened, telling us that we have arrived.

"Remember, try and muffle noise as much as possible. Lyons, is the muffling spell on our weapons?" James asked and Lyons nodded. "Very good. Remember, we go in quick and clean. We can not let Jim know we're here." He commanded before all of us began to slowly walk toward the hideout. From how many I saw, there at least 7 raiders outside. It seems that the fight a few days ago put a real dent in their numbers.

Taking out our rifles, we all picked a target and counted down from 5. Once 1 was reached, 7 shots, shots that we're almost completely muffled, were heard followed by 7 SPLATS giving us the sign that our shots had hit their marks. I ran over and began to loot the bodies of these raiders. All but one of them had things that were of no interest. The final one, however, had a note which read:

To,

whoever it was addressed to was smudged. You must be more careful. The another smudge that was quite large. If they find out, everything we have built would be for naught. Surely, you must realize that this is smudge we don't succeed, we all fail. You don't want that and neither do I. Remember to keep Project Manticore a secret. If you let it slip to your special friend too, then Goldenblood will shut us down. Keep this completely secret.

From, it was smudged again. Date: 17th of March, 1067 AD.

Well that just gave me a bunch of questions. Who the fuck is Goldenblood and what the in the whole wide world of fuckity-fuck fuck was Project Manticore? I placed the note in my saddlebag for safe keeping. Maybe I could decipher the note at a later date. I walked over to the group as they began to breach a hatch just in front of them. "Shadow Flower, where were you?" James asked and I shrugged.

"Looting the dead bodies. They're not going to need use of that loot anymore so why let them keep it?" It was true. James just sighed and behind his helmet I felt he rolled his eyes. Finally, Corporal Petal opened the hatch and we all walked in. Slowly, we all began to slowly investigate the corridors of the underground tunnel below the shack. It seemed was really prepared for an attack on his place, seeing how the place was directly under his shack. As I began to walk slowly to a room that was in the tunnel's wall, a CLICK was sounded around the tunnel. Quickly the entire group turned around to see Sergeant Electric Snowflake standing really still and suddenly, we all realized what the click was.

"Oh Sh-!" She was cut off as a large explosion erupted from the ground, sending her flying. I immediately looked at her to see her right foreleg was completely gone, a bloody stump with bone sticking out of where it once was. Her screaming echoed through the tunnel, likely alerting the raiders to our presence. James faced her then shot at the ground, which exploded upon the rounds impact.

"Fuck, this place is Booby trapped. Thunder Storm, bring the Sergeant above ground and request immediate Medical Evacuation. Everyone else, watch your step from here on out." Thunder storm nodded and placed Electric Snowflake on his back, quickly running towards the hatch from where we came from. Quickly, the rest of us continued, Lyons using a trap detecting spell to help us get around booby traps while we searched every corridor in the case that a raider was waiting behind one. Reaching a crate, I saw a strange object sitting there. Approaching it slowly, it was a small greenish-bluish orb with something inside of it moving. Picking it up, I looked very closely at it to see what was in it. Slowly, I felt like something in the orb was pulling me in, forcing me to continue to focus on it. A gunshot sounded, forcing me out of the trance I was in and I ducked as several raiders approached use from the front.

At the head was a rather large black stallion with a red mane and blazing amber eyes. "You fuckers come to MY hideout and try to kill MY raiders so you can create a new base on MY dead body? All of you will feel what happens when you fuck with Jim the Savage!" Looks like we found Jim. I took out my RB - 276 Revolver and shot at a raider only for it to miss and instead a hailstorm of rounds came my way, forcing me to take cover behind the crate. How the Fuck was this Crate taking so many rounds? I knew that I wouldn't be able to hit any raider or even stand up without getting shot into multiple pieces.

"Use S.A.T.S!" James yelled under the hailstorm.

"What? What is S.A.T.S?" I asked loudly, the rounds was starting to chip at our hearing and I could barely hear him.

"Go on your Pipbuck and access S.A.T.S!" He yelled again and I did as he told me, activating S.A.T.S. and with it, I felt time slow down, the rounds going very slowly into the tunnel. Looking at the raiders, their rounds were going out slowly. I targeted at least 4 raiders and decided to target their heads with 3 rounds each. Suddenly, my hoof pulled the trigger 12 times, switching between the 4 raiders I selected every 3 rounds. Time regained speed and suddenly , the hailstorm of bullets got slower as 4 raiders were now dead.

"Oh Fuck! Don't let them get passed here. You, You, with me!" Jim said at the sight of 4 of his raiders being killed in such a quick moment. The sound of hoofsteps traveling away from the fight gave me the idea that Jim was making a run for it with 2 other raiders. Oh, so Jim wants to run, huh? I reloaded my revolver and went up only for James to fire upon the other Raiders with his ERSR - 196 and for all of them to go down quickly.

"No fair, you used S.A.T.S." I yelled at him. Still, that word felt very unnatural and weird on my tongue.

"This isn't a game, now let's get Jim." James stated before running forwards and the rest of us followed, hoping to catch the lead raider before he could escape. Several rounds hitting the floor in front of us followed by a Yell of attack gave me the idea that now Jim was fighting once more. I took cover again and fired my RB - 276 Revolver at all 3 of them. They took cover and once the team's fire stopped, Jim appeared out of cover and fired several rounds at Arcade and Lucky Petal, both of them going down with ease.

"You Fuckers won't get me Alive! HAHAHAHAHAHA!" Jim yelled as he fired at us.

"Goddesses Damn it! Lyons, get Arcade and Lucky out of here! Me and Shadow Flower can handle Jim!" Lyons saluted James and followed his orders, picking up both the wounded ponies in a magical aura and running toward the Tunnel's exit. Now, a true Firefight began as we trade rounds across the tunnel at each other. After a few minutes, I noticed the body of a pony and looking closely, I saw the filly had several bite marks and had liquid coming out of her...I looked at the three Raiders and saw Jim had blood on his mouth and his stallionhood, which was barely out, was covered in Liquid. Looking at the filly again, a sudden rage overtook me and I seized a Machete that was in the crate I was behind in my Mouth and charged for the raiders, despite James screaming "Shadow Flower, don't!"

I charged straight into the barrel of one's gun but sliced off his hooves. His screams were caught short as I sliced his neck. The other remaining Raider quickly focused his weapon on me only for me to throw the Machete straight into his skull, killing him instantly. "You fucker, you just killed my-!" Jim was caught short as I tackled him to the ground, forcing him to let go of his weapon. Quickly I grabbed the Hammer from my Saddlebag and brought it to bear. He deserves to be hammered in for what he did. No fucking mercy for those who do...That!...to fillies!

I brought my hammer down hard on his face, a sickening CRACK coming from the impact but I didn't care. He was going to die horribly for how he treated that poor filly. I brought down again, and then again, and then a fourth time before I turned the Hammer around for it's claws to strike Jim's face. Bringing it down, it sunk deeply into the Raiders soft flesh and I roughly pulled it out before brining it back down. After 2 more times, I flipped the Hammer again and brought it down. "She-" CRACK "-Was a-" CRRAACK "-FUCKING-" CRAAAAAAAACK "-FILLY!" SPLAT I yelled directly at him, each word being punctuated with a strike from my hammer. His soft flesh was now exposed than before with some of his brains appearing but I didn't care and continued to strike the body until James grabbed my hoof and pulled me back.

"Stop, Shadow Flower! He's Dead!" He yelled at me and for a second we stood there, him on me and keeping me from moving and I quickly panting from anger. After a few minutes, my panting stopped and I looked at him rather calmly despite there being some anger that burned inside me. He got off of my and I looted the the raiders first, finding things that had little use except bottle caps. James explained that Bottle caps was the currency of the wasteland and that there bits of paper called Enclave Republic Dollars that were the currency of the Republic's realm. I didn't really care and I grabbed the machete imbedded in the skull of the raider and pulled it out, a large THWACK coming from the head as I pulled it out.

Then, I got to Jim. I decided to take his gun, which had the label Sweet Heaven on it, and then I began to loot his body and picked up several rounds and drugs as well as some bottles with what I guessed was Alcohol. Meh. What really Mattered however, was the note I found on Jim's body.

To: Zep A smudge eze,

Subject(s): Project Orbital and Project Spire,

It seems that you heeded my warnings from earlier. That's very good. For a second, I was afraid that Goldenblood would find out about Manticore. Now with him having no evidence, I would like to discuss our next two projects. Orbital and Spire.
I'm sure you recall that both- there was a large smudge taking up most of the paragraph. I sighed angrily. It seemed like these notes had some big mystery behind that I needed to solve but in order to do that, I would need clues and not just 2 notes. I rolled my eyes and continued to read. -Powerful together. The Zebra Nation is getting weaker by the day and we all know it, however, we can assure they're defeat by establishing these 2 projects. We only need to keep these secret. Do not worry about your sister and her friends, The- another smudge is almost completely under my control. Foolish mare, that one is. I would like to continue discussing this face to face however. So when you have the time, come to my hotel and we can chat about our next two projects together.

From, Mr. and a final smudge ture.

Date: 19th of July, 1067 AD

So, now there seemed to be two more projects and the two that were writing these letters were writing them around some pony called Goldenblood. A conspiracy. I must admit, my interest was very much peaked. It didn't last long as James and I went above ground, sending a message on his Pipbuck to most likely First Lt. Jackson about how the position was clear and ready for consolidation. "Shadow Flower, I know you're leaving after we're done here. I would like to say that I want to come with you. to Help you and to prepare you for whatever is out there. I asked the first Lt. about it and he agreed with me. So, I would like to tell you that you are now a Honorary Enclave Republic Corporal." James said, smiling at me and I smiled back.

"It'll be nice to have someone with me as I traverse this place, I guess and you saved my life twice." I said nodding, only for him to nod.

"So where will we go next?" He asked and I pointed West.

"I want to look over something. It seems that there is something very odd about this place and I want to figure it out." I said and James nodded.

"Alright then, I'll just have to report to base about everything that happens."

"Why?"

"Only way the Republic can find out more about this Wasteland. And it was the only way to get Jackson to agree with me leaving." I rolled my eyes before we both set off, with James somewhat eagerly walking with me. "So what made you start thinking about uncovering this odd place?" He asked and I handed him the two notes that I had picked up from the raiders. After reading them, he took off his helmet and said "Shadow, this is a pre-war conspiracy but if it's about Projects, those Projects could still be active and if somepony with horrible intentions gets their hooves on them, there's no telling what they could do." I rolled my eyes

"No Shit, James!" I pulled out the orb and showed him it. "I got this from a crate in the tunnel as well." He looked at it with happiness.

"Shadow Flower, that's a memory orb." He stated, the smile on his face mixed with a slight hint of interest.

"A what-now?"

"A memory orb. It's a physical representation of the memories that were removed and copied from a living being and stored so one can see the memory within at a later date." He said then placed a hoof on it. "I wonder what sort of memory is in it."

"Well, I guess once we find some place to relax, we'll find out. Let's continue West until then, alright?" He nodded as placed his helmet back on and together we began to slowly take our first real steps into exploring the Wasteland. If only I had known what was awaiting me, I probably would've gone on the journey still. After all, A shadow can discover a great many things.

Author's Note:

XP earned: +720.

Item(s) Picked up: Enclave Republic Dollar (+43); +52 7.92×57mm Rounds; +144 .223 Rounds; +160 Caps; Dash (+4); Painkillers (+3); Alcohol (+2); Enclave Republic Corporal Armor; Note about Project Manticore; Notes about Projects Orbital and Project Spire.

Location(s) discovered: None

Location(s) Mapped: Marechester

Location(s) Cleared: Jim's Marauders Hideout (Renamed Enclave Republic Outpost Beta)

Weapon picked up: Machete; Sweet Heaven.

Level Progress: 10% to Level 5

New Companion: Command Sergeant Major James "Mad Dog" Mattis

Reputation: Honorary Enclave Republic Corporal

Injuries: None

Memory Orb Discovered: unknown memory.

Trait(s): Former Slave - You have escaped the sin of Slavery and now, it is time to see if you have what it takes to survive. Effects: +5 damage against Slaver, -15 Damage against Raider.

Sneak Fighter - You prefer to fight in a more sneaky fashion, rather than going all in, you will always try to kill as many foes silently as possible before you get caught in order to lessen the chances of having a full-on duel. Effects: +1 Sneak; +5 Damage to any enemy when in sneak; Possibility to use Sneak kill if undetected.

Honorary Enclave Republic Corporal - Your ability to help the Enclave Republic in securing a new outpost to aid in future operations have given you a great standing with the head of the republic, allowing you to be given the ranking of Corporal due to how much of an expert you have become. Effects: +10 Damage to Caliphate soldier; +10 Damage to DPRE soldier; +10 Damage to Slaver; +40 Damage to Raider; +24 Damage to Alicorns; +10 Relations with Grand Enclave Republic members; 40% discount in Enclave Republic stores.

Quest Complete: The End of Jim's Marauders.

Weapons Description: Sweet Heaven Sweet Heaven is a special Zebra Rifle utilized by the Raider Jim. It is much like a normal Zebra Rifle except it fires in vicious 12 round bursts and has explosive rounds instead of incendiary rounds, which would explode a target upon impact in some instances. It also has a bayonet attached to the end of it, allowing to become a melee weapon if need be. Using 48 round magazines, this weapon is considered a monster on the battlefield and should be taken with caution if one faces it's barrel.