Fallout: Equestria- Chasing Stars

by not_me

Dreams

Dreams.

Dreams are the manifestation of ones desires and will or so I was told. Growing up I never had any dreams when I slept. I thought, as I got older that it was because I had no desires or destiny, since I had no mark. Now I wander if I was not correct in this notion, for I dreamt for the first time that night. I was in a lush green jungle. The sun was out, birds sang, and fresh clean water glistened in the morning dew. It was a paradise. Lucky stood on a trail before me. She was wearing her red and black dress with a vale of red lace covering her face. She waved at me to follow her. I trotted up the trail, but never caught up to her. As we crested the hill the jungle gave way to a crisp clean beach. I trotted beside her. Silently she pointed a distance up the beach. Silhouetted against the horizon stood five figures. I trotted off towards them but noticed Lucky did not move her hooves. I turned to look at her. She stood firm. “Go on. They are waiting for you.” I left her there on the hill.

I opened my eyes to be greeted by the cresting sun. It wasn’t real, the jungle. Lucky was curled in a ball between my front and back hooves. I caressed her neck where her collar had left a mark in her white fur. “Please just stay here with me for a little while. The long walk will still be there in another hour,” she said without opening her eyes. I placed my hoof over her and she hugged it. I went back to sleep. I was back on the beach. Waves washed over my hooves, the wind howled. I was alone this time. I awoke to the smell of bacon.

“I didn’t know we had any bacon?”

“We didn’t, those slaver bandits did though. And look, eggs and brahmin cheese as well,” she said showing a sizzling pan, that I didn’t know we had either. “I am making us omelets.” I had never seen anyone happier to make breakfast before. I got up; it hadn’t been an hour since the last time I got up. “So judging by the strait line we are walking in, our target is somewhere in the mountains. We should be there by midday, right Chase.”

“Yeah, though I am unsure where in the mountains. You know anything about this area Lucky?”

“Not much. There are supposed to be some raiders around here somewhere. Oh, there are also rad-scorpions. They make great fixing for a casserole. Not much out here except maybe a pony or two looking for a pass to reach the Big 52.” We ate our breakfast with Lucky just asking whatever came to her mind. “Tell me about buffalos.”

I almost choked on the sudden topic change. “What do you want to know about them?”

“Absolutely everything.”

“Ok, when a male buffalo loves a female buffalo...”

“Eww, gross! You know that is not what I meant. Now I have the image stuck in my head.”

“I didn’t even say anything, you’re the one thinking dirty thoughts,” I chuckled.

“That’s only cause you made me.”

“I can’t make you do anything you don’t want to.”

“True,” she conceded.

“Ok, I’ll be serious. They are really big on independence, and stampeding, for some reason.” I went on about everything I could think of; Lucky listened adeptly. After breakfast we put away camp and got dressed. We headed in a straight-line towards the mountain, Lucky humming the same song the entire time. After an hour I got fed up and looked to my pip-buck for a distraction. Radio, why had I not noticed this feature before? I clicked on it and three stations showed up. One said DJ Pon3, the other Fillydelphia Tower Sub-station, and the third read Old 52. “Whose DJ Pon Three?”

Lucky grabbed my hoof and stared at the screen. “You had a radio this whole time. Pony quite holding out on a sister. Also his name is pronounced ‘pony.’ It’s just written funny to make it look cool.” She turned the station on. I had no luck; it was the same song she was singing before, except worse since there were now lyrics. “Bongo, bongo, in the Congo,” Lucky sang on.

“Ok what are the other two?”

“Well the Filly station is Red-Eyes propaganda station. You probably heard it before, it’s what sprite-bots play.” I had heard it before. We made a game of it before by hitting those things until they exploded. Once it seemed like one was trying to talk to me before I had started pounding on it with a rock. “The other is run by Lonesome Pony. Only been east far enough once to hear it. Comes in clear only on the other side of the mountain so most ponies in the wasteland never hear it. Old Lonesome seems envious of the immortal DJ Pon3.”

“Immortal, what is he a ghoul?”

“No. Most ponies say when the current one dies another pony rises up to take his place. I think he just never dies, it makes more sense that way right.” It doesn’t.

“Hello wasteland this is DJ Pon3 for a special live report. Dun da dun da dah, Applelossa is dead and gone everypony! The old one, not the new one. That’s right, it seems by none other than the Stable Dweller’s of all ponies. See this is what the Equestrian wasteland needs, ponies that rise up and fight the good fight. Little miss Stable Dweller had only left the stable a week ago and already she has cleared out that raiders nest called Ponyville and now according to a report from New Applelossa via a train car full of former slave ponies she almost single handily cleared out the town, going as far as squashing an alicorn with a train car. Ouch! Now this is where the story gets a bit sad. It seems on the track back to New Applelossa a group of mercenaries attacked them. The Stable Dweller separated the slaves from the rest of the train and sent the train crashing off a cliff, mercs and herself included. Our hearts go out to her, another fallen pony fighting the good fight. Now back to the music with Sweetie Belle singing that one truth of the Wasteland.” Somepony that sounded a bit like Velvet Remedy started singing. I looked towards Lucky. Her expression was unreadable.

“It’s gone. They are all dead.” She jumped in the air screaming front hooves in the air. “Oh, thank you Celestia! I never stopped believing. First I am saved, now everypony else is. The Stable Dweller killed them. Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes…,” she continued hopping in circles around me like a little filly high on dash. She stopped and kissed me. We trotted off towards the mountain listening to the radio the whole way after she calmed down. Every once in a while DJ Pon3 would interrupt to give survival tips and retell the only news story of the day. When the stupid Congo song came back on I turned it off much to Lucky’s chagrin.

Water, we came across a pool of water before noon at the base of mountain. I slipped off my bags and clothes as I went into the water. Lucky followed suite. There were slow clicks from the pipbuck. It was reading minimal radiation. Lucky threw a rad-x towards me before taking one herself and joining me. It tasted like a rotten oranges, not half bad. I needed a bath bad. We had hoped to be half way up the mountain by noon, but here we were still at the base when it came around. I was sitting in the water on a rock outcrop hugging Lucky who was sitting in front of me. “Shame about the Stable Dweller though. She could have done a whole lot more good if she survived.”

“Well that’s the life of a hero, though. Maybe it was for the best. It was a good death, saving all those ponies. I mean otherwise, if she survived, she’d probably have to live through so much worse. You know what they say about heroes in the wasteland.”

“They either die good or live long enough to go bad,” we said in unison. My hooves were wrinkly and the pip-buck was reading two rad-away’s worth of radiation. I got to the beach when I saw three red lines on my EFS. I looked at Lucky. “What is it Star Chaser?”

“Something’s on the other side of this hill. Get your gun and take the sniper position a top this hill. I’ll sneak around and see if I can get the jump on them. Move quickly, move silently.” The last part was more to my self than to Lucky. I got around the side of the hill, scorpions, big ones. I managed to flank them undetected and preceded to move towards the first. A few rocks slid down the side of the hill revealing Lucky’s position, and the scorpions were off. Lucky fired into the group doing critical damage to the last one’s leg. I only knew three spells, but I was going to put them to good use. I entered VATS teleported beside it and blind-sided it with a hard buck breaking three legs clean off. It seemed to die from the injury, odd. Lucky kept firing at the one in the lead doing no damage to it. The second one noticed me and launched its tail at me. I dodged it but felt its pincers stab me in my exposed stomach; I had no time to put on any of my gear. I flashed my horn as bright as I could, blinding the bug before I put my hoof through its face. It fell down dead, its pincers falling out my stomach leaving a three-inch deep gash pouring out blood.

The third one was the largest and it was almost on top Lucky who had taken to hiding behind a boulder to reload. I used my horn to levitate the rock up exposing Lucky to the scorpion. It took the bait, lunging right towards her. I smashed the boulder down, squishing the bug. For some reason I felt like saying ‘here comes Tom.’ I didn’t though. Lucky turned towards me covered in scorpion guts and anger. “You used me as bait and now I am going to need to take another bath!”

“Sorry,” I said collapsing into a pool of blood that had formed around me.

“Chase,” she screamed, leaving behind her anger as she rushed towards me. She dragged me up the hill and levitated her bags to her, pulling out a healing potion. She wrapped my stomach up before going down the hill towards the scorpion carrying my knife. She answered my question before I asked. “Better harvest their venom sacs before getting cleaned up.” Another bath later we got dressed and walked towards are heading. The healing magic had taken affect and I felt no worse for wear, a bit woozy from blood loss though. I searched through my pip-bucks sorter and pulled out a Sparkle-Cola. How the hay does something on the wrist sort stuff on your back?

I sipped on the fizzy carrot goodness till it was gone. Growing up they were far and few between, I bought four from the store in Appleloosa. I was going to save them as a treat for later but according to Lucky they are not all that uncommon. Half way up the mountain I saw five green lines. I held up my arm and Lucky stopped. “What is it?”

“Ponies, they seem friendly.

“What should we do?”

“I don’t know. Go around them.”

Lucky stuck her head around the brush and came back. “It seems to be two ponies, adventurers from the looks, and three griffin mercs, probably body guards. Maybe we could trade with them!”

I was going to argue with her, but I heard the sound of two beam rifles powering up. A griffon was floating in the air above us, beam rifles trained on us. “Come out nice and slowly,” she commanded. We obeyed. The other two griffons also had battle saddles with two beam rifles apiece. We walked into the middle of the clearing. The griffon that got the jump on us flew behind us. In front of us stood a male and female earth pony couple, flanked on either side by a griffon mercenary with their guns trained on us. The male earth pony was green with an orange mane, the Female was opposite in color. They both had on matching hooded white leather jackets.

The female spoke first. “What were you doing behind the bush?”

“Deciding if you guys were friendlies or not.” I said bluntly.

“We’re not raiders or bandits. Neither or you two it seems. What would a young unicorn couple be doing out here by themselves?”

“Nothing, just walking to the Big 52,” I lied.

“Horse apples,” the orange earth pony cried. She turned to her mate, “This is too much of a coincidence. Lets not mince words with these liars. It is obvious they are after the star metal as well, why else would anyone brave the wasteland without back up?”

The green buck sighed. “You’re right honey. They are competition either way. Even if they weren’t looking for it and we let them go they could just simply stumble upon it by accident before we find it. It pains me, but kill them.”

I turned around wide-eyed towards Lucky. She already levitated her Magnum out. I entered VATs but it was too late the other two griffons were already in the air and six laser rifles pulsed out in unison. I was stuck in time as all six shots made contact with their target. The one they saw as the biggest threat, the one with the gun, Lucky. She was only inches from me facing me her eyes went up in terror in slow motion as what was occurring dawned on her. I saw her back flare up pink as her body slowly turned into pink dust. Then it seemed like the world broke. Though I was in VATs Lucky turned towards me as if I wasn’t, half her body still turning into dust. She reached out her head and her horn touched my horn. A flash, than nothing. It felt like I was forced out of my body. Time meant nothing, nothing meant anything. The world went black.

I was on a summit. The ground was black and the sky white. I could see the black sun through the clouds. The air was thick, my breaths felt empty. I looked down and saw a shining white light at the base of the mountain towards the east. It felt like I stood still as the world moved around me. The white light approached me. In the air was a black and white pegasus wearing a double mini-gun battle saddle mid-flight both guns blaring into a swarm of three bloatflies fleeing in terror, nothing was moving. ‘No kill, like over kill,’ I heard. The ground lurched underneath me. I was now in the air as the landscape flew underneath me. All that went by was desolate and dead, than a massive graveyard and a large road. I stopped before me was walled town. I floated to the top and saw another white light emitting from a pony in a duster and wearing glasses before a group of uniformed armed ponies. ‘An honest days work for an honest days pay,’ the world echoed. The ground was off moving again. This time I saw a road, a tower, a desert covered in a trail of flags. There was a mountain I flew over and came down on the other side in an entrance to a large tunnel. A shantytown had formed there. I saw another white light in this town. It was an earth pony in goggles talking to a large group of zebra. ‘I’ll see you guys through the pass, for a price.’

I felt myself lift into the air, as the world grew smaller below me. I could see the entire mountain chain and old Canterlot off in the distance. Still I was lifted higher into the clouds. I saw a group of three pegasi in scorpion looking armor patching up a hole in the cloud layer. One of them was glowing white. A canteen floated in the air between him and another pegusis in the same exact armor. ‘Here take mine if you need to.’ The clouds lurched by as I descended towards a massive city. I saw a white light inside a massive statue. I was hurtling towards it with break neck speed, but I just passed right through it. I was in a room filled with benches. A lone pony knelt before an alter. ‘Princess Celestia bless us, Princess Luna forgive us.’

The world faded away than reformed far below me. I could now see the entire continent. It was all black except for a handful of lights. I could see all the white ones I had visited before. There was a small cluster of three green lights in the woods between Old Applelossa and Shattered Hooves. To the west was a cluster of red scattered around Hoofington. Far to the north was a cluster of blue around a city in the desert. I could make out a small group of yellow to the south. It seemed there was six colors in all and six lights of each color. There was however a pulsing rainbow at the top of one mountain above the clouds, the only mountain above the clouds. Then I saw it. Half way up a mountain was the sixth white light. I fell towards it. In a clearing was a pair of unicorns in embrace as one disintegrated. Around them were three griffons and an earth pony couple. The world screamed ‘No’ but than I was back and time was normal. No longer was the voice coming from around me but from my own voice.

I saw before me, Lucky’s eyes turn to dust. She was dead, gone. The three griffons trained their sights on me. My vision turned white. I lifted into the air four feet as the wind erupted around me. All my magic I had, and some I never knew about, came pouring out of me. Lightning fell from the sky causing one the griffons to explode into dust. I turned to the next, and felt heat form from my gaze. He was cut in half, burned by my own site. The third one, the one that got the jump on us cowered in fear as I floated towards her. Blood poured out of its beak and as crimson tears fell from its eyes. She fell down dead unceremoniously bleeding from every oriface. I turned around to see two earth ponies embracing each other. The mare had peed herself. I was still floating in the air. There eyes were stark wide. I saw myself in them, eyes glowing white my blue mane and duster willowing in the wind, a black shadow against the grey sky. “We’re sorry! Please don’t kill us,” she pleaded.

“Please I love my wife, we..”

“She loved me,” I screamed cutting him off as the earth below them opened up and immediately snapped close, entombing the couple. I slumped back to the ground exhausted, “and I didn’t actually care about her.” I cried. I was my fault I had set it so she would have no choice but to follow me into danger. I didn’t kill her, but I arranged it so couldn’t have avoided it. A hoof brushed my face. I turned and saw her, Lucky, still alive!

‘I know you didn’t love me. I didn’t care.’

“I am sorry this happened to you. Its my fault,” I said turning my face from hers to hide my shame.

‘No it’s not. These last two days were the only ones I had free. Don’t try and take that away from me by saying I had no choice. I am thankful for you. I love you and will always watch over you. Now go on. They are waiting for you.’

“Who?”

I turned to where she would have been but she disappeared. I was alone in a clearing with one and a half dead griffon bodies.

I walked to the pink mound, what was left at least. Her saddlebag hadn’t disappeared. I lifted it up and placed it on my back. I lifted the mound of dust into the air telekinetically until I felt a strong wind. I released my grip, and Lucky spread across Equestria. There was a large boulder nearby. I walked towards it and focused. I combined my flash spell and telekinesis. The telekinesis gathered the air as the flash spell propelled it foreword as a jet forming a magic bullet. The magic bullets were strong enough to leave two-inch deep gashes in the stone. I worked on it for an hour as my magic allowed. I last I finally gathered all my remaining magic into horn. I placed my hoof to the stone a directed my new spell out my hoof thrusting it an inch into stone like it was made of butter. I stepped back, than I felt it. Magic-burnout. My horn hurt, my head throbbed, I had nothing left, it didn’t matter. I was done.

‘Lucky, A free heart,’ it said with a horseshoe print next to it, her cutie mark. I sorted through her bag taking any food, or medicine. I took any ammo and guns I could carry for trade. Her magnum was nowhere in site, it must have dissolved with her. I looked at the pile of griffon dust and the other two bodies. They killed her, hell if they were getting a burial. The two earth ponies only got one cause it felt like I was sending them closer to hell to make the whole thing easier for the devil. I kept on walking no heed given to the heading. I walked staring only a few inches before me at the ground. It could have been minutes or hours. Than I saw the ground rutted and scorched. A trail etched into the land a quarter of a mile. I ran towards it up hill to the end. This was what I left my home for? This was what those Earth ponies killed Lucky for. I didn’t know what it was. It was big, two stories tall and as wide as the Appleloosa barn. Completely metal and circular, I could tell it was not from this planet. Neither horn nor hoof could have made this, even before the megaspells fell. A walked around, looking dumbstruck at this thing. It wasn’t a star, that’s for sure. The massive machine lurched. Where there once was a wall, opened up as stairs descended down to my feet. I was hesitant but from the machine came a gentle voice, “Come on in, I was waiting for you.”

I walked up the staircase. Inside the walls were smooth and silver. The whole thing was lit with soft lights that seemed to come from nowhere. I walked down a circular hall, the doors where all tall soft rectangles with no means of opening them. As I approached an end of the hall the ground lifted up forming a staircase to the second floor. It was the same as the one below except the walls were white. The whole place was too clean, too shiny and new. I felt scared as I approached a pair of double doors at the end of the hall. I knew not of what sort of monster could be on the other side I had only seen a handful of what the wasteland could create, and what things the heavens could wrought I knew not. It was too late, the doors opened. Inside was room full of screens and chairs. There were five seats. I had only ever seen one computer in my life. Every wall had computers that made me ashamed to consider my pip buck was anything more advanced than a pointed stick in comparison. As I stepped foreword the door behind me shut cutting off my only route of escape.

The seats were lined in two a piece with a fifth one by itself in front. I looked at the screen in front of each chair as I walked by them, I couldn’t make sense of them. How did you put in commands? Did you just touch the screen itself? I made to test my theory when I heard from the furthest chair, “You probably shouldn’t mess with something you that you do not know what it does.” I turned to see something standing up from the chair. It walked towards me so I could get a better look at it. It stood on its hind legs and was tall, two ponies tall. It had no fur, light brown skin and was covered in clothes feet to neck. It had on a pair of black boots that completely covered it feet; they appeared to be made of leather and rubber. It had on a pair of grey pants. It had a button up shirt made of the same material as its pants only it wasn’t buttoned. Underneath that it was wearing a white tank top and had on medical wrapping around its shoulders and neck stained with dried blood. Its mane was long, but tied in a tight bun. Both its hair and eyes were black. I think it was female. It stood silent and still allowing me to take it all in. I think it might have been sick.

“Hello, welcome aboard the U. S. S. Embarr. I am Chief Warrant Officer Nuneiz. I saw that show you put on outside. I am sorry for your loss.”

“You are a Human,” is all I could say.

Footnote: Level up! Level 4

Quest Perk: Lucks Kiss: +1 Luck
New perk: Iron Hooves lvl 2: +5 damage to unarmed damage.

Sneak Level 50
Unarmed Level 75

Comments

[not_me]

Sorry for the delay in release! Real life got in the way with finals and the holidays. Turns out my sister no longer has internet so I had to make a trip into town to post this. I'll post the next chapter soon.

[a friendly hobo]

Hi there!

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Its essentially a doc about everything side-fic, including compilations, a little art, and a whole lot of fun.

Hope to see you over there!

~a friendly hobo
-Author of Tales of a Courier and co-artist of the Nuclear Winter Wasteland Wonderland compilation picture.