Fallout: Equestria - Change of Heart

by The Tainted One

Sticky Situation

Chapter Seven: Sticky Situation

A loud ringing noise drew me out of my slumber. I opened my eyes, feeling refreshed for once instead of hung-over or tired. My eyes darted about the room, looking for the source of the incessant ring. It was coming to my right. I looked that way and saw my Pipbuck flashing. I had somehow set the alarm for seven in the morning. I pressed the stop button and finally, silence filled my ears once more. I looked over at Rose’s bed and saw a pair of white hooves sticking out from underneath the sheets. I got out of my bed, stretched my legs, and donned my disguise. Putting my armor on was something I’d gotten used to and had it on in a matter of moments. I strapped my saddlebags on and trotted downstairs and toward the front door of the hotel. Using my telekinesis, I opened my saddlebags and pulled out a can of Cram. I tore the top off and wolfed down the delicious meat and tossed the can on the ground. I was about to stomp on it, when my hoof was stopped by a dull, orange magic.

“Are you trying to get us killed?” a unicorn buck near the door whispered loudly. He released my hoof and I gently set it back on the ground. “There are raiders out there! A couple of them have ranger armor.” ‘Raiders? Oh crap, I wonder if they’re here for me.’ I thought. I hadn’t even noticed the red bars on my E.F.S. I cast my invisibility spell over the both of us and peeked out the window.

Several raiders were trotting about, kicking doors open. A pair of larger ones, clad in red metal armor, walked along the center of the road. ‘Ranger armor, huh? I know just what I can do to fix this little problem.‘ I pulled a spare clip from my bags and began loading it with shock rounds. The one on the left and smaller of the two had what looked like a missile launcher on his right side and an Anti-Machine rifle on his left. The larger of the two had a pair of miniguns on his battle saddle and had spikes running up both sides of his tail with a ball of barbed wire on the end. I slid the shock round clip into Thorn and it hit home with a satisfying click. The smaller one leaned in to whisper something to his comrade. A few seconds later, the big metal raider began to speak.

“Attention,” the miniguns buck yelled. “An Alicorn recently attacked one of our outposts. Our scouts tracked her to here. Now, you have two options. You can either; give the bitch up now, and possibly keep your town intact; or not give her up, and I level the place.” He revved up his dual miniguns for effect. “You have one minute.” I bolted up the stairs and leapt out an open window at the end of the hallway. Flaring my wings, I flew to the roof of the hotel and landed as silently as a cat. I crept forward towards the end of the building and peeked down. The smaller raiders were gathered in a haphazard circle around the two metal-clad raiders. The weird thing was, that the raider with the A.M. Rifle, was marked as a friendly. “Thirty seconds!” Minigun yelled. I dispelled my invisibility and took a deep breath.

“Hey ugly!” I yelled down to the raiders. The two in powered armor looked up at me while the rest of them continued to stand about idly.

“Well, well. It looks like the boss was right. There really is an Alicorn around here.” Minigun chuckled. “Alright bitch, it’s time to die.”

“Wait,” the other ranger/raider called out. His voice sounded artificially deep. “We can’t kill her, the boss wants her alive.”

“To hell with the boss, Tex. I lost a good fuck-toy when this bitch attacked my home.” Minigun shot back. “I’m pasting her now.” He opened fire. I leapt backwards as 5 mm rounds impacted against the bricks I just vacated. I darted to the side of the hotel and jumped down to the ground, slowing as I unfurled my wings. I charged my solar flare spell and ran out into the road.

“Hey dumbasses!” I yelled to the raiders. Every one of them looked towards me as I cast my solar flare spell. Several cries of distress and pain were heard as my spell subsided. Everyone except the raider named ‘Tex’ was on the ground. I left Tex alone, because strangely enough, he was still marked as a friendly.

“Aaaaaah! The bitch overloaded my suits optical sensors!” Minigun cried from the ground. I refocused my magic into my beam spell and fired it at the downed, armor-clad raider. The energy beam slammed into Miniguns’ armor and began to heat it. Cries of pain came from within the armor, slightly muffled by the loud whining of my energy beam. The steel buckled under the beam’s power and began to hit the raider directly. Minigun screamed with renewed vigor. His armor was a glowing cherry red from the beam’s heat. Exhausted, I released my spell and collapsed to my knees. The raider’s screams had ceased as he was reduced to a smoldering pile of metal and meat. Every raider except Tex fled in terror. I thought I heard Tex mumble something under his breath, but I was just focusing on breathing at the moment. After about thirty seconds, I finally caught my breath and got back to my hooves. I levitated out Venom and aimed it at the one remaining raider.

“Why are you marked as a friendly on my E.F.S.?” I asked Tex.

“You have an E.F.S.?” Tex asked, dumbfounded. Then his eyes (where they would be) drifted down to my right foreleg. “Ahh, you have a Pipbuck. I’m not surprised, you always loved those things.”

“Uhh, I’ve never seen you before in my life.” I shot back at him.

“Hold on.” He interrupted me. Then, with a loud hiss and some steam, Tex’s armor opened up like a flower. What I didn’t expect was a blue coated, black maned, earth pony mare to step out of the armor. She trotted over to me with a smile. It wasn’t an evil smile or a malicious smile. It was a happy smile. Almost, jubilant. Then I saw it, a tiny flicker of green in her golden eyes.

“Hello Vice, It’s been too long.” Tex said, still smiling ecstatically at me. At my dumbfounded look, she said, “Look deep into my eyes.” I focused on her (beautiful) eyes and gasped as another glimmer of green passed by. I knew this pony.

“Morph?” I asked weakly. She nodded and grabbed me up in a hug.

“I almost can’t believe it’s really you,” Morph whispered into my ear.

“By the Queen, I thought you were gone for good!” I cried into her mane. The residents of Dodge just looked at our sudden display with flabbergasted faces. A loud bang sounded from my left and I turned my head to face a very sleepy Rose.

“What’s going on?” Rose muttered sleepily from the doorway. She finally noticed Morph and I locked in an embrace. “Who’s this?” She shot a suspicious glare at Morph.

“Uh, Morph. This is my friend Rose.” I said; gesturing to Rose, who was still staring daggers at the mare wrapped in my arms. “Rose, this is Morph. She’s a changeling like me... and my marefriend from before the apocalypse.” A unified ‘what’ came from everyone within earshot. Rose stared at me with a shocked look. Morph draped a foreleg across my shoulders and nuzzled me.

“I’ve missed you so much,” Morph whispered into my ear. I giggled and kissed Morph on her cheek. A cough from Rose reminded us that she was still here.

“If you two are done, wanna tell me what that is?” She said while pointing a hoof towards the smoldering remains of Minigun.

“Oh, that? Well, that’s a bit of a story.” Morph replied sheepishly. “Let’s talk somewhere.” Morph planted a long kiss on my mouth and then trotted off, leaving me lying on the ground, as red as lava.

* ** ** ** *

A few hours later, Morph finally reached the end of her long story.

“After I heard about you wiping out those raiders, I ‘acquired’ a set of power armor and knew that the raiders would eventually lead me to you.” Morph said while popping another snack cake into her mouth.

“So, Pon-3 made a broadcast about my little feeding frenzy?” I asked sheepishly. Morph nodded and wrapped me in a hug.

“It’s fine. You were stressed out and hung-over. I’m not mad” Morph said while smiling at me. “But you shouldn’t drink ever again. Alcohol has some nasty effects on changeling physiology.” I chuckled lightly.

“I’ve felt some of those effects firsthoof.” I mused. Rose cleared her throat and Morph and I looked at her.

“Would it be alright if I asked you kind of a personal question, Morph?” Rose asked a bit hesitantly.

“Sure, what is it?” Morph replied cheerfully.

“Uhh, back during the war… were you ‘rehabilitated’ like Vice was?” Rose inquired, cringing at the word rehabilitated.

“It‘s alright, Rose.” Morph said reassuringly. Rose relaxed slightly and waited for Morph to continue. “I wasn’t. I was able to hide it better than Vice was. Not to say she didn’t do a good job of hiding it, she was just thrust into a bad situation. I visited her everyday, much to the displeasure of the guards. But, with the war, I guess they decided to look the other way.” Morph said, with her head slightly bowed. “I tried to visit her on the last day, but by the time I got there she was already gone.” Morph had a couple tears running down her face by now. I reached up with a hoof to wipe them away.

“I missed you too,” I said, draping my foreleg across her shoulders.

“How long have you been out in the wasteland for?” Rose asked a little more confidently.

“Uhh, let’s see. That whole ordeal with the Rangers was seven years ago…” Morph trailed off while tapping a hoof on her chin. “Uhhh, about twenty-five years, give or take a few.”

“What!?” Rose and I said in unison.

“Heh, yep. I’m a seasoned vet of the wastes.” Morph stated enthusiastically. I was so proud of my marefriend. I gave Morph a long, unexpected smooch on the lips.

“I’m glad to see that time hasn’t dulled your affection towards me.” Morph whispered. “It’s really strong. I can feel it.”

“You can… feel my love for you?” I asked, dumbstruck.

“Yeah, it’s really easy to feel a pony’s emotions. Most ponies are an open book. It’s gotten me out of a lot of sticky situations.” Morph said, giggling at mine and Rose’s surprised looks.

“Can you… teach me how to do it?” I asked.

“Yes, I can. Let’s use Rose as an example.” Rose looked at Morph with raised eyebrows. “Focus on something you hold very dear to your heart.” Morph said quietly.

“What do I pick?” Rose asked as she closed her eyes.

“Just focus on something you have really strong feelings towards.” Morph replied gently. “Alright, Vice. Focus your complete attention on what Rose is feeling. It’s sort of like feeding, but without the direct contact.” Morph declared. I focused on the purple and white mare. Trying to read emotions isn’t easy, but after a couple minutes, I began to feel something.

“I… I think I feel it.” I said, not taking my attention off of Rose. “It feels like a mixture of love and sadness.” I blinked for the first time in a while. “You were thinking about your birth parents, weren’t you?” Rose opened her eyes and a single tear traveled down her face.

“Huh? Oh, yeah. Yeah I was.” Rose replied half-heartedly. I trotted over to her and gave her a big hug.

“It’s alright, you have us now.” I whispered gently. Rose nodded but didn’t stop crying.

“So, it’s pretty cool, eh Vice?” Morph inquired. I giggled and grabbed Morph in a hug.

“It’s really cool.” I said, kissing Morph on the nose. A loud cough from behind Rose drew our attention.

“If you two lovebirds are done, I’m closing up shop early.” Tankard called to us from the bar. He gestured up to the clock which showed that it was well past eight P.M. “Gotta repair the damage done by those raiders.”

“Yeah, yeah. We’re going.” I called out to him, releasing Morph from my hooves. We walked out the door and got halfway across the street before Morph motioned for us to stop.

“Hang on; I got to get my armor.” She said while running off, leaving Rose and myself in the dust.

After about fifteen seconds of awkwardness so thick you could cut it with a spoon, Rose asked “Soooo, marefriend?”

“Yeah,” I sighed dreamily. “When I woke up and it was 200 years later, I thought I‘d never see her again.” I sighed again at the pleasant thoughts drifting through my head. Then, I felt something coming from Rose. Is that jealousy? What could Rose be jealous of? Is she jealous of Morph? I was about to ask her, when Morph came thundering up in her armor.

“Okay, let’s go,” she said, her voice altered by the armor to sound much deeper than it actually was.

“Uhh, voice mod?” I asked Morph sheepishly.

“Huh? Oh, right, sorry.” Morph replied in her altered voice. A soft click came from within the armor. “Better?” She asked, her voice sound almost normal, if only altered slightly by the armor‘s speakers.

“Much,” I responded. “Let’s go.” The three of us continued down the street for about half a minute until we got to the hotel. We walked inside the kicked in door. The wood in the reception area creaked slightly under Morph’s weight, but held.

“Is there any place I can keep my armor?” Morph asked the surprised looking mare.

“In the back is fine. There’s a 50 cap fee though.” she replied. Morph trotted off towards the back room, wood creaking with every step. After some metallic whirring, a loud hiss, and a thump, Morph trotted out of the back room with saddlebags on her back.

“Alright, I also want your fanciest room.” Morph told the maître d'.
.

“Honeymoon suite. 500 caps a night,” she responded. Morph tossed a bag marked ‘500 bits’ onto the desk, much to the delight of the maître d'. She fetched a key off of the wall and tossed it to Morph. “Upstairs, last door on the left.”

“Thanks,” Morph replied, then sauntered over to me. “The things I’m going to do to you tonight,” she whispered into my ear, causing me to turn beet red. Rose huffed and trotted upstairs. Morph and I continued up after her, but continued past my old room and towards the end of the hallway, and the beginning of a long, fun night.

* ** ** ** *

The sun shone through the slightly murky windows onto the bed. I opened my eyes and found myself face to face with Morph’s sleeping form. Her eyes fluttered open and she grinned when she saw me.

“Morning, beautiful,” I whispered, planting a kiss on her nose.

“Morning to you too,” Morph replied, giggling. “Last night was the most fun I’ve had in years.” I smiled and cuddled closer to her.

“So much fun,” I whispered. We could have just lain in bed, but nature is a cruel, cruel, bitch. My stomach rumbled loudly, eliciting a chuckle from Morph.

“I am pretty hungry too.” she admitted. She got out of bed and began to dig through her bags. I noticed her cutie mark was a pair of crossed rifles.

“That’s a neat cutie mark.” I said. She pulled her head out of her bags and grinned at me.

“Staring at my flank, were we?” She said deviously.

“Maaaaaybe,” I whispered suggestively. She hoofed me a couple healing potions.

“Drink those. They restore our energy the same way feeding does.” I gave her a blank look, to which she added, “They really do. We’re gonna need ‘em. Especially after last night.” Shrugging, I popped the top off of one and downed it in two gulps. I checked my Pipbuck and sure enough, the energy bar started to fill up. It stopped at about sixty percent, which was good enough for a while.

“I’ll be damned…” I said, tossing the potion into a wicker basket. My stomach reminded me of its existence and lack of food by rumbling loudly. “Well, time to go get some food. I’m gonna check on Rose. She seemed pretty out of it yesterday.”

“Love ya hun.” Morph called to me as I put on my saddlebags.

“Love you too.” I said, trotting out the door. I slowly made my way down the hallway to room fifteen. I knocked on the door softly. “Rose, you in there?” I said into the door quietly. No answer. I knocked again. No answer. I started to walk away, when the door swung open and Rose poked her head out.

“Oh, hey. What’s up?” Rose said casually.

“I was just checking up on you. You seemed pretty upset yesterday.” I replied.

“Upset? How?” Rose asked.

“Well, you were staring daggers at Morph practically all day. Plus, I was sensing some jealousy.” I stated. Rose remained calm, but her emotions gave her away. She was worried.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. Speaking of which, isn’t it kind of suspicious that your old marefriend shows up out of nowhere?” Rose shot back.

“She explained herself, and I believe her. I’ve known her for practically my whole life.” I said, trying to keep my cool. Rose remained stoic for a couple seconds before relaxing slightly.

“Alright, I’ll trust her.” She turned to walk back into her room. “For now.” She added as she shut the door. I huffed and continued downstairs. The only thing on my mind at this point was finding something to eat. I sprinted across the street to Fill ‘Em Up. I eased open the door and trotted inside. Tankard waved to me and I went over to the bar. Activating my magic, I opened my bags and pulled out my cap bag.

“Here, give me everything that this will buy.” I said while setting my caps on the bar. He grinned, but said nothing as he set his entire stock of foodstuffs on the bar. I grabbed a box of Fancy Buck Cakes and tore it open. After a few minutes, I reduced his stock by about half.

“Dear Celestia, girl. How much can you eat?” Tankard said finally. “Then again, with the ruckus you and your marefriend made last night, I’m not surprised.” I froze.

“R-r-ruckus?” I asked sheepishly while doing my best to cover up my fierce blush.

“Kept half the town awake.” He chuckled. I proceeded to set my head on the bar and accidentally cast my invisibility spell. “I’d do the same thing if I was in your shoes.” Tankard mused.

“I… gotta… I gotta go.” I called back to Tankard while still invisible. I made a beeline straight to the window where our room was and opened it. Darting inside, I released my invisibility and took deep breaths.

“What’s wrong?” Morph asked from next to the bed.

“People… loud… heard us…” I said between breaths.

“Calm down, hun. What happened?” Morph said, climbing onto the bed next to me. After a couple minutes of deep breathing I was finally calm enough to speak.

“People heard us last night.” I said, unable to hide the worry.

“You don’t mean…” Morph said, her face turning a slight shade of red.

“Yeah, that.” I answered for her. Her face promptly turned a deep crimson and she buried her face in her hooves.

“Oh, horseapples.” She said, her voice slightly muffled by the soft sheets and blankets.

“I vote we skip town to avoid the embarrassment.” I whispered. She looked up at me with her beautiful golden eyes.

“I second that.” Morph replied. “We should go get Rose and get out of here.”

“Yeah, I can cloak us and we can sneak out.” I added. Morph hastily threw on some scout armor. “Let’s go.” The two of us tiphooved out the door and down the hallway. We stopped at room 15 and knocked quietly. A loud groan and a few thundering hoofsteps later, the door swung open, revealing a slightly angry Rose.

“What do you want?” Rose asked sharply.

“We’re leaving. Now. Come on.” I whispered.

“Why are you whispering?” Rose said in a normal tone of voice.

“People heard Morph and I… you know… last night.” I whispered sheepishly. Rose grinned.

“How many people?” Rose asked deviously.

“Enough,” I answered. Rose giggled and went back inside her room.

“Come in, I just have to gather a few things.” Rose called out to us. She deftly began to pack up her guns, cleaning equipment, and food in her bag. After about a minute of packing, she slung her saddlebags across her back and trotted towards the door and us.

“Let’s go.” I said throwing my invisibility spell over the three of us. We crept downstairs but Morph motioned for us to stop before we got out the door.

“I wanna check my armor, hang on a sec.” Morph said, sneaking off towards the back room. A few seconds later, she came back with the A.M. rifle strapped to her back. “I never did like that armor. Too bulky. I got all of the supplies off of it.”

“Okay, let’s go.” I told my friends as we crept out the front door. I looked around and found the clearest way to the gate. “This way, I think we can get out through here.” I whispered back to the two mares behind me. We bolted towards the rear gate and stopped about twenty feet short of the gate, the closed gate.

“Aww, horseapples,” Rose and Morph said simultaneously. I thought for a moment, and a little light bulb went off in my head.

“Quick, get into that alley.” I whispered loudly. The three of us ran between the buildings and stopped about halfway to the wall.

“Okay, now what?” Morph said quietly.

“Close your eyes.” I said while charging up a solar flare spell. I sent the ball of light skyward and once I was sure I had the attention of the town, supercharged the light ball.

“Go go go!” I said loudly. We all ran for the gate, past the temporarily blinded guards. I threw open the gate with my telekinesis and the three of us bolted out and down the road.

* ** ** ** *

We ran for a solid five minutes before my Pipbuck flashed a warning about dehydration.

“Alright, I think we’re good.” I said while trying to catch my breath. “Drink some water,” I added. Grasping my canteen, I yanked the top off and gulped down a most of the water inside. My other two friends did the same. “Five minute break?” I asked, a little less exhausted. Both Rose and Morph nodded, out of breath as well. Morph began to open and consume a healing potion. I did the same and caught a weird look from Rose.

“I know running is hard, but jeez.” she chuckled. I polished off my potion and tossed the bottle away.

“It basically gets rid of the need to feed,” I told her, “Another little trick from the best marefriend ever.” I said, grinning at Morph.

“Aww, shucks.” Morph said, blushing slightly and laying down on her back. “Boy, this sure is some comfy dirt.”

“I take it you two had fun last night?” Rose asked, laughing loudly.

“Yeah, you should have joined us,” Morph replied slyly. Rose started to choke on the water she was drinking. “Kidding,” Morph said, grinning.

“We need to get going,” I interrupted the both of them before it got any worse. With a reluctant groan, the three of us got to our hooves and continued walking.

“Where are we going exactly?” Rose asked me without breaking stride.

“Manehattan. Or better yet, Friendship City.” I told the two of them.

“That’s so far away,” Morph said.

“I hope they have good food,” I added under my breath.

Level Up! Level Five!

Energetic Healing (Rank 1): Healing potions restore your energy by 10% plus your Endurance times two, in addition to being 20% more effective in healing wounds. However, you don’t receive any bonuses that you would normally get while feeding.

Emotion Sense (Rank 1): Your Perception is raised to ten and you are able to discern the alignment of a character just by looking at them.

Fury of the Sun Goddess (Rank 3): Your beam is now 20% more powerful in addition to costing 20% less energy. It can also melt through Stubbornite in ten seconds flat.

Vice Versa’s S.P.E.C.I.A.L.:

Strength: 6
Perception: 10
Endurance: 8
Charisma: 5
Intelligence: 4
Agility: 8
Luck: 3

I figured I’d start doing Vice’s S.P.E.C.I.A.L. since so many other sidefics are doing it for their main character. Thank my wonderful editor BLadedRose for assisting me with smoothing out this chapter.

Comments

[Deathpony]

another good chapter

[Capt the Alicorn]

Nice work!

[In5an1ty]

good work dude, though i kinda dont like the ex^^
hope you'll update soon

[The Tainted One]

1304529 I appreciate the criticism, and I don't know if I've said this before, but this is the first story I've written that's longer than a page. I really need more editors to catch this stuff .

[Doomande]

1307528
No problems. Have you been on the Fo:E G-doc yet? for there is a lot of help to find in there. Both with pre-reading, although there is a lot there is looking for it, or just talking about the lore or ideas in general

[Thespianbrony]

So a good hard bucking being heard aloud is reason to skip town?