FoE: Vagabonds

by StapleCactus

Chapter 1: Lavender

“Oi, seems we got a pair a ‘eroes comin’.” A mare stirred from her nightmares as the voice spoke, dragging her back into the very real world where she was imprisoned with several other ponies. Her tired emerald eyes scanned the dim room from within her cage and she spotted the familiar faces of her other captives. She caught the eye of a stallion in another cage across from her. With all the strength she could muster, the mare smiled at him, only to have the stallion sigh and look away.

“Oh? And why are they coming here then?” a feminine voice called back as the leader walked into the room. The mare looked away from her cellmate and let her smile drop, turning her attention instead to the evolving conversation in front of her.

“Seems somepony let loose a call ta come save that there little mare there.” Both of the slavers turned their gaze to look at the captive, who looked towards a corner to avoid sharing eye contact.

“How many of them?” the boss asked as she turned her gaze back to the scarred stallion who had brought her the information.

“From what the lookout says? Two.”

“Ha, just two? Fill them full of lead.” The lead mare waved a hoof before starting back towards where she came from, a small office room.

A wicked grin crossed the slaver’s features as he nodded. “Aye, It’ll be me pleasure.” A moment later, he set off towards another doorway, where the captive mare believed the exit to be, if only a few extra doors and hallways first.

“Do you think you’ll be saved?” came the leader’s voice from the other room. “Don’t think I haven’t seen you smiling at the others. There’s only two of them, girl. Don’t get your hopes up.” A shrill laughter rang forth. The mare knew not to respond; she had seen the others beaten for talking, regardless of the reason why.

The sound of gunfire, more gunfire than was necessary for two ponies, filled the chamber. Even the thick walls of concrete and steel could not stop the loud battle waging just beyond. Two younger ponies, what looked like fillies, started cowering in their shared cage while the stallion across from her looked bored and defeated. The noise and the slaver’s words did nothing to stop the mare’s optimism though, and she sat up in wait for her rescuers.

She looked over at the fillies and tried her best to calm them without speaking, but it was for naught. Just as she was about to speak, the gunfire ceased and the room grew quiet. The mare closed her mouth and looked towards the door the stallion left through, waiting on hope.

“You Celestia-damned idiot! What did I fucking say just moments before we crested that hill?!” At the end of the stranger’s voice, the hinges of the doorway barely held onto the metal frame as the door swiveled around and slammed into the wall it was connected to. Dust stirred into the air at the busted entry and, as it settled, two figured appeared.

One, a large ghoul in heavy combat armor riddled with bullet holes, brought his rear hooves back to the ground from where he bucked. The other, glaring at the stallion, was a dark green unicorn in a much lighter barding with a rifle floating alongside him in a yellow glow. The rotting being turned around and ignored the smaller pony as he entered the room.

“It’s a good thing I have a fucking healing potion on me, or this whole excursion would be a bust!” the green one said as he followed the first one in and levitated a small glass jar out of his saddlebags.

“Who the hell are you two?” The mare turned to see the leader come out of her room with a shotgun set on her side, a trigger mechanism reaching around to her mouth.

Unfortunately for her, the two intruders responded with a bullet slamming into her chest mere moments after leaving the rifle of the green unicorn, who had his head turned to the side with the glass jar pressed to his lips. The projectile was slowed by her barding and just missed a vital organ as she slid back from the force, but continued to stand. Before the leader could get her bearings, the ghoul slammed into her and forced the weapon out of her battle saddle. Then, in a quick turn of the gun, the being leveled the firearm into her face and fired.

The mare quickly turned away and shut her eyes, hoping the fillies didn’t look and upset at the, what she thought was, unnecessary killing. Hooffalls echoed in the now quiet chamber as they got closer to the mare’s cage. Expecting the violent ponies to yell at her, she meekly peered towards the cage’s front.

“Are you Lavender?” the green unicorn said as the mare spotted the ghoul digging through the fallen slaver’s possessions.

“Y-yes.” As soon as she said that, a key was floated over in a field of pale blue magic and set into the cage lock. A quick turn and pull on the cage door later, and the mare was free.

“Go play scavenger, Steel. I’ll get the others out of here,” the unicorn said as he grabbed the key and proceeded to do so. After a moment more of digging, the ghoul walked back out of the room, paying no attention to the rifle wielder.

“Who are you?” Lavender asked as she slowly stepped out of her prison.

“Force Factor.” The cage for the fillies was opened and he walked towards the stallion. “That one was Steel Wall.” Then, the stallion was freed. “Radio sent us to save you.” Finally, he headed into the slaver’s office and began looking through the desk within.

“Thank you.” She watched as he finished looking through the furniture and started on the nearby file cabinet.

“Don’t bother. I did it for the caps.”

“What about the ghoul?”

“Steel? He just wants to search the bodies. Something about an amulet. Blast!” Force slammed the cabinet shut and started towards the busted door. “This better be worth it, there’s not a damned thing in here I can sell for good money.”

“What’s wrong?”

Force stopped in the middle of the room with cages and turned around. “You sure do have a lot of questions. If you want to know, I just spent one-hundred caps worth of ammo to get to you because that fucking idiot didn’t listen to me. The closest thing I have here to sell is that shotgun,” --he pointed at the discarded weapon in a corner where Steel had thrown it-- “and I’d probably get thirty caps at best for it. I’m not carrying around useless junk that may get me enough money to restock when I could just find something useful, which there is none of!” He finished his speech with a yell towards where the ghoul left earlier before continuing his walk.

“What about the slaver’s battle saddle?”

“Fifty caps.”

“That is worth at least one hundred.” At this, the stallion paused and looked back at her.

“What.”

“One hundred caps, at least.”

“I heard you the first time,” he said as he trotted over to the slain mare. “How do you see this as one hundred caps? If I tried to sell it, I’d get fifty.” He undid the clasps and floated the saddle off the body before stuffing it into his saddlebags. “Look, even my PipBuck says fifty.” He toyed with the device on his leg before setting his leg out for her to see.

Lavender leaned over and studied the screen for a moment. “Even so, a friend of mine has a similar model he sold for that much.”

“Hmm. Hey, Steel!” Force pulled the object back out of his bags as the ghoul came in from the call. “How much do you think this is worth?”

Steel walked over and looked closer at the battle saddle. “Twenty-five caps.” Then, the large stallion left the room again. The mare looked between Force and where Steel left for a few moments.

“You two don’t barter much do you?”

“The price is the price, but I’ll take your word on it just this once,” he said as he folded the cloth to fit better in his saddlebags and added it to them. “Come on, I think he’s about done anyway.”

“Wait! What about the fillies?” Lavender asked just as he was turning around again.

“Throw them a gun and let them figure it out. I’m not here to babysit.”

“What? But-” the mare started before being cut off from the stallion leaving. She stared after him before trotting over to the two fillies in their cage. She stooped down to look them in their quivering eyes. “It’s all right, you two. Let’s get out of here, okay?”

Slowly, the two young ponies crept towards her. When they got out of the cage, Lavender brought them both close into a hug. “It’s okay. We’ll save you,” she said as the two girls started to shake.

“Hurry up!” Force called from further away.

“You can make it. Just be strong, okay?” the mare said and the two fillies nodded. They broke apart and she smiled at them. In return, they attempted their own smiles, but they came across as fearful. With a nod, she stood up and headed for the doorway, the sound of two sets of small hooves following after her.

A number of hallways later, and Lavender found the two stallions standing by the entrance. The light pouring in from the open entry shone on her magenta coat as a wind blew through and tousled her raven hair. She relished in the freedom brought on by the fresh air and smiled genially. Her entourage hid behind her as much as possible when she got close. Force and Steel were arguing, or one was arguing and the other was silent.

“Just think next time, would you? That’s all I ask,” the green unicorn said before turning to the mare. “Ah, it’s nice to see you in the light. Now let’s get go- What’s with the fillies?”

“They’re coming with us.” Lavender’s voice brooked no argument.

“No, they aren’t.” Not that Force understood that. “I told you I’m not a babysitter.”

“They’re coming with us.” She glared this time. After a few moments where the two stared at each other, Force huffed and walked out of the building.

“Their funeral,” he called back. Steel simply nodded and followed after the dark green unicorn.

“What’s with those two?” she said aloud before looking over her shoulder at the fillies. “It’s okay. They’re good ponies, I just know it.” Then, she started after the stallions, her charges right behind her, still nervous of the two ponies in the lead.

As soon as she reached the two, Force stopped and turned towards her. “Where are we going?”

“W-what?”

“The radio said to meet your associates at ‘that place’. So where is it?” He brought up his PipBuck to look at the map it showed, but extended his leg enough for her to point out their destination. Lavender studied the map for a few moments.

Meanwhile, Steel lumbered over to the two fillies behind the mare. When they saw him coming, they huddled together and started shaking in fear. “Seen a silver amulet?” he said, unconcerned. They quickly shook their heads.

“Head south, then follow the mountains around. From this, it looks like about a day or two’s walk,” Lavender said when she determined their location.

Force traced the directions on the map with his eyes before sighing. “Right through raider territory. Of course.” He dialed in a location along the eastern edge of the mountains and set his hoof back down. “All right, let’s go.”

---

Several hours later, the group came across a small encampment of raiders holding up in a dilapidated building. They were a good two hundred yards away when Force laid upon the ground, using a slight dirt mound as cover. Copying his movements, Lavender did the same and called for the fillies to lay down. Steel continued to stand as the green unicorn brought his rifle to bear and peered through the scope.

“Looks like we’ve got two raiders keeping an eye out. There’s three patrolling inside, but there might be more. I can take out the-” Steel stepped forward and cut him off as the ghoul walked towards the building. “Celestia damn it, Steel! Not again!” Force sighted the rifle towards the ghoul, but thought better of it as the raiders didn’t begin firing immediately.

“What’s wrong?” Lavender asked quietly.

“Steel is what’s wrong. Fucker just can’t get it through his thick skull to think before rushing in.” He turned the barrel towards one of the raiders on a ledge and waited. “Not that he rushes anywhere by the looks of it. Damned slowpoke.”

The mare winced at the continued vulgar language, but said nothing. She crawled towards the fillies and held them close for the upcoming battle. Then, a shot rang out over the hill they were hiding behind.

Force returned fire, his bullets pounding into the raiders. Two well aimed shots dropped the first lookout. Barely acknowledging the kill, he swiveled the rifle to the second guard and used another two shots to drop that one. Just as he trained his rifle towards a third at ground level, Steel filled the pony full of rounds, the gun having been stolen from one of the two corpses that lay at his hooves.

As the raider hit the ground, a sixth pony ran out of the building, training a large gun on Steel as it spooled up. “Fuck! He’s got a minigun!” Force exclaimed as he slammed a red bullet into the rifle’s barrel and swapped clips from his bags. The bullet fired and a fiery stream sped through the air before slamming home in the pony’s shoulder, just as the big gun finished speeding up and rained bullets upon the ghoul.

The incendiary round did little to stop the pony from shooting, only burning a small patch of his barding before winking out. Force fired again and again, doing little damage upon the raider’s helmeted head. Steel stood his ground and fired from the small caliber rifle he picked up earlier as bullets racked his body. Just as the ghoul dropped, an armor-piercing round finally made its way into the enemy’s skull and he followed Steel onto the dirt.

“Fuck!” Force screamed. “There goes another two-hundred caps worth of ammo!” He switched clips again and started towards the building slowly.

“Steel!” Lavender ran ahead, leaving the fillies to stay behind Force. She stopped next to the ghoul and looked him over, thinking of what she could do to help. Then, the green unicorn met up with them and stared straight at Steel’s eyes.

“You Celestia-damned idiot,” he stated as he pulled a jar out of his saddlebags and set it next to the mare. “Step back and throw this at him if he needs it.” He stepped over the fallen ghoul and headed into the structure.

Lavender looked at the jar and saw a radioactive symbol painted on the side when Steel suddenly wheezed.

“Barding... Remove it...” The mare did as she was told, carefully undoing multiple straps and peeling parts of the armor away. The fillies watched on from a few paces away as she finished removing the ghoul’s gear.

“Bags... Jar...” She shuffled through his possessions until she found a bottle of liquid and set it next to Steel. Slowly, the ghoul twisted the cap off and tilted the container into his mouth, drinking greedily of the dirty water she now saw it was.

When the last of the liquid was drained, he asked for another and drank that one too. The multiple holes perforating his hide began to close as five caliber rounds were pushed out. In some places, the wounds were too deep and they closed without removing a bullet. Then, Steel asked for yet another bottle before downing it as well.

With the danger averted, the mare looked the stallion over. Many scars were littered across his skin where it wasn’t decaying. A small stub of skin and bone protruded from where his tail would be. Where there was no damage to the hide, small fluffs of silver hair could be seen. Just as she had finished searching for more wounds, the stallion stood and put his mostly destroyed barding back on in a field of telekinesis. Then, as if he had never been wounded so badly, he started digging through the fallen raider’s belongings.

“Damn it, there’s nothing good in there either,” Force said as he walked out of the building. He turned to see Steel’s actions. “Oh, you’re still alive. That’s good.” A small nod towards the ghoul, and he placed his jar back into his bags before trotting over to the stallion with the minigun.

Lavender looked around and called the fillies towards her and headed into the building. Steel stopped rummaging through the ponies outside and followed after her. Force, after grabbing the raider’s battle saddle; weapon, in an aura of yellow telekinesis; and nearly two-hundred rounds of ammo, went back into the structure.

The old building was in need of repair, due to both time and abuse from raiders. Wooden floorboards were rotted away in the corners where rainwater would seep down the walls. The wooden ceiling above had multiple holes in it where the roof could be seen with even more holes. Within the room the group entered in, there was a ruined couch, a stained mattress, a rusted metal desk, and stairs leading up.

“Find a silver amulet?” Steel asked as soon as Force was inside. He shook his head and looked around to see the mare getting the two young ponies to lay on a nearby couch. The ghoul then headed up the stairs to check the two raiders above. The sniper looked at the setting sky and sighed.

“All right, looks like we’ll be spending the night here. It’s defensible enough, I guess,” he said as he walked over to the mattress in the corner and looked it over, finding blood and other disgusting fluids staining it. He scowled and set his bags, rifle, and the large gun down. Then, he pulled a dirty blanket out from the bags and laid it over the bedding. Finally, leaving rest for later, he walked to the nearby rusted desk with his rifle and started tearing it down, turning on his PipBuck radio, but keeping the volume low.

Steel came back down and Force told him the plan. With a simple nod, the ghoul laid down by the doorway, staring out at the wastes. Lavender looked between the two stallions and started to wonder what could have possibly put them together, when one of the fillies hiccuped.

She looked down at them on the couch and saw that it wasn’t a normal hiccup, but one from crying. She leaned closer to them and started to shush them quietly. Then, she sang.

Listen not to the sounds of war

Shroud your eyes from the sights of gore

Feel not the pain of loss this day

Fall ye not to endless dismay

Clear it all from your soul this night

Rest your body, forget your fright

Close your eyes, drift into a dream

And when dawn comes, look at life’s gleam

Rest now, young ones. Sleep through the night

Rest now, young ones. To dreams of white.

Soon enough, the lullaby calmed the fillies. She repeated it just as they fell into a quiet slumber. When she looked up, she saw Force staring back at her, but he quickly turned away and continued working on the gun as the sounds of music was replaced by a DJ on the radio.

“Got a late night update for all you wastelanders out there. It seems that team from earlier cleared out the slaver nest after all. And get this: they actually saved the ponies inside! I’ve always said there was good out there, and if they keep it up, maybe things can change.

“In other news, the stable dweller looks to have saved yet another village in her crusade...” Force set the volume down even lower before turning the radio off entirely.

Just as Lavender was going to ask why he turned it off, he simply said, “Reruns.” As he continued to work on his gun, using small bursts of magic to blow the barrel clean, she stepped over to the desk.

“Why are you two working together?” she asked just as he started assembling the weapon.

“Caps and backup for me. Like I said before, Steel’s just looking for an amulet.”

“And he listens to you without argument?”

“I’m sure there’s some argument in his head, but he doesn’t voice any of it, so why should I care?”

“But you’re working together. Surely you should learn about your teammate.”

“Ha! As soon as this is over, we’ll be parting, I’m sure.” Force finished his maintainence and went back to the mattress to lay down, facing away from her and setting the weapon down next to him. She glanced towards the fillies and the ghoul, as well as around the room, before deciding to get some sleep upon the hard wooden floor next to the couch.

---

The group slept soundly enough, except for the ghoul next to the entrance. The dark building made it slightly easier to see the wasteland as what little moonlight that pierced the cloud cover gave just enough light to see. In this dimly lit land, two figures could be seen approaching the structure. They walked confidently onwards before they spotted the darkened building.

The figures looked to each other and back at the building. Then, they bit down on their weapons and cautiously made their way closer. One held a shotgun while the other carried a nailed plank of wood. As they neared the structure, they found the bodies of fallen raiders. The two crept forward until they saw a pony resting by the doorway. Slowly, the one with the shotgun lowered the barrel towards the ghoul.

Steel’s eyes flashed open, instantly gripping the gun in his magic as he did so. Before the raider could react, the gun was pulled from his mouth and then used to pin him against the wall in one swift movement, blocking off his oxygen supply. The sound of the pony slamming against the wall awakened Force, who levitated his rifle and spun around to see the battle. In the dim room, the unicorn quickly slipped into SATS and watched the other raider bring his nailed board to the stallion slowly.

Without flinching, a bullet fired from the gun with lethal accuracy, flying straight through the head of the raider. With that one dead, all that was left was the single raider still being choked to death against the wall. The shot awoke the females and they all watched as Steel pressed the gun tighter and tighter to the raider’s throat.

Shocked silent, Lavender watched as the eyes of the raider rolled into his head and his body went limp. Steel pulled the gun from its position and let the pony fall like a ragdoll to the floor. As soon as the body was down, the ghoul turned the weapon and fired a finishing shot through the skull.

Silently, Steel moved to the position on the floor he had been earlier and closed his eyes once again. Force also took his sleeping position on the mattress, leaving the mare and fillies wide awake and looking at the corpses. After the shock left their systems, one of the ponies started to cry loudly, causing Force to stir.

“Make her shut up,” he said with a look to the mare.

“You just killed two ponies in front of them. What did you think was going to happen?” the mare asked just as the second girl joined the first.

“I didn’t expect anything to happen. I don’t usually deal with children, but then you had to bring them along anyway.”

“We couldn’t just leave them there.”

“I said to give them a gun. They’re your problem now, so you make them shut up.”

“Well, it would help if we took the bodies outside and hid them or buried them or something.”

“Great. You go ahead and do that then.”

“By myself?”

“Fine. Steel? Help her out.” Force then rolled over and closed his eyes, attempting to ignore the crying fillies.

The large stallion stood from his position on the floor slowly and walked over to the first corpse, lifting it onto his back with magic. Lavender frowned at the green unicorn before turning around and hugging the children. Slowly, the two quieted down to sniffles and she released them. As she asked them to stay still, Steel came back in and picked up the second body.

Lavender trotted over and followed the stallion out. They walked around a corner of the building before the ghoul unceremoniously dropped the corpse where he set two others. Then, she asked him to get the others as she started gathering debris, sticking with him to find enough to cover the bodies.

“Steel?” The pony made no response. “What do you think of working with Force?” He threw a body over his shoulder and picked another up in telekinesis, but made no move to answer her. “You fight pretty well, do you have any training?” she asked as she picked up a few dead branches.

They walked back around the building and placed the last two ponies down. She brought the branches over and set them on top of the bodies. After a small sigh, she asked, “Could you at least tell me about this pendant you’re looking for?”

Steel started helping her bring trash and dead plants over to hide the bodies. Then, he spoke up for the first time that night. “The pendant belonged to someone I knew before the bombs dropped, it’s all that’s left of them.”

He said nothing further as he stepped around the corner and headed back inside. Lavender followed him, thinking the job was done well enough, and saw him lay back down near the doorway. With one last sigh, she headed over to the couch and hopped up on it, cradling the still sniffling fillies close. After some time, they finally fell to sleep and the mare followed them into slumber.

---

Footnote: Level Up!

Force Factor: New Perk: Gun Nut: +5 to guns and repair

Skill Note: Small Guns: 50

Constant maintenance of your weapons allows you to understand them further, helping you work with them even easier than before.

Steel Wall: New Perk: Little Leaguer: +5 to melee weapons and explosives

Using other people’s weapons against themselves has increased your ability to utilize common objects. That is to say... bludgeons and things that go boom.

Authors’ Note: Another round of thanks to the greats that came before us. We’ve got a little challenge for you readers: Can you tell who made which characters?

Comments

[LucidTech]

990752>>1015003>>990270>>989885

We remade the first chapter a bit to fit what we plan for the rest of the story. What do you think?

And I'm doing this to try out the new buttons.

[StapleCactus]

1059230

You fool! What have you done! Now they'll get sucked into the endless loop that is "Good Girl" and never come back! AAAAAAAHHHHHH~~!

Oh hey, look, a quote button! Finally I can learn how to quote!