Fallout Equestria: Eschaton Storm

by TheCopperDragonBard

Chapter 2

Fizzlepop Berrytwist

The peace of her dreamless sleep was disturbed by a feeling of her shaking.

"C'mon, stranger, eyes up."

She started coming to, beginning to open up her eyes to see what seemed to be a purple blur and the green, reddish-brown, and gray of the outside world.

"Please, I need you awake."

She fully woke up, seeing her surroundings in full clarity.

"You're up! Good, good! I'm going to need your help, if you don't mind."

She turned to the source of the noise, and saw a stranger with her in the carriage.

He was... a unique pony, to say the least. He had the body type of a typical Unicorn, but had an elongated, reptilian snout, a thin coat of scales instead of fur, talons replacing his front hooves, and slit pupils, all akin to a dragon. His scales were a vibrant indigo with streaks of cyan, his mane and tail were bone-white with streaks of red and violet, he seemed to lack a Cutie Mark, and his eyes were two different colors- his right being a bright cerise, and his left being an aureolin yellow. He wore what seemed to be a saddle with a mechanical arm, with said mechanical arm holding onto a crimson rifle, as well as a tattered denim shirt and what seemed to be the offspring of a bracelet and a computer strapped onto his right foreleg, just above the claw. His shirt was a blood-soaked mess, and his right flank was bleeding.

She didn't attack him; he clearly seemed to be friendly, as he himself hadn't attacked, nor was attacking. Nonetheless, she remained cautious- one had to be in this world.

"Who are you?"

"A wanderer, much like yourself. But we should really get to know each other later. We really need to get out of here, as quickly as possible."

A multitude of horrible screeches echoed across the ruins, coming from the city.

"This is Roach territory, and since I'm assuming you've faced the Wretched Hive- what am I saying, who hasn't at some point- you do not want to trifle with them. They only know I'm around, but long story short, if we don't high-tail out of the ruins before they find us, we're both dead."

He leapt out of the carriage, and he proceeded to replace the clip in his gun, before turning back towards her.

"We had best head towards the city if we want to save our skins."

Fizzlepop got up, slinging her guitar over her back and leaping out of the carriage. "Isn't that where these Roaches would be?"

"They'll still be expecting us- well, me, mostly- to be out here, so they'll be searching for me around this area on that basis. The last place they'll be expecting us is an area even further into their turf than we already are."

More screeches came from the city, considerably louder.

"We need to move inside, fast. We won't survive out in the open like thi-"

Fizzlepop was already running past him, towards the ruined skyscrapers and buildings.

"I get the idea, let's just go!"

She and her companion began sprinting to safety(Fizzlepop quickly taking notice of his hobbling run, likely due to the wound in his leg). The dirt of the plains swiftly turned into concrete roads, and they slowed their pace, skulking around the ruined buildings while keeping an eye out for the ghoul raiders that had set up base throughout.

While they slunk about, her fellow survivor spoke to her again, whispering to her.

"I can't help but ask, why were you sleeping while the Roaches were in the vicinity?"

"The Roaches weren't in the vicinity when I dozed off. They- and you, clearly- must have come overnight. I had come her to rest, recuperate, maybe grab some supplies- since this place is one of the hardest-to-reach places in the wasteland, I thought it would be fine. I didn't expect anyone else to be here."

Before she could go on, the half-dragon grabbed her and yanked her behind a carriage, knocking them both onto the ground.

"Ouch! What was that for?" she whisper-yelled, still trying not to attract unwanted attention.

"There are Roaches ahead! Look!"

They both looked over the edge of the carriage to, indeed, see numerous Wretched Hive ghouls marked with orange paint patrolling what seemed to formerly be a plaza. She counted five- a drone with a regular rifle and a belt of six grenades, wearing a full helm with multiple eye holes, another drone who wore both a pair of leather boots wrapped in chain on his forelegs and a belt of five grenades, yet another drone who seemed to wear a tin can on top of her eyes which also had multiple eye holes, and one more drone who wore virtually nothing, covered with horrid tumors and boils all over his body. He carried a unique-looking gun, one that looked like a wedge with a grip, a trigger, and a barrel, of course. Fizzlepop couldn't be certain, but she would recall that being a magical energy rifle. The gang's fifth raider was a soldier that had a metal cap locking over his head and a couple of metal, wing-like protrusions welded to it, who had a revolver and a belt of six grenades strapped to his chest. There was also one other distinctive aspect about them- they had a pair of timberwolves locked in a cage that was chained to a lamp post, who gnawed on and tore at the bars continuously.

The drone with the helmet, rifle and grenade belt was rummaging through a box, assumedly some of the many supplies they had gathered during their brief time in the city. She tore open the box and dumped it over, causing a tremendous quantity of Twinkies to pour forward.

"Hey, guys!" she called, drawing attention to the other raiders. "Who's up for some Twinkies?"

Immediately, the raiders bolted over to the box, surrounding the sugary snacks and proceeding to unwrap and scarf them down. The broken-horned Unicorn immediately took notice of her companion's envious expression.

"Food... need food... must eat..." She saw the desperation, the urge, the compulsion in his eyes- the kind of feelings that would spur reckless action.

'Oh no...'

"NEED FOOD!!" he shrieked, aiming his rifle at the feasting ghouls. Fizzlepop was successful in knocking the gun away, but failed to stop him from pulling the trigger, causing the gun to go off, the bullet deflecting off a couple of walls before embedding itself into a stop sign. The Roaches all snapped their heads towards the two, their horrified faces visible from above the carriage edge.

"Hey!" the drone with the magic energy rifle shouted, his weapon already trained on them. "You shouldn't be here!"

The quintuplet of raiders fired upon them, accosting the two with a flurry of bullets and arcane energy. They thankfully ducked in time, avoiding the shots taken at them.

"Great work, genius! How are we going to get out of here alive now?"

"You know those timberwolves trapped in the cage that they're holding?"

"Oh, you noticed them? I thought you were too consumed by your hunger-induced mania to even acknowledge anything but those Twinkies."

"Har har. Anyhow, I reckon that they aren't being treated very well by their owners, because, you know, the Roaches are raiders. So if I shoot the lock off the cage, they should turn on their captors in an instant. At worst, they'll weaken them enough in both weaponry and health for them to be easier to pick off; at best, they'll just kill them for us."

Fizzlepop didn't even bother mull over the thought; she'd take anything that tip the odds of survival in their favor, even if it was only by a modicum. "Do what you have to do, just do it quickly!"

She saw the half-dragon scoot over to the edge of the carriage, aiming at the lock on the timberwolve's cage. She saw the lock shatter off with a spark of contact, and the cage door swung open.

The timberwolves wasted no time in pouncing on their captors, one whacking a ghoul off to the side with virtually no effect and the other tearing it's jaws into a raider's foreleg.

Satisfied that the heat was no longer on them, the two merely watched as the raiders fought their pets. In a bid to overwhelm the timberwolve's innate regeneration, those who had grenades used them; the ghoul with the rifle threw one at a timberwolf, the explosion blowing it's right foreleg and side to splinters. The drone with nothing but grenades and the soldier both chucked one of their own, the drone attacking the already-injured animal and the soldier hurling his explosive at the other. The wounded beast lost most of it's lower body in the newer explosion, reducing it to crawling on a single leg, while the previously-uninjured timberwolf got it's head blown off, causing it to wander around blindly. The group closed in for the kill, the drone with only a rifle and the soldier with the revolver combining firepower to shoot it twice in the head, temporarily putting it down. The other was completely splintered when the tumor-riddled drone fired a blast of mana upon it. With that said and done, all attention returned to them.

"Well... that didn't go nearly as well as I imagined..."

They ducked just in time to avoid another barrage coming their way.

"So, do you have any other half-baked Batmare-Gambit plans you'd like to share?"

"Uh, no."

"Good, because I have a plan. When I give the word, you start shooting."

"Wait, what do you mea-"

She didn't bother listen to his response, hurtling over the carriage and straight into the gunfire, charging up her horn. She fired a blast of emerald electricity into the fray, striking the drone with only grenades, causing him to collapse while convulsing spastically, dead. The lightning chained to two other drones, one with just a rifle and the other with the rifle and grenades, who also began shuddering violently.

"Nail those two!"

The hybrid complied, killing both drones with shots to the head. Meanwhile, the last surviving drone and the soldier fired upon her, the soldier firing a bullet from his revolver and the drone shooting her with the energy rifle. The bullet struck her foreleg, and the energy blast only grazed her, mostly slamming into the carriage behind her(earning a yelp of dismay from her accomplice). She felt the bullet wound and energy burns heal over just fine; they didn't really pose too much of a problem for a ghoul like her.

Retaliating, she fired another blast of electrical power from her shattered horn, striking both two of them and momentarily stunning them once again. Taking the cue, he repeated his previous feat, striking them both dead with headshots.

She turned back towards her partner, grinning triumphantly. He himself was also smiling, giving her a curt nod.

"Good thinking. I think you should call that team technique the One-Two Punch."

Her smile faded. "I wouldn't grow used to the concept, if I were you. Anyhow, let's keep going. We should probably find some way out of here."

"Are you kidding?" he stated, skittering around the carriage and searching the fallen ghouls. "I still need to scavenge all this stuff! I haven't had food in days, my rifle's down to two bullets, I mean, c'mon!"

He began tearing the clips off his former foes' rifles, either adding the bullets to his already-existing clip or stuffing the newer clip into the pockets of his shirt. After scrounging up ammo for his gun, he went over to the Twinkies(no surprise there) and began stuffing them inside of his pockets, and even into his shirt.

Rolling her eyes, Fizzlepop looked around for anything that may possibly help them escape the forsaken city- she turned around back where they came from... and froze.

She saw a mass of flying shapes heading back towards the city, howling and screeching. And they were heading their direction.

"We need to go, now."

"Huh?" the hybrid quizically replied, having actually gone to the labor to unwrap and eat one right then and there.

She whipped around toward him. "They're coming back. We need to move!"

"Oh, my dear friends, we were always here."

The two looked around at their surroundings, and before their very eyes, multiple Roach ghouls either slunk out of the shadows of buildings or crawled out of the buildings themselves, weapons of all shapes, sizes, and varieties trained on them. One ghoul in particular descended from the balcony of an abandoned apartment, an individual with stylized triangles of orange paint marring her body, armed with a sniper rifle and wearing a helmet that covered her entire face and was dotted with numerous eye holes. Fizzlepop would have sworn she saw a look blending recognition and horror plaster her partner's face.

"It was a trap?"

"No, of course it wasn't. Did you really think we'd send our entire force after you? No, it wasn't a trap; you were simply dumb enough to think heading into our primary territory was a good way to evade us." It was only then that she seemed to acknowledge the Unicorn ghoul's presence. "Oh, and I see you made a friend."

Fizzlepop would have made a remark on how she wasn't his friend, but it wouldn't have mattered either way. They both heard the search party fly in behind them, although one individual stood out from the others; he had no armor and the flesh of his face seemed to have melted over his eyes, giving him a faceless appearance with only his elongated horn jutting out. Even that, however, was not his most identifiable aspect; what was was that he was much bigger than the other raiders, standing at nearly three times their height and twice as long.

"Radroach, knock them both out."

Swifter than she would have expected and faster than she could prepare, the changeling colossus sprinted forward, bringing up it's hoof and knocking her unconscious instantly.