Fallout Equestria: War Never Changes

by jarmari

Chapter 14

Chapter 14:

Shame that sleep doesn't last as long as one hopes, it was about 11:15 when I was woken, barely 4 hours later. I'd probably have slept a lot longer, but at some point CB had ended up cuddled into my hooves and when she woke up she squirmed and shoved at me to try and get away, only to float me into the air and dump me on the ground.

“Hey!” I cried, flailing around to get my legs back under me.

“You weren't letting me go, I'm not a plushie to cuddle.” She said, hopping onto my back and down to the ground.

“You could just ASK next time.” I grumbled, standing up and yawning.

“Nice of you to join us.” Brutus said from the table. He and Crackshot had two piles of masks sitting on the table.

“What are you doing?”

“Cataloging the masks for Ruby. Seeing if they all have the same symbols...”

“What are these?” CB asked, floating one of the masks down.

“Careful.” I said quickly, stepping forward but a wing shot in front of me, Ruby coming in from the other side and kneeling down beside CB.

“Just hold it right there?” Ruby asked. “Don't try to wear it, it's not safe.”

CB nodded and held it out to Ruby.

“This is weird. CB makes another, very different set of runes. The female symbol is the prominent one with the male symbol wrapped around the base, but instead of rage it says 'submission', and this one says 'control'...I think it can sense the type of user holding or wearing the mask and it exerts a specific influence over that user. If Sugar were to put the mask on, it would make him a raging death machine, same with Brutus. If CB put it on it would make her submissive and open to suggestion.”

“Oh well we wouldn't want that would we?” Brutus laughed.

CB glared at the mask and tossed it back up on the table. “I don't think I like these things.” She said, turning away from them quickly.

“Oh don't worry CB we'd never dream of putting them on anypony. They're terrible terrible things, we want to understand them so we can stop the Pyros and make sure they never hurt anypony else.” Crackshot said, hugging the filly gently.

“I know, I still don't like 'em.”

“That's okay, neither do I.” Brutus said, tossing another into the pile.

“I think I've gotten everything I can from these things. We need to go into town and see what we can find in the library.” She said, tucking her little tablet computer back into her pouch.

“Where did you get that tablet?” I asked. “I've only seen you use it once before.”

“I made it.” She smiled, grabbing a mask and adding it to her pack. “We probably just need one or two masks for the trip since they all seem to be the same.”

“Buwah?” Was all I could manage.

“Oh Sugar come on.” She rolled her eyes and kissed my cheek. “I'm kidding. I found it in a library. It's insanely tough to charge it because the battery is 200 years old.”

“Geeze, I was gonna say...” I sighed, shaking my head. “You have far too many redeeming traits...”

“Oh don't worry there's lots about me that's broken.” She smirked. “You'll learn in time.”

“I like to learn.” I returned her smile, part of me knowing I shouldn't be flirting, but a bigger part wanting to so badly.

“ANYWAY...” Brutus interrupted loudly, standing up and grabbing two more masks and shoving them into his own pack. “Lets get a move on.”

//////////

The whole group of us walked down the highway towards town. It was nice to be getting out again as a group, despite our mission, I was glad things had mostly returned to normal. CB was perched happily on Brutus's back, her own armour nice and clean too, another of Crackshot's hangover tasks. Ruby and I walked up front together and Crackshot brought up the rear, though we didn't really need somepony covering our rear, she was insistent. My pipbuck was playing classic rock music, The Hoof Beats, Pon Simon, Neighvana, Foal Fighters, The Beach Bucks...

“Wow this music is so catchy...” CB said, swaying to the music.

“This was the best music.” Crackshot nodded.

“And it's older than you two?” Brutus asked.

“Yeah, when these songs were written we weren't even born yet. Our parents were just foals when some of these were written.”

“Shame DJ Pon3 doesn't play this music, all his stuff is older.”

“That's true. Maybe I should send it to Homage. I mean I connected to their system once before I'm sure I could do it again. They'd probably die to get their hooves on all this old music, and Homage is kinda cute, I bet I could totally score a date with her for giving her all this music.”

“Uhh, excuse me? Your fiancee is RIGHT THERE!” CB said, gesturing to Ruby angrily.

“Oh CB, he's just teasing.” Ruby laughed. We were going to keep that illusion in tact for as long as we could. CB was still emotional even if she did a good job of covering it up.

“He better be. I don't wanna have to smack a buck.” She said seriously.

“I'm just teasing.” I sighed, shaking my head and turning back to the road ahead. Two new green markers appeared on my Pipbuck ahead of us. “We've got company.” I said quietly to Ruby.

“Perfect they're right on time. Guys please don't shoot the two ponies that are gonna jump us in a minute alright?” She asked the rest of the group. They looked at her curiously but all agreed.

“3...2...1...” I muttered, and right on cue a blur leapt from behind a boulder, tackling Ruby in a big hug.

“RUBY!” Sky Wagon grinned down at the pink pegasus and nuzzled her happily. “I am SO glad you showed up, we were afraid you were gonna ditch.”

“Of course not.” Ruby laughed, pushing her off and standing up slowly. Bottle Cap emerged from behind the boulder. She was actually smiling this time though she was still very much reserved compared to her friend.

“Oh you two must be the ones Ruby told us about.” Crackshot said.

“I suppose we are yes.” Wagon nodded happily, getting up again and moving to stand with Cap. “So you're gonna take us into town?”

“There's a few rules but yes.” Ruby nodded.

“Alright...” Cap said suspiciously.

“Firstly, you have to prove to the town you can be useful and that you'll behave. You'll have to do that on your own. Second, my friends Ratchet and Clank are going to watch out for you until you can get settled. Thirdly I'm going to introduce you to my cousin if the town council agrees to let you stay, and she's going to be well paid by me to make sure you two behave.” Ruby explained.

“Yes ma'am.” Wagon nodded, putting on a serious face and saluting.

“Good, then I have just one more request.” She pulled a mask out of her pouch and sat it down. “Bottle Cap would you be so kind as to float this into the air with your magic and hold it with the inside facing me?”

“Uhh why?” Cap asked, stepping forward. “That's kinda weird...”

Ruby was fishing her tablet out of the pack so I spoke up. “We're going into town to investigate these weird Zebra runes...”

“They're GLYPHS.” Ruby interrupted without taking her head out of her pack.

“...Whatever. Weird Zebra GLYPHS that appear inside these masks whenever a unicorn holds it in their magical grasp. Ruby probably just wants to see what appears when a lesbian holds it.”

“I'm bi-sexual.” Cap answered flatly, like the term I'd used was somehow offensive.

“Even better.” Ruby said, setting the tablet on the ground and tapping it with her hoof. “Please?” She asked and the unicorn nodded, begrudgingly floating the mask up for Ruby to look at.

“Oh this is neat.” Ruby grinned. “The female symbol has a male AND female symbol wrapped around it.” She poked at the tablet for a moment then looked back to the mask. “Hmm...Chaos...self destruction...impurity...Wow, I'd say the mask is set to make you kill yourself.”

Cap dropped the mask quickly, jumping back towards Sky.

“Oh sorry sorry.” Ruby said, picking the mask up by a hose and sticking it back into her pack. “It doesn't do anything to affect you unless you actually wear it.”

“You should warn me before you ask me to do something like that.” She snapped.

“Oh Cap you need to lighten up.” Wagon said, kissing her horn gently.

“Can we just go?” Cap asked, pulling away and starting down the road.

“Yeah I've got everything you can give me.” Ruby nodded, putting the rest of her stuff away and starting after her. The rest of us kind of looked at each other but shrugged it off and kept going.

//////////

“Wow, rock and roll is so much better than that weird classic stuff they play on the radio.” Wagon said as we started down towards the entrance of the town, 'Mr. Tambourine Buck' just ended, so I switched off the music.

“Actually that song is considered 'folk' music.” Crackshot said. “A band called The Birds re-sang the song and it had more of a 'rock' feeling to it, but it was still very much like that version.”

“Wow...there's a lot of music out there isn't there?” Wagon asked.

“Yeah there is.” Crackshot grinned. “It's sad we lost so much of it to time and the war.”

“Well I have a few thousand songs on here.” I tapped the Pipbuck. “Soon as we get back I'll see if I can get through to Homage and DJ Pon3 and send the songs on to them to get them on the radio.”

Ratchet waved to us as we got closer and I could swear I saw him blush at the sight of Brutus but he looked fine by the time we got close enough to talk.

“Well hello stranger.” He smiled to Brutus.

“Ratchet...” Brutus simply nodded his head and the other pony looked a little disappointed.

“So this is Sky Wagon and Bottle Cap. They're the ponies I told you about the other day.” Ruby said, pointing to the two, who smiled sheepishly.

“Oh? I remember some mild drunken ramblings about trying to help 'those two cute fillies on the road' but I never caught their names.” Ratchet laughed.

Ruby blushed but just nodded. “So they're going to apply for citizenship here in town and you two will watch out for them?”

“Yeah and Lily is going to make sure they stay in line?”

“Of course.”

“Okay, well you two can wait here with me until Clank gets here to escort you to the town council.”

“Fair enough.” Wagon nodded.

“I'm going to stay here too.” Ruby said. “Just to make sure things go as well as they can. Sugar why don't you and CB go to Firebird's and get together the books we need? Lily has been dying to meet CB.”

“Who's Lily?” CB asked.

“My cousin, you'll love her.”

“She certainly makes an impression.” I nodded.

“She's going to do something like that again.” Ruby said seriously, though I saw the glimmer of humor in her eyes.

“Alright well that's fine, I'll make sure it goes well.”

“Good good.”

“What about us?” Crackshot asked.

“Well since we're taking up some kind of semi-permanent residence in the Medical center we should touch base with the ponies in town who stayed here after the attack and see about getting everypony regrouped out there.” Brutus said.

“Aww are you sure you can't stick around for a while and talk? I know Clank really wants to meet you Brutus.” Ratchet said.

“I suppose we can stay for a bit, not like we have anywhere else to be for the foreseeable future.” He shrugged.

“Alright good plan.” I laughed. “You guys all stay here, CB and I will go do real work, come on squirt.”

CB sighed and hopped down off Brutus's back and fell into line beside me and we started into town.

We entered Firebird's store and again we found it empty.

“Wow they have so much stuff here.” CB said, looking at the rows and rows of stuff for sale.

“They also have hundreds of books upstairs.” I pointed a hoof towards the upstairs and CB looked up at them and smiled.

“Well I guess books are okay too.” She nodded.

“You guess? That hurts. I love books.”

“Well that's fine, books and me are just friends.” CB said, poking around at a display of toys on a shelf.

“Alright well don't make a mess, I'm going to see if I can find Firebird or Lily to help me with the books.”

CB just nodded, she was already lost in her curiosity of the toys.

I wandered back towards the counter. I could see Lily's special marker on my EFS and moved towards the curtain. “Hello?” I called, sticking my head through the curtains. She was sitting on the stairs and waved to me quickly. I moved behind the curtains and over to her. “How does this work?” I asked

She grabbed my leg and pulled me up the stairs into the second floor hallway. “You just stay out of sight, sneak your way around the second floor so you can see the counter clearly.”

“Okay...” I nodded, moving to the doorway that lead out to the books. Lily flashed green and became a young emerald green pegasus filly, about CB's age, then walked out onto the second floor.

“Hi!” I heard her say excitedly.

“Oh hi.” Came CB's equally happy reply.

“I'm Thorn, who're you?”

“I'm CB.”

“Whatcha' doin'?” I saw Lily's indicator move across my vision so she was probably flying down to CB.

“Just looking at the toys while I wait for Cane to get help with the books.”

“Oh? Who's Cane? Your Booooyfriend?” Lily teased.

“No, he's my da...my friend.” Her voice caught and I heard all the mirth drain from her tone, I heard something else, but that might just have been my heart breaking at little for the poor filly.

“Oh well that's fine. Where'd he go?” I had to give Lily props, she was very good at moving away from awkward subjects very quickly.

“Uhh behind the curtain into the backroom I think.”

“Oh?” I saw Lily's indicator move towards the doorway. “Hello anypony back here?”

I heard the curtains rustle and saw a flash of green light, then silence. Finally I saw CB's indicator move towards the curtains and I quietly leaned out and saw her move behind the counter and look through the curtains so I took the chance to move myself out onto the second floor, positioning myself right where Ruby had been that first time. It really was a perfect view.

“What's all the racket?” Lily was on the second floor again, done up as Firebird.

“Oh.” CB jumped back in confusion. “I'm just looking for my friend, he went into the back room to look for Lily and then Thorn went back there and there's no one back there. You're Firebird right? Ruby's aunt? I've seen pictures of you before.”

“Yes I am.” She nodded, coming down the stairs. “Don't worry little one we'll get this figured out.” She lifted CB up and set her on the counter. “Now let me just see what's going on back here.” She wandered behind the curtain and I saw another faint flash of green then I saw Lily, this time as me, emerge from the backroom.

“Hey CB.” She grinned and the little filly looked relieved.

“Don't wander off like that, I was worried! Where'd Firebird and Thorn go?”

“Firebird is supposed to be in the town square meeting with caravaneers, I don't know who Thorn is.”

“What? But they just went into the back room!” CB jumped down and looked into the backroom.

“Come on CB, lets go back and play for a while.” Lily said.

“Nuh-uh, something funny is going on.” CB replied, her horn lighting up so she could see the whole backroom.

Lily flashed again and turned into CB. “Aww come on! You don't want to play alone back there!”

CB flipped through the air at the sound of the voice and screamed in horror. “What...what...what...” Lily broke into a fit of laughter and I couldn't help but do the same. CB looked up and saw me on the second floor.

The humor was short lived for me though because CB broke down into tears just in time for Firebird to come through the front door. “What is going on in here?” She demanded, seeing CB crying and Lily in tears of laughter, and me perched in the victim viewing area. “You two should be ashamed!” She snapped. “I expected better of you DOCTOR Cane.” She said angrily, moving to CB and hugging the filly comfortingly. “Don't worry little one, it's not as bad as it looks.” Firebird glared at Lily who finally transformed back into her normal form.

“You...you're a Changling?” CB asked and Lily nodded. “That's so cool!” CB broke into a big grin and Firebird let her go. “So that's how you meet new ponies? You scare and confuse them?”

“I'm sorry if I upset you.” Lily said seriously.

CB just shook her head. “Don't worry about it, it was funny. Can you turn into anything you want ? Or does it have to be a pony?”

“Oh I can turn into pretty much anything.” She flashed and became a snake, then a Sand Dog, then a zebra, griffon, fish, turtle, dog, cat, phoenix, owl, rabbit and alligator before turning back to herself. “See?” She asked, panting softly. “It can take a lot out of me to change that many times that fast.”

The two of them got lost in a conversation and I realized Firebird was standing beside me looking none too impressed. “You shouldn't do that to her. She's your responsibility now, you have to take care of her and protect her.”

“I know.” I said sheepishly. “I'm just very new to all this and kind of overwhelmed. I guess I'm treating her the way I would want to be treated.”

“You're an adult, it's a very different thing.”

“I know.” I said again. “I'm sorry.”

“Just because you and Ruby aren't getting married anymore doesn't mean that you don't still BOTH have to start acting more like responsible adults for the sake of CB.”

“I know.” Was all I could think to say. I was never very good at being addressed in this way.

“You better.”

“I do.” I nodded. I didn't know what else to do.

“Alright.” She said simply and started to leave.

“I...I need some books.” I said dumbly then recovered. “We found these weird glyphs...” I launched into the story of the guard attacking his wife and everything we had learned so far about the masks and the markings inside them. “...and so Ruby decided our best bet would be to see what kind of books you might have on the subject so we can do more research.”

“Alright. Well I think I can help you.” She nodded. “Give me 10 minutes to go through the books?”

“Sure.” I said. “I'm going to go apologize to CB...”

“That's a good idea.” She turned to the books and left me to go.

I walked downstairs and realized Lily and CB weren't sitting on the floor anymore. I looked around for a moment and realized they'd moved into the back room. I walked towards the curtains and I heard CB sob softly. Sticking my head through the curtains slowly I had to bite my tongue to keep from crying out in surprise. CB sat on the couch, forelegs wrapped around Lily's neck and sobbing into her mane. Lily however had changed in EB, a picture of her sitting on the table in front of them. Lily had her own legs wrapped around CB and was talking softly to her. This time I definitely heard my heart breaking. I stepped into the room quietly and as I got closer I could hear CB muttering apologies. “Mommy I'm so sorry I couldn't help you. I should have stopped that guy faster. I shouldn't have gone away for the night...”

Lily was trying to reassure her and offer her consolation. I knelt down and put a hoof on CB's shoulder. “Sweetie look at me...” I said softly and she slowly looked up at me, her face soaked from tears and she sniffled quietly.

“I'm sorry...” She choked. “I-I shouldn't h-have ask-ed her to ch-change.”

“You don't need to be sorry...” I said, floating a tissue out of my bags and wiping her eyes gently. “You have every reason to be sad.”

“I just need...” She paused and looked from me to Lily and back. “One last thing?” She asked Lily quietly and the changling nodded.

CB got up and hugged her close. “I'll be good for Cane and Ruby. Bye Mommy, I love you.” She kissed Lily, who was crying quietly, then nodded and turned back to me as Lily changed back to her normal form slowly. CB hugged me close and just sat and shook gently, all cried out and just trying to compose herself again.

Lily gestured towards the doorway and looked at me questioningly mouthing 'I should go?' I nodded and she floated silently into the air and left us alone.

When CB finally calmed down and relaxed she sat back and looked up at me sadly. “I think I'll be okay...” She said softly, pulling herself back up onto the couch. “Getting a chance to say goodbye made me feel a lot better.”

“Well that's very grown up of you to say, but you don't have to worry about being sad, you're allowed to be sad, you have me and Ruby and Brutus and Crackshot...we'll always make sure you have somepony to hug and cry with.”

“You sure I can't just go back to drinking?” She asked, laughing softly.

“When you're older maybe.” I said sitting beside her on the couch. She rested against me and just got quiet for a long time.

Firebird was just on the far side of the curtain trying to peek in discreetly.

“CB...” I said softly. “Do you feel up to a joke?"

She looked at me curiously but nodded.

"Okay, Grab the curtain with your magic and pull it aside when I say so and shout boo...”

She saw the shadow move around beyond the curtain and smiled and nodded again.

“Now!"

She whipped the curtain to the side and I grabbed Firebird in my own grip and pulled her end over end into the room, crashing her into the couch on the opposite side of CB as we both shouted “BOO!”

Lily was standing just behind the counter, setting a few books down when we did and she burst out laughing as Firebird squirmed to try and recover from what had just happened.

“That's not funny!” The pegasus said, rolling around and righting herself.

“It was pretty funny.” CB grinned.

“Did you need something Firebird?” I asked.

“I...I just wanted to tell you we got all the Zebra Symbology books I have.”

“Oh good thanks.” CB said, hopping off the couch and starting for the entrance of the room.

“So I take it your talk went well?” Firebird asked.

“That it did.” I nodded, watching CB. She was all smiles again, looking at the various books on the other two had put together on the counter and either butchering the names of them or flipping through them and making faces at the pictures inside.

“Children are resilient. It's a hard thing to go through but she's lucky to have you.”

“Rosa always said I'd be good with children since I was basically a big kid myself. I always figured something like that would make me LESS suited to being a parent not BETTER suited.”

“Oh, speaking of being suited...” Firebird said, getting up off the couch. “There's someone else you should talk to about those glyphs.” She dug through a file and came up with a map, rolling it out on a desk. “A Zebra by the name of Xeha. He used to be a tailor, he'd come into town once a month to sell his wares. A few years ago while he was here his village got attacked by the pyro collective. He lost his whole family, everything he had. We offered him a home here and he opened a shop in town selling clothes. About a year ago his grandson showed up looking for him. He'd thought his grandson was killed in the pyro attack along with the rest of his family. They worked together for a few months but the council found out they were using dark magic to try and draw the pyros out so they could get revenge. The council forced them out of town and they've been living here.” She pointed to a spot about an hour from town. “There's a cave down there they set up in.” My pipbuck chirped and added the location to my own map.

“How do you know all this?”

“I have connections.” She replied simply.

“Oh that's helpful.” I grumbled.

“I didn't say it was.” She smirked and I had the oddest sense of deja Vu but I wasn't sure why. “Lily followed them discreetly.” She said finally, shaking her head. “I don't know how much more they might know about Zebra glyphs but it's better than just going through all these books.”

“What's better than just going through these books?” Ruby asked, coming into the backroom. Brutus and Crackshot were looking through the books on the counters curiously and CB was telling them about Lily's transformation prank.

Firebird moved out to the counter, rolling out the map and reexplaining about the zebras outside of town to the rest of the group.

“Alright,” Brutus said, “Ruby, you and Crackshot stay here and go through the books, the rest of us will go to the cave.”

“Uhh...” CB said quietly. “What about me?”

“I said the rest of us were going to the cave.” Brutus said, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. CB lit up and danced side to side.

“Hey hey, calm down.” I laughed. “It's a serious trip, you have to be prepared.”

“Do I get a gun?” She asked, making everyone in the room burst out laughing.

“Honey you are WAY too young for a gun.”

“Aww but how do I defend myself?!” She demanded.

“Tell you what pipsqueak how bout we go out back and I'll teach you this.” Lily said, her horn glowing brightly before firing a burst of magical energy that exploded harmlessly against the door of the store. “It's not much but if you get attacked you can knock the gun out of an attackers grip with it and usually stun them enough to get away.”

“I think that's a good compromise.” Ruby said and I nodded so the two headed outside.

“Don't be too long you two we want to move out as soon as possible.” Brutus said.

“Don't worry, 20 minutes she'll be able to do it, 20 more and she'll be good with it, 20 more and she'll be a master.” Lily said, waving and closing the door behind her.

“Alright, so we'll go out, meet with these zebras and then what?” Brutus asked.

“I don't know...” I shrugged. “We get all the information we can and then we come back here and try to figure out where to go from there.”

“Well aren't you a heaping helping of hopeless.” Brutus sighed.

“I'm kinda pulling all this outta my ass right now.” I said sarcastically.

“Hey hey ladies, you're both pretty now stop arguing!” Ruby snapped, pushing between us. “We'll figure the rest out when we get back!” She glared at both of us and we just nodded sheepishly. “Good, now lets get some supplies together and give CB a chance to learn that new spell.”

Firebird broke into a big grin, all to happy to switch to shop owner mode and help us shop.

Footnote: Level up

Perk added: Foal at heart: This perk greatly improves your interactions with children, usually in the form of unique dialogue options.

This fanfiction is based on Fallout Equestria by Kkat; a familiarity with the source material may aid your understanding.

You can read Fallout Equestria by Kkat on Equestria Daily

The Fallout: Equestria logo used above was designed by DotRook, who, according to the original deviantArt page, allows usage in supplementary materials created for and associated with the series. Images really do make a difference, so he has our eternal gratitude and respect.

If you enjoy Fallout Equestria Side Stories, you will want to check the Fallout Equestria Side Stories post on Equestria Daily and the Fallout Equestria Side Stories thread on Ponychan

The Ponychan group is also a hatching ground that you can join if you want to share your experience, writing or comments with us.

Comments

[Delvius]

Hello there! I am Delvius, author of FOE New Roam, and I am here at the request of one 'Killer931' -- as he is known on the wiki.

I am here, as it is, to inform you that I shall be placing your story on the fallout Equestria wiki.

If you need anything, just contact me.

[Delvius]

There we go, it's on the wiki and the side stories list.

War Never Changes

[jarmari]

1656615

Oh, wow...thanks

I don't know what else I might say. Glad to have it there Thanks so much

[Delvius]

1658579 You're welcome! If you ever need slmething done with the wiki, just tell me.