Arefu, late-2279
“No, no, no...” Dom muttered.
She looked around hopelessly, refusing to believe what she was seeing. “God damn it,” Sentinel Sarah Lyons muttered.
“Those bastards,” Gallows said quietly.
The settlement of Arefu, built on an old overpass bridge and the fields around it, had been destroyed. The ones who had set up on land had gotten lucky, their homes reduced to piles of scrap. Those on the bridge had suffered a much crueler fate. Not only had the bridge been attacked, it had been blown up. What was left was lying in the dried-up Potomac River.
“How the fuck did they do this?” Dom asked, walking slowly towards the rubble, the servo-motors in her T-45d helping her climb over the rubble. She strained her eyes and managed to see the remains of shacks made from scrap. From this distance it was impossible to see any bodies. She was thankful for that.
“You think any got out?”
“I hope so, Gallows,” the Sentinel muttered.
To the south, a pair of Enclave troopers sat on a rock. “There they are, power-armoured boy scouts.”
“Do you have to call them that?”
“It’s what they are,” the first one replied. “The rifle any good?”
The second one looked at the old sniper rifle they had stolen from a mercenary. “Should be. Looks like it’ll just fall apart, though.”
“Give me gauss weaponry any day,” the first one grumbled. “Think you can make the shot?”
“Should be easy enough.” The second one shouldered the weapon and looked down the scope. “I’ll have to compensate for drop... wind... Which one should I go for?”
“Take your pick.”
“What the...?” The one with the Sniper Rifle leaned forwards slightly. “Holy crap, it’s her.”
“Her? You don’t mean...?”
“You seen anyone else with one of those wrist computers?” the sniper asked excitedly. “If I kill her - ”
“Take the shot,” the first one interrupted. “Take the fucking shot, we won’t get this lucky again!”
The Enclave sniper pulled the trigger. Four hundred yards away, Dom fell to the ground with a scream.
“Holy shit!” Sarah looked around, and saw the glint of a scope and two armoured figures running. “Gallows, help!”
“This is Gallows, we need Vertibird extraction, now! Paladin Esposito is hit, and we have two Enclave personnel running south. They may be part of a larger force, so send reinforcements too.”
Dominica forced herself up with a grunt and unholstered her plasma pistol. She fired wildly in the general direction of the Enclave sniper, using all the power in the energy cell before collapsing. “Oh shit,” Lyons muttered.
“How bad is it?” Gallows asked, pulling his R91 Assault Rifle off his back.
“They got really lucky,” Sarah said, jabbing Dom with a Med-X syringe. “Hit the servo, sent shrapnel everywhere.” Gallows didn’t say anything, instead opting to stand guard. “I don’t think we can save it.”
Veronica was the first out of the chariot, jumping from it before it landed. For her eagerness, she landed face-first after losing her balance.
“Real smooth,” Dom said as she walked over to the Scribe.
“Shut up.”
Thomas walked up, flanked by the two ponies on either side. “So, what’s the plan?” he asked as Veronica pushed herself back up onto her feet.
“Shadow Dancer and I will go to the town hall to assess the situation there and provide assistance if necessary,” Shining Armour said commandingly. “I can trust you three to help?”
“Sure, why not?” Veronica dusted her armour off and looked around. “Wow. Colourful.”
“Thank you, Captain Obvious,” Dom said snidely. “With observational skills like that, you’ll make Elder in no time.”
Veronica shot a glare at the Paladin that, due to her helmet, went completely unnoticed. “This is nothing, wait until you see the rest of the ponies,” Thomas said with a snicker.
“You mean what we saw in the castle wasn’t nuts?” the ghoul asked.
“I feel insulted,” Shadow Dancer muttered unhappily.
“Look, you can poke fun at us later, we have a job to do!” Shining said irritatedly.
Thomas opened his mouth to respond, but instead spun around and pulled the trigger of his shotgun.
A Diamond Dog had unfortunately chosen that moment to burst out of the ground in an attempt to take the counter-attackers by surprise. What he got for his trouble was a face full of fire as the shotgun spat a fifty-foot long tongue of flame out of its barrel.
“How’d you like a face full of Dragon’s Breath, you furry son of a bitch?” Thomas taunted as the Dog writhed on the ground in agony.
Shining and Shadow stared in shock for a moment before the latter slit the Dog’s throat with a shadow to stop its pained howling.
“Did you really just do that, Thomas?” Veronica asked flatly. “Really?”
“What do you mean?” he asked as he pumped his shotgun, ejecting the spent shell.
“You just called a dog-thing a ‘son of a bitch’,” Dom said, clarifying the situation.
The four waited for the shotgun-wielding black man to get it. “Fucking...” he muttered as he placed his left hand on his face.
“That wasn’t real dragon’s breath,” Shadow said with a roll of her eyes. “Real dragon’s breath wouldn’t have left a body.”
“I do the best with what I have,” Thomas retorted.
“You two can argue later, my sister is likely running herself ragged keeping that barrier up!” Shining yelled.
Twilight Sparkle took a deep breath as she poured more power into her spell. All around her the residents of Ponyville milled about nervously, some clinging to each other. Ponyville was well-known to suffer the occasional disaster, and the unspoken plan was to congregate in the town hall. In the past this had saved countless lives, but those events had been monsters wandering out of the Everfree, or more recently Discord’s insane warping of reality. By holing up in one place, they had inadvertently saved the Diamond Dog attackers from having to search the town.
“Twi, you can’t keep this up.” Rainbow Dash detached herself from the throng of ponies and walked slowly towards her friend. She could see the sheen of sweat coating the unicorn’s body, and the blood vessel that threatened to burst in her forehead.
“I have to,” the mare said through gritted teeth. “I need to protect everypony.”
“Twi, you need to rest. You can’t keep this up.” Rainbow landed next to her and looked into her eyes pleadingly. The rest of what she was going to say was cut off by a loud, familiar voice from outside.
“This is the Royal Guard! We are here to help!”
Twilight’s eyes widened. “S-Shiny?” she asked quietly. Her horn fizzled out and the bubble around the town hall disappeared.
The heavily-armoured stallion slammed open the door, damaging the hinges and wall it was attached to in his haste. The gathered ponies stared in a mix of awe and trepidation at this intruder.
The metal pony ignored the stares and rushed towards the purple unicorn, who chose that moment to collapse. “Twily!” Shining Armor caught his sister in his telekinesis and set her down softly.
“Sir!” A stallion called out from the civilians and made his way to the Knight-Commander. “Thank Celestia you came.” The gold-armoured pegasus looked as though he had just flown the Pegathlon, and had more than a few gouges in his armour.
“Give me a sitrep.” Shining Armor said commandingly, entering full-military mode to block out his sister’s condition.
“The Deltas attacked about an hour ago. We weren’t able to repel them with just two pegasi and a unicorn, so we rounded up the civilians and got them to meet up here.” He winced as he moved a wing. “Got more than a few scratches keeping the Deltas away. Beacon got hit pretty bad, but one of the doctors from the clinic is taking care of him.”
“Okay, it’s not that bad,” Shining muttered. “Still a bucking disaster, but we can recover.” The stallion pulled off his helmet and looked at the pegasus. “What about the other pegasus...?” He trailed off, realising he didn’t know who he was talking to.
“Oh, Private Overcast, sir,” the pegasus said after a few moments. “Corporal Hailstorm left about five minutes after the attack. She didn’t say why, though,” he said uneasily.
Before Shining could question the private any further, he was barrelled over by a pair of mares. Ignoring the pain and slight embarrassment, he righted himself and realised that he knew who they were.
“The school! She went to the school!” The orange-coated, blonde earth pony mare looked at him desperately, her face etched with worry.
“The school?” Shiny was confused. Why would Hailstorm go to the school?
“It’s just terrible!” The white, purple-maned unicorn faced him, her make-up ruined by tears. “I can’t imagine what it’s like for poor Sweetie Bell...”
That name was familiar to him. His jaw dropped when he remembered why.
Thomas looked down the sight of his shotgun uneasily. “Where the fuck are they?”
“Hiding,” Dom growled, keeping a finger on the switch that would send the blade of her Auto-Axe spinning.
Shining Armor had instructed them, along with Shadow Dancer and Veronica, to wait outside the town hall, both to keep watch and because the ponies would panic even more.
Without any warning whatsoever, the shield reappeared. The four turned to see Shining Armor, still without his helmet, poke his head out from the door.
“I’ll stay here and keep the townsfolk safe! You four need to get to the school! Now!” Before any of them could question him, the door slammed shut.
“What did he just say?” Veronica asked, pointing at the space the Commander had just occupied.
“Why would we need to go to the school?” Shadow asked loudly in Zebrican, hoping for some input.
Thomas’ expression turned grim. “We need to get moving.”
Dom’s expression had hardened. “Blood and Steel,” she muttered.
“A school?” Veronica sounded shocked. “That’s just...”
Author’s Notes:
If anyone says that the Enclave sniper destroying Dom’s left arm with a lucky shot isn’t possible, remember that the T-45d is quite primitive compared to the T-51b, and even more so compared to the Advanced Mk II. The T-45d is all riveted steel plates, with subsystems and electronics exposed or not as protected as they should be.
And yeah, a Dragon’s Breath round does in fact shoot fire about fifty feet . That’d be a on a good day, though. You’re more likely to get somewhere between thirty and forty.
The Royal Guard uses a phonetic alphabet. I haven’t got all the particulars worked out, but it’s definitely not the same as the NATO or Western Union phonetic alphabets.
Sweetie Bell was a flower girl (filly?) at his wedding.
Next chapter, I Pinkie Promise. (What does she actually do if you break one of those, anyway?)
To deny any of you idiots, I claim this post.
Also, take a look at the Wayward Courier TVTropes page. Yes, I have one of those.
yay new chapter, to bad its over now...
ooh well i suppose i can wait for MOOOOOOAAARRRRRR!!!!
Still waiting for the fic where someone breaks a Pinkie promise and doesn't give a shit.
Ever heard of "Cupcakes"?^^.
No, seriously, we saw in the last roundup: she goes crazy, hunts you down and... demands that you apologize.
(Note: anypony who hasnt heard of cupcakes, resarch at you own risk. Im not taking responsibility for exposing anypony to that atrocity.)
Duh, you get a cupcake in your eye
next chapter i demand gorey as fuck badassery
1412041
I found out enough about the plot from comments...still can't believe something that grim exists...
And wow, a school's being attacked? Man, either these poor saps have REALLY good backup, or they have a deathwish...
1412060
Dog's logic: One teacher and a bunch of foals that can be forced into labour.
It's actually a rather intelligent move.
Of course the children are trapped in the school! Probably already kidnapped and dragged away too...
Time to hunt some dogs.
I haven't read this update yet, but I feel I must comment on your new Profile Pic.
That nurse was a fucking Bitch.
I was just wondering.
Isn't the Pipboy supposed to be on the left arm?
1412158
Yes.
Why?
1412161
It that in your stories' cover art the protagonist has the Pipboy on his right arm.
(Lightbulb)
Two Pipboys! Twice the AP.
1412164
The guy who drew them obviously has no care for Fallout canon. Frankly, given how the pictures turned out, I think he's kind of entitled to that.
1412063 Only for the same dogs that foal napped the CMC to realize that Thomas is in front of the school waving a finger at them.
1412178
No, that's not Thomas' style. You see, he has entered the state of Tranquil Fury, the state of rage so deep it goes right back around to calm. This is the state of mind that will let him tear someone's heart out and take a bite from it before they die from the shock.
And he has a shotgun filled with Dragon's Breath shells.
1412185 My mistake. Those dogs will arrive at the school only to find out they were already dead.
When this battle is over, exactly how much is Veronica going to freak out over how adorable the CMC are?
1412224
Probably not as much as she will when she meets Rarity, somepony who can design and make her a beautiful dress.
1412233 I expect many a squee from her.
So is Dom's saw a regular auto ax or is it the unique weapon 'Man Opener'?......
Should be "didn't say why"
Other than that, hurray an update! Even if the story took a while to get moving and the chapters are tiny, I still love it.
<Dramatic Music>
Is Thomas using Dinner Bell?
Where the hell does thomas even find dragons breath ive never seen it on fallout
1412487
It's comes with the Gun Runners DLC
1412512 seriously I missed out on some good shit then
Sounds to me that Diamond Dogs will soon be on the Endangered or Extinct list soon enough.
1412178 1412185 Besides, he killed all of the DDs that kidnapped the CMC.
*poink!*
Dragonsbreath rounds? Are those pieces of IRL handheld bad-flankerry actually in the game somewhere?
(Yes, dear readers, those do exist. and not recommended for use inside the home...)
1412015 New Rooster teeth Avatar? Niiiiiice.
At this point... I completely lost my shit. My family is still asking what's wrong.
Totally worth it.
1412990 No, he left two of the 3 that talked in the show alive and the other one without a leg
“Oh, Private Overcast, sir,” the pegasus said after a few moments. “Corporal Hailstorm left about five minutes after the attack. She idn’t say why, though,” he said uneasily.
*didn't
yay you made me a very happy man. nice use of dragons breath shotgun shells. Im also wondering if big mac is trying to protect anyone? he seems the type of pony to do so
didn't
So, are they going to face an enemy that actually has some chance of causing harm to them anytime soon? You've got not one, but three power armoured, heavy weapons wielding aliens and the Royal Guard's special forces versus a pack of sizable dogs clad in rusted iron armour at best and with intelligence that may rival that of a chimpanzee. There's also the potential of a single rogue pegasus guard, but that doesn't seem likely.
1412015
There four separate references to Thomas screwing Luna. dl.dropbox.com/u/31471793/FiMFiction/emoticons/misc_Pinkie_loool.png
1416338
Firstly, you must be the tenth reader to point that out.
Secondly, why do you assume things are so simple? Also, only one of them is power-armoured, and she kinda limits the effectiveness of that by limiting herself to close-quarters combat.
1416366
Are you saying that's a good thing or a bad thing?
1416414
Firstly, sorry, I only skim through the comments.
Secondly, we are talking about the same people aren't we?
The man who annihilated three Royal Guards with regeneration enchanted amulets using his fists, along with wiping out the Fiends, putting down the Powder Gangers, walking into Caesar’s tent and putting two holes in his head as his entire elite guard watched, beating the Monster of the East to death with his own helmet and whatever else he did in the Mohave and beyond.
The ghoul who is healed by radiation, took out three gryphons and sent a unicorn guard running scared with her fists, along with all the achievements she racked up in the Capital Wastes that I can't be bothered to type.
Plus a member of the Royal Guard's Knights. The one who, if memory serves me correctly, kills changelings with their own shadows.
Oh, and Veronica too.
Those guys versus a horde of dogs that were defeated by a vertically challenged horse's whinging.
Sure, you could pull some sort of ace for the dogs, but realistically, look at those odds.
1416472
Firstly, Dom beat those griffons and that unicorn with a padded training sword. That actually sounds more terrifying, now that I think about it.
Secondly, she can manipulate any shadow. Just the effect of seeing a shadow rise up and strike against its owner is so terrifying it's one she uses the most.
The D.Dogs that took Rarity in the show, and the ones that took the CMC in the last story, were more of the 'maraudering bandit' variety. This time, it's actual war. So that means better equipment, better training and better tactics.
1416494
Just like how the Enclave and the BoS were at war? And the Legion and the NCR? Look how that turned out for them.
1416508
...
Please stop poking holes in my arguments. Maybe you could spend that time better, like, say, writing "From Skies Above"?
1416527
i.imgur.com/vihOY.jpg
1416534
I take it I won?
1416537
Nope, there are still holes in your argument.
The funny thing is, From Skies Above is what prompted me to begin the argument in the first place.
1416544
I wouldn't mind a sensible, logical argument with another rational-minded individual. Let's say we move this to PMs so we don't clog this up.
1416576
If you can find a way to counter my last point, feel free. dl.dropbox.com/u/31471793/FiMFiction/emoticons/misc_Spitfire_rape.png
1416586
Fuck you, I think you've won this.
1416601
dl.dropbox.com/u/31471793/FiMFiction/emoticons/misc_Cloudchaser_dealwithit.png
Victory is mine!
If you ever do manage to come up with a response, feel free to take me on. dl.dropbox.com/u/31471793/FiMFiction/emoticons/misc_Spitfire_rape.png
Nice chapter as always, and can't wait for the carnage!
Thomas should have brought a FIDO with him.
HELL YEAH! Dragons breath rounds!
I saw that FPS Russia episode!
So awesome!
I suddenly got the idea for FPS Equestria.
FIRST PONY SHOOTER!