Fallout Equestria: Influx - Under the Red Cloud

by Lex the Pikachu

Prologue

Fallout Equestria: Influx
Under the Red Cloud

Prologue

“Hey captain, do you smell that?”

“I do, private.”

A squadron of enclave pegasi escorted a vertibuck heading towards a new research site. Inside, a team of scientists, all clad in lab coats, observed this noticeable change of environment with caution. One of them spoke up.

“Captain, this smells like sulphur. Maybe we should go around it.”

“We’re already behind schedule because of that storm we had to avoid over the Grogar Mountains. We can’t afford another lengthy detour. We push on.”

“I don’t like this, Archimedes,” said another scientist, strapping herself in. “I can smell copper as well.”

“I know, Dew Feathers,” agreed Archimedes.

“I can smell something else too. Maybe it’s old world gold or something,” piped yet another. “And it’s getting stronger.”

The rest of them buckled up, expecting a turbulent flight. Soon, however, they began to hear heavy coughing coming from their escorts, and the pilot.

Archimedes rushed to the window and gasped in shock. The sky had turned a deep crimson and all the soldiers outside were hacking and wheezing, as if the air filtration systems in their power armour had somehow failed.

“IT BURNS!”

“Can’t breathe!”

“Captain… CAPTAIN!” Archimedes shouted. All he received in reply was wet coughing.

Suddenly, all the guards began to fall out of the sky. Archimedes swore he could see heavy corrosion on their suits. Then, the vertibuck started nosediving. The cabin filled itself with screams of terror, as well as a red mist seeping in through the ventilation ducts. Soon enough, the aircraft was spinning, too, and Archimedes, having stepped out of his seat, found himself being thrown around inside the cab. He crashed and banged against every surface before he violently slammed into one of the windows and smashed right through it.

He was immediately assaulted by the toxic air, and so he quickly held his breath. He got his bearings and opened his wings. As he glided, he could see the thick red clouds thin out until an old resort villa and a towering building on a cliff came into view. Although it was incredibly dark under the red cloud, powerful spotlights aimed at the tower illuminated the area below.

He soon had to breathe, but luckily found that the sulfuric smell was significantly lesser at this lower altitude. Looking around, he gasped in horror as he watched the aircraft plummet and slam into the top of the tower, exploding violently and sending chunks of debris that rained down onto the villa. He felt a pang of sorrow and guilt, for he knew the two scientists, both of them long-time colleagues and friends, were still inside. He also witnessed three of his security detail slam into the ground all around the villa. The only source of relief came when he caught sight of the last two regain control of their flight and glide their way down to safety near the villa.

He coughed and sputtered as he located what appeared to be the largest piece of wreckage and swooped down. Once he landed, he could hear the sound of a bell ringing in the distance, along with a strange howling noise akin to a degraded alarm system. He approached the wreckage and discovered it was part of the storage compartment. He salvaged what he could, including several bottles of water and a couple of sealed canisters of food. Sadly, a majority of other supplies and equipment were too damaged for him to use. Suddenly, the sound of shuffling reached his ears, and he turned around to see what looked like a pony in a dark brown hazmat suit with glowing green goggles, stumbling from around a corner.

“What the hell is that?” Archimedes asked himself. The creature continued to approach, and as it got closer, he noticed that it seemed to have what looked like a bear trap strapped to its hoof. “I need to regroup with what’s left of my team and call for help.” He turned tail and ran.

Unbeknownst to him, a tall shadowy figure watched from a nearby balcony.

“Interesting. This may be the opportunity I have been waiting for.” It grinned darkly. Plans and schemes ran through its head. “Welcome to the Sierra Maredre, my new friend.”

Comments

[Asolem2]

I really liked the "Dead Money" dlc for New Vegas.

It was pretty fun to go from being nigh-unstoppable, with enough ammunition and stimpaks to supply a small army.

Into barely having enough ammunition and healing items to survive a single careless fight

I also remember working way to hard to get all the gold out