Fallout: Equestria, Forgotten Light

by SilverAura

Fallout: Equestria, Forgotten Light Ch4

Fallout: Equestria

Forgotten Light

Level 4:First Encounter

Slums.

Only word that really sums up this town, the buildings were made of scrap and wreckage of the city. The town seemed to mainly consist of a street leading to the river, and a single street to either side. Some of the ponies here looked to be like something out of a horror movie, my first reaction was to try to get my assault rifle out but Cloudy Melody stopped me.

“They're ghoul ponies, I’ve seen some before through the cameras. Anyway we need to get some ammo don’t we, and some directions.” I hated to admit it but she was right.

“What the heck are Ghoul ponies!?”I didn’t like the looks of them if she meant those zombie like things.

“They are ponies that were unfortunate enough to get caught in the blast of a balefire bomb, and not die from it. All the ghouls in this town are not feral though, so you have nothing to worry from them.” A strange pony with a green coat and mane to match told us before walking off into a store. At least I think it was a store, I couldn’t really read the sign out front as most of it seemed to have fallen to the ground to be swept into the pile of rubble. many of the other building’s signs looked in similar shape. The buildings didn’t seem to be faring much better.

Calming down I said to Cloudy Melody “Well, where do we go first? I don’t suppose you know where the shops are.” After I said that one of the Ghoul Ponies walked up to us

“Oh, you two look new, I’ve never seen you around here before. I’m called Tigerlilly I run the inn.” She certainly seemed energetic, for looking like a zombie,”wait a minute, you look familiar, have we met before?”

“uhh, I’m not sure wh...”

“I RECOGNISE YOU NOW! You’re that Equestrian Skyguard guy who always gave me a big tip when I worked in the diner near here, Silver something” she was THAT Tigerlilly!?

“H-how did you live for so long!?” Cloudy Melody never told me that someponies survived like this.

“Not here, let’s get you in to the inn, hurry” for looking like a corpse she sure could pull hard Cloudy Melody followed behind me looking as confused as I felt.

Inside the inn she kept pulling till the three of us were in a back room and she closed the door, “What was that all about?”Cloudy Melody voiced the question that was buzzing through my mind.

“Sorry, but I couldn't let the Pegasus Enclave hunters find you, if they did then you would probably be killed on sight. Do you have your armor still?” now I was even more confused than ever.

“Whoa whoa whoa, slow down, what’s this about Pegasus Enclave hunters? and yea I still have my armor but I doubt they still use the same design now.” I didn’t know what this was about, but I had a feeling that I was about to find out.

“if you’re going to head out put on your armor, the Pegasus Enclave won’t attack if you’ve got the armor on. They chose to take over this town because of the river, it’s their main supply route for getting goods from the surface while they hunt down Dashites.”

“Let me stop you there, I’m guessing you want us to do something about it. I’ll bet you expect us to go in armed as we are too.” I was skeptical if this was really what she wanted but it seemed likely that if she was keeping us hidden from the Enclave right now that she didn’t like them being here.

“Well...ummm...yea, I was going to ask you to help sabotage the supply routes or the Enclave camp here. But I wasn't going to send you in armed as you are now, you can each take your pick of one weapon I have back here.” She lead us over to a box that had several guns in it, mostly just more assault rifles and ammo for them.”Take your pick.”

“I think I’ll take an assault rifle” Cloudy Melody was giggling as she took one and slung it over her back. I chose just to take enough ammo for the both of us, I didn’t need another assault rifle.

“So how do we get into the camp? and why do you want them gone?” I had a feeling this wasn’t going to be simple as walking through the gate and cutting a wire.

“Well...if you are going to be helping anyway I guess you would find out sooner or later anyway...very few ponies in town want the Enclave here, but most are too scared to do anything about it.”she started to explain, “you should be able to get into their camp wearing your armor, they might think it strange that you use such an old armor but you should be ok for the most part.”

“One more question... Why should I trust you?”I had a feeling Cloudy Melody was about to say something about how because I knew her 200 years ago I should trust her now.

“How can you ask that Silver Aura!? If you knew her 200 years ago why not trust her now?” thank you, and goodnight.

“No, Miss Melody, he has good reason to doubt me. You would do well to learn from his example, few ponies in the wasteland are truly trustworthy. The merchant with the Skewered Pony Cutiemark for instance. He would sooner turn you into the Enclave than help you willingly. He lead many naive Dashites to this town before only to have them captured by the Enclave, they were Dashites that had only just left the clouds as well.” her story would explain why he had lead us here, he probably thought we would get killed or captured by the Enclave. Him believing us must have been a part of the ruse to get us here. ”He didn’t count on you having the armor, you should be able to sneak in, set free the captives, and shut down the Enclave base here without them realising it.” well, she was starting to gain my trust, but I still didn’t like this idea.

“Fine, we’ll do it. For the Dashites, I like what I’ve heard of them so far. It will be nice to meet some in person” I was still a bit reluctant but it wasn’t like I had anywhere else to go.

*** *** ***

The armor felt like it needed some serious maintenance. Not only did the tail spike keep flickering, but as I had crashed at least once or twice in this armor during battle the built in magical energy weapons were of no use at all ,most having broken off completely long ago. Getting to the south gates was the easy part, getting through them proved to be only slightly harder as Cloudy Melody was not being cooperative.

As it would turn out Cloudy Melody being uncooperative helped me get inside with her, but now the Enclave thought I had her as a captive. I really hoped that I would be able to get through this with little resistance. My hopes were confirmed up until I reached the prisoner cells.

They were in the ruins of an old bank, all the prisoners were behind the bars of the vault. Many of them were Pegasus Ponies with a branding of Rainbow Dash’s Cutiemark over their own Cutiemarks. There was around 20 ponies in the vault, 5 of which were unicorn ponies that were probably from the town itself, if I could free them then we might be able to work together to take down the base.

“Another rebel huh, take her weapons and throw her in the cage”a male Enclave pony to the right of the cell door said. A female Enclave pony to the left moved forward to confiscate Cloudy Melody’s assault rifle, I had been told to take her ammo at the gate to the compound so that was safely stowed in my saddlebags.

“Hand it over” I said to Cloudy Melody, things seemed to be according to plan and so far I counted about 10 Enclave ponies in the base total. If we could set free the captives then maybe they would be able to not only take out the Enclave base here but take it over. I did hope that if they did take over then they would be friendly like Tigerlilly was.

After I saw that Cloudy Melody was in the cell with the other ponies I left to find where the Comm Tower for the base was. According to Tigerlilly it could be rewired to be usable by the Dashite Unity. I still didn’t know why I chose to help Tigerlilly, this could turn into my grave if I wasn’t careful.

Sneaking around the base was...difficult to say the least. There were more Enclave ponies the further in I went. Defiling the armor they wore, the armor that was made to help the Pegasus ponies to protect Equestria from the Zebras, now being used by Pegasus ponies that were hunting down the ones who followed Rainbow Dash and chose to help the ponies that could not fly. I could not let this stand but I had to remember why I was here, reprogram or destroy the comms array, rescue the captives, destroy the Enclave supply building.

How I was going to destroy the building I didn’t know, but I had hoped there would be explosives in it. Passing by a warehouse(number 17 according to the number on the doors) I saw the comms tent and further beyond that I could see a heavily guarded building. It stood several stories tall, probably the harbor control center. From what Tigerlilly told me the supply building would be the second warehouse from number 17.

Walking casually as I could from warehouse 17 to warehouse 18 re-enforced in my mind what Tigerlilly said about wearing the armor helping with sneaking around. The Enclave ponies didn’t seem to notice that I wasn’t one of them. It wasn’t until I reached warehouse 19 that I ran into a bit of trouble. The warehouse guards were checking dogtags before letting anyone in, not to mention the only stealth weapon I had was not currently usable, not without a replacement gem and replacement connector for the gem.

I waited till the guards left between shifts, hoping that when they did there would be an opening for me to get into the building. While I waited I reflected on the plan.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“The supply building is in the back of their base, warehouse 19. You should be able to reach it by going around warehouse 17 and then following the waterfront past the other warehouses. Before you can get into it a trap will need to be set, Cloudy Melody that’s where you come in. The Enclave will probably tell Silver Aura to take you to the prison in the base, in there you will need to unlock whatever they are keeping the captives in and take out the guards quietly then wait for the signal to attack from Silver Aura.” Tigerlilly stated as the plan

“What will the signal be? I won’t know if it’s time to attack if I don’t know what the signal is.”

“I hadn't thought of that, I guess that’s up to Silver Aura.”

“I’ll blow up the supply building, the explosion should take out some of the Enclave’s numbers in the base as well as being loud enough to be herd even if you are several stories underground. If I can find explosives in the supply building.”

“That sounds like a good signal, while the 2 of you are in the base I will be getting some of the other citizens here ready in case the Enclave decides to attack out here when the signal is given. I should be able to get around 20 people together by the time you set off the signal.”

“What about if they try to call for help when the attack starts? I doubt we can take on a full attack force with just a few weapons and 20 ponies.”I was doubting if this plan was going to work.

“That’s why you also have to either reprogram or disable their comms tower. I’m not sure where it would be in the base though.”

“Well... let’s get going then” after that I put on my armor and we set out to the gate that lead to the harbor being used by the Enclave as a base.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The plan seemed harder and harder to pull off as time went by. I was starting to think that heading back to the comms tent to take out the comm tower would be better to do than to wait for an opening when it came. The guards at the door to the warehouse left, when they were far enough I dashed over and got into the building. I was lucky again, right near the door was a crate of grenades. Taking several I creeped my way through the building planting them in key locations.

As I set the grenades about the building I took a few supplies for myself and Cloudy Melody, 5 recovery potions, 3 sets of bandages, and a medical brace. When I set the last grenade I found a crate marked “laser rifles” looking inside I found only one badly damaged rifle, it was also missing it’s gem and wouldn’t work. however the gem connector was intact and probably salvageable. Reaching into the crate I took the rifle and slung it over my back to take apart later.

Back at the crate of grenades I got ready to set them off and using some string on the ground I tied a grenade up so I could pull the pin from the doorway. Getting ready to run I pulled the pin and dashed out of the building like it was on fire, leaving 2 confused guards at the doorway. The next shift must have started, as I got around the corner of warehouse 18, number 19 exploded sending shrapnel and bodies everywhere. It was deafening from where I was.

Soon after regaining my hearing I herd gunshots coming from the directions of the town, Cloudy Melody must have been successful, but I still had one more thing to do before rejoining her. Sneaking around to the comms tent I noticed that the area was not as well guarded as it was earlier. Once I got to the tent I saw that there were only 3 Enclave ponies inside.

Activating S.A.T.S., I fired at the muzzles of 2 of them that were staring at me, striking one of the weak points of the armor. The third pony was cowering in a corner, probably a recruit who hadn’t been on the surface long, I walked over to them and asked “what’s the password for the terminal?”

Apparently the pony was a mare and as I suspected hadn't been on the surface long. “Th-the password is Cloudkiller, the name of our commander,” I guessed if she wasn’t so scared that her armor was likely to rust near her flank she probably wouldn’t have told me it was the name of the commander. “P-p-please I didn’t even want to join the Enclave, I wanted to follow my best friend as a Dashite.”

I couldn’t understand why but when she said that I believed her. “If you really want to be a Dashite how bout starting with removing that armor. You likely won’t live long if you keep it on when the others get here.” We could both hear the battle on the other side of the base, slowly getting closer and louder. I punched in the password and disabled the comms array until the Dashite Unity can re-purpose it. “You most likely will need to prove your really a Dashite to the other pegasi, I can’t help with that as I only recently arrived myself.”

As she took off her armor I couldn't help but notice her cutiemark, it was glowing as though it had only just appeared. Was she another late gainer like Cloudy Melody? “Your cutiemark is rather interesting.” I said pointing at her flank at the rainbow colored... it looked like a terminal... there was also a scroll coming from the terminal as though a cross between tech and retro.

“What do you mean? I don’t have a...” she stopped as she stared at her flank “OHMYGOSH! I GOT MY CUTIEMARK!” it felt like I was looking at a Pegasus version of Rainbow Spring when she got her cutiemark. I also felt... well... happy, it felt almost like I was back home again, almost like I wasn’t in a wasteland with death nearby. When she calmed down she said “When you told me that I would need to prove myself I remembered collecting records and stuff back in the clouds for fun, and how I could remember any obscure fact I knew off the top of my head. Oh I almost forgot to introduce myself, I’m Iridescence, but I preferred to go by Iria(Eye-rah). Umm, th-thank you for not shooting me.”

I will admit, she did look cute when she said that, her magenta coat masking her blushing only slightly. Her pink mane fell into her face, covering one of her light purple eyes, after she said it which just added to her cuteness in my mind. “You know, you really remind my of my sister, but she was a pink unicorn about a year older than me.” the battle was probably 2 warehouses away now, the conversation had distracted us as the battle drew closer.

“Sounds like they are almost here, the Enclave can’t find us, not with my armor off.”she was getting scared again, it really feels like she were a younger pegasus version of my sister. This felt strangely comforting.

“well, then you better hide under them... they weren't friends of yours were they?” I had shot them down without thinking, now I felt like it might not have been the best idea.

“Actually...”oh great, I killed her friends, “they were always mean to me, always calling me a mess up or a blank flank, I never really had any friends in the Enclave after my best friend left, she was the only one who really understood me... I miss her.” she looked about to cry but I couldn't comfort her right now, not with the battle growing closer.

One warehouse away now, I dove toward her dragging her to the corpses and I quickly put her under them saying, “be quiet until you hear from me, I need to hide somewhere nearby and I don’t want you to get caught.” after that I moved quickly to find a spot just outside the tent where I can hear what happens in it and still be hidden. I was only just in time as the battle reached the command tower, the Enclave ponies retreating while they fired back on what looked to be the entire population of the town as well as the ponies we rescued.

Leading the town’s forces was Tigerlilly, and at the front of the rescued ponies was Cloudy Melody, wearing her combat armor again and firing the assault rifle like she had unlimited clips for the thing. I had a feeling I would need to teach her moderation with her shooting and ammo consumption. Three of the Enclave ponies went into the tent, when I herd their voices they sounded pissed. “We need to call reinforcements” a male pony from the sounds of it ”where is that little twerp with the password?”

“Looks like she finally went after that traitor Dashite, what was her name?” a female voice, sounded almost sensual in a insane kill you on sight sort of way. “Oh wait, her name doesn’t matter. All that matters is that we kill both of them on sight now.”

“Oh, look what I found it looks like the little traitor hiding under our fallen brethren.” another male, this one sounded crazier than the other 2 combined. “Let’s kill her after we get the code”

CRAP! They were going to kill Iria, I can’t let them do this! “Don’t touch her!”I screamed running through the door with my own assault rifle floating in the air next to me. I had the rifle trained on the muzzle of the pegasus who had Iria by the tail my wings out to block the entrance of the tent. Soon after I screamed and was in the entrance of the tent Cloudy Melody was galloping with 2 other unicorns toward the tent.

“Good to see you’re still alive Sir, and I see you’re getting a hang of using magic, or at least telekinesis.” Even now she fails to notice that the Enclave are about to try and kill someone!? “oh, who is she?” she points to Iria “I don’t think you Enclave ponies know this but we’re the good guys and from where I’m standing you look like the bad guys.”

“Kill them” I figured the female enclave pony was going to say that. I opened fire taking out the pony with his hoof on Iria’s tail, almost at the same time as the enemy taking aim Cloudy Melody fired on the female and one of the other 2 unicorns took down the remaining Enclave pony.

“Th-thank you. I was scared they were going to kill me even with you there” I couldn’t help but to give her a hug, wrapping a foreleg over her and squeezing.

“I would never let anything happen to someone who reminded me so much of my sister, Rainbow Spring.” I broke the hug then turned to Cloudy Melody and gave her a hug as well, “thank you for coming over to help, are they 2 of the rescued ponies?”

“Yea, but that’s not the best part, they are both members of the Dashite Unity, the Enclave locked up their armor in the command center though. Apparently there are ponies of all kinds in the Dashite Unity.”

“Well, let’s go get the armor then. I think with the battle this close the building should be empty.” I started to lead the way out when Iria stopped me.

“It won’t be that easy, they protect anything they keep in there with at least 2 guards and several turrets. Usually more if the base is under attack.” Iria looked like she really didn’t think going in there was a good idea. “not to mention I don’t know where they keep the stuff they take from prisoners in there. I just know they put it in the building.”

“We’ll have to find someone who does and get the info from them then. Try to be stealth as possible till we get the armor location, if an Enclave pony shoots at you, shoot back.” This wasn’t my first covert mission to retrieve something in the heat of battle. And this battle was bringing up lost memories of many of the battles I had been in. I still couldn’t really remember them properly, but I could remember enough to be able to think straight here. “Let’s Go, and remember to stick to the shadows, take down a guard quietly to not alert the others.”

*** *** ***

Twelve guards, that’s how many we took down trying to find somepony that would tell us where the armor was. Now we were nearing the commander’s room of the base, all 5 of us still alive, and for once it wasn’t because of luck that we were doing so well. The Dashite Unity unicorns were very well trained, taking down more than their fair share of the guards using their horns to impale the Enclave ponies through the skull.

The commander’s room was locked but not a problem. only took one broken bobby pin to get in, inside the room was Cloudkiller, and 2 guards. Cloudy Melody and I took down the guards simultaneously aiming for the muzzles of each of them. The other Dashite Unity unicorns moved to guard the door, Iria followed me and Cloudy Melody to the desk that Cloudkiller was behind, looking like he didn’t care that the Enclave ponies under his command were getting killed.

“So, you finally turned traitor Iridescence. I wondered how long it would take, and I see your cutiemark reflects your choice.” He sounded too calm for someone at gunpoint.

“Enough, Iria has chosen to help us, so you can’t continue treating her as you did. If you do you will have to answer to us.” I really didn’t like this guy.

“Really, another traitor among the group? Why do you stand up for her, were you not one of the soldiers who made fun of her on a regular basis?” He couldn’t tell I was not one of them?

Removing my helmet I looked him straight face to face. My mane falling down having been tucked into my helmet to help with sneaking around the base, and to keep from having further gaps in defence in the back of my head. “I was never one of you, I am Silver Aura and if you thought they were floating the gun next to me, guess what, that’s me as well.” I herd a gasp from my right, where Iria was when I said my name and took my helmet off. “I’m the one asking the questions here now. Where is the Dashite Unity armor, and I recommend you talk fast.”

“Do you really think threats will get you anywhere? I won’t be persuaded so easily. Do what you want, I will not tell you a thing.” time for plan B

“Say word reaches your commanding officers that you just sat back and let your subordinates get killed. Do you really think they would accept you back after hearing of that? Tell us where the armor is and we will at least act like you did something to try to hold us off.”

“You wouldn’t do that, even if I did tell you where the armor was.”

“Your choice, tell us and have a chance of keeping face with your Commanding Officer, or we will find it on our own causing even more of a hit to your reputation and possible dishonorable discharge.”

“Fine, the armor is being stored in the basement the security code is 71842”

“Good choice, let’s go and put on a show for the cameras.” We charged out of the room like we were running from him, and we soon reached the basement door without running into anymore guards.”Get ready, if the guards are all down there then we have a bit of a fight ahead of us.”

We ran down the stairs and burst through the door at the bottom to find that only 2 inactive turrets were down here, and no Enclave ponies. “Don’t suppose they retreated while we were with Cloudkiller do you?” Iria asked.

“I don’t know, but we should try the security code in the terminal over there.” I was pointing at a single terminal next to the door behind the turrets. Moving over to it I put in the code and was smiling when it worked and the terminal had an option to unlock the door and options for the turrets. I unlocked the door and saw beyond were dozens of sets of Combat Armor, they must have captured a supply caravan that was taking some armor to other Dashite Unity members.

There was more armor here than would fit just the 20 we saved. The armor was a light blue, on the chest and flank armor parts Rainbow Dash’s cutiemark could clearly be seen having been painted there, just above the middle saddlebag on the armor was a small extra piece of armor with an image of Rainbow Dash herself painted on it. All of the armor screamed Dashite.

Taking as much of the armor as we could carry out of the room and to the front entrance of the building we met face to face with one of the pegasus ponies we rescued. “It is good to meet you, our rescuers. Ah who is this little pegasus with you Silver Aura?” The male pegasus spoke with a kind but strong voice, I had a feeling he might have been a Dashite Unity commander. The other Dashites and citizens were pileing up the bodies of the dead removing the armor from them as well. I suspected they were going to do a mass cremation, most likely so the bodies did not rot and cause more problems.

“Wait, how did you know my name? I never met you outside bringing Cloudy Melody to the cell to break you out.” This was just too creepy.

“Well, Cloudy Melody told us about you and herself being here to rescue us. After what happened here I believe you are indeed a great pony, also I am Shinkaru a commander in the Dashite Unity. Now can you please answer my question?”

“Her name is Iridescence but she prefers to go by Iria. She is a new Dashite, and she got her cutiemark just before the battle reached the comms tent. The new password is ‘DashitesUnite’ capital D capital U one word, I figured that would be a good password for the Dashite Unity.”

“Well, without the brand to show you are both true Dashites, I’m afraid not even Iria can join our ranks, Cloudy Melody is welcome to join though as she helped us escape.” The commander seemed slightly arrogant, but I understood his reasoning why Iria and myself wouldn’t be able to join, even if I hadn’t asked to.

“No, if Silver Aura can’t join, then I can’t accept any invitation to.” Cloudy Melody had a point, I wasn’t going to be ok with letting her leave my side again unless I had a plan that would make sure I was able to find her again.

“Shame, well if you prove yourselves to the Dashite Unity then we may contact you in future. May the Goddesses watch over you both.” Threw me for a loop.

“The goddesses? Who are they?”I had no idea who he was referring to as goddesses but I am pretty sure it’s not Rainbow Dash.

“Luna and Celestia, the goddesses, in the Dashite Unity any new Dashite who did not know about them was taught about them.”well, that clears that up.

“Before we leave, we need to get some map data to try to choose our next step.” not to mention find out what was where, “If you need our help later, you will need to find us.”

“Actually Silver Aura, we could use your skills again, there’s been word of another location with Dashite captives. We don’t have anyone available to do this mission as well as you could, especially with you being able to wear the armor of our enemies.” He nodded to a unicorn who had a pipbuck of her own and soon after I received a map marker on my own pipbuck. “that is the location of the other captives, if you can rescue them it would be greatly appreciated.”

“If you’re going on an adventure please take me with you, I don’t have anyplace to go anymore.” After everything that happened today for Iria I couldn’t refuse, especially since she reminded me of my sister.

“Fine, you can come with us, and I’ll accept that mission, anything to mess with the Enclave. If that’s alright with you Cloudy Melody.”

“I’m all for doing some damage to the Enclave, and it’s good to have you with us Iria.”

LEVEL UP
Level 5
New Perk:Pony of the Night: Your eyes adapt quickly to low-light situations
Companion Perk:Archivist:with this perk it is easier to find more important documents in terminals or journals

Comments

me again, im at chapter 2 and im rly liking the story so far, you should get an editor to help you with all the small grammar and writing mistakes in it tho, ill comment more when i read it all the way to chapter 4

[glaber]

Their ghoul ponies, should be "They're ghoul ponies, "

[StormyVenture]

4166
I agree. You could use some help with a few things.

Some examples from this chapter:

Only word that really sums up this town, the buildings were made of scrap and wreckage of the city. The town seemed to mainly consist of a street leading to the river, and 1 street to either side.

You should use 'one' instead of 1 or possibly rephrase that part as 'a single street to either side'.

“Their ghoul ponies, I’ve seen some before through the cameras.

You mean 'they're' which is a contraction of 'they are' rather than the possessive 'their'.

“They are ponies that were unfortunate enough to get caught in the blast of a balefire bomb but not die from it.

What kind of verbal construct is 'but not die'? Just seems weird to me I guess. You could make that 'and not die' since they both were caught in the blast and didn't die of it.

a strange pony with a green coat and mane to match told us before walking off into a store.

You should capitalize the letter a when a sentence begins with it, just as you would normally capitalize the first letter
of the first word. It isn't necessary but you could say use mare or colt instead of pony if the gender of the pony would be obvious.

At least I think it was a store, I couldn’t really read the sign out front as most of it seems to have fallen to the ground to be swept into the rubble piles.

That should probably be 'seemed' given that it has likely been that way and this is sort of talking about it after that the fact. Also, I'd recommend making that last bit 'piles of rubble' instead of 'rubble piles'.

“No Miss Melody, he has good reason to doubt

That's 'No, Miss Melody...' unless you want to make No. it's own statement. Especially since it really feels like an interjection.

“I’ll blow up the supply building, the explosion should take out some of the Enclave’s numbers in the base as well as being loud enough to be herd even if you are several stories underground. If I can find explosives in the supply building.”

It's heard, not herd. A herd is a group of horses, or perhaps ponies.

“That sounds like a good signal, while the 2 of you are in the base I will be getting some of the other citizens here ready in case the Enclave decides to attack out here when the signal is given. I should be able to get around 20 people together by the time you set off the signal.”

You're using numbers again, when writing you should use the word for the number, in this case it's 'two'. For the number 20 it would be 'twenty'. Also, just to be OCD you should use 'ponies' instead of people to be in keeping with them not being people.