The morning after
Fallout Equestria : Wasteland
By: Token
Chapter 1: Just Another Day In The wastes
Well, you know what they say; hindsight is always 20/20.
Sometimes, I really just hate my brain. If I thought through most of the things i end up in I probably wouldn’t be in so much shit half the time.
Granted I do live in a wasteland which is the wonderful byproduct of mega spells and the such burning everything to a crisp with radiation and fire and after a couple hundred years give or take not like anyone uses calendars anymore right? I have to deal with all the mutated freaks and cannibalistic ponies as I try to make a living by being a scavenger or mercenary possibly even a merchant. To be honest, it really depends on how I feel when I wake up, and what I can scrounge around.
So like most ponies Trying to scrape by an existence in this oh so wonderfully cruel world I tried to sell some recent items i had acquired. the usual assortment of pistols cookware and fine junk was on display when wouldn’t you know a few gang mares show up putting the moves on me! Now like the kind gentle Colt I am I happily offered the two a more in-depth look at my stock at my place.
So after giving a very in-depth and critical look at my “wares” I tuckered the poor girls out so i let them stay the night only right after such a long night looking at some fine “stock”. A good idea right?
Apparently not.
“Good... hell,” I groaned as I shifted around. My head was killing me, more so than the usual hangover. I raised my hooves up to rub my head, help some of the pain to go away, but I couldn’t move them. Slowly, I opened my eyes and found myself tied up like a hog.
And a couple of gangmares going through my inventory.
“Hey! Just what do you thi—”
I was cut off as one of the mares turned towards me, levitating a wicked looking shotgun. “Hey, Cuts, looks like your boyfriend is up.”
The other mare turned around and regarded me with a smirk before tipping another crate over, and sifting through the contents with a hoof. I winced at the action. That was my livelihood. I lived mostly as a scavenger, so anything that I could find and trade or even sell was how I survived out here. “Not yet, Saddles,” she said quietly. “No telling what other goodies he might have stashed elsewhere.”
I silently cursed myself as I glared at Saddles. This was the last time I bring mares back to my place. Honestly, I didn’t know what I was thinking. But had I thought a little bit harder, or maybe not drank as much, I probably wouldn’t have ended up where I am now.
I looked around for a way out— carefully though as that other mare, Saddles, still had her gun trained on me. Really never thought I’d have to plan for a situation like this. My place— if you could call it that— was this little old shack someone built back in the day up against some rockside for no reason. Still, I had made the place work, strung some lights and even got a small generator that still worked. Surprisingly, these obviously well armed mares and actually pretty hot looking, hadn’t torn that thing out of the wall yet.
I could see the early morning light began to seep through the holes and cracks in my roof and walls, lighting the place up some more. There were the crates they were going through, the cupboards already looked like they rummaged through it, and my trusty rifle were missing from their usual resting place on the wall. Still, there was my knife, right under my coat over the chair. If I could jus—
“Damn, Desperado, you ain’t got shit in here,” said Cuts as she turned and looked at me. What the hell was I thinking? Charging two gangmares, not only being tied up, but obviously well armored and armed. I wouldn’t be able to get up, much less to th—
“Can I kill him yet?” asked Saddles, a hint of hopefulness in her voice.
“No, I got a better idea,” she said as she pulled out a knife, my knife. Dammit. “I didn’t get to thank you enough for the rousing performance last night, Des,” said the mare as she brought the knife up and inspected it. “The ending was a bit lackluster though.”
“I think the problem was with the user, not the equipment,” I chided back, earning a swift kick from Saddles. My string of curses was cut short as I felt a booted hoof press down on my chest, causing me to wheeze.
“Cute, but I’m not in the mood today, lover boy,” replied Cuts. I watched as she licked the edge of the knife, before it disappeared. “Say, would you like to see why they call me ‘Cuts’?”
Honestly, no. But I didn’t get a chance to convey that message before I felt searing pain shoot up my flank, I jerked back in response, instinctively trying to get away from it, but it stopped almost as soon as it started.
The twisted mare, Cuts brought the knife back into my field of vision, and licked the blood off the edge. “Yummy,” she said as she paused. “I could do this all day, Des. I’ll cut you up real nice and slow like, until you squeal.”
“I’m not really the sort of bondag gak—” Her hooves are now one my throat, my vision is turning red as I struggle against the bonds trying desperately to get out. The pressure finally subsides a bit, enough so I can get a few coughs out before glaring back up at her.
“You really are something, I’ll give you that,” said Cuts, with a low chuckle. “Much better sport than these worthless settlers. So, where shall we cut next? Saddles?”
“You could take that smug ass grin off his face,” replied the other mare. She was somewhere behind me, I think. I hear a few plates break, and a couple of my favorite mugs. “Oops.”
“Hmm, not yet,” replied Cuts as she gave me a maddening grin. “How about lower? I could carve a heart right on your chest. Or I could do something about that Goddess awful cutie mark you have.”
“It’s a black hat and a pair of dice,” I huffed back at her.
“Whatever,” she said as she pushed back down on my throat and I felt another couple of stinging slashes across my flank. My mind was a dizzy haze as I struggled against her armored hoof. I could barely make out her face as she let off again, and brought the knife back up to her tongue. “Are we going to talk now?”
Course that was a bit impossible with a armored mare standing on me with her hoof planted squarely on my throat. I gurgled a few words out, and gestured to the corner of the shack where a small fireplace sat with a board causally placed next to it.
“Finally,” she muttered and a tossed my knife into the wall. “Saddles, get your fat plot over here and help me with this.”
Saddles flashed a wicked grin as her shotgun disappeared into its scabbard on her side and trotted after her leader. I watched only for a moment as the two mares went to my emergency stash. I on the other hand, had a totally different idea.
I was getting the hell out of there.
I tried my best to quietly wiggle my way over to where my knife had entered into the wall. Out of the corner of my eye, I could make out Cut’s kicking the board out of the way and giving a shout of excitement before plowing through the stuff for a steel military looking box. Damn, that was fast. I had to move faster, get to that knife befor—
“Hey! Just where the hell do ya think you’re going?!”
Click
Unfortunately, I wasn’t fast enough.
I had just enough time to twist myself around, and cover my face as the world around me exploded. The shockwave flung me back behind my bed and the sounds of dozens of other things going all over the place echoed with the boom. Hot chunks of rock, metal, and dust rained down on me, and I heard a wet smack land somewhere close. I waited a few seconds before sticking my head out and crawling i
Something slammed into me, sending me sprawling out onto the floor.
“Y-you ..fuckin..hurk… Goddess, damned—”
I quickly turned to find the Saddles looming over me or at least what was left of her anyways. One of her ears was gone and a good portion of her face was so bloody and burnt I had a hard time looking at it. Saddles was hobbling funny, and that wood beam sticking out of her chest was causing her to wheeze with every breath.
But I’ll never forget that look in Saddles’ eyes. That look of determination, drunk with blood lust, but a dimming of the light as the life left her mangled body. Saddles knew she was dead, and she’d be damned if she was going alone.
I scurried out of the way as the jagged bone shard, what was left of her hoof, smashed down where my head would have been. She let loose some sort of howl of pain, and stumbled after me, muttering and casting obscenities at me like they were bullets. I had something a bit more effective at my hoofs. Plates.
I grabbed whatever I could and chucked it at Saddles. Dishes, pots, pans, chunks of wood, whatever there was to slow her down, but it wasn’t working. Eventually, I slipped on something wet and warm all over the floor and crashed into a pile.
I kept rolling and crawling away from the dying mare until my hoof brushed up against something metal, something cold.
It’s not comfortable
******
I let out a sigh as I tightened the rope over my cart. It’s mostly what I had left. What I had left to sell. I gave a nod of satisfaction before turning around and glancing up in the clouded sky. Too much of the day had been wasted scraping out gangmares from my floor.
I trot back to my humble little abode… or what was left of it, to see if I left anything out to sell, or that could be taken by some other pony.
The explosion had work perhaps a little too well, and the back corner started to sag, speaking volume that something serious had been damaged inside. Windows had been blown out, and the door was barely attached by a hinge, pretty sure that’s falling off the moment I trot over the hill. Inside, of course, was riddled with shrapnel.
That’s perhaps one of the issues with boobytrapping your good salavage. You blow it up all over Equestria. Some of my finest salvage pieces had been tucked away in that corner, protected by my strongest bomb. Bit’s and pieces remained. Ever the strongbox that held the bomb was done for, as I held it up and looked through the gaping hole in the back.
It’s going to take me all week to fix this place back up, and I don’t even want to think about the caps it’s going to take. Privacy and security usually went hoof in hoof, but with this? I tossed aside a metal cup with a hole blown through the side and looked around me. I almost wondered if it would be easier to find a new place to move into instead.
But it wasn’t like I could trot over to some ‘Equestrian Wasteland Real Estate’ and get hooked up with a new place.
I trotted over to pile of what had once been my inventory and poked a hoof though it, looking for anything I might have overlooked. The key to proper salvaging is to look at the pile from multiple angles. Some ponies get too impatient and glance through it once or twice and think the job is done. But true treasures lie deep down, inside things, under things. Not the case with this crap. I’d have to go on another salvage run then. Not only to replace my missing stuff, but to restock. Which means…
I grasped a hold of a slim metal cylinder, almost as tall as me, and a placed it on the floor. It took a bit of work with the knife, but I eventually tore open my pillow and a notebook dropped out with a light thud. With great care, I opened the cylinder, and slowly pulled out my most prized possession. A map.
Not your average map, a puzzle map. A map created with the intent to hide things, only revealed by shifting sections of the map. It was a map that was finely tuned and well marked for all areas of salvage. Hidden warehouses, factories, towns, points of danger, and passages of safety. But to the untrained, no other pony could find them for the actions of the maps mechanisms kept the locations safe. Which is why the notebook was so important. I think, honestly, this is what the gangmares may have been looking for.
After a sigh of relief, I slide the map and the notebook into the cylinder and secured it to my saddlebags. I’ll look at it later, hopefully with Copperwire, and figure things out. Hopefully nothing involving a Stable.
I shuddered at the thought. Nothing good ever came from going into a Stable.
I left what was left of my home and hitched up to the wagon without looking back. I got what I have for now, I’d have to spend the night at Dodge City, and return in the morning to start repair work. If I made enough caps.
Before me was one of the only beacons of so-called civilization left out in these parts. Dodge City. It was built on the remains of Dodge Junction, a sort of backwater town before the big days of the war, and was mostly ignored then.
But now? It was more like a backwater city. a rail line still connected into the heart of the city and a slaver train, or something from New Appleloosa would pass on through. Hopefully it wouldn’t be too bad not as good as my own little places but they should have the shops hopefully for what i need.
******
Well losing a lot of stuff and not to mention one of my favorite saddles i did get some of there gear that wasn’t totally shredded it might be worth a couple caps or something.
I just need to make it to some places i can sell! i mean there's been some recent Raider activity near the badlands one of the reasons while i'm out here carrying all this junk.I really just want to get back to my house take a nice nap and a swig of that applejack daniels I’ve been saving.
I sighed yet again
Uhg i gotta talk to Copperwire about the orders i made i swear that girl better have not sold off my stuff to some gang member or so help me. I’ve spent months getting the caps i needed and not to mention this walk i have to make to get to her! Seriously who the hell sets up shop in the middle of no where!! I mean it's weird enough for a caravan to stay in a spot for so long but she’s got a small little shack and everything i swear sometimes i just question her sanity.
Granted i also live rather far away from pretty much anything buts not like i'm trying to run a shop!! Calm down Calm down look you can already see the sho… Dammit.
I swear that girl always brings trouble, here she is arguing with 5 ponies probably over some damn bet she made in town or something.
“Give us the damn guns you cheating skank!!!!”
….Ok maybe it wasn’t about a bet.
“Like i told all yer friends here!! if you want something you gonna have to pay!”
Well this going to escalate i mean sure Copper may be a bit of a shark when it comes to her sales but it’s not like she’ll cheat you out of your caps!!.. although when card games are involved it’s a completely different story but still.
“Those damn raiders are gonna kill us all if we don’t arm up and take them OUT!!! They’ve been acting weird ever since i heard they got new leader in the area or something….Look we’ll even return the guns after where done but we need to arm ourselves!”
Now this buck i hadn’t seen before he might be some big shot from Dodge or something of or maybe it was new appaloosa?Anyway I could tell he was the one in charge by the way he held himself, trying his best to talk his way to something with Copperwire. very brave...
“You.Can.Kiss.My.Fat.Flank.”
Albeit pointless.
“I don’t even know why we're even negotiating with this disgusting filth i say we just take what we want and leave this Thing for the raiders!!!”
I heard a small murmur of agreement through the group the mayor's voice of reason dieing out as the Chubby mares idea of of violence crept into everyone's head . Uh oh time to save the day i guess.
“HEY THERE COPPER WONDERFUL DAY AMIRIGHT!?”
Copperwire’s head swiveled towards me a irritated look on her face “ Des? The hell your red ass doing all the way out here?”
“ You know why you beautiful old crone! now what’s all this?” I gave her a cocky smile as i looked over the small crowd.
Copperwire blushed before she started ranting about these broke ‘Citizens’. not the words she used to describe them (dear celestia did she have a mouth on her) harassing her into giving them free stuff.
“Now now Copper I’m sure these nice gentlecolts and Lovely mares are just a bit stressed. Now Excuse me sir how many guns per say would you need?”
The Colt gave me a hesitant glare before he sighed.“ We need 37 pretty much the whole town needs to be ready for what’s a comin”
I hesitated just a bit i mean wow 37 guns! what the hell were these guys going to fight?!
“ Well i can get you seven from poor Copper here but even she wouldn’t have that much, but i do know some trade routes for merchants in your area and I’m sure they’ll have your needs maybe even at a discounted price perhaps?”
The Mayor begrudgingly nodded a bit mulled over at least getting something. i got them his goods and watched them go taking the notice of that angry mare giving a rather uncomfortable stare and not even the kind i like!
“ Hey Des…”
“ Yea Copper?”
“Thanks you horny bastard.”
I chuckled. “Ey Don’t mention it.”
I could see Coppers small blush as she went in the back of her shop swishing her hind quarters as she went after i had asked about my orders. Me and Copper have known each other for a while and i must say even though i won't admit it out loud i did have a bit of thing for the ol’gal.
“ Hey Des i got your order ready for you come take a look!”
I raised an eyebrow as i walked into the little shack.” Wow already that was a bit quick there Copper.”
“ Well i thought maybe one of my more routine customers would enjoy a quick setup!” She smiled as she brought out a pack of gear before pouring the contents on a small ledge in front of me.
“ Well lets see we got two dozen mines with four variants just like you asked some dynamite annnddd...thud..A Mark 3 Saddle Desolator made by yours truly and 2cases of MCF Energy packs just like you asked!”
“Haha thank you kindly Copper this is much needed upgrade to mine! I’ll make sure to repay you two fold with some of my own wares!”
“ Aw shucks I know what kind of repayment you usually have in mind with your “wares”. Better luck another time kid you’re still a bit young for me even if you do have a cute flank.”
Now I’m no Genius not by a longshot but i can still tell when a cute mare gives you a rather flirtatious comment
I smiled .“ Welp at least i got myself a cute flank at least.”
I said my goodbyes giving copper a little wink as i hooked up my gear and made my way back home from Coppers shop. So far so good and it's only like midday ! I better get myself back home though i have a date with that jack daniels i’ve been saving.
**********
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