Carry On
Fallout: Equestria
A Gun, and a Purpose.
Once upon a time, in the magical land of equestria.
There were once two magical ponies, princess alicorns, who together ruled benevolently over all who lived in Equestria. Together they took charge of moving the sun and moon, over their long life they had their sibling squabbles, but they only grew stronger for it.
Unfortunately. Their subjects seemed much more imperfect.
The reasons that lives were taken were petty, to the point that now only the oldest of ponies can remember; and when too many lives were claimed the elder of the two sisters with a heavy heart abdicated her duties to the youngest . This marked the creation of the Ministries, and the beginning of The End.
But it never truly ends. No. Life in equestria continued onward, but the struggle never stopped. Even now when the lightbringer known as the stable dweller finally opened the sky, we still fight bitterly. there will always be a struggle, a fight, a war.
Because war, war never changes.
Chapter 1
Carry On.
In the past few days my group and I had finally gotten a safe distance from ponyville, the memories of battle long faded into the distance as we kept along the main road.
I feel like I have to wonder, would I have ended up going on this quest whether mom had told me about the vision she'd gotten or not? The idea that I had no choice kind of makes me feel...not pleasant. Then again, I’d likely have died had I chosen not to. Not like it exactly matters, We'll be in Junction Town within the Hour, we'll meet their leader (hopefully) Velvet Remedy, give her what we've been keeping safe, and then Rest.
As much as a pain in the ass this quest has been, no matter how I have been effective, I think I- no we all have turned out for the better
Confused? Well, let me start at the beginning.
I lived in a town named Bullet, a settlement built around an old weapons and ammunition factory. It had been located between stables 34, 37, and 38 of the three 34 had been the first to open. According to the Overmare and the citizens living within it, the stable had been fully stocked with weapons, ammunitions and the necessities to upkeep them and continue producing more ammo for them. In the months that followed, they'd managed to clear the entire area of raiders and wall off the entire town. Additionally they managed to get the weapons factory working again, the still functioning machinery having been saved from the raiders who'd been trying to find a way to make it work again.
Those following months the citizens of Stable 34 would be joined by stable 37, a control stable. Three years would pass as a council between both stables were set up to govern over the expanding settlement and in those three years eventually stable 38 would join them, this stable was cohabitated by ponies, and donkeys. I was barely big enough to be tiny, I'll still never know what happened to my birth parents, when that door opened everyone ran out like something stung them on the ass.
But Ol' Jane found me right before the night ended Ol' Jane and Musket.
Of course nowadays I call them ma and pa
“Sixx Shooter, one of these days you're gonna get yourself rightly fucked if you don't stop getting caught in the sun.” I heard molasses shout at me as we both kept along the road leading into town. We had just finished up a delivery and were on the homestretch.
“Can you blame me, skies downright great to look at” I commented
“things been open for months now, would have thought you'd be used to it at this point”
I turned to my earth pony buddy tugging the cart behind him, looking at him like he were part brahmin “You're telling me you're used to something so...big, so blue?”
“damn thing looks like it wants to swallow me up, I ignore it”
“I worry about you sometimes Molasses”
“what, you ever see how big the damn thing is” he stopped and gestured up to the sky in all it's large and never ending expansiveness “looks wrong, I rather had all that cloud”
three months or so ago the sky had been nothing but clouds and maybe dust, you'd be forgiven if you ever thought that maybe if you traveled for enough you might find that the sky was just a massive dome, and at the end of the horizon you'd be faced with a giant wall to keep you out of wherever it is that the wall was keeping you from going. It was exactly as depressing as it sounds.
And then one day, it happened.
Rainbows, Sunshine and Rainbows, an epic bang all across equestria that shook the ground as the skies opened up.
I had been travelling home to bullet from 'Vac' when it happened and I was frozen in my pace I'd heard about the Sky. Pa went out of his way to make it sound amazing, even though he'd never seen it himself he'd painted a very impressive picture that had made me and every other kid growing up in Bullet left enthralled
He was close.
The size, the vastness of the sky expanded out in front of me as I saw. The Color, the only time I'd seen something so blue was on a little figurine Ma and Pa kept in a lock box. I stood staring off into the distant horizon the clouds parting and dissolving, the outlines of winged pegasi above desperately attempting to patchwork the clouds back together again without any success.
“You're doing it again” I shook my head out of the nostalgic haze as Keeper the well..the Inventory keeper ran a pencil down the clipboard, a light scritching noise being made for every check off his list. “one of these days Sixx Shooter, you'll daze off and walk right past a client's rendezvous” he lectured “and then we'll be out of a few hundred caps and we'll need to dock it out of your pay at the end of the day”
“Yeah, Yeah Yeah” I mumble “you know how it's been since the sky opens up...not as nasty as it has been”
“You say that like it's relevant to how you keep day dreaming, keep your head out of the clouds and on the ground, raiders and slavers and all the nasties aren't taking a day off because they can see the sun now.” he put his clipboard into a saddle bag on his side, rummaging further in as he pulled out a small sack floating in his magic “there you go, 50 caps as per usual, by the way your Ma wants to talk with you, says she's got something especially important”
I nodded appreciatively, holding in an urge to grumble at his warning, albeit was true, I hadn't seen hide nor hare of a slaver since the sky opened, raiders maybe, but raiders aren't something I could ever see as dropping off the face of the wasteland until long after I was personally dead.
My mother, Ol' Jane as everyone called her, was in charge of navigating and mapping the wasteland, she was very good at it , for an old mule who hadn't left Bullet in the entire time we'd lived there after migrating out of the stable, she was exceptionally talented. Too which I can hear you all very clearly going; “how.”
I don't know the mechanics of it. I don't like it either, but my mother when high on Dash is able to map out extremely accurate maps of the surrounding area, we had other mapper who were specifically going about mapping the old fashioned way with a paper a pencil and a good set of binoculars but the only problem would be running into the old shit like Raiders, and slavers. Hence why a lot of the maps end where Ma's “Sight” stops
She calls it “the sight” though the way she explains it is more like some sort of sense, of course I use the word “explain” in the loosest sense, since she's told me she doesn't understand it either, just a sort of weird twitching and tingles of body parts that she's said she's had since she was as young as a filly, but the drugs seem to kick them up a heck of a lot higher.
And of course she claims she's not addicted to the Dash, and only takes it for her visions. Which of course mean nothing when her job is making maps and she needs the shit to draw out her maps. So I have to sadly accept that she is not going to be quitting that shit anytime soon.
I sure as fuck don't have to like it.
Ma always gets that look when she's on Dash and almost is impossible to talk to, always jittery when she's off it..unsettling as hell.
==
“you wanted to see me, Ma?”
Ma had been sitting in front of her desk, eyes closed and facing forward. “I reckon I did have something” her voice said a hum in her throat as she stood up from her sitting position. She sounded...different, sober.
She hummed as she turned to face me “I'm going to be sending you on a job...a big one” her tone was serious, her posture wasn't shaky, there were no twitch or that rushedness in her voice. “A personal job”
“That's kind of rare of anyone in the runners to do self employed runs” I said eyes watching her as if she were still completely off it with Dash
“It's kind of rare I get something so vivid when I'm having one of my visions”
I grunt “vision? Mom when the fuck do you get visions beyond the mapping?”
“Since 3 days ago” she threw back “and mind your language with me, just because I'm not as spry as I was doesn't mean I still can't show you a thing or two”
I grumbled a moment
“So I was making a map when I got flashes, lot of 'em” she started “some vague but some pretty intense, but they all involve you”
I sighed heavily “no.”
“it involves you going to an old place called Ponyville” she kept going despite my protest “The vision showed me a crate...and that you're the one that finds it”
“Mom..not doing it” I said about to turn away
“Son...you have to do it” she insisted “if You didn't do it, I wouldn't have had the vision in the first place”
“And I can't just say no?”
“You can, but I don't like imagining what could happen.” she says trepidation
“You're on drugs mom.” I stated flatly “I know you're good at mapping but this vision stuff is just a part of the Dash”
She looked at me “I know. But” she stopped and sighed “I've been sitting on this for three days, You're supposed to do this.”
I inhaled deeply, the frustration bubbling up all the more at the ridiculous notion that I had to do something because she saw it in one of her shit fume trips “give me one good reason I should, cause otherwise I ain't going for it”
“I've only ever had a vision like this once before with your Pa.” there was a pang of regret in her voice “the vision sad he should avoid the main road one day...he thought it was hooey, and yeah that vision was minor but he didn't do it he stuck to the main road that day and well--”
oh.
Well.
It was two and a half years ago and my adopted pa, Muskets last day had been him going on a typical goods exchange for Charity Point 75 miles out, got as far as 20 miles
before him and his caravan guard ran into a band of raiders, somehow the caravan guard made it but Pa...Not so much.
“Listen, Sixx. I know you think I'm messed up...I am for all intents and purposes. But well, after your Pa..I really don't want to consider what could happen if you don't do this. I know the vision is vague but-”
“Ma...I really don't-”
“Hold on I do got something...if you need one last bit of convincing she turned pulling the draw of her desk open, fiddling around before--
“Your inheritance” she told me with muffled speech as I leaned back in surprise. In her mouth was a long barreled revolver
“Is that--” I cut myself off, I had to know.
my magic slowly covered the gun in it's white aura, lifting it slowly from Ma's grip, I turned it around slowly, looking at the details. Turning it to face away from me, quickly tripping the release on the ammo cylinder. This was pa's gun. Hand crafted to work in his unusual way, the mouth grip covered in dark red wood with a dark ace of spade shape burnt down into the surface faced right toward the east, while the ammo cylinder fell out with a dull clink to the left on the west.
7 shots. I make no claim to being as well travelled as most of the donkeys in Bullet, but in the travels I've put in I've never once seen a revolver that's had more than 6 shots, Pa's was the only one that had one extra. He'd custom made this gun, putting together a slightly larger frame to accommodate the larger radius required for the extra shot, each hole having been custom drilled out to accommodate the highly damaging bullets he saw fit to put in the thing.
“Look at the barrel”
I turned the barrel to the side, making sure the sun could face it as I saw the engraving 'carry on' and I flashed back...they used to sing this song to me about carrying on. And I shivered at the memory.
“Pa would have wanted you to have gotten that sooner...but well, I'm gonna say I'm greedy and wasn't ready to part with this memory of him”
I silently looked at the gun in awe, a sense of nostalgia from a very long long time ago spinning in my mind
“So there's a story with that gun” Ma stated before continuing on “the gun's named 'Matilda' Pa's great great plus a few more grandfather, Cranky was hunting for another donkey the guns named for.”
I continued looking over the gun, getting a feel for how it weighed and acted in my telekinetic hold
“Met some old broad named Matilda, knew her for a night and spent the rest of his known life hunting for her”
I tilted my head “how'd that work out?”
“He met one of the ministry mares, who by sheer circumstance knew her, they got married about a year later.”
“Well, that's good at least, not sure what the moral of that's supposed to be”
“The morals on the gun” she gestures “Carry on. Cranky, no matter what, just kept going, kept looking, carrying on. Your father and more or less anyone who's heard the story about Cranky took that to heart. This town and everyone in it has seens some trying times, and you know what they've done?”
a smile tugged on my lips “Carry on?”
“So.” she paused “are you gonna do it then?”
I rolled my eyes before pushing the gun in her direction, watching her begin a sad frown “I'm gonna need a holster for this thing” and then her face brightened into a smile again as she leaned in and grabs at my vest pulling me away into another room.
–
with each walking step out of the house the gun bounced gently in it's holster. Matilda was only one of a two part inheritance, She gave me an armored leather jacket that had a raw hide like series of straps with a holster that went across my chest, a perfect fit for matilda. It also had a second rifle holster, according to ma though “pa wasn't much of a rifle mule despite his name, and he never found anything that fit inside the holster right, so it's always been empty till it can meet it's match”
“So Matilda feeds on magnum rounds, she's already preloaded so you should be able to work on it, there's also autoloaders”
“autoloaders?”
“A little disk that all 7 bullets can be put on so you feed your bullets into the cylinder all at once, there's 7 of em in one of the pouches on your jacket and two dozen empties in the same box I keep all the ammo in on your cart, 3 boxes was all I could haggle off keeper so you'll have to find a way to get your own. I don't reckon it will be too hard.”
we stood in front of a small unpainted carted being balanced and held up by a couple cinder blocks, more than a few crates sat inside
“I think you're covered” She said wiping her forehead off with a rag. “bullets, medical supplies, crate of sunset sarsaparilla, a second for the empties”
“why the second one?” I raised an eyebrow
“Matilda ain't like the 10mil you used to use she kicks like well..you know” a slight chuckle in her voice. I rolled my eyes, I think every donkey in bullet had to make some sort of joke about themselves at some point “but yeah. I really recommend you set up some bottles next chance you get and get a feel for her”
I nodded and looked back to the cart in the very back there was an exceptionally large black box a few chains around it and a padlock securing it all in place “So...what's that?” I asked pointing to the menacing container
“The Answer”
“The Answer?” I tilted my head looking at her like she'd just told me she got radio transmissions in her teeth
“Remember that one story Pa always went on about when he was really drunk?”
“you mean with the-”
“The Enclave folk” she finished “and the thing kept in the back of our house for most of your childhood?”
“The thing you'd never let me see?”
“Yep..That's it” she said “That is The Answer” she inhaled “I can't account for if you'll need it, but it's gonna be at the least two weeks between here and Ponyville; assuming you don't make many stops on the side, I reckon you might run into some tough shit”
“So...ponyville”
“Eyup,” she intoned “the vision was about as clear as that, go to ponyville. You go east,” she informed me “I got a map in one of those crates but once you get past Charity Point you're gonna be on your own, somewhere between here and there is an NCR and Followers of the Apocalypse check point. Can probably barter for a more expansive map from there”
“alright..probably ought get going now.” I inhaled deeply realising I'd signed myself up for this for real.
“One last thing..”She turned her head, pulling out a pair of small pouches “three hundred caps to add to your pay from today not much, but it's what I had”
“and the second pouch?” I grabbed them both in my magic sliding them into my inventory
“a memory orb..one of those slick folk from Tenpony helped set that up.” she said, a tone of sadness in her voice “just a little something for if things feel too tough on you...little slice of home memories, you know.”
Damn it. I sighed and pulled her in, leaning into her for a hug. The both of us exchanging an I love you and a nod “take care of yourself Ma.” I say
“Carry on, Son” she smiled to me.
And with that I turned and began my quest, the sun setting into the horizon line as I did so.
----
One hour out I felt the niggling curiosities itch in the back of my head, I had ‘The Answer’ something that my father had came into posession of in my formative years and had kept secret from me and my brother growing up as foals. I had to see it!
I quickly climbed up into the cart, pulling the key out from one of my saddlebags. I feel myself shiver intensely as the tumbler of the padlock gives away the mechanism clicking open with a satisfying chunk
I slowly push the chains off, and then breathe in deeply. Pushing the lid up once again shivering as the hinges creak.
Oh.
----
The moon had been long hanging in the sky by the time I found a road stop to rest
The little saloon felt silent as I walked in despite the sound of the radio, the twanging guitar echoing as I saw three stallions in leather playing cards in the the efs on my pipbuck indicated more than a few other blips on my radar, though they all clumped together preventing an exact estimate.
Waiting for an invitation to arrive
Goin' to a party where no one's still alive
“Wait can I get ya” The old looking stallion looked at me, adjusting his glasses
“you know how to make something called a dirty wastelander?”
he scratched his head a moment “no one’s ordered that in a while...”
“yeah, mix in some rad-away, I like the orange taste”
the stallion turns, he looks nervous, the way he walked indicated something wasn't right, more stress than usual. You learn to pick this up when you deal in weapons trading.
He turns and sets the drink in front of me, smiling, smiling nervously. “here you are” he leans his head forward and I see it. A large stallion with a knife, reflected in the bartenders glasses, the knife raised.
I was struck by lightning
Walkin' down the street
I was hit by something last night in my sleep
Quickly, I pull Matilda from the holster around pushing myself out of the seat and spinning around. There’s a millisecond of contact between the unicorns nose and the end of the barrel before-PAM a bright red mist sprays out from the back of the raiders skull in a large cone shape
One Bullet
out of the corner of my eyes the ponies that had been sitting alongside me at the bar had noticed their clever trap had failed, and were now making motions to get at me
PAM PAM
Both slump forward mid leap to the floor as hell broke loose.
Three bullets.
Immediately I could see the ponies playing poker at the table nearby storm up and run at me, my magic slamming chairs into them, one stumbling and falling limply to the floor.
The remaining were now swinging knives and machetes at me. I dodged deftly, magic reaching toward a bottle of soda smashing it into the face of Knifenut, staggering as I quickly grab him with my magic, pulling him in between me and Machette, the rusty blade slashing deep into the earth pony between us, the blood spewing like a spigot before I shoved the body forward, laying a bullet into his head, another unpleasant sounding thump on the floor.
Four bullets
I turned just in time to find 4 more raiders running in at my through the saloon door rushing at me with clubs and baseball bats.
I slip into S.A.T.S momentarily, highlighting two heads, each bullet finding another spot reliably between the eyes of the stallion with the chain and then in the neck of a mare with a sharpened shovel
Six bullets
I immediately run my way into the last two, forward bucking one in the jaw, making him stumble into a wall causing the shelf above him to stumble, a heavy (And especially thick jar full of bottle caps smashing down on his head.
I feel a bottle of whiskey smash over my shoulders as I stumble turning, just managing to rear back and shove my forehooves into an unarmed raider who looks very lost but no less aggressive than his pals he manages to kick up and crack me across the jaw, a groan of discomfort being pulled from my throat before I grab something from behind me, something heavy, the unconscious body of one of his friends, swinging him through the air with little effort I swing the blacked out unicorn head first into the unarmed raider, another echoing crack as they both collapse on the floor, couldn't tell which the crack came from, only caring so much that they were both out.
I rub my head pulling matilda from where she'd landed on the floor letting out an exha-ow..jaw dislocation. Shit.
I turn suddenly hearing a gun cock in the air as my gaze is met by a female raider staring me down “You're out of bullets”
“Wuh…” I grunt through my grit teeth with the pain of my dislocation making me stand stiffly
“I counted your shots. Your out and used up all six” she walked closer to me “So now you're gonna hand it over to me..and I'm gonna take you to my boss. You under-” PAM
Seven Bullets
She very messily fell to the floor, the shot hitting her in such a way that more than a few skull fragments littered the floor behind her
I inhale deeply and hold my hoofs to my jaw, pulling another deep breath through my nose and let out loud grunt of pain as I set my jaw back into location.
I immediately turned to the bar, panting with the pain I smack my forehoof on the tabletop and leaning over “you still there?”
The bartender looked fucking terrified, also smelled like piss. Great “okay..get up.” I commanded
“he shakily pulled himself up, trembling as I looked at him “okay...thanks...” I floated the drink he'd prepared me, it having miraculously went unspoilt, I open as wide as I can without discomfort and sling it back into my mouth swallowing and relishing the sting and the orang tang left behind “whoo! Okay..so here's what you're gonna do. Follow the main road west, 7 or so hours back that way is a town called Bullet. Could use a barkeep. So get going” I make a shooing motion as he hastily runs out the door the odor of urine following him out.
The next several minutes were spent walking through the back rooms of the bar; a small bedroom, a bathroom, and a broom closet, all empty.
I sit in the bedroom area, keeping the door closed and locked. Floating the bottle of whiskey I’d pulled off the shelf from the bar upward, the lid twisting off before I take a deep breath and a sigh “yep, gonna be a fun 14 days.” I gulp a healing potion and chase it down with the whiskey all the while I hold up the the white pearl like memory orb with my magic. I tap it gently to my horn
o0o0o0o0o0o0o
Pa.
He was hugging me. Well. I was watching him hug me.
We were in our house
“now it's time for bed Sixx” I heard Ma's voice come out of my mouth as she stood above me, giving me a light nudge after I'd gotten out of the hug with Pa
“but I can't sleep!” I declared confidently to them both “I think I'll need a song.”
I could feel Ma roll her eyes and then look to Pa, I never understood it, but right now I knew what was happening, that parental sort of communication without talking sort of thing.
“We'll..get to bed, we'll sing for you” Pa said
“hooray!” I shouted scrambling off to the bedroom I slept in
a few rather unpleasant moments of involuntarily being on the receiving end of kisses from Pa was....I'd need to remember to keep in mind that he's kissing Ma...not me.
But still. Ick.
They both entered the room I'd been sitting there excitedly, the ratty blanket pulled up over my middle “I'm ready!”
I felt Ma smile and she hummed, and Pa hummed together as they both harmonised
Carry on our wayward son
There'll be peace when you are done
Lay your weary head to rest
Don't you cry no more
o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o