A Fallout Equestria Side Story taking place a decade before the original
Almost a decade before Littlepip left Stable 2 a different set of heroes was fighting in the area around Dodge Junction. Calling themselves The Wanderers this mercenary group is dedicated to protecting the ponies of Dodge. Led by the capable Drift, the group comes across a strange discovery. A young mare with a pipbuck claiming to be in search of her brother stumbles into their lives. But it appears that somepony else is after the mare, it's up to the wanderers to protect their new-found friend from the evil of the wasteland. But as the dangers continue, will Drift be able to protect his group from the horrors of the wasteland? Or will the group become those very same horrors?
It was cloudy again today. My father used to tell me stories about the sun. He said it used to shine down on Equestria like a bright beacon of warmth and hope. Nowadays nopony knows of the sun, just the impenetrable clouds of the Equestria Wasteland. It was like Celestia herself had denied us the sun because of our sins. Maybe one day the goddess will find it in her heart to forgive her subjects…but until then…it was just another day of clouds.
I was lying flat on my belly looking down at the raider camp before me. The camp was small, only a couple of tents and a large covered up square object in the distance. It looked like a large crate with a few tattered blankets over it. I had no idea what was in the camp but where there was one raider there was bound to be more. If we didn’t stop them now, more would follow. I looked through a pair of binoculars and started talking to myself “Five…two unicorns, three earth ponies. One of them has an assault rifle…poorly maintained…a frontal assault will do us no good…”
I zoomed in on the actual cage. I couldn’t see what was inside as it was covered up with strips of cloth. Whatever was in there though…warranted the need for two guards both armed with guns. It was valuable and the Wanderers could use something valuable, whether it was to trade or to give us an edge in the ongoing struggle to survive out here.
It was then that I heard a crackle. I reached into my saddlebag and pulled out a makeshift radio fashioned out of an old walkie talkie. Not the best quality but you had to make due in the wasteland with what you can get. So a filly’s walkie talkie was all I had to communicate with everypony else on the team.
“Drift here” I said into the receiver. I was far enough away from the camp to talk normally in the radio. I kept my tone just a little quiet just in case one of the Raiders had super hearing “How are things on your end, Rosy?”
A rough female voice spoke on the other end “I can see pretty well from over here. Looks like they got something and don’t want to share with the rest of us”
“Where’s everypony else?” I asked
“I left Trample behind with the tumbler in case we need to make an escape. Burstfire is circling above ready to strike should we need him. Alice…well I don’t know where she went off to. You know how she can be”
“We'll only use Alice as a last resort, she’s still unstable” I said knowingly
“I only hope its worth it Drift, but you haven’t done us wrong before. So, what’s the plan?”
“I’ll pick off the first couple with my sniper rifle” I explained “You then give Burstfire the signal and take care of the rest. I’ll call Trample, and we’ll see what these raiders are hiding”
“Will do, Rosy out” I heard the radio turn off and I reached for the sniper rifle to my left. It wasn’t the best quality and has been known to jam or occasion. Even with my knowledge of weaponry I couldn’t fix it without good parts. I only hoped it worked well enough to take out these raiders.
I held it in front of me and my brown magic wrapped around the weapon. I looked through the scope and saw the raider with the assault rifle. My crosshairs found the head of the pony and I was about to use my magic to pull the trigger when…
“Damn it Burstfire! Drift, we got a problem!”
I cursed under my breath and levitated the walkie talkie to my ear “What happened!?” I spoke firmly into the receiver.
“Burstfire! He’s going in ahead without waiting for the signal!” Rosy shouted over her end.
I looked up with my sniper rifle and cursed again. There was a black blur flying over the camp. The black Pegasus stopped and aimed his battle saddles at the nearest earth pony. The raider didn’t have time to get over the shock of seeing a Pegasus under the clouds before he got a hole in his head provided by Burstfire. The young Pegasus’ red blazed muzzle showed a smirk. Burstfire always had a streak of cruelty that came from living in this hell on Equestria.
The two unicorns grabbed weapons and opened fire on the Pegasus. Burstfire taunted the earth bound ponies and flew away. The red manned Pegasus was about to get away when one of the unicorns got a lucky shot and clipped the Pegasus in the wing. Burstfire made a noticeable jerk in the air as he as he began falling toward the earth.
“Idiot…” I said under my breath. I spoke into the radio with a voice of quiet command “New plan! We get in there and save Burstfire’s ass!”
“On it!”
I aimed my crosshairs at one of the other earth pony raiders about to join the fight. I pulled the trigger with my magic and the bullet sailed into the raider’s head. His head practically exploded from the force this rifle could bring. I reloaded the rifle and was about to fire at the other earth pony when I heard the gun click. Damn thing jammed again!
I left the faulty sniper rifle and ran down towards the camp. I ducked behind a rock as one of the unicorns took notice of my presence. She aimed with a pistol and shot at the rock just after I managed to take cover. I reached into my jacket and used my magic to pull out a six shot .44 revolver. Hundreds of years ago they called this model the Blackbird for its black coat of paint. It was also known for its sheer kick during the great wars of the past. Either way I was glad to have her at my side.
I poked out of cover and aimed at the raider with the Blackbird. I pulled the trigger and the bullet hit the raider in the shoulder. The unicorn let out a screech of pain and fell behind a piece of sheet metal for defense. I ducked back into cover knowing not to get too excited over just landing a shot on her. She was still alive and that was problematic.
Her earth pony friend came with the assault rifle and opened fire on me. Suddenly I was pinned down by a hail of bullets. Where the hell did they find all those bullets anyway? I want to know where they got them! I pulled out the walkie talkie and spoke over the symphony of bullets. “Rosy, are you there?”
“Yeah! That other unicorn bitch has got me and Burstfire pinned down! I can’t peek out or I’ll end up with more holes then I’d care to have.”
“How’s Burstfire!?” I shouted as a bullet grazed the edge of the rock. I no longer worried about stealth now that the raider desired to turn me into a target dummy. .
“If he’d hold still he’d be fine! I can’t work with all these bullets flying everywhere! Trample is too far away to be of much help. We can’t count on anypony else to come along! What are we going to do!?”
I closed my green eyes for a moment. It was the only option we had. If we waited we would be dead, if we rushed in, we’d be dead. Right now, I was going with option c.
I opened my mouth and I sang a tune:
As I came down to the river to pray
Studying about that good ole way…
Rosy spoke frantically over the radio “Drift, you can’t be serious! You said it yourself! She’s unstable!”
I ignored Rosy’s warning and kept singing that old song. I knew she would be drawn to it like a moth to a flame.
And who shall wear the starry crown?
Oh Luna…show me the way…
We shall show thee the way… I heard a voice speak in my head.
I smiled…Alice is ready for action.
I looked up as a ball of green fire descending from the sky. The Raider unicorn looked on as the being landed next to her. She looked up in fear as a fully grown Alicorn stood before her. Her coat was jet black and her mane was a swamp green that blew despite there being little wind. Her wings extended to their full length and her fangs were bare like a cat.
She spoke, not in an audible voice, but one you heard in your head. To those not used to it, it felt like a cold and dark being was whispering to you “You will not harm the herd! We have heard the call and come to save our herd!”
The raider screamed and aimed her gun at Alice. In half a millisecond a sword came out of Alice’s side sheath and knocked the gun away. My alicorn friend growled low as she advanced on the raider levitating the katana with her magic.
I took this opportunity to run to the other side of the camp where I figured Rosy would be. I saw the other unicorn shooting at my friends and aimed Blackbird at her. My bullet penetrated her brain and I ran to where Rosy was.
The scarlet earth pony was bent of Spitfire. She was younger then I was, maybe by a year. Right now her green and red mane was tied behind her as she bent over Burstfire. She was bandaging up his wing when I came along. Her gold eyes glared at me “Bout time, you have that spare stimpack?”
I nodded and tossed her the emergency stimpack I kept in my jacket. Rosy took the shot in her mouth and stabbed it into Burstfire’s wing.
“Damn!” Burstfire shouted out as the medicines in the stimpack did its job. He turned his head to glare at Rosy “Be gentle, you damn whore!”
Rosy slapped the young Pegasus on the head. Even in the heat of battle she wasn’t going to put up with Burstfire’s bullshit “Keep that mouth of yours shut! You’re lucky to be alive!” She finished putting the stimpack into Burstfire’s wing and swore profusely about what an idiot he was.
I peeked over the rock and saw that the remaining earth pony was running from Alice. The large alicorn was advancing on the cowering raider her green eyes looking at him like a predator would meat. I did not want to be the earth pony right now. Once Alice had tasted battle…she would taste blood until nopony was left to spill it.
“Stay back, damn it!” The earth pony shouted with a great amount of fear, “Keep away from me, you monster!”
Alice stopped short…levitating her long katana. Her green eyes looked indifferently at the earth pony. “Are we truly the monster? You hurt our herd…We kill those who hurt the ones we care for…”
The raider didn’t have time to retort before Alice stabbed the blade into his throat. Blood seeped onto the blade as Alice removed the sword just as fast as she stabbed him. The raider let out one last blood drenched choke before he finally gave up his last bits of life. Alice didn’t move…just stared at the corpse until her eyes became slits. She screeched and stamped the ground with her hooves. Her sword dropped to the ground forgotten as she began to rampage.
I nodded and walked slowly toward the thrashing Alicorn. I spoke softly and gently “Alice” Her ears turned at the sound of my voice “It’s me, Drift”
Alice looked at me with those slitted green eyes of hers. She then growled and tackled me to the ground. I lay still as she ran her nuzzle on my brown fur sniffing me. I looked up at her with my own green eyes “Alice…you know me, you don’t want to hurt me”
Alice snarled at me, baring her fangs. She reared as if to stomp me into the ground.
I sung softly “Oh sisters let’s go down to the river to pray”
Suddenly Alice stopped mid stomp and set her hooves on either side of me. Her mouth didn’t move but the words of her singing along rang in my head. It was gentle, soothing, like a lullaby “Let’s go down… come on down…”
I kept singing to the alicorn as her rage subsided and she calmed down “Oh sisters let’s go down to the river to pray…down in the river to pray…”
Alice’s eyes returned to normal and she backed away from me. Her green eyes looked at me, tears glistening in them. “We attacked thee… we are ashamed for our actions.” She bowed her head to exemplify the shame she felt.
I walked to the alicorn and put my hoof on her shoulder. “It’s okay, Alice, you’re still getting used to the whole being free thing. We’ll work through this one step at a time”
She smiled a little then nuzzled me on top of the head. I felt her breath on my black mane as she calmed down. When she wasn’t in battle Alice was tame as a kitten. She was actually very nurturing and caring towards her “herd”. I guess it just came with the whole hive mind idea. I turned around to see Rosy and Burstfire appearing from behind the rock.
I walked towards Burstfire and glared at him. “What the hell was that about? We told you to wait for the signal!”
Burstfire’s frost blue eyes glared back at me “You were taking too long. We should have just rushed in and took care of them, but you had to take your sweet damn time!”
I looked at the stallion sternly. He was five years younger than I was and it showed. He was barely a stallion and he wanted everypony to know at least he was a stallion. Either way he wasn’t getting off easy “The next time that happens I have half a mind to leave you behind in the wastes and starve…”
Suddenly Burstfire’s eyes grew worried. He shook his head furiously, “You wouldn’t!”
“I would,” my voice wasn’t kidding around, “unless you get your attitude in order”
Slowly Burstfire nodded, “Whatever you say, Drift…”
I knew that wouldn’t help much with the attitude problem. But at least it got him off his high horse for a moment. The kid had a lot to learn about working with a group.
Alice’s ears perked up and her thoughts were excited “Trample is coming! We hear him!”
I looked over and saw a truck coming towards us. It was large with four all terrain wheels and powered by a magic powered engine. A rare find intact, but once you had it you never had to worry about finding gasoline. The thing ran on magic energy that you had to recharge once a day in order for it to work. Once you got it going it was a great asset to have in the wasteland.
The truck stopped in front of the camp and a grey coated earth pony came out of the front seat. He smiled at us “Sorry I missed the party”
I nodded simply “Good to see you here, Trample. Run into troubles on the road here?”
Trample was an Earth pony about a year younger than me. His coat was a concrete grey and his mane a natural silver. A cutie mark of an explosion showed his prowess with explosives. A skill I would’ve loved out in the field, but I needed him to bring the truck.
Trample simply shrugged “Nothing but the wasteland and me. Pretty soothing really, but I hate that you guys get to have all the fun to yourself”
Rosy rolled her gold eyes “If you want to get shot at, be my guest”
“Why would Rosy want to invite Trample to get shot at?” Alice asked in all our heads.
I looked over at the Alicorn trying to hide a chuckle. Alice still had a bit to learn about being among ponies. “Its sarcasm Alice, Rosy doesn’t really want Trample to get shot at. She’s just joking around”
“Oh, this is one of those jokes you are talking about…ha ha?” She said that last bit in her head very confused. Her eyebrow even rose at this concept of “Joking around”.
Burstfire rolled his eyes as Rosy laughed a little “Don’t worry your head about it, Alice,” Rosy said, smiling at the Alicorn warmly. “Just leave the humor to me”
Trample looked past us to the covered cage, “What’s in there?”
I turned to the cage and looked at it curiously. “Something that would require two guards to guard it”
Rosy raised an eyebrow “Maybe it’s their whisky supply?”
Trample laughed “You would want that, wouldn’t you? No wonder we can never have a good drink back at Dodge”
Rosy frowned at her earth pony companion as he burst into laughter. I held back a chuckle at the comment about Rosy’s drinking. We never let her live it down.
Alice advanced on the cage and she looked at me with her head tilted “We sense brain patterns…there is something alive in here”
I nodded and cautiously advanced on the cage. I looked to my companions “Get ready, for all we know there could be a full grown Hellhound in here”
Rosy nodded and drew from her saddlebags a pair of knuckles. She specialized in close quarters combat and probably stood the best chance of fighting a hellhound up close.
Burstfire loaded his battle saddle and was ready for whatever came out. I could tell he was eager to shed blood after spending the fight getting shot at.
Alice lowered her horn ready to fire any spell at the cage. If there was anything more dangerous than Alice I had yet to find it. Facing a Alicorn was a dangerous undertaking any day of the week. Let alone one that protected her herd above anything else.
Trample’s battle saddle was loaded with grenades. I don’t think he understood the logic of not using explosives so near me as I walked to the cage.
Then again this was the same pony who thought it would be a good idea to poke Alice in her sleep. He still cringes whenever we talk about it. Suffice to say he wasn’t the sharpest tool in the shed.
I walked to the cage and slowly used my magic to move the curtain aside. My green eyes grew wide at what I saw.
Inside was a unicorn mare…I’d say two years younger than me. Her coat was a soft baby blue with a long and silk like dark blue mane. She was small framed and looked like she hadn’t eaten in days. She lay on the floor unconscious; she was probably drugged by the raiders.
All those observations fall under insignificant compared to what she had on her left foreleg. For on that leg…was a pip-buck.
“It’s a mare,” I said, as I looked at the unicorn lying in front of me.
Everypony holstered their weapons and walked to the cage. Rosy looked over my shoulder at the small mare. “Well, isn’t she just a cute little thing?” she said, her golden eyes gazing at her.
I gave my friend a look. “Will you check and make sure she’s still alive?”
Rosy nodded slowly, and walked to the mare. She put an ear to the mare’s mouth and listened for a minute. “She’s still breathing, so she must just be knocked out.”
Trample looked over my shoulder not at the mare, but at the Pipbuck on her leg. He gestured with his head for me to walk with him. I nodded, and we walked a little ways from the tent. Burstfire stood guard while Rosy examined the unicorn. Alice stood on top of the cage surveying the area, like a hawk.
Trample stopped and looked at me with his violet eyes. “Do you realize what’s on her leg?”
I nodded. “I’ve known Stable Dwellers, Trample; I know what a Pipbuck looks like.”
“Then I don’t need to tell you just how valuable that kind of tech is,” my grey coated friend said, with a solemn look. “It’s a watch, a vitals reader, and a map maker, all in one. Plus a whole bunch of Stable-tech gear works with it.”
“That’s all well and good, but you and I both know it’s attached to her leg,” I said, pointing back at the cage. “We can’t take it off without risking her health.”
“We could always chop her leg off,” Burstfire suggested, landing beside us.
“Burstfire, what have I told you about eavesdropping?” I scolded the young Pegasus.
“I’m not a colt, Drift!” He snapped, his frost blue eyes betraying his annoyance. “I can give an opinion on the team!”
“So, your opinion is to saw off some stranger’s leg?” I retorted, my own green eyes glaring angrily at him. “We are not raiders! We don’t do things like that.”
“Then what do you expect us to do about her?” Burstfire glared back at me. “You saw how small and weak looking she is. She’s no good to us, so why should we bother with her?”
I conked the Pegasus on the head. “That’s enough from you! Get back to your post!”
He rubbed his head and glared at me. He then swore under his breath and flew up high in the air. He may say he isn’t a colt, but he sure acts like one.
Rosy poked her head out of the shade of the cage and looked up at Alice. “Hun, could you be a peach and give me a hoof here?”
Alice tilted her head. “We are not a peach, we are an Alicorn. Why would we give you a hoof? You have four of them.”
Rosy rolled her gold eyes and gestured to the inside of the cage. “I want you to help me carry her to the tumbler.”
Alice raised an eyebrow. “Why didn’t you just say that in the first place?”
Rosy just facehoofed, as the Alicorn descended from her perch and went inside the cage. She came out with the unicorn mare slung over her back. The mare stayed sound asleep as she was placed in the back seat of the tumbler.
The group gathered together and sat in a circle. Rosy looked over at me. “I guess the real question is, what do we do now?”
I pondered my decision for a bit. Everypony here was looking to me for guidance. Burstfire may not admit it, but even he will listen to me if I said so. I knew what we had to do.
“We strip the camp, and take her with us back to Dodge” I said, firmly.
Trample looked at me as if I lost my mind. “You drinking Brahmin piss or something? We can’t just take her to Dodge, Jackal’s already on our ass about not bringing back any supplies from the last job.”
“Well, Jackal can kiss my ass,” Rosy retorted. “That mare needs our help, and we can’t just leave her!”
Trample looked over at Rosy. “Look she’s a liability, probably only been out in the wastes for two days. I say we get that Pipbuck off her, and leave her for the raiders.”
“You ain’t seriously suggesting that, Trample!” Rosy said, getting in the earth pony’s face. “She’s alive, in case you haven’t noticed!”
Burstfire spoke up, “I agree with Trample, she’s not our problem. We only came here to get the Raiders out of the way, which we did. Nopony said anything about taking in a lost mare.”
“Burstfire, how can you be so insensitive?” Rosy asked, her voice raising a few octaves. “We are not leaving her!”
I looked around the circle and realized we were one short “Hey, has anypony seen Alice?”
The four of us looked around for a minute before my green eyes fell upon Alice. She was in the Tumbler’s back seat. The roof was gone long ago so the Alicorn could fit in it. She was bent over the Unicorn mare gently nuzzling her baby blue head.
I walked past my three staring companions to Alice. I looked at the Alicorn curiously. She looked back up at me with wide green eyes. She didn’t need to speak in my head to tell why she was over here.
“You didn’t want to hear us fight?” I said, conveying the message her eyes were showing.
She nodded slowly. “We do not like it when the herd fights. Their thoughts are so loud and angry. This one’s are sweet and quiet,” she said, gesturing to the mare she was nuzzling.
The mare seemed to smile a little at being cared for by the Alicorn. I looked back at the group. Everypony wore a guilty expression; even Burstfire was looking at least a little hurt by Alice’s statement. Nopony in our group liked it when Alice was upset with us.
I put a hoof on the Alicorn’s shoulder. “What do you think we should do?”
“This one is lost,” Alice said, in all of our heads. “We all should try and help her find her herd.”
I nodded, and looked over at the group. “All right, everypony strip this camp and take anything useful. That includes ammo, parts, medicine, anything that we can use or trade is fair game. Everything else we leave.”
I levitated a small clipboard as I wrote down the supplies we found among the camp’s boxes. Most ponies don’t remember how to write down things anymore. It's not really a skill you think is useful, but merchant ponies liked their things organized, so writing is a necessity nowadays.
“Okay, Trample, what have we got?” I asked, as Trample tossed a box filled with supplies into the trunk of the vehicle.
“Let’s see, we got a pair of assault rifles in shitty condition. We got some cans of hay fries, which could be good eating. Got some ammo for our weapons, and we can sell the magical energy weapon ammo when we get back to Dodge.”
“What are raiders doing with energy weapon ammo?” I asked. “Did any of them have a magic pistol on them?”
Trample shook his grey head. “Nah, I checked everywhere. They must’ve picked it up in a raid and didn’t know what to do with it. Probably planned to sell it or something for food.”
“Any other food?” I asked, writing down these things on the paper.
“Some sugar bombs, a couple of cans of carrots, and believe it or not, we got some bottles of Sparkle Cola.”
“You keep those away from Burstfire” I said, with a smirk. “You know how fast he can down those things.”
“I know that” Trample said, with a chuckle. “We’re just lucky you didn’t stumble across any Pinkie Snacks, we know how fast you can down those.”
I flushed a little in embarrassment, if there was one thing in the wasteland I could go for on a warm cloudy day, it was Pinkie Snacks. Something about those sugar filled candies just made me want more. Sweet Celestia, what I would give for some right now.
“Anything else, aside from food and shitty guns?” I asked, adding the food items to the inventory list.
“Got some Buck and Mint-als, but you know we don’t want to be selling that crap,” Trample said, with a shake of his head.
I nodded, “Keep it on hoof, though, just in case. You never know what poor wretched soul we may have to feed in order to get something.”
He nodded and closed the trunk. “That should be everything. Let’s get back to Dodge; I’m in the mood for to see Fantasia.”
I rolled my eyes. “This makes how many this week?”
He thought for a moment, and tapped his hooves on the ground as he counted. “I’d say three and a half,” he said, after making the calculation.
“Three and a half?” I asked, with a raised eyebrow. “How do you sleep with half a pony?”
“She was a ghoul” Trample replied, shrugging. “I count them as halves.”
I facehoofed as he laughed and got into the tumbler. When it comes to mares, Trample can’t keep his hooves off them. It was a habit I wished he would buck to the curb.
Alice, who was on lookout, suddenly growled from atop the cage. I looked at her. “Alice, what’s wrong?”
“There are others coming! Raiders,” she said, in my head.
I walked out of the edge of the camp, and pulled out my binoculars. I levitated them to my eyes, and looked around. Sure enough, off to the West approaching fast were five motorized carriages with gunners on top. They would be here in minutes.
I shouted to the camp. “Everypony to the tumbler now!”
Rosy tossed one last medical kit into the back seat, before leaping in herself. She helped Burstfire into the back seat of the vehicle as Trample turned on the ignition. I looked up at Alice “Alice! Give me a lift!”
She nodded and flew down to pick me up in her forelegs. I levitated out Blackbird as we flew towards the raiders, only they didn’t look like normal raiders.
The gunners were clad in black cloaks with blue linings; their carriages were painted black with a blue symbol of a bleeding eye on them. Another thing I noticed, every single one of the gunners had Pip Bucks.
“Their minds are strange,” Alice thought, as we hovered over the speeding carriages. “They seek the little one, but we cannot determine why.”
“They don’t look friendly,” I pointed out, as one of the carriages got closer. Suddenly a window of one opened, a black cloaked pony peeked out, and aimed a sniper rifle at me. He didn’t get the chance to fire it; as I shot him in the head before he could.
His friends didn’t take too kindly to their friend getting killed. Suddenly the air became a fire zone with the cloaked figures aiming assault rifles at Alice. Alice hissed, dodging and weaving her way around the bullets.
I tried not to throw up, as I was being shot at as well. I aimed Blackbird with my magic and shot another figure in the head. He fell off the speeding carriage. I saw that his coat was also painted black, and he had strange blue tattoos all over his body.
These certainly weren’t normal raiders.
I looked up at Alice. “Get us back to the Tumbler!”
She nodded and we flew away as quick as she could manage, while carrying an extra passenger. I saw the Tumbler speeding away from the camp. It slowed down just enough for Alice to land on the roof of it. I got out of Alice’s forelegs, hopping into the front seat alongside Trample, who was at the wheel.
“What took you so long?” Trample asked, flooring the gas pedal.
“Oh you know,” I said, looking out the window. “Getting friendly with the locals.”
A bullet hit the side of the Tumbler’s armored plating, and I ducked back inside. Trample rolled his eyes. “Seems you forgot to offer to walk their Hellhounds or something.”
“Can the humor, Trample,” I said, looking at him. “Can we lose them?”
Trample and I looked outside. The carriages were gaining on us. “Not at this speed, if I didn’t have the cargo I could go faster, but we can’t risk it!”
“Then we’ll have to just pick them off.” I reached under the seat and pulled out an assault rifle. I levitated ammo into it and glanced quickly into the back seat. Burstfire already had out his battle saddle and was firing shots at the carriages pursuing us. Judging by the sound of the explosion that followed, he must’ve hit one.
Rosy looked at me, and then at the sleeping stable dweller. “We can’t keep running! Her condition isn’t stable!”
“I told you we should’ve left her behind!” Burstfire retorted, as he fired another shot with his battle saddle.
“No time to argue!” I shouted, while I finished loading the assault rifle. “Just shoot!”
I peeked out of the Tumbler, and held the assault rifle to my eyes. My magic pulled on the trigger and I fired at an approaching carriage. I hit the gunner on top and he fell off the carriage, his stomach filled with holes.
“Where’s Alice?” I asked, while firing at the wheels of the carriage. The wheel’s flattened and the carriage crashed on its side, crushing the inhabitants inside.
“We are holding them off!”
A minute later a nearby carriage got hit by a blast of pure magic. Before my very eyes, the carriage melted upon contact with the magic. The inhabitants inside didn’t have a chance.
“Good job, Alice!” I said, glancing up at the roof where she was.
“There’s still two more of them!” Burstfire said, while taking cover behind the door.
“Use the big one, Alice!” Trample shouted, from behind the wheel.
“On it!”
I looked out of the window as Trample pressed a series of buttons on the console. On the roof, Alice stood back and watched as a turret formed itself in front of her. Alice inserted her forelegs into the sides of the turret. She turned the cannon towards one of the remaining two carriages. Her horn glowed bright green, and the cannon glowed as well.
She shoved her hooves forward and a burst of magical energy fired out of the cannon. The blast made a direct hit on the carriage, and it exploded in a blast of green light. The remaining carriage suddenly turned and retreated. Alice smiled as she looked at the retreating carriage.
“Nopony harms our herd!”
I let out a breath of air and sat back in the seat. “How are we doing on energy?”
Trample looked at a meter on the console. “Looks like we’ve got a few hours’ worth, but not enough to get back to Dodge without a recharge.”
I nodded and looked outside; there was a small rocky area nearby with some caves. I pointed to a big one. “Park it there; we’ll camp for the night.”
Trample nodded and turned the wheel towards the caves. I looked back at Rosy who was gently stroking the mare on the head. She looked up at me, and raised an eyebrow. “What?”
“I know you think she’s cu-“
“Drift, I can’t believe you would think I would take advantage of a sweet thing like this!” She retorted in mock hurt.
“I wasn’t going to say anything.”
“You were thinkin' it in that crazy mind of yers!” Rosy said, narrowing her eyes.
“It was Rosy who was thinking odd things about the mare, not Drift.” Alice thought, while she was hanging onto the roof. She stayed up there since there was no room for her inside the tumbler with all of us in it.
Rosy frowned. “Tattle tale.”
We just laughed good naturally as we drove to our camping spot.
Burstfire made a fire using some old wood and newspaper clippings we found in our travels. He smiled at his work. “How’s that, Drift?”
“Good work, Burstfire,” I said, with a small smile, as the rest of us unpacked the camp gear. “Now get over here and help with the bedrolls.”
Burstfire nodded and headed over to the trunk of the tumbler to pull out some old camping bed rolls. They weren’t perfect but anything was better than just sleeping on the ground. He set them down and went to get some more supplies out of the trunk, while Trample started working on the tumbler.
Alice walked off by herself to be our lookout. I wandered over by the fire, where Rosy was watching over our guest. “How is she?”
“Better now that nopony is shooting us,” Rosy said, with a smile. “Keep an eye on her while I get her some water.”
I nodded and sat down beside the mare. She was a small thing; I wondered how she got this far all by herself.
I nuzzled her head gently and I felt her stir. My green eyes grew wide in shock as I looked down at her. Slowly she blinked open a pair of pretty brown eyes. She looked up at me drowsily then her eyes grew wide in shock. She backed off from me, those same brown eyes looking at me with fear.
“Who- who are you?” she asked, in a soft voice.
She must not have seen anypony outside of her vault, at least no good pony. I smiled at her gently. “I’m Drift, you’re in my camp. What’s your name?”
She spoke her name slowly, “Crystallite, I’m from Stable 99. I’m looking for my brother...”
“Your brother?” I asked looking at her with skeptical green eyes. “You look like you’ve came a long way to look for your sibling.”
She nodded. “My brother left our stable to look for a water talisman.” Her brown eyes looked sad. “But we haven’t heard of him for months, I left the stable to find him.”
Leaving a stable took a lot of guts, the places were these underground bunkers made before the war. The idea was to keep ponies safe when the megaspells hit. Problem was nopony believed that the zebras would actually use megaspells on Equestria. I didn’t want to tell this mare the real purpose behind them yet. She was still young and naïve, she needed things to be told to her slowly.
“How long have you been outside?” I asked.
She thought for a moment and said, “I’d say about a week or so, I was wandering the desert for ages before those mean ponies kidnapped me.”
“You’re lucky we came along,” I said firmly. “You could’ve been killed, or worse.”
“There are worse things than getting killed?” she asked with a raised eyebrow.
I rolled my green eyes, Celestia’s teats she was naïve. I bet you I could convince her to drink Brahmin piss if I told her it was a delicacy. But she couldn’t be blamed for her naïveté. That came from living underground most of her life.
“The point is,” I admonished, “That you’re okay now, we happened to find you while we were hitting the raider camp you were at.”
She looked at me nervously. “What are you going to do with me?” I noticed her brown eyes looking at Blackbird holstered at my side. “You aren’t those ponies who said they were going to enslave me too, are you?”
“I’m not a slaver, I actually have a conscience.” I smiled gently at her, “I’m not going to hurt you, first I want to introduce you.”
“To your friends?” The stable dweller asked.
“Yep.” I looked back at the campfire. “Hey everypony! Come and meet our sleeping beauty!”
Rosy was the first to get there. My rust colored friend smiled very friendly like at Crystallite. She was smart enough not to say anything as she took a seat beside me. Trample got up from working on the Tumbler and Burstfire followed him.
“Shall we approach?” Alice thought in my head. She could speak specifically to any pony if she wanted. It took a bit of effort but she could hold a private conversation with somepony.
“Don’t come out just yet,” I thought in my head. “Let’s try and take foal steps.”
“But aren’t we adults?”
I just sighed and gestured to Crystallite. “Everypony, this little lady here is Crystallite, she’s from Stable 99.”
“I don’t think I’ve heard of that Stable,” Trample said slowly. “But hey, it’s good to hear that there is more Stable-Tec that we haven’t discovered yet.”
“Your concern for the well-being of its inhabitants is touching Trample,” Rosy said sarcastically, she then looked at Crystallite. “Ah’m Rosy, Drift’s second in command.” She then smiled slyly. “And I must say girl, you know how to look good despite living underground your whole life.”
“Um…” Crystallite looked a little uncomfortable. “Thank you?”
“You’ll have to excuse Rosy,” I cut in. “Her barn door just swings towards the fairer sex.”
“Oh...” Realization came to the Stable Dweller. “I’m flattered then.” She smiled at Rosy. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
“Pleasure’s all mine,” she said with a smile. “If any of these boys give ya trouble ya let me know.”
“More like she’s going to give us trouble,” Burstfire grumbled, as he sat on a nearby rock.
Crystallite’s eyes fell on Burstfire’s wings. “A pegasus?!” She almost fell back in shock. “But I thought they all died out!”
“One was just too stubborn to die,” I joked, Burstfire gave me an icy blue glare in return. “Anyways; this is Burstfire, the technically youngest out of all of us.”
“Don’t talk about me like I’m some little kid!” Burstfire complained.
“Maybe if you didn’t act like one so much like one we wouldn’t treat you like one.” Rosy smirked and spoke in baby talk at him. “Is wittle Bursty gettin all saddy waddy?”
Burstfire swore and just shot into the air to sulk. I gave Rosy a look. “He’s only going to get worse if you keep egging him on like that.”
“Is he always so…” Crystal fought for the right word. “Mean?”
“He grew up in some bad conditions,” I explained, and then my eyes grew wide. “Trample, get away from that Pipbuck!”
Crystal pulled her leg away from Trample who was about to examine it, with a set of dismantling tools in his mouth. Trample looked a little apologetic. “Sorry, it’s just rare to see a Pipbuck intact like that.”
“This is Trample,” I explained. “Our resident tech head, sadly common sense isn’t his forte.”
“I was only going to take it apart a little,” Trample whined.
“You forgot that there’s a mare attached tah it,” Rosy quipped.
Crystal just looked at Trample apprehensively. “Sorry, I can’t take it off for you to look at it.”
“I know I know,” Trample said dismissively. “Just promise me you’ll leave it in your will or something.”
“Trample!” both Rosy and I shouted.
“Sorry,” he said walking back to sit beside me.
Crystal looked at all three of us with a strange expression. “You all certainly are odd ponies.”
“Not as strange as Alice,” Trample blurted out. Rosy reached past me and smacked her fellow earth pony upside the head.
“Who’s Alice?” Crystal asked nervously.
Both of my companions looked at me slowly. I sighed and called out, “Alice! Come on out, Crystal wants to meet you.”
Slowly our Alicorn friend came out from her hiding place from behind the Tumbler. Crystal gasped upon seeing her, her brown eyes grew wide as the Alicorn approached. Alice tilted her head at Crystal and then thought.
“We are Alice, welcome to the herd.”
“Who said that?!” Crystal exclaimed, looking around. “I heard a voice just now!”
“That was Alice,” I explained, pointing towards the Alicorn. “She doesn’t talk like normal ponies. She instead talks through her thoughts.”
“It feels kind of...” She fought for a polite term. “Invasive.”
Alice looked a little guilty and turned to walk back to the Tumbler. I thought in my head, “Alice, you know she hasn’t seen anypony like you. Don’t take it personally.”
“It’s fine,” she said in my head. “We are used to it by now.”
Crystal looked at me. “Is she okay?”
“She’s fine,” I reassured. “At any rate, you seem to be a little trusting. For all you know we could be lying to you and sell you off at the next town.”
“You aren’t though, are you?” Crystal said, looking a little worried.
“Nah,” Rosy said with a smile. “Yer too damn cute for us to lie tah ya.”
“But you gotta admit,” Trample pointed out, “You are trusting your fate to five complete strangers.”
Crystal’s brown eyes looked down for a minute. “It’s just, back in my stable, ponies were always so close. We never lied or hid anything from eachother. At least, I thought so until my brother left.”
“You mentioned him before,” I spoke up. “Can you describe him at all?”
“His name is Auran Prism, he was a scientist back in our stable,” Crystal explained, tapping a button on her Pipbuck and showing us a picture. The unicorn stallion was about my age, the screen was all green so I couldn’t tell what color he was. His mane was long and hung in a loose braid down his side. He wore a lab coat over his coat; on his flank was a cutie mark of a bubbling beaker.
“One of them egghead types huh?” Rosy said, looking at the picture. “Can’t say we’ve seen him, sorry hun.”
Crystal looked a little crestfallen and simply sighed. “It’s alright, I just want him to come back is all.”
“You’ve been lookin’ fer him all this time?” Rosy asked. “All by yerself?”
“The Overmare wanted to give up on him...” Crystal was looking down. “She said he was as good as dead heading out here. After the first few days I got worried about him. When the Overmare refused to let me leave I hacked into her computer to get the access codes so I could leave.”
“You hacked a Stable-Tec computer belonging to an Overmare?” Trample asked, sounding impressed. “Maybe we should exchange tips some time!”
“Don’t do it Crystal,” I said, my green eyes looking snidely at Trample. “He just wants you to hack into some porn programs left behind from the war.”
Rosy and I laughed at the joke, Trample just snorted at us.
“At any rate,” I continued, “We were heading back to Dodge Junction to get our pay. You can ask around there.”
“Is Dodge Junction a town of some sort?” Crystal asked.
“It used tah be a big trade town befer the mega spells came down,” Rosy explained. “Nowadays it’s just a smaller trade town with all sorts of...” She paused and then said, “Colorful folks”
“You think somepony there can help me find my brother?” Crystal asked excitedly.
“Odds are yeah,” I said, a smile on my face. “We’ll give you a lift there and I’m sure you can find somepony that can find him.”
“Oh thank you so much!” She squealed, running to me and hugging me around the neck. I felt a little warm and Rosy gave me a sly look. I returned a glare to her and Crystal let go of me. “I can’t ever repay you for the kindness you showed me, Drift.”
“Think nothing of it,” I replied. “The sooner you try not to feel indebted to everypony the better you’ll survive out here.”
“I’m just so glad,” Crystal said happily. “I feared there wouldn’t be any good ponies after what happened with the slavers.”
“Well you get some rest and we’ll get ready for tonight,” I said. “We leave first light.”
I returned to the fire and used my magic to levitate the can of hay fries over it. It wasn’t exactly five star cooking but it got the job done. I reached into the pockets of my brown cloth ruined trench coat. I pulled out an old, small Snowlands Army Knife and used the can opener after the can had been heated enough.
Rosy sat down beside me, taking a bite out of some old peanuts we found at an old gas station. “So, ya gonna get Burstfire down or should I?”
“He’ll come down when he cools off,” I said, levitating out a hay fry and taking a bite out of it. It was old and stale, but the can protected it from getting moldy and gross.
“So do you really expect to find somepony to help her?” Rosy asked, gesturing to Crystal who was looking around at us working.
“Honestly I have my doubts”, I said, looking down at the fire. “But, I wanted to let her have a little bit of hope.”
“Yer a lot nicer then you let yourself look Drift,” Rosy said, taking another peanut in. “You could have easily told Trample and Burstfire to shut up and they would’ve followed along.”
“I’m not a dictator Rosy,” I sighed, rubbing my right foreleg. “I know the price that can come from that kind of thinking.”
Rosy looked at my leg, knowing what it meant. Then she turned on a sly grin. “Ya know, ah heard some mares are into that kind of stuff.”
“What are you getting on about?” I asked.
“I’m not getting on bout nothin,” Rosy smirked, holding her hooves up. “I’m just sayin, she was mighty happy when you told her we’d give her a lift.”
I felt my face flush and shook my head. “I don’t have time for that kind of nonsense.”
“Okay then,” she said, standing up. “Then I guess ya won’t mind if I show her my tattoo.”
“I’m starting to wonder if that tattoo even exists,” I mused.
She just looked back and smirked. “Sorry, no stallion’s gonna see it on mah watch.” She then trotted back over to Crystal.
I shook my head and saw Burstfire land beside me. “Finally done sulking?”
He crossed his forelegs and said, “I still don’t like that we gotta take her along.”
“We’re just giving her a ride to Dodge,” I said, taking another hay fry. “Once she’s there maybe she’ll find information about her brother. If not, I’m sure Cherry can hook her up with a job or something.”
“You’re too trusting of ponies,” Burstfire whined. “Sooner or later somepony is going to shoot you in the back of the head.”
“Not everypony in the wasteland is a raider you know,” I said.
“Just most of them,” Burstfire grumbled, staring into the fire. “Listen, I’m sorry about running ahead earlier.”
“Okay, you’re apologizing,” I said, looking at the pegasus. “You’re not going to try and take my hay fries when I’m caught in the glorious moment are you?”
“Okay, so maybe you aren’t as trusting as I thought.”
“I just know you better.”
“Anyways...” Burstfire looked down. “I just wanted to impress you back there.”
“Impress me?” I asked.
“Yeah, you guys always treat me like a kid because I’m the youngest. I just want a little respect around here is all.” He looked at me with his icy blue eyes. “Am I wrong to want that?”
I smiled and put my hoof on his head. “Nah, but you just gotta think better before you do something stupid like that again.”
He gave a hint of a smile and then glared. “Just don’t treat me like a kid anymore!”
“There’s the Burstfire we know and love.” I tossed him the can of hay fries. “Eat up, we may need you right and ready tomorrow.”
Burstfire went to simply gorging on the hay fries. Kid never could learn to preserve food. Then again, growing up in the conditions he did, that stuff probably feels like the nectar of the Goddesses.
This is what I get from reading too many pre war books…
I then looked over to see Crystal walking over to Trample, who was finishing attaching a pair of jumper cables to Alice’s horn. Crystal looked at the vehicle curiously and then at Alice. “What are you doing exactly?”
“Alice here has enough magical energy in her to power a small town for a week,” Trample explained, working the wires and switches of the vehicle’s control console. “As a result, while she’s asleep these cables will naturally siphon energy out of her while she recharges herself. This way, we’ll be able to drive a lot longer in the morning.”
“Alice certainly is amazing,” Crystal said, smiling at the Alicorn, clearly trying to act friendly.
Alice smiled in turn and thought, “We are simply doing my part in the herd.”
“It doesn’t hurt you, does it?” Crystal asked.
Alice shook her head. “It will happen while we am asleep; We will feel no pain as we recharge both this machine and our bitcherarries.”
Trample chuckled. Crystal gave Alice a look. “Um, I think you mean recharge both batteries.”
Alice gave Trample a glare. “We do not like getting fooled Trample!”
“C’mon,” Trample laughed. “It was just a joke.”
Alice smirked evilly and levitated her katana blade and unsheathed it a little. “Perhaps you’d like to be gutted like a squirrel?”
“Don’t you mean pig?” Trample said nervously.
“Pigs don’t run as fast as you will.”
Trample laughed nervously and said, “Alright, I’ll shut up now.”
He went back to work as Crystal walked up to the Alicorn. “You wouldn’t have actually attacked him would you?”
The Alicorn shook her head as we heard a laugh in our thoughts. “No, but sometimes the threat of violence is all that’s needed to scare a fool away.”
“I think I understand, maybe,” Crystal pondered, raising an eyebrow. She looked at the Alicorn. “I’ve never seen anypony like you before.”
Alice gazed at her and said, “There are not a lot of us, Drift calls my kind Alicorns. We are no goddess however so we don’t know if such a term is accurate.”
“Goddess?” Crystal tilted her head. “You mean because you look like the sisters from those old mare tales?”
Alice raised an eyebrow. “Celestia and Luna are mere fairy tales where you are from?”
“Well yeah…” Crystal said with a nervous smile. “I mean, ponies can’t really move the sun and moon right?”
The Alicorn simply laughed in her mind and said, “Your thoughts are flawed, yet simple, it’s very interesting.”
Crystal blinked and then Trample called, “Hey Stablefilly! Could you bring that Pipbuck over here? The dumb computer locked me out again cuz I forgot my password and we can’t go till it’s unlocked. Otherwise we’d be driving blind without a navigator tool.”
“I can probably have a look,” Crystal walked to the Tumbler and to the computer on the side of the vehicle. Her horn glowed a smooth pink and a wire came out of her Pipbuck. It moved itself into a slot in the computer and she began pressing buttons both on her Pipbuck and the computer.
Trample looked at the computer. “Wow, it would take me a week to decipher all that garbage.”
“I was a tech filly back in my stable,” Crystal explained. “Working with computers just comes naturally to me.” She tapped a few more buttons and said, “There you go, turns out the password was…Milky Way?”
“Ah, Milky Way…” Trample drooled, a smile on his face. “Now that was a flexible mare.”
“This is a pretty advanced machine,” Crystal observed. “Where did you find this?”
“Actually it doesn’t belong to us,” I said, coming up. “It belongs to the mayor of Dodge, Cherilee Jubilee.”
“She let us borrow it so we could drive out this far,” Trample explained. “She got it from her….fifth husband….?”
“No,” I interjected. “I’m pretty sure it was her fourth husband.”
“No, that guy got her that weird laser gun,” Trample countered.
“I always thought it was her third husband,” Rosy said, joining in the conversation.
“No,” Burstfire said, hovering over the group. “She told me he was the one who got her that weird dog thing.”
“Which is why I said,” Trample added. “That it was her fifth husband.”
“Wasn’t he the one who got her that headband?” I asked.
“Nah,” Rosy said. “She’s always had that thing.”
I looked at Crystal who was staring a little at us. She gave me a look and asked, “Five husbands?”
“Seven husbands, two wives and a very strange relationship with a possibly gender neutral ghoul at one point,” Rosey said “All of em sadly died or simply moved on”
“Where I come from,” Crystal started, “We have our mates picked for us by the Overmare and the relationships are for life.”
“Wow,” Trample said. “I don’t think I’d survive in that place, I mean, having to buck the same mare every day?”
“Oh geez,” I said with sarcasm. “It’s not like it’s a concept that’s existed since the dawn of pony kind.”
Trample smiled sheepishly, Rosey rolled her eyes. “This is reason number 55 of why I prefer mares.”
“Did you have a husband Crystal?” I asked.
She shook her head. “I was too young, we don’t get assigned our mates until we’re twenty five.”
“Seems like a long wait,” Rosey commented.
“Well yeah,” Crystal said. “But the idea is that we would be mature enough to handle foals. Also this way we won’t have too many to take up the stable’s resources.”
“Okay it’s official,” Trample groaned. “I’m never going to survive in a stable.”
“Alright, that’s enough yakking people” I said. “Let’s all finish up and get some sleep.”
Everypony nodded and I went back to my bedroll. I laid down on it and looked over to see Crystal laying down on her bedroll next to me. She looked at me and smiled. “Again, thank you so much for helping me.”
“Again it’s no problem,” I said smiling a little too.
“You could’ve left me though,” Crystal said worryingly. “The slavers told me they were going to cut my leg off and take my Pipbuck.”
“Yeah well,” I started, looking at her, “I know Rosy would’ve killed me in my sleep if I did it.”
She laughed a little and asked, “But, why did you want to save me?”
“I…” I paused and rolled over away from her. “I just know what it’s like to be alone, it’s never a good experience.”
With that, I closed my eyes and drifted off to sleep.
