[Chapter One

“Wake up and smell the ashes”/center]

Well, ‘ere we are, suppose I should start the story from the beginning, or maybe start at the end and periodically go back there to showcase the characters and get perspective, but, I think I should just stick to the traditional method, my name is Vocal, I’d been in a stable my whole life, Stable 86, if memory serves which (thank Celestia) still does. In that stable, we were divided into two groups, red and blue, I was a security guard, so I was technically neutral, as the children and their parents are separated from the two until we get our cutie marks. Our Stable’s little experiment was, luckily, not very dangerous for us, just separation. But, I digress, I was a security guard, and one day the overmare calls me into her office and she says “Vocal, we need you to leave the stable,” so naturally, I ask “why?” and then she nearly knocks me out, she replies by saying “Because the door is set to open, and we need you to recon the situation” so, after a little bit, I agree. Having no family left, I was the obvious choice. I didn’t know what was really in store.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

The Door rumbled open, and after a breath, I stepped out. I walked out the door, and left. The door closed behind me. I looked around, and immediately knew the situation wasn’t  good, running back into the cave, I pounded on the door, the overmare’s voice came out of a speaker “I’m sorry Vocal, we have to send someone out once every 20 years, we can’t let you back in, the stable’s systems would eradicate all life inside the stable,” so naturally, I yelled back a rather rude retort, involving some words about a female dog and some other things, and she responded calmly “I’m sorry, we chose you because you were trained and had no family, but I can give you one more thing to help you,” a small vent rumbled open, revealing a small 5.56 SMG with about 80 rounds, some health potions, and a few other supplies. I stood there for some amount of time, just staring at the supplies, slack jawed, looking like an idiot. It must have been a few hours or maybe a few minutes, before I moved on.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

Looking around, I saw what looked like a camp, as I approached it, gunfire flew out to greet me. Levitating out my pistol, I began to take shots, I was thankful for my training. A raider went down, a bullet between her eyes, it was, by all means, a lucky shot. Three raiders were out of the fight already, leaving two, when another came out, with some kind of chaingun saddle rig up. I took him down before he got off a shot. I was aiming to injure, not kill, the raiders. Another shot flew out, but this time, directed at the raiders. I glanced over to see someone in metal barding coming up, a different one of those gun rigs firing at the raiders. As the last raider fell he walked up and shooting the dying raiders. I watched in cold shock as he did so. He was a grey color. When he finished he turned to me and said “Name’s Duke,” he said in a slightly southern accent, “Vocal,” I replied, “well Vocal, mighty brave of ya to take on a raider camp, either that er stupid,” he continued “hmm, nice armor ya got there, you from a vault?” I nodded. “so, is it open?” he asked, “No,” I replied “I was kicked out, it’s a long story, well, I better be going now, thanks for your help,” he grunted a reply. Before I went on my way, however, I walked up and grabbed two ammo boxes, I had an idea to use them as saddle bags. It would be good to have some armor between my stuff and some bullets. Not to mention between me and said bullets.

Footnote: Level Up

New Perk: Mare killer – You do more damage versus the opposite sex, and sometime you will get special dialogue options.