Fallout: Equestria
Broken Steel

Chapter 1: Shocker

“Are you kidding me?!” I screamed at the screen of the auto-doc. For the last week or so I’ve been feeling sick at random times or when waking up in the mornings. I had found a cave which had led me to another Stable, Stable 112. I was currently lay on my side as I let the auto-doc examine me and back to why I screamed at it. “How the fuck can I be pregnant?”

I couldn’t believe it. I even checked the other auto-docs around the medical clinic to make sure I didn’t get a reading from a faulty machine. But nope, again all they shown was the same reading. “Pregnant”.

What would the odds be if the auto-docs were all faulty? I highly doubt they were. I got off the medical bed and shivered as my hooves hit the cold, slightly rusting floor. I had to leave my armour outside the medical clinic because the auto-docs couldn’t examine me through the armour plating. The clinic was in decent shape despite not having a pony in it for over a hundred years. I trotted over to the wall by the door where a medical box was fixed to the wall. I smiled softly at the yellow box with the nice three pink butterfly emblem of Fluttershy's cutie mark in the middle. Using my magic I pulled open the box and inside were a few chems, two Rad-Aways, one Rad-X and three Healing Potions. I took them in my magic and stepped out into the rusting corridor where my armour stood and opened its magical storage unit and put them in. My armour’s magical storage device can sort out my inventory and put my aid and chems into my armour’s healing system which I’m very thankful for.

While its storage system was open I pulled out my Overmare’s Fury and checked it, fully loaded and not been fired since I joined the Steel Rangers… “Bollocks...Now I remember…it can only be the reason why I’m pregnant” I almost screamed out loud as I just had a flash back…

xxxxx

A few weeks ago...

There was a celebration for a trainee buck who was just a tad younger than me. We were celebrating his completion of his training which made him a Steel Ranger. I was sitting by the bar with a beer bottle hovering in my magic when the buck in question came up to me. We were both out of our armour so I was able to see him clearly. He was a handsome earth pony buck who had soft peach fur and lime green hair in his mane and tail. I looked over to him and caught his bright green eyes looking me over.

“Can I help…hic…you” I mumbled and yes I’d had a few. Its a celebration after all.

He blushed deeply as he took a seat beside me and called to the bar keep for a beer and another for me.

“I want to thank you Paladin Longshot, your marksponyship advice helped me out a lot”

I smiled as the beers arrived and I finished my current bottle. Once I took my new bottle with my magic he took his by hooking it behind his fetlock and rose to mine.

“Your welcome”

Either I was that pissed or he was just that sexy, I couldn’t remember as I found it hard to pull myself away so we began talking, mainly about the missions we’d been on during training or me helping him with tips but as we talked we started having beer after beer. So you can easily say we both got quite drunk.

By the time the bar keep refused us anymore beers we were both hugging each other and laughing at anything we said. It got so bad that we were making harmless fun out of our superiors. That meant taking the mick out of them. Retelling past experiences and imitating like our drill sergeants in mocking tones which wasn’t helping our relationship with them either.

Well since we couldn’t get more to drink we went for a walk, well, he walked, I more or less staggered back and forth, bumping into him or falling flat on my face for tripping over my own hooves and laughing because I was too pissed to feel the pain and thought it was hysterical. He helped me to a private area on the base which he managed to stash some beer and other drinks in a still working fridge plus other luxuries like a bed, a big one. I guess I should have seen the signs that he wanted more than just to drink and laugh with me when he lay on the bed and patted a space beside him. It wasn’t until he pulled a beer from the fridge before I eagerly lay beside him.

“Appletart, you’re quite simply the most beautiful mare I’ve ever seen” He said softly but a bit slurred from being a bit under the influence.

“Why…hic…thank you, your quite…hic…handsome yourself” I replied unable to say a sentence without hiccupping.

Then he kissed me, I kissed back and before I knew what was what I was on my back with him on top of me. I felt a slight bit of pain when he drove into me but I just thought I was just imagining things. Yes, I admit it, until then I was a virgin. There I said it.

We did it for hours, driven by the booze and the fact it felt so damn good. We both missed our sign in the following morning and so we got into shit but neither of us at the time could remember a thing of the night we had or how we ended up there and so from then on we were basically friends until we started getting our memories of the night back and it became a bit awkward and we started to keep our distance, mainly him. It wasn't a bad thing what we did but it just felt weird between us since it all happened out of being drunk and not really knowing what we were doing.

That night was the only time I’d had sex and was it bad luck or fate I would find out several weeks after leaving the Rangers that I find out I conceived. It has to be the only reason. It just has to. I don’t want to think of another possibility that I conceived after leaving the Steel Rangers, dear sweet Celestia I hope not. But that night was the only night I do remember now ever having sex, it just has to be from that night.

xxxxx

I sat in a slightly dirty office chair staring at the screen of a still fully functional terminal. I had found a security station in the Stable as I continued my exploration. The room was almost free of decay, I guess the elements haven’t made it this far in yet to cause any real damage. The level of dust was bad enough as I had to clear the screen with my tail, only to get a face full of dust that made me sneeze which then kicked up a huge cloud of it. When it settled I saw that the terminal only had one entry to select.

Security Report 0512

15/09/1169

This will be the final entry into this computer for Stable 112. A couple of weeks ago we were treated to possibly the best sounds in our life time. One morning, I think it was a morning, a huge metallic clunk rung out through out the stable and that was swiftly followed by an electronic voice which said.

“Greetings residents of Stable 112. Your Stable has fulfilled its apposed lockdown time of 90 years and you are free to leave. Please check with your Overmare or Overstallion to see if conditions outside have fallen to safe background levels. You may come and go at your leisure. We at Stable-Tec thank you for your patience and using our facility”

I couldn’t believe it at first but when we checked the door later that day, sure enough the door controls said that it was unlocked. Thank you Celestia.

Our Overmare called for volunteers to form an exploration team to see if the world outside our door was indeed safe. Only a hoofful were brave enough, not including me. It did turn out to be safe out there but what they described sounded like a hell hole to me. They talked about a constant cloud cover that rained unpredictably and they talked about cities and towns that looked exactly like they had been blown to kingdom come. Basically they just told us the entire world was dead out there.

The Overmare asked the exploration team to keep going out there to see if anything at all could be found that could allow us to live out there. Good news eventually followed the team back as a travelling merchant talked with the Overmare. I was never fully informed of what was said but I believe the merchant had told her what’s what out there.

The Overmare gave the order for the door to open and everypony was told they were free to leave and that there is a town only a mile or so to the south of the Stable. We could continue living here for eternity if we wanted too but I guess no one wanted to stay locked in a hole for the rest of their lives and soon ponies began to leave. As more ponies left more and more began to leave in bigger groups until eventually only me and the Overmare were the last two here.

We talked about what we can do, either stay here or risk it out there. In the end we agreed that the Stable would still be here if we ever decided to come back as long as the door was closed and so with that the Overmare left. I opted to stay behind for a while longer in case anypony came back.

After three weeks nopony came back and so I decided to leave and so I’ve done this last entry for anyone who may ever read this after the Stable’s door is closed for the last time.

I would also like to thank Stable-Tec, without these wonderful Stables we would have all died when the bombs fell.

I shook my head, I guess these ponies had no idea that only one or two Stables out of every ten were control Stables. Well I am happy to see that at least one of these awful places did what it was suppose to do.

I looked around the office and I assumed this Security Pony lived here from time to time as there is a wardrobe in the corner and a sleeping cot hanging from the wall behind the desk I’m sat at. I eyed the wardrobe and stood up before trotting over to it and opened the door gently with my magic. Inside was a neatly folded security pony barding hung on a hanger, it looked almost new. I looked down at my armoured belly and sighed. I realise I won’t be able to fit in my power armour soon since I’m expecting.

God damn it… Bringing a kid up in this shit hole of what used to be Equestria is gonna be a nightmare.

I shook my head to banish the thought as I returned to the desk and began to root through the draws. Nothing, well there was a slip of paper that only had the security pony’s living quarter’s room number on it. Seeing as there wasn’t much else to do in this office I decided to stroll down to the Living Quarters.

It must have taken me almost half the day getting there, I couldn’t resist poking around every room I passed to see if there was anything at all useful. I only managed to find a hoofful of items, mainly magazines or food, nothing really of true value. I opened the door to the security pony’s quarters and I stepped in. She must have not wanted to take much with her as most of the room still had stuff. I saw a lever-action 20 gauge shotgun resting on a table in the middle of the room with three boxes of ammunition stacked beside it. I guess she was planning on taking it with her but changed her mind. Levitating the weapon to me I checked it over, I sighed as I remembered I didn’t have much training on short ranged weapons but my keen eye told me the weapon was in tip top shape, considering it’s been sat here for over a hundred years.

There was nothing else apart from junk in the room but I did find out the security pony was a mare called Sandy Stone and that she was a mother of a purple unicorn. I saw some of their photos still on the wall and I smiled at the happy scene of the picture of the mother and daughter.

I hope my baby will be happy…

Damn it, stop thinking about it… I quickly changed my attention to the large wardrobe standing beside the bed and opened it to occupy myself with its contents. I was surprised at how full it was. The clothing inside was neatly folded, in good condition to thankfully. It seemed to be divided into two. One side being for casual wear and the other being for her job role as there was some security uniforms hanging there. One of these caught my eye. I pulled it out to check it out, it was reinforced security armour but it had over lapping armour plating in the fabric over the middle that would protect the belly. As I inspected it closely I saw its label. “Maternity Armour”. Bloody Nora, were these mares expected to work when pregnant. Well I guess it made sense since the Stable is only so big and there is nowhere for you to hide out and if it’s your duty. I decided to take the armour, I expected I’d be needing it soon.

xxxxx

I opened a fridge in the dining room’s kitchen and was surprised to see that it was full and even more surprised that it was almost free of any deterioration. I checked the food stacked on the shelves inside and they were all over a hundred years past their best before date and yet they still looked new and fresh. Whatever they did to this food has kept it from going off despite the number of years that has passed which would have made normal food turn to powder.

I moaned loudly as my belly rumbled in hungry protest just for looking at the food. I cringed as I pulled out a pack of Fancy Buck Cakes and opened the package with my magic expecting horrible to see rotten slop. Instead I pulled out six lovely looking cakes. I pulled one up to my mouth and sniffed it, it didn’t smell anything bad and so I popped it into my mouth expecting the worst thing I’ve ever tasted and just blinked as I let the flavours of the cake wash over my tongue. I started to chew and soon I was eating them all. Before I knew it I had cleaned the fridge out of all its Fancy Buck Cakes, letting out a belch of satisfaction. I didn’t believe how hungry I was until I started eating those cakes.

I continued to explore the Stable, moaning as my stuffed belly was being a bit confined by the armour. I was disappointed when I found the armoury as it had been cleared out by the residents before they left. Luckily I found a couple of boxes of ammunition still in there, a couple of 20 gauge rounds and a whole box of .357 Magnum Hollow Point rounds. Other than that, nothing.

After that I decided to leave the Stable and so I began to head back up to the Stable Door. On my way I stopped at the door to the Overmare’s Office. Its door was wide open and I looked in. Strangely the office was pretty clean despite the level of decay. I stepped inside and looked around. It had mostly been cleared out, leaving only bare walls and empty filing cabinets. However there was a terminal on the desk that was still working and logged in as I brought it out of stand-by. Most of its data had been deleted but I saw something I’d never seen before. A list of the Overmares and, this is the surprise, Overstallions. From what data was left I found out that the populace of the Stable took a vote at the end of the year for a new Overmare or a new Overstallion. Apparently the very first Overmare set a law that every year the population could vote for a new Overmare or Overstation as she thought it was fair. I honestly agreed with that, it did sound fair.

After pulling myself away from the office I finally trotted out of the entrance of the Stable and turned to the outside door controls. Taking one last look inside, I pulled the lever. The warning sirens blared as the huge cog like door rolled out in place and with a teeth grinding metallic screech the metal arm swung down, connecting with the door and with an even worse screeching metal on metal sound the huge door was pushed into place and sealed.

I was reminded of my Stable, leaving it knowing everypony that I knew was dead. I looked down and closed my eyes, feeling a tear run down my cheek. I didn’t realise how alone I was now, I didn’t have anyone now. I seemed to take forever walking up the huge corridor like cave to get to the decayed wooden door. Taking a deep breath to recover myself I opened the door and stepped out back into hell hole of the Equestrian Wasteland.

“Hello there Longshot” Came the emotionless tinny voice of a Spritebot.

“GAH!!!” I screamed as the bot was right in my face as I left the Stable access tunnel.

“Oh I’m sorry, did I scare you?”

“Yeah you bloody did you stupid machine” I growled as I pushed the muzzle of my 50cal into its visual sensors.

“Whoa, easy there Appletart”

I stopped and raised my brow “How do you know my name?”

“I’ve been watching you since you left Stable 88. I’ve watched how you joined with the Steel Rangers but my interest in you came after I saw how you changed to devote yourself to help ponies in need”

“Why have you been watching me?” I asked starting to get a little angry as I pushed the muzzle into its sensors again.

“I believe you may benefit from any help I can provide you, I believe you to be a good pony who can make a difference in this world” It said rather quickly.

“Who are you?”

“Me? You can call me Watcher”

“What help could you offer me?” Making myself sound like I didn’t need it.

“Some advice for the time being and that advice would be for you to make some friends”

“Friends, why would I need friends?”

“Friends are essential out here, since you are now on your own out here you may not be able to take on everything the wasteland throws at you even though you have that power-armour. Friends can help you when your in need and support you through tough times and I can assume you’ve had plenty of that already”

I blinked as I listened to what the machine was saying. “And how would I make friends out here without them trying to rip my head off?”

“Friends will appear when you least expect them”

I rolled my eyes, ok changing subject. “Watcher, do you know what happened to the residents of Stable 112?” I asked him hoping to know if they survived out here.

“112 hmm, no, I don’t, sorry. As far as I’m aware they headed south and the only town in that direction is what used to be Ponyville. You might or might not find out there but be careful as Ponyville was a Raider town”

“Was?”

“Not too long ago a mare left Stable 2 and stumbled into the town and took out most, if not all of the Raiders but there may still be some there”

“Well, I guess that’s my next destination, I got a bone to pick with Raiders” I said in an almost growl.

There was a sudden burst of static from the machine and it started bobbing before flying off playing some god awful marching music.

“Well, good bye to you too, stupid machine…”

I turned so my E.F.S had me pointed south and I was amazed to see an objective marker flashing on my compass and shortly after that I noticed an objective appear on my visor’s HUD.

“Investigate Ponyville for signs of Stable 112 settlers”

“Wait, what?”

I didn’t get how my Pipbuck seemed to make up these objectives or know where things are as I also had a marker showing the location on my map. Well since I had something to do I began to head south, climbing the hill which was behind me. As I climbed over I could see down the other side of the hill and I could just about see my destination. It didn’t look like much of a town but that could be because it was a Raider town and it’s been decaying for over two hundred years.

I entered my 50cal’s scope system built into my helmet’s visor and looked down at the town as I trotted down the hill. I swept my scope gaze over the town, there wasn’t anypony down there from what I can see but I was out of range for my E.F.S to pick anything out as well.

xxxxx

I lay on the bed in what used to Carrousel Boutique looking at my Pipbuck as it had identified various locations in Ponyville. I had passed Sugar Cube Corner and the Town Hall before finding the Boutique. “How the hell does this thing know where I am?” I asked myself looking at the places I’d discovered on my way here. I looked down over the edge of the bed and I noticed a corner of a floor safe. I had some training on working locks with bobby pins and a screwdriver but I didn’t have any of them at the moment so I would have to use my magic.

I wasn’t in my armour as it was down stairs, I didn’t want to test the strength of the building’s upper floor with its weight. I hopped down from the bed and using my magic I pushed the bed out the way and lay down looking over the lock. I closed my eyes so I could focus on the lock and began to feel at the lock with my magic, pushing the tumblers and twisting it, it stuck a couple of times so I had to alternate my twisting and pushing of the tumblers but after a little while I was rewarded with the soft click as the lock released. I opened my eyes and panted deeply, using my magic on things like this was difficult and tiring. Before my magic would give out on me I opened the door to the safe and hauled out what was inside.

I was rewarded with a bag of gold bits which was labelled as pre-war money on my Pipbuck’s inventory screen and a couple of pictures of some dress designs which thankfully survived the test of time inside that safe and I had to admit, they were beautiful. Whoever owned this place before the bomb knew how to make dresses look so exquisite.

“Oh sweet, two hundred quid” I said to myself seeing how my Pipbuck seemed to know just how many bits there were inside the bag. You may have noticed now that I’ve used some terminology that’s not common among most ponies. Well that’s because my ancestors came from a small island in the northern seas called Braytain. The heart of what was the Braytish Empire back then.

I put the stuff I got from the safe into my armour’s storage system before climbing back onto the bed. It was night time now and extremely dark apart from the light on my Pipbuck keeping things lit. I looked up at the constant cloud cover through a hole in the ceiling and sighed. “Why is it so damn cloudy all the time” I moaned with a yawn. I had yet to search the town for any signs of Raiders or the residents of Stable 112 but I thought that could wait until the morning after a good night’s sleep. I made sure my E.F.S was clear before curling up on the old smelly mattress and subconsciously rubbed at my belly with a hoof as I soon drifted off to sleep.