Vanil
I really miss you. I wish you could come back, but I know you won’t be able to. I know you don’t want to worry me, but I really want you to tell me what’s happening out there. I want to be kept up-to-date.
I love you to, Vanil. I know I might not see you for a while. But I want to see you again. I don’t want to live knowing that you might die out there.
So please, come back safe.
~Butterscotch Candy

About an hour ago, I had discovered my new favorite feature of the Pip-buck. The radio. Somehow, even two hundred years after a nuclear apocalypse, the radio system stuck around. Some ponies must have gotten together and put it back together. I had found two radio stations that interested me in particular, mainly since they were the only radio stations in my area. One run by a stallion called DJ-Pon3. I used my smarts, and a little bit of my computer skills, to relay the main signal of the station to a place called Tenpony Towers.

The next station, and the one I was currently listening to, was Crystal City Radio. It was run by a stallion named Voice. He seemed new to the job, but at least he did it. And he sounded confident enough. It’s source came from the center of the Crystal Empire. Which helped assure me that there was at least somepony else that had the idea of taking up residence there.

I was no longer running. There really was no need to run anymore. I was sure I left the super-armored stallion and the psycho mare long behind. And I was on the ground again. Pegasus Pride was great and all, but much like Electro, they had a recharge countdown. I couldn’t infinitely use them. Full charge lasted me about forty five minutes.

I was skipping now. A new song had begun playing on the radio. A much happier, more upbeat song than the previous ones I had listened too. One by a mare named Sweetie Belle who lived before the war. The chorus was repeated so often, I soon found myself singing to it.

I found myself trying to remember the whole song, and found myself distracted. That’s the reason I didn’t notice the green bar blink onto my EFS to my left. That’s why I didn’t notice it’s slight wiggle, indicating that it was coming closer. And that’s why I quickly found myself screaming, when I came face to face with the most rotten-looking, foul-smelling creature I had seen in the entire wasteland.

What little patches that were left of the zombie’s fur was orange, and his eyes were green. His mane, which was mostly fallen out now, was the same shade of green as his eyes. He had several parts of his body that looked like flesh had been torn away from it, exposing the bone below. His nose was missing, and I could see the bone around the nostrils.He had his tongue hanging limply out of the side of his mouth And that tongue was a disgusting shade of gray.

After just a second of staring at the creature, all I wanted to do was puke. Which I did.

The creature retracted his tongue back into his mouth. “Now that’s just disgusting.” It’s voice was deep, scratchy, and sounded hoarse.

I glared up at the creature while slowly levitating one of my pistols out of my bag. Then I hesitated. Why hadn’t he attacked me yet? He was one of those creatures that had attacked my Stable, wasn’t he? So why isn’t he trying to kill me, like the others of his kind?

He eyed me, one of his eyes noticeably slipping out of his skull. He pushed it back in before it could fall out, thank goodness, and smiled. His teeth were yellow.

“Never seen a mare that’s a quarter robot before. You’re a fucked up kind of special, you know that?”

After a long moment of hesitance, and staring at that stupid rotten-toothed grin of his, I put my gun back into my sheathe. The only reason this… this thing was still alive was because my EFS said I shouldn’t kill him. Or at least that he wouldn’t kill me.

“Just get out of my way, before I shoot you.”

His grin widened. “Oh, somepony’s making death threats! Somepony thinks she’s a tough mare.” He lowered his neck, bringing his face down to mine, and his smile disappeared. I held my breath. “Guess what, little-miss robot wings. I’m stronger, faster, and larger than you. Before you could even draw that gun, I’ll have bitten into your jugular and ripped it out.”

My eye twitched.

His grin returned. “Good. Glad we’re on the same page.” He moved his face away from mine. I breathed out in relief, at the same time he pushed his eye back into place again.

“Fucking creepy zombie.”

“Actually, the politically correct term is ‘ghoul.’”

“Politically? Isn’t stuff like that down the drain nowadays?”

“Fuck. You’re right.Fine. The not-politically-correct term, but the term that everypony that isn’t offensive uses- is ‘ghoul.’”

I ignored the zombie pony and looked past him. Finally, the Crystal Empire was forming into a definitive shape. I saw the small crystal shine even from this far away, and could make out the tall tower near the center of the Empire.

The pony turned to face the way I was looking. “Oh. You’re going to Crystal City?”

“Crystal City? But I thought it was called the Crystal Em-”

“Oh nonono. That was before the war. Nowadays, ponies call it Crystal City. Only a small part of it is safe to live in nowadays, and that’s a small circle just outside the castle, and the area within it.”

“The castle huh?” I eye the tower in the center, singling it out as the castle. The I turn back to the ‘ghoul.’ “So, why aren’t you killing me, or at least attacking me? The most you’re doing is being a bit of an asshole.”

“I can be more of an asshole if you want me to.” He gave a chuckle at my frustrated groan. “I ain’t attacking you because I’m not feral.”

“But, you’re a fucking zom- sorry, ghoul.”

“Not all ghouls are evil. Just about eighty percent of them. It’s some kind of psychological thing. Ghouls were created in atomic blasts. We were far enough away to not get killed instantly, but we were close enough to receive a head-on blast of nuclear radiation, and suddenly, we were transformed into this rotting fucks. It ain’t all bad though. I’ve never seen a ghoul die of old age.”

“But… what about the feral ones?”

“Them? I said it’s psychological. They kinda go crazy, whether it’s from mind rot or being alone too long, it just kinda happens.”

I studied the ghoul, now more curious than angered. I was getting ready to say something, but then he interrupted me.

“How new are you, Stable dweller?”

“Uh… first twenty four hours.”

“You looked up yet?”

I began to angle my face upward. “No…” Then I saw it. There was a blanket of clouds that covered the sky. Which was really, really high. It felt like the world started spinning as a strange sense of vertigo set in. I wanted to puke again, but I managed to hold it in this time. I looked back toward the ghoul, suddenly very dizzy.

“I don’t like that…” I managed to get out.

“A lot of Stable ponies don’t. Now, lemme hear your story. Tell me why your back is metal. And lemme know why you’re outside the Stable.”

And so, I told him. He was the first living being I had to communicate with since I left the Stable. And for some strange reason I felt I could trust him, despite the fact that other ghouls had attacked the very Stable I lived in. By the time I was finished with my story, concluding it with the part where I left the house, he seemed to have settled down, most of the sarcastic energy he previously had disappearing. I wasn’t worried about his smell anymore. It seemed a very easy smell to get used to.

“So, you found a memory orb’ and you didn’t even look into it?”

“Huh?”

“The orb you found in the house. By the note. You said it belonged to Runner?”

I nod.

“Touch it to your horn.”

“Why?”

“Just do it.”

And without a second thought as to what might occur when I did what he said, I levitated the orb out of my bag, and touched it to my horn.

Oh goddesses.

Oh sweet Celestia.

What was that thing between my legs?

I tried to panic, and quickly found that I couldn’t.

I gave that up, and tried to piece together what was happening. I was obviously outside of my body. I was looking at a mare. A beautiful sky-blue mare with a slightly darker blue mane.And she sparkled like a diamond. We were in a cafe of some sort, and all of the ponies there seemed to sparkle like crystals. Both the pony I was inside, and the mare were sitting on the same booth, the booth across from them completely empty.

Then the pony whose body I was in spoke. “How much longer ‘til the client’s here, Pearl?”

“I’m not sure. She hasn’t contacted us quite yet.”

I recognized that name. From Runner’s note. It took me a matter of moments to put everything together after that. Obviously, I was in Runner’s body. It was his memory orb after all, like the note said. The mare he was talking to was Pearl. That was who he cheated on Candle with. And he mentioned on the note that this orb was the first time he met Candle, which meant…

A mare sat across from the pair, and they both turned toward her.

“Scented Candle.” Said Runner. He seemed instantly infatuated. He studied the mare, and I felt him memorize every detail of her face, her body. It was quite strange for me.

The mare nodded. She looked younger, less tired than the mare I had seen in the picture, but other than that, matched her to a T.

“I need bits. A lot of bits.”

“That’s what most ponies come to us for, dear.” Say Pearl.

I feel Runner nod. “Is there an approximation?”

The mare visibly hesitated. “Twenty thousand…”

Strangely, neither Runner nor his partner seemed the least bit surprised. Pearl nodded her head this time. “Twenty thousand bits is easy money. We could get that delivered to you by the end of the day. The real problem is whether or not you’ll be able to pay it back within a fixed timeline.”

Candle swallowed hard. “Depends on the timeline…”

“A month, at best.” Runner states.

Candle gulps again. “I really, really need the bits.”

Runner gives a nod. “Then we’ll have it to you tonight.”

“You’re not going to ask why I need the bits?”

“It’s not our business. What is our business is that we get our bits back, plus interest.”

“W-wait, you never mentioned interest!”

Pearl snickers. “You seem to have forgotten the type of ponies you’re asking for bits from, dear.”

Candle sighs loudly. “Fine… I’ll get you your bits back, however much interest you charge and all. Maybe I can get a loan from the Ministry…” She mumbled the last part, and I barely made it out. Runner and Pearl however, did not notice, and if they did, they didn’t seem to care.

Runner gets up, and climbs out of his booth, Pearl following his lead. “Remember Ms. Candle. Get the bits back. Or you’ll lose what ya got. We’ll ruin your life.”

And then Runner and Pearl walked toward the exit without another word. Runner took the smallest glimpse back toward Candle, then left the cafe.

“She’s hotter than the pictures make her out to be.”

I suddenly snapped back to reality, and looked around. The ghoul stood nearby, scanning the area. He didn’t seem to notice that I had come back to. It looked and felt like I had fallen over. Slowly, I stood back up.

“I’m up.”

The ghoul turned to face me. “That memory was about 10 minutes long, eh?”

“Yeah. Felt like it. Did that actually happen?”

The ghoul nodded. “Yep. They’re memories extracted from a pony. Quite a few exist nowadays. Most of them are from ponies that lived before the war. I’ve heard that quite a few ponies are piecing together memory orbs to try their best to write pre-war history books up in Crystal City.”

I levitated the orb off the ground and studied it. “Not much history they would be able to get out of this orb. It seems more like a personal memory than some historical context or important event. Just my great-whatever grandmother borrowing money from my great-whatever grandfather.”

The ghoul shrugged. I looked at him, studying his face more closely. His appearance really was grotesque. I placed the orb back into my bags.

“I never got your name, ghoul. I know I told you mine when I gave you my life story.”

He snickered. “Look at that. Miss IQ forgot to ask my name. It’s Carrot Cake. And no, not Carrot Cake the pre-war Ponyville baker. I’m tired of ponies that have peered into too many memory orbs asking me that. I just happen to share his name.”

I tilted my head, just the slightest bit confused.

“I’m actually unrelated to the Cake family. I’m part of the Carrot family. Carrot Top’s my aunt.”

“I don’t know any of those names…”

His grin returned. “I know you don’t, Vanilla.” His focus turned away from my, and his eyes turned to look behind me. His eye slipped out again, and this time he didn’t catch it. It hung from his eye socket by a red thread. I gagged, and almost vomited once again.

“Slavers?” Said the ghoul in a confused voice.

I slowly turned to face the way he was facing. I couldn’t get an exact count on them thanks to the distance, but there were roughly six ponies all guarding a cart. On that cart, which was being pulled by one of the ponies, was a cage. Inside that cage were three more ponies. All of the guards, or slavers, were well armed. I stared at them, my mouth slowly dropping.

“What the hell? What are ponies doing enslaving each other?”

Carrot ignored my question. “What the hell are Fillydelphia slavers doing out here? Are they capturing ponies to sell to Redeye?”

“Slavers? Capturing ponies? Selling them? What the hell are ponies doing capturing and enslaving each other!”

My shouts brought on some much unneeded attention. Six red bars appeared on my EFS as the slavers heard me.

I turned toward them, seeing they had abandoned their caged carriage and were heading toward us, their weapons drawn. One of them had what looked like a miniature micro-oven formed into the shape of a pistol.

“Fuck…” I turned my head back around to face the ghoul and give him orders. He had already run off. He’d even disappeared off of my EFS. The fucker.

I turned back to the slavers, who were now approaching dangerously fast. I levitated out both pistols, and activated SATS, where I patiently waited for the chance to hit one of them to rise above fifty percent. It felt like that took a full five minutes. In real time, it probably took about twenty seconds. The moment it went above fifty percent, I targeted six shots at the slaver, three from each pistol, and fired away. Only two hit home, and they didn’t even come close to doing any serious damage.I cursed as time went back to it’s normal pace, and dodged the first slaver that tried to tackle me to the ground. I put two bullets into the back of his neck as he hit the ground. An efficient kill.

Unfortunately, while killing the other, my back had been turned to the others, and the moment I had turned around, the pony with the micro-oven gun blasted me in the face with some strange energy ring.

The world shifted strangely, and my vision blurred. My body felt lighter, and I couldn’t help but wobble due to the sudden deliriousness.

Where was I? Who was I? And what was I just doing?

My focus rested on one of the ponies in front of me. His formed shifted around strangely in my blurred vision.

“Wha… Where am I?” I managed to sputter out.

I think one of the ponies grinned. I couldn’t tell for sure due to his shifting constantly features. “Doesn’t matter. We need you to hand over everything in your bag, and then put this around your neck.” He handed me a strange metal collar.

“Yeah. Okay. Makes sense.” I reply. And as quickly as I could, I removed my barding in saddlebags, handing them to the other ponies, and immediately put the collar on my neck afterward. It worked on a clamp and lock mechanism, which seemed simple enough…

Hold on a second! Something wasn’t quite right here. Didn’t I just shoot one of these ponies? I only shot ponies if they were an obvious enemy… I think. So, if they were possibly my enemy, then why was I doing what they told me to do?

The moment I snapped back to, I was already in the cage with the other three ponies. I immediately stood up, much too quickly, and the cage shook slightly.

“Oy! Keep the movement down to a minimum!” Shouted one of the slavers.

Mother fucker. That micro-oven gun was some kind of mind control device. But how? Mind control would only be able to be achieved by magic. And if that magic were transferred in the form of a gun, it would be weakened, to the point that it would barely affect me. I slowly started to put the pieces together. The gun might have emitted concentrated microwaves. Was it possible that such a form of the waves could make a pony delirious enough to be controlled?

I looked at the other three ponies in the cage with me. Two earth ponies and a unicorn. I tried to think out a plan. I was weaponless. But I still had my wings. I found I could move them, which meant they had enough charge to be used, even if for only a few moments, or even seconds. Then I used a small amount my magic to caress the collar on my neck, hoping the slavers wouldn’t notice the tell-tale shimmer noise caused by it. Bingo. The smallest of holes near the clamp. Probably a button inside to release the locks. I dissipated my magic before a slaver turned around to face the carriage, and he shrugged it off like nothing had happened.

And out of the corner of my eyes, I spotted Carrot Cake. I had assumed he abandoned me, but he hid behind a rock, watching the slavers, perhaps waiting for an opening. Was this stallion really trying to help me after I only met him less than an hour ago? And if he was, how could I integrate him into my plan? Maybe…

After about thirty minutes, I had my plan set into place. Carrot had managed to follow the slavers from the shadows, and it seemed that I was the only one that had managed to follow us this far. I had managed to communicate to the other three enslaved ponies through constant hoof motions, a lot of pointing and some very silent movements about the cage. Everypony was finally in the positions I needed them to be in. The two earth ponies on opposite sides of the cage, ready to push it back in forth in an attempt to knock it off balance. The unicorn and I stood at the far end of the cage opposite the slavers.

I gave the signal, a stomp, and the earth ponies started pushing back and forth, not starting to tilt the wagon until several seconds had passed. By now, the slavers had noticed.

They were shouting threats, telling us to “Lay off.” or they’d shoot us.

Unfortunately for them, that meant they had taken their attention off of the area in front of the cage, and had their backs turned to Carrot. He noticed, just like I hoped he would, and was already charging his way toward the slavers.

One of the slavers stook his gun, and terrible looking double-barreled thing, through the bars, and threatened to shoot us down. The earth ponies ignored him, and gave the cage a hard push. The bars shifted enough to make the slaver drop his gun, which the unicorn picked up to claim for herself. She shoved the gun into the slaver’s face through the bars and fired, and the stallion’s head exploded in a flash of blood and skull.

Carrot got close enough to pounce, and did so, pinning the slaver farthest from the cage to the ground. The ghoul bit into the slaver’s jugular, and ripped it out, releasing a gargled scream from the slaver. I froze in fear. What carrot just did reminded me too much of the event that occurred with Gardens.

I was so frozen that I didn’t notice one of the three unmolested slavers produce a button, which he pushed. I didn’t notice all four of the collars in the cage start to beep, each still on the neck of it’s host. I was only snapped out of it when the unicorn fired her gun through the bars of the cage again, tearing the apart the chest cavity of the slaver with the button. The loud blast caused from her gun is what snapped me out of it.

The beeping from the collars could not be a good sign. I pressurized a shimmer of magic, forming it into a fine needle point, and shoved it into small hold at the clamp. There was a soft click, and it unfastened. Then the beeping sped up. I threw the collar off. Throwing it outside the cage. And helped the unicorn with her collar, getting it off of her neck within a matter of seconds. Then I turned to help the earth ponies.

I was met by a spatter of blood, skull, and brain. I couldn’t help but scream. Both of the earth ponies were now headless, and their bodies stood upright for a moment before falling over. It was a disturbing sight. One I felt sure would be permanently etched into my memory. I threw up, I won’t lie.

I long lost focus of what was going on outside the cage. Carrot Cake was effectively cleaning up. Without an effective containment source that was a pony’s neck, the devices exploded in an effective radius. Since I had thrown the devices out of the cage, fortunately in the direction of the scrambling, confused slavers, they had exploded violently, killing one instantly, and severely injuring the other, leaving one left alive, as Carrot had finished off the other he was attacking long ago.

Carrot was about to attack the last one, but I shouted for him to “Stop!” He surprisingly did so. I honestly didn’t expect him to actually stop.

I looked at the last standing slaver, waiting for her eyes to meet mine, and when they finally met mine, they were full of fear. I could read her emotions. She didn’t know how this happened. It surprised her.

“Lay down your weapon. Or you’ll get it from the ghoul.” I said, putting on my best brave voice I could, which was quite hard to do when the only thing on my mind was getting the blood and gore out of my mane and coat before it stained.

Quite visibly hesitant to do so, she laid her weapon, which was a pistol similar to mine, on the ground, and backed away from it.

“Key. Now.”

The slaver mare tossed the key into the cage, and I unlocked it, so that the unicorn and I could leave the gore-filled cage behind.

I shifted through the bodies until I found my saddlebags, and put them back on my back after making sure all of my weapons were there. The slaver injured by the explosion had passed, due to the blood loss.

My plan had definitely gone awry, but with some improvisation, I managed to save one of the enslaved ponies and a slaver, who was now bound and unable to move thanks to some help from the unicorn and Carrot.

I moved over to her, and asked her a simple question. “Why?’

She broke down in tears, and babbled something about a ‘family’, and ‘not enough caps’.

I patiently waited for the mare to calm down so I could get out a coherent answer from her.

That took a while.

Butterscotch,
You know that feeling you get when you know you did something wrong, but you can’t quite put your hoof on what exactly it is you did? That’s how I’m feeling right now. I’ve done a few things since I left the Stable. Things I can’t decide whether I’m proud of or not.
I’ve killed ponies. It may have been self defense, but I still did it. Now their blood is on my hooves, and I feel like something in my head has snapped. I’m not a mare meant to kill ponies, Butterscotch. It feels wrong.
And I have two more pony’s blood on my hooves as well. I didn’t kill them directly, but it was still my fault. I put my life ahead of theirs. I could have saved them if I weren’t being so selfish.
And I spared one of the very ponies that captured, and later, tried to kill me. Why? Was this the right choice? I don’t know.
And I made an acquaintance. One of those things that killed Gardens. He’s not like them though. He’s not insane. I’m not going to say he’s nice. He’s actually a bit of a prick. But if it weren’t for him, I’d definitely be dead right now. Yet, for some reason, I feel that by making friends with him, I’d somehow betray Gardens. And you.
I can’t tell what’s right or what’s wrong anymore, Butterscotch. Please help me.
I’m a broken mare.
~Vanil

Vanil,

I’m sorry. I really don’t know how to comfort you. I didn’t realize how bad it was outside. You’ve had it going rough. I know. Just, keep doing what you’re doing. Keep surviving. All that matters is that you stay alive, right?

Vanilla, you better come back safe. I wanna see you again. Please, please, please don’t leave me. I couldn’t stand to be here without you at my side.

I’d made good distance in the time I had spent talking to my new allies. While I wouldn’t call them my friends, we were certainly getting along.

The unicorn slave from earlier, her name was Divinity. Apparently she had been traveling to Crystal City like myself, when she was jumped by the slavers. She was quite honestly, beautiful. At least compared to me. Her mane was a mint green, with matching eyes, and her coat She came down from Appleoosa. Old Appleoosa, not New Appleoosa, she had to keep reminding me. There was a difference.

They had used the micro-oven gun on her as well. Apparently, it emitted a microwave signal concentrated and powerful enough to disrupt a unicorn’s magic. The magical disruption is powerful enough to cause disorientation and a sense of amnesia. Oh, and I should probably mention that the Pip-Buck called it a Microwave Emitter.

Carrot Cake himself was a pre-war carrot farmer. Go figure. He had a few connections to the Apple family in the past, trading apples and carrots occasionally.

Nowadays, he’s a wanderer. He literally walks aimlessly around the wasteland without a thought as to where he’s going. He’s had countless numbers of close calls, considering he never uses any weapon beside his own teeth. He was actually quite reckless. The only reason he ever stays away from a situation is if he’s absolutely sure he’ll end up dead. Otherwise, he dives right in.

And now, our special guest star, the slaver. Though I suppose she’s now an ex-slaver She sat on the ghoul pony’s back, bound, but not gagged. We needed to hear her story.

Orange mane, orange coat, and what would you know? Her name is Orange.The only part of her that wasn’t some shade of orange were her eyes, which were a fuschia color. She had two foals, without a father now, as he was one of the other stallion slavers we killed during our escape. I couldn’t help but feel guilty, since an exploding head caused by a point-blank shot from a shotgun is hard to come back from.

So now, I couldn’t help but feel sympathy toward the widowed ex-slaver that used to be my enemy. And who could really blame me? Anypony with an actual heart would forgive her. Unless she were lying of course.

Now that everyone had finished their stories, they all walked in silence. Divinity had managed to find a few more shells for her shotgun. Looting deceased ponies felt wrong to me, so I left that up to Carrot and Divinity. Maybe one day I could work up the courage to loot the dead, but definitely not today.

I began to get severely bored, and out of boredom, I plugged in the ear bloom on my Pip-Buck, and tuned the radio to Crystal City Radio. And I was met with a pleasant, albeit somewhat curious surprise.

The song was coming to an end. That meant Speaker would be giving us his wasteland update soon. It was usually something drab or drole, like cautioning about raiders, telling listeners to stay away from strange caves, or don’t get into a melee fight with a Hellhound.

Today was a little different.

We have an interesting update today, Crystal Citizens. A Stable dweller has emerged from her little hole in the ground, and is cleaving a path toward Crystal City. One thing is for sure, she’s a fighter.
Reports say she tangoed with Cracker, and miraculously walked away unscathed. Though, Trainyard does look a little worse for wear with all of the explosions going down.
Oh, and she was… enslaved, right? Yes, enslaved. Bomb collar and all, and yet managed to walk away unscathed, even saving a couple of slaves.

Correction: One slave and a slaver.

She’s definitely a miracle worker. But that’s not the most curious thing about her, Citizens. Oh no. It’s the fact that she’s cybernetic. With a chrome lined back-

Steel plated. Not chrome lined.

-And attachments she has put on her back, she’s pushed through. And very soon, we may see the Cybermare walking in the streets and halls of our very own Crystal City.

Well, his reporting skills weren’t perfect. Some of his info was a little off. And I couldn’t help but wonder how he got the information. Cameras? Satellite? Didn’t matter really. But it definitely peaked my curiosity.

And he was right about a few things. They would indeed be seeing ‘Cybermare’ in their streets.

I smiled to myself. We were now less than ten minutes away from the sparkling Empire. Not quite to Crystal City, but almost there.

Five miles to go, and I would finally be safe.

Level Up
3>4

Perks Gained:

Science!
Take full advantage of advanced technology with access to base level and Rank 1 high-tech mods.

Author's Notes:

Please, if you like it, add it to your favorites, and keep up with it. Also, thanks to Kkat for writing the original Fallout Equestria, and thanks to many other authors with their own Fallout: Equestria fanfiction for inspiration to create my own.

Also, a huge thanks to Ernest Wood and Starlight Nova for editing my story, and making it 20% cooler.

Please, comment on it. Constructive criticism is accepted, as well as positive comments.