FO:E - 4 ~ The First Night (complete)

Artist's Note: *Finished! Hope you like it!*

Against all the odds, Littlepip has survived her first night outside Stable 2... but the ordeal has left her beaten, bruised and so very tired.
Seeking shelter in the town of Ponyville, she hides in the ruins of Carousel Boutique, hoping the two-century old building will keep her safe from the horrors of the Wasteland. In only a matter of hours, Pip has abandoned the safety of her old life, ventured into the great unknown, been captured by Slavers, fought for her life against feral Raider ponies and been betrayed by a pony she saved... It has been a very long night.
And in the silent darkness, the events of the evening catch up with her, and exhaustion soon bludgeons her into unconsciousness.

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Monterey Jack and I had barely parted ways when the railing of the bridge exploded next to me.  A sniper!  The same pony, I presumed, who had turned Cagey’s head to applesauce.  I fled into the town, keeping to what cover there was.  Few of the buildings were intact enough to hide in.  This was the closest.

Fortunately, I was alone.  I waited for nearly an hour, curled up in a shadow near the door; but the sniper pony seemed uninspired to follow me.  No, she or he could just wait until I came out.

Fatigue washed over me.  I had stayed up all the night before, and this night’s events were a strain on both body and spirit.  My muscles were weak and achy.  My body hurt from the kicks I had taken. I felt emotionally played-out.  I needed to sleep.  Sleeping here was probably a horrible idea.  If I woke up at all, it could be in the hooves of slavers, raiders or possibly worse.  But going back outside, finding someplace better, it just wasn’t on the table.  I was in no shape to test my wits against the sniper pony again.

Carousel Boutique was quite similar in condition to the building up at Sweet Apple Acres, only the looting was more destructive.  The walls had been painted with crude images of violence and cruder swear words.  A pile of torn-up cloth rotted in a corner, smelling foul, like ponies had urinated on it repeatedly.  There were two beds, one of which was stained deeply with blood (and probably more vile things).  The other was smaller, a foal’s bed, nothing but a mattress on a crushed frame.  In my state, I felt it would do wonderfully.

The Carousel Boutique offered two more treasures, a locked chest and another terminal, identical to the one at Sweet Apple Acres.  This one too was still functional, again to my surprise.  It was locked; slipping out my access tool, I went to work.  These terminals were crafted by some of the same ponies who later made the PipBucks, and the encryptions and locks were similar enough that my tools allowed me to get partway through the security.  What remained was a puzzle, finding the password within strands of code that my access tool laid bare.  In my fried mental state, it was probably a small miracle that I was able to parse the code and find the password. Or possibly not.  The password was “apple”.

I laughed aloud, catching myself when I heard the volume of my own voice in the stillness of the decrepit boutique, as I realized that, beyond all realistic chance, this was the computer that the message had been sent to.  With an unwarranted feeling of accomplishment, I downloaded it, and let my PipBuck do the rest.  

Age had damaged the recording, but there was enough audible for me to recognize that same female voice, kinda sweet and with an odd accent, that had many hours before revealed to me the code that lead me out of my old life and into this new and horrible one.

“...special instructions for Stable Two... ...that’s muh family down there!  Until the poison is gone from up here, that door doesn’t open for anypony!”  

The voice faded in and out of static.

“...know you hate this, Sweetie Belle, but you’re an Overmare now.  The Overmare of the most important Stable in all of Equestria.  I need you to do this for me...   ...to keep them safe...  ...best friends forever, remember?...”  

The sound file died with a whimper.  I had been right -- there was really no value in a two-century old message.  I left the chest for the morning, curled up, and went to sleep.

- (Extract from Chapter 2 of Fallout: Equestria by Kkat.)


Dedicated to Kkat for creating Fallout Equestria Thank you for your fantastic story!

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic is property of Hasbro and
Fallout Equestria and its characters belong to Kkat