Fallout Equestria: Story of the Lone Changeling

Chapter 2: Trouble (Good Karma)  
Chapter one was already posted on my Outlaw the Changeling account.
 
“No.” I said, looking with a glare in my eye.
 
“I’m sorry?” He asked. It didn’t sound like he didn’t hear me, it sounded more like he wanted me to change my answer. That wasn’t gonna happen.
 
“I said No!” I said strongly. “Whatever it is you’re offering, I’m not interested if it means killing the ones who gave me a place to rest.”
 
“Hmph it seems that I’ve misjudged you. Doesn’t matter. You’ll just die along side everyone else in town.” I shoot him a glare. He turns around and proceeded to walk away. That’s when I saw that he was only walking on three legs instead of four. It didn’t take long for me to realize he was reaching for something, more than likely a gun. I use my magic to swiftly pull out the 10mm pistol and aim at him.
 
“Don’t even think about it.” I said. The griffon stopped in his tracks. He turns to look at me and gives a smirk. He then slowly pulls out some kind of submachine gun. I just glared at him.
 
“Or what? You gonna shoot me?” He said. I begun to squeeze the trigger.
 
“That’s a very tempting choice right now. Put the gun down, or that’s exactly what’s gonna happen.” I said. The griffon’s smile decreased into a frown.
 
“You’ve made a grievous mistake in judgement. I hope you’re excited to see what death is like.” He said. Those words were enough. I didn’t even wait for him to turn around. I just sent two bullets flying his way. The first one shot him in the neck, the second one hit the back of his head. He falls to the ground dead, blood leaking from his neck and head. As he dropped, I heard Apple Bloom shriek, as well as voices in the other rooms. All of which were ‘What was that?’ and ‘What’s going?’ I heard rapid footsteps coming from the stairs. I turn around, and it was Dawn.
 
“What the hell is going on!?” She shouted. I said nothing, and just looked at the dead griffon 10 feet in front of me. Dawn looks at him too and gasps.
 
“He… he killed Lorenzo.” One of the ponies said. I hear a gun click sound. I didn’t even bother turning around. Half of it was because I knew it was Dawn, the other half was because any sudden movement would result in a bullet going through my head.
 
“Not even sunrise, and you’re already shooting up my town! I better get an explanation or else this floor will be painted red!” She said. I didn’t know why, but I wasn’t at all scared. I wasn’t fearing for my life, nor was I even fazed by the fact that I just killed someone. It felt like… I’ve done this before.
 
“He was working for the Hunter Confederacy!” Apple Bloom said nearly panicking .
 
“What?!”
 
“He was working for the Hunter Confederacy, and he was trying to get bribe me into blowing up this town.” I said turning to look at Dawn. Dawn lowered her weapon and looked at Lorenzo in shock. She then looks at Apple Bloom.
 
“Are you telling the truth? Or are you lying so he doesn’t get arrested? She asked. I already knew that arrested part was bullshit. She was just threatening to paint the floor red, and I didn’t see any buckets with red paint around.
 
“She’s not lying.” A deep male cockney accented voice said. I turn toward the door the voice came from and a male earth pony with a light brown duster coat walks out of the room. The earth pony was had a red coat and a black mane. On his back, there was some kind of shotgun with a drum magazine. I began to wonder how he could shoot that thing. That was until I noticed that his right hoof, was a mechanical claw. How did he get that?
 
“I heard the entire conversion. Apparently Lorenzo has been here for five years scouting the damn place. He wanted our newcomer to turn this place to ashes, so the H.C could build another base.” He said. Dawn looks in disbelief.
 
“A member of the Hunter Confederacy right under our noses.” She said. “Alright everyone, go on about you’re business. We’ll clean this mess up in the morning.” She said. It was like a switch, how fast the ponies and griffons went from shock to casual and walked back into there rooms. This must’ve been an ordinary occurrence or something.
 
“I guess I owe you an apology for the second time, as well as a thank you.” Dawn said. She then reaches into her wing and pulls out a small pouch. “Here. A little thank you for saving our town.” She said giving me the pouch. I take the pouch and look inside it. There were around 50 bottle caps inside.
 
“That isn’t necessary.” I said.
 
“I appreciate your generosity, but if anything, that isn’t enough. I’ll see if I can get you some more caps later.” She said. I was gonna talk, but she spoke up a second time. “Also, if you spot anything suspicious next time, please report it to me. I don’t think you noticed but the residents here don’t like the idea of hearing gunshots in the middle of the night.”
 
“Understood.” I replied. She proceeds to walk off before turning back around.
 
“You know, if you think you can’t make it to me in time, there’s always a deputy’s position open. You can talk to the Mayor if you’re interested.” She said. I was gonna reply, but a yawn left my mouth, making it impossible to speak. I decided it would be best to get some sleep before my body gives out.
 
“Come on Apple Bloom. Let’s get some shut eye.” I said. As we entered the room, I saw that the room had: One bed, one couch, a dresser, and some kind of robot.
 
“Good evening sir!” And it spoke with a british accent. “What may I do for you?” It asked. I was pretty confused at the robot. It had some kind of powerful propulsion system giving it the ability to hover, don’t know how I knew that. It also had three appendages. A buzz saw, some kind of flamethrower, and a two fingered hand, or do you call that a claw? I don’t know what you call that. It also had three eyes, one in the front, the left and right of its head. It was also a sort of light blue metal color.
 
“What… Who are you exactly?” I asked.
 
“I am Wadfrey. Your current personal Mr. Handy.” The robot said.
 
“Mr. Handy?” I asked.
 
“A personal robotic helper. And I shall be the first to say, proud to serve a Changeling.” He said.
 
“Um… “ I said scratching my head with my hoof. “Thanks, I guess.”
 
“Proud to serve! Now, is there anything you need?” He asked.
 
“Not right now. I just need some rest.” I said.
 
“Righto sir. I shall be ready to serve you when you wake up.” Wadfrey said.
 
“Okay.” I simply say. He then goes on about his business, which mostly involved him just levitating in the corner. I walk over to the bed and grab Apple Bloom with my tail and place her on the bed.
 
“Alright Apple Bloom. You can sleep on the bed, I’ll take the couch.” I say. As I turn around, Apple Bloom called my name.
 
“Nightshade?”
 
“Yes?” I answered.
 
“Did that griffon have to die? Did you have to kill him?” She asked. I knew this conversation would be brought up. I knew she’d be frightened by what I did, but I didn’t have a choice.
 
“I’m sorry you had to see that Apple Bloom, but if I didn’t shoot him, he would’ve shot me.” I said. I walk closer and sit beside the bed. “Apple Bloom, I know that you’re frightened from what you saw, but from that situation, it was either me or him. Who would take you to find your family if something happened to me?” I asked. Apple Bloom looked in disbelief.
 
“Apple Bloom. I’m sorry you had to see that, but he was a threat to both of us. I had to do it, for the safety of both of us.” I said in a comforting tone.
 
“Ah understand Nightshade.” She said with a sad voice. I nod and began to walk over to the couch.
 
“Nightshade?” Apple Bloom called. I turn around again.
 
“Yes?” I asked.
 
“Ah’m afraid I might have a bad dream. Can Ah sleep with you, please?” She asked. I sigh and walk toward the bed and climb in it. I lie down on my back and Apple Bloom crawls over me and cuddles herself beside my head and shoulder on my left side like a cat would do. I sigh once more.
 
“Good night, Nightshade.” She said.
 
“Good night Apple Bloom.” I reply. I doze off to sleep much quicker than last time.  
[hr]  
[i]I woke up in the middle of a dust storm. The literal middle of a dust storm. Everywhere I looked there was nothing but dust flying everywhere. It was getting into my eyes making it painful to see. My ears then began to pick up gunfire and I began to see through the smoke, there were muzzle flashes. A lot of them. I was then suddenly snitched up by a talon.
 
“Come on! We gotta go!” The voice, a male shouted. He grabs me and yanks me in the direction he was running. I immediately follow. We ran, barely avoiding bullets and magic blasts as we did. We take cover in a ditch. This gave me time to observe my rescuer. It was a griffon silhouette this time. And he had with red eyes. He tosses me an assault rifle of some sort Which I catch with my magic.
 
“Provide covering fire! Make sure they don’t get close to the village!” He said as he pulled out a laser rifle. I was confused. Who were we fighting? What was in that village that was worth protecting? And the biggest question, Who was this griffon helping me? I look over the edge of the ditch and began to shoot. The griffon joined me. As we were in the middle of the firefight, a clicking sound came from his laser rifle.
 
“Shit! My rifle’s jammed! Cover me, I gotta- Gah!” I heard. I turned to see what happened. The griffon had a bullet wound in his shoulder. He gripped his shoulder and leaned behind cover.
 
“Motherfuckers.” He gritted. He pulls out some kind of syringe and sticks it into his arm. His shoulder heals instantly. I toss him the assault rifle and take the laser rifle.
 
“Let’s make them fold! We’re winning this card game!” He said loudly as he began to fire. As he provided cover fire, I unjammed the gun. I have no idea how I did it, but I did. I began to fire the laser, which turned out to be semi-automatic. That’s when I heard a whistling sound. I look up and to my horror, I see some kind of small nuke, falling directly towards us. Don’t even ask me how I saw that through the dust storm but I did. Instead of running, I aimed at the nuke and shot it. When it exploded, Me and the griffon were sent flying back a few inches. I recover to see a large piece of debris flying toward my head. [/i]  
[hr]  
My eyes shot open as if I had heard an alarm go off. I wake up breathing heavily. I calm down after a few breaths. I look to my left and Apple Bloom wasn’t there. I sat up, very quick and began to look around. I saw Wadfrey levitate toward me.
 
“Is something wrong sir?” He asked.
 
“Have you seen Apple Bloom?” I asked, trying my best not to sound like I was about to panic.
 
“I believe I saw the young filly walk outside to make some friends.” He said. I was shocked.
 
“And you didn’t stop her!” I said in a shout.
 
“I am sorry sir, but my A.I restricts me from acting without being ordered to.” He said. That made me feel bad about shouting at him.
 
“Sorry about my outburst.” I apologized.
 
“No need for apologizes sir. It’s understandable to be worried for your daughter.” Wadfrey said. I’m not sure if his eyes were messed or something, but I have no idea how he could confuse me for being Apple Bloom’s father. After all, I’m only 19 years old… apparently. I decided not to lecture the robot on how I’m not old enough to have a ten year old filly, because it would’ve probably lead to him thinking I adopted her or something. I walk out of the room and made my way down the stairs and out the door. I look to my right and to my delight, Apple Bloom was playing catch with a griffon chick. I took a quick sigh of relief upon seeing that she was alright. The griffon chick she was playing with was a male brown feathered and furred griffon, with, like most of the griffons here, a yellow beak.
 
“Apple Bloom!” I called. Getting Apple Bloom’s attention, I walk toward her. She trots over toward me.
 
“Afternoon Nightshade!” She said with a smile. I smile back.
 
“Apple Bloom, next time you leave the room before I’m awake, please leave a note so I don’t have a panic attack.” I said. Apple Bloom puts on an apologetic look.
 
“Sorry.” She said.
 
“It’s alright.” I replied. I looked at her friend and got an idea. Checking the time on my PipBuck, it was 3:45 pm.
 
“I think it’s time for us to get a move on.” I said.
 
“Oh, okay.” She said. She turns to the griffon she was playing with and waved. “Goodbye Clyde.” The griffon waves back and flies off.
 
The two of us began to walk to the gate where we were met by Dawn.
 
“Leaving so soon?” She asked.
 
“Yeah, sorry about the sudden leave, but Apple Bloom and I need to get to Blackridge.” I explained. Dawn tilted her head a little bit.
 
“Blackridge? That’s a long way from here. Could be dangerous.” Dawn said.
 
“Dangerous? How so?” I asked.
 
“Well, long distance traveling normally means you’re gonna end into running into someone, or something that wants you dead. “ Dawn explained. Now it was my turn to look confused. “Well, you’ve got Raiders, feral ghouls, Alicorns, the Hunter Confederacy, and Slavers. It’s dangerous to go alone. Especially if you’ve got a filly with you.” Dawn said. I wasn’t gonna asked about the Raiders and Slavers since I had a pretty accurate prediction on who they were and what they do. And I’m sure I knew enough about the Hunter Confederacy to know that they were not the good guys. But who were the Feral ghouls, and the Alicorns?
 
“Feral ghouls?” I asked.
 
“They’re the ghouls who weren’t lucky enough to survive the radiation without their brains rotting.” Dawn explained. The word ‘radiation’ caught me off guard.
 
“I’m sorry, radiation?” I asked.
 
“Yea, when the Megaspell was dropped 180 years ago, radiation from the blast spread radiation all over the place. I think your PipBuck will start beeping if you come in contact with radiation.” Dawn explained. I was gonna have to remember that.
 
“You said something about Alicorns earlier. What about them makes them so dangerous?” I asked. Dawn looked at me shocked.
 
“You’ve never heard of the Alicorns?” Dawn asked. The fact that Dawn looked at me with a shocked expression told me that these ‘Alicorns’ were bad news. I simply shook my head.
 
“Look. You’ve got somewhere to be, and I know as little about the Alicorns as everyone else does. Just take my advice. If you see a pony with wings and a unicorn horn, Run.” Dawn said. I nodded. An enemy no one knows much about is normally bad news. I was gonna have to be very careful.
 
“So I couldn’t find anymore caps to give you, so in lieu of caps, here’s some things to help you if you get hurt. I also took the liberty of fixing up old Lorenzo’s SMG as well as a getting a couple of Magazines.” Dawn said. She hands me 5 syringes and 5 bags with some kind of orange liquid in it. It was labeled, ‘RadAway’. Must be for when I get hit with too much radiation. I saw the syringe from the dream I had last night. Some kind of healing potion or something. She also give me the SMG that Lorenzo had and 4 additional magazines.
 
“Thank you, I appreciate it.” I thanked as I take the items and put them in my bag.
 
“No problem, and good luck in finding Apple Bloom’s family.” Dawn said. The front wall lifts up and I smile as I walked out the door. As I did, I made sure Apple Bloom was next to me. As I looked, Apple Bloom looked up at me. The two of us proceeded to walk.  
[hr]  
Four long hours of walking have went by. Apple Bloom was currently riding on my back because she told me her hooves started to hurt. As I walked, Apple Bloom and I decided to play a game. I didn’t know what it was called, but it required guessing and hint giving. It was really passing the time as sun was already starting to set.
 
“Okay, here’s one that’s sure to stump you. What’s used twice in a moment, once in a month, but never in a thousand years?” Apple Bloom said. I began to think. That riddle definitely did sound hard, but it was probably the most obvious to guess. I thought moderately hard about it. I mumbled the riddle in order to hear how it sounded out loud. Then I got it.
 
“Is it, the letter M?” I asked.
 
“Eeyup. Wow you’re good at this Nightshade. Okay you’re turn.” Apple Bloom said. I started to think. I needed to think of one that wasn’t to hard, but at the same time, needed to challenge her. That’s when I caught a glimpse of the moon ascending from the east.
 
“Okay, how’s this. Sometimes I’m half, something I’m whole, sometimes a piece of me is all you’ll ever know.” I said. Apple Bloom was silent for a minute. She was really stomped. I decided to help her out. “Apple Bloom, look to the right. “ I said. I look at Apple Bloom as she turned her head to the East and caught a glimpse of what I was talking about.
 
“The moon!” She excitedly said.
 
“Correct.” I replied. Apple Bloom beams a smile in my direction. I continued walking and came across some kind of Scrapyard. It looked abandoned and there was at the shack right of the entrance. It was a reasonable place to spend the night. I walk to the gate and attempt to open it. It was unlocked, thankfully. I walk inside and began to walk toward the shack. That’s when I heard laughing. Maniacal laughing, and lots of them.
 
“Nightshade. What was that?” Apple Bloom asked nervously.
 
“I don’t know, but they didn’t sound friendly. Stay close.” I said taking Apple Bloom off my back. She stayed close to me as I crawled behind a stack of carriages and toward where the laughing came from. I peek out to the left of the carriages to see ponies surrounding a dog with its leg in a bear trap. The group of raiders consisted of unicorns and earth ponies wearing spiky armor and they wielded sticks and spears. The unicorns had their weapons on the ground in order to wield the sticks and spears. The earth ponies had their battle saddles on, and wielded their melee weapons in their hooves and mouths. The unicorns used magic to hold their melee weapons, but their guns were on the ground. The earth ponies seemed to be the bigger threat at the moment. I look at Apple Bloom, and said nothing. Instead I gestured to the broken down, rusty carriage we were currently hiding behind. She gets the hint and climbs inside the carriage and hides in there. I peek out to the left again and pulled out my pistol. I had eight bullets in the chamber, and there were nine of them. I was gonna have to think this through.
 
“Hey! Somepony’s over there!” I heard one of them shout. So much for thinking it through. I sidestep out from behind the carriage and I went into S.A.T.S. I looked around for the ones I could hit with the highest percentile. The first one I aimed for was the earth pony with the combat shotgun saddle. The second one I aimed for was the unicorn that was closest to me. The third one was the unicorn that managed to pick up his gun. And the last one was the earth pony attempting to drive his spear through the dog. I wished myself luck, and activated my S.A.T.S. I managed to shoot the earth pony in the head. The bullet goes into his head and he falls down dead. The unicorn closest to me got shot in the neck, although I was aiming for his head, that was close enough. The third shot was aimed at the unicorn that grabbed his gun. It was a 45% chance of hitting, but I still went with it. To my horror, I missed by nearly an inch. I tried to shoot at him again but my gun aims at the last target, that ended up getting shot in the torso. Not enough to kill him, but he did drop his spear. While this happened, I noticed that at the ponies had a red outline around them. I was gonna have to remember that.
 
I get out of my S.A.T.S and run behind a what looked like a shack. I manage to get behind it right as one of the raiders fired of what sounded like a [i]VERY[/i] high powered shotgun. The shack was clearly made of sheet metal, as the shotgun blew a few holes in it. I duck down as more bullets passed through the metal. I lean out and began to shoot the pistol once again. I managed to cripple one of the unicorns legs causing him to fall. Unluckily for me, one of the earth ponies, the one that had a shotgun battle saddle, shot me in the chest. Luckily, nothing hit a vital organ, hopefully, and only three of the shells hit me. But DAMN that hurt. I flew back a few inches and landed on my back. I had one bullet left in my pistol so I was gonna have to be careful not to miss my next shot. I sit up to see the the earth pony with the shotgun battle saddle running toward me. I tried to go in to S.A.T.S but the words ‘AP required’ was up to the top left corner of my vision. Not wasting another second, I fire the pistol in his direction. The bullet got into his chest. Must’ve punctured a lung because he began breathing like he had ran out of air. I crawl back behind the shack and use this time to reload my pistol. As I loaded another clip into my pistol, my vision started to go against me. It blurred up. I looked at my Stats on my PipBuck to see that my health was 55/175 HP. I was either already down a bunch, or that shotgun really packed a punch.
 
I nearly get my head taken off by a bullet flying through the sheet metal. I grit my teeth and lean out from behind the shack and fired shots toward the raiders. I managed to get five shots out and take out two more raiders before a terrible nightmare became a reality. My pistol, broke. I look at it in shock, completely taken by surprise. I look up to see the earth pony I shot in the chest before, aiming at me. I guess the punctured lung wasn’t lethal enough and I had a really good feeling that I wasn’t gonna survive the second shot.
 
I quickly throw the broken gun at him and hit him in the face. That distracted him for about three seconds, which was just long enough for me to run at him full speed, and tackle him on the ground. As I pinned him on the ground I used my magic to pull out the submachine gun and shoot at the other three raider ponies. When that was over, I reared back and with all my might, I stomped on the raider’s neck and felt his windpipe get crushed beneath my hooves. He slowly began to die from suffocation. I was gonna put him out of his misery, but A) he shot me, and B) I might need that one bullet later.
 
Now that all of that was over, I could finally breath. My vision was still blurry, but I gave myself the mentally that it wasn’t that bad. That mentally went out the window and flew an additional 50 feet when I realized that the red colored liquid flowing out of my chest was my blood. I held my chest with my PipBuck hoof to stop the flow of blood, but it wasn’t working.
 
“healing potion!” Apple Bloom shouts running toward me. I didn’t hear the first part. I guess my ears were leaving with my vision.
 
“What?” I asked.
 
“The healing potion! Use the healing potion!” She shouted. I remember what she was talking about and use my magic to pull out one of the syringes. I quickly stick it into my chest and pushed the liquid into my body. My wounds began to heal instantly. The holes in my chest closed up and I slowly got relieved of any pain I felt. I looked back at my PipBuck and saw that my health went from 55/175 to 155/175 HP.
 
“Glad that’s over.” I said. I look over at the dog in the bear trap. It was chewing at its leg in an attempt to chew through it and get out of the trap. I wasn’t gonna let that happen. I walk over to the dog, despite its growling protests, and observe the trap. Looked like the release latch was broken. Whoever set this trap wasn’t exactly one for catch and release. I used my hooves to grab the two ends of the bear trap and began to pry it open. It had some resistance to it, but was still relatively easy to do. I open the bear trap and the dog pretty much jumps out of it. It barks happily at me.
 
As the dog was wagging its tail with glee, I took the time to observe it. It looked a lot more like a grey wolf than it did a dog. I was gonna go out on a limb and say that it was a wolf-dog hybrid. I wasn’t gonna think too much on it though.
 
“Nightshade. He’s hurt.” Apple Bloom said. I had completely forgotten about the fact that his leg was in a bear trap. I didn’t even notice that he wasn’t even standing on his right front leg due to injury. I pull out one of the healing potion syringes and walk towards the dog. It growls.
 
“It’s okay boy, this’ll only hurt for a second but you feel better afterwards.” I said. The dog allows me to stick the syringe in to his leg and and heals. The dog barks happily and says his tail again.
 
“Aw, can we keep him?” Apple Bloom asked looking at me. I didn’t think against having the dog with us, but I did notice a broken collar by a dead Pegasus. I walked over to the Pegasus and picked the collar up with magic and looked at the name on it.
 
“Dogmeat.” Whoever named this dog either really didn’t try, or was very hungry at the time of naming the dog. Either way, I got the dog’s name.
 
“Was this your owner Dogmeat?” I asked. The dog whimpers sadly. “I’ll take that as a yes.” I mutter. I look at Apple Bloom.
 
“Well, if Dogmeat wants to come with us, that’s his choice. But if not, we can’t force him.” I said. Apple Bloom looked at Dogmeat and sighed. Dogmeat then barks and wags his tail.
 
“I think he wants to come with us.” I comment. Apple Bloom got a brightened smile on her face. Dogmeat walked over and began to sniff us both before giving us licks to the face. Since I didn’t know where that tongue has been, I gently pushed him off. Apple Bloom was more accepting of the display of affection and laughed as it was happening. I put a stop to it, much to Apple Bloom’s disbelief and look at the dead raiders.
 
“Apple Bloom, there’s a shack over there we can spend the night in, head in there. Dogmeat and I will get all the supplies we can and hit the hay. Traveling at night doesn’t seem safe.” I said.
 
“Okay.” Apple Bloom said as she began to walk toward the shack. A bark comes from Dogmeat as the two of us began to loot the dead raiders and gather the supplies. I took off the battle saddle of the pony who shot me before, after taking a healing potion syringe from him, and held it in my magic. I look at it to find out how to put it on. Upon figuring out how, I place the battle saddle onto my back. It was then I find out that you shoot it with a trigger mechanism that goes in your mouth. I refuse to put that thing in my mouth until I cleaned it first. I also noticed that it had a built in satchel, just behind the guns. I took my stuff out of the old back pack and put them into the satchel. Dogmeat brought over a couple of boxes of shotgun shells and a few clips of submachine gun ammo. I take them, place them inside the satchel and gave the dog a pat on the head.
 
That was all worth looting, so I began walking toward the shack. Dogmeat following close behind. I reach the shack and enter to see that the shack only had a floor mattress.
 
“Guess whoever lived here wasn’t exactly flowing in caps.” I sarcastically said. Apple Bloom looks at me and chuckles.
 
“Ah guess not. But still looks cozy.” She said. I admired her optimism and decided to make a joke.
 
“Yea, and thanks to those nice ponies out there, we’ve got ourselves a new air conditioning system.” I said. Apple Bloom laughs. I smile at her joy. “Okay kiddo, you should get some sleep, I’ll stay up a little longer and keep watch. Okay?” I said. Apple Blooms ears flop downward.
 
“Oh, okay.” She said sadly. She had probably already gotten used to sleeping against me, even if it was just two nights.
 
“Don’t worry, I’ll be back in two hours. I just need to make sure no raiders try to move in on us, okay?” I asked.
 
“Okay.” She said still saddened. I felt bad now, but I’d feel worse if raiders got to her. Still, I hate to see her upset but at this point, I didn’t have a choice. She walks over to the mattress and lies down.
 
“Stay with Apple Bloom boy.” I say to Dogmeat. He barks and walks over to the mattress and sits there. I walked out of the shack and close the door behind me. I sit at the entrance of the shack and made sure to look to the left and to the right. Every ten minutes I would walk around the shack to keep and eye on the gate. Just to be sure there weren’t any raiders with bright ideas.
 
I repeated this process until I looked at my PipBuck and saw that two hours and thirty minutes went by. It was 10:53 pm. Time for me to go to sleep. I walked back into the shack and laid down next to the floor mattress. I didn’t go to sleep just yet. Instead, I found a cloth that was clean enough for me to wipe the mouth piece off. After doing that, and disposing of the cloth, that’s when I went to sleep.  
[hr]  
The next morning, I woke up, a lot earlier than usual. The time I woke up was 5:27 am. I wake up and stretch, cracking my back as I did so. I looked at Apple Bloom, who was still asleep and walk over to her and nuzzle her awake.
 
“Rise and shine Apple Bloom. Time to get a move on.” I said. Apple Bloom wakes up with a yawn and gets out of the floor mattress. Dogmeat woke up too, stretching and yawning. The three of us get up and proceed to walk out of the shack. As I walked out of the shack, I heard multiple gun clicks. My vision fixates and I see a total of three ponies and three griffons in white combat armor, all aiming automatic assault rifles with white and black stripes at me. The ponies were all earth ponies with battle saddles on. The griffons however stood on their hind legs holding their assault rifles with their talon hands. I was outnumbered and outgunned.
 
“Well well well. If it ain’t the little saint from Borderville.” One of the griffons said.
 
“What?! You thought that you could just kill our commander, loot his corpse and we weren’t gonna find out about it!?” One of the ponies said. I was shocked. How did these guys find out about what I did to Lorenzo? That didn’t matter at the moment, these guys are more than likely here kill me, and I wasn’t going to let that happen. At least not without a fight.
 
“Well, what’re you waiting for?” I said getting ready for a firefight.
 
“Oh, don’t worry. You’ll get your time will come, but first, we gotta wait for a little fireworks display.” Another one of the ponies said. I looked confused for a minute, as did Apple Bloom who was behind the wall of the door way. That facial expression disappeared and was replaced with one of surprise as I heard a loud ‘Boom’ sound come from my left. I turn my head in that direction to see a mushroom cloud forming. I look at my PipBuck and my eyes widened. Borderville was now labeled ‘Borderville ruins’. They found a way to blow the place up.
 
The other H.C members began to whoop and laugh as this as it happened. I looked in absolute shock, how did they blow up the town? These heartless sons of bitches just blew up all those kind ponies and griffons. That’s the final straw. Whilst gritting my teeth, I go into S.A.T.S and aim from right to left, I only had enough AP for four of them, and that was mostly because each one was being shot twice. That was enough for me. Time to test how strong this battle saddle was.
 
I shoot the first target, which was a griffon, was shot in the chest. He survives thanks to his armor, but since he didn’t have any armor on his head, when I shot him there, it was lights out. The second target, a pony, was shot twice in the chest. The first shot crippled him, the second shot finished the job. The third target started to shoot at me, as did the fourth. They were both ponies. The third one, I some how managed to shoot the gun off of his battle saddle. Don’t know how I did that, the chances of me doing that was 17%. The next shot landed in his neck. The fourth one manages to shoot my right leg twice before a buckshot of bullets hit him in the chest. He was killed by the first shot and was dubbed a ‘critical hit’. One of the griffons land two in my chest before I heard some kind piano music. I look to my right to see a dark grey unicorn stallion with a leather duster and a tan fedora, he also had a magnum in his magic. He shoots six rounds into the griffon. The magnum must’ve been very powerful because the griffon was killed by the first shot.
 
Real time starts back up again and I look up to see the griffon drop his gun.
 
“Fuck this.” He said and began to run away. His didn’t get very far because I shot him in his wing. I was aiming for his neck, but I’ll take the credit for that because now he’s crippled. I then get an idea. The griffon tries to run again, but the next stream of bullets was sent into his leg. Now he couldn’t walk.
 
“ARGH!” He shouts. I walk over to one of the Raiders that I killed previously, and with my magic, picked up one of the spears. He sees me walk over to him and gets a horrified look on his face.
 
“NO! NO PLEASE!” He said attempting to crawl away. He wasn’t fast enough. I step on his injured leg and hold the spear very close to his neck.
 
“Wait! Please! I’ll tell you whatever you want! Just don’t kill me!” He pleaded. I gritted my teeth. I wanted to kill him, but I needed to know how they blew up Borderville.
 
“How did you and your goons blow up Borderville?” I asked.
 
“The town was built over a Belfire Bomb that never detonated, we used an underground tunnel to get to the bomb and detonated it there.” The griffon shakily said.
 
“How did you denonate the bomb?” I asked.
 
“Fusion Pulse Charge! We used a fusion pulse charge!” He said. I used my magic to go into my satchel and pull out the fusion pulse charge I had myself.
 
“This?” I asked levitating it in his vision.
 
“Yes, that! That’s exactly what we used!” He yelled in a panic. So it seems that undetonated Belfire bombs can be detonated by Fusion Pulse Charges. Worth remembering. That was all the info I needed.
 
“I told you everything! Please let me live! I’ve got 400 caps on me! They’re yours to let me go!” He panicked out. That was extremely stupid of him. I could easily kill him and take the caps myself, but I’m a Changeling of my word.
 
“Hand ‘em over.” I said. Be quickly reaches into his armor and pulled out a bag of caps. I put the caps into my satchel and began to walk off. As I walked past his hind legs, I lifted the spear and drove it into his other leg. He screams in absolute agony.
 
“That was for Borderville.” I said. I heard Apple Bloom let out a small shriek. I turn around to see her looking away from what I did. I began to feel bad. Not for what I did, but because Apple Bloom saw it. That griffon continued to scream as I walked away.
 
“Come on Apple Bloom. We gotta get moving.” I said. Apple Bloom looked at me with eyes that signified she was traumatized. Poor filly. She wasn’t ready to see something like that. I was gonna have to make sure she’s okay, but right now was a bad time to do so. She needs a minute to take all of what I did in. She and Dogmeat started to walk with me.
 
“You wanna get on my back?” I asked. She didn’t answer. Not good.  
[hr]  
We had been walking for two hours and Apple Bloom still hasn’t said anything. She didn’t strike me as one who talks a lot, but she wasn’t exactly a quiet filly. It had gotten to the point where I had to look at her every ten seconds to make sure she was still there.
 
“Apple Bloom. What’s wrong?” I asked. She didn’t reply. I guess I should have expected that. I knew exactly what was wrong. I crippled the legs of a griffon pleading for his life. As much as I hoped for wild dogs to turn him into a living chew toy and rip him apart for what he did. I shouldn’t have done that in front of Apple Bloom.
 
“Apple Bloom, please. Talk to me.” I said looking at her. Apple Bloom stops with her head still down. I stop looking at her. I heard her mutter a word.
 
“What?” I asked.
 
“Why?” She said a little louder. She lookes at me teary-eyed.
 
“I’m sorry. But, I was angry at what he did. I didn’t want”
 
“Ah understand what you did Nightshade. But Ah don’t understand why they did that. Why would they do something like that? Why did they blow up Borderville?” She asked, tears flowing down her cheeks.
 
“It’s like Dawn said. You’re gonna end up running into something or someone who wants you dead. It’s understandable to be scared for what happens to us, it’s understandable to be sad for what happened. But there’s nothing we could do. We need to move on.” I said. Apple Bloom sniffled and wipes her tears away. They still flowed out. That’s when I pulled her in for a hug. She hugs back and didn’t let go until she stopped crying.
 
“Come on Apple Bloom. We’re not gonna get to Blackridge standing here.” I said. Apple Bloom nods and proceeds to climb onto my back.  
[hr]  
An hour later, Apple Bloom and I found ourselves in a sort of abandoned town. I looked at my PipBuck to see what this place was called. It was called, Havoc. The name fits. This place was a mess. The buildings were all missing 3/4ths of the roof. Carriages were all over turned and the ground was one more crack away from being a giant crater. I began to walk further into the town, making sure to check all directions. This place might’ve been rundown, but that didn’t mean it was difficult to hide here. Dogmeat started to sniff the ground and air. He barks and began to run.
 
“Ah think Dogmeat’s found somethin’.” Apple Bloom said. I began to follow after him. That dog’s nose picked up something, time to find out what.
 
The dog leads me to a dead unicorn pony wearing some kind of leather armor. The unicorn had a hole in his head, indicating he was shot. The scary part, the hole was scorched black, and took up 1/5th of his head. What was he shot by? Dogmeat looked at me wagging his tail. I guess he smelled something worth looting. I began to go through his pockets and pulled out a few syringes. One of the syringes was a healing potion, the others were labeled, Painkillers. Most be for pain resistance, obviously. That was all worth looting.
 
“Nightshade, what about the clothes?” Apple Bloom asked. I looked at the unicorn’s leather armor. The unicorn was smaller than me, as was his clothing. It wouldn’t fit.
 
“I’m afraid that wouldn’t fit me.” I said. I then heard something strange. It sounded like wind. I concentrate on my hearing to pick up what sounded like… Wings? I look up, and I see a pretty big Pegasus pony flying in the air. I was amazed at how big it was and wanted to observe it some more. I go into S.A.T.S to get a better look and come to a horrifing discovery. I noticed the S.A.T.S allowing me to target 9 limbs. The four hooves, the head, the torso, the two wings……. and a horn. Dawn said, if I saw a pony with wings and a unicorn horn, I needed to run, and that was an Alicorn, and I had no chance to hit it. I wouldn’t have taken a shot if my S.A.T.S allowed me a 200% chance of hitting. I lower myself to the ground and saw something that said [hidden] at the top of my vision. I needed to run, but that thing might see me, and I don’t think I’d out run something that can fly. I look at the building to my right and ran inside. I was so glad the dog was smart enough to follow me. I run inside, and gently close the door behind me. Once it was closed, I looked around for something to barricade it with. I see a large dresser. Good enough. I use my magic to pick up the dresser and place it sideways against the door. I didn’t bother to notice the strength of my magic, as I did this without breaking a sweat.
 
“Nightshade, what’s going on?” Apple Bloom asked worried.
 
“Shh. That thing might hear us.” I whispered. I run up the stairs and open a door leading to a bedroom. The roof along with half of the left wall, was gone. I walk over to the part of the wall that was still intact and look outside. The Alicorn had landed, and was looking around. The Alicorn was a white mare with a translucent pink mane. The Alicorn also lacked a cutie mark. The Alicorn had blood on her hooves and horn, which was smoking. Now I have an idea on what happened to that unicorn outside. I continued to watch, making sure to keep my body hidden. That’s when I saw the Alicorn walking toward the building across the street. She then turns around and began to rear kick the door. Something she wanted was in there, and she wanted it badly. My question was, if she wanted what was in there that badly, then why wouldn’t she just blast the door open.
 
“Leave us alone! Please!” I heard a female’s voice quiver. I guess that was why. She wanted to capture someone.
 
“Did you really think a couple of pathetic mercenaries could keep you safe? Did you think you could hide from us forever?” The Alicorn said. She, like myself, had an echo to here voice, but it was not metallic.
 
“What do you want from us?” The frightened mare asked. She was terrorified. And from the word ‘us’ she probably had children with her.
 
“It doesn’t matter why I’m doing this. You have commited crimes against our kind, against our ruler. And you must be punished. Come out now and harm will only be brought upon you.” The Alicorn said. She was the honest type, I’ll give her that. I heard the mare begin to cry. That’s when the Alicorn started to bang against the door. I wasn’t as frightened as the mare was, but I was scared. I was told by Dawn to run if I saw these things, and from what I heard, she plans on killing that mare.
 
“You’ve got ten seconds to come out!” The Alicorn said. I was stuck, do I help? Or do I use the mare as a distraction for me and Apple Bloom?
 
“Nightshade, Ah’m scared!” Apple Bloom silently shouts.
 
“I am too.” I whisper back.
 
“What do we do?” Apple Bloom asked.
 
I need to help that mare. (Good Karma)
 
I gotta find a way to draw that Alicorn’s attention. (Neutral Karma)
 
We need to sneak away. That mare will distract the Alicorn. (Evil Karma)
 
Before anyone decides to say I’m stealing this, let me tell you, I am Outlaw the Changeling, this is my story. Please, if you’d like to cast a vote here’s the link “https://www.fimfiction.net/story/358770/2/fallout-equestria-story-of-the-lone-changeling-choice-driven-story/chapter-two-trouble-good-karma”