Fallout Equestria: Flames of the Phoenix

Isolation.

It is quite hard to live with, especially when you place it on yourself. I hope you never have to go through what I did. I could see my home, right down at the bottom of the hill. I couldn’t go down there though, not after what I had done.

I suppose you’ll be wanting to know what it is that caused me to isolate myself. It’s probably the most defining moment in my early life, and it led to another very important time in it.

Might as well tell you what happened, there’s no reason to keep it secret. I isolated myself because I killed both of my best friends, Flame Streak and Stonewall, during one of our trips. It was accidental, but that didn’t make me any less at blame in my eyes.

 We had been surrounded by some Rangers. You know, those ponies in power armor. Anyways, they had us surrounded, I was practically blinded by rage, and what was said only served to escalate the situation until a fight broke out. It was hard, but me and my friends managed to hold out against the Rangers’ assault, mostly due to my magic and Stone’s shield.

As the battle progressed, my anger only grew, until I reached the point where I couldn’t even really tell what happened. When I regained my awareness, Flame was on the ground and I was standing over him, facing down one of the Rangers. At that point, everything disappeared into a flash of heat and flames and I lost consciousness altogether.

When I came to, about an hour or so later, everypony but me was dead. I assume nopony had escaped anyways, since all that was left was ashes and equipment that had survived what had happened. I searched frantically for a good hour at the least before I found evidence of my friends. Stone’s metal armor and shield were partially melted, as were Flame’s daggers. All that remained of their bodies was ash. I sat there for Celestia knows how long, crying over them until some ponies found me and offered to help me control my newfound magic.

Oh, and did I mention that I got my cutie mark from this? It’s funny, I had wanted it pretty badly for a long time before I got it, and now I just want my friends back. The cost was not worth getting pictures of fireballs on my flanks. I would gladly trade them to get my friends back, but I know that isn’t going to happen.

You see, the flames that had killed my friends and all those Rangers had come from me, from my magic. That’s why I isolated myself for so long. Anyways, back to the story, those ponies took me and trained me to control my magic, as well as improve my fighting style. I trained with them for a good while before I left and went back to my home, which brings us back to where I started…

*-----------------------------*

“Ugh, come on Pyro. It’s just a short walk down the hill, you can do this.” I was trying to steel myself for the experience. My hooves wouldn’t obey me though. “No I can’t. I can’t face them after what I did.” With that, I hung my head and turned to leave.

I wasn’t watching where I was going at all, which only caused me to run into the black Pegasus that had position herself in my path. When I looked up, I saw Shadow, Flame’s older sister, looking down at me coldly. I froze from the gaze and we stayed like that for a while.

“Oh, umm… Hi?” I ventured, trying to break the awkward silence and smiling a bit at her.

After another minute of silence from her, I stood up. Of course, that’s when she decided to respond by slugging me hard, and I was back on the ground a few feet away with a pain in my jaw.

“Oww! Shadow, I know it’s been awhile, but still!” I said, rubbing my cheek with a hoof. My sunglasses had landed a little bit away from me, but I didn’t bother picking them up yet.

“Where is he? WHERE. IS. FLAME?” Shadow said, yelling the last three words at me. All I could do was look anywhere but at her, and say nothing. “That’s what I thought.” She said after a minute, sadness permeating her voice. “Was… Did he suffer?”

I could barely hold back the tears at that point. I wanted to confess to her, that I had killed her brother, but I was afraid. That fear only served to make me angry at myself, which then caused a growl to try and escape me.

“He died in an instant, so I don’t think so.” I eventually managed to get out through the lump in my throat. When I finally looked at her again, my anger evaporated, leaving me feeling nothing but pity and sadness. Shadow had been silently crying over her brother since she learned of his death. I wanted to comfort her, but I was too afraid to do so. And there was that stupid fear again.

I could face down an entire group of enemies no problem, but I was being scared off from simply comforting a mare about her brother. What was wrong with me?

I eventually forced myself to embrace her and pulled her close, whispering to her. “It’s okay Shadow; I’ll make sure his death is repaid.” She remained there, crying softly into my shoulder, until she drew back and looked at me with a sniff.

“Really?” She asked, to which my response was a nod. “I’m c-coming with you then. I need to kill whoever ended my brother’s life.” She said, leaving no room for arguments. At least she already had all her stuff, she wouldn’t have to go back down and possibly alert others to my presence. I really didn’t want to face anypony in that town.

“You… You want to come with me?” I balked at her. She had never seemed to like me really, so this was a little strange. She nodded once and I let go of the embrace, backing up a few feet before sitting and holding my head in my hooves. Why? Why was this happening to me?

“Alright, you can come.” I said, taking my hooves away from my head and levitating my sunglasses back on to my face. “Let’s go.”

With that, we both headed off away from our home, off to the wastes.