Fallout Equestria: A New Hope (On Hiatus)

Chapter Ten

The night was cool as I sat with Pallet at a campfire Lead made hours ago. Shortly after, he went off somewhere claiming he'll be back. Sweetie Drops snoozed beside me on the ground. That's when I heard a sort of a cross of singing and chanting. "LO HI LO HI LO~! HEE~ HI~ LAI~ LO~" Sweetie awoke from the particularly loud singing. Just then, a burst of light, almost that of a fireball lit up the area. The three of us went to investigate. What we witnessed left us shocked. There was Luna's Legion...and they were performing some ritual. They all were dressed like ghosts and performed movements that were obviously rehearsed like second-nature. Suddenly the chanting and singing stop as they turned sharply to face a large rock. Lead is dressed in a garb almost identical to the others, except his is as blue as Luna's mane. He starts to sing with a voice that sent chills down my spine, "O~, Death. O~, DEATH! Won't you spare me over til another year." The Legion begins marching around a worn portion of the clearing, passing by a color guard with the Equestrian flag, the Legion Standard, and a flag I cannot place. "Well what is this that I can't see, with ice cold hooves takin' hold of me~?" "Well I am Death, none can excel, I'll open the door to Heaven or Hell. Whoa, Death someone would pray, could you wait to call me another day. The children prayed, the preacher preached, time and mercy is out of your reach. I'll fix your hooves til you can't walk. I'll lock your jaw til you can't talk. I'll close your eyes so you can't see this very hour, come and go with me. I'm Death, I come to take the soul, leave the body and leave it cold to draw up the flesh off of the frame. Dirt and worm both have a claim." I am almost entranced by the words as Lead sings, "O~, Death! O~, DEATH!" The Legion stop marching and stands at attention. "COMRADES! O, comrades! We gather here tonight to give life to our Lady Luna! Some say she's dead. Is that your belief?!" The Legion responds in unison, "No!" "And those small ass mother buckers call her Nightmare Moon. Is that our culture?!" "NO!" "So...we're gonna hang us a zebra." "HOORAY!" The Legion resumes its chanting and singing, while marching in place. A bell tolls as some poor zebra is lead toward the gallows.

Sweetie watches in childish glee. "Why is that rope there, Palley?" Pallet is white as a ghost and leads the filly away, right as the zebra has the rope put around his neck. As the zebra is let down and left to slowly asphyxiate, Lead's horn lights up and causes a white flow of energy to spill forth from the moon and flow into a golden wine goblet.

And even worse, it's a colt! I quickly take action as I am not going to watch a colt die. My horn lights up, and the zebra is lifted so his neck is not pressing down against the nuce. His head is then levitated out of said noose as he is lay on the ground, gasping for air and coughing. "Stop this!" I bellow from the hill I am standing on. The Legion and Lead turn to me. Glaring at me with eyes that yes, did send chills down my spine, but I forced myself not to run. "What's this then?" Lead asked. "This Zebra is a colt! A colt who still has a life ahead of him." I say as I trot down the hill and toward the gasping and coughing Zebra. I hold him tight against my chest. The Zebra does not look at Lead or the others as he buries his face in my chest. "We have done this for generations. Zebras deserve to die." He said. "Why, Lead? What has this innocent colt done to you?" I ask. My tone becoming a bit harsher. He stays silent for only a moment. I then turn toward the Legionaries. There were six of them. "And you Legionaries. Is it right for a colt to die by your hooves?" I ask. "They will not speak to you, Sketch." Lead said. I turned to him. "Is it right to watch colts die? Zebra or not?" I asked as I started running a hoof through the colt's mane. He again, kept quiet for a moment refusing to answer. "Well, is it?" I urged him to answer. "Yes." He finally replied in a low tone. "How?" I asked. "Look around you. Zebras were the ones who caused Equestria to look like this." Lead said gesturing to all of the wastes. "The adults. There were no colts in the drops." I said looking back to the colt who was scared beyond belief. I then decided to ask him a question that would stump him for a while.