Post-Birth

Chapter 1: Post-Birth

“”

I was born into darkness. I couldn’t see. Yet I could think freely. I had all of my other senses. I felt cold. I tasted iron. I could hear…things.

I was waking up.

There was a piercing, discordant whirring reaching my ears. I wanted to know what was making that terrible noise. I forced myself to open my eyes, but they wouldn’t budge.

Open up, lazy eyelids. Open up you no good flaps of ski--

I shrieked.

The most inequine scream escaped my mouth. Something was picking at my insides; a long mechanical arm was buried into my stomach!

Get it out! Get it out! Get it out!

My mind raced to think what was happening to me.

I kicked and flailed, trying to free myself from the grasp of the mechanical monstrosity. A multitude of metal pieces were protruding from a circular platform on the ground, as well as from one on the ceiling.While I was being held up by the arms above me, my insides were being picked at from the limbs, below..

I managed to shake one off my right foreleg, feeling the pressure around my limb alleviate. Using my newly freed foreleg, I smacked a metal pincer that was hooked around my left leg...which was...gray? That’s when I noticed a strange bulky piece of metal around my right leg. Not stopping my seemingly futile effort to liberate myself, I looked at the device around my leg.

“Pipbuck 3000,” came a strident, automated voice.

Was that what this thing was? That’s what it said on it. I decided to give it a test of durability by smacking it on the pincer latched onto my other foreleg.I reared my head to take a look, and it didn’t even seem to make a dent. Hard stuff. I kept smacking the apparatus restraining me. After half of a minute, I was rewarded with the floor.

My stomach felt like it had split open. Probably because it already was. The thing rapidly withdrew its invasive arms, and played a computerized warning about ‘damaged equipment’. I fell to the circular platform which was now closed. There was a loud clang as I hit the metal, hard. Well, at least I could move around now.

A searing pain reminded me that there had been a metal arm that was recently picking at my insides. Despite my uneasiness, I forced myself to look down. There was a thin, long slit in my stomach, dripping with blood. Something grey began to slip out of thin opening. I immediately held back a gulp of vile liquid that threatened to escape from my mouth, and swallowed it. I was pretty sure that thing was my intestine. I felt sick to the core, and really felt that I should keep my organs inside of me. I had to find help, but there seemed to be none, here.

I galloped up to a wall. Seeing no sign of escape or medical help, I started moving along its metal surface in hopes of finding a door or similar. After about a minute of searching, I found nothing. I took a proper look at the room I was in.

Utterly gray and dull. The room itself at least. The equipment in it was a little more interesting.

Trotting up to a boxy, glass monitor, I found my reflection. A computer terminal... that’s what it was. Where I got the name, I have no idea. But I was more interested in my own reflection.

It was dark, so I moved my head in for a closer look. My right eye was an unnatural red. It was uniform--glowing red, with metal around it. I closed my left eye, which still seemed biological in the reflection. As the vision in my left eye became dark, the red tinge in my vision became more apparent. I have a robot eye!

“This is getting too s--”

I stopped. There was that voice again, raspy and metallic. Where was it coming from? It had said exactly what I said, at the same time… I brought a hoof to my throat. It felt hard, strangely inorganic.

A door somewhere slid open, filling the room with an echoing clang. I heard hooves striking against the metal floor, getting consistently louder. Ponies were getting closer to me, and I was out in the open. Maybe they were friendly.

“Why are we always called to repair duty?” the voice of a mare said. “They’ve got a ton of pegasi ready to dive bomb and pulverize the Wasteland, but barely enough technicians to cover everything, and I always get repairs. Why can’t I go down to the labs a--”

The mare and her friend stopped as soon as they saw me. I shifted my weight awkwardly on my hooves. Her pink eyes bored into my nervous, squirming form.

“Uh...h--”

Both pegasi whipped out strange, metal, boxy looking things, and pointed them at me. I took a step forward, wondering what they were. The answer came quickly.

When the barrage of red lasers blasted out from the things in their hooves, and I simply stood there, wondering why I was getting a light show. The ponies fired in all directions erratically, seemingly out of bewilderment. I was snapped out of my stupor when one laser hit me on the shoulder, singeing my skin. Ouch.

I dove behind several crates that were near me, trying to find refuge from the pretty lasers of death. Why were they trying to hurt me? I haven’t done a single thing to those ponies!

“Look!” I shouted at the laser happy ponies. “I’m sorry I broke your machine, but you don’t need to kill me over it!” Not hearing any drop in the energy barrage, I shouted again, “I said I was sorry! Don’t you ponies understand!? No need to kill me over it!”

The pegasi weren’t letting up. I ran my hoof through my mane, trying to think of a plan. Reeling back a little, I felt my hoof smack against something hard.

At that point, various thoughts crossed my mind.

I have a horn? I’m a unicorn?! But, why didn’t I know sooner? Seriously, how could I have not noticed? How can you be a unicorn, but not notice it? Thinking back, I had no thoughts relating to it… or anything about me be honest. What other things don’t I know? I’m a unicorn, and I didn’t know... but it means I can do magic! This is going to be so great, I can--

A red light whizzed right past me, scorching a few hairs on my face..

I felt an intense heat as another laser beam streaked a few inches past my ear. I looked forward and found a large hole in the metal crate I was using as cover. The metal surrounding the hole was melted, and still slightly warm. The metal was starting to weaken. Eventually, the lasers would punch right through! I had to think fast.

I could use my magic to hit these pegasi with something heavy! I edged closer to the edge of the metal box, stopping as I heard the one of them speak.

"You think it's dead?"

IT!? I'm a pony! Damn that stupid foal...

"No idea, the lasers could have hit her. They went through the crate." And a mare, apparently.

Hold on, I'm a mare? How could I have not known this? What in Celestia's name is wrong with me!?

I immediately rubbed my muzzle. Round, unlike the angular muzzle of stallions. Just to be sure, I spread my hind legs a little and looked towards them. Ayep, definitely a mare.

"Hold on," the mare suggested. "Let's each take a side of the crate."

What, did they think I couldn't speak or understand them? I had already spoken to them, before. But it had been during an ear-splitting volley of red death. I wasn't about to complain, either.

I listened for the sound of hooves striking the floor. Even though it was muffled as though the pegasi were trying to sneak around the crate, the tale-tell sound of the metal floor gave them away. I waited at the corner of the crate, letting the hooves strike closer and closer to where I was.

Suddenly, I twisted around the corner and threw myself at the surprised looking buck. His yellow eyes widened in surprise as I brought a foreleg down on his head. Reeling back in pain, he dropped the laser weapon from his mouth with a yelp and brought his hooves over his head. He obviously didn't expect me to attack. I finished my assault with a kick right between the pegasus' eyes. He slumped onto the ground and stopped moving.

I spun around and received a burning laser beam to my chest. I let out a small gasp, quickly brought a hoof over the singed fur.

Seeing what I had done to her companion, the mare moved back. She pulled out a radio and quickly stuttered into it.

"R-requesting backup," she stammered, "E-R3 of Project Archaian is out of stasis!"

Hold on, 'E-R3'? Was that me? I couldn’t remember who I was. If the red mare had more to say, she didn't get the chance. I charged into her, sending the radio flying.

"What was it that you called me?" I asked, standing over her. The mare gave me a bewildered look. I couldn't blame her.. I poked her chest to stop her shock. "Answer me!"

"I -I don't know anything," the mare stuttered, "I just read the name next to the door!"

I caught the red pony glancing at her radio. I had to get out of here now; there would be some type of security here any moment. I kicked the mare in the head.

That's all it took, Techy slumped to the floor.

I looked down at the bludgeon. My left leg was still a dull gray. I tapped it with my other foreleg. The left limb was pretty tough, and--

What in the hay was I doing? Remember, guards approaching! I quickly searched the mare for anything useful. She only had the beam pistol and some other strange objects. The stallion, however, had an interesting glass container. Floating lazily inside of the container was what seemed like a purple, glimmering liquid. It was labeled “MEDICINE (take when hurt)”.

Was he some kind of newbie that needed help knowing what would take his ouchies away? Either way, it still helped me, as my stomach was kind to remind me. I put a hoof to the cut across my midsection, which was in searing pain by this point. I bit the cork off the glass container and downed the liquid.

A wonderful sensation filled me, and then concentrated to my stomach. I could no longer feel the pain, and it was bliss. I looked down at the injury. It was still raw, and seeing it made me realize that it still stung a little, but it looked a lot better than it was a few minutes ago. Now, to get out of there.

I grabbed the laser pistols and carried them in my mouth. There was barely any room for my tongue. I ran to the area from where the two pegasi had first entered from. There a neat, rectangular hole in the wall greeted me I galloped through the doorway.

By now, I wanted to know what was going on. What was this place? While I galloped, I turned my head to follow a series of metal arches that formally lined the ceiling. Beneath my hooves was what seemed to be a floor made out of a long, metal grate. There was a short space underneath, large enough for a pony to fit in with the occasional crate to pass by. Along with the clinks of my hooves striking the metal, there was a strident humming noise; low but consistent.

I rounded a corner, looking for somewhere to hide. Every single door looked exactly the same.

These ponies obviously considered me dangerous, and I have no idea why. But I remembered the scalding of the energy weapon when it had hit me.

I finally came across something I recognized-- the restrooms. Painted onto a small, blue sign on one of the two doors was the telltale silhouette of a mare. I reached for the knob, only to find there wasn’t one. How was I supposed to open this? I bucked at the door, but didn’t even manage a dent. Frantically running my hooves around the edges of the door frame, I hit some sort of button or panel. With a quiet whirring, the metal door slid up and let me inside. As soon as I trotted through the arc, it automatically closed after me. I wondered why the door just didn’t automatically open both ways.

The bathroom was pristine; there was not a streak of dirt anywhere. Whoever these ponies were, they hired some very efficient janitors. My hooves struck the white tiles loudly as I moved towards the mirror. I nearly screamed at my reflection.

A horrible apparation matched my gaze into the mirror. It looked like pony, but it was...unnatural. Partly. One of the ears were metal, as well as the eye below it. The eye, it glowed a bright, cryptic red, and stared back at me. That thing on the wall… it was me. I had metal in my face! B-but,I was a pony! Flesh and blood, not some mechanical knock-off!

I panicked, but did my best to suppress a shriek. Frantically giving myself an inspection, I paced back and forth, doing my best to get rid of the rush of the adrenaline before it sent me galloping outside the restroom. I didn’t know what to think. Am I a pony, or a machine? Being a machine would answer a lot of questions.

My voice sounded like paper clips that had been put in an electric pencil sharpener.

Pointing my nose towards the ceiling, I looked at my neck. There was a rectangular piece of metal there, held in place with four bolts. I raised my foreleg and scrutinized it in the mirror, sighing when I realized it was made of the same metal on my face. But why was I sentient? Why did I also have flesh? Why could I think? None of this made sense!

What was I?

That mare and stallion I encountered were normal. Completely made of flesh. That’s what what everyone else was. A pony, one color coat, same color eyes, and a different picture on their flanks, a cutie mark.

I wasn’t a pony.

I looked at my flank, suddenly curious. There was nothing. My flanks were both a smooth and shiny metal. There was nothing on them. Nothing but a scratch. I had no cutie mark, no special talent, no identity. I was nopony. I had to be some kind of experiment, a pile of scrap metal who escaped the lab. That would explain why I had different colored legs.

My one orange eye stared back at me from the mirror. The pupil was contracting, close to reaching the size of pinpricks.

I didn't want to return to that lab, even if I was an experiment. I couldn't just accept the imprisonment. I touched my chest, remembering the scorching sensation of being hit by the beams. No doubt these ponies would treat me badly. No, I won't let them take me. I wanted to see the sun outside. I wanted to run. I wanted to be free.

I pounded the metal sink and got a satisfying crack in return. No, my life would not be decided by eggheads in white coats.

Suddenly, the entrance to the bathroom slid open. I quickly stepped away from the mirror before whoever entered turned the corner and saw me. Why would anypony come here? I mean this is just… the bathroom. Damn it, you stupid pony. Couldn't I have chosen a more public place to hide?

I scrambled into a stall as quietly as I could. Hopefully the pony wouldn't hear me. I stood on the toilet seat in an effort to not be seen. Please Celestia, let the mare do her business and leave.

THe pony came closer, and I held my breath when the trotting stopped short. I saw a red hooves underneath the stall door. Wait, she isn't coming to this stall, is she? I had to be the unluckiest mare in the world.

There was a tap on the stall door. Celestia damned perverted ponies! Can't a pony have some privacy?

"Occupied!" I yelped out from the top of the toilet. Or at least, I tried to yelp. My voice only seemed to have a cold, automated, and slightly staticy. I hoped that speaking quickly would stop the red pony from noticing, but judging from the lack of apology, or any response at all, I had the feeling they noticed. Time to wing it.

I swung the door open as fast as I could, trying to catch them by surprise. I couldn't have done it better.

The pegasus' hindlegs were crossed, and there was a look of complete shock on her face. Driving a forehoof between her yellow eyes, I noticed that this pony was half dressed in a black uniform. Peeing Perv slumped to the white tiled floor. How many ponies did I have to knockout?

I circled around the mare, examining the black piece she was wearing. It was clearly designed for pegasi; there were cloth flaps made for wings to be fit in. Peeing Perv must have begun to undress as she was entering the bathroom. There was a mask discarded on the floor near the stall I was hiding in. She probably dropped it when I responded. With the helmet, the black set concealed the entire body. If I could conceal my horn, then I could pass off as a pegasus. I quickly stripped the unconscious pony out of the black piece. Nice, it even had an awesome looking scorpion like tail. I put the suit on the floor.

What was that smell?

I looked back at Peeing Perv. Ugh, of course she had peed on herself. Looking at the piece, there was a large moist spot on the suit. Great, how was I supposed to wear this now?

~~~

I shooed away the third pony to ask me if I was okay.

This wasn't the greatest idea. Stiffly, I walked over to a corner and sat down. This helmet was giving me a headache. I had to force it on, as my horn wouldn't let it fit properly. My horn was being pressed into my skull as the helmet strap was pulling up on my chin. I brought my hindlegs together as the chill of air conditioning reached me.

The helmet wasn't half as bad as the suit; I had to wash and scrub the piss off in the bathroom sink. Then, afraid that the red mare would regain consciousness, I put the black suit on and left the bathroom. But, not before I barricaded the red mare into a stall using lots of brooms from a nearby supply closet. If by any chance she still had to pee, Peeing Perv would have no need to rush.

Now, I have a soaking wet piece of cloth tight against my nethers. At least the helmet dimmed the glow of my robot eye and camouflaged my voice. There were little microphones inside of it, since the helmet would usually muffle out the pony’s voice. Apparently, whatever company made these was a tightwad and would only spend money for staticy, low-quality microphones. Thankfully, It managed to muffle the static in my own voice.

I stood up. Trying to keep my hindlegs shut, I made my way over to a door that was marked ‘Research’. The techy mare had mentioned something about ‘Project Archaian’; If there were answers, they had to be in that room. Hopefully, I would only have to deal with pacifist scientists.

I took a breath and walked through the door. Immediately, I bumped into another armored pegasus who seemed to be leading a small group of pegasi. I blinked, staring back at the lead pony who had begun to bore his eyes into me. After several tense moments, he turned around.

“I think she’s the one were looking for!” he shouted at the others. “She is red on my EFS!”

Dear Princess Celestia, why are you so cruel to me?

I did the only thing I could. I bent my knees and threw myself at the group, knowing it was a stupid idea. However, I easily barreled through them, sending them to the ground in a chorus of groans and grunts of pain. What? I can’t be that heavy!

I grabbed one of their weapons that lay on the floor before turning around and running away. I couldn’t get into a fight with that many ponies! I couldn’t even find enough grip on this firearm!

I have to find a way out of this building. But where am I supposed go now? First, I had to ditch the ponies after me.

A spray of red lasers flung past me, reminding me to dodge the oncoming projectile. I wish I can get my damn weapon to shoot. How are the others’ guns shooting? Did they have some kind of telepathic trigger command?

As I came to a corner, I twisted around. Bad idea. The metal grating on the ground caught the tip of my hoof. I was thrown into the air, managing to clear a couple of meters a lot faster than I normally would have. Thankfully, it gave me time to pick myself up and throw one of the boxy looking pistols at the ponies pursuing me. It flew over their heads, never touching any of the guards.

So I had bad aim. I found out more about myself every minute.

Okay, new objective: Get off this ship. I didn’t want to find any answers, it seemed to be hazardous to my health. I just wanted to get out.

But how was I supposed to ditch these guys? Their orders of “Freeze!” and “Give yourself in!” attracted more guards, joining in on the pursuit. What had started out as six ponies was now fifteen ponies, all after my metal hide. I thought the original six were just mad because I jumped on top of them, but it seems they all had a bone to pick with me.

I suddenly felt an uneasy rubbing in my stomach, and I heard a rip from the same place. Celestia, fuck my life. I couldn’t look down now, but I knew the barely healed slit in my stomach was starting to split. I ignored it, and kept going.

I turned another corner. This place was like a maze! I didn’t seem to be anywhere. There were, however, some stacked crates nearby. I bucked at them, causing the metal boxes to fall over and block the path, spilling a variety of the contents onto the floor. I took a look at them while hooves banged on the other side, accompanied by angry shouts. These ponies really wanted to apprehend me.

I looked at the spilled contents. There was a small, metal apple sitting on top of a black suits.

I picked it up and looked at it closely. It was black and had a metal outline of a leaf, which was colored yellow.

Could I really take the lives of fifteen ponies? No, there was no need to kill them. I stared at the apple-shaped grenade. They were behind the crates, they couldn’t get at me, they couldn’t hurt me from there.

A sharp pain pierced my shoulder, eliciting me to jerk my head upwards. pEering over the crates was one of the guard ponies, struggling to climb over. Why couldn’t they be more incompetent? I chucked my laser pistol at his head, only for it to hit the box next to him. It fell off of the pile, knocking down the guard but opening the path for the others.

I quickly bit into the pin of the grenade between my hooves, pulling it out. I shut my eyes, brought back my foreleg, and threw it over the pile of crates. There were shouts from the ponies, followed by a shuffling of hooves. Then, the grenade detonated.

However, It wasn’t the exploding type. A white, blinding flash accompanied by a deafening crack pierced the air. A stun grenade.

There was a ringing in my ears, but I knew that the ponies were all unconscious. It definitely would have left me sleeping if it weren’t for the crates.

Remembering my injury, I looked down. The cut had split open again, but still wasn’t as bad as when I first woke up. Blood dripped from the wound onto the floor. I wondered if there were some healing potions on the ponies on the other side of the metal crates. They shouldn’t need them, they were only unconscious.

I put my hooves on top of one of the smashed boxes, and heaved. I weigh tons! Now I understand the pain of the ponies I had jumped on. When I made it to the top of the smashed crate, I could then reach the top of an uncrippled crate, and soon made it to the other side.

There was still one pony stirring, She was probably the farthest away from the flashbang when it went off. A quick kick to the head let her join her comrades in sweet sleep.

It turned out several of the guards had healing potions on them. I made away like a bandit, with five more healing potions in a saddlebag I had also looted. Along with them was a rifle looking laser thingy, and a pistol. A regular pistol, with bullets and all, not some retarded triggerless box. It was small, but at least I know how to fire it. As for the laser rifle, I’ll probably figure it out later.

I pulled out a healing potion and drained it. Letting out a sigh of relief, I looked down as a warm feeling spread through out my body, and stopped the pain in my stomach. It managed to heal the wound completely this time.

The climb back to the other side was harder than the climb getting here. When I hit the floor, I turned around to look for any useful supplies that may have been dropped by the smashed crates. There was another flashbang lying close to the crate, as well as what appeared to be light barding.

I grabbed the items and broke into a full gallop, hoping that I finally lost the guards behind me.

~~~

This barding was great!

I smashed into the pony who was ineffectively unloading his beam pistol clip into me. The black-clad pegasus crumpled against the wall. Poor pegasus, freaked out as soon as he saw me. I regretted doing that to him, but he had shot at me first. Because of what happened with the previous group of guards, everypony shot first, and asked questions later.

I had put the black suit the saddlebags, but discarded the helmet that I had gotten from Peeing Perv, so he saw my glowing red eye. I took his beam pistol and threw it into my saddlebag. I may not be able to shoot them, but they sure made good throwing weights. I threw a lot better without that stupid helmet pressing down on my horn.

I also had a nice bat, which I got when I sent another pony stumbling into a pipe. But above all, the best weapon I had was the ‘Pipbuck’. It never seemed to wear down. It just smashed and smashed and smashed...faces. Ugh, I didn’t want to think about it.

So I swung the pipe into the throat of a surprised guard who had turned the corner. It was too late to keep a low profile. Besides, now I know where I was supposed to go. I had run into somepony earlier, and managed to scare the life out of her. She told me where to go if I wanted to get out How to get out of whatever I was in. I’m busting out of here! I’ll be free! Free to feel the sun on my fur! Fr-

Oh, Luna-damned uptight yesponies!

I had just crossed an intersection when I saw a pony at a turret, getting ready to shoot me to pieces. Perhaps I should have kept a lower profile. I turned around and ran away, but suddenly ponies stepped out from the corners. One of them had a rocket launcher. I came to a stop.

“Stand down!” one of the ponies shouted.

Oh, so they knew I can speak. Progress!

But I doubted there was a way to settle the situation diplomatically. I looked past the turret pony. It was only several meters away from my destination. The command room. There I could open the exit, which was not too far from there. I had a pony tell me that. Unfortunately, he might not be able to walk for a while, but it had to be done.

I needed to get past the turret, but there seemed to be no way to do so. There were three ponies and a turret behind me. A pony with a cannon and two with rifles were ahead of me. I had to think. I had to find a way past them.

The answer came to me. I threw a flashbang grenade, the last one, directly at the turret pony. She shot it in midair, only several meters away from here. It still detonated, and had the expected effect. I had already covered my eyes with the black suit. Everypony was deaf, but I was the only one who wasn’t blinded. The three ponies who blocked me off were still conscious. There was still one conscious pony near the turrets, and he began to fire wildly. One shot from the pistol brought him down. I didn’t aim at anything vital, or at least, I hope I didn’t hit anything vital.

The cannon pony had shot at where I was, immediately after the flash. I was no longer there. It would have been a loud explosion. But my ears were still ringing. The heat however, was scalding, I would have been badly burned if the force of the explosion hadn’t threw me into one of the ponies in time. I knocked him out with the Pipbuck. The two remaining ponies were now firing wildly, reacting to the explosion. Apparently Mad Bomber also carried a laser pistol.

I smashed my metal leg into the head of the last pony with a laser rifle. I took out Mad Bomber by bringing his own rocket launcher over his head.

Finally, there was some form of peace. There was still a strong ringing in my ears, but it would die eventually. For now, however, I turned my attention to the unconscious bodies that spotted the metal floor. I began to open saddlebags, and stick my nose in.

It turned out only the turret pony carried anything of use. There was only another clip of pistol rounds. I would have to make use of it as best as I could, and hopefully, I wouldn’t be forced to aim for vital areas. I really wished there were some healing potions though. I drunk another one since the I had found the barding, leaving me with only three left. I drank sipped some more down to heal the bullet wounds.

It became apparent that the potions wouldn’t heal the metal sections of my body, I was going to have to find some way to fix that...Is that what I really was? I thought I was going to need a coatmechanic as well as a doctor. I didn’t want to think about it.

Also, I was going to need new barding eventually. I looked down at the scorch marks on the breastplate and shoulder guards. Definitely too many burns on this thing.

At the very least, I finally had a clear path to the control room. It would be my ticket out off this thing. I trotted towards the ‘wall’ marked “Bridge”. I hit the sign. Bridge? As in for ships? I didn’t know I was overseas.

The section of wall I was in front of opened up, giving me no more time to think. I stepped into the a small corridor, only about 3 meters long. I moved through the corridor as though afraid there was something horrible at the end of it.

“I trust that the rogue pony had been dealt with, Dusk?” A stallion’s voice filled the small passageway. I quickly trotted to the end of it. When I made it to the corner, I found myself looking at a pegasus dressed in a long, beige trench coat. He looked back of me, and only gave the slightest hint of surprise.

“It is rather unfortunate, having lost Comrade Dusk Horizon...”

The stallion jumped back, and brought out a silver handgun from his trench coat. A magnum, which would definitely have no problem blowing out my brains. I threw myself back into the corridor as the gun fired. The crack of the weapon filled the passageway, and painfully made its way into my ears. I heard the screams of several ponies, supposedly ponies who were controlling the ship.

“Remain at your stations!” the stallion shouted at the startled ponies.

I rounded the corner, and and pulled back the trigger on the pistol with my tongue. The bullet only reached the stallion's clothing. He jumped out of the way as soon as he saw me. With the magnum in his mouth, the green pegasus aimed at me again. Throwing myself to the floor, I heard another crack as the bullet flew right above me. I got back to my hooves, and ran out of the way just as the stallion re-aimed and unloaded a third bullet.

"I fancy your dodging." the stallion moved his grip on the gun to the edge of his mouth. "The name's Skycrack. I don't imagine you know your name, if you have one." I didn't know if he was mocking me, or if he really didn't know.

I glanced at the team of navigator ponies at the computer terminals. They were all staring at our little dispute. I wondered if they were all waiting for my reaction.

"What am I?" I spit the pistol to the ground. "Why am I here?" I thought Skycrack would at least answer my questions before starting to fire again.

The stallion gave a hollow chuckle. "You are but a lab rat and your purpose is to be experimented on." Skycrack leaned in closer and patted my head. "Now how about you act like a good little mouse and head back to the lab?"

H-He touched me! The princess forsaken egoist bastard touched me! In a fit of fury, I jumped back and used my magic to levitate the pistol back to me. Or at least I tried.

The pistol shot straight up, smacking Skycrack in the chin. The magnum went off again, and left a bullet embedded in the ceiling. I was hit with a burst of pain, centered on my horn. I stumbled over to a rail in front of some computers and gripped onto the rail, holding my head as waves of painful throbbing passed through it. I barely noticed the next magnum bullet demolish some computer equipment near me.

Skycrack walked up to me, and put the magnum to my head. In my pain, I knew I wouldn’t be able dodge that shot. I couldn’t even shut my eyes out of fear. Any moment, the trigger would be pulled, and my short time of sentience would be ended.

“Hey, Skycrack, be careful where you shoot! You’ll send the entire ship crashing down!”

CRACK!

The bullet didn’t reach the other side of my head, it didn’t even enter. I looked up and saw the fallen shape of one of the navigator ponies. I didn’t understand, why would he kill one of his own allies?

I looked back towards Skycrack, and immediately regretted it. The gun was pointed at my forehead once again. The wielder was breathing heavily, and there was a look of pure fury in his eyes. I shrank back from the stallion.

“I try- I tried to hold back. You’ve gone and killed my ponies.”You burst into this room and shot at me.” If I remember correctly, it was him who tried to end me with a magnum first. “I held back and held a nice conversation with you. You repay me by smacking me around with a pistol!”

He stared down at me, eyes filled with a variety of emotions. He was shaking, the barrel of the magnum was unsteady. “AND YOU’VE GONE AN KILLED DUSK!” he cried out as he finally steadied his magnum.

There was a click as the trigger was pulled. Nothing happened. I was confused, I was completely expecting a bullet to clean my head. Then I understood.

The magnum revolver had six shots to the clip, and Skycrack just spent his last one on the navigator pony.

“FUCK!”

Unfortunately, the gun pony realized it before I did. Skycrack swung a hoof at me, which connected with my head. Pain smashed across my head, forcing me to hit my head on the floor. I scrambled up to my hooves, but not before the assailant landed a kick to my stomach. I stumbled onto my hooves, and galloped out of the way.

I managed to put some distance between me and Skycrack. I just hoped he didn’t have another gun on him, the magnum nearly finished me multiple times. But now that he had no ammunition left, I was at the advantage. I stood still and waited for Sky to charge at me. He didn’t. Instead, he only looked at me, and regained his composure. The fury that was etched in his face went away.

“This will end now. You’re going to pay.” Skycrack breathed out. He picked up the magnum, and reloaded it.

Celestia damn that pony to Tartarus. He had extra ammunition, why didn’t I anticipate that? But I could still do something, Skycrack was a pegasus, and reloading a gun with actual individual bullets must take some time. It gave me time to come up with another plan. I was about to be brilliant!

I reached into my saddlebags and pulled out one of the boxy laser pistols. I knew those would come in handy! I brought back my foreleg as far as it let me, and chucked the scrap metal in my hoof as hard as I could. The pistol landed right between the reloading stallion's eyes.

The magnum went off, the bullet causing cries of fear as it hit more navigational equipment. Skycrack brought a hoof over his forehead, and dropped the gun as he he gasped in pain. Blood trickled out from under his hoof and ran down over his face. The edge of the pistol must have hit him. I raced over to Skycrack and reared up over him. My hooves slammed down on the metal floor.

The pegasus had moved from under me, and kicked at my face. I reeled back after the hoof barely connected with my chin. Spinning around, I brought my hindlegs up, and bucked. The kick connected with nothing but air, and I stumbled backwards. I dropped to my knees as Skycrack swiped at the air above me. I threw myself into him, and sent the both of us onto the ground. The stallion's head was whipped forward by our momentum, and then hit the floor with a bang as loud as thunder. Skycrack was unconscious the moment his head hit the floor, tears frozen in his eyes.

That was the end to that. Now I needed to ask the ponies here how to get out of that ship. I turned to the ponies in question. They were all in panic.

"Get the secondary engine working again!" shouted a yellow pegasus mare. It turned out the fight was messier than I had thought. There was quite a significant amount of smashed computer equipment. The ship was going to stall in the middle of the ocean. I hoped they had some rowboats.

"We can't get her steady!" a pony cried out, as the entire complex lurched to one side. Books, maps, and tools slid off the shelves and clattered on the floor. A few computers fell off their normal resting places, and smashed on the floor. Even I stumbled and hit the side of the room. The entire place was going to hell. The mare who seemed to be in charge realized this and hit a button on the wall. Ear splitting alarms began to screech. I covered one ear with a hoof, the other was too busy trying to pick up Skycrack's magnum. The bossmare then galloped over to an intercom, and spoke into it.

"Attention all Encalve. The vessel is now beyond our control and will go down. This is not a drill. Evacuate through the main entrance." the mare looked over at me and froze. Without taking her eyes of me, bossmare spoke into the intercom again.

"Be informed that there is a rogue equine project on the ship. Do not let her escape at any cost. Release all escape pods at once. Sick or hurt pegasi, find another pony to hold onto."

...that Luna-cursed herb sniffing bitch! I had to get off of the ship before it sank! This place was not kind to me.

Everypony but Bossmare had left the room. She glanced at me, and ran over to a set of controls. Sweeping up the magnum with my mouth, I charged towards the yellow pegasus, and pounced.

Managing to bring her down, I quickly scanned the control console.

'Remote Escape Vessel Release' I turned towards the struggling Bossmare. She looked fearfully into my cybereye, helplessly pinned down.

“Where are the escape pods?” I asked her through clenched teeth, fighting to keep my fury down. This mare had deliberately went out of her way, and at the expensive of sick ponies, in order to keep me from leaving. Why couldn’t they all just let me go?

“I-I’m not telling you!” the mare retaliated. I smacked a hoof across my own skull in frustration. Normally I would just knock her out and search for the escape pods, unconcerned about their release. But because the ship was going down, I wasn’t going to leave her unconscious.

There was only one solution. I bit down on Bossmare’s red curly tail, and began to gallop in a random direction. I made sure of one thing, I galloped hard and without grace, and let Bossmare’s face smack down on the floor.

“Will-Ow! You-OUCH! QUIT THAT?” the yellow pegasus shouted at me, unable to stop her face from bouncing with every hole in the metal grated floor. I gave an extra boost of speed to the gallop.

"STOP-OOF!"

"Not until you tell me where an escape pod is, Bossmare." I growled back at her. Now she looked surprised instead of annoyed.

"Boss-GAH! Mare?!" she shrieked through her pain. "What are you -OW! Talking about? OOF! My name is-"

"Officer Silentfire!" a stallion's voice cut through the hall. Of course, another cut off. But the good news was that to the left, there was a row of large metal spheres, each labeled escape pod.

I didn't think about it twice. I ditched everypony behind and galloped full speed. I was getting out of the ship, and into the open land where nopony would use me as a guinea pig. I could lead my own life!

I got to the escape pod and slammed the green button on a console next to it. The hatch opened and and I threw myself in. A familiar pain hit my shoulders, and made me hiss.

The ponies I had ditched were running at me, with laser weapons in their jaws, and wings spread out.

I slammed the hatch close, before pursuing ponies could shoot me again. The laser barrage assaulted the escape pod, and ear splitting sirens began to go off. I desperately looked for around and found a large red button labeled 'Release'.

When I brought my hoof down on the button, a audio message played.

"Now releasing emergency escape vessel from two thousand feet above the surface," A cool female voice announced.

"Wait, WHAT?" I thought I was on a ship!

Internal gears somewhere clicked, and the escape pod began its two thousand foot plummet towards the ground. The metal interior of the flying vessel was ripped away from above. Nopony heard the hopeless scream from inside the metal sphere as the pod disappeared into the swirling gray clouds.

***TRANSMISSION VIA PIPBUCK 3000***
Level Up

New Perk: (Un)Naturally Armed - Out of ammo? You’ve got hooves of steel, use them.

+5 points damage of ‘Unarmed’ Damage

Author's Note

I suppose it is time that I actually published something. So have yet another Fallout Equestria work of fiction. Please let me know if you find any errors within the story. Feedback and constructive criticism is very much appreciated.