Fallout Equestria: The Halls of Maripony
By
Dannykat
“If you follow me, we’ll put our differences aside.”
Groups of makeshift and rickety wagons were pulled by wary ponies through a craggy field and away from the silent Manehattan ruins. In one of the central wagons slept the old, and withered Storyteller. She dreamt of the Lightbringer, Littlepip, and all of the virtuous deeds that she had done. As the Storyteller continued her dream a thought overcame her: What if Littlepip saved world?
It was a far fetched idea, but the Storyteller always felt that if the world was saved she would perish. For, the Storyteller was nothing without the Wasteland. Nothing but a relic whose stories would not be needed anymore.
Eventually, the distant concept of a land born anew during her lifetime forced the Storyteller, now drenched in cold sweat, to awaken with an audible gasp. As she breathed heavily the Storyteller saw the sleeping foals that dreamt next to her. When the Storyteller saw these foals that she had grown so fond of, she knew then and there that she would have to prepare them for her final story.
“Children? I’m sorry for waking you earlier than usual, but... I fear that my time on Equestria is coming to an end. And I need to tell you one last story.
The final story I will weave may not be as world shattering as the tale of the Lightbringer, or even as noble as hers, but it is the most important story I will ever tell... and it must be shared. But before I start, I need to give you an introduction to it in the form of a short tale.
So please, I beg of you, give this old mare another listen.”
* * *
In the pristine darkness of the Equestrian night, a lone griffon descended into the desolate and defiled landscape of Splendid Valley.
The griffon scanned the ill-named region and spotted her destination almost immediately, but she was confused. She had heard so many rumors about the massive facility up ahead, yet only two guards stood at the entrance. Upon closer inspection, she realized that these two were no ordinary guards. These two were elite agents from the Ministry of Arcane Sciences, both equipped with frighteningly high powered arcane battle saddles, and both capable of holding back a small army.
Even without the light of the sun, the MAS agents were able to spot this potential intruder flying in from a sizable distance. “Who goes there?!” demanded the older and more experienced of the two unicorn agents, as his battle saddle hummed and glowed in preparation for an attack.
The young grey griffon, with a red tipped crest that was as sharp as that of a cardinal, landed. She announced herself with an elegant Trottingham accent that, surprisingly, betrayed none of her fortitude.
“I am Knight Commander Susan of the Trottingham Commonwealth, and I have been summoned to this facility by your superiors.”
The old agent let out a declaration of contempt for this outsider, this non-pony, with a whiny of disgust.
“Well then, we wouldn't want to keep your new masters waiting would we?” the grizzled agent said with a tinge of sarcasm.
“No. You would not.” Susan replied in a threatening tone.
It had been a long time since the old agent had been intimidated. But when he looked at Susan he could tell that she was more than just a simple foreigner. She was a warrior, and she was more than capable of keeping her unspoken promise of making his life a living hell. Besides, he already had orders to let her in.
The old agent nodded with a begrudging sense of duty and turned to his younger companion, who was currently trying to stay out of the argument.
“Well, son, don’t just stand there! Let her in!”
The younger agent nodded.
In unison, both of their horns formed a green magical aura that encompassed the large metal gate. In an instant, the entrance to Maripony was open.
* * *
Maripony was formerly a mining facility, and as such abandoned machinery was scattered across the main entryway. Rusted metal catwalks connected the walls above, and old dusty chains clinged grimly overhead. But it wasn’t the decor that Susan had taken an interest in, it was the ponies that ran the facility. Unicorn technicians that wore the symbol of the MAS, a purple star with wings, rushed back and forth between unloading and activating new shining computers that completely clashed with the rusty orange metal that pervaded Maripony.
In the center of this massive room was a very different scene, which in the mind of the cautious Susan meant that she pay extra close attention.
Soldiers wearing pitch black combat armor with the word ‘Woodcutter’ written in stark white across their sides, brought in a line of zebra prisoners from cages. These cages were previously used for the forced relocation of the previous residents of Splendid Valley: The diamond dogs.
What do you mean you don't know what a diamond dog is? They... they’re Hellhounds now... I’m sorry children... I forgot. Well before they were Hellhounds we called them diamond dogs. A manipulative but otherwise harmless group of talking canines. Their relative harmlessness combined with their annoying nature made the plight of these poor creatures easy to ignore by the general populace of Equestria. The ponies who had emptied Splendid Valley of the diamond dog's presence did not see these creatures as sentient and living beings, but as pests that stood in the way of a new, and supposedly, better way of life.
The line of zebras was lead an orange mare who wore similar combat armor to the other soldiers, and towards a beige earth pony stallion, who sported a trenchcoat that matched his silver mane.
“Pleasure to make your acquaintance,” the stallion greeted the zebras without even a hint of sarcasm.
The zebras remained quiet.
“Does anyone here know who I am?” he asked with a smile.
An old, beaten, and bruised zebra spoke up. “You are Woodrow, scourge of my people, slayer of children... and a scum-humping star demon!”
At this, Woodrow dropped his facade of cheerful friendliness and responded with venom in his voice.
“That’s right, and if you know who I am, you know I mean business. Especially when I say you jungle colts have pissed me the fuck off. Now, you filly killing savages might have thought you could murder your way through Littlehorn without repercussions, but I am here to show that you are wrong. I will do this by sending a simple message to your superiors. We. Are. Not. A nation to be trifled with!”
Woodrow reached into his front pocket and retrieved a sickly green glowing stone that sent a wave of fear across the faces of the captives. At the mere sight of the stone the youngest of the zebra prisoners broke down crying.
“We didn’t have anything to do with the academy!” The young zebra screamed as tears rolled down his eyes, “We are just scouts, p-p-please don’t do this!”
Woodrow grinned wickedly at the zebra’s sorrow and let out a delighted, yet equally sadistic shout, “We'll look at that! We got ourselves a smart little stripe!”
Woodrow looked away from the bawling zebra, and towards his armor-clad soldiers, to whom he gave a silent message in the form of a simple nod. Instantly they separated the zebra from the main group and brought him towards Woodrow.
The zebra looked up at Woodrow, and almost cried again before Woodrow silenced him with more of his poison filled words. “Now listen here my little spy, since you're crying that means you probably have an idea as to what this is... but I noticed you ain’t pissing yourself like you should be. So I’ll explain what this is in depth.”
The zebra listened intently to Woodrow’s twisted little story, desperately hoping that it held the key to his survival.
“While it might look and function like one of those fright talismans your kind seem so fond of using, this one--” Woodrow paused mid-sentence, took a deep breath, and seemed almost euphoric as he savored every moment that struck fear into the heart of his captive “--is a little different. See, I called in some unicorn friends of mine and we added a little touch of our own. So now instead of only giving you a single hour of pure unbridled fear this one will keep the party going all night!”
He moved the fright talisman towards the terrified zebra’s face. With a small pop the zebra began rolling on the cold iron floor, screaming for mercy as his worst nightmares tore through his mind.
Woodrow swiveled around and addressed the zebras that weren’t chosen for the fright talisman.
“Now, as for the rest of you I would like you to meet my second in command, Colonel Babs ‘The Bad’ Seed. She will be much nicer to you than I could ever be.” The young pink-maned mare, already hardened by war, did not smile like Woodrow. Instead, she had a look of fierce determination -- a determination that ensured that there was absolutely nothing she would not do for her master.
General Woodrow patted ‘Bad’ Seed on her shoulder, and gave her a single directive. “Colonel, wipe these stripes.”
Babs Seed ordered her soldiers to ready their battle saddles, and with the dreaded command of “FIRE!” they tore the leftover prisoners apart in a hail of bullets that rendered flesh from bone. The zebra’s screams mixed with the gunfire made everything in Maripony come to a screeching halt.
“Reload!” yelled Babs Seed, ignoring the terrified staff, “Make sure their necromancer masters can’t bring them back!”
The soldiers poured even more automatic fire into the corpses.
The zebra scout stopped screaming, and convulsed violently as foam formed in his mouth.
And Woodrow trotted off, whistling the Equestrian national anthem, as if he had just gone on a particularly pleasant walk in the park.
* * *
Susan was taken back by the excessive brutality of Woodrow. She was, however, much less shocked than the workers at Maripony. Susan simply couldn’t afford to be shocked, throughout her entire life she been conditioned to be cautious at all times.
In front of her, Susan spotted a timid grey stallion wearing a lab coat galloping past the carnage and towards her. When the grey earth pony reached her, he took a few short breaths to find his voice, and asked her a question. “Susan I... um... presume?”
“Yes,” Susan replied.
“Ah yes, thats good, really good as a matter of fact. Erm... apologies about not meeting you sooner, but we really need to get going before we get anypony mad.” The stallion turned around and looked at the remains of the zebra soldiers.
“Of course we could just blame our tardiness on Woodrow’s... flare for the dramatic.”
“Tell me your name first,” demanded Susan
The black maned earth pony was still focusing on the bodies that were now being dragged to an unknown location by the soldiers under Woodrow’s command, so he replied with a distracted -- “Uhm... what?”
Between a mix of disgust for the stranger’s fascination with death, and griffon temperament in general, Susan repeated herself with mild agitation. “Your. Name.”
Snapping out of his trance, the earth pony returned to the conversation with an answer. “Oh I’m sorry, I am... well it’s not important really... but if you truly want to address me by a title, just call me Eleven.”
“Allright, Eleven, show me the way.”
Eleven led Susan to a nearby cage of an elevator and opened the gate.
“Ladies first,” Eleven said to Susan as he politely motioned his hoof for her to enter.
Susan, followed by her newfound guide, entered the elevator. Together, they descended even further into the dark heart of Maripony.
* * *
Midway through the quiet elevator ride, Eleven broke the silence with an inquiry, “So... if you don’t mind my curiosity, what kind of name is Susan for a griffon? I would have expected something more... tribal.” Susan ignored Eleven’s casual speciesism, she had dealt with much worse during her lifetime.
“It’s a generic Trottingham name, similar to Jane Doe. It is usually reserved for simple aliases... or uncreative parents.”
Eleven snickered at Susan’s joke. “You’re talking about your parents I assume?”
Susan nodded. “It was my father... my adopted father, that gave me the name. He was a blacksmith, and a pony I might add. He was a saint of a buck, but naming a baby griffon wasn’t exactly his strong suit.” After a few seconds of more silence, broken only by the whirring of the elevator, it was Susan’s turn to ask a question. “Why do they call you Eleven?”
Eleven suddenly turned uncharacteristically serious and only answered with an abrupt statement. “It’s classified. I shouldn’t even have told it to you.”
Before Susan had a chance to react to Eleven’s seemingly newfound sense of boldness, the elevator reached its destination, and Eleven scurried down the hall the moment the elevator gates opened.
Susan followed Eleven’s path to a large doorway, but was stopped by a blue-maned and orange-furred pegasi who wore armor that had the symbol of the MAS engraved onto the chest plate. The guard quickly examined Susan to gauge her threat level, looked at her face when he was sure he could safely let her in, and nodded as he beckoned for her to enter the room.
Susan entered a brightly lit room with a large circular table in the center that seated only a quarter of the guests that it could hold. Big boards were latched onto the walls in this room which held massive, glowing maps, that showed not just Equestria, but the entire world.
When Susan was done taking in the view, she saw her benefactors sitting at the round table. At the furthest end of the table was a purple mare wearing dark glasses to shield her adjusting eyes from the only bright room in Maripony. She was the leader of the Ministry of Arcane Sciences, she was Twilight Sparkle.
Twilight waved her hoof and greeted Susan with a joyful attitude that Susan did not expect to find in such a grim place. “Susan! It’s a pleasure to finally meet you!”
Susan bowed before this small velvet unicorn, which was, in all honesty, the least Susan felt she could do. Susan revered Twilight as a hero and role model, and this meant, at least in Susan’s eyes, that Twilight deserved every possible courtesy that could possibly be given.
While such a strong gesture was almost always reserved for the Princesses, Twilight accepted it with a smile. “Thank you Susan, please take a seat and let me introduce you to your new coworkers.”
Susan took her place at the table and studied everyone that was presented by Twilight with extreme detail.
“By my side is Time Turner and his assistant Eleven, two of the valiant doctors of one of my personal science committees, the Omega Herd!” Twilight announced these ponies with the glowing pride of a parent.
Time Turner, a tan pony with a sharp brown mane, wore a white lab coat that was similar to Eleven’s. Time Turner remained unnervingly silent, and did not make any attempt to greet Susan. The only thing Susan could gauge from him was the feeling of his cold and calculating eyes scanning her every move. The only conclusion she could draw was that he was a predator, just like her.
Twilight motioned to the other side of the table to two large horses. “From Saddle Arabia we have his excellency, Warlord Haakim...”
Haakim gave Susan a nod of acknowledgement, but nothing more. He matched his rank of Warlord to a key. He was massive, even for a Saddle Arabian, he wore dark clothing that made his brown coat look even darker, and he had a saddle adorned with the symbol of a star and moon that would make him a prime target for any zebra sniper. His scarred face, and the fact that he was still alive, stood as a testament to his battle prowess.
“... and emissary Amira.”
Amira gave Susan the first proper welcome after Twilight, which tied directly into Susan’s observation of this pink coated horse. Amira was one of the few rich politicians who held the alliance between Equestria and the nation of Saddle Arabia together. Everything from her warm and welcoming nature to the smallest gem in her clothing was meant to make way for her political manipulations.
Suddenly, Woodrow and his attack dog, Babs Seed, barged into the room.
“Hope I didn’t miss anything!” announced the boisterous Woodrow.
Before Twilight could answer Woodrow with a word of encouragement or forgiveness, Timer Turner answered on her behalf with a bombshell. “Perhaps, if you had not slain the captives, you would have been here on time.”
The room fell deathly silent and Twilight morphed from her joyous old self and into the grim faced individual that Susan had expected to find in Maripony.
“Is this true, Woodrow?” Twilight Sparkle asked with grim worry.
Woodrow, positive that he hadn’t seen Time Turner in the main room during the slaughter, started to ask, “How did he--” But before he could finish, he noticed Eleven, whom he had most definitely seen, sitting near Twilight Sparkle, and Woodrow’s curiosity was sated.
Twilight Sparkle was not fond of ponies avoiding her questions, especially when they involved the murder of someone she was supposed to have watched over. “Woodrow! Answer me now! Did you, or did you not murder the prisoners in our care?!”
Without anymore hesitation, Woodrow gave her his honest opinion on what he had done. “I dealt with them as I saw fit.”
Twilight Sparkle took a deep breath and calmed herself, for the next choice of words directed at the mad general required absolute clarity. “Necessary. You are nothing but a necessary evil, and when this war is over so are you.”
Woodrow grimaced with disappointment while Babs stayed silent. With an aching sense of failure, and an unwavering sense of loyalty, Woodrow accepted his fate. “Yes, ma’am, but until that day arrives I promise I will serve you to the best of my abilities.”
Twilight Sparkle glared at Woodrow and Babs Seed. “Both of you. Sit. Down. Now.”
When the armored duo found a seat, Twilight Sparkle levitated a cigarette from her pocket and mentally lit it with ease. Twilight would never have smoked in front of her friends or in front of anypony she respected, but the people that waited in front of her were killers and tools, unworthy of her friendship or respect. She inhaled and exhaled the smoke as she regained her composure. After one minute of silence, Twilight spoke to the now fully-formed council.
“Everyone, I have called you here today to employ your service for a single task. Since this task is of the utmost importance I have chosen all of you not just for your combative abilities but also for your loyalty. While all of my advisors have said none of you are not to be trusted, I know that you can be. Because I have something that each of you desperately needs.”
“For Emissary Amira and Warlord Haakim, my wizards and I have constructed a talisman that can detect the changelings that plague your once mighty kingdom. These talismans can be mass produced and I assure you, they will ensure your victory.” At this, both of the horses, their eyes wide with shock, whispered to each other about the implications such an item would have. But despite their hushed conversation, their loyalty was now absolute.
“For you, Woodrow, I can authorize and legitimize your inhumane methods in dealing with the enemy... even though it is a decision that I may come to regret.” Woodrow only nodded his head. And since he would do do nothing to compromise this ticket for revenge, his loyalty had become ironclad.
“And for you, Susan, I can bring Trottingham back into Equestria’s hooves, and reverse its leader’s decision to secede.”
Susan was unsure of how to respond, the very fate of her adopted homeland was at stake and the mare in front of her had given her an opportunity to save her countrymen from the fate of cowardice and indifference. In the future, Susan's actions would speak for her gratitude, but for now all she could do was say, “Thank you.”
Twilight Sparkle switched from speaking to the individuals and addressed everyone. “Now, If you wish to join me, and change the course of your destinies by allying with me, start by listening to the information I am going to give you on something I call -- the Gardens of Equestria.”
Author's Note
Triple thanks to the great Noakwolf for helping me edit this story! It wouldn't be possible without you buddy!
A super-thanks goes out to Jim Hanna: A good friend and the awesome artist of that Dr. Strangelove/Twilight mashup with a map of the United States of America in the background (we honestly had no idea what Zebrica looks like).
