Fallout Equestria: Change Part 1 - Dr. Heart Mender
Hi. You probably don't know me at all. More or less, I will be dead in the next few hours. It's been a good journey, but I guess this is my last stop. I don't really know if I have changed the way I see life or if life has blurred the lines between reality and dream. Heh, you probably don't understand what I mean. So let me start at the beginning of this audio diary.
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140 years ago, a war was waged on the continent of Equestria...but that's all pretty much anyone knows. From then on, most of the Equestrian landscape became barren or destroyed. Those who could took shelter in a Stable, a fallout shelter in the case of a Megaspell attack. It was designed by Stable Tec, so it was supposedly impossible to breach.
Unfortunately, Stable 45 was not as lucky.
The Stable door closed, yes, but the mechanisms holding the door together quickly broke, opening the door wide open after 140 or so years. The dwellers took their first steps outside in years, breathing the air...and dying a few days later. For the magical radiation was still present. Fortunately, there were gas masks in the Stable for just the situation, and they were quickly distributed...to the most important.
300 ponies entered. Of those, only 110 lived to see the Equestrian Wasteland.
So why is this important? Because my mom was the Overmare. Her position made her a priority which also applied to me. One of my closes friends died.
Again, why is that important?
Because from that moment forward, I vowed to help anyone I could. Because I lost friends and even family to disease. Because I had a chance to help. All my life in the Stable, I had good food and even luxuries. But there were the poor and dying, right outside my manor window. My mother did her best, but it wasn't good enough. Even the doctors only had so much knowledge.
So I vowed, from that day forward, I would be the best doctor who could fix anything. I would bring change to the wasteland.
That was when I got my Cutie Mark. My Name is Heart Mender, and this is my story of change.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
2 weeks ago
BEEP BEEP BEEP.
BEEP BEEP BEEP.
BEEP BEPP BE-ZZT.
I stood up from my bed. "Ugh..." I said, scratching the crud from my eyes. My pipbuck was going off like crazy to wake me up; not that I needed it, because I woke up earlier anyway. I just happened to have been working late last night and I had about (I look at my pipbuck) 3 hours of sleep?
I rolled around in my bed for a few more minutes. Finally, I decided that there was no point in going back to sleep. I simply did not have any capacity to go back to sleep while there was work to do.
"ZZZT! Good morning Equestria!" Came a voice from the automated radio. It turned on at the same time every morning by itself. Radio Waves had given it as a gift to his crush. I smiled at that. So cute.
"I have some great news! My assistant, Peace, has just gotten engaged! Isn't that wonderful? Anyway, in other news, several Raiders have been seen near the small town of New Cloppington and Las Pegasus. If you want to survive, you better stay away! Now here's some music to start y'all for the day."
A rhythmic ditty filled the air. My home town was Cloppington. There were a few other towns name Cloppington, but it was all in the way you said it. It's kinda hard to tell you how it sounds over an audio diary...
I prepped myself for the day. I had taken my radiation pills and a healthy bean breakfast. After brushing my teeth, I grabbed my doctor's uniform and bard. Then I plucked the feathers from my wings to make sure they looked prepared for a day at work. I went downstairs, finished my morning tea (not really tea) and walked out the door with my medical supplies.
~~~~~~
"AHHHH!" The patient yelled.
"Shit!" I said. "I thought there was enough anesthetic! Nurse, get me several bandages quick!" The blood gushed from the patients hoof. He had gotten shot and they quickly needed to amputate the leg before the rest of his leg was affected.
"AHHHH! MY LEG! MY LEG IS GONE!" The patient continued to yell over and over again. The Nurse brought the bandages over quickly. I looked at his pipbuck. The vitals of the patient were low, probably going into extreme shock.
"Doctor Heart Mender, please! You can't save him! He is in-"
"I know what I am doing!" I yelled. The patient just needed a little luck and needed to be calmed down. "Sir! What's your name?!"
"AAAAHHHH!"
"Your NAME!"
"I-I, I-name-C-Cat THIEF!" With another scream, the patient stopped moving. I was too shocked. I checked the vitals. He was alive, but in incredible shock. I sighed.
"Nurse, please look after him for a few hours while I go check his background."
"Yes Doctor."
I left the operating room. Nurse Good Health would take care of the patient. I had to check the patient’s medical records to see if he had any past exposure to certain elements that may fight the healing process. As I pulled out the file, I found his records.
He had several run-ins with the Steel Rangers, stealing Stable technology and selling it for bottle caps. I saw these kinds of thieves every day. He was lucky he wasn't blown to pieces from a machine grenade launcher. There was no surviving one of those.
As I filed it away, my mother A.K.A. the mayor, strode by.
"Hello, dear. How goes the work?"
"Same." I responded without really looking up. "You?"
She strode around the room like she owned the place. Being Overmare, she technically could do as she wished. "I'm in a bit of a dilemma. You know the bandits we usually give a cut of our supplies to so they won't bother us?"
"Yeah?"
"Well the leader of a bigger and stronger rival group just killed them all."
I went to my desk and started on paperwork. After a moment, and putting down the pen, I asked, "What's the problem?"
My mother turned pale for a moment. But only that. They didn't call her Strong Heart for nothing. "I am wondering if we can appease these new bandits or if it will require a lot more force."
I sat and thought it out. As her daughter and Head Doctor, I had to think carefully about the safety of the entire population of Cloppington. One mistake and I could have a very bad slaughter on our hands. "We can't fight."
"Yes we can!" My mother said, mildly angered. "Why, your great grandfather fought in the Great War. I don't understand you." She sighed, simmering down. "This patient is the third time he has come to us. Second, he is a criminal. Last but not least, he has no resources. He has no value. Why do you keep treating him?"
I stopped mid-paper work. "Mother. Leave the subject alone."
"I will not DAUGHTER. There are ponies out there who are getting anxious. They want to fight. I respect your half of the debate, but we need to fight back-"
"Same words The Lunar Goddess said. Where did that get us?" I snapped.
"Don't you take her name in vain." Strong Heart warned. "Nonetheless, I cannot stop the other ponies. They do not like that a random thief is getting more attention than they are. How do I explain that?"
I laughed. "The ponies of this town have a disease alright." I walked around my desk to grab yet another file. "It's called 'I can't handle a small cold'."
My mother was clearly not amused with my sentiments. After a few moments of nothing, she responded, "Do your job to our ponies first, then treat others."
She walked out the door. I thought I should go out and talk to her. Let her know that I was on her side and the town's, but she would just argue. I had my reasons for wanting to help all those in need. But there were others who felt that they deserved the first treatment. I do my best to help all, but some need attention more than others.
I had just finished looking through Cat Thief's files (another thing my mother disliked; I kept files on my patients. He wasn't part of our town, yet I took care of him) when I heard a sound from outside.
Stricken with sudden panic, I ran to the window to see what was the commotion.
My heart nearly stopped.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Alright ya' little ponies. Gather 'round! We ain't gonna hurt ya but, we are gonna need some stuff before me go!" Yelled the large stallion. His body was a canvas of scars and wounds. I almost felt sorry for him. Until I look at his hooves.
Beneath them, he had beaten a young fill until she was bloody. Nearby, the father was lying over his wife covered in blood. I had to resist every urge to help them. It would do them no good if I ran out to try and stop the conflict. That's when it happened.
"You damn Raiders!" The Overmare yelled. "We paid this month! Why do you need more?"
The head Raider just stared. "Why?" He asked dangerously. He trotted over close to my mother, causing her to recoil from the breath. "Because...we can!" He smiled like lunatic, which he was. "Because no pony is gonna stop us. Why don't you call for your precious Celestia to help you? BAHAHAHAHAHA!" The other Raiders joined in on the joke.
"Damn you!" My mother yelled. "Our town is barely surviving because of how much we give to you. Will we all just-" She never finished.
I moved before I even heard the gunshot. But time slowed down. My senses moved sluggishly towards the door as my physically body ran outside. She was barely conscious.
"Mend-Mender, Yo-you have to-" she coughed up blood. He heart beat was getting slower.
"Mother! You won't die!" I yelled. I began giving CPR as fast as possible. The townsfolk just sat there, unwilling to help.
"Help me! I know I taught you all how to do CPR! Help me save my mother!" I cried and sobbed. No one reached a hoof to help me.
The stallion just laughed. "You foolish filly. Your mother was a little whore who enjoyed pleasing us. Your town never knew, but she is our little toy..." I didn't hear the rest of his words. My mind was set on saving the only family I had left. That's when I felt a hoof hit me.
"Stupid filly!" He yelled, kicking me in the ribs. I remembered my mother's training instantly but did not act on it. I stood back up, unwilling to go down. And again, the hoof came down.
"You can't save your mother! Look, see what this world does to those who do not obey." He pulled my face up, my face a mere few inches from the one who brought me into this world. She wasn't the best mom, but she was all I had. And I had sent her away. When it came down to it, I couldn't save even the most important person in my life.
My mind began to lose consciousness as my mother breathed her last and mouthed me these words:
Save them.
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It was dark and I could barely see anything. I knew where I was, I just couldn't believe it. The argument, the Raiders, the shot, the dead. It was all seemed too much. Did it really happen? I almost doubted it...until I looked at my stained hooves.
I began to cry. My mother was gone, I was probably going to be raped, and there was no one who would help.
Then my mood changed to anger. Why did I have to be the one to suffer?
Then regret. I should have tried harder to understand her.
They say bargaining was another common symptom in my current situation, yet I felt none. I knew I could wish all I wanted on a falling star (not that I could see them) but that wouldn't change a damn thing. The only thing that mattered in the Equestrian Wasteland was guns and bottle caps. Honor, decency, doing the right thing; all those got you killed too fast. Trying to become a medic was almost my personal form of denial. To be completely honest, I had only saved a handful of lives, some of them enemies.
Now here I sat, in jail, ready to be raped, killed, or worse. And to be honest, worse was the most likely.
I checked my surroundings. There was really no pony else here, or at least in my cell. This was the small jail house the residents of Cloppington had created. It wasn't used often, except when somepony tried to steal extremely high amounts of bottle caps or food rations. Even if somepony took an extra loaf of bread or 2, it only meant and slap on the hoof and a small bottle cap fee. No, it was reserved for the truly wicked, of which there was none really in the small town. Everypony knew each other; stealing from each other was...unlikely.
As I attempted to stand, a sound of clanging chains from outside my cell made me pause. Could it be that they had imprisoned somepony else as well?
I stuck my head out of my cell to attempt a glance into my neighbor's uncomfortable lodging. What I saw still haunts me to this day.
His hooves where blood-stained. The mane on his head was long and standing upright. His cutie mark was a symbol of random circles and lines. The face of the...thing, was a mask of pure anger. But most striking of all:
His black and white stripes.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Heart Mender stopped the recording for now. She could continue-
"Hey you!" The guards pony yelled. "The execution is in 20 minutes. Be ready to die."
He laughed as he trotted away. Heart knew her time was coming. But she only had to hold out a little bit longer. If he upheld his part of the bargain, she would be free of this hell hole. She looked at her pipbuck. The audio diary had, fortunately, not caught the guards pony. It would be a lot less dramatic without his voice. She wanted to make a diary, not a movie.
She walked to her cell window. She couldn't see anypony on the horizon.
