Fallout Equestria: Amnesia

“Who am I?” I asked the darkness, occasionally broken by a flash of red light. I was... I was a pony, I knew that... A unicorn. Mare. Definitely a mare. Did I have a name? If so, what was it?

“Where am I?” Well, I recognized that I was in a tight space (me and tight spaces don't get along), and I knew the feel of steel against my hide, but above and around me was darkness, blocking any sort of visual input my brain could have used to my advantage. I felt... alone.

Speaking of things that I felt...

“What the fuck is stuck in my--” I began, but it wasn't just in that protected place down there, it was everywhere. Wires and tubes ran all across me, slithering like snakes into every hole in my body. Even, to my horror, under my eyes and into my eye sockets. I could feel... things moving through the tubes and into me, making a faint slurping sound.

I was not okay. I knew that right away, as my body was screaming in horror at what was happening, but my mind had yet to catch up. I was slowly coming across thoughts as if my brain was a boat in the middle of a lake of molasses, the rower desperately paddling towards the shores of sanity, as if escaping from an evil that lay just beyond sight.

A moment of panic struck me as I felt something wet crawling across my forehead, terrified that of all things I would be stuck in here with an insect. However, the falsely accused bead of sweat made it's sweet time down my muzzle. It reminded me of something. How damn stuffy and hot it was in... here.

I lifted up my fore-hooves, shocked at how weak they felt, as if something had found it amusing to replace my skeleton with gelatin. I tried to push above me at the smooth surface I recognized as glass, but either it was sealed or I was too weak, for it would not open. I let my sore legs flop to my side in defeat.

I wasn't afraid to die. At that point, I wasn't sure if the concept of death even meant anything to me, the thought of suffocating alone in a steel coffin didn't scare me, for at that point I had yet anything to live for. My mind felt like it had a fuzzy blanket over it, so comfortable that I no longer wanted to get out of bed.

If you die, you're not the only pony who loses. A voice whispered to me. I was startled for a moment, before I realized the cool feminine voice was in my head without bothering with the trouble of passing through my ears. Was that my sub-conscious?

Thinking about what it (or I) had implied, it occurred to me: Was somepony counting on me? A sense of duty struck me, the feeling odd but nonetheless powerful, as I focused my magic on what I assumed was the glass frame over me, trying to lift it open. Stubbornly, it still stayed stoically shut, but my failed effort seemed to have triggered something.

“Error.” A loud voice sounded around me, causing me to flinch instinctively. “Transfer system failed, checking database for solution. Power supply offline, tapping into back-up power. Back-up power supply offline. Please contact administrator.”

With the hiss of machinery at work, the glass above me lifted itself away, allowing cool, fresh, and slightly stale air to fill the pod. I gratefully let it fill me, never feeling more respectful of cool oxygen. My gratitude towards the machine was short lived, however, as the wires and tubes pulled themselves free from my body, the eye ones being particularly uncomfortable in doing so.

It took me a few moments of calm breathing before I finally worked up remotely enough energy to sit up in the pod. The room I was in was huge, I could tell from just how far the edges of the red light reached, and I thought I could see large machinery all around me. The red light itself was coming from a monitor a metre away from my bed, displaying in large red letters 'MALFUNCTION'.

Curiosity started to build in me, but some unknown force pushed it back down, replacing it with something in the corner of my vision trying to catch my eye. It was another pod, this one still sealed. And this one still had a pony in it. I trotted over, finding it containing another mare, this one more elderly, with a sagging tan coat and wings.

She wasn't breathing. I felt a wave of sadness flow over me, but I couldn't put my hoof on why. I would have said I was just feeling bad for the mare, but this was somehow... personal. Taking a few steps back, I once again took a look at the room around me, and spotted a rectangular outline of light not too far away.

Trotting up to the large metal door, I put my hoof against it's cold surface. I couldn't make it out in the darkness, but I could feel bolts and lines running up along the door, but alas no handle.

So, I knocked.

Nothing what-so-ever happened. Figures.

Try your magic. My conscious pointed out, in a disturbingly calm voice. Magic. Right, I was a Unicorn, of course I had magic! I had been in so much of a daze when stuck in the pod I had not even recognized what I was doing. Slowly, a small bit of knowledge trickled back to me. Each Unicorn had their own specialization of magic, but all of them were capable of levitation.

I lowered my head, focusing on the door. A black glow enveloped my horn, causing me pause as that struck me as odd. I wasn't sure why, but it just looked wrong. Trying to snap my focus back into shape, I shook my head and pointed it towards the door, trying to command my horn to magically lift it.

The door, it figured, was much to heavy, so much so that I felt a both mental and physical strain in trying to lift it. Panting heavily, I let the magic go and raised a hoof to my throbbing head, as if that would help with the slight headache the effort had given me.

Well, not all hope was lost, right? Each Unicorn had their own specialization of magic, maybe mine was... unlocking doors? As stupid as it sounded, I had hope beyond hope that it would be the case. Could I even do my magic when I didn't know what it was?

I had to try. Lowering my horn again, I focused first on the door, but when that failed to do anything, I started pushing power to build up in my horn, the glow around it growing larger and larger. My whole body was shaking with the effort, and pointing my horn towards the door, something in my mind urged to let it go. I did exactly that.

ZZZAAAPPP!

A thick bolt of black lightning shot out of my horn with such force that it blasted me off of my feet, colliding into the door with so much force that it dented it. For a few seconds, lingering black sparks sprouted along the door, then the door slid up into the ceiling.

I didn't fare nearly as badly as the door, but it was a close run as I tumbled and flew through the air, smacking into the sealed pod. A gasp of pain left my lips as I slipped to the floor, my vision blurring as I stared at the opening I had made. My horn throbbed, not painfully, but as if to remind me that committing such magical power wasn't without it's cost. Pulling myself to my feet, I was grateful I hadn't broken any ribs.

I slipped through the doorway quickly in case it decided to close itself again, which was a good choice as it closed behind me a few steps into this new hallway I had encountered. Low hanging light-fixtures swung from the ceiling, basking the long hallway with an eerie low lighting. It was certainly better then just flashes of red.

Grotesque images littered along the wall in what I could only understand to be some kind of mural. The one nearest to me depicted a stallion and a colt, presumably his son, playing in the sun. The one next to it depicted the colt tripping, twisting his leg as his father watched. Expecting the father to come to the aid of his wounded son, I was instead sickened by the following image of the father instead yelling at his son, the expression on his face criticizing!

Feeling discontent, I started walking slowly to the other end of the hall, not sure what else to do with myself. The images just got more and more horrid, the colt being left alone, and ravaged by timber wolves. The father getting yelled at by his wife, who was also crying. The father picking up a cleaver and chopping up the poor mare. The father running down the street from authorities...

I closed my eyes. What kind of horrible pony came up with these images? I kept my head down the rest of the way down the hall, but found myself sneaking a glance up every once in a while. The father starving to death. The father cornering a mare in an alley and murdering her. Brutality. Rape. And most horrifying of all, cannibalism...

Unable to take it, I shut my eyes tight and collapsed to the floor, tears squeezing their way through my clenched eyes. The voice told me to keep going, but I ignored it. Thoughts slowly began to trickle into my mind again.

Where was I? Why was I in this horrible place? Why was I in that pod? What 'transfer process' was the automated voice talking about? Who had that pegasus been? Why couldn't I remember anything!

I didn't even know my name.

With that, the dam broke and everything came crashing down at once, loud sobs escaping from me as tears poured freely down my face. At that moment I really, really tried to break down the wall separating me from my memories, but at the time it had proven just as useless as my attempts to open the door with levitation. I wanted to remember, the fact that I could remember farther back than a few hours was tearing me apart.

“Oh, they're not THAT bad,” A mechanical voice chimed above me, “I mean, sure, they're pretty gross, but most people just vomit rather then breaking down to tears.”

“Th-that's not what I'm crying about...” I said, too absorbed by my depression to question the presence of the voice.

“Then what, may I pry?” It asked, in a tone that I could have swore was genuine concern.

“Everything. I- I don't know where I am, who I am,” I looked up to the ceiling above, spotting the speaker fixed into the ceiling above my head, “And... And...” It hit me, stronger then it had before, still confusing me as to why it bothered me so much. “... I'm so alone.”

There was a long pause, and for a moment I thought the voice had been embarrassed to be around such a cry-filly of a pony, but it chimed back in.

“You're not alone.” It said, quietly. I sniffed, wiping away the tears with my leg. “You... may not remember, but nopony goes their whole lives without friends. Even if you can't remember them, even if they aren't with you right now, even... even if their dead, they will always be with you, whether or not you remember them.”

Something... Something in that voice told me that while directed at me, the speaker had first hand experience in it. I took a deep breath, fixing the speaker with a stare. “Th-Thank you.” I managed, gulping down the last of the regret that still left it's sour taste in my mouth. “Who... Who are you?”

“Oh me?” The voice asked, tone immediately going from somber to one of good cheer, “You can call me Moss Stone!” I blinked. Thinking about this for a moment, “It's not a very good name, I know, but it's certainly mine!”

“So... Where are you?” I said, looking around the hall, averting my eyes from the horrid images.

“Erm. That's a complicated question. I'm in the main security station for this building.” He said, shiftily. Didn't sound very complicated to me!

“Well, come out so I can see you!” I told him, impatiently. That little speech certainly made me feel better, but seeing another living pony would sweeten the deal.

“Uhm. Ah. Hmm.” He said, as if testing the words for contamination, “I... No, no thank you. I'd rather not.”

I blinked. Why not? I spotted something I had missed on my first view of the hall – A side-door with the words Authorized Ponies Only. That seemed like a start. I trotted over to the door and pulled it open, revealing a slightly darker, rusted hallway, but thankfully missing all of the horrifying imagery.

“Where are you going? Hey, don't go in there, read the sign!” Moss Stone said, angrily, “You're not authorized!” I ignored him, trotting down the hall towards the lone door at the end, with the bold words 'Security' on it. I could hear the buzz of computers behind the door.

“Hey! Stop--”

I pushed open the door, revealing a small computer room with only three things in it. A desk, a monitor, and a small box in the corner.

“--... that.” He finished, near silently.

“Where are you?” I asked, confused. He had said he was in here. I looked at the monitor.

Mass Overseer Security System

Standard Training for Operation New Equestria

M.O.S.S

S.T.O.N.E

* * *

“So, yeah,” Moss Stone said evenly as I fell onto my haunches, “I'm a computer program.”

I was in shock but I wasn't entirely sure why. 'This voice was just a program, big deal!' Is what I wanted to say to myself, but I just didn't believe it. “Since when do computer programs have a personality?” I asked.

“Eh, don't ask me. I've only had about a half-an-hour to figure it out myself. From what I can gather from the files left here that aren't corrupted, something shut down the entire facility. Turning off the power systems that control all the equipment, doors, and lights. Including the pods you and that other mare were in.”

“Then, you know something about all this!” I cried, hopefully. Something, anything to work of of, was all I wanted.

“Sorry Kid,” Moss Stone said, sadly, “My memory is blank too, I woke up at the same time as you. I just have the processing equipment to figure everything out faster then a organic mind.”

My hopes sank, but something he said before caught my attention, “You just said the lights shouldn't be working, but they are!”

“When the facility stopped powering this terminal, a back-up internal power supply turned on, with enough power to turn on a couple of lights.” He said, “I thought I'd help you find your way out.”

“But...” I countered, the slow locomotion train of my mind speeding up, “That means... your power source is running out! What will happen when you run out!?”

“I'll die.” He said, calm as somepony else would have said; 'That wall is blue'. “I've only been alive as long as you've been awake, it's no big lose.” But it was to me. The first contact I'd had with someone other than my own mind, and I wasn't going to lose that!

“There's got to be someway, you can't just sit there until your power runs out!”

“I kind of have to. I can't move.” He pointed out, dully. “Look. I appreciate the offer, but there's really nothing you can--” He paused, quiet for a few moments, causing me to panic and think the power had already run out. But the lights were still on.

“Moss?” I asked, tentatively.

“That box in the corner, what's in it?” He asked, and arrow appearing on the screen in the direction of the box. I trotted over to it, lifting the lid. Inside was a cylinder. Thick and metal, with a LED screen. Along the sides of it were dials and buttons, one of which indicated, 'User Radiation Levels'. I levitated it up, and returned to the monitor, holding it out.

“That's... That's a PipBuck!” Moss exclaimed excitedly, “You can transfer all my AI systems into that!” I looked at it, seemed easy enough to carry, albeit being a tad heavy. But when he spoke again, Moss Stone's tone has once again sunk, “But... I don't know how to do it. Only a expert would be able to...”

Something snapped in me. To this day I'm still not sure what it was. It might have been the defeat in his voice, maybe it was my own determination, or maybe it was the refusal to lose the only friend I had.

I slammed the PipBuck onto the table, pulling a extension wire cleverly hidden in the frame and plugging it into the side of the monitor. I heard Moss Stone say something, but I was too focused on what I was doing to hear him. The Monitor flashed computer jargon at me, and while I had no idea what I was looking at, I somehow knew exactly which paths to follow and which keys to hit. After a few minutes, the message of 'Downloading' came across the terminal with a little progress bar.

“Thank you,” Moss Stone's voice rang out from the PipBuck as the download completed, “I owe you so much.”

“I'm just doing what's right.” I found myself saying, to even my own surprise. I slid my hoof through the inside of the PipBuck, pressing a few buttons until the inside tightened around my foreleg, holding it in place.

“Ooooh!” Moss Stone's voice rang out, “This is one special model! Hand crafted, by the feel of it.” I couldn't help but smirk at the pleasure in his voice. “Holy crap, an Eye-Seven processor, I didn't even know they went that high!”

I looked at the screen of the device as he rambled on about all the technological stuff I couldn't understand. Flicking through the menu options, I was overwhelmed. This thing was amazing! It could tell me everything from what condition I was in to what I had with me! I saw a little message under the skeleton model of a pony that said 'minor rib damage'. Huh.

“So...” I said, cutting Moss Stone off in the middle of his rant, “Any idea where we are?” I headed out of the Security room and made my way for the main hall.

“Not a huge deal, I'm afraid.” He replied, “It's just referred to in all the notes as 'Bloodmane Facility', whatever that is.” I turned the corner, sighing as I made my way to the far door, keeping my eyes off of the nearby imagery.

I stopped in front of the door, gleeful to see a button that announced 'Unlock'.

“I found out your name.” Moss Stone said, so quietly I almost missed it. I stopped, my hoof hovering mid air inches from the button.

“..What?” I said, trying to keep my voice from betraying my emotions. My name. The name that had been given to me by my parents... I think... that made me who I was. It was how everypony would refer to me, know me as. When you think of someone, the very first thing that comes up in your mind is their name. I didn't even know if I was ready or not to hear it.

“Violet Flames,”

____________________________________________________________________

Character Creation Complete!

S4 P6 E5 C5 I7 A5 L5

Tagged skills: First Aid, Small Guns, Speech.

(( Special thanks to Kkat for creating the fantastic world of Fallout Equestria, and thanks to Somber for writing the Project Horizens spin-off, both of which are huge inspirations to me as a writer! ))