Fallout: the Return

Chapter 4: Recordationem

My eyes opened slowly, and even with sleep clouding my eyes, the lack of heat next to me told me that Jason was no longer in bed. I rolled over and hopped out of bed before checking the time: 6:45.

I looked into the tall mirror that hung on our bedroom door. My mane wasn’t disheveled enough to warrant brushing, so I made my way to Leo’s room. He made sure I paid for Friday night’s peace by waking me up about five times - three for food and twice to change - and I was sure he needed something.Opening my bedroom door, I exited into the hall and made the short trip to Leo’s room. Inside, Leo was standing in his crib, leaning his forehooves against the cage to keep himself standing on his hind legs. Upon seeing his mommy, he let out an ear splitting squeal that made me wince.“Well, good morning to you too.” I said sarcastically with a large smile. I jumped into the air, flew over to the crib, and picked Leo up - who laughed and flapped his tiny wings happily at being airborne - then gently landed on the carpet.I quickly checked his diaper, changed him once again, and then fed him. At the rate he was going, two more feedings and I would probably be nothing but a dried up husk of a mare.Making my way towards the kitchen with Leo, I noticed that Jason was by the stove cooking us breakfast. From the smell, I knew they were daffodil flavored pancakes. I could also see the box on the counter that had the directions on the back on how to make them.Jason left from his spot in front of the stove to give me a kiss on the cheek and nuzzle me, saying, “Morning honey, how did you sleep?”“So-so during the parts where Leo wasn’t crying,” I answered truthfully.“Oh,” he said backing away and turning back to the stove. As I was turning to leave, Jason shouted to get my attention, “Hey, can you put Leo in the playpen so we can eat together?”“Sure thing, Jason,” I replied, quickly setting off to do as he had asked.While Leo was attacking foam blocks in the playpen in the living room, I made my way back to the kitchen, sat at the table which Jason had already set, and began to eat one of the best batches of pancakes ever.Jason was sitting at the head of the table, reading the Sunday paper, while I was at the opposite end. Jason put his paper aside and we both began to eat. I decided to start a conversation, “So, how did your first Nightmare Night go?”He shrugged, “Luna tackled me, called me an Imperial spy, right before yelling something about a cloak and literally shouting me out a window. Afterwards she shook my hoof and told me it was fun playing with her…How was yours?”I blanched slightly, “Applejack was scared of your uniform last night.”Jason swallowed a big gulp, “Oh no. I knew it was a bad idea.”I swallowed an unusually large-for-me bite of food, “It was my fault. The costumes were my idea.”Jason sighed, “And I agreed to put the uniform on. I should have considered if Applejack would be unsettled by it. It shocked me that you even suggested it.”I didn’t give a reply, just a shrug. Jason already knew my reasoning and that was that he makes me feel safe, even dressed as a Legion soldier.I changed the subject, “Twilight nearly freaked out last night when colts and fillies began to run away from her screaming monster.”Jason laughed, “I didn’t see it, but I could clearly imagine that happening to her. I wonder if Twilight has freaked out over not freaking out.”I gave a playful roll of my eyes, “Yep, she sure has. Rainbow has a nickname for her freak-outs.”“And that would be?” He asked, raising his brows and lowering his fork away from his mouth.I nearly burst at the seams when I said, “Her adorkable moments.”Jason, however, nearly choked on his own saliva from laughing so hard.A few seconds of laughing later, Jason had calmed down enough to speak, “So, what are you planning on doing today?”I shrugged. I didn’t really have my day planned out yet since I just woke up a little while ago.Jason just nodded his head, “I see. I’ve got nothing planned yet as well.”Well then, time to feed my animals and have another lazy day.An hour after feeding my animals and lazing around, there was a rapid knocking at my door.I opened it to see Scootaloo panting for air, her mane disheveled and her coat shimmering with sweat.“What’s wrong?” I asked worriedly at her appearance.Scootaloo looked at me, “Rainbow, Ponyville Dam, shaking badly.”I told Jason to take care of Leo, and I flew off with Scootaloo in my forelegs.

<~Earlier~>

Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, and Applebloom were enjoying an early Sunday morning, trying to earn their cutie marks sketching Ponyville Dam. From the hilltop overlooking the dam, they had a perfect view of the relatively small structure of concrete that spanned the canyon.After several books-worth of paper, Sweetie let out a frustrated groan after dropping her pencil from her magic, “That’s it, I quit!” she yelled as she pushed over the drawing easel she stood in front of.Scootaloo threw down the sketchpad and pencil she held in her hoof. “I’m done as well,” she admitted with a sigh.Applebloom threw the notebook she was drawing in over her shoulder. The book landed with the doodle of Ponyville Dam facing skyward, though Sweetie thought different. “It looks like a macaroni noodle,” she said as she criticized the work.Applebloom glared at Sweetie, “At least I wasn’t the first ta give up.”Sweetie shot back, “Well at least mine is more artistic.”Scootaloo turned over the easel, which had landed drawing-down. She let out a chuckle, then a snicker, then a full out laugh at the rectangle in-between two large squares.Sweetie blushed and growled angrily, “At least it doesn’t look like macaroni.”Scootaloo made a suggestion. “Instead of fighting over something as simple as drawings on paper, let’s talk about Nightmare Night.”Sweetie and Applebloom nodded, their smiles coming back. Applebloom faced Sweetie and asked, “What in the world were you dressed up as last night? You looked like you, just dressed up in tinfoil”Sweetie shrugged, “I tried to make a robot costume on my own… I may have overused the tinfoil though.”Scoots let out a gigantic laugh, “You looked like a conspiracy theorist dressed up like that,” she let out a smaller chuckle when Sweetie stuck out her tongue, “What, are you afraid Celestia uses her sun-controlling magic to read your mind?”Sweetie let out a laugh at that one. Looking to Applebloom, she asked, “And why were you dressed up as a pirate?”Applebloom rolled her eyes, “I wasn’t a pirate, I was a highly trained assassin aboard the mighty sailing ship Buckdaw.”Sweetie just giggled, “You wanted to impress Button or Pipsqueak, didn’t you?” She asked with a grin.Applebloom shook her head, “Pipsqueak is waaaay too young. I was just trying to see if Button would notice a mare from one of his games. And if I remember correctly, he was too busy talking with you.”Sweetie giggled evilly, “He’s a colt; they’re stupid so you have to distract them with shiny things.”Scootaloo let out a laugh and roll of her eyes, “Like that tin-foil Sweetie-Bot costume.”Sweetie nodded, and then in an imitation of a robot, asked, “What was your costume Scootaloo?”She sighed, “I tried to copy Rainbow Dash and the other’s costume, but Rarity wouldn’t make it for me so I had to improvise. Seriously, what was so special about dressing up all alike that I couldn’t?”Sweetie sat down on the grass and let out a long, sad sigh before saying, “I know why.”“Why?” The other two fillies asked, Applebloom continuing where Scootaloo ended, “Is it about them disappearing fer half a year?”Sweetie nodded, “It has everything to do with it.” Sweetie took a big breath of air in preparation for a long explanation, “Rarity doesn’t tell me much, but everypony knows she’s not…” Sweetie paused to try and find a word that best fit, settling on, “Normal anymore.”Scootaloo then said, “What, that she’s half zombie and friends with a full zombie?”Sweetie frowned at Scootaloo’s words, “She’s not a zombie. Apparently, she’s what they call a ghoul, and a special one at that. She didn’t go into detail, but when she disappeared, she woke up in the middle of a sandstorm. By the end of it, a lot of her skin got cut badly and she still hurts.”Applebloom interrupted, “When does this story get to the part with my sister. I’ve tried getting’ her ta talk after all of her nightmare’s, but she’s as stubborn as a damned mule. I really want to know how in the Tartarus Fluttershy’s husband got mah sister pregnant.”Scootaloo also interrupted, “And the part where Rainbow Dash became a no-fun, always-serious pony.”Sweetie shouted out before anypony could interrupt her again, “That’s just the thing! If a simple sandstorm could hurt my sister so badly, how do we know what other things could have hurt the others? Pinkie isn’t as happy anymore, and some days, she’s actually not running Sugarcube Corner. We all saw that armor Twilight was wearing, and I don’t think those costumes were costumes.”Applebloom scratched her head, “The costumes weren’t costumes? Now that don’t make ah lick ah sense.”Sweetie groaned, “What I mean is that the costumes weren’t for show. They were the real deal. I know my sister, any costume she builds has to have at least one sequin, and an over bright color palette. What she was wearing wasn’t her design, and didn’t look like it was just for show and tell.”Scootaloo raised her hoof like she was in class, Sweetie nodded for her to speak. “So you’re telling me, Rainbow and all the others joined some sort of military, or at least I think they were military from the helmets and stuff, while they were gone?”She nodded, “I think so. And they saw things nopony should ever see. Why else would they act so different?”Both Scootaloo and Applebloom asked, “Like what?”Sweetie shrugged, “I don’t know, but that Jason guy was wearing a different costume, that Fluttershy had to beg Rarity to make. I think it was for the ponies they fought while they were gone.”Applebloom interrupted, “Whoa, hold up! So yer tellin’ me, the stallion married to one of the nicest ponies ever was a bad guy?”“I didn’t hear much of the argument between Fluttershy and my sister, but I repeatedly heard them mention something about a legion.”Applebloom asked another question, “Was Jason with Fluttershy?”“Yeah, he was saying something about the costume being a bad idea, and the only reason I could guess is he didn’t want to be dressed as a bad guy anymore.”Applebloom tapped a hoof to her chin, “Mah sister was right upset last night. Ramblin’ to herself about what was goin’ through Fluttershy’s head.”Sweetie nodded, “I saw she was upset as well. But back to the part about our sister’s joining some army. I broke into Rarity’s trunk where she keeps her costume and found a few things.”The expression on her friends’ faces told her to continue, “Green paper with numbers on them, gold bits with a bull on them, and a large knife two sizes too large to use on just vegetables. The blade by itself was over a hoof long and razor sharp. I also saw this really big thing in the bottom of the chest, had something like a telescope on the top.”“That would be her gun.” The three fillies jumped in the air and turned to face Rainbow Dash, hovering above them. She smiled friendlily, “You are a bunch of little detectives, aren’t you? And yes, we did join an army.”Scootaloo stared and said, “How long have you been there?”Rainbow Dash laughed and rubbed the back of her head, “I tried my hoof at sleeping half the day like I used to, so I heard it all from atop a cloud.”The three fillies turned pale, Applebloom asking, “All of it?”“Especially that part where you almost yelled, stubborn as a damn mule, little miss potty mouth.”Applebloom balked defensively, “But she won’t tell me anything that happened. She goes missing for months, and turns back up ready to have a foal, which is the daughter of Fluttershy’s husband. How did that happen?”Rainbow Dash landed on the ground and looked towards Ponyville Dam, pointing with a hoof, she said, “You see that?”The three fillies glanced over to the dam to get a good picture before facing Rainbow and nodding. “Good, now imagine it ten times bigger and blown half to bloody Hell.”Scootaloo raised her hoof, “Hell?”Rainbow Dash groaned, “Human curse word, don’t repeat what I say.” The fillies nodded again.Rainbow looked past the fillies and out to Ponyville Dam, envisioning a fort of wooden walls and red tents on the other side, “Fluttershy and Applejack were taken by an army that called themselves the Legion. I can’t tell you much about them, I can only say is that they done some horrible, horrible things.”“We’re big fillies, we can handle it!” Scootaloo shouted.Rainbow shook her head, “No, you can’t. I have nightmares about the things they’ve done, and I only saw a little bit of it. Fluttershy and Applejack were right in the middle of their camp!”Rainbow continued, “After Applejack and Fluttershy were taken, the others and I joined an army called the New California Republic. We were marched out to a place called Hoover Dam to defend it against the Legion. All I’ll say is when everything went down, we all walked out different mares than when we went in.”“What happened at Hoover Dam?”“Something that made the changeling attack on Canterlot look like a playground fight. People were hurt, people I knew died right in front of me in bad ways.” Rainbow suddenly began to shake never taking her eyes off Ponyville Dam as tears began to well up in her eyes, “So much blood and screaming.”She flopped over and curled into a ball, crying like a foal.The three fillies panicked slightly, especially Scootaloo, who had never seen her hero break down so quickly. Shaking off her shock, Applebloom looked to Scootaloo with urgency, “Get Fluttershy, she knows medicine and lives nearby.”

<~Present~>

I landed by Rainbow who was crying and mumbling. She was shaking badly and murmuring something about Hoover Dam, so I did what any sane pony would do. I panicked.“Rainbow,” I shouted. My outburst only made her whimper in fear and curl up tighter, as she choked out loud sobs. Applebloom and Sweetie Belle were staying their distance away, looking at Rainbow and I with concern.“Rainbow,” I said quieter as I reached out a hoof.“We-we killed them. Why can I still hear them laughing as they hack us to pieces!?” She yelled as she held her head in her hooves. I looked into her eyes; pure terror looked back as the owner of the eyes hyperventilated.I was way out of my league… my best friend was breaking down right in front of me and I was powerless to do a thing about it. With no other ideas, I just lay a hoof on her head, brushed her mane, and quietly sang.“Hush now, quiet now, it’s time to lay your sleepy head. Hush now quiet now it’s time to go to bed.”The three terrified fillies joined me, “Drifting off to sleep leave the exciting day behind you, drifting off to sleep let the joy of dreamland find you.”Rainbow uncurled slightly, but still sobbed. I did the only thing I could think of at the moment. I lay down and used a wing to cover Rainbow like a blanket. My best and oldest friend snuggled close, a semblance of soundness returning to her wild eyes.She became a stuttering mess as she looked down, “I-I’m sorry Fluttershy. W-w-we tried to save you-you, b-b-but-”I gave a sigh, no words able to voice what exactly I wanted to say to end my friend’s grief, so I did the next best thing and tightened my wing’s embrace. I looked to Scootaloo who was no doubt the fastest of the three fillies. All I had to do was mouth the words, ‘get help’ and she was off again. Most likely this time to the hospital.Scootaloo hesitated, however, when Rainbow waved her hoof, “I-I’m fine now.” She said as she shook in my embrace, “I just need a breather.”Applebloom looked at Rainbow with a large look of concern, asking slow and quietly, “What happened?”Rainbow rolled her shoulders and I moved my wing, allowing her to stand, “I’m... One minute I was fine and dandy, but the next I was talking about Hoover and looked at the Dam,” she fell back onto her haunches, breathing in sharp, shallow breaths, “It was like I was back on top of Hoover fighting the Legion.”“I knew it!” Sweetie Belle yelled while pointing a hoof at me, “Your husband was a bad guy.”I froze where I stood. Did they know what the Legion did? How much did Rainbow mouth off about them? How should I respond? I opened my mouth but closed it. How could I explain that I fell in love with the man who killed Orion without scarring them for life?“He wasn’t one of the bad guys,” Rainbow said with a slight grin. It seemed that her breathing was on track to being back to normal. “The real bad guys just forced him to work with them.”The three cutie mark crusaders gave an ‘Oh’ expression and looked to me, expecting me to speak.With the three pairs of eyes on me, I felt the urge to hide behind my mane. I didn’t, because I may not look like it, but I was a strong mare. “Jason was from a different army called the NCR. Four years prior to us disappearing, the Legion attacked a place called Hoover Dam. They captured Jason and made him a part of their army.”Sweetie raised a hoof and asked, “So they assimilated him?”I nodded while Scootaloo and Applebloom looked at sweetie with a groan, Scootaloo muttering, “Dictionary.”Five minutes later, Rainbow had recovered enough from her panic to go back to work.Scootaloo, Sweetie, and Applebloom stayed on the hilltop, talking about what all they heard. I hoped that they didn’t hear too much.