Fallout: Equestria - Heart of Nickel

Chapter two: First Contact

I was momentarily blinded from the sudden change in lighting as I stepped out from the dark facility into the relative brightness of the overcast sky. I looked down at where there should have been grass, green and thick. What my optical sensors met was not a carpet of green grass, not even the brown of grass long dead, but a mixture of dirt, ash and sand. I gazed over the edge of the plateau the building was set upon. It was not a pretty picture. I perceived the sad gray and brown of a land long dead, two small clusters of, what seemed to be, mostly intact buildings, one of them walled. I wasn’t sure what to do with this new information. I was expecting something like a war.Yeah, this looks nothing like the aftermath of a nuclear armageddon, a small voice in my head told me with a tone that was just oozing sarcasm. Great, now I have a voice in my head. I guess all those years inactive have gotten to me. I guess so. You better get used to it, too. I grumbled inwardly about getting some antivirus software installed as I began down the side of the tableland towards the closest of the two towns, the walled one.

Ya know, the last time you went through a place as lifeless as this was back during the war. Yeah… woah, wait. what war? I’m not really sure. All I really remember was that there was a war, and that we were in it. Okay, two things. First, you weren’t there. Second, why would I be in a war? I hate fighting. two more things, asshat. I must have been with you, ‘cause I remember it vividly. Also, you were in it. I remember that we were sent out by the ministry of something-or-other. Then why don’t I remember it? I was there too. I started thinking for a probable way that this annoying voice in my head could remember things that I didn’t. Maybe he was a split personality of mine that took some memories with? Or maybe he fabricated his own memories? You got anything? Your guess is as good as mine, pally.

I was roughly 300 metres away from the walled town before the snipers started firing.

I didn’t stand a chance against the first wave of bullets. The snipers all took their shots within seconds of each other. The large rounds exiting my body barely slower than when they entered. One of the shots went through my leg, Nearly tearing it clean off.

Hundreds of error messages popped up on my H.U.D., each one more severe than the last.

I spotted a nearby boulder, and took my chance. Moving as quickly as I could, I took cover behind the stone.

Oh, fuck, man, we gotta do something! I’m thinking, okay! Just let me focus.

Shooting the snipers wouldn’t work, they’re too far away. Neither would trying to storm the place, they’ve probably got a lot more soldiers.

My gaze came down upon a nearby house that was surprisingly intact. Okay, target locked. These snipers didn’t seem like the type to just let me escape, though.

I began to scan my surroundings once again, my sight locking on a nearby cliff face.

That was it! I could just use the cliff face to redirect my voice. One more time for whose of us who aren’t nerds? I sighed, mostly to the annoying voice. I could talk really loudly, and make the echo go towards them, thusly making them think that I am over there, at the cliff. Ya really think that they’re that stupid? You have any better ideas? No. Exactly.

I cranked my voice up to maximum volume, angled myself a bit better, and let loose. “I’M OVER HERE!”I screamed with a surprising amount of volume.

I began my quick limp over to the house, my body getting more and more sluggish along the way.

I was only halfway before the snipers started firing on me.OH GOD, WE’RE GONNA DIE HERE! “No. We. AREN’T!” I screamed at both myself and my internal counterpart as the battery indicating my power levels shot up to halfway.

>EMERGENCY POWER ACTIVE

I burst through the door of the house, quickly shutting it. My power levels read 5% and dropping.

POWER LEVELS CRITICAL: ACTIVATING HIBERNATION MODE

My body went limp, slamming to the ground with enough force to kick up some dust.

***

I woke up some hours later, briefly unaware of my surroundings. That feeling of blissful ignorance was quickly replaced by alarm. I quickly stood up, realizing that if I was here long enough for that massive leg wound to become repaired, then they clearly must have forgotten about me.

Exiting through the door opposite the walled town, I started for the wall-less one.

Along the way, I had decided to start up a conversation with myself. So we were in a war? Yeah, man. It was brutal. There were people dying left and right. the scent of blood was heavy in the air constantly. We were lucky to get out of there alive. Why is it that you say “we” all the time? I dunno. It’s just a bit more natural for me. Weird. Coming from the robot with a voice in his head. … good point.

The town wasn’t very far away before the tenants started raising their alarms. I was close enough to make out that the current occupants were… candy colored ponies wearing armor, some of them with guns floating next to them.

As I neared the town, I started to make out that the armored ponies were keeping other, unarmed ponies in cages. I may be a soulless automaton, but I know the difference between right and wrong, and this was clearly wrong.

They began firing upon me, but without the lethal accuracy of the snipers from the other town.

I took cover behind one of the houses, pulling out the small pistol, and taking aim. BANG! One of the ponies’ heads exploded into a brilliant shower of skull fragments and brain matter.

We can’t stay here, It’s too open. See that police station across the way? Try getting in there. Having no reason to argue with the voice, I listened, Laying down suppressive fire for myself as I ran into the police station.

What my eyes met in there was not for the faint of heart. at least two dozen foals, some with horns, many without, and one that was in a cage separate from the rest with wings. Each one was bruised, battered, cut, shot, and some looked like they had been burnt.

I looked towards the ground, clenching my fists so tight that the pistol was crushed in my hand.

I heard a whirring, and felt an odd sensation in my arms. I looked at my hands, only to notice that my right one was no longer there, replaced by a weapon crackling with energy, and that my left arm had a machine gun sticking out of the side.

With a large amount of sudden strength, I ripped the doors off of the two cages.”Stay here, and stay quiet. It’s not safe yet,” I said, with the voice in my head also saying it, trailing slightly behind.

I stepped outside, doing the only thing that was on my mind. I massacred the bastards. I was met with little resistance in my rage-fueled state.

I burst into the office of their leader, who was obviously waiting for me. He put a bullet into my shoulder.

I barely felt it. I dove at him, first grabbing him by the head and smashing it against the ground over and over and over, keeping careful to not knock him out. I wanted him to feel it.

I then tore his legs off, his forelegs I shot off with my newfound machine gun. his back legs, I just tore off with my bare hands.

Making sure that he didn’t die, I cauterized his wounds with my beam cannon, making it as slow and as painful as possible.

He was begging to be killed by the time the wounds have been burned shut.”Oh, we’ll be getting to that later,” I had said in a voice that was dangerously close to purring.

After I had freed all of the ponies, I had returned to the boss, whom had passed out from the pain.

I woke him up with a swift punch to the gut, picked him up, and promptly tossed him out the nearby window.

I walked out of the building to be met with the cheers of many of the former slaves, others were beating the crap out of the boss. I didn’t deserve this. I had brutalized the brains of this operation. I had enjoyed it. I had tossed his helpless form out of a window to either succumb to his wounds or starve to death, and I was loving it. Just the thought of that made me sick of being around myself.

I strolled out of the town, the crowd still cheering for me.

I hadn’t noticed a certain pegasus filly follow me out of the town.

LEVEL UP!

New perk: Robot Rampage

        As it turns out, robots apparently have quite the temper, and will gain incredible strength and endurance in certain situations.