Fallout Equestria: Over the Rainbow

By DerpyNate

Chapter 1: Puddles, Prophets and Puppets

War. War never changes. When the end of the world inevitably rolled around, my ancestors took refuge in a giant, underground shelter, known as Stable 34. When the ponies there were lost under a shadow of uncertainty, they were given a glimmer of hope. The Doctrine was placed under the care of my people. Here, we study and obey it, learning its unadulterated truths, for it has shown us the way in the past and it shall guide us to prosperity in the future.

Dr. Encephalon pushed his glasses up the length of his muzzle and gave me a warm smile. “Well, I just want to finish off this session by letting you know that you have been making major improvements, Sunbeam.”

I sat there on the procedure table, like I had many times before and swung my legs at a lazy rhythm.

“Yeah... I guess so,” I quietly responded back.

I hated it there. The medical bay was a stupid place that I was forced to spend a heaping portion of my life in. I particularly hated the poster on Dr. Encephalon's wall.

‘Help me help you’, the caption proposed, with a nurse looking on with big, disdainful eyes.

I hated that nurse. I didn’t even care that she wasn’t real. I hated her. I had to look at her stupid face for two days a week, since before I could remember. I had also learned to hate the overwhelming smell in there. Latex. I hated latex. Every time I smelled it, I was remminded of that room.

Dr. Encephalon levitated out a memo pad and wrote out my prescription. It was the same thing every time. Thirty capsules of Whatsa-jibber-flabon… The pills had always had the nastiest aftertaste, but I had gotten used to it, since I had been taking them for the better half of eighteen years.

“Alright, Sunbeam; You make sure to get back to your room safely and I’ll see you back here on Tuesday,” said Dr. Encephalon, as he floated the piece of paper towards me.

I slowly got to my hooves, making the short hop off the table, taking the small note in my teeth. I so wished I was a unicorn. Just being able to float things wherever I wanted, not having to taste-test anything I picked up.

“Gvhbhy,” I mouthed, attempting the word ‘goodbye’ in clenched teeth.

I breathed a sigh of relief as I had finally ascended my personal hell. A grin slowly started to cover my face while I trotted at a brisk pace down the hallway. After a few steps, something caught my attention. I slid to a stop, as my ears jutted to the full upright position. I walked up to the group of ponies that were slowly amassing around two Security Officers and… Dreamlit Skies? Dreamlit stood there, a shivering mess, as she was forced into binds. The crowd shouted obscenities at her, while the two Officers tried to force their way through the angry mob.

I tried to get the attention of the nearest pony to me.

“Hey, um…what’s going on?” I asked, my curiosity getting the best of me.

I hadn’t really known Dreamlit Skies all too well and I didn’t know much more than that she was one of Stable 34’s resident artists. Her paintings were really nice, heck, my parents even had one of them in their living quarters. I couldn’t imagine what she could have done wrong, there wasn’t a bad bone in her body.

“She is a filthy blasphemer!” spat the eggshell-white pony that I had just pulled aside. “I can’t believe that she turned out to be a dirty fillyfooler!”

“Oh…” I stood there, shocked for a minute. I didn’t expect it to be something as bad as that.

“Yeah and what a shame, too. She actually could have had some potential,” said another.

“I can’t believe I used to like her! I’m burning every one of her paintings I own tonight” scoffed yet another onlooker.

“Let’s just pray for her and hope that the Prophet is able to purify her,” said another concerned-looking mare.

Who was she with? I hadn’t seen any other ponies get detained today. And you can’t exactly be a fillyfooler if you don’t have a filly to fool around with.

The whole situation had me constantly quoting the same Doctrine verse over and over in my head.

‘And you shall cast them away, for they are unholy revelers who have caused the downfall of our people. Never again shall we allow such an abomination of mare with a mare or a stallion with a stallion’

I slowly broke away from the crowd, navigating my way back through the corridors. I pulled the crumpled piece of paper out of my pocket, remembering I had a prescription to pick up and promptly set off to the pharmacy. I found my way inside, walked up to the counter and set my crumpled prescription down. The mare attending did not seem pleased with the drips of saliva and teeth marks on the slip of paper. I always forgot her name (and the sad thing is that I totally asked every time). She went back to prep my medicine as I stood there, awkwardly shifting. Waiting in public was not my strong suit. I always felt like I wasn’t supposed to be there, or that somepony would think I was weird for standing in the same spot for too long. After shuffling about like a crazy pony for what seemed like eons, she came back with the small, white, synthetic-paper bag that held my pills.

“Thanks... uhh…Apollo?”, I lead off, hoping that I had hit my mark.

“It’s Apothecary,” she retorted flatly.

“Oh, um... s-sorry,” I mentally face-hoofed. Sunbeam, stop being so socially stupid! Alright, just pull it together, you can still salvage this. “S-so, did you hear about Dreamlit Skies?”

She paused for a moment, and then seemed interested.

“No, what happened?” she asked. I was surprised that she cared what I had to say.

“Well, she got arrested, apparently she was a blasphemer. I couldn’t believe it at first, I mean she doesn’t look the type to be a fillyfooler,” I gave myself a mental pat on the back. Good job, Sunbeam. Look at you, making conversation like a pro.

“Well…” she started. “I am personally a really big admirer of her art.”

The look on my face must have been one of pure confusion. “You still like her? What about the whole… blasphemy thing…”

“I really don’t see why we still have laws like that. Just because a pony decides to add something to an ancient book doesn’t mean we should all blindly follow it.” she said, not skipping a beat.

I could not believe what I was hearing. It was like some kind of weird surreal dream.

I waved a hoof in front of her face. “Are you alright?”

That didn’t seem to amuse her as she shot me a ‘stop that’ kind of glare.

“Well, um... you have a nice day... ” I said as I took the bag from the counter, putting it securely away into my pocket. Without letting her saying another word, I high-tailed it out of there. Why was she acting so… weird? Was it something I said?

I finally went out on my usual route back to my block.

I hummed my favorite tune. It didn’t matter how many times I heard it, it was always amazing. It wasn’t even in a language I could understand, but that made me love it even more. Everything about it was just… right. The way the notes complimented each other, the way the singer emphasized the words. I didn’t even have to know what it meant to feel her passion.

SCHLIP.

The world turned upside down as I lost all traction, my hooves sliding out from under me. I landed on my back with an audible thump as the wind was forcibly knocked out of my lungs.

I laid there for a few seconds, trying to reclaim my lost oxygen.

“Uhhhhhgggggggg…”

After a bit of coaxing, my lungs decided to work again. I laid there for a minute. Slowly but surely I got back up, finally noticing a safety-yellow sign with a stick-pony wiping out in a similar fashion that I just had. I looked down at my jumpsuit. It was wet, oh it was wet, all down the back and a little on the sides.

“Great...” I muttered to myself.

I checked my Pip-Buck and relief filled me as I saw the screen glow it's soft florescent green. I had never heard of a Pip-Buck breaking, but that just made me all the more paranoid that I, being the klutz I was, would be the one to finally pull it off. I slowly and much more cautiously proceeded on.

“Why is there so many Celestia-damned puddles?” I muttered loudly.

Shouldn’t maintenence be doing their job? And that floor totally wasn’t all the way mopped up. I could have really hurt myself!

As I proceeded down the hallway, I noticed there were more and more splotches of water all along the floor. I face-hoofed. Good job, Stable 34 maintenance team, you are ever so vigilant.

I walked into my room, tracking a few hoof-steps worth of water inside while taking off my wet jumpsuit. I let out a sigh as I looked it over. I really didn’t want to add to the massive workload that I already had. My brain chose the lazy option and I tossed my jumpsuit to the floor. My eyes drifted over to my Pip-Buck's clock. Six o’clock. Pill time.

One of my least favorite things about being an earth pony was bottles, more specifically: foal-proof medicine bottles. After years of practice, I had developed an expert strategy to opening them.

Step 1. Take the bottle with both hooves securely.

Step 2. Open wide and bite down firmly on the white cap.

Step 3. Push and turn with both your hooves and your mouth, praying to Celestia that the stupid fucking bottle opens.

After struggling with the bottle for a minute or two, I wrenched it open, shaking out one of the pills onto my tongue. I swallowed and gagged; I probably should have gotten a glass of water. I beat the disgusting taste to the back of my throat as I went through my dresser, retrieving my copy of The Doctrine. I flipped through the pages and found my spot.

‘The teachings of Prophet Mendax.’

After every new prophet is fully realized, the Stable records their teachings and publishes it into a new extension of The Doctrine, making their Celestia-driven word part of holy law.

‘The teachings of Prophet Mendax’ was a section I read frequently, as it was taken from Mendax, who is our current Prophet. I really wished I could get to talk to him in pony, maybe he would bless me! I blushed at that, but the thought soon dissolved from my mind as I reminded myself that I was not holy enough to be in his presence for an extended period of time.

After reading the first section, I set the book down on my dresser. I looked down at my Pip-Buck’s clock, It was getting pretty late. Being a Dry-cleaner wasn’t the funnest or the easiest of work, so I decided I should get some sleep. I laid down, got comfortable and tuned into the Stable 34 radio station. Right as I had tuned in, the current song ended and a jazzy interlude started playing. I decided that it was perfect music for lulling me to sleep. I slowly drifted away to the sounds of sweet woodwinds.

After a few hours, I had fallen into a particularly amazing sleep. This sleep, however amazing, was short-lived. My song crackled off the radio and was replaced by the voice of the Prophet.

“Attention, citizens. We are having slight technical issues with the plumbing. Please refrain from using any faucets, showers or otherwise until further notice. We hope to resolve the issue as swiftly as possible, thank you and carry on.”

My ears perked at that. No plumbing? I let out a sigh as I flopped back down. That was great, now I would be awkward andsmelly.

I went to sleep. It was hard to finally get my brain to settle down after that, but, eventually when another good song came on, I went out like a light.

***

I practically ejected myself from bed as the sharp blaring of the emergency sirens tore through the air.

I landed on my floor with a splish; I looked down to my hooves and noticed water that had been pooling on the floor.

“W-what the… ?”

I simultaneously couldn’t believe and didn’t understand what was happening. My heart revved up. My entire body was shaking. I could barely stand. I lifted my jittery hoof and made several attempts to press my door's button. On the fourth attempt, it opened.

More water came flooding into my room when my door slid up. The red glare of emergency lights nearly blinded me as I tried to figure out what was going on. Security Officers were herding dozens of panicked families from their homes and to the upper levels. One came running up to me.

He spoke with a hasty, but authoritative tone. “Take only what you need and get up to the Atrium, A.S.A.P.”

Without another word, he dashed to another door, alerting more ponies and helping with the evacuation.

I practically broke the handle off my dresser drawer as my panicked brain tried to classify things into two categories: ‘Shit I need’ and ‘Shit I don’t need’. I tore my dresser up, taking out my saddlebags and stuffing them full of useless baubles that had sentimental value to me. Lastly, I slipped my pills and my copy of The Doctrine into my bag, right before I ran out to the hallway. I could hear my heartbeat pounding away in my head as pain and intense pressure filled my chest. I was bawling like a filly. So far, this was the worst moment of my entire life.

I sloshed my way through the halls, making my way upstairs. Security Officers directed me with the others. I was scared; I didn’t like change. I stifled tears back as I gathered with the crowd in the Atrium.

I didn’t like being packed this close; I was getting extremely claustrophobic, which wasn’t helping my case at all. Security Officers stood at the perimeter of the herd, keeping everypony in line, brandishing riot weapons.

I looked up at the stage and the chattering of hundreds of mouths went quiet as the Prophet walked onstage, floating The Doctrine with him as walked.

“My congregation,” he started. “Yesterday, Celestia sent me a vision, a vision of you all. We shall ascend our subterranean home and spread the word of Celestia to the surface. We no longer need to hide, Celestia has promised to create a world for us outside and she has told me that we are the destined rulers of that world.”

Everypony cheered. His words charmed us; It was something we all wanted to hear. We would follow him wherever he went. He was the shepherd; We were the sheep.

“Now, everypony, the Security Officers will be distributing slips of paper to you all, make sure that everypony has one. If you are a parent, make sure your child receives one.” said the Prophet.

Just as it was said, I was given a small slip of paper. Curiously, I examined it.

‘2’

Being a slip of paper, the number two was the only thing predominantly noticeable about it. I flipped it over, wondering if there was anything on the back. Nope, nothing. I decided it would be best not to question it, I mean, this was part of the Prophet’s plan.

The Prophet’s amplified voice echoed through the room again. “Let us have everypony who received a ‘one’ stand on the East side of the room and everypony who received a ‘two’ stand on the West.”

As commanded, I, along with all the ponies in the room shifted, awaiting the Prophet’s next words with eager obedience.

His low, smooth voice came over the speaker again. “I would like to thank all of you. You are truly doing Celestia’s work today. Number ones, you will be awarded for your eternal obedience by meeting Celestia herself. I envy you and may you find Celestia’s warmth eternally peaceful.”

As the words escaped his lips, the wrong ends of the Security Officer’s weapons gravitated towards the crowd on the East wall.

The brutal realization hit me like a train. I just stood there, confused as the deafening cracks of lethal weapons sliced through the air. I can remember their faces, all the different ways each of them took it. Some mares and stallions prayed, ready to meet Celestia, some looked on with innocent confusion. Some looked in disbelief as their lives were halted unexpectedly. Fillies and colts were torn apart, not even fully understanding the situation as their lives were brought to an abrupt end. The East wall was painted a deep, shiny crimson.

“As for you, number twos, even though you do not get the pleasure of being with Celestia yet, you still have a greater purpose. You are the ones Celestia has chosen to inhabit her new world. Now, come my children. It is time to go up.” said the Prophet.

The bodies of the ‘number ones’ were quickly abandoned as we were herded further up. We passed through a set of security doors and into a dimly lit room with many, many terminals and panels that were far beyond my knowledge. I didn’t know how or what to feel. I saw ponies I knew just get… I didn’t know what to call it. Murdered? Sacrificed? Transcended to a different plane?

On the far wall, the giant steel gear that was the Stable door hung ominously.

A Security Officer went over to what appeared to be the primary panel and started manipulating the delicate machinery with his telekinesis.

The Prophet was smiling; He must have had waited years for this moment. His grand Celestia-driven plan had finally been set into action while his flock of loyal lost sheep waited behind him.

“Everypony, prepare to see the new world!” the Prophet exclaimed. The determination in his eyes was not of this world.

He looked down to the Security Officer at the panel, signaling him that now was the time. With the flips of a few switches and the throwing of a lever, blaring emergency sirens wailed and steam hissed as we all looked to the door with stars in our eyes. However, when the door opened, the only thing that was there to greet us was a wall of watery death, that crashed down upon us all.

(Special thanks to my friends and my sister who were nice enough to read through the whole thing)

Author's Note

Any and all criticisms are extremely appreciated!

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