Fallout: Equestria - Wicked as Syn

8 Months Later

Hazel had fallen asleep at her work desk again. She hadn't been to her actual home in over a week. She was beginning to see very little reason to hold on to the place. Work was home now. Spending countless hours taking notes and analyzing data, then ultimately getting nowhere. She'd gained so much weight, she had almost caught up with her sister. She reeked. She couldn't remember the last time she'd showered. Through the stress and the exhaustion, Hazel pressed on. Everyday she worked. Trying to find answers. She had to. For Syn. She was the only who could.

Hazel awoke the sound of her computer monitor beeping. Checking the time, she discovered that it was close to noon. She rubbed her eyes and fixed her glasses before turning her attention to the monitor. She was getting a call from her sister.

"Great." Hazel mumbled out loud. She pressed the button on the terminal and answered the call.

When the video screen came on it was not her sister that Hazel saw. Rather, a little yellow unicorn filly with a long blue mane and the biggest grin one could imagine plastered right on her face.

"Hi Aunt Hazel!" The filly practically yelled.

"Hey Sunshine. How are you doing sweetheart?"

"I'm great! Look what I made!" The filly held a drawing up to the video screen. The drawing was especially well made for a filly of Sunshine’s age. While still juvenile the ponies in the drawing were still fairly detailed. Possessing full color and even rudimentary shading. The ponies depicted were a grey mare and a yellow stallion. The two were smiling at one another and their eyes had been replaced with big, cartoonish hearts.

"That's really nice Sunshine. Who's it of?"

"This is Mister Sandy." Sunshine said as she pointed at the drawing of the stallion. "And this is Miss Rock." She said as she moved her hoof over the mare.

Sunshine leaned in close to the video screen and whispered. "I totally ship them."

Hazel laughed. She'd been as surprised as everyone when her sister had announced her pregnancy. The entire issue had caused a rift in their family. While Hazel had tried her best to be supportive, her parents had refused to speak to her sister for the longest time. But when Sunshine was born, all the hostility ceased. The smile the filly possessed could thaw the coldest of hearts. When she smiled for the first time all the anger and resentment melted away and the family came back together. Her sister had succeeded in bringing a little piece of sunshine into Equestria.

"S-s-s-sunshshine! Wh-what are y-y-you d-doing!" A voice called from off the video screen.

"Uh oh. Busted." Sunshine said.

On the screen a new figure came into view. A mare even larger than Hazel. Her dark blue mane was out of control, far worse than Hazel’s on her worse hair day. Her fur was matted and stained and even though Hazel wasn't in the room she still felt as if she could smell her sister’s terrible breath.

"Hey Rise N' Shine. How are you doing?"

"I'm s-s-so s-sorry Hazel. I h-h-hope S-s-Sunshine d-d-didn't interrupt anything im-im-important."

"Oh not at all. I was actually just waking up."

"Oh g-g-good. H-how's w-w-work?"

Hazel shrugged. "A living nightmare. Wish I could tell you more but ya know...classifed and all that."

"R-r-right."

"How are things going on your project?"

Rise N' Shine stared into the camera in silence for a while. Then she slowly shook her head. "N-not g-g-good Hazel. The m-m-ministry of m-magic sent over a n-n-n-new consultant to h-help out."

"Oh?"

Rise N' Shine nodded. "Sh-she's awful."

"Worse than you?" Hazel teased, adding in a small giggle at the end/

Rise N' Shine didn't react to the teasing, or seem to be aware of it at all. "I d-d-don't even kn-know h-h-how to describe her H-Hazel. She sc-sc-sca-scare's me."

"Scares you?"

Rise N' Shine nodded again. "I d-don't know wh-what it is b-but there's j-just something ab-about her that's wr-wr-wrong. I w-w-want h-h-her gone."

"Oh geez sis." Hazel said. "That sounds awful."

Rise N' Shine looked over her shoulder to check on Sunshine before leaning into the camera and lowering her voice to a whisper. "If I s-s-sent S-unshine to y-you could you l-l-look after h-her for a l-l-l-little while?"

Hazel shook her head. "Sorry sis. I'm too busy at work. This job requires my full attention. Is she really that bad?"

Rise N' Shine nodded. "Y-yes. I'm g-g-gonna see if M-Mom and D-d-d-dad can't t-t-take her f-f-for a wh-while. I d-don't want h-h-her ar-around th-this m-m-mare."

"Sorry I couldn't help more."

"I-it's o-okay. I underst-stand." Rise N' Shine shifted her attention behind Hazel. "H-hey G-Greif."

Hazel turned around to see her friend Good Grief standing directly behind her. "Hi Rise N' Shine." Grief turned her attention to Hazel. "Hey we gotta get going, It's lunch time."

"Okay, I'll be right there." Hazel turned back to the monitor. "Goodbye Shine. I hope you get everything sorted out."

"Th-thank y-y-you. H-have a n-n-nice l-lunch."

Hazel scoffed. "Yeah I wish. It's not our lunch though."

"Oh. W-well h-have a g-g-good d-day still. B-bye. L-love y-y-you."

"Love you too Sis."

"Love you Aunt Hazel! Have a good day!" Sunshine called from off screen.

"Love you Sunshine! Thanks for the wake up call!"

Before she closed out of the monitor a third, somewhat mechanical sounding and undeniably male voice called from off the screen. "Hazel...while I have not yet...had the honor...of meeting you...I just wanted you to know....that I too...wish upon you...a good day."

Then the screen went dark.

"Who the hell was that?"

"C'mon Hazel." Good Grief said, attempting to coax Hazel out of her chair. "Let's get this over with."

"I'm coming." Hazel stood and pulled on her labcoat. Attempted to anyway.

"I swear this fit just fine yesterday." Hazel grumbled as she struggled to pull on her uniform.

"Yeah you said that yesterday too."

Hazel and Grief made their way down the hall to the observation room, making small talk along the way.

"So who would you rather do? Cell Wall or DNA?" Greif asked.

Hazel made a disgusted face. "Eck! Neither! They're both nasty. If I was gonna do anyone it'd be Amber."

"Really? I thought you weren't into mares?"

"I'd be into Amber. Have you seen her? How the hell does she do it?"

Greif shrugged. "I've told you before a little makeup goes a long way."

"Yeah, that's more than a little. So who would you do?"

"DNA."

"Really? Gross!"

"Hey he's kind of cute. And I wouldn't have to worry about him having to stop every ten seconds to catch his breath."

"True." Hazel paused to think for a moment. "Why do all our conversations devolve into discussions about sex?"

Greif shrugged. "Because this place is boring and sex is interesting." Greif paused as a thought suddenly struck her. "Say speaking of sex, Syn..."

"Greif! No!" Hazel snapped in alarm.

"That's not what I meant!" Greif corrected, her face going red. "I was just gonna say, is Syn really a girl? I mean, technically she can grow whatever parts she wants so..."

Hazel reflected for a moment. "Well technically I guess Syn doesn't have a set physical sex...but psychologically she seems to prefer being referred to as female...honestly I don't know."

"Why do you think she stays in that form? The little filly form? Where did she even learn it from?"

"Just another one of the million and a half questions we need to answer about her I guess."

"Yeah." Greif sighed. "Okay so...if you had to do one of the ministry mares..."

The two approached the doors of the observation room. Hazel paused and brought her hoof up to her chin in thought.

"Hmmm...well I guess that's a toss up between Fluttershy and Rarity. They both kind of have a sort of...natural beauty about them. I guess I'd go with Fluttershy just because I know her personally but Rarity is a close second." Hazel and Grief scanned their security cards and the door slid open.

"I mean c'mon have you seen that mares aaaaAAAAAAAHHH!!"

Inside the room, two of the mares’ coworkers were hard at work. On each other. Cell Well had Amber bent over a chair and was thrusting away furiously as Amber was panting in delight.

"Holy shit!' Grief exclaimed.

Finally realizing they were no longer alone Cell Wall and Amber separated. They stared back at Hazel and Grief in virtual horror, their faces red, both from embarrassment and passion.

"What the fuck guys?!" Hazel yelled. "In the observation room?! Really?!"

Cell Wall stood. The white stallion tried his best to keep his composure. He turned to the side to hide what he could from prying eyes and reached into his coat pocket to retrieve his inhaler.

"I-I um. I..." The stallion stammered. He took a deep breath from his inhaler and was able to calm himself enough to form at least one coherent sentence. "I got to go!"

With that, Cell Wall rushed out of the room, trying his best to keep his head down and hide his blushing face.

Amber stood up and began to collect herself as well. The light brown Earth Pony mare adjusted her labcoat and then proceeded to fluff her dark brown mane. Amber was several years younger than Grief or Hazel. The mare had only barely graduated college when she had applied for the Ministry of Peace. She had been a star athlete in college and it definitely showed. Where Hazel and Grief were both too fat and too skinny, Amber was neither. She was simply slim. A model of perfection. Everything Hazel and Grief wished they looked like.

Amber's embarrassment died away quickly. She held her head high and trotted over to the observation window.

"Good morning Hazel. Good morning Good Grief. How are both of today?" She asked as if nothing had happened at all.

Grief and Hazel shared a half smile with one another. They were having none of that. The pair walked over to Amber, flanking the younger mare on either side.

"Soooo..." Grief began.

Amber ignored her. She typed away at her terminal, bringing up her notes from the previous day.

"...Cell Wall?" Greif continued. "Really?"

Amber continued typing away. Doing her best to avoid the conversation. But there was no escape.

"Amber c'mon...you can do so much better."

Amber shrugged, not looking away from her terminal. "There wasn't anyone else. This place finally got to me I guess."

Greif scoffed. "You guess?"

"He's nice!" Amber snapped. "He's always giving me compliments and saying nice things and...it just...I don't know. He's the only one here I can relate too. Everyone else is so much older than me..."

"Yeah I get that..." Greif smiled. "...but c'mon. Cell Wall?"

"He is a perfectly nice stallion."

"But he's fucking ugly."

"He's got nice eyes!"

"But he got terrible acne."

"He's...available."

"But the wheezing!"

Amber's posture shrunk and her cheeks reddened. Her voice dropped to a whisper. "He's huge."

Hazel and Grief exchanged surprised looks with one another.

"What was that?" Greif asked.

Amber's eyes widened and her gaze dropped to the floor. Her cheeks seemed to get even redder and she attempted to hid her face behind her mane.

"Huh." Greif began. "Doesn't look that big."

"It grows." Amber whispered.

"How long has this been going on?" Hazel asked.

Amber shrugged. "A month or so."

"Well..." Hazel began. "Keep it out of the observation room. Please."

Amber shrunk back even further. "Sorry."

The door of the observation opened and DNA stepped into the room. He raised his head and sniffed the air. "Smells like fuck in here."

Greif laughed. Ambers continued to blush. Hazel sighed.

"We need to get going guys. Syn's probably starving."

DNA rolled his eyes. "Yeah whatever. Right to work. No monkeying around. Got ya."

"No sarcasm today D. Please? I just want a nice, stress free day."

"Well good luck with that Hazel."

Hazel pressed the door button and the metal shield between the observation window and the room opened. On the other side of the window stood Syn, right next to the window, barely an inch away. Her face bore an inquisitive look as she watched them.

The previously white room was now a plethora of color. The walls, floor and even the ceiling were covered in Syn's artwork. In the span of a year, she had progressed from stick figures to highly detailed pieces. Her drawings had become so detailed that it was difficult to distinguish between them and an actual photograph. The only areas of the room that were still bare were the areas around the circular vents in the wall. The flamers. Syn stayed as far away from those as she possibly could.

Hazel smiled and pressed the intercom. "Good Morning Syn. How are you feeling today sweetie?"

The little silver maned filly cocked her head to the side. Her mismatched silver and hazel eyes focused and her brow furrowed in thought. "What was Auntie Amber doing with Daddy?"

Hazel stared back at the filly in shock. The shield had been closed. Over the course of time they had discovered that Syn could adjust her her eyesight to allow her see far beyond what any pony is capable of. She could adjust her hearing and smell as well. The one-way mirror served very little purpose, for Syn could see right through it. But the shield had been down. There was no way she could see through sheet metal.

"Syn baby..." Hazel began. "..can you see through the wall when the shield is down."

Syn shook her head. "No. But I can feel through."

"What do you mean sweetie?"

"I can feel through it. It's kind of like seeing. Only without any color. I can feel shapes and movements."

"Like radar." DNA had moved right next to Hazel and was looking at Syn curiously. He pressed the intercom.

"Hey Syn. How you doing today girl?"

"Hi uncle D. I'm hungry."

"Bet you are. Lunch is coming right up 'kay."

Syn looked back to Hazel. "What was Daddy doing to Auntie Amber? Was he hurting her?"

"No Syn, they're both okay...they were just..." Hazel took her hoof off of the intercom. "I can't do this Grief. I can't explain sex to her. She's barely a year old!"

"Oh wow Hazel. Grow up." Greif scoffed then proceeded to move Hazel out o the way and press the intercom.

"They were playing a game honey. A grown up game. They were both having fun. No reason to be worried."

"Oh." Syn thought for a moment. "Will you teach it to me Auntie Greif?"

Greif took her hoof from the intercom and turned to Amber. "Thank you Amber." She said, her voice dripping with Sarcasm. "This is exactly how I wanted to start my morning."

"Sorry."

"Would someone care to fill me in on what's going on?" DNA asked.

"Well when we walked in this morning Cell Wall was..." Grief explained. "Well let's say he was 'filling in' Amber."

"Really? Good for Cell." DNA turned to Amber. "You can do so much better."

"Hmph." Amber glared forward and crossed her hooves in front of her chest. "He's nice."

"Enough." Hazel interjected. She pressed the intercom. "You ready to eat, Syn?"

Syn smiled. "Oh yes! I'm starving!" Syn had finally perfected her voice. No reverberation or distortion. She sounded like a completely normal filly.

Hazel typed away at her terminal. There was a loud clanking sound and a small panel opened in the ceiling of Syn's room. Out of the panel a thin clear tube descended downward. The filly stood underneath it, eagerly awaiting her meal. Hazel pressed the command and key and tube began to make a hideous sucking sound. After a brief moment, a thick red paste began to descend down the tube and straight into the Filly's mouth. The group looked on in both fascination and disgust.

"That is so gross." DNA commented.

"Tell me about it." The group turned around to see Cell Wall had made his way back into the room. The Unicorn stallion looked much better than earlier. His white coat practically glowed in the dimly lit room. His tall, spiky blonde mane looked as if it had been recently combed. He adjusted his glasses then proceeded to take a puff from his inhaler.

He stopped next to Amber and blushed. "Sorry about earlier guys."

"It's fine" Hazel replied. "Just...not in the observation room. Ever"

DNA held up his hoof. "Up top!"

Cell hesitated before lifting his own hoof and lightly smacking it against DNA's.

"Good job Cell. Didn't know ya had it in had ya."

"He didn't." Greif replied. "He had it in Amber!"

"OHHHHHHH!" Grief and DNA called out as Amber and Cell Wall blushed furiously.

"Knock it off!" Hazel snapped.

"Killjoy." DNA said. "So what's the plan for today guys?"

"Same as always." Cell Wall replied. "Ask her questions she doesn't know the answers too, then run some pointless tests and pray we get somewhere."

"Woa Cell, don't get too excited now." DNA quipped

Hazel pressed the intercom button. "Syn, that's enough for now sweetie." She pressed a second button on the terminal and the tube retracted.

The remaining red globs absorbed into Syn's bleach white coat and she moved towards the window. "I'm still hungry though."

"If you keep eating like that you're gonna get fat."

"What's fat?"

"Fat is what happens when you eat too much."

Syn's face brightened up. "Fat sounds awesome! I want to get fat!"

"She can't get fat." Cell said. "I mean...she just ate twice her bodyweight in recycled animal tissue and she's still hungry."

Greif shuddered. "Can you please not remind me what we're feeding her?"

Syn cocked her head to the side and shot the group an inquisitive look.

Hazel leaned into the intercom. "What's wrong Syn?"

"Why do you all give me gross looks whenever I eat?"

Hazel glared at Greif. "You know, you really need to learn when to shut the fuck up."

Turning her attention back to Syn, Hazel began to speak once more. "Nothing's wrong with it sweetie. It's just...different than what we eat."

"You guys don't eat ummm..." Syn placed a hoof on her chin and thought for a moment. "...recycled animal tissue?

Hazel moved away from the intercom and turned to face her coworkers. "What is happening today? First sex and now I have to explain her diet to her? Fuck today."

"You know she can still hear you?" DNA said. "What's the point of the intercom exactly?"

"If you want to go in there and uninstall it, be my guest."

Syn moved closer to the observation window. "What is recycled animal tissue? Please tell me."

Hazel hesitated. She would have to choose her words carefully if she was going to prevent Syn from having another freakout.

"Well Syn...it's...it's dead animals..."

"Dead? I thought when things die they stopped existing?"

"Kind of sweetie. See when a living thing dies it's...it's mind goes away. It stops thinking. But it's body stays behind. Do you understand?"

Syn stared at the glass separating her from Hazel for several minutes. Not moving. Not blinking. Not breathing. It was impossible to tell what was going through the creature's mind. She seemed more like a statue than a living thing. A bead of sweat rolled down Hazel's forehead as she began to wonder if she had made a fatal mistake. The glass and the flamers were there in case something went wrong. But there was no way of knowing if they would actually stop her.

Finally Syn nodded. "I understand. So umm..." She placed her hoof to her chin in thought. "What's an animal?"

"Animals are creatures who aren't ponies."

"Ohhhhhh." Syn replied. "So...am I an animal?"

Hazel managed to chuckle. "Well not exactly sweetheart. We don't know what you are yet remember? That's what we're here to figure out."

Syn shook her head. "I'm a pony. Just like you and Daddy and Auntie Grief and Amber and Fluttershy and Uncle D."

"Okay Syn." Hazel said softly. "If you say so."

Syn began to wander around her room absentmindedly. Looking over all the drawings scrawled all over the walls and floor.

"How did those animals die?" Syn asked as she absentmindedly studied her latest drawing of Fluttershy.

"Careful how you answer this one Hazel." Cell warned. "She might not react well."

"She'll be fine." Hazel replied. She focused her attention back to Syn. "They died naturally sweetie. Eventually, every living thing dies."

Syn's head slowly turned back towards the mirror. Her face held no expression. No emotion. Nothing that could give away what may have been running through her mind. She cocked her head to the side and her silver mane fell over her left eye. Her right eye stared straight at Hazel, wide, unblinking. The same eye, that for some reason Syn had decided should bare the exact same color as Hazel's.

"Even me?" She asked.

Hazel looked to her coworkers. They all shared the same expression. They were dumbfounded. None of them knew how to answer that question.

Hazel nervously pressed the intercom button. "We don't know sweetie. You might not."

"But you will?"

Hazel took her hoof off the intercom. She watched Syn and even though the filly had no expression whatsoever at the moment, she knew exactly what she was thinking. Looking at Syn now, she once again had to remind herself that despite Syn's look and mannerisms...it wasn't a filly. As much as she wanted to be there for her, to hold her, to hug her, to comfort her, she knew it wasn't possible. She closed her eyes and whispered.

"Yes. Someday I will."

Syn turned back to her drawing. "And when you die I'll be alone."

Hazel opened her eyes again. Her vision was blurred and she had to briefly remove her glasses in order to wipe away the tears that she was trying so hard to suppress.

"It's okay." Syn said as she looked at the floor.

"I'm already alone."