Fallout Equestria: Pony Sands

Fallout Equestria: Pony Sands

Star Beam sat at his desk, awaiting the most likely horrible test results from his Cutie Mark Aptitude Test, or CMAT for short. Ugh how long is this going to take? I mean they just have to write ‘Failed’ at the top and get this over with. Star Beam was accustomed to being at the bottom of his class, as he had been all his life. Not that his parents had much time to spend with him, his mom Cherry Rose, had been an alcoholic all her life, not to mention her cutie mark was a martini shaker. His dad was a different story, Metal Test was his name, fitting for a pony who worked in the Science sector. He had been working on how to improve the functioning of the reactor in the stable before one of the panels had short circuited, frying him alive. Star Beam had begun to cry remembering when the head scientist, Test Tube, had informed them of their father and husband's passing. His mother had disappeared and was found in one of the maintenance halls, wasted on stolen alcohol. Star felt a hoof touch his shoulder and he flinched.

“I’m sorry Star Beam,” The comforting voice of his teacher Crystal Pen said to him, “What seems to be the problem? Are you worried about your mother?”

Star sniffed and looked at his teacher, wiping the tears away from his eyes. “No ma’am it’s nothing. Just a bad memory that’s all.” He sat back in his chair and looked around, many of the other fillies and colts had already left, leaving him almost alone. “Just waiting for my career in maintenance.” He jokingly added, making himself smile.

“On the contrary Star, you had one of the highest scores in the class.” Crystal added, “It was even higher than Ink Sky.”

Star Beam gasped in disbelief, “You have to be joking with me. I couldn’t have done that well!” His voice rising to a near scream, echoing around the classroom. “I’m sorry, It’s just that I thought I would be near the bottom of the class, like I usually was.”

Crystal laid a hoof on the colt’s neck, “Oh I knew you had it in you. I just think you weren’t trying your best.” She walked back to her desk and picked up a paper, she dropped it on his desk. “Take a look, those are your results.”

Star Beam hesitantly opened the folder with his magic and laid the score sheet down on top, he gasped at what he saw. “Potential Jobs: Overstallion, Head of Security, Head Scientist, and Technological Management?! How did I… What the… Sweet mother of the Overmare. I really scored that high?” His voice rising with each job title he read.

The smile coming off of Crystal Pen’s face confirmed his suspicions, “I really wasn’t supposed to show you those. They were supposed be delivered to your room later in the week but I didn’t want to see you fret about your scores.” She gave him a hug and shuffled the papers, putting them back in the folder and placing them on her desk. “Go on now, Star. Go home, get some rest.” Crystal said, trotting back to her desk and filing papers.

Star Beam got up from his desk and began to walk out when a filly about his age got out of her seat and trotted next to him. “Hi, I’m Star Beam.” He said, trying to be polite, “What’s your name?”

“My name is Ink Sky, the other filly Mrs. Pen was talking about.” She said, hip checking him as they walked making him stumble. “You know, the one that you were better than?”

Star blushed and hung his head, “I didn’t mean to score better, I think it was just dumb luck.” He looked back noticing that Ink had stopped. “What’s wrong? Was it something I said?”

“No, no. I just was thinking about something.” She looked slightly disturbed and anxious, shifting from hoof to hoof. “What you said made me think about my parents, they got their dream jobs but aren’t happy with them. I guess the phrase, like what you do is really relevant around here.” They continued to walk down the well lit but empty hallways.

All the older ponies were at work, waiting to hear about how well the fillies and colts did on their CMAT, some of them just happy to see their youngsters after a long day of work. Many would be happy to see how they did and their would be parties upon parties for the ones who did really well, even those who didn’t do the best would have a job that would help out the stable in some way. Star Beam wasn’t sure if his mother would be excited about his more prominent science and communication scores. After his father had died, she wanted nothing to do with the science sector of the stable. He would probably have to do something else if his mother had anything to say about it. “Well this is my hall.” He nervously looked up, right into the eyes of Ink Sky. She smiled and looked at him. “Do you want me to walk you back to your hall?” Did I really just say that? “Or are you okay walking back?”

“I could always use some company,” Ink said, her tail swishing. “It does get a little lonely walking alone down the halls. Except when Dark Iron and his friends try and get near me.” She stood a little straighter at that. “So yes, could you walk me back to my hall?”

“Sure, I wouldn’t mind.” My mom doesn’t really pay attention to me anyway. He thought sadly. “I don’t have anything else to do anyway. Except sleep or practice lockpicking and hacking my mom’s terminal for fun.” He nudged her shoulder with a hoof and they set off down the corridor heading towards the women’s dorms.

The long hallways of the stable always seemed empty even when there were a ton of other ponies wandering around them. Stable 15 was one of the stables to have shorter halls and more family friendly accommodations, almost as if Stable-Tec managed to make it just for families. Of course almost everypony had a family to home to, some of them were large others small. It really didn’t matter if you had a large or small family to go back to but almost everypony had one. The cheerful gossiping of mothers and happy cries of fillies playing in the halls. In stark contrast, the science sector had sharp corners leading down extended hallways, almost as if they had designed it late and threw something together. But it made no matter, Star Beam had only been down there a few times, and it was because his father had managed to get a Red Gallop BB gun when he was three. He loved that BB gun almost as much as his family, frequently asking when he could go back down and shoot the one or two radroaches that lurked in the dusty parts of the stable. Fortunately there had been no major problems in the almost two hundred years that the stable had been inhabited. I wonder what the outside looks like, I mean it can’t look more different than the pictures I’ve seen.

“Hey Star what’cha thinkin bout?” Ink Sky said, derailing his train of thought. “You looked kinda distant and I was just watching you and wondered what you are thinking.”

“Oh just about what the outside would look like. I mean we’ve all seen pictures, but I want to see what it really looks like.” Star said enthusiastically, “After the megaspells fell a few hundred years ago, the land was changed. But it couldn’t have changed that much. Maybe Overmare Cloud Shine knows anything about it.” He said, turning around.

“Alright! We can go see her.” Ink said, following along behind him, “We don’t really have anything else to do right?”

“Yeah, and it is kinda boring just walking around. Well not with you around, and having someone to talk to.” Ink Sky blushed and hid her face behind her grey and light blue mane. Geez, I didn’t even mean to say that. I-I-i should apologize for that. “Hey sorry about that. I didn’t mean to-” He was cut off as Ink Sky gave him a little peck on the cheek. He felt his face heat up.

“Thanks, I enjoy it too.” Ink said, walking a bit ahead of him. “Come one lets go, I mean no rush though.”

“Well look who it is, Inky and her little coltfriend.” A snarky voice said off to the side. “Why don’t you give me a little kiss for old time’s sake, eh Ink Sky.” His voice hissed out the last few words, as if he hated to say them.

“Hello Dark Iron.” Ink Sky said, speaking through clenched teeth. “What do you want.”

“Oh you know just to catch up, I wanted to know how my favorite friend is doing.” Dark Iron said, dragging out the words, as if he was wanting something. “After it has been a long few weeks. I could, you know, relieve some stress.”

Star didn’t know what it meant but it couldn’t be good given the context. This was also getting out of hoof, Star was thinking of going to get an adult but, in his experience, that would be a bad idea. “Hey just leave her alone why don’t you. She’s not bothering you, although it would seem that you have a hard time just letting her do her own thing.”

Dark Iron turned to Star Beam, “Listen kid, this is between me and her. So back the buck up, or you are gonna regret it.” He moved threateningly towards Star Beam, but he didn’t budge. “So back off or you’re gonna get hurt.”

“Just leave her alone.” Star pushed his hoof into Dark Iron’s shoulder. That was probably a bad idea, he’s older than me and bigger than me. “You want me to report you to the Overmare or Security?” I could get him bridged for a few days if I told them, but he would probably come after me when he got out.

Dark Iron balked, moving back a bit. He knew he had a bad rep and he didn’t like having to talk to Security or the Overmare. “Alright kid, get out of here before I change my mind. That’s right get.”

They galloped down the hall for a bit and stopped to catch their breath. “What was that all about Ink?” Star Beam said, looking over at the slightly scared filly.

“Remember the pony I was talking about, Dark Iron?” She lifted her head up and looked at him, “That was him. We had a brush a few months ago and he hasn’t let it go since. Nothing like s-e-x but we were together for a time. But I didn’t like how he treated me so I got him bridged for a few weeks.”

Sure nothing serious but that pony is nothing trouble, just his appearance and how he acts gives me the shivers. “So you have nothing else to do with him? Good, I would honestly stay away from a creep like that. But that’s just my opinion, you can do whatever you want.”

“Alright, I’ll stay away from him.” We turned the corner and arrived at the Overmare’s office. “I’ll knock, she knows me pretty well. Just because she has a daughter and we are good friends.” Ink knocked a few times and waited.

The door opened, revealing Overmare Cloud Shine. She had a white and turquoise mane with a light grey colored coat. Overall she was a beautiful mare, but we didn’t come to goggle at her beauty. “Hello Star Beam and Ink Sky. What can I do for you today?”

“We wanted see if we could see pictures of the outside!” Star Beam blurted out, covering his mouth a second later. “I mean, please?”

Cloud smiled and chuckled a bit, “Come in, I’ll see what I can do for you fillies.” They trotted into her office. It wasn’t lavishly furnished but there was a decent bit of it scattered around. The bookshelves were nearly full with books and folders, and there was a terminal sitting on the desk in the middle of the room. “Sit on the couch I’ll see what I can pull up. Why the sudden interest? I just wanted to ask.”

“Well uh,” Ink said, seeming a little embarrassed, “We don’t really have anything to do today, because we had our CMAT and class was out early. So we were trying to decide what we should do and Star Beam here was wondering what the outside looked like!” She said excitedly, assuming the Overmare didn’t have any objections.

Star Beam blushed and looked down. “I was just wondering what the outside looks like because I don’t think it could have changed much after the megaspells fell.” He hesitated before continuing, “I wanted to see the outside.”

Cloud Shine smiled, she was the one of the few pegasi that had decided to take refuge in the stables. She also had access to the camera in the Single Pony Project towers, if they had power. She knew that they meant no harm, and were just fillies with big imaginations and an insatiable thirst for new information. Cloud also wondered how these fillies had managed to get their hooves on a book or note that mentioned the war and megaspells. “Well I do suppose that I could let you look at a few cameras that Stable-Tec let me have access to. I’ll get them booted up and display them on the projector.”

“Yay!” They both said, galloping to the couch and hopping on it and waiting for the cool things they were going to see. “I wonder if ponies still live out there!” So many questions from the little ones.

Cloud admired their curiosity, it was also what got her a place in the stable and the position of Overmare. She could only hope that the next Overseer would be just as good as her, maybe better. From her records, and results from the CMAT, it might be one of these two fillies. The projector screen lowered and it turned on displaying a deserted and blighted wasteland, with no life visible for miles. Small gasps came from the fillies on the couch. She shifted to another one, a fight was going on between a grey coated raider and a brown pegasus with a battle saddle. The brown pegasus shot the female raider in the back leg and she hit the ground, hard. Two caravan ponies ran over and dragged the ‘dead’ raider onto the cart and went towards a settlement, the pegasus in tow. She switched to another camera. It showed a settlement near some train tracks, ponies were walking around in it and going about their day. She turned off the projector and turned towards the fillies as the lights turned back on. “Well? What did you think? Do you like the outside or does it look more different than you imagined?” They were sitting next to each other, Star had his hoof around Ink Sky.

“It looks more different than I would have imagined. I thought the megaspells didn’t damage the landscapes, but I guess I was wrong.” Star said, removing his hoof from around Ink Sky, making her whine for a second. “I really just can’t believe that ponies still live out in the ‘wasteland,’ as you called it. How did you know it was called the ‘wasteland’ anyway?”

“I mean that’s what it is. It’s destroyed and devoid of natural life.” Cloud said, putting away the projector and turning on the lights. “Now I think it’s time for you fillies to be getting home, and some of you are tired.” She gestured to Ink Sky, who was laying her head on his back, snoring softly.

“Alright,” Star Beam said, levitating Ink Sky next to him. “I’ll take her back to her family, permission to go in the dorms to return her?” He said, not sure if he needed it but better safe than sorry.

“Permission granted Star Beam.” She said, jotting a quick note on a piece of paper and handing it to him. “Now get on home, don’t want your mother to worry about you now? I’ll contact her to tell her you are coming back now.”

“Yes Overseer,” Star said trotting out the door, a sleeping Ink Sky levitating in a field of blue magic behind him.

As the door closed, the Overseer trotted back to her desk, stretching her wings all the while. She thought about what she had just seen, the wasteland had deteriorated since she had last viewed the cameras a few months ago. She had been not looking at the cameras ever since there was a problem with the reactor, the same accident that had killed Star Beam’s father and had wounded one of her best scientists. Even still the accident made her think about the future of the vault, if an accident like that happened one could happen again. She opened her terminal, going back to what she was doing before the fillies had walked in and asked about the outside.

Light Rose,

Please make sure the generator is running at eighty percent capacity as I am sure that that will keep the generator from overheating like last time. Have all the workers keep full watch on their machinery, I don’t want to have to explain to another family why their father/husband won’t be returning from work today. I’ve already had to do that enough, and yes, once is too many.

In other notes, stay in contact with the two other stables within a twenty-five mile radius. Make sure they are doing okay, I don’t want another ‘mistake’ like Stable 99 (Whatever they were looking for, they have it now and we don’t want to attract attention). Keep radio contact to a minimum and keep Watcher away from our stable, not saying he hasn’t been a bountiful harvest of information. We just need to be wary of those around us, especially because the Grand Pegasus Enclave doesn’t know that there is a non-Dashite down on the surface. I also don’t want them to just barge in and brand my ass just because I was down here before the Apocalypse.

With the Overmare,

Cloud Shine

Encrypting Message, please wait….

Message Sent.

Cloud Shine sighed and sat back in her chair. It wasn’t that she was stressed, just bored. Never in her entire life thought that she would be bored when she became the Overmare, it was just unthinkable. “Ugh this is getting irritating, I mean I am the Overmare. I can do whatever I want.” She said, leaning back in her chair. Cloud groaned and got up and began to pace the room, not for any particular reason just that she could. A quiet beep came from her computer, she trotted over to it.

Message Received…

De-encrypting Message….

Message De-encrypted. View? Y/N

Cloud Shine,

I received your message about the reactor, other stables and Watcher. I will make sure these items get done as soon as possible.

The generator is now running at eighty percent capacity and the lights have been dimmed by a small amount. It will run more efficiently from now on until it is shut off when we leave the stable which, I am assuming, will not be any time soon.

Light Rose

“Well that was fast, I didn’t even notice the lights dim.” Cloud Shine said out loud, looking at the light fixtures that were prominent in her office. A sharp noise sounded through the speakers, letting the Stable know that dinner was about to be served. Cloud walked out the door and locked it. Making sure that nobody was around, she left to go eat dinner. Possibly socialize a bit with some of the other ponies.

Later…

Star Beam awoke with a start, looking around his room. He remembered now, after he had taken Ink Sky back to her dorm, he had fallen asleep on the couch watching some of the provided entertainment. Well not exactly entertainment, more for background noise. It made him feel less lonely after his father had died. He felt a tear or two slide down his face, still remembering that day. The scientists had knocked on the door and he had opened it, he was able to understand what they were saying. He had cried for his mother, then ran to his room. Sleep did not come easily the next few weeks, as memories resurfaced of him and his father going on adventures through the stable, seeing where his father worked, and him shooting the BB gun at the occasional radroach. Staring at the ceiling he cried once more. Groaning, Star got up off the couch and walked into the bathroom and turned on the water. Splashing some onto his face with his hooves, he let it roll through his two toned turquoise and crimson mane and along his ‘green as grass’ coat as some other ponies called it. Although it looked more yellowish than grass green. Pulling a towel off of a rack he wiped it down his mane and back, getting most of the superficial water off and, once he had done that, put it back. A loud sound echoed through the PA system, startling him. Dinner was about to be served, but for some reason, he wasn’t that hungry. “Well I might just go down to see if Ink Sky is there. I’ll talk to her for a bit then come back here and go to sleep.”

Star Beam’s mother took that chance to walk into the living room and look around. She stared at him quizzically before walking to the bathroom. He heard sounds of vomiting and concluded that his mother was drunk. “Star Beam!” She yelled from the bathroom, “Get my my bottle of Stiff Apple. I need a drink.”

Star hesitated. He didn’t want to encourage her habit but he also knew that she would hit him if he didn’t comply. “Alright Mom.” He said, clopping into the kitchen and opening a cabinet, grabbing a bottle. He poured some of it into a glass, then put some sleep medicine in with it. Star hoped his mother wouldn’t be able to taste the difference. “Here.” He said levitating the glass over to her, which she promptly chugged down.

“Go to dinner Star. I’ll be there soon. Jus’ gotta get up and do som’ stuff.”  speech was very slurred, a sure indication of intoxication. She staggered around the room eventually heading towards the bedroom, probably going to sleep it off. Or it was the effects of the medicine he had slipped into her drink.

Sighing, Star walked out of the dorm and down the halls towards the cafeteria, which was almost on the other side of the stable. He contemplated teleporting but he knew his skills weren’t that good.

“Oh hey Star.” A voice down a hall said, startling him slightly. “Sorry about that. I didn’t mean to startle you.” It was Ink Sky, just the pony he wanted to see.

“Nah it’s fine. I was just lost in thought.” Gesturing to the hall he asked, “Want to walk down to the Cafeteria with me? I was just going to go get some dinner.”

Ink blushed lightly, adding a nice touch of color to her light violet coat. “Sure. As long it’s no trouble.”

Star snorted, “Oh come now, you know I like spending time with you. Besides I think it will keep Dark Iron from getting in your way.”

Ink Sky nodded amicably and they began to walk down the halls towards the Cafeteria in silence. Which wasn’t exactly common for fillies, normally they wouldn’t stop talking, making plenty of noise as they trod down the hallways of the stable their parents in tow. “So how’s your mom doing?” Ink asked, turning her head towards Star, exposing her hazel colored eyes.

“Oh she’s doing fine.” It was a lie and Ink knew it. Almost everypony knew about his mother’s alcohol addiction, even if they tried to ignore it. “She was pretty drunk when she walked in after her shift today. Though I think the Overmare might ‘temporarily’ reassign her so she can be slowly weaned off her drinking.” Star sighed again, she had been an alcoholic before his father had died, but it got much worse after he died. Sometimes she would come home, vomit in the bathroom, chug a glass or two of the rationed alcohol and head straight for bed. Sometimes not even noticing Star Beam, as if he didn’t exist, as if his existence had died with his father. It was saddening for the stable to see such an act going on, literally, right outside their own doors. But they couldn’t do anything until she consented and wanted to be helped, which they knew she wouldn’t do. Eventually her liver would give out, then her kidneys, or she would die from alcohol poisoning. Leaving Star an orphan.

“Star watch out for the pole.” Ink said to him, right as he jumped to the side, avoiding the pole he was going to run right into. She chuckled, amused at Star’s antics. He could get a little lost in his thoughts sometimes. She actually thought it was kind of cute, although all this thinking could get him in a bit of trouble some day though. “You okay?”

Star snorted and walked back around the pole and back to her side. “Yeah I’m fine. I was just thinking about something. It made me not notice what is going on around me. I normally do that when I have something on my mind. It doesn’t really happen often.” Star said, nuzzling her neck. “Alright, let's go. I’m actually pretty hungry, and dinner ends in half an hour.” He said, looking at one of the clocks that adorned the soft grey colored walls of the stable.

Arriving at the cafeteria, they surveyed the room for a table where they could sit down. They saw one near the Overmare and decided that would be a good fit because they weren’t exactly the ‘popular’ group, and they wanted to stay away from Dark Iron and his crew of goons. They walked through the line, getting their food. A dish of imitation meat and apples, grown from the orchard. After receiving their food, they sat down at the table that they had agreed upon earlier, their trays clacking against the table.

“Well hello Star Beam, Ink Sky. How are you today?” The Overmare said, turning towards them. “How did you like your lesson today? I trust that you will find it satisfactory and very informative.” She turned back to her food, leaving the other ponies at her table with mouths agape in disbelief.

Whispers of “What did they do?” and “I wonder why they got sent to the Overmare” were common around the table. Although the Cloud Shine ignored the questions, she did respond, “They came to me to learn about a topic that I don’t readily share with many ponies in the vault unless they have had previous knowledge of it. Such knowledge should be kept away from the public unless a large portion of the stable had learned of said topic.” Cloud Shine just had a smug look on her muzzle.

We continued eating the food on our plates, not talking, just enjoying each other’s company. It was a common thing to share gossip about what was going on in the stable and, all according to plan, we seemed to be at the top of the list. After a while we finished our food, dropping our platters off at the cleaning station where the ponies in food service were cleaning up.

The halls were crowded with ponies. Not like the small groups you see walking through the halls, this was a gargantuan mass exodus out of the dining hall. No chaos, just a lot of ponies trying to go places in the stable. Either doing routine checks before switching shifts, like the maintenance ponies did, or just having a friendly chat with a friend or group around you. Star Beam and Ink Sky were foals if they thought they could get out without being mobbed by their classmates, trying to figure out what got them sent to the Overmare. Mainly because this was not a common occurrence. Only if you broke some heavy set rules or were being disobedient, were you sent to see the Overmare. Many ponies go to see the Overmare for advice, or sometimes help with a personal problem.

“What did you do?” Many of the voices asked, pummeling them with an insatiable mountain of questions that washed over them. The huge crowd of fillies and colts followed them until they dashed down a maintenance hallway, leaving the group behind.

“I really didn’t think gossip traveled that quickly.” Star Beam said, leaning against a railway. “After all I should have thought of going to see the Overmare without other ponies seeing us.”

“I would have to agree.” Ink said, leaning against Star’s side. “It felt like I was going to have a heart attack, all those ponies surrounding us. It felt so weird, I got lightheaded and was only barely able to follow you.” She sighed and closed her eyes, still leaning on Star’s shoulder.

“I just want to do something good with my life.” Star Beam said, startling Ink Sky making her sit up.

“What do you mean Star?” She said, putting a hoof on his chest. “You have made something with your life, at least so far. And you have so much of your life to go.”

He gave a sort of forlorn look in his eyes, “I know, I just want to see what’s outside for myself. Maybe there will be a time in the future we will be able to do just that.”