Fallout Equestria: Houses of the Holy

more extensive rough draft

Fallout Equestria: Houses of the Holy

Chapter One: Aftermath

“I shall pass this way but once; any good, therefore, that I can do or any kindness that I can show to Anypony, let me do it now. Let me not defer nor neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again.”

[make less choppy]

That is my philosophy, the directive of my life. In the abbey we devote ourselves to learning the best way to save and help others. From early on in my life I’ve desired little more than to help the forsaken ponies of the tortured wasteland. But I am too young, only a novice in our order, not ready, not prepared for the tasks I would be given. Taken in light of recent tragedy, today is the day I begin my own journey in the service of others.

“Hey Sunset!” A voice from outside Grease the Mechanic’s shop called out to me.

“You coming or what? It’s time to go!”

While lining up the fatigued rifle barrel with the reboring screw, I made my reply. “One minute Radiance.” Distracted, I accidently let the barrel drop out of alignment. The sudden change in torque nearly sent the barrel flying out of control. “Just give me a minute. Grease wants me to finish repairing these broken hunting rifles before I leave.”

The coppery dust red earthpony stallion who fondly considered himself my uncle, was out making maintenance rounds across the island. Grease, with a cutiemark of what else but a grease-can, left before the break of dawn, but he made sure to pull me out of bed as he left, so I had enough time to finish my chores before leaving on the stormchaser.

It took two days of persistent convincing before the Abbess would allow me to join the party heading to the irradiated mainland. There was no way I, or Grease would even let me, was going to be missing the trip. Most definitely not because I couldn’t finish a days worth of chores before the tide broke.

Only one last barrel to repair, then I could leave.

My friend’s voice became drowned out by the whir of the grindstone as I retooled the barrel. In a few moments the rebored rifle was back together and ready for use, not that I condone killing in any form, but even our island has dangers we must protect ourselves from. I would have to test fire it to realign the sights later, but we were already running late.

“On my way!” I called as I tossed my supply-laden saddlebags across my flank, covering my cutiemark of bandaged-wings superimposed into a sunset. Whatever magic decides the substance of cutiemarks has a darker, cruel streak. I am a Pegasus with flight magic that is distorted and broken, ironically I got my cutiemark after coming out of a coma induced by a terrible flying accident. Radiance found me and brought me back to the monastery. Both my wings were broken horribly in the crash.

The only reason I am still alive is because Grease the Mechanic, Radiance’s uncle, had been working on a autodoc in his shop at the time. But enough reminiscing, I have a race to win.

I turned from the high walls and trotted down the road, meeting my friend Radiance. During my entire life, Radiance is, hooves down, by far the most magnificent pony I had ever met. From her exquisitely trimmed and curled bright golden and maroon mane and tail to the soft white gold of her coat, Radiance was magnificence incarnate. A mischievous half smile crept into her normally reserved demeanor.

With a glance and a nod, we began our informal race to the docks. Shops, shed and homes flew past; we turned down manestreet and into the abbey through the wide open double doors of the gate. Turning again we sprinted neck and neck past the greenhouse, pond and cloister within the abbey walls, heading for the rear postern gate. Scaring the waterfowl, I took the corner of the pond breathlessly, splashing through shallows and nearly face-planting in the soft, slippery mud.

With Radiance a good two body lengths ahead of me I decided to take a shortcut through the whitewashed chapel.  I dashed swiftly into the medieval styled building, flashing past the black and white form of Father Fiery Chaplin. Angrily, he shouting at me for tracking mud through the vestibule. Angry and scowling, just like his scowling podium-with-eyes cutiemark.

“Crazy filly! What do you think you’re doing trac-”

Bursting out through the far side of the vestibule l at the same moment that Radiance came around the outside of the chapel we closed in on the postern gate. I had a slight lead, my wings aiding in agility as we dodged around the foals playing in the back courtyard. I dove for the postern gate, flightless wings outspread in a hard glide, attempting to reach the gate before Radiance could pass through it, only to slam face first into the heavy wooden, and very much closed gate. I forgot, (not really) Radiance was a unicorn...

“No fair!” I shouted at Radiance as shot past me reopening the door with her magic. “You used your magic, cheeeeatteeer!!!!”

“You have wings.” Her snarky reply.

“You know they don’t work!” I shouted back breathlessly, catching up again, my wings aiding me in navigating the narrow forest trail that we used as a shortcut to get down to the dock.

“Still have them.” She called back tauntingly, now panting in her effort to stay in the lead.

Sprinting at breakneck speed, we  reached the woodland trail near the shore and passed our local mechanical guardian, Mr.-The-Protectapony, which wasn't moving.  The accursed machine was broken down again.

Luna why!

I’d fixed the accursed contraption not more than a week ago. Even replacing the practically porous inner tubes with sand and towels so the wheels wouldn’t go flat constantly.

… Something else I’d have to fix with Grease when we got back.

The two of us arrived at the bustling chaos of the dock. Abbey ponies tarried about carrying crates of supplies, food and water. We raced across the dock alongside the mighty brig Stormchaser. Ok, maybe not mighty. Nevertheless, she floated and had sails. After dashing up the gangplank my unicorn friend and I dropped into the cabin, breathless and giggling. Despite her complaints I clearly won- the giggling stopped.

A scowl from the swarthy pastel blue pegasus cut our merriment short. “You’re late!” Sighing, the captain continued, “Oh well, no use crying over spilt apple cider. Now, Radiance, since you are piloting this trip, I want you to go over the route one more time.” The captain stated dispassionately.

“There is no pony better suited to sail the stormy seas than one born in the wind,” so The Captain (I’ve never heard him called by any other title) would say. Then he would brag about how he lost his “starboard” wing (or right for you no seafaring ponies) fighting for the Enclave. That had been so long ago that is was before I was born. Not an impossible feat, seeing as I only earned my cutiemark a mere six years ago.

“Alright. We are here, Shawl Island. In Blind Bay.” Radiance paused for a moment. She tapped a hoof on the roughly drawn map on the captain’s table.

“First,  we head out and round daggerhead point and head for the Salish Sea. After rounding shoal point and passing Chauncey Island  before passing through the Strait of Daring Doo Fuchsia. Before we round Owlowiscious Point and pass the marine research center there. Then we land at the Anacortes Ferry Terminal.”

She paused for a moment considering the map carefully, checking several coordinates, and made a quick calculation.

“That should put us about 2-6 miles from where the megaspell went off two nights ago.”

I licked my lips nervously, ever since we had seen the bright flash and roiling cloud of radiation it left behind; we’ve been preparing for this trip. Most of the meagre medical supplies we had with us were leftover from  pre-war emergency cabinets from the abbey. However, we did have plenty of home brewed RadAway, sadly almost everything else was very scarce.

The dock and the entire ship became an even more intense hive of activity, sailors shouting, families saying their farewells, heavy rigging chafing and thick canvas snapping, this was a veritable symphony of chaos. However, only a mere minute after the last line was cast off and we began to head out into the strait, nary (as the sailors say) a sound could be heard as we slid into the thick, foggy ocean mist.

Soon we were surrounded by a frigid white blanket, so thick that I had to be careful how I stepped lest I tripped, hooves caught on a stray wisp of swirling water vapor. Phantoms loomed dark and eerie in the impenetrable blanket of thick, empty nothingness that filled every crack and crevice in the watery world surrounding me.

My heart began to race, unconscious fears screaming in the repressed, but not forgotten recesses of my fertile mind. Part of me that I couldn’t control believes that these doppelgangers in the mist could only be out to devour my soul. Even with every ounce of courage my rational mind could conjure up, all I could see were demonic beasts lurking, waiting for me to come within striking distance. The shadows wanted to destroy me, I had to hide. Terror took hold, panic blasting adrenaline into my system with every thudding heatbeat. I could literally feel the fear creep into my chest with every breath and heartbeat.

Moments before the upwelling of subconscious phobias morphed into a shattering scream of terror the magnificent glow of Radiances’ magical horn solidified into a haven of rationality and refuge from the demonic, isolating shadows within and without my mind.

The moment I was by Radiance side my world shifted out of the surreal and back into the rational and concrete. Once my pulse and breathing were back under conscious control I spoke up, hopefully I could talk the remaining vestiges of fear out of my thunderously beating heart...

“Ready? Because I am... Just so nervous, but also excited, it’s an adventure! We’re going across the bay into the wasteland! Even better than that, we have an opportunity to help ponies!”

“You betcha, I’m ready.” Radiance replied. “But remember to be careful, as I won’t be able to look out for you the entire time. There are lots of dangers in the Wasteland; radiation not being the only thing that can really mess you up or kill you.”

“I’ll be fine. A big, strong pony like me? Monsters have no chance.” I replied dismissively.

“You are a lot of things Sunny, but big and strong are traits I would not use to describe you. Try pipsqueak and annoying.” Radiance laughingly teased at me.

“Hey, don’t call me Sunny!” I complained before fondly nuzzling my surrogate big sister.

/)(\

[this is top of the list for rewriting. Please, your thoughts on what should be done.]

As we prepared to come alongside the dock, I pulled the suit’s cowl over my head. It wasn't a full blown Haz-Mat helmet, but I did have automatic air filtration and goggles. Under the expert control of our stearpony, we slid effortlessly up against the ancient rotting and rusting ferry pier. We were here, at a pier from before the war, built to dock ferries the size of small ocean liners designed to carry hundreds of carts during each trip.

Before I could disembark, our brothers on the dock had to tie the ship off and lash down the wobbling gangway. During the wait, I took a good look around the pier. The pier, now turned into a improvised emergency aid station through the diligent persistence of our religous order, had once been used as a ferry loading station for passengers and their carts. At the end of the pier sat the once lumbering carcass of the long abandoned mega-ferry that had once traversed these waterways. The starboard side of the ship was lashed to the pier. The position we were docked in dropped our stern even with the gaping mouth of the behemoth derelict ferry.  In front of the boat, the durably constructed pier reached out on hefty metal pilings nearly fifty yards for the shore.

Now that we were closer to the shore the fog was not as thick and was slowly dissipating into nothing, only flowing around the pilings, wafted gently by the rhythmic motion of the waves. My view of the shore was only obstructed by a large three-story building built onto the far side of the pier. A walkway reaching out from the top level of the building swayed slowly over our heads, the past two centuries weakening its structure to the point that it was only held up by the upper levels of the rusting ferry hulk. Originally, the walkway was probably flush with loading terminal built into the superstructure of the ferry. But now the ancient walkway had fallen away, and rested on the forward promenade deck, one level below.

I looked around the pier, noticing that we were only using half the ferry terminal complex. On the far side of the Terminal Building, a second ferry dock stretched out from the shore, nearly completely destroyed, collapsing from age and neglect. The terminal building had once connected the two piers, but when the far branch colapsed, it took half the building with it, leaving only the section of the terminal supported by our pier standing.

Near the mouth of the derelict ferry to our left, awnings setup to shelter marketday produce from the elements had been commandeered and converted into a makeshift, L-shaped medical pavilion. The open air space between the Terminal Building and the derelict ferry had been acting as a improvised foyer for the overcrowded medical pavilion.

Sick, disheveled and dying refugees were clumped in groups all across the pier, finding shelter where they could from the soft just mist beginning to fall from the ever-present cloud layer above.

[Expand and describe, describe several individuals and build a strong feeling for how bad it really is.]

My eyes met with one of the refugees on the pier, the despair in her eyes nearly broke my now racing heart. Lying next to here on an improvised bedroll made from pineneedles and old rags lay a colt, most likely her son, dying. The improvised bedding half soaked with a sickly green and orange mixture of nearly gelatinous bodily fluids. His emerald coat lay in tufts on the bedding and firm concrete around him and his mother. I could see beneath the cracked skin of his hide, blood vessels and even muscle tissue visible beneath the translucent paper his body painfully degenerated down to.

There were many others, a few even worse. As my ears perked up all on their own in response to the sounds of the pier, I was met with the oppressive audible cacophony of coughing invalids and weeping mothers.Under the helmet of my radiation suit the muffled shriek of the dying as they screamed in agony took on a strangely peaceful reverberation.  From the gasps of shock and even revulsion, I knew that we had been prepared to aid ponies tarnished by radiation, but none of us were prepared for this level of devastation. Fiery tears of rage and pain crept into my silver eyes, this... I couldn’t imagine it. I couldn’t believe anything could be this... horrible.

The words were stuck in my throat and I felt lost; loss of my thoughts, loss of my innocence and for only an instant, I even lost faith.

[interconnect these two segments so there is no transition, just a smooth flow.]

As soon as I disembarked I went straight to the forlorn mother I had locked eyes with as we arrived. I was assigned to transport and distribute supplies to the aid workers, who had been stationed on the peer since the bomb went off, but I just knew that I had to help this colt and his mother before they died of radiation poisoning. Some of the original aid workers were almost in as bad a condition as the patients they cared for.

I pushed every thought but the desire to do my best for these ponies to the furthest most recesses of my mind, focusing only on the task at hoof. My best wasn’t good enough. I couldn’t keep the last vestiges of revulsion and horror out of my voice as I did my best to administer healing salves directly to the bubbling, oozing pores breaking open through the dying colt skin.

[this segment needs to be heavily rewritten as well.]

With my voice still shuddering uncontrollably, I did my best to be soothing. “I’m h-here to help.” My first patient shied away as I reached out with a hoof coated in white cream to his crumbling cutiemark.

“I’m here to h-help. I’m here to help... I-”

I consciously stopped myself, the phrase becoming almost like a mantra. For a minute, as my hoof finally touched his pus-filled bubbling skin, I was sure I was going to puke. Judging from the sounds around me, I wasn’t the only one. Even through the thick latex of my radiation suit the gooey flesh felt sickly and alien, the layer between us only making it feel more horrid. He screamed in agonizing pain as I began smearing the salve. To my utter shock and disgust, chunks of flesh ripped from his flank as even my gentle touch was enough to shred his putrid flesh.

Not many of the ponies on the pier were as horribly disfigured by the radiation as the colt crumpled up helplessly in my trembling hooves. But the utter devastation from the bomb had touched everypony here. Plenty of ponies were dying, including the colt I held in a pathetic attempt at comfort.

[This is where I began writing the next section, pre-readers please review starting here. All the material after this still needs to be reviewed and rewritten to include active tense and more characters/detail.]

I watched in helpless horror as the colt I tried to save began to pass into the hereafter. Together with his mother I held the dying colt as the last shuddering breath of life left his body in a shuddering sigh. I failed. I couldn’t turn and face the tear streaked face of the stricken mother, I knew if I saw the mask of despair etched there I could not go on. Automatically I stood up and walked away. There was nothing I could do, for that colt, his mother, or any of the ponies suffering on the pier. As I left, the final spark of emotion died within me. I was within an inch of joining the ocean of despair to all sides of me, I couldn’t stay here a second longer.

Our crew, having arrived on the pier only minutes before, spread out to relieve the monastery aid workers that had been stationed on the pier since before the bomb went off. Unable to bear crossing the pier again and passing all those devastated by the megaspell blast, I set out to find Radiance.

I joined Radiance who, with several others from both the ship and the pier, were preparing to venture out into the blast zone in search of survivors. It didn’t take me long to hand out the gear and supplies, except for a few packets of Radaway, that had been in my saddlebags. Instead of returning for more supplies I nudged Radiance with my moistened muzzle.

“Radiance?” I begged. “I can’t bear to stay here. I know I was supposed to carry supplies from the ship ashore, but I cannot cross that pier again. It would break my heart. Please, can I just tag along with the rest of you? I promise I won’t get in the way. Beside, you know I have the sharpest ears in the abbey, I might be able to help you locate survivors.”

Radiance listened patiently, and took her time before making reply.

“I’m not in charge here...” I turned away in broken defeat. “But.” My ears perked up and the forces rending my heart paused for a moment. “I know several ponies in our group who are pretty sick from the radiation. Wait here and I will ask if you can trade duties with one of the sicker ponies.”

/)(\

As soon they were properly equipped, the search party left for the blast zone, with me in tow.

At the shoreward end of the pier stood the cupcake cafe, heavily fortified with a makeshift barrier made from broken down prewar carts, slabs of concrete and rusted sheet metal. Cut into the barricade wall was a rough hewn wooden gate guarded by several ponies armed with hunting rifles and wearing metal armor. The guards looked like they hadn’t gotten a moment of rest in two days, which wasn’t hard to believe with the steady stream of refugees stumbling onto the pier.

Providing protection, I understood, was important, but I wasn’t prepared for what lay just outside the gate. A small army of ponies lay in pools of blood, shot dead as they approached within gunshot. In my mind I knew they were bad ponies who were planning to steal all the medicine for themselves, but my heart couldn’t accept that ponies who came to help those devastated by the bomb had shot and killed ponies solely because of how they looked and because of the gore splattered makeshift armor they wore.

I gingerly stepped over the corpses and dried pools of blood in the hoofsteps of the ponies ahead of my as we forged into the wasteland, intent of breaching the yellow haze of the blast zone. After four miles of threading through the branchless spires of long dead pine trees, we stepped into the thin mist of the radioactive cloud. Thanks to the gear aboard our vessel the entire search party was decked out in radiation suits and had a good supply of radaway stashed away in their saddlebags. With a tap of my hoof I activated the respirator function of my suit's face cowl and continued onward into the blast zone.

Inside the blast zone there were no tall spires obscuring our view. Only radioactive dust and dark smoke. The once proud trees were nothing but smoking charred hulks, and the only sound we heard was the steady, frantic clicking of the rad-counter Radiance carried.

FIXXXXXXXXXXX

2nd FIXXXXXXXX

[This needs a new sequence, have them explore the empty wastes, inspecting buildings before the attack sequence]

[Is the blast zone in a city, woodlands, a small town surounded by farmhouse’s? playthough the FNV territories, choose either NCR or Legion or make something up. Advice welcome!]

[Do this: It might be a better sequence if Sunset goes off on her own after hearing the sounds from the shelter. Radiance could be with others exploring another basement and asked sunset to stay back because she is afraid of the dark. ]

As Radiance and i entered the building, did she decided to climb up to the roofless second story of the building and took a look around. The ground smog from the blast still hung pretty low in the air, and from the raised position Radiance would have a better chance of seeing into the distance. Therefore, she also a better chance of finding locations we could search for survivors.

She went up, and I followed in her hoofprints, knowing that maybe sometime in the future I would have the confidence to set out on my own, but I knew as I was with Radiance in the ruins, nothing could go wrong as long she was there with me.

From atop the roofless second story structure, we could see out a fair distance over the sea of deadly orange-gold smog roiling close to the ground.

[describe the area with focus on foreshadowing her trip through the cloud during the escape and also other things that will be important in later chapters while the explore the area a second time with the other ghouls, trying to figure out what happened and why the bomb went off.]

Of all the various structures that were noticeable landmarks, one that was both very close and very noticeable had a technicolor glow emanating from it's base not 200 yards from where we stood. Just outside the thinner smog outlining the town. I made a mental note of it, I had never heard or seen anything like that before. Rainbows are rare when there is never any true sunlight to make them in the ever present water vapor in the air.

After we took a good look around, Radiance and I devoted ourselves to properly exploring the rest of the building.

[describe their search of the building, its design and her finding items in dressers etc. normal canon fallout stuff. before finding the doorway to the basement. Begin basement sequence. She also finds a radio and that can be used to introduce world building related stuff]

“Radiance! Come here, I found a stairwell. There might be survivors in the basement!”

I called to Radiance while descending the stairway into the basement shelter. With hope in my heart, I tapped my hoof on the thick metal door at the bottom of the stairwell. To my excitement I heard several muffled metallic thuds issue from the other side. Survivors!

It took a minute of struggling with the grimy lock before it groaned into place and the lock opened. The inside of the room was dark, too dark for me to make out anything at all, but there would be enough light from Radiance’s light spell for the others in our rescue party once they got to us. My ears picked out the faint rise and fall of somepony breathing beyond where the blinding darkness consumed the room.

“Hey everypony!” Radiance called. “Come down here. We’ve found a basement and there are ponies in here!”

Radiance and I exchanged a knowing look. As the others arrived Radiance slyly assigned me guard duty outside, while giving a few others guard duty within the building. Without the glow from her horn, she knew I wouldn’t be able to stand the relative darkness of the first floor. The sun was getting low in the sky, and although it was still light outside, the inside was getting pretty dark.

This was going to take a while, the basement underneath the building was a labyrinth, and there were stricken ponies all throughout it, unable to get out when the power died and all the doors locked themselves from the outside. With nothing better to do, I became bored and decided to explore the area a bit before it got dark outside.

Little did I know that choosing to explore just a little further would have changed the course of my life forever. FOREVEEEEEERRRRR.

{Geographical note: Although I said we were in the blast zone, we hadn’t entered the thick of the cloud when we found the bombed out little town. The cloud had actually floated south since the bomb went off, leaving the majority of the actual blast zone relatively free of radioactive smog... (compared with the smog cloud actually produced by the dirty nuke) Thus we were in the blast zone but not within the thick of the cloud yet. This is one of the reasons we found several survivors who were relatively unaffected by radiation. The ponies on the pier had been breathing the dirty, radioactive tainted air of the yellow cloud, that is why some of them fared so much worse}

/)(\

After several minutes of deliberation, I decided to explore the strange technicolor glow I had seen while exploring the half destroyed second story building with Radiance earlier. It was the closest landmark of interest and I was really intrigued by the spectrum of colors emanating proudly from the base of the nearby building.

After only a minute or two of brisk trotting I arrived at my destination. What I found only begged more questions I couldn’t answer. The building itself was one of the still standing over-engineered wartime buildings I was learning were scattered across the face of the wasteland. The rainbow glow came from a gooey multi colored slime slowly pouring down in a shifting waterfall from one of the upper balconies.

After passing through the waterfall of rainbow slime I entered the building via the giant hole torn in the wall beneath the slimefall balcony. Once inside it didn’t take long before my sensitive ears picked up the scuffle of hooves on concrete. I followed the sounds until a shut door blocked my path. I could tell from the volume of the scuffling that the ponies I was searching for were just on the other side of the door. I called out to them, when I got no response except louder scuffling, I decided to force the lock, but it would not give in to my attempts to do so. Not being one to be easily stumped I made the decision to explore the rest of the building and find the basement key that I knew had to be lying somewhere around here.

[A bit of research-building history (to be revealed during exploration from notes, discovery and unlocked terminals) the building was built by solaris, and became part of BIC when it separated. She finds a pipBRNY/bronco 2000, a pipbuck knockoff by solaris, running solOS. which is why it interfaces with Sunsets operating system. BIC dropped the solOS early on and replaced it with a modified version of cerberOS or one of their own internal systems like the Autokernel OS. due to the need for intersystem compatability with legacy systems their cerberOS was modified with a virtual machine system for running sol basic compatability.]

The upper level appeared to be some kind of control room, whatever they were using it to control was beyond me. I hopped over, intent on raiding the lockers, and to my never-ending glee I found a pipbronco 2000 still in its original packaging. Like many systems developed by Solaris the pipbronco was a knockoff of Stable-Tec technology. In this case the pipbuck. Situated this close to emerald shores and the long 52, there was plenty of broken-down solaris tech lying around. finding something from solaris that might still work was really a stupendous discovery.

For a moment I was torn as to what to do, in the packaging it would have better collectors value, but what with the lack of solaris tech collectors coming to Grease’s shop making sure the thing worked would be the better long term choice. this PB 2000 was very heavy, not being much more than a portable terminal with a biomagical interface so users did not have to constantly press buttons to make imputs. I knew a little about pipbucks from playing around with the one Grease had in the shop. Grease only used it for resetting terminals and the like, the biomagical interface was broken, so systems like EFS did not work. But the screen was only half cracked so he could still use it to reset crashed spell matrices.

I decided to boot it up, so I removed the packaging and flipped the power switch. careful to attach the wireless hoofcollar interface to my foreleg before hitting the power. For a minute nothing happened. Then a loading bar appeared in the center of my vision. No matter where I looked the bar remained smack in the center of my field of vision.

//----------------------------- Initializing

//----------------------------- 17% complete

//----------------------------- FATAL ERROR

//----------------------------- System Reset

//----------------------------- New User Detected

Welcome new user.

Text scrolled across my field of vision, starting by explaining basic use of the system and asking questions about me.

Please state your name for unit recall and records.

“My name is Sunset Hymn.” More text then scrolled across my vision.

Thank you, Sunset Hymn Your new Pipbronco 2000 is a state of the art Pony Information Processor. The Pipbronco 2000 can even take voice commands and recognizes your voice. Because the Pipbronco 2000 runs the latest version of SolOS it cannot be voice hacked like earlier version of CerberOS and even the Stable-Tec Operating System.

I chuckled, “State-of-the-art my plot.” The Solaris Pipbronco 2000 was actually put out of production three years before the bombs fell because it was so outclassed by other PiPs. But it was still advanced prewar arcane tech as far as the wasteland was concerned.

//----------------------------- Interface Complete. Awaiting host system reboot.

Suddenly everything in my vision went dark. For a moment I couldn’t hear, see, feel or move. Nothing. Then just as suddenly everything came back to me in a chaotic moment of vertigo.

“That was weird.” I said outloud to nopony in particular. I continued to look around. I chuckled a bit when I found a button labeled, I kid you not. “unlock basement access.”

“Well that was easy.” I turned to make my way downstairs when I heard a dark growl from the floor below me. I turned and peered down through a hole in the floor to find a veritable army of small, horribly disfigured, pony shaped rotting corpses staring right back at me. Suddenly the creatures began to jump in the air, easily reaching the level of my floor. I felt sharp pain as one of the creatures sunk its razor blade teeth into my shoulder.

/)(\

[She is at the edge of the blast zone with the others, gets attacked and is forced into the blast zone with ghoul children on her hooves. She loses them in the the cloud while getting lost herself. She eventually makes it to the other side and finds the cave.]

The ghoul’s jump attack took me by surprise, the pain shockingly sharp and terrifying as blade-like, crooked teeth sunk deep into my right shoulder. Panic and instincts took over and I bucked wildly and lashed out with my earth-bound wings trying desperately to shake my vicious attacker. Finally, I managed to shake loose by rolling over the mid sized colt, crushing him beneath my bloody shoulder, I broke free. My attacker was far from dead but momentarily dazed, giving me a chance to roll away and back onto my stumbling hooves.

It was then that I noticed the pack of rotting children closing around me, growling and gnashing decaying pointed teeth. Without a moments pause instincts kicked in again and life animated my hooves, my wings adding agility I tore off through a closing gap in the crouched, stalking, murderous crowd. The foals jumped at me, catching my saddlebags with their sheer-teeth. I shook them off easily. Fear adding adrenaline and desperation to my rapidly hammering hooves. I escaped before taking many more injuries, but when the agony finally stopped my mad dash into the dying forest, I was good and lost. My limping shoulder screaming with every step and I was very much alone. I fell to my haunches and surveyed my newly acquired location.

This is where I continue writing from.

I was in a small clearing, a haphazard, thin trail of blood stretched out behind me from the wound in my shoulder. I took some time and bandaged the wound to the best of my ability, staunching the blood flow.

Because the wound was on my shoulder and not my flank it wasn't until now that I checked my flank and saddlebags. To my shock and surprise my saddlebags were as badly shredded as my shoulder. The supply of Radaway, that I hadn’t given to the exploration team when I gave out supplies, had been torn open and most of it had poured wastefully onto the thirsty, bomb-blasted ground as I ran. At least a few non-oversized worms would be safe from further contamination by the radiation of the bomb, but other than that, it was a total waste of precious orangy goodness.

[more radiation and some more exploring before she find the cave.]

(forest clearing, top of hill, thick tangle of thorns, old building, lakeside, old mansion, deserted highschool, edge of ghoul raider camp, abandoned airfield, bombed out military base, roadside motel, vacation resort, trailer park, small strip mall,

[need expand the atmosphere and everything that Sunset feels physically and emotionally while in the blast zone. Also, Radiation sickness]

Injured and alone, slowly becoming soaked in deadly rads I had no choice but to continue on desperately in hopes of finding shelter and protection from the growing storm and cloud of radiation.

/)(\

Within minutes, it began to rain with a cruel, mindless passion. By rain I mean a steady heavy burning acidic downpour that made my skin burn and tingle and itch painfully. I made a mad limping dash for the nearest shelter from the storm, the ominous looking mouth to a dark, shadowy deep cave. Once I was deep enough into the cave to be away from the steady pounding of water droplets against brush, trees and the ground my ears perked up carefully surveying the cave for any lifelike sounds. Not hearing anything except the faint staccato of raindrops and gurgling of water trundling across the cave floor, I decided to follow the narrow bubbling stream. Trotting along its course; deeper, following the steady downward slope of the tunnel.

When the darkness began to creep up around me I began to panic subconsciously, sweat dripped into my eyes and my heart began to beat thunderously. As much as I hate to admit it I have Sciaphobia, I’ve always been scared of the dark, and deathly afraid of shadows, including my own. I would like to say that I’m old enough to get over such things, but the truth is that as I limped deeper into the cave the irrational need to stop and escape pounded my consciousness with anxiety and fear. I stopped and lay down on a pile of shale and sticks that kept me out of the flowing water. Sobbing softly, I closed my eyes and tried to force away the terror eating away at the back of my mind.

/)(\

At first, I hardly noticed the soft squelch of light hoof steps at the lake of mud near the cave entrance. When my ears shot up recognizing the sound I jerked out of my glaze eyed stupor and energetically catapulted to attention. There was somepony at the mouth of the cave, probably coming my way. The night terror I’d felt earlier returned with a vengeance. Only the excruciating pain in my shoulder reminded me of the courage I needed to retreat to hiding within the shadows, crawling into bleak darkness and my own worst fears. I hoped that the bloodthirsty colt at the mouth of the cave wasn’t going to follow me into the gloom. Only other ponies’ hope springs eternal...

From within the near total darkness of the shadows I watched, heart pounding loudly, as an small, nearly amorphous silhouette passed me heading deeper into the cave. With my almost complete lack of night vision, it was hard to make out even the roughest of details from my location within the cave. Even if beyond the bounds of the cave it were moonlit instead of pouring rain and I was standing in the open air I would have trouble finding my way in the darkness. But here? Between the rain outside and the natural gloom within, I was just as blind as if I closed my eyes, which I did immediately. It was too dark to see and I was too horrified to move, so I did what I could and listened with wide-open ears for the sound of approaching hoofsteps warning me of his return.

None came.

However, after a minute or two I did hear several soft clanging thuds. More silence. Minutes pass before I hear the quiet sobbing wafting through the air and into my attentive ears. A filly’s tearful sobbing, that was strange. The sobbing continued on, into the territory of despairing tears as I gathered the courage to forge deeper into the dank gloom below. Cautiously I made my way into the blinding darkness. Despite the added stability and balance my flightless wings provided I still went stumbling and squelching in the rock studded cave mud.

I limped downward until the echoes of my hoofsteps told me that the tunnel had widened into some sort of cavern. The same cavern where the sobbing had come from. The wailing sobs quickly silenced during my noisy approach, a terrified filly at the tunnel’s end doubtlessly choking them back in fear of the possibility of danger closing in. But I meant no harm to the tearful filly, I needed a way to prove to her I was a good pony here to help her. When nothing practical came to mind, I started to sing one of my favorite lullabies from Psalmday School. My voice was a little hoarse from lack of use, but swiftly returned to normal as my words picked up volume and tone.

So young and so naive

I wish I could give you the eyes to see

The world around us and what it holds for you

I know you're not fond of making friends

But I'll be yours until the end

And I can promise that what I say is true

I heard whimpers issue from behind what I. in the darkness, guessed had to be a rock. I continued with the next stanza in the lullaby.

Close your eyes to the darkened sky

We're here together you and I

I'll hold you when you're scared of the thunder

I'll always protect you, I'll never leave

I'll watch you grow into who you're meant to be

With you I'll watch the world in wonder

I heard hoofsteps indicating that she was coming out from behind her hiding place and nearing me. Then the filly began to sing the third stanza. I stopped in surprise, how would anypony not from the abbey know any of our Psalmday lullabies?

I see you changing every day

Sometimes I wish that I could stop and say

Don't grow up to fast, or you'll trip and fall

Even though things are going to change

In my heart they will stay the same

I will always be here, through it all

I could hear the tension and fear fade out of her voice as she sang. She had a pretty voice and if she hadn’t been so choke up with tears moments ago I could have said it was beautiful. As she finished the stanza, I picked up the lullaby again and we finished together.

Do you know how much you mean to me?

Do you know that I really care?

Do you know that I will always be there?

I hope you'll always remember Those short-lived times

When it was just you and I

I felt warm fur and mane brush up against my wounded foreleg, adding a thin twinge of sharp pain to the steady dull throb. I didn't mind. I was here with a filly that had accepted and probably needed my help more than anypony I had so far met on the peninsula; like a little pain would prevent me from comforting her. Shifting my weight onto my haunches, I pulled her into a close embrace while soothing her with a soft nuzzle. Sobbing into the bandages on my torn shoulder she broke down again. With no idea what to say I just held her close, rocking back and forth gently. I reminded myself to ask her how she knew the lullaby later when she felt better.

“M-y My-”

For some reason my throat hurt after the short pause between singing and speaking. After swallowing several times I continued.

“My name is Sunset, what’s your name little one? Is something wrong? Can I help you with something?”

There much better, no scratching or pain deep in my throat, consonants rolling smoothly off my tongue.

“I-I’m s-Splish-Splash.”

She didn’t seem have much of a lisp or stutter, but I felt her still shaking as I held her, sometimes life is too rough to keep composure and control in your voice. Especially when you’re alone and young.

“Nice to meet you Splish-Splash. Could you maybe tell me what you are crying about? Maybe I can help, and if I cannot, I know talking about it will make you feel better.”

We didn’t have much to read at the abbey but after reading our scattering old medical and psychology journals I had some knowledge of what to say and how to act in a situation like this one.

“T-this is my home... I can’t get in, and I’m scared and alone and I thought you were going to eat me and, and...”

After a few seconds of indecision, the entire situation flew unhindered from her mouth.

“Sshhhhh, I’m not going to eat you. I’m here to help ponies. Your home?” I asked quizzically.

“Yes, see that big metal wheel thing over there?”

My eyes shot open and my heart fluttered as she reminded me of the empty darkness all around us. It took all my composure to remain seated and not run for the cave entrance. I whimpered a little before stomping down my fear and driving away the urge to escape. Not being in anyway claustrophobic the openness of the large cavern actually made it harder to remain still. It was easier to face down the ominous shadows when I could reach out and feel everything around me with my wings and tail.

“I can’t see in the dark.” I admitted sheepishly.

“Here.” She took my hoof and levitated it with magic, nudging it closer until it thudded against a thick metal wall.

Although I couldn’t see her, in my mind’s eye I felt her smiling. Little successes like showing the blinded pony the wall can sometimes help more than all the psychology in equestria.

“Its... A heavy metal door?” I asked slightly confused.

“Exactly, a machine opens it, but now the machine won’t open it and i'm trapped outside and its cold and rainy and there are bad ponies that hurt me, like I thought you were, and I want back in but I can’t get back in.”

All that in one rushed breath.

“How did a big heavy metal door get all the way down at the end of this cave.”

I asked questioningly.

“You don’t know?” She tittered a little; my confusion must be funny somehow. “ HeHe. Its a stable door silly. Stables are like big underground houses that ponies have been living in since the beginning of time. All the surface ponies came from stables originally.”

Now, if I had to guess I would have to say that I knew that wasn’t all true. Heavy metal doors opened by machines were clearly prewar tech and I knew from the tapestries back at the abbey that ponies had been living in equestria for a very long time before the Great War. Beyond that, I knew the abbey had been populated continuously since before the megaspells hit. But I kept all that to myself.

“The door is broken? Maybe if I could see it I might fix it. You’re a unicorn right? Can you make a light spell?”

In a few moments I saw a ruddy purple glow from behind my clenched shut eyelids. I opened them immediately, relieved to be out of the total darkness. Her spell was by no means bright but it was enough so that the terror wasn't constantly battling my courage for supremacy. The tension spring loaded within every muscle of my body relaxed slightly and my heart rate slowed drastically. Heaving a great sigh of relief I looked around the still gloomy cavern.

The glistening lavender coat of the filly reflected the silvery blue glow from her horn directly into my blinking eyes. After so long in the dark, it took me a few moments to adjust to the dim lighting. What should have been bouncing curls of sea green and teal drooped dejectedly, her mane and tail soaked from the storm.

The chamber was about forty feet square, the metal wall-door in front of me was actually a cog shaped wheel with a large 73 painted onto its center. I noticed that the “boulder” she had been hiding behind was actually the rusting corpse of metallic armor. From the burn scars and melted slag, it was pretty clear to even my inexperienced eyes that this chamber had been the site of an epic battle between metal armored warriors and metal machines.

My gaze stopped roaming when I saw the amount of damage taken by the door controls and mechanism. There was absolutely no way to get in; the door was completely sealed shut.

“I don’t think this door is...” Faltering, I paused, trying to come up with the easiest way to break the finality to her.

“...Is ever going to open.” I finished dejectedly. “But, if you don’t have a home you could come live at the abbey with me.”

“You would let me come with you? Thank you!” The filly jumped onto me with a giant hug. Freshly renewed pain seared through the torn flesh of my wounded shoulder forcing me to gasp and whimper.

“What’s the matter?” The instantly concerned filly asked.

“Some kind of monsterpony attacked me and tore open my shoulder, it still hurts really bad. I couldn’t bandage it properly by myself.”

The little filly spoke up brightly. “Let me look, my healing spell might take the pain away.”

/)(\

After patching up my wounds with her healing magic, Splash and I set out for the rundown marina at daybreak.

Footnote: You do not buy property, you do not pass go, nor collect 200 bucks: Go directly to the abbey.

New Perk:? You don’t get one because that is the worst possible thing.