Fallout: Equestria - Forevermore

Deep underground, away from the troubles above, a conference was being held. Several unicorns bearing white jumpsuits joined in on the meeting, each with their own personal colors aligning their roles.  The unicorns took to their assigned spots and waited for their leading director to start with the usual. But, today was a different day, and instead of being rewarded with the common affair, the staff were surprised to see the look of anxiety wash over his face. Some of the unicorns were concerned with the unusual aura that bore off of their leader, and when asked what was wrong, the stallion simply levitated a picture to the table. The picture revealed a mare with a grayish coat and a brown mane.

"This is the problem." stated the stallion.

The staff took a moment to look at the mare in the picture, some took longer than others. All but one looked with confusion at the picture, wondering how such a child would be a problem. Yet, the one however just looked at the picture with infatuation as he admired how gorgeous the mare was. Noticing this, the unicorn director ripped away the photo from the table and gave a stern look toward the unicorn.  The pony immediately straightened up, and blushed a bit when realizing his mistake.  When the directing stallion set the photo back down on the table, one of the members of the staff cleared his throat, then began questioning the photo.

"Um, Father, what does a young mare like her do to make herself a problem to be considered here?" asked the stallion.

Father hesitated for moment before answering.

"This pony did some remarkable actions in her short lifetime in the wastes above. Clear out the ruins of Ponyville of all raiders, Kill almost all Arbu civilians with ease," Father paused for a moment before finishing his list. "And unfortunately, she killed the Goddess."

The room erupted with outbursts of shock and protest. This continued for a bit before Father raised his hoof in the air, which provoked everypony to be silent.

"Yes, I know this news wouldn't come easy to all of you, but-"

"Of course it wouldn't come 'easy' towards us! We needed the Goddess to proceed to the next phase!" shouted out a mare who had a blue stripe across her chest.

"Yes indeed, Lapis," responded Father without any sign of anger towards the mare. "The Goddess would have been a major asset for our-"

"The Goddess was our one way ticket into reforming the world, Father!" yelled out another pony. This one had a black stripe instead.

Despite being interrupted once more, Father remained unfazed by his loyal staff's objections towards such an event.

"I know that, Bulwark, but-"

Father was cut off once more by a yellow striped unicorn mare.

"Without the Goddess, how are we going to advance to the next step?" piped in the mare.

Father's tolerance reached it's limit as he jumped up onto his hind legs and slammed his fore hooves onto the table, causing everyone to retract a little. When he received no further complaints, Father eased back down into his previous sitting position. He cleared his throat as he continued to finish what he had to say.

"Now, I know you are all upset over this major blow to our operations, but we must keep our heads at ease. Do I make myself clear?"

After he received nods in agreement, Father continued.

"There is still ways to take the next step. They will just be harder to take action upon of course. But, before we go towards brainstorming different ways we can approach our goal, I propose that we stick to the main plan."

He was rewarded with blank, puzzled stares after finishing his statement. Lapis was the first one to speak up about it.

"Sir. Did you not just say that the Goddess was eliminated? How can we proceed with the plan if it's already dead?" wondered Lapis. The others were curious as well, as they leaned in a little bit to hear whatever absurd answer their director was about to announce.

"It is true that the Goddess was wiped out, but I have a feeling her remnants are still there," Father answered with a hopeful tone. "If this is true, we could use her matter to work out the plan. Regardless if it's alive or not, its parts should have the samples we need to determine on how it controlled the mutated alicorns. When we learn its way, we could use that for the device."

The staff became once again confused with this idea, but soon became intrigued and interested with it.

"I believe that actually can work!" acknowledged the embarrassed pony from before. His jumpsuit had a green stripe.

"It can, and I'm afraid it must, Fletcher, for if it doesn't, I am afraid we would be stuck at square one for a while."

Father paused a moment to levitate some folders from a nearby desk towards the table. Upon opening them he skimmed through the files before making a statement.

"Since this mare blew up Maripony with a balefire bomb, the facility is covered with radiation. So it is required to wear hazmat suits when there. I'll debrief you all in a later time. For now..."  Father glanced at the photo with a look of disgust. "This one needs to be out of the picture."

"But, why should she need to be killed? Despite destroying probably our only key to ignite the next phase." spoke up Bulwark.

"Cause she has the ability to shut down all we've created. She has already destroyed one of our science experiments gone wrong, what makes you think she won't do it again?" Father didn't wait for an answer. He continued on with his reasoning. "Besides that, she has a well known reputation above. Some are admired of her actions, some want her to be wiped out as well. She's even called the 'lightbringer' by some. With that kind of hope, it will lead into following their idol, which will then lead to a united formidable force to be reckoned with. A unity like that would be chaotic for us. Get it?"

Father was rewarded with the staff nodding once more in agreement.

"Alright then. Fletcher, I need you to take a team of synthetics with you to extract whatever you and Lapis need from the Goddess to get the device to work properly. Don't forget to put on a hazmat suit before you leave here. Bulwark, I need you to stay here for a moment. As for the rest of you, get back to your duties. Dismissed."

Everyone but Bulwark left the conference room.  Silence carried throughout the room, making Bulwark shift a bit in nervousness.

"Bulwark, I need you to put 54 out there."

Bulwark gasped at the request. Then suddenly turned back to an all too familiar puzzled pose.

"But Father, we don't know if 54 can handle the new installation. After all, he is the first and only generation 4 prototype we have at the moment. Putting him out in the field only to face such a dangerous enemy would be both disastrous and wasteful. 36 is available, why not use-"

"Because Bulwark, this would be the perfect moment to test 54's capabilities out there. Capabilities that far exceed any gen 3 coursers we currently have. Besides I honestly believe this mare's skill can outright leave any gen 3 courser to be like scrap metal. Which is why I need you to activate him."

Bulwark hesitated, then sighed for he knew Father was right.

"Fine, I'll activate 54. But, I need to know who this mare is so I can input the name of 54's target."

"This mare," Father showed Bulwark the picture once again. "Is named...."

***

Bulwark walked in the chamber room containing the Institute coursers. Row by row Bulwark passed each pod until he was in the fifties section. He went down the aisle a little ways before coming to a pod that read "54" on the top. There was a terminal next to the pod, which Bulwark approached. He turned on the terminal and logged onto the control mainframe. After some time, Bulwark opened up the initial directive program for the courser. On the screen there were two words, Command and Activate. Bulwark opened up the Command feature, which only showed a text box.

Bulwark was hesitant in typing out his ordered words in the box. He knew 54 would be out there in that damn chaotic place some time, but not when it's the only model for their next generation of synthetic ponies. Generation 4 was the improvement, the future. They are designed to learn by themselves without much direction from software. They are capable to perform regular pony actions, such as eating and sleeping. They are also programmed to experience personal emotion instead of preset ones. Something like the rogue generation 3's, Bulwark thought. Just better.

If 54 is destroyed out there, it would end any way to breathe life into the generation 4 synthetics. Pony kind's last hope of rejuvenating it's species for a better world. So in order to prevent such a chance that 54 would be flattened out there, Bulwark typed in Find Littlepip instead of killing her. Cause if what Father said was true, he thought it would be a good idea to just locate her instead of going guns blazing at the walking death. He hit enter and pressed the activate button. He didn't enjoy disobeying his orders, but he did it to preserve the Institute's most advanced technology. Personally, Bulwark felt it was the right thing to do for the Institute.

The hatch opened up from the pod, revealing a conscious synthetic underneath. It's emerald eyes darted around in puzzlement, until it rested directly onto Bulwark. Bulwark gave a smile towards his greatest creation, then greeted it with the formal Institute greeting.

"Welcome, Xenon, to the Institute!"