Fallout Equestria: Sundown

Chapter 5: Skittish Scavengers

These stairs go on FOREVER. Seriously, who designed a vault in the middle of a city where the stairs… go

up? Wait. If this whole thing is underground, I’m certain that the stairs should be going down, right?

Stable Tec is confus-CLANG!

Ooh, pretty stars.

“You okay there, Sundown? You just flew into a bulkhead.” Somepony with a fuzzy voice asked, before

I felt the world flying upwards and noticed that my vision was funny too. Then there was a brightly

glowing light and my vision flooded into clarity.

“Be more careful next time, okay?” Hat Trick patted my back, before moving with the other Initiates to

breech the door I had done my best to dent with my head while flying. I took up my planned role of

listening through the door to see if anything could be heard on the other side before I gave my signal.

Nodding for contact, shaking for clear.

Seeing my head shake, they relaxed and pushed the button that opens these thick doors before

sweeping in. I peeked my head around to see what was going on in the room before joining them.

It seemed to be some kind of science lab. There were half filled beakers and stains all over the steel

tables and floors, a discarded mop and bucket over in the corner and a lab coat or two smeared with

crimson on another table with a blood trail leading through another door. A few moments of searching

later, and all the Initiates sounded off with “Clear!” from their zone of searching while I poked around

and sat looking confused at a terminal that was still on. From the writing on the terminal, and I mean

that it was literally on the terminal’s screen, whoever had written it clearly wanted a big red button to

be pushed somewhere. I figured since it was written in blood that it was important, at least. The actual

writing on the terminal beyond the blood was talking about some kind of duplication procedure to do

with plants. Maybe clone them with magic so that one potato could feed a couple dozen ponies or

more?

“WHAT’S ON THE TERMINAL?” Cheese said next to my ear, making me jump and scowl at the

unnecessary pain. “My bad, Sunny.” He whispered with a sheepish smile. I pointed with a hoof tip at

‘Plant Cloning: Attempt 334, Series 5-6’ before opening the document on the terminal. It looked like a

scientific log that catalogued their most recent attempt.

Click.

“Attempt three thirty four, Series five through six.” An excited mare’s voice stated.

Apparently it was an audio log.

“We finally managed it! It may have taken since the dawn of the apocalypse, but we actually

managed to clone several plants and vegetables without death, contamination or injury! Everypony has

taken their own sample of what I’m calling ‘Clone Brew Stew’. I’ll think of something with more flair

later, but this is it! We don’t have to worry about overpopulation or food rationing anymore. The

Overmare is holding a celebration in the main hall later today, where the kitchen staff is going to prepare

more meals for the rest of the stable to enjoy. She voiced some concerns about the coloration of the

cloned food, but we assured her that nothing could go wrong, after all the testing we did. It didn’t even

turn the mice green like the other attempts, and we should be able to cook any cloned foodstuffs without

them exploding like they did a few days ago. I’m still finding mashed potatoes in my mane, even. With

more luck, we should be able to clone any food we come across if we ever decide it’s worth it to venture

outside the stable. I’m sure somepony survived the end of the world after all. If our own tenaciousness is

anything to go by, then I’m sure some Zebras have as well. Ooh, maybe I’ll get to meet some weird

mutant Gryphon! Oop, I gotta go now. The lead scientist is calling my name. End log!”

Click.

“Well.” Hat Trick whispered next to Cheese, Swipe and I. “That seems to be what we’re after then.”

“Um, Hat? I think the food is what killed everypony in here. It doesn’t seem like they actually tested it

that long.” Cheese pointed out.

“Then what about all the claw marks, scratches and weapons fire still going on? You don’t think this

stable had robots, do you?” Swipe added.

Or what if it turned everypony in to giant lizards with claws that shot lasers from their eyes!

I returned to reality to find the three of them giving me a blank stare as if expecting my input, so I

shrugged while hopping off of the stool and began to hearing check the next door leading further into

the stable. Finding absolutely no sounds coming from anywhere on the other side of the door, I moved

to press the open button before my hoof was brushed aside by Hat Trick.

“Wait!” She hissed in a whisper, “What did you hear?”

I blinked, then took out my writing things and wrote:

Absolutely nothing at all.

Then smiled, before realizing how odd that was for me to not hear a single thing. Hat Trick looked like

she had seen a ghost, before swinging her rifle up to point at something behind me and wordlessly

screaming with bright flashes of light coming from her rifle. I turned in confusion just in time to see a

looming abomination of pony flesh and scales, standing half again taller than a Paladin trying to squeeze

its way through the doors with what looked like claws crunching the metal like tin foil.

Why isn’t there any sound? Am I deaf all of a sudden? Oh, I should probably get out of the-

“-WAY!” Cheese shouted, knocking me to the ground with the woosh of a large claw swiping over our

heads, giving one of my ears a love tap with its passing.

“FALL BACK, GET THROUGH THE SIDE DOOR NOW!” Hat ordered, with Cheese and Swipe dragging me

back until I got to my hooves and we bolted for the door past the bloodied lab coats. As our door was

flying upwards, the beast had pried its horrid body through the shredded remains of the door, leaving

bits of itself behind without any sign of pain or sense of self-preservation. The creature was emitting a

deep green glow from around what looked like several unicorn heads arranged like flower petals around

one large eye staring right at us.

“INSIDE!” somepony yelled, before I was yanked through the doorway and it slammed shut. I

overbalanced, and began to tumble a bit down a staircase before unfolding my wings to steady myself

and hover, holding a foreleg that had been banged by a sharp edge.

“Keep moving! That door isn’t going to hold that monster and we still have to find any survivors!” Hat

ordered, and we began moving as quickly down the stairs as possible. It was easier for me, since I could

glide the way down the steps, but I stopped every few moments to see if I heard anything.

This is a pretty long staircase.

Reaching the bottom a few moments later, we came to a few more doors. Living Quarters, Security,

Overmare’s Office and Infirmary. Hat Trick looked at all the signs, then checked us all for injuries before

deciding.

“All right. We’re going to the Security room to see if they have anything with heavier firepower than

these beam weapons. Sorry Sundown, but I’d rather get out of this alive with some minor hearing loss

than get killed saving your ears. No offense.”

I nodded my head in understanding, and we proceeded to be stopped by a locked door. Of course,

because it’s a Security Station.

Maybe there was a sleepy guard that missed the celebration, and they’d have a key?

I tapped Hat on the side, and pointed at Living Quarters. She seemed confused, so I poked the security

door and swiped one of the cards I had written on earlier like a passcard, before pointing at the Living

Quarters again.

“Oh. Because guards need sleep, duh.” Card Swipe said, facehoofing.

“Definitely going to request you for our squad, Sundown.” Cheese smiled.

The door to the Living Quarters swished up easily, and we were graced with the sickening stench of rot

and sewage or worse. My ears went back so fast they tried to jump off my head and fly away, with my

face scrunching up as I tried to cover my nose with my forehooves as the others similarly gagged or held

their breath with teary eyes. A few moments passed before we became accustomed to the stench

enough to move forward, even if I still felt sick and I’m sure the others felt the same.

“Augh, I can taste it!” Swipe sputtered, trying to rid his mouth of the nastiness but only making it worse.

“Sundown, keep an ear out for noise. If you ear gurgling, that’s me trying to keep my rations down.”

Cheese grumbled, a hoof to his mouth.

The passageway was entirely too clean to be giving off this kind of smell. There was another door that

was opened further down the hall, to where I assume the smell was coming from. As we made our way

down, I noticed our hoof falls were getting quieter and signaled a stop.

“What’s up, Sun?” Hat asked, before realizing she hadn’t been whispering.

I pointed to the floor and gave it a few hard stomps with a hoof, but it sounded like a foal smacking the

floor with a toy rather than the clang it should’ve been.

“Oh crap, that thing is around here!” Swipe blurted, swinging around to watch the hallway we’d walked

through with his rifle.

We advanced cautiously down the remainder of the hall before I poked my head through the doorway.

Inside there was more of the ‘pony carpet’ with a few bodies strung over the edges of the catwalks like

they’d been trying to escape. There was a scribe’s bloody and mulched form resting with their back to a

guard rail watching our door, several cartridges littering the space around it. I say ‘It’ because the corpse

was so mangled I couldn’t actually tell who the pony had been. Most of their face was ripped off with

their tongue lolling through their jawbone onto what remained of their neck like a gruesome tie. An

exposed heart and lung were apparent with half of the ribcage torn or broken off, all the blood having

left the area a while ago and pooled underneath the poor soul.

Then I heard the muffled sound of somepony losing their rations, and turned to see Hat Trick holding

her belly while Card and Cheese held her mane back and looked out for another of those monsters. I

waved to Cheese and pointed further down the Living Quarters, and trotted in place, hopefully telling

him I was going to go scout ahead.

He nodded, but motioned to the laser pistol laying on the floor.

“Take the pistol with you, Sunny. It’s mute enough that it shouldn’t hurt your ears right now. Just bite

down on the handle and use your tongue to fire the trigger. It’s the skinny metal bit in the center. It

should fly straight to where you look, just make sure that you aim with your mouth, not your eyes. I

don’t think our weapons are going to make a dent in that monster, but you can signal where you are

with the beams. We’ll meet up with you as soon as Hat is alright.”

I smiled, and armed myself with the pistol that was thankfully far enough away from the bloody mulch

that was a scribe that it wasn’t contaminated. Then I found out that the mouth handles weren’t

designed with fangs in mind, and dropped it the floor with a clatter.

Ow. I bit too hard. What the hay did they make those mouth guards out of, Steel?

I looked down at the laser pistol, and noticed the stainless steel shine of the handle for the first time.

Yep, Steel.

Wait a minute, the weapon clattered when it hit the floor?

I stomped a few times on the steel floor paneling again, receiving a resounding clang in response.

Yay, The monster is gone!

The Initiates seemed to have noticed my antics, and with Hat Trick only dry heaving now we moved

further into the Living Quarters, checking each room that we could open because the rest were either

broken, sealed shut with pony carpet or on lockdown. Turning up empty aside from some 200 year old

preserved foodstuffs, bandages and a sensual toy, we regrouped next to a set of stairways stating:

Infirmary ->

<- Security

Living Quarters

“Well, considering the state of this place, maybe the guards got hurt? We could also go for more

medical supplies if that thing comes back for us.” Swipe began.

“There’s also a chance that whomever survived will be holed up there, so we might find our people

there too!” Cheese continued.

“Alright, we’ll scout out the Infirmary before seeing if this Security door is locked as well. Sundown,

you’ve been doing a good job keeping an ear out for us, so I’m going to agree with Cheese to get you

on our squad when we get out of this place, not if.” Hat Trick finished with a determined look amongst

us.

I gave my best salute to mimic what I had seen the Scribes in the main chamber do previously, but it was

probably really sloppy considering the chuckles from the group.

“Everypony, we’ve been doing a great job not getting ourselves killed so far. Let’s keep it that way and

get out of this mess in one piece. Move out!” Hat ordered, and we set off to the Infirmary, checking

every corner with a magic rifle or my sensitive hearing. We were only stopped a few times by sound

deciding to go on vacation, I assume from the monster being on a floor near us. Then an idea struck me.

I tapped Hat on the flank, before getting out my writing supplies.

I don’t think my screech will work against a monster that mutes sounds and I have no weapons I can use.

Fangs and normal pony guns don’t mix.

I frowned at her as she read the last of my message, worry on my face at my realized helplessness if we

ever get into combat without my sledgehammer or any of my gear. Not like a heavy weight on a stick

will do much against something that turns bulkheads into confetti with its passing, but it’s the thought

that counts.

Hat Trick rested a hoof on my shoulder and said, “Don’t worry about it, Sunny. We’ll all get out of this

alive and well.”

It seemed to me like she was trying to convince herself of that more than anything, but at least they all

had my back. Being in the Steel Rangers seemed to look better and better the longer I spent with these

Initiates, and we already have been through things more terrifying than we should’ve been in the first

place. This whole situation seemed like something for a squad of paladins, not a random Batpony and

three Initiates. I nodded my head and gave a squeak that was as upbeat as I could manage with a smile,

and we set off to our objective of the Infirmary.

A few moments of travel later and my ears started twitching spasmodically. I took a seat and tried to get

them to stop with my hooves before I heard the faint sound of a minigun belching out hot death from

further down the hallway. I turned behind me to look at the Initiates, who were all holding their ears

and shouting with worried expressions between them before looking at me for an answer. I pointed a

hoof towards the sounds of minigun fire only I could hear apparently, and we dashed off.

Brrrrrrrt….

Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrtt.

BrrrrrrrRRRRRRRRTTTTT.

“Reload right, ready left! Firing!” The metallic voice barked out, resuming the waterfall of shell casings

on the floor, firing down another hallway.

“Targets on the right flank! Wait, EFS has them as blue! BLUE ON RIGHT FLANK, HOLD FIRE!” I heard

somepony shout as we rounded the corner. I barely ducked a magic beam as it singed my mane when I

heard the end of the Scribe’s warning. I poked my head out to find a makeshift barricade surrounded by

blood, bodies and spent ammunition littering the floor of the Infirmary Ward with two paladins

dispensing death down another hallway with Unicorns on reload duty. The scribe that had been

shouting was none other than Clear Report, who waved us over with a frantic hoof as we dove behind

the barricades.

“What fresh hell is this!? The Batpony and three Initiates come out of nowhere without a scratch on

them?” Clear Report was blabbering, and a nearby unicorn mare who was bandaging a wounded Scribe

gave him a light shove on the shoulder before returning to her attempts at saving a paladin from

bleeding out.

The sound of hissing steam was coming from the Paladin with dual miniguns, as a huge drum was

ejected from the back of the minigun and reloaded by a Scribe before he continued his barrage. The

barrels were all glowing a dangerous red as tracer rounds poured down the hallway marking where his

shots would land against what looked like a writhing mass of flesh and talons being held at bay by the

assault. One minigun was apparently kept in reserve to cool off as the other fired to prevent the

weapons from breaking as quickly, but it was clear that they’d run out of ammo before that would be an

issue.

“We were just about to fall back and call this operation a wash. We’ve lost too many ponies to this

death trap. Paladin Copper Wire and those other four targets are nowhere to be seen after heading to

the Overmare’s Office. We’re going to hold out as long as possible before withdrawing and sealing this

Stable with explosives. We can’t let these things get out into the wastes or it will be a slaughter, as

much as those wasters deserve one.” Clear Report monologued, before taking note that I was a ‘waster’

and present.

“The mutant cause you any troubles?” he asked with an uneasy glance at me.

“Negative. Saved our hides more than once. Is there enough time for us to find Paladin Copper Wire

before we extract?” Hat Trick asked.

Clear Report tapped his chin with a hoof for a moment before deciding, “You’ve got five minutes before

we pull out of here. Another ten to set up the charges in the right spots and seal the Stable door. We’ll

wait one minute before we seal it, so you had better hurry!”

We all jumped to our hooves and set off without another word to find Paladin Copper Wire; myself

following along with the Initiates because I wasn’t going to survive long in this place without them, and

neither would they survive without me in here. Besides, they were the closest thing I’d come to as far as

friends during my time in the wastes, and I wasn’t going to let them get themselves killed because I was

scared of a giant wall of eldritch horror.