Fallout Equestria: After Burn

Chapters

Introduction
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5

Introduction

Fallout Equestria: After Burn
Dedicated Duty

The land of Equestria, a once beautiful place filled with caring and loving ponies from all over shared their life with others and made only the best out of it. With every positive, there's a negative following close by ready to rip your optimism clean from its skin. The magic that wiped the ponies of everything in its path shadows over the land today, it's cold and dark form casts a constant reminder of the past and of better times. Times that ponies had fun, were healthy, were happy.

The Wasteland never fails to show true horror and disgust that the ponies in the Stables will never lay eyes upon. Curiosity lingers in us all, and everypony wanting the truth to break open like a Raider skull. Curiosity is never good nor is it bad, but the worst trait of them all is true ignorance. Ignorance isn't always bliss and it destroys even the best of ponies, or the best of worlds. The only thing left of this world is the after burn.

My work is what keeps me in check, what keeps me sane and alive. To others my work is nothing more than boring day to day job set by the Overstallion. What makes me unique is the tasks and responsibilities I face in my regular days and nights here in my personal office, a doctor's office, for I am one of many unicorns with the responsibility of keeping any and all residents of Stable 63 healthy and alive by giving 110% every waking hour. Being a doctor of Stable residents can be a tedious task to face considering the shit I discover about this place sends shivers down my spine. You can not believe how many new infections I find on residents each day, it's unbelievably horrid. As Dr. Dip, autopsy specialist of Stable 63, it's my utmost importance that I keep not only others sane, but myself as well. The infections in this place have been skyrocketing since exactly 5 weeks ago. Several experiments take place with down in the lower parts of the Stable, but I am not of a higher rank to go down into that place they call safe.
I'm an autopsy specialist, meaning I usually work with dead things and recently I've discovered via a dead Stable resident that there seems to be an infection that starts at the mouth. The bacteria coming off of it seems to be not only growing but regenerating over time, nothing too large like instant regeneration but over a span of 3 weeks or so. Frankly I find it quite odd that infections like these keep showing up in a sanitary place such as here. For the past few weeks I've had more patients visit me than I've ever had in my lifetime down in here. We can't keep having these infections accumulate or we'll all be dead by next week. Luckily though, after I meet with the infected patient they usually don't come back to my office which must be good. If they don't come back there's probably nothing wrong, although the infections have been getting progressively more... Intense. Last week a patient by the name of Bronze came in with a more serious case of the sickness, he could barely breathe properly and after inspecting the infection located at the back of his mouth, it had spread down to his wind pipe. This isn't like any infection I've seen before down here, it makes you think about why these infections keep showing up.
I scheduled a day with Bronze to study his sickness further, if it gets worse an operation of him is needed. We can't have him roaming around with this either which is why I've set up masks for all the sick patients. The operation I hope to give will be down to his lungs, hopefully by doing so we can see if the infected area is growing or staying the same because I've noticed it hasn't been growing worse like the others, theres no visible symptoms that I can see although Bronze assures me he has trouble breathing and most recently, he began to become dizzy and/or drowsy. I'm not familiar with infections that cause both tiredness and breathing problems so this could help me find out more about the other infections spreading. Our Overstallion made several announcements about his sickness but like every other time, he sugar coated it for everypony which I suppose is a good idea for the worried residents but theres no good in lying. He told everypony there was a COLD going around, this isn't a fucking common cold. Sometimes I think I should be the Overstallion at times, at least then we could take things a bit more seriously.
As Dr. Dip, head of the medical ward of Stable 63 it is my upmost responsibility to keep my patients safe because I care for each and every single one of them, although I will admit there are some right cunts that come in and demand I give them medication to get themselves high off their flanks, not a day goes by where there isn't trouble.. I sound old now. The Overstallion informed me that I not go into the lower parts of the Stable for that is his personal area, I don't want to know what he means by personal because there's nothing like wandering down and seeing the head of a Stable tied up with rope as several ponies start l- ugh fuck remove that image. Sometimes I think I'm going crazy down here is, strange things have been going down here in the Stable, and I'm not talking about the recent infections spreading, but more suspicious with the guards of the Stable and the Overstallion himself, he hasn't shown himself since a little while ago, perhaps a couple of weeks. He isn't fit to be an Overstallion in my eyes, he is too paranoid, at times he can be concerned in good ways for the residents of the Stable but I honestly dont think he likes any of them. The things that man does behind closed doors shouldn't be known, but I can't help but wonder.

Apologies for my rambling, It's been a pleasure to meet you.

Chapter 1

Fallout Equestria: After Burn
A Sight for Singed Eyes.

My days here at the office aren't necessarily bad considering my ass mark states I'm good at my job. I'm currently sitting in my lab just next door to my office, a lab in which I study and examine the infections daily. Today is the day Bronze is scheduled to operate on and he hasn't showed up yet, I'll use my time wisely and figure out what exactly this infection is while I wait for him.

I wrap my nearby syringe with my magic and levitate it over to the bottle of moss looking residue inside of the bottle. Whatever this stuff is certainly is unlike anything I've seen, it's got the same texture as moss and the scent of it smells like charcoal. I carefully dip my syringe into a bottle of calcium chloride and squirt a bit of it on the residue, noticing nothing happening, I move on to the next chemical, testing all of them to make sure everythin--

“Oh ho ho! Is it my good ol’ Doctor comrade I see?” shouts a voice in the same direction as the door to my lab. I recognize that voice, not in a good way either. That's Wick, the local nutcase.

Wick shoves the door open, swinging it against the wall with a loud thump, “Hello hello hello hello hello my friendorino!”

I look up to him with unamusement spread across my face, “Look, Wick you can't keep coming in here, for fuck sake You almost broke the door. Now get out.”

“Oh come now Diphead, I've only come with a peace offering! A gift of sorts!”

“A gift? And what would I possibly need?”

“The gift is me!”

I give him an emotionless look before responding strictly, “Is there a receipt?”

Wick chuckles for longer than he probably should have before wandering up beside me, being surprisingly silent and watching me thoroughly. He always comes in here when I'm working and fucks with me, he's a lunatic. Despite the therapist being here, he comes to me as if I'm his personal therapist.

“Look Dippy, I'm not here to fuck up your school projects, I'm here to ask you something, about that cold stuff.”

“When did I allow you to call me Dippy? It's not school projects, it's not a cold and it's not a subject I'm talking about with a non doctor, especially you.”

“Come now Doctor, what is it you're doing in here? Fumbling with silly chemicals and pouring them on your carpet looking herpes until what? It magically goes away?”

“I'm testing whether it reacts to certain chemicals so if one affects it in a dramatic and possibly infection killing way, we'll be alright.”

He glared at me and begins to laugh rather high pitched. I give him a blank stare and put down my equipment and turn to him. His eyes are fire red at all times, I've been worried yet careful around him. He looks as if he would kill off this entire Stable just for fun. He suffers with personality and mood disorders along with mild schizophrenia. The therapist has given him multiple medications to treat these problems but we aren't sure if he's taken them in a while. We aren't sure if he would go mad and kill somepony but he is smoothed by fire when on the medication and he turns violent with a mixture of euphoria when he sees fire while he is off the medication. We often light a match near him to see how he reacts to the flame.

“Have you been taking your medication like the therapist told you?”

“Oh? Oh! That little placebo you insist on giving me is inDEED inside of me, I still have no idea why you inform me of these so called ‘problems’ you think I have.”

He's delusional.

I roll my eyes and head into my office, I'm not leaving him in my lab alone so I gesture him to come to my office and he lights up in happiness. He skips merrily inside. My office, mind you, isn't the cleanest nor is it organized. Scattered paper and folders line my--

“Hey!” I shout as I see Wick rush to my desk and begin looking through my papers, all the while saying 'ooo’ at each page. I see several pages from behind him, case files of all the residents with the infection. One stands out to me in particular, Bronze.

“Ah? What's up with these lot Doctor? They seem a little sick.. Of course they're sick, Wick you IDIOT! They've got that cold or some shit. I know! Don't talk to me like that or I'll ha--”

“Wick..” ,He does this frequently, he has conversations with himself but when his other half speaks he gives it an Australian accent. The medication doesn't help that. I speak up and wander behind my desk and take the papers from him while he talks to himself. “Stop going through my things, honestly I'm surprised I even let you inside here. Now head off to your room now.”

Wick mumbles under his breath and nods before heading out the door. “Look! He kicked you out, you're a fucking idiot. Enough! I will not be harassed by myself, you aren't real. You are real but.. but not now! Or maybe.. in a few seconds because I'll… Wait.. what the heck was I saying again?”

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

It feels like the same day yet the day has passed and I’m still inside of my office. I shuffle through my folders and papers, trying desperately to clean up a little despite my tiredness. Several documents line my desk and I take a quick glance over each of them before putting them in their proper files, but there’s a few I look over a bit more than usual. I get worried about the infection every single day but it feels like nothing is done about it in this place with just me worrying about it. I’m the only real doctor able to study these infections and even that isn’t helping. I pick up a case file and glance at it’s information. I begin to read aloud, “Blue Crest, Age 23, noticed the symptoms of the pony on July 12th and began observing the symptoms. Update: July 22nd, the current date, no new symptoms have been appearing. Patient seems like she’s fighting back against the infection rather well.” I grumble and set the paper down. At least SOME ponies are dealing with it better than others. I find another and begin reading it as well, letting the words sink in my head, “Cracked Quartz, Age 20, noticed the symptoms of the pony on July 15th and began observing the symptoms. Update: July 20th..” I trail off and look back down to my desk only to mumble the last bit of the page, “...patient died of infection at 23:00.” It’s horrible to think that such a young pony died so quickly, only in a span of 5 days but that doesn’t make any sense! Why can one pony survive the infection but some die super quickly, I just don’t understand the infection, it’s almost like a cold but at the same time both ponies had similar metabolisms so that just couldn’t be it. I put my head on the table and notice a piece of paper just where my head is, I bring it up to my face and examine it. It’s Bronze’s case file, the stallion has yet to show up for his examination and I’m honestly worried I’ll lose another patient at the hooves of this infection. He was shown to have the symptoms of the infection around July 4th, one of the earliest members to receive it. He has had rather intense symptoms than the rest and I’m studying him specifically to see what the infection attacks first and perhaps stop it in it’s track to see it’s next move. I’ve got to find him, he has to be around here somewhere. Perhaps he’s hold up in his room? Bronze was indeed afraid of my work, he felt like he was in danger near me and I don’t blame him, I’ve operated on a lot of ponies in my days but none have ever died to my hooves. I cease my rambling and head out of my door, leaving my files and papers still rather unorganized. My office had been far away from the residents bunks so I had to take quite the walk to get to my destination, luckily each case file had the ponies’ room number attached to it just in case of emergencies like these. I turn the corner and see the hallway lined with rooms, mind you there had been a lot of ponies in this stable so finding the hallway he was in was a bit of a walk. I wander down the corridor, glancing up at the door numbers until I find his room, Room B49H. Good thing for me, all the staff had copies of every infected ponies’ room just in case. I unlock the door and slowly walk into the room, noticing that Bronze wasn’t to be seen, that means he’s somewhere in the Stable. I notice his decorations lined in his shelves and most importantly, the desk. The desk is nothing more than a boring desk but what I saw made by jaw drop and my heart beat faster, his medical mask that every patient is told to warn so the infection doesn’t spread. If he isn’t wearing it and he’s out in the Stable walking around like nothing’s wrong that could mean for some horrible situations that I have to deal with in the future! What a fucking idiot, what is wrong with him? I--

“BOO!”

I’ve never turned around that fast before in my entire life, after turning I notice who it is and it doesn’t surprise me. It’s Wick again. I curse and speak rather loudly, “What the fuck do you think you’re doing scaring me like that?”

Wick gives me a puzzled look before taking a glance around the room and back to me, “Well what are you doing in here?”,he’s got me there.

I gave him a deadpan expression, “I'm trying to find Bronze, do you know where he is? He isn't wearing his medical mask.”

Wick actually takes a second to ponder the question before looking surprised, “Perhaps he's somewhere in the Stable!”

“I know he's in the Stable! I meant where?”, I breathe in before letting it back out, rubbing my temples with my hoof. “Look, I'm going to try and find him, you can go.. do what you do.”

Wick nods happily, a little more happily than I thought he would to be told to fuck off but maybe he's gotten a hang of what I'm trying to tell him. I walk past him and out the door and head into the hallways lined in grey walls. I sigh out of frustration and mutter, “Why can't he just show up to my office like everypony else?”

“Perhaps there's something wrong, Doc?” I instantly jump when I hear Wick behind me, he's been following me the entire time? That's a little creepy, but I guess when I told him to do what he does, he took that as “follow me.” I shrug and just let him follow, giving up on getting rid of him. I'll be honest, he's not entirely useless or annoying sometimes.

We turn the corner and see the cafeteria, not wanting to really go in we check through the windows that line one of the walls, allowing both sides to see out. I glance around the room, it was filled heavily considering it's about time everypony eats. Bronze.. where is.. Bronze? I take a longer look at one of the ponies in one of the middle sections of the tables and recognize him. My eyes go wide and I spot the stallion I've been trying to find, so I rush to the door and open it. My muzzle is brought into a world of food from the kitchen, filling my nostrils, I turn to the table and walk up to Bronze to where he is enjoying a burrito or something.

“Bronze. It's me Dr. Dip, I'm going to need you to both put on your mask and come with me to my office for the appointment I've so generously scheduled.”

He looks up to me and gives me half a smile and shrugs, “Why? I feel fine and this isn't even bad, it's just a cold like the Overstallion has been saying.”

I give him a puzzled and frustrating glare before raising my voice, “Cold? No sir this is worse than a cold, you could..” I look around as to not cause a scene, “.. die from this..”

He looks up at me in shock and states rather loudly, more than I'd like, “This infection can kill me? What?”

All eyes go to us and I freeze in place, the Overstallion must have gotten into these ponies’ heads and convinced them it was nothing more than a cold and not to worry about it when in the harsh reality it was killing off innocent residents without them knowing. Clueless and ignorantly. I was about to speak when I hear a back door open, presumably from the other side of the room as I see him glooming over to me rather disappointed. The Overstallion heard everything.

Chapter 2

Fallout Equestria: After Burn
Chapter 2 - Curiosity Kills

“It was unnecessary”, the Overstallion’s voice boomed through my head as I felt it go through my entire body, I felt like punching him right in the jaw for being so ignorant about all this.

“It was NOT unnecessary! Those ponies are infected and them knowing about it is crucial.”

“Crucial? I think I know what is right for my Stable. And what is right is that they live their lives peaceful without the knowledge of this infection. Not another word about it escapes your muzzle. Your job is to keep the Stable healthy and alive, not to throw around these facts and horrify everypony. You keep them alive, I keep them happy. Understood?”

“Look, I get that yo-”

“Understood?”, I could feel his voice raise and I got uncomfortable in my seat, I shifted around on it as I nodded slowly, “Yes, sir.” I flatly stated as I got up without any hesitation and trotted out his office.

What a fucking moron! How the hell did he even get to be an Overstallion with that kind of logic? Sometimes I swear I could become a better Overstallion then he ever could have been. Ponies like him are the reason why things go to shit.

I wander towards my office, my burning rage melting my insides as I curse the entire time I walk. I slump open the door to my office with a large bang as it echoes throughout the entire Stable. I bet the Overstallion even heard that, I bet he's chuckling to himself the bastard. My messy desk has better logic. I decide to neatly fold all my papers and folders off my desk and into the cabinets. If he doesn’t want to tell these ponies that there’s an infection, then why study the infection? There isn’t any infection! He said so himself! It’s just the common cold after all, right?

“Oi Dipstick!”

Please no.

“Dippppyyyy!”

For the love of Celestia and all that is holy.

“DIIIIII-”

“WHAT?” I practically scream as loud as I can as I see the familiar annoying sack of energy that is Wick enter my room. His expression always the same.

He looks at me with a raised eyebrow, still sporting his usual creepy yet happy grin, “you feeling alright doc?”, he begins, “I was following you for a good bit there, you seemed upset. What did the Overstallion say?”

I take a few seconds to ponder what he just said as I shake my head, “What? Following me? Look, don’t do that and secondly, I just.. The Overstallion has requested that I stopped telling the patients about the infection. I’m not going to be even helping the patients because why bother?”

He laughs to himself for way too long before looking up, “I like the new you Doc!”

“What?”

“The new you silly! You’re finally realizing that you can turn the tides on ponies if you don’t like how they treat you and your opinions! Fuck em all!”

I raise one of my eyebrows and he begins to speak once more, “Look Doc, these ponies cannot be saved. They’re FUCKED. You’ve already seen it, half of them are dropping like flies! Some of them aren’t even that bad but they still seem to go down… you’re wasting your time.”

“Enough!”, I slam my hoof down on top of my now clean desk, “I will not have you decide the outcome of my patients, now leave. I’m not going to hear this from anypony and especially not you.”

I shift uncomfortably in my seat as he doesn’t show any emotion but just stares at me for almost a minute before giving me a small smile and leaving my room quietly. Has Wick ever been that quiet when leaving? I don’t think so, usually he storms out like a literal mad pony.

I lean back in my seat and look up to my ceiling. He has a point though, I will admit, the patients have been dying rather quickly since a few weeks ago when the infection began showing higher symptoms but he was also right about how the not so infected patients were dying off. That doesn’t make any sense, why would the healthy yet infected ponies die off? Does the infection not give a shit and not lead to symptoms first before killing them off? This isn’t making any sense at all, what the hell is going on?

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

I stare out into the hallway at the still lit lights. The lights were always on even when everypony slept which I figured was for safety or something. I however was not asleep tonight, actually let me correct that because I haven’t slept in a few days. I lean back in my office chair as I watch the hallway with drowsy eyes. My mind wanders off as I’m startled by a loud clang of metal against metal and rise from my seat. The hell was that?

I get out of my office space and slowly open the door to the hallway and peer out both ends of the hallway, noticing that the right side of the hallway there were two of our security guards hanging a right down the other hallway. Strange, they don’t usually patrol at this hour. I shut the door behind me with my magical grip as I trot down the hallway as quiet as I possibly could. Near the end of the hallway was the place I dare never to go. I turn my head around the right side of the hallway near the lower parts of the Stable that the Overstallion owned. Well technically he owned all of the Stable but his personal area was down in this place. I’ve always wondered what the hell he kept down here considering he could use his own room for his own personal things. The strangest thing about this was that there were no guards at all keeping lookout for anypony to walk down here, should I? I mean, I’m the head Doctor of this place I’m sure he wouldn’t mind it right?

I open the cellar looking door as I see complete darkness down into an endless void. Nothing a quick light spell can’t fix! I flash my horn and there appears a small light on top of it. I slowly creep down the flights of stairs and notice something a bit odd in the air, something chemically to the scent of the air specifically. I venture further down into the staircase and finally reach the end of it, the room down into the area was bright enough so I turned off my light. As I finish my magical light spell I look around and see several rooms set in a single corridor. I expected more to be quite honest, lots of build up for this? Seems like..like..
I glance up from the corridor and see a glass wall connected to one of the rooms on the far left of the corridor. The glass isn’t what catches my eye but rather what’s on the glass wall. A fine and bright red streak going from the middle to the bottom corner of the glass wall. I creep up further down the hallway and I see it. I see the thing I never would ever want to see inside of a Stable I thought was safe.

Ponies.

Dead ones. Scattered inside of each room and it's not just any pony, each and every patient of mine that has been proven to have the infection lie on the hard metal floor, some have been there longer than I thought.

“No no no no no no no no no no no..”, I back up slowly out of the corridor and hurry up the stairs, running back into the hallway of the regular Stable walls. I trot quickly to my office as I hear another two guards wander up behind me and turn to the basement area and begin to stand watch like they usually do.

Dammit this isn’t how I expected this to run, not at all. I can’t have my patients die in the slightest, the Overstallion has been killing off the infected? What is with him? I trot back into my office and slam the door behind me with an audible bang.

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

“What a beautiful day in Stable 63! I am so proud of all of you, now to the announcements..” booms the Overstallion’s ever growing annoying voice as I mentally shut him out of my mind. I can’t live like this, I could walk past one of my living patients and know that one day they’re going to die by either the infection or the Overstallion.

I raise my head off of my desk and look out into the hallway. Empty, silent, eerie. I get up from my chair and wipe away the sleep from my eyes as I open the door into the corridor and I look both left and right. Some of my patients wave to me and I’m forced to casually wave back like nothing is wrong. Everything is wrong. My mind races and my thoughts scatter as I inhale and exhale deeply, quickly as I'm slowing letting myself become paranoid and anxious. What if I get the infection? What if I get killed like all those others? I trot nervously inside the hallways and completely ignore the basement that I walk past as some of the guards look me over. I panic and go a little faster when I see them look at me with the corner of their eyes. They must know about this, all the guards. They have to know about what's been going on down there. As I think this my heart races faster, I can’t live here, I can’t be here. I turn back around and head to my office and open my door. I’m leaving now, I can’t live here anymore. If I were to stay the patients would eventually die off and the infection would still spread, there is nothing I can do about it.

I grab my saddlebag and fill it with as many things as I can, two books of medical practices as well as my science logs just in case. The only thing left is my medical equipment, I shove a small box of surgical tools inside alongside a bunch of medical items such as bandages. I open my drawer from my lab and pull out a medium sized bone saw, good enough. All I need is to get out, should be easy enough, right?

I wish I could bring all these ponies with me but I can’t do that, there's nothing I can do to.. save..

A thought goes through my brain and gets stuck there, not leaving when it honestly should. I shouldn’t be thinking such thoughts, I’m not one of them. I can’t.

I walk past the Overstallion’s office and glance through the small window that’s on his door, he gives me a friendly wave as I just stare at him with no emotion. My eyes wander down to the hallway that will eventually lead to the Stable door. I would need a password in order to get out anyways right? Maybe my idea isn’t bad after all. Yes.. yes that sounds wonderful. I use my magical grip and pull out my bone saw. I open the door and close it behind me. The Overstallion won’t be hurting anypony anymore.

What a beautiful day in Stable 63.

Chapter 3

Fallout Equestria: After Burn
Chapter 3 - Ashes to Ashes

My mind races and my body aches, the feeling of anxiety pumps through my thoughts as I try and decode whatever sanity I have left after what I just did. I look down to my bonesaw, it’s streaked with the Overstallion’s gore, the blood shines in the light as I quickly shove it in my bag and close the door. What did I just do? Why did I do it? Oh Celestia I'm not making it out of here alive, especially if I don't have the c-.. the code! I rush to the Overstallion’s terminal and open up his recent files. I sort through the many journal entries but find the code nonetheless. I hear various ponies shuffling through the halls of the Stable, my heart races and I slowly open the door to the main hallway and peek my head around the corner. Nobody is here, perfect. I slip out of the room and quietly close it behind me, I wince as it shuts rather loudly.

Slipping away from the door, I wander down the hallway, code in hand as I make my way to the Stable door’s main room. As I wandered down the seemingly empty and quiet hallway, my heart skips several thousand beats as I lock eyes with one of the residents of the stable. At first I was wondering why they'd look at me with such horror, then it dawned on me as I looked down, my coat splattered with whatever was left of the Overstallion. I didn't think to wash it off, or at least change until now. Before I can say anything the resident runs off, trying to scream but with nothing coming out. I quickly bolt down the hallway and to the Stable's main door. Two supposedly and conveniently distracted guards stand up near the control panels. Managing to convince either of them to both not worry about my blood stained clothes and open the one thing in this Stable that isn't allowed to be open at any point, no matter what will definitely not work. This certainly will not be a trot in the park, but more of a gallop into death.

I wander closer to the guards, who luckily aren't looking in my direction. I'm about to speak when I'm cut off by the sound of ear piercing ringing from the Stable alarm. After a few seconds of eardrum destroying noises, I look back up to the guards, which of course now notice me and my clothes which aren't what you'd call clean. Plan A is no longer in use, and Plan B through Z never existed at all. I quickly use my magic and wrap the two guards in my aura, throwing them a few meters away and into a large metal cabinet, knocking both of them out. I almost collapse at the magical strength needed to push the two. I quickly and tiredly wander over to the control panel, fumbling to get the code out and dialing the unnecessarily long code into the keypad. I wince as I dial in the final number, the room shaking and rumbling with a thunderous clank as the large metal door to the Stable is slowly slid open. I dash through the entrance and out into the unforgivable land that will most likely shatter my dreams with nightmares.

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

Darkness. Darkness was the only thing I saw, or at least think I saw. Darkness in the vault wasn't foreign, but it was never as brutal and as terrifying this. My Pipbuck clicks and I bring it to view, the amber light covering my face as I stare at the map. I was currently near Stable 63, the Manehattan stable. I look back up, my eyes adjusting to the dark as I see buildings crumbled and broken scattered throughout the streets. A large tower, several times larger than anything I've seen slowly shifts and moves as I see it slide off its only means of balance and crush whatever is underneath it as the noise of it booms throughout the land, the earth shaking and rumbling. I gather my bearings and begin making my way through the streets, or at least I think they're streets. I walk through the rubble of what probably used to be a wonderful place, a place full of ponies and beautiful landscaping, now turned into a desolate wasteland with nothing more than dust and rubble. I shuffle through and make my way a decent amount into the street before peering into the nearest structure. An apartment building by the looks of it, or at least that’s what it seems considering the large lobby I squeezed into.

I shut the door behind me, broken glass falling off and cracking on the floor as I wince and slightly jump. I’ve really got a poor reaction time. I slowly walk into the main lobby, the flooring kicking up dust with every step. I stare at something that was once home to many, now broken and disfigured. The walls are falling apart with moldy residue and dust as well as anything that was once on the ceiling, now crumbling onto the floor. The building creaks with an unholy growl and rumbles. Considering this place is an apartment building, it will definitely have somewhere I can camp out for the night. Although this place looks like the biggest shithole, it’ll do. I make my way to what I suppose is the lobby counter as I jump over it and take a gander at whatever is left. If I were collecting dust, I would have hit the jackpot. I disregard the horrid amount of uselessness and hop over the counter again, making my way to the side hallway where I hope there’s at least a staircase or elevator, not that I would think that an elevator would even work here. Besides, the building itself seems as if it’s about to fall over by the slightest touch so going on the highest point is probably the worst thing somepony could do in this situation. I trot down the hallway and almost trip over half the furniture that’s corroded and broken down in the middle of the hallway. Hard to imagine a world that was normal, a world where this building was actually used and operated normally.

I make my way to the end of the hallway and check for anything that would get me any higher if needed. I spot a staircase just to the left of where I am and mentally note it. I head back and start rummaging through the hotel rooms, hopefully finding something of value here. I lean into the wooden door as it slowly creaks open, bone saw ready at my side just in case, you can never be too sure. First room I walk into is a decently large room, simple bed and wardrobe with the pounds of dust that fills the room. I grab a couple of the cleaner sheets I could find and stuff them in my saddle bag, they could be useful later. I close the door with a click and move to the next one, opening it and peering inside to find the same layout as before. I assume all of these rooms are going to be the same throughout, but it could be someone was still living in one and left some things. I continue looking and end up making my way to the end of the hallway next to the wooden and horrifyingly unstable staircase. Well, one floor down, who knows how many are still ready for looting. I take careful steps up the staircase and nearly lose my footing and accidentally pop a hole in the middle of one of the steps, a loud crunch echoing the hallway. I stand still for only a second before heading back up, hearing rustling on the next floor. With a place like this I would expect rats littering every square inch. I make my way up to the top and take a look down the hallway, seeing a similar layout from before. I wander down the hallway and casually start up my routine of checking the doors.

“What the fuck?!” A stallion barks as he sits at the end of the hallway peering down in my direction “Who the fuck do you think you are?”

I hold my breath and stare at him, he stares back only fiercer and bloodthirsty. He shuffles and I see something wrap in a magical aura that isn't mine but rather his, a handgun. He quickly lifts it and points it in my direction.

“All of your shit, NOW.”

Author's Note

Apologies for that unnecessarily long pause of me not posting. I'll be updating this more frequently from now on :3

Chapter 4

Fallout Equestria: After Burn
Chapter 4 - Of Unsounding Minds.

The sound of metal shaking beneath the stallion’s magical grip was unnerving, almost as if he hasn’t run into another stranger for a while. He looked me up and down and even hesitated moving forward. He wore tattered clothing with several hidden marks all over his face. He had gone through something tough, I almost felt bad for him.

“I’m not going to say it again twice!”

He stuttered and shifted in his position awkwardly, he was scared. I didn’t speak, I figured it was best to listen to what he told me considering a gun pointing in my direction held by somepony not very confident. I swallowed audibly and nodded, using my magical grip to throw my supply bag in front of my front hooves to show that I was harmless, which couldn’t have been more false.

“G-Good..” his voice shutters as he points to a room to his left, “In the room, I don’t want to hurt you..”

I comply and consider running, but he seems intent on the fact I might have to die at any point, so he keeps the gun trained on me the entire time I wander into the room he directed me in. The room was like the rest of the hotel, dusty with furniture scattered everywhere almost as if somepony was in a hurry. The bed looked as if it was coloured grey, but there was several markings on it implying somepony was sitting or lying on the bed. He sticks the gun against my neck and I feel a rush of shivers travel up my spine as he pushes me into the closet located to the side of the room. Before I can question it he shuts it and orders me to stay in there for my own safety. There was only a slight crack in the closet that I was able to see out as he threw my bag onto the bed and began sorting through it. Great, now I’ve got dust on my bag, although that’s not the biggest issue right now, is it? He throws multiple things on the bed as if he’s searching for something specific. He curses multiple times before moving to another point of the room, I can’t see him unfortunately, or fortunately, whichever comes first.

“Look, I’m sorry about all this. But I can’t really keep you around, alright? I honestly don’t want to have to kill you but now that you know where we are I can’t have you doing anything.. I’m sorry, pal. I really am, you didn’t see me alright? You and I have have never met and I hope we don’t see each other again. D-Do you understand me? We don’t take newbies.”

Was he going to kill me? What did he mean by “we?” My eyes wander around the room as my heart races but I soon notice a good friend of mine, my bonesaw. I wait for him to move slightly closer to the bag so I can get an easy shot on him, he’s lowered his weapon so this makes it much easier. I take a deep breath and ponder if I have any other choice, I could knock him out but there’s a chance of him finding me some other time. I swallow and fidget around the tiny closet as I speak up.

“I’m sorry too.”

Using my magic, I swing open the door which seemed like it was about to crumble anyways and with one quick motion, grab my bonesaw and swipe it in his general direction, hoping I knocked him down or something to make it as quick and painless as possible. I heard several gunshots in my direction and I see the stallion not on the ground, but standing upright as his gun drops to the mess of a floor and I see blood draining from his neck. I stay frozen for a few seconds before gaining my consciousness as he tries to speak but his words are covered by the sputtering of blood. He falls to the ground. Cupping my head in my hooves and trying to desperately push the image out of my head, I question what just happened. My mind goes blurry as I begin getting slightly dizzy. I black out.

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

The next morning is spent cleaning up my items and stuffing them back in my bag while also ignoring the corpse I’ve left in the room. I would give him a proper burial but decomposition will take care of him in due time. I’m used to operating on bodies but the bodies I operated on were usually not as graphic as this. The ponies I operated on needed help and I was there to fix them, not brutally murder them. I peer down at his clothing, he was wearing a bomber jacket or at least that’s what I assumed it was because it was so dirty that even the sloppy insignia on his side was hard to make out. With my saddlebag filled with some basic things gathered off of him, which only consisted of a few pistol bullets and a .44 pistol. He had a decent amount of bottle caps which confused me. I later discarded them since they served no use to me, considering I need to maximize the effectiveness of the space in my saddlebag for more important items. I made my way outside of the hotel.
The surprisingly bright sun showered over the wasteland, it was almost a decent distraction to what this world had become. In the dark, it was decently hard to make out anything but now that the sun was out it made a wonderfully disgusting display of the head spikes outside of the hotel entrance. The sight of decapitated heads instantly made me turn and vomit off to the side, which I soon made my way to the main road to try and pop that image out of my head as well. What has this world dared to become? Why would a world as peaceful as this turn into this violent of a place, it’s like something out of a generic violent comic book. My venture out onto the road wasn’t a short one, the buildings that I had wanted to scavenge for were barely even able to stand up themselves. I didn’t want to risk my life to a collapsing building only to get nothing out of it at the end of it all. My hooves ached in the venture, I would occasionally crack open a drink or eat something small just to fuel myself considering I’ll be out here for a while. I reach my hoof up and my PipBuck’s light fills my face as I check my status. I’m doing fine so far, perfect. All the equipment I need to head out and find something good out here in… in.. wait hold on. I open the map section and read the name, “Vanhoover.” Well at least now I know where I was. I zoom it a bit more and scout out the area of my surroundings just to get a feel of what I’d be up against. Sadly, all the buildings around me were completely destroyed. I was certainly not risking my life for something so small as a few items in a broken building like these. After all, there was something much more enticing up the road. Looked like a bar of some sort, and it was even in a good enough condition! This was what I was talking about, a perfect place to relax instead of getting stuck inside of that shit hole of a hotel. I reach a hoof up and go to open the door. Stuck. Well that could have been a magical place had only it been open. Wait, this is the wasteland right? There are no rules. I spot a nearby window off to the right side, it looked weak enough to break into if I forced my way hard enough. My magical force grips a decently large rock and I use all my force and slam it into the window, but unfortunately it made the loudest noise as it crashed and rolled into the main room. I peered in and saw.. nothing? Well, to be fair there was the generic feel of a bar but nothing but tables and stools and counters. The counters had been completely cleared and there was an intercom system attached to the counter, it was definitely pony made. It made a static noise and hummed through the empty and desolate bar. The only thing drowning that was a jukebox set in the back of the room, but my vision wasn’t the best with what I had so I climbed into find that there was in fact nothing really in the room worth noting. The jukebox roared with catchy and playful music, how ironic. My vision turns and I see a body, an earth pony displayed on the main room for all to see. Their skin had been scraped off and their lungs rested on their shoulders, with their body wide open. My vomit finds its way out of my mouth and onto the dirty marble floor as I regain my consciousness and try my best to avoid eye contact with the display. The door at the back of the room, which I can only assume is the kitchen was bright, as if someone kept the light on. Hardly any sound coming from anywhere as I make my way behind the disgusting display and over the counter where I don’t find anything useful. I take a gander at the intercom and it seems to be in working condition. I was here to make as little noise as possible so I’m not going to touch that until I’m ready to be ganged up on. I make my way back to the middle of the room where several cupboards rest, but they seem to be locked. The cupboards aren’t even cupboards as I look closer at it. The containers seem to be rather large, almost like it could hold something huge inside of it. I don’t dare open it and wander around desperately trying to find something useful. My trail ends to the jukebox at the corner of the room. The creepily jolly tune fills my ears as I somewhat crack a smile, the only thing that’s playful in this world.

♪ Oh, I got spurs that jingle, jangle, jingle.. As I go ridin' merrily along ♪

The intercom clicks on, as if it just realized I was here. The voice on the intercom clears it’s throat and brief shuffling is heard. The Jukebox sings more, and it doesn’t sound playful anymore.

♪And they sing, "Oh, ain't you glad you're single?"♪

A click is heard from behind me, followed by several other clicks. Almost as if something behind me was getting ready for something. It didn’t sound like a pony, it sounded mechanical.

♪And that song ain't so very far from wrong~♪

Chapter 5

Fallout Equestria: After Burn
Chapter 5 - Rusted Feelings

The intercom erupts and the voice is finally heard, my ear twitches in the direction of it and I pause in place as whatever is behind me shifts and pivots in place.

“You’re lost. Real lost.”

Another click, but this time the machine moves to my side and I get a brief glance at its body. It resembles a mare but made of complete metal. It’s gears and metal shifts back and forth with each movement and I turn white as it steps in front of me.

“Meet Med, our trusty defence mechanism. We’re going to have to ask you to place everything you have on the floor in front of you, and then we can decide on who you are and what to do with you.”

My entire body shakes, the metal being in front of me is bigger than the average mare but absolutely terrifying. Her face is covered by a face like metal mask of a normal mare, except the same colour as the rest of her body. Her sides shift and lock into place. I place my things in front of me extremely slowly and await the next response. I fucked up big time, how am I supposed to get out of here now? Before with the other pony in the hotel was easier because it was only one, but now there’s a hunk of a metal monster towering over me ready to kill me as if it was a chore. I sit there awkwardly for a solid five minutes before anything happens. I’m ready to speak before I’m cut off by the intercom stallion once more.

“Med will lead you to the back of the bar, there you will be greeted by two stallions, follow them and we will transfer you.”

Confused and afraid, I comply but hesitate sharply. My side is soon pressed firmly by the metal husk. The metal mare trails behind me as I’m lead into the back of the bar’s main room, where the intercom pony proves themselves right. Two bulky stallions stand in front of me, and immediately begin searching my belongings until they eventually remove all from the saddlebag and toss it to the side, sorting through my items and handing them to others where they soon leave my sight.

“Where is my stuff going?” I choke up, somewhat afraid to even speak.

The stallions don’t respond but instead move to the side, allowing entry to a door where Med goes first, which shows off the back of her head that’s held together by several wires and circuits. I follow close behind and I’m greeted by a rather large plaza looking room. There’s dozens of malicious seeming ponies talking and roaming as some turn to me and question my existence merely by looking at me. The machine turns and I turn with it, rhythmically moving throughout the room into another room. When does this end? I need to escape somehow but I can’t just go through with it with this many bandits roaming around ready to pounce on my helpless ass at any chance they get. The final room I’m brought to is rather small, Med even struggles to get inside the room herself as a stallion sits in the far part of the room, sorting papers and begins to mumble under his breath.

“Oh, you’re here already. Take a seat.”

I confusedly take a seat and look around the room. It’s somewhat clean and as soon as I’m about to speak, I’m cut off by the stallion.

“Name.”

“I’m sorry what?” I respond timidly.

“What’s your name? You have a name don’t you?”

“D-Diprivan.”

He looks up at me and his eyebrow raises ever so slightly and a stallion wanders over and hands him a pin. The pin that was attached to my lab coat when I was housed in the stable.

He speaks up while staring at the pin, a mild smile forming on his face. “A doctor, huh?”

“Uhm, well yes but-”

“Perfect.” He stands up and slips the pin onto my clothes and wanders near the entrance where I came from.

“You’re wondering where you are, and that’s fine and dandy but you see people don’t make it this far. If you hadn’t had that pin on you, I’d probably would have had Med rip you to shreds by now. Luckily for you..”

He heads back to me, slamming a hoof down onto the desk and looking directly at me with a tinted grin.

“We need a doctor for our lootings. You’re the new doctor here, follow orders and you survive as much as we do. Easy right? If you accept, which you will. You’ll follow Med to a local area of the city where a group is waiting and go through with whatever orders they give. Fail to accept this and you’ll be dead in a matter of seconds right here and now. What do you say?”

Well that doesn’t give me much of a choice now does it? I nod and mutter a response from my mouth. He nods back and a stallion forcefully brings me up, hands me my saddlebag which seems much lighter now and lightly pushes my back out the room. What’s left in my saddlebag is some medical equipment and rations. Med was already on her way out as I quickly caught up with the hunk of metal. We wandered out of the room and out of the back of the bar, walking past the horrific display in the center of the room. We head out of the bar. The sunshine back on my face, I sigh a breath of relief despite my circumstances.
Med walked like a mare, looked like a mare despite the metal, but what confused me was the mask she wore. The mask was an emotionless display of a mare’s face, but it seemed hollow and empty, void of all emotion. I walked beside Med and never really thought about something important. Does it speak?

“So.. do you speak?”

No response.

“I’m just very confused right now.”

No response.

I’m just going to shut up, it probably doesn’t speak. However something bothers me about this thing. It seems different than just a regular robot. We’ve had AI in the Stable before however I never really took much time actually thinking about it. Does it have an AI? Can it think? Can it feel? Probably not. The beating sun shines on my face, and on Med as we walk. The sunshine bounces off her strangely clean metal coat. My hoof instinctively raise up to feel the metal purely out of curiosity. Med turns her face and simply stares, no emotion, no response.

“I’m sorry it’s just, I don’t quite understand what you are.”

Yet again, not a response. I give up on my attempt at communicating with it and simply stay quiet for the entire journey. We eventually make our way towards the small camp just outside of an old general store.

“We got a new one” I hear one of the stallions muster, who are all much more built than I am. They wave somewhat nicely and flag me down to come closer. I do, but hesitantly.

“You don’t gotta be afraid bud, we ain’t gonna do anything to you. Unless you’re too much of an idiot to understand basic commands.” They exchange laughs and look back to me.

A mare nods, looking up from her drink and sizing me up. “He’s good enough, as long as he knows how to clean a wound I’m sure he won’t cause trouble.”

I refrain from speaking and Med soon follows up behind me. I see the bandits avoid eye contact with it and it does the same, heading off into the general store. Unaware of Med, I simply meet with the others and take a few quick glances around in my general area to get familiar. I hear muttering between the bandits about Med, and I pretend not to hear.

“Can’t believe you tolerate that thing, fucking freak.”

“What?” I respond as I shuffle in place.

“The metal mare, you hadn’t noticed? That thing is fucking creepy. No wonder Charcoal keeps it close. Basically an indestructible bodyguard.”

I didn’t mind it to be honest, it wasn’t creepy but it was more enticing than anything. It was interesting to see something different that wasn’t one hundred percent horrifying. I question who Charcoal is and he briefly tells me who. The stallion who saw me before I headed out here.

I perk up and simply shake my head, “She seems fine to me. I’ve seen worse.”

The bandits chuckle and shake their heads. Whether that was a genuine laugh or a cold hearted laugh because of my.. lack of intimidation or toughness. EIther way, I didn’t care. Even if I’m with a bunch of bandits, it shouldn’t be too bad right?

A gunshot is heard, somewhat near the campsite. Several of the bandits spring up and take places, their guns out and me.. Sitting in the middle of the camp looking like I have no idea where I am, which was mildly true!

“Get down kid!”

A gunshot springs across my head, scraping a bit of my left ear as I drop to the floor.

“NCR, watch it everyo-”

A bandit goes down, a clean shot through the eye with something extremely heavy. I start to panic and rush into the general store as fast as I could, a few bullets bouncing off the gravel roads as I see Med rush into the middle of things. I hide behind the general store counter and see several armed military ponies flood the camp. I cover my head behind the counter as gunshots fly in every direction possible. After a few quick metal shifts and bursts of eerily disturbing noises, dozens of screams appear out of nowhere as a loud bang is heard that is unidentifiable. A few “What the fuck is that!?” and “Get the fuck out of here!” are heard as dozens of the ponies run off in different directions. I peer up from the counter and see Med in the middle of the camp, completely fine, nothing going on. As if it never happened at all, Med goes back to walking around. The bandits spring up and they look pale, as if they’d seen a ghost. I rush up and ask what happened, they shove me out of the way and resume to what they were doing. Only a few words come out of them.

“Med helped. Go with Floral, she’ll tell you what to do. Go.”

I nod questioningly and do as he says, grabbing my saddle bag and seeing a mare flagging me down which I assume is Floral.

I want to know what happened, “what was that?” I ask quickly as we walk down the road.

She looks at me and swallows, “Med has a built in defence mechanism. We don’t quite understand it because we aren’t allowed to see it. But some of us saw it. I didn’t, but I’ve heard things about it.”

“What’s Med anyways?”

She sighs, as if she’s been asked this question so many times, “Med is something Charcoal’s stallions created, the origins of the actual thing is foreign, some people think there’s a person inside, some people think it’s pure metal.”

I nod, despite me being confused about this whole thing. We eventually make our way towards the destination. A couple of NCRs from before, huddled up and freaking out, which I can only assume is because of Med. They beg for assistance, and as I’m about to speak a bullet flies in each of their heads from Floral.

“What the fuck was that for!?”

She turns around and barks at me, “My job, those are NCR, the one’s we’re against. Now shut up and follow me.”

I obediently do so. Floral takes what she can from the two ponies and we make our way through the city. Floral and I eventually come across an old pharmacy, covered with wood as if somepony had boarded it up not too long ago. She turns to me and instructs me to stay here as she takes off the boardings. Out of nowhere, Med slides up to our spot and nearly freaks the hell out of Floral. She berates Med for doing that and the robotic mare simply stays still, no emotion whatsoever. Floral heads inside and requests I stay here with.. ‘It.’

“Why do they hate you so much?”

Med stays still.

“Honestly, I don’t mind you.”

A small and quiet gear shift.

I notice the gear shift and think nothing of it, it turns to me and nods. I’m taken back and begin sputtering loudly.

“Wait wait wait you can understand me? I mean, I know you can understand everyone but you actually responded.”

The metal mare shifts again, its plates moving into a new place. I sigh and simply look away. “You don’t have to speak to me, I understand if you can’t. You’re the most pony like thing so far out of these killing machines. I don’t know what you did back there, but I'm willing to forget it.”

On the front of it’s face, it shifts slightly and sends out a small high pitched noise, similar to an intercom.

“тнαɴĸ yoυ..”

I turn white, not realizing it actually spoke to me as I stumble backwards a bit at it’s creepily mare like voice. It’s voice was smooth, like an elegant mare, but the voice cracking of an old audio recording at the same time. Behind the emotionless mask hid a beautiful yet creepy silky voice that almost seemed like Med wasn’t even speaking, but it was indeed her that spoke. I sputter as Floral comes back and Med’s face shifts back into place.

“Okay so I fou-”

I cut her off and point to Med, telling her that it spoke.

“Don’t cut jokes like that, Med doesn’t talk. I found medical equipment, open your bag.”

She reaches over and unzips my saddlebag, throwing in a few bottles of something I couldn’t quite make out. She pushes my shoulder slightly as Floral, Med and I wander back into the camp. Did Med really speak to me? Or am I going insane? This can’t be real, but if it is isn’t it a good thing that Med spoke to me? I’m not sure what to think anymore. The bandits briefly are taken aback by Med turning the corner but soon sit back down in their lawn chair esque seats. I sit with them, almost feeling like one of them. The night drags on, us sitting there doing nothing with Med and I flashing a few glances at each other. A long night this will be.