allout Equestria: Broken Oaths

A fanfiction of Kkats Fallout Equestria

Chapter 8: Release the Hounds

By Fallen Sentinel

“Factories made the weapons, but whos the killer? The weapon or the user? But in your case are you the weapon or the user?”

As I woke up, I felt my back stiff and couldn’t help but groan in discomfort. “I’ve got to stop sleeping on the floor,” I muttered, straining to stand up as my legs were stiff too. I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes and glanced around the room, thankfully finding everything about as we’d left it. I slowly made my way for the panic room, stretching as much as I could while I walked to wake my body up. By the time I made it to the door I almost felt rested, though I couldn’t help but yawn once more as I peeked inside the panic room.

Siren was laying still asleep, spread out by the ropes binding her hooves and her gag still in her mouth. Vlyka was standing guard over her, but as she turned to look at me I couldn’t help but notice she was jerking a little bit as she moved. The covers on her optics fell to block almost half of her optics...she was tired? Could she even be tired? “Is...something wrong, Vlyka?” I asked, as she jerked in my direction.

“Low power,” she muttered, her voice sounding significantly more artificial than I remembered it being last night. There had always been a hint of a metallic ring in her voice, but now it dominated her speech. “Need to...recharge…” she said, before moving past me and towards the door. I listened as she left, surprised to hear her servos whine and her hooffalls much, much louder than I’d ever heard her walk before. I could only guess something in her body let her walk almost silently, but in her low-powered state that took too much energy to keep running.

As Vlyka clunked away, me only thinking I should have asked her how she planned to recharge well after I stopped hearing her hoofbeats, I turned my focus back to Siren. Either our talking or Vlyka’s clanking had woken her up, and she was just glancing around in minor confusion. She seemed to recall exactly how she’d ended up in this position and let out an annoyed sigh, before she looked up and saw me. “Whr ya tar ing ah me” she muttered through her gag. It was clear enough she was asking a question, but I couldn’t understand the rest and removed it so she could talk. “Storm, were you staring at me while I was asleep?” she asked. Her tone was harsh and irritated, but I was willing to chalk that up to having spent the night tied up.

I shook my head in response. “I just got here a couple seconds ago,” I replied, as I reached up to start untying her forelegs. Thankfully I was quick with the knots and got her forelegs untied, and she reached down to work on freeing her wings. But after a moment she paused, staring at me before glancing down at her back legs. She looked between us for a moment until I sighed.

“You know,” she muttered,as I moved to untie her hind legs. “Sometimes I can’t tell if you’re just trying to annoy me, or you’re just that lazy.”

“Can’t we say I’m doing both?” I asked, glancing back at her and giving her a slight smirk. Surprisingly, I heard her let out a soft giggle. I almost recoiled in shock, but kept untying her hooves. She was freed in short order and rolled off the bed...only to fall indignantly onto the floor.

“Oww…” she muttered, looking up at me as I tried to withhold the smirk on my face. “Well you try being tied up all night and see how your legs work all morning.” I kept failing to hold back my amusement, and she huffed, glaring at me as she tried to stand again. Despite her legs wobbling a little, Siren stood to her full height and started to stretch her joints out. I almost wanted to give her a moment of privacy, but I couldn’t help but stare at her as she stretched. She was truly beautiful, I had to admit, and I couldn’t help but feel a little jealous of Pale Shroud: however short their relationship had been, he’d been lucky to have her.

“Storm, do you have a mirror?” Her words jerked my thoughts back to the present, and I looked at the bed to distract myself from Siren’s body for a moment. She didn’t seem to notice I’d been staring as she looked over at me.

I shook my head. “I don’t think so,” I said, reaching to check my saddlebag and remembering too late I’d left it sitting by my sleeping space. “Don’t remember packing one, why do you need it?” Siren’s trademark glare met me again, causing me to sigh. “And what am I missing now?”

“My mane, Storm, I need to check my mane!” she snapped. I glanced at her mane in response, a little surprised I hadn’t noticed yet that it did indeed look a little messy.

“Doesn’t look bad to me,” I replied, trying to be helpful. “Maybe a little messy but not bad.”

Siren only rolled her eyes. “Thanks ever so much,” she grumbled. “I still need to fix it up. Now find me a mirror.”

I gestured for the door with a slight, playful bow. “Well right this way, ma’am.”

“Such a gentlecolt,” Siren replied, shaking her head as she trotted past me into the office. As I followed her inside, I caught her staring at Gunrunner with a bemused smirk. “How does one sleep so peacefully when he could die any second?” she asked aloud, watching as Gun shifted in his sleep, still resting atop his collection of bags. But as Siren glanced at me she shook her head again. “Nevermind, I know the feeling.”

I trotted past Siren towards my saddlebags on the catwalk as Siren followed, casting her eyes acros to the chair where Redwood was still tied up. “Why did you idiots even bring her,” she growled. “She’ll cause you more trouble than I ever could.”

I was about to argue with her, but as I dug through my bags I quickly found what I was looking for. “Ok Siren, come here. Got your best friends for you.”

Siren turned and hurried towards me, looking momentarily excited. I winced a bit at seeing her so energized, as I pulled the collar and leash out of my bag. “Oh.” Siren muttered, raising a hoof to her neck. I could still remember the relief on her face when we’d taken it off last night, and it hurt more than I wanted to admit to put it back on her. But before Siren could get a good look at it I hurried to try and put it on her, hoping she wasn’t getting ideas how to get it off herself. Thankfully she didn’t fight me as I gently placed it on her neck, closing it while making sure there was plenty of space to breathe within its confines. I then threaded the leash back through and tied it down.

“There,” I said jokingly. “Safe and secure.”

“Secure, maybe,” Siren huffed. I looked at her, upset my joke hadn’t worked, as she sighed and fiddled with the collar for a second. “Now can we please get to a mirror already?”

“Okay, okay,” I replied, checking quickly through my saddlebag. Like I suspected, I hadn’t brought one, but I did remember something from yesterday. “Weren’t their mirrors in the bathroom before?”

“I think so,” Siren said, perking up a little. But her smile vanished quickly. “Which are all downstairs…”

“Well, we know how to get there,” I replied, raising a hoof to Siren. She sighed but took it and hopped on my back as I stepped up to the gap in the catwalk. “Let me know when you’re ready,” I said, hoping to not startle her this time. I glanced back to see Arkangel, still seemingly asleep in his armor at the other end of the catwalk; I really didn’t want Siren to scream and wake him up if I could help it.

On my back, I felt Siren shaking a little bit. I glanced back at her and saw her trying not to stare down, finally closing her eyes and nodding her head to me. I took that as a sign she was ready and flapped my wings, taking us both in the air. Siren squeaked with fright and her hooves dug into my neck, but I quickly flapped past the gap and set us back down before Siren could get too anxious, gently tapping her hooves to get her to let go when we were back on the ground.

Thankfully Siren was well behaved while we hurried down the hallway towards the bathroom, me anxious to let Siren calm down and address her mane to her exacting specifications. I still tried to hold Siren back just a little, just to remind her that she wasn’t the one technically in charge right now, but my heart wasn’t in it as much as before. We made it to the staff room easily enough, Siren spotting the bathroom and hurrying over to the door. But she stopped right as she reached the door for the mare’s room, before glancing at me. “I know what you’re thinking,” I said sternly, “and yes I’m following you in.” Surprisingly, Siren didn’t yell at me for that comment, only sighing before silently opening the door and heading inside.

I was surprised to see how clean the bathroom was. There weren’t any stains and the tiles still looked mostly white, only aged a little. I couldn’t help but feel a tad nervous, glancing behind me to see the age and devastation in the room we’d just come from, but Siren rushed right for the mirror to check her mane. As I looked back into the bathroom I thought I saw something move out of the corner of my eye, but when I looked more attentively I didn’t see anything there. There was another room connected to the bathroom, one with faint light still running above it and a sign reading “showers” above.

The sign made me realize we hadn’t had a proper bath in days now. So I cleared my throat and muttered “uh, Siren?” She looked at me rather cross, until I pointed at the sign. She almost leapt with glee when she saw it. She passed me in a hurry, me getting just a whiff of her coat and realizing she really needed a good shower after all.

As Siren hurried into the room I followed her, glancing around for any other signs of movement. All the stalls for each individual shower were closed, marred a little by time...more in here than in the main bathroom. I was confused by that, but Siren was far too distracting to ponder that further. “Okay Storm, I know what you’re thinking but…” She looked at me, at the leash that still held her back from the shower. I glanced down at it, then back at her, and she sighed with frustration. “Please, just go to the other room. I’m going to undress, I really don’t need you staring at me while I’m naked.” She stared right at me, glaring as I stared back at her. “Storm…”

I sighed, frustrated, but finally let go of her leash. I turned to trot out of the room, rolling my eyes at Siren as I tried to keep my suspicions on her, but I was fed up with this anyways. Siren was too interested in her shower by now, I could already hear her throwing her robes to the floor in a hurry. I almost wanted to peek back, but if Siren spotted me I’d never hear the end of it, and if I just gave her a minute to have a shower to herself maybe she’d mellow out a little. By the time my lust got the better of me, Siren was already in the stall and all I could see were her hooves.

I growled at myself in frustration and left the bathroom. I knew that I wouldn’t leave Siren alone for a bit if I was this close, so I tried to distract myself with something, anything. “If she weren’t an overseer this wouldn’t be so difficult…” I muttered, only to have an uncomfortable thought jump into my head. My mother had become one of the overseers a while ago. She had the same authority as Siren did, though from what I remembered not the same respect. Our family was odd, for a bunch of pegasi we tended to think better of non-pegasi, which put my mom at odds with most of the overseers, including the High Overseer. My mom had tried to teach us that we could all work together...but could we? Now that I was a traitor to the Stable? How could Siren even guarantee my life back when everypony there. Mom had mentioned work on drugs to erase memories at some point, could those really be used to clear all this up?

I sighed and pulled the ORDIS helmet off my head in frustration. I needed a minute to breathe, but staring at it, shifting it in my hooves only excited my mind further. “And what the hell is this thing?” I muttered. The general stable populace didn’t know about this, did any of the overseers besides Siren? Were there records to it? Should I just leave these secrets somewhere the stable wouldn’t find?

I needed fresher air than this bathroom was offering, so I left for the hallway, content that Siren would take the time to soak herself with a hot shower. There was a doorway not too far away that led back outside, and as I stepped through it I took a deep whiff of the air around me. It was dusty, wind kicking up dirt and sand from the surroundings, but still felt oddly fresh. I looked across the horizon, only for my eyes to linger on a small object not too far away. It wasn’t the same orangish color of the ground, no, it was redder than that. I stepped closer and realized what I was looking at: Vlyka.

The robot had folded her legs down under her chest, lying on top of them as far as she could get down with her neck almost parallel with the ground, her snout almost in the dirt. I could see the shields over her optics had closed, just like an organic’s eyelids; it looked almost like she’d fallen asleep. What didn’t make me think she might have been organic, however, were the strange wing-like protrusions sticking out from her sides. She absolutely had not had them before, some black-blue reflective surface in a grid pattern. I stepped a little closer to get a better look, but the second my hoof hit the ground, Vlyka’s head snapped up. Her optics jerked open, the shutters narrowing to pinpricks with what I swore was a faint red light behind the iris.

I jerked backwards, fearing for my life as the killer robot looked ready to charge forward and rip me to pieces. But my body froze, and Vlyka’s shutters shifted, twisting a little bit as though she were studying me. It felt like minutes passed within a second, and the shutters pulled back to open her optics back to their normal size. The faint red light vanished and her expression changed from a warning glare to calm. “Vlyka?”

“Hello Fantastic,” she replied.

“Uh...what...exactly are you doing?” I asked, glancing at her ‘wings.’

Vlyka looked too, her eyes narrowing on the panels for a moment. “Recharging. Solar energy is gathered on the panels and converted into electricity for me to store.”

“Wait, solar power?” Vlyka nodded at me. “But, the clouds…you can get solar power through the clouds?”

“Not efficiently,” she replied. “Currently my solar panels are operating at 15.271% efficiency. The highest efficiency I have recorded was 38.544%.”

“Huh,” I muttered, as I came a little closer. Vlyka didn’t move, only watching me with interest as I approached her. She wasn’t hostile, her stare was very different from the killer look she’d had before. “Did I scare you?” I asked. “You kinda jerked at me like you were gonna kill me.”

“I was responding to possible threats,” she said matter-of-factly. “When I go to charge, the process takes less time if I turn off all non-critical systems, with the exception of my proximity and auditory sensors for defense. I wasn’t aware it was you until my targeting systems rebooted and connected your face to my memory.”

“I bet you remember a lot,” I laughed, sitting down a little ways from her. “What’s it like in there, in your head?”

“I would estimate about…”

“No no no,” I interrupted her, “not literally! I don’t need your schematics.” Vlyka closed her mouth, looking a little sheepish as she turned her head away. “I just meant...what do you see in there? How do you process information, what does it feel like? What’s it like to be a machine?”

Vlyka was silent for a moment, and I watched with interest as the smaller plates around her optics and mouth shifted to resemble the look of a pony absolutely puzzled by a question. “I don’t know how to compare it to anything,” she said finally. “This is the only process I’ve known, I don’t fully understand how an organic mind works or how you would visualize your thoughts.” I shrugged at her as she continued to stare, I could see it in her optics she was looking for an answer. “What is it like being alive?”

“Oh boy,” I thought, “why am I answering this? Why’d it have to be me?” I bit my lip gently, trying to think of how to reply. I hadn’t even been a scientist for that long, and now I was supposed to explain life to a machine? Of course that was the irony of it all: I’d wanted to build advanced robots back in the stable, but here I was face to face with one far beyond my wildest dreams and I had no idea what to say, what it wanted.

“I..well it’s…” I stammered, as Vlyka tilted her head. “Being alive, it’s just sort of...experiences?” I resisted the urge to facehoof at my obvious lack of conviction in that answer, but it was getting me somewhere. “You experience things, color, sights, tastes...emotions…”

“So what are emotions exactly?” my voice fell flat as Vlyka continued. “I understand the mechanism, a chemical alteration in the brain, a response to external stimuli. But what dictates emotion, why does one stimulus provoke different emotions in different ponies? How is it learned, what is its source, its goal if any?”

“Guhhh…” I tried my best to make a coherent word but nothing came. I finally shook my head. “Well for me at least, emotions are like you said; responses. We respond to things that upset us, that make us happy, that cause us to just feel something.”

“But why?” Dammit, I knew that question was coming.

“I just...I don’t know, Vlyka.” I sighed, frustrated. I didn’t have a better answer for her, one I thought she could understand.

“Do any of you organics know?” I shrugged at her, and she turned her head to the ground. “Then...how do you know what is an emotion?”

“You just feel it,” I said. “I don’t really know how else to say it.”

Vlyka shifted her legs a little, but remained sitting. “Do you think then, that you could create a program to experience an emotion? Or would it just be a copy of a pattern in your mind?”

I gulped, afraid of that answer. Vlyka had been clearly conflicted about stating she had no emotions earlier. I knew her logic was at odds with her emotional behavior, at least when it surfaced, and she was trying to parse it out. I could only hope I could help her avoid crashing from the confusion. “I don’t think I could, but I don’t know everypony. Maybe...maybe we could make emotions in something, not just copy it.” Vlyka stared at me for a moment, before a faint smile worked its way onto her face. I think I’d done it, at least for now. “Was that what they made you for? A test bed for artificial emotions?”

“No,” said Vlyka. “My original constructors designed me as an infiltration unit. I was designed to enter a stable and sabotage, or assassinate it. I...don’t know if I ever fulfilled that programming. My blueprints were created two hundred and three years ago, but my current processor and data are far newer than that.”

“So...what, you think they found your chassis and replaced your mind?” Vlyka nodded once. “And what did the new scientists want with you?”

“Advanced combat, soldier and assassin unit.” I should have known that would be her answer. “But as I was to be under radio silence behind enemy lines, they required an advanced, independent intelligence. What records I have of theirs indicate because I was fully built, I was an adequate test bed for that purpose. And test they did, with full intent to release me as a war machine...except for them.”

I blinked in surprise. “Uh...them?”

“Two of the scientists were not convinced that using me as a weapon was right,” she said. “Their personal logs indicated they thought I represented more, artificial life in his case, and that I shouldn't have to be used like the rest of the staff intended.”

“Oh,” I muttered. “And...do you know what happened to them? After you left?”

Vlyka’s optic twitched, her face scrunched up painfully. I’d struck a nerve...circuit, synapse? “One I don’t know, she left before I was independent enough to observe, and her personnel files were corrupted when I escaped. But the other…” One of Vlyka’s hooves worked its way out from under her body, and she stared at it.

“Wait, you didn’t…”

She shook her head and set the hoof down. “No, I didn’t. But I saw it happen. I was in standby mode and couldn’t react but my sensors recorded it. Highmill ordered another robot to attack and…”

I saw Vlyka’s hoof shaking, I could hear some of her servos whine as they shifted so rapidly. Uncertain what to do I gently extended a hoof to hers and pressed it down. She looked back up at me as the shaking passed, her optics refocusing on me. “I’m sorry, Vlyka,” I muttered, as the solar panels on her side began to fold away. As they slotted neatly into two small compartments on Vlyka’s sides, I glanced at my Pipbuck for the time. The mention of Highmill and recalling how she and Siren had known each other had reminded me I’d given Siren enough time alone to screw us over again. I could only hope that she was enjoying a nice, long shower, but even so she’d be getting out soon and I should have been there to keep her under control.

“It isn’t your fault Fantastic,” Vlyka replied as she stood upright. I watched for a second as her legs moved in every direction, I had to guess her body doing a servo check to make sure everything was still working. I started to walk back to the factory, as Vlyka’s checks went smoothly and she trotted after me, servos quieted again from her full charge.

“You can call me Storm, you know,” I smiled. “Less syllables.”

“I...suppose I can,” Vlyka replied, looking worried about something. But I couldn’t help but giggle at her almost adorable face.

“You know, being designed as a war machine, you don’t seem all that threatening.” I smirked as Vlyka looked a bit confused. “I mean your choke out is pretty effective, but you could have just snapped my neck and been done with it.”

Vlyka shook her head. “I don’t like to end an individual’s data collection process.”

I almost stumbled at her words, before I started to catch up to her meaning. “You don’t like killing ponies?” She shook her head. “Well, any idea why?”

“I value information,” she said curtly. “I try to collect as much information as I can to understand the situations around me. I do not want my data collection to be interrupted, I can only assume that others are the same way. I will terminate if it’s necessary, but I have to assume that organics don’t want their data lost, just like...”

Suddenly, Vlyka stopped dead in her tracks. Her shutters shrunk her irises down, not quite to the danger pinpricks before but close enough to worry me. “What is it?” I asked her.

“Storm, where did you leave Siren?”

“Shit…” I muttered. “In the showers, why? Is she gone?”

Vlyka shook her head. “No, I have her on my EFS...with multiple hostile targets.”

The two of us immediately started running for the factory, Vlyka right behind me as I headed through the front door. “Go get the others, I’ll get Siren!” I yelled, gesturing for Vlyka to run towards the catwalk. She hesitated a moment, but nodded and turned to run, as I headed for the showers. I’d slammed my helmet back on my head during the run, but I realized only now that I’d forgotten to bring my battle-saddle when I’d taken Siren to the bathroom. It was too late to regret that now, as I smashed through the bathroom door and hurried for the showers. “Siren!” I cried out.

“Storm! Where are you?!” Siren shrieked, as I ran for the shower stall. I could hear the sound of a struggle, and sure enough as I rounded the corner I saw Siren lying on the floor, kicking with her back legs at a stallion standing over her. But it wasn’t just an ordinary stallion; this pony had rotting, molted skin and the stench of decay suffocating the entire room. I could smell it even through the helmet, and I almost gagged on the raw disgusting odor. “Storm!”

The stallion dropped his head to bite at Siren’s neck, but in a panic I charged forward and slammed into him with my shoulder, knocking him off Siren as I tripped over her stomach. The two of us skidded a bit, the stallion hitting the wall with a sickening crunch. He fell on the ground as I struggled to get back up and help Siren, but started to rise again, seemingly immune to whatever pain he was in. It lunged at me instead, biting at my hooves as I tried to defend myself from his attack.

I tried to turn myself away from the stallion, pulling it away as Siren stumbled to her hooves and back towards the wall, but he was attacking me too quick for me to counter. The tiles weren’t helping either, being wet from Siren’s shower and causing me to slip as I tried to find stable hoofing. I saw Siren stare at me in fear and confusion, wondering what she could do, and while I frantically searched for an option I realized my EFS was acting up again. A second red tag showed up nearby...then another, and another, another… “Siren watch out!” I yelled, as another stall burst open. My blood ran cold as an eerie scream echoed in the shower room, like dozens of voices engulfed with pain crying out at once. Then, they came, more ragged and decaying ponies, their bodies damp and jerking just like the one attacking me now.

Out of time, I slammed the stallion back into the wall, cracking his skull hard against the tiles. But it didn’t stop moving, so I grabbed it and slammed it again, and again...adrenaline took hold and I lost myself in a berserk rage, only just hearing Siren’s scream of fear as the pony’s skull finally caved. I stepped back as the pony collapsed, releasing a sickly smelling, sticky ichor instead of blood or brain matter. I didn’t have time to think of what it was though, as the new arrivals had turned for Siren. She’d climbed up onto a bathroom stall to avoid them, only just out of reach of their decayed hooves as they swung wildly for her.

“What’s wrong with these ponies?!” Siren screamed, kicking at one of their hooves as they reached for her.

“Stop!” I yelled, “stop it, we don’t have to kill each other!” I tried to call out, reason with these ponies, but it was no good. A unicorn turned to me and shrieked, the unearthly howl sending chills up my back as I reflexively spread my wings. The ponies turned to me, charging forward as I used my reflexes to catapult myself into the air, hovering above the ground and hopefully above their reach.

“Somepony help us!” Siren cried, as a few of the decayed ponies still reaching for her. I tried to fly closer to her, but the room was a tight space to fly in and I couldn’t get much closer without getting too close to the freakshow down on the ground.

“Vlyka’s getting help!” I called to Siren, “it’s going to be-”

“Storm!” Siren tried to warn me, but it was too late. In trying to reassure Siren, I’d taken my focus off the horde below, and one of them had climbed on the other’s back, high enough to reach me. Their teeth sank into my back right hoof, making me gasp in pain as my wings momentarily gave out. I fell to the ground and was swarmed as more and more ghoulish ponies attacked me, surrounding me as I was dragged into the middle of the horde. I felt them bite, strike me, trying to tear through the armor on my front half to no avail. But my back half was not so lucky, as their teeth sank into my back legs and tried to tear my flesh from my bones. I was in agony, crying out in pain as it grew too much to bear. I could feel myself getting hazy, feel myself hemorrhaging blood. I couldn’t hang on anymore….

Just as I was about to fade out, I heard a deafening cracking noise, and suddenly the continuing pain was lessened. There was a blur in my fuzzy vision as the cannibal ponies were knocked away from me, I felt somepony grab my by the forelegs and haul me away from them, a red streak and white blasts keeping the cannibals back.

My vision cleared a little and I looked up, Siren at my side and trying to get my ORDIS helmet off. Gunrunner was nearby too, grabbing something from his bag and hurrying to me just as Siren got the helmet to release and slide off my head. I could just see Ark’s tail striking down at the nearest cannibal, but my vision was fading out as my mind almost gave up on everything. The pain was too much, I couldn’t go on; it was time to die.

It didn’t seem as though Gunrunner agreed with me though, as he opened my mouth and poured something into it. I couldn’t even bring myself to swallow it, just letting it pool in my mouth as I struggled against trying to breathe. “Storm come on, drink it,” I heard Gunrunner say, his voice far away from where he should have been. I felt Siren take my head in her hooves and turn it to face me. “He’s got to drink it, come on!”

“Storm, please…” Siren’s voice now, coming through layers on layers of cloth despite her being right in front of me. Even as my vision faltered I could see her there, inches from my face. “Storm, you’ve gotta drink it, please.” I couldn’t comprehend why I saw tears in her eyes: she hated me, why would she care if I were dying? Why was she so worried?

“Siren, give him a reason to live!” Gunrunner shouted, and Siren jerked in shock, staring up at the merc.

“And what exactly is that supposed to mean?!” she bellowed, letting go of my head and letting it slip back to the floor. My muzzle hit the ground softly as my mind finally gave out, knocking me into complete blackness.

Author's Note

Footnote: Level up

New Perk: Chem Resistant --- Half as likely to get addicted

(thanks to Kkat for making fallout equestria and thus allowing us to make this story)

Project starter: Fantastic Storm
Story writer: Arkangel
Editor: Midnight Storm
Spelling/grammar checker: ERROR 1024
Supporting people: AkariFolf, Glitcher1987, Cobalt Hex