Fallout Equestria: Dracony Chronicles

Lazuli twisted and turned in her bed. The sheets were wildly strewn about her, parts of them twisted around her body and coiling her like an angry snake trying to choke the life out of her. She gasped, tossing her head back and forth, eyes still shut, yet her body reacted as if she were feeling great pain.

Her eyes opened, but she wasn’t in her hospital bed. Instead, she was lying on her front on a metal table, pain tearing through the lower part of her back. A voice came from behind her, but her hooves were firmly bound to the table and she was unable to turn to see who it was. It was distinctly female, though.

“Come on now, Lazuli.” The voice giggled, another painful slice from a scalpel burning through her, at the base of her bright blue wings. “I get you’re resistant to potions and all, but I can’t have you waking up so often…I’ve got half a mind to leave you awake for this.”

“F-fuck…m-make…make it…stop…!” Lazuli cried out, her muscles tensing, warm blood seeping out of the wounds being cut in her back and a painful whine escaping from behind her gritted teeth.

A condescending tsk tsk tsk came from behind her. “Now this is just a pathetic showing from you. You were so impressive up until now, is this all that it takes to make you cry?~”

The mare’s voice seeped with malice, yet it held no evil intent at the same time. Lazuli hissed as the scalpel cut deeper, slicing through all the way to the bones of her wing, making her retch and properly bite down on the edge of the metal table to keep herself from howling.

“You sure you don’t wanna be asleep for this?” The mare snickered. “Would be a good idea, really…”

“I-I- f-fucking-…” Lazuli wheezed, trying desperately to ignore the pain shooting up her back. “I d-do…!”

Slowly the sound of hooves clip-clopping against the concrete floor of the laboratory grew louder as the mare circled around to her front. A tall zebra stood before her, her right foreleg replaced with a cybernetic counterpart and her mane styled in a mohawk. Cold, steely blue eyes glared down at her. “Gods, you’re pathetic.” She snorted. “A few cuts to your wings and you’re crying?”

“N-not…c-c-…crying…” Lazuli stammered, but she knew that was a lie. She could feel tears rolling down her cheeks, just as she could feel blood seeping from her wounds.

“You know, this wouldn’t’ve happened if you hadn’t tried to block bullets with these things, Laz. Buuuut it just means it’s the perfect time for an upgrade.” Ayize’s metal leg folded open to allow her to pick up a small syringe from in front of Lazuli, squeezing out any excess air. “I’m not that cruel though. Try not to wake up early this time, okay? I’m gonna need to start sawing bones and connecting nerves soon, and it’s gonna hurt.”

Lazuli winced as the needle was injected into her neck, and already the pain began to subside. “H-how…f-fucking…nice of y-you…” She said drowsily, her eyes slowly closing before she passed out entirely.

She woke up almost immediately. Her body jerked, her eyes shot open and she sat bolt upright, inhaling deeply as if she hadn’t been breathing for a whole minute. She started panting, her head swiveling from side to side, regarding the infirmary room…

Everything looked normal. She reached back with her hoof. Both of her metal wings were there, whirring and clicking with each movement she made. Her chest was pounding, but she was slowly calming down. She gently laid herself back down, taking slow, deep breaths and staring up at the ceiling.

It had been a week and a half since she had gotten hit. At this point Crystal had deemed her well enough to walk, but she slept in the infirmary anyway – Tempest had decided she should stay, but wouldn’t explain why. She could tell the unicorn was hiding something, but from the way she hid it like a school filly who couldn’t hold a secret in, she imagined it was supposed to be a good sort of surprise. She was just glad that Tempest seemed not to be angry about their last conversation, which was a relief.

“Rise and shine, sleepyhead!” Came the sing-song voice of the nurse she had become so familiar with, the lights in the room gently flickering to life. They weren’t oppressively bright, but it was still enough to make Lazuli squint.

“You know, I’m not a filly.” Lazuli smiled softly as she sat up to greet Crystal.

The pure white unicorn softly giggled, running a hoof through her mane as she trotted forward and used her magic to start changing the blanket Lazuli had haphazardly wrapped around herself. “Really? These sheets say otherwise. Goddesses, did you have some kind of bad dream? Looks like a bomb went off in here!”

“Well…” Lazuli rubbed the back of her neck, which was still quite sore. “I did have a bad dream, yeah. Sorry.”

“Oh, it’s no problem. At least it wasn’t anything to do with water, hm?” She joked, folding up the blanket. “…Alright, maybe that wasn’t very funny. But still, you should get up and get some breakfast. I believe Commander Tempest has something to show you, as well…”

Lazuli raised an eyebrow. “Show me? Er…right.” She slowly swung herself to the edge of the bed, setting her hind legs down on the tiles before her front hooves came down after. “Uhm…Pearl’s okay, right? She didn’t visit yesterday.”

“Oh, yes!” Crystal placed the folded sheets aside, starting to change the actual bedspread now that Lazuli was up. “She was a bit busy yesterday. She’s started school here, you know!”

Lazuli blinked. “She-…she has?”

“Mmhm!” Crystal said cheerily. “The other foals have taken well to her. In fact, she’s the target of quite a bit of admiration, that little robo-filly.”

“I…um…wow, she didn’t mention that at all. When did she start?”

“Only a few days ago, darling. Don’t feel left out, most of her concern has probably been on you. She’ll be happy to see you out and about.”

Slowly, the Dracony wiggled her wings and smiled. “Crystal?” She asked, leaning against the bed.

“Hmm? What is it, darling?”

“How’s it possible for a pony to be as nice as you?”

The unicorn turned beet red. “Oh, well that- that’s a very kind thing to say, Lazuli. Thank you.”

“You’re just-…ngh. Sorry if that’s weird. You’ve been nothing but nice to everypony I’ve seen you interact with, it’s kind of amazing, especially out in the Wasteland…”

“Oh, it’s-…it’s nothing, darling. Now go on, you’ve got plenty of ponies to charm.” She flicked her tail in Lazuli’s general direction, earning a gentle giggle from the Dracony as she turned and headed for the door.

When she stepped out of her room, immediately she was nearly given a heart attack. Copper Star practically tackled her right out of the gate, though it was more reasonably a tight hug. The green unicorn happily wrapped her forelegs around Lazuli with a happy ‘squee’ noise that made the Dracony’s heart wobble. “And a good mornin’ to y’all, Laz!” The cowmare chirped, releasing Lazuli from her death grip and pulling back with a wide, charming smile. “Was startin’ to wonder if we’d lost ya!”

“Come on Copper, it’s been what, two days since you saw me?”

“Two days too many!” Copper asserted.

Lazuli was still surprised how fast the two of them had bonded. Copper came to visit her only three times since they met, but each time Laz grew to like her more and more. There was something about her energetic attitude, her friendly demeanor and happiness, three things that were often missing in ponies in the Wastes. “Okay, fine.” Lazuli rolled her eyes. “So what’s happening now, then?”

“Well there ain’t no way I’m lettin’ ya go out in the trainin’ yard yet, but Commander Tempest’s sayin’ she got somethin’ for ya! Should probably go see what that’s all about, hm?”

An eyebrow was raised again. “Well…that was my plan, yeah. I kind of wanted to go see Pearl first, though…you seen her?”

“Pearl’s prolly in class right now, hun! Er…Cap’n, I mean. The school here ain’t anythin’ fancy, but it lets foals learn ‘bout some important stuff. Mostly history ‘n all. The Commander always makes sure li’l foals know about all that. And any grown-ups too, if they don’t already.”

“Oh.” Lazuli rubbed her chin with a hoof. “Well…when does class let out?”

Copper glanced at the clock on the wall. Time was mostly subjective in the Wastes, but when the sun was out it was day, and when the moon was out it was night. The clock read 1 PM. “Mmm…’bout an hour?” She said.

“Ah. I’ll go see Tempest then, I guess.” She started to trot down the hall, Copper falling into step beside her.

The green mare trotted along with a bit more of a skip in her step than the Dracony, who was a bit uneasy on her hooves. “So uh, Laz, er, you mind me callin’ you Laz?”

“You already have. Like, multiple times.” Lazuli shot her a smirk.

“Oh, er, right. Well I’ve been meanin’ to ask somethin’, but I just wanna make sure it ain’t too personal…”

Lazuli raised an eyebrow. “Erm…I’m sure it’s fine. What uh…what is it?” She tilted her head slightly.

“Well, I was wonderin’…are you and Commander Tempest like…a thing? Or I guess, were you a thing, back then…?”

“…That- um- well…” Lazuli cleared her throat. “I…er…if you-“ She shook her head. This isn’t a hard question to answer, Laz. She reminded herself. “Well…no, we weren’t. If you mean a romantic thing, anyway. We were just…really good friends. Still are. Never anything more.”

“Ah, yeah, gotcha.” Copper could tell she asked an awkward question. “Was just curious ‘n all, since y’all seem so close and stuff.”

“Well, we did just meet again after 200 years of thinking each other dead.”

Copper nodded. “Uh, right. Sorry ‘bout that.” She kept walking, glancing in every direction but Lazuli’s.

“So, any idea what this thing is? The thing Tempest wants to show me, anyway.” Lazuli helpfully tried to change the subject.

“Oh, I ain’t got a clue. I know she was askin’ around for ponies who were good at makin’ wooden stuff, though…”

“…Wooden stuff? She better not have gotten me a toy…” Lazuli said in mock annoyance, but in reality, it would be adorable.

The two of them reached the main doors to Tempest’s chambers after a minute, and Copper turned to stand outside. “I’m gonna wait here. She prolly wants to talk to ya alone, right?”

“Um, I guess so, yeah.” Lazuli nodded. “I’ll be out in a minute.” She slowly pushed the doors open, making sure they were closed behind her before walking further inside.

It was dark in the computer room, as always, but something was a bit different. She was greeted almost immediately by the form of Tempest’s robot body standing in the center, the metal construct happily bounding over to her with steps that made metallic echoes and mechanical noises bounce off the walls. “Laz!” She called happily, grabbing her Draconic friend in a hug that was similar to Copper’s, only a lot…colder. Not that Lazuli had a problem with that.

“Hey, Temp.” Lazuli happily returned the hug, giving the metal mare’s cheek a small nudge with her nose before pulling away.

“I’m honestly super happy to see you’re okay…” Tempest smiled warmly. “I was getting worried. You walking okay? Bones healed and stuff?” She began to circle Lazuli closely, looking up and down her body to examine her.

Lazuli rolled her eyes. “Temp, I’m fine. Stop acting like I’m minutes away from turning into a ghoul, metal-flank.”

“Hey!” Tempest feigned offense. “That’s rude.”

Laz swished her tail a bit. “Mmph. Alright, anyway, what’s this thing you wanted to show me?” She looked around, not noticing much different in the room, aside from a chair in front of the monitor that Tempest was usually projected on.

Tempest’s various parts clicked and shifted as she moved, slowly walking towards a door that Lazuli understood to lead to nowhere but an empty hall. “Weeelll…I figured since you needed to stay in the base for a while, and maaaybe you’d want someone to sleep with instead of erm…you know…being alone…” She pushed open the door, revealing that the hallway had been cut off with a large wooden wall, made into what looked like a very small bedroom. The bed was set up in the far left corner across from the door, and while it looked very makeshift, it was sturdy.

The room had no windows, but the lights at least worked independently to the rest of the lights in the hallway. There was a janitor’s closet that had been repurposed into a proper one, where Lazuli could see her suit, holster and weapons hanging.

Lazuli glanced at Tempest, who was sporting the best smile she could with her current body. “Oh, and uh, if you want Pearl moved here too, I’m sure we could arrange that. It’s not a big deal. Er…” Tempest glanced anxiously between Lazuli and the room. “Do…uh…do you like it? I know it’s a little rusty, but we can work on that-…”

Lazuli simply leaned in and rested her weight against Tempest. “Temp, you need to stop second-guessing like that.” She murmured, gently rubbing her cheek against the metal surface of her friend’s shoulder, hearing the gears and machinery moving inside. “It’s great, it really is. I’m just…are you sure you wanna use this much…space, just for me?”

Tempest leaned down and nuzzled the side of Lazuli’s face. “You’re worth it, Laz.” She said quietly. “Don’t worry. We weren’t going to use the hallway anyway, if that makes you feel any better.”

“Aww, so I’m not special?” Lazuli snickered, bumping her hip against Tempest again. “But…I really like it, Temp. As long as Pearl gets to sleep here too.”

“You got it.” Tempest gently clapped Lazuli on the back. “But, you understand that I don’t want you leaving the base, right?”

Lazuli’s smile didn’t waver. “Temp, I can handle being cooped up in here for a little while, don’t worry. As long as I get to go outside at least a little bit.”

“Yeah, that’s fine. I just don’t…you know…want you getting hurt.” Tempest sheepishly grinned.

The two of them stepped back out of Lazuli’s bedroom, and Tempest began to walk her robot body back to its pod. “You’ll start work as a trainer tomorrow, Laz. For now, you can relax a little.”

“Temp, I’ve been doing nothing but relaxing for…like…two weeks.”

“Still, take the time to explore the base or something.” Her robotic body slid into its space, and Tempest’s face appeared on the main screen in the middle of the room again, her voice louder and clearer. “I’ll be right here. Unless you want to talk, of course…”

Lazuli bounded right up to the chair that sat near the monitor, hopping onto it and leaning right up against the screen without another word. “You say that like I have an option~”