Fallout Equestria: Dracony Chronicles

Nighttime in the Wasteland was always a mixture of terrifying, saddening and beauty, in Lazuli’s experience.

When she lived in her cottage, the used to lie on the roof at night and stare up at the sky. She supposed she did it just so she might get a glimpse of the stars, and maybe even the moon above…she knew she wouldn’t, of course. The Enclave had made sure of that. But still, a mare could dream…or at least reminisce.

After Tempest had cleared up a bit of business and made sure that the night guards were in place, she and Lazuli had come up to the roof of the Riders’ base and sat down along the edge, staring out into the expanse of Wasteland stretched out before them. When they had sat down, it was about 4 PM. Based on how dark it was now, it had to be past 7.

But they had run out of things to say, now. They simply sat there, Lazuli’s head resting on Tempest’s metal shoulder.

Lazuli was the first one to speak up. She turned her head so her chin leaned against the metal surface, looking up at her friend. “Hey…Tempest?”

“Yeah?” Tempest gently pulled Lazuli closer, her hoof wrapped around the Dracony’s waist. Every movement she made brought the gentle clicking and whirring of machinery working in tandem, creating what was essentially a proper working pony.

“Do you remember what the sun looks like?” She asked.

“…Well, I didn’t exactly look at it, I didn’t really want to go blind.” Tempest giggled a bit. “But…yeah, I know what you mean.” She squeezed Lazuli gently, holding her as close as possible. “And…yes, I do.”

Lazuli nodded. Tempest turned her head to face the Dracony, posing a question. Lazuli blinked as she looked into Tempest’s eyes – she still hadn’t gotten used to the look of a pony’s eyes essentially being cameras with fake contact lenses. “Laz, have you ever wanted to be in more of an…erm…organized group?”

“You mean, like…joining this one?”

“Well…yeah.”

Lazuli shrugged. “I…could give it a try, I guess. Why, did you need something…?”

“Well, there’s a squad of seven that I had running combat operations. One of their members was…injured. He’s not dead, but now they’re short a member…their infiltrator, to be exact.”

Lazuli couldn’t help but smile a little bit. “So…you want me to take his place then?”

“Not saying you have to, of course.” Tempest smiled back. “But…if you want.”

“Hmh.” Lazuli rubbed her chin with a hoof. “I’ll think about it, maybe.”

“I know that means yes.” Tempest bumped her hip against Lazuli’s.

“…Hush.” Lazuli bumped back, but it was just her hip pushing against metal. Tempest didn’t budge, simply giving a small, metallic sounding laugh.

There was a brief lull in their conversation, before Lazuli inhaled deeply. “…So…what…what exactly is going to happen with Pearl?” She asked, turning her head back to look out at the horizon. It was dark now.

Tempest didn’t say anything, focused on forming how to say it properly. “Er…Lazuli…Pearl’s a synthetic. You know that, right?”

“Oh…” Lazuli bit her lip. “You mean, fully? Not a bit of organics…?”

“No. We would have erm…” Tempest cleared her throat, though it was more out of an attempt to clear the awkward feeling, since she didn’t have an actual throat. “Investigated further, but you said not to.”

“Okay, so…she’s synthetic, so what?”

Tempest shifted a bit, bringing her hind legs up onto the roof from their dangling position at the edge and looking Lazuli in the eyes. Lazuli could see bits of purple paint had worn off of her face, revealing greyish silver metal beneath. “Laz. You can’t tell me you think a synthetic pony cares about you.”

“Well she seemed pretty damn scared when-“

“I know, Laz.” Tempest put a hoof on the Dracony’s shoulder. “But…well…I guess technically we’ve never had a synthetic this advanced before, sure, but…” She struggled to phrase it in a way that wouldn’t upset Lazuli. “She isn’t a pony, Laz. She doesn’t have feelings, they’re programmed into her.”

Lazuli grimaced. “That’s not true, and you know it. I…by that logic then, you’re not a pony.” She tried to rebut, but Tempest just shook her head. Each movement of her neck earned a loud metallic click and whirring sound.

“I get it, Laz. You were craving companionship, and learning that she’s a synthetic isn’t…great, but…” She shook her head again. “Laz, I think she’s using you.”

“Using me?” Lazuli parroted.

“Yeah.” Tempest leaned back against a pole behind her. “Look at how attached you are already. She knows that. She can tell. She’s playing you. You know whose logo we found on her electronics?”

The Dracony’s tail flicked angrily behind her, and she swallowed. “Don’t…don’t you dare…”

“It was the G.O.M, Lazuli. You said they hate you, right? Ayize, specifically.”

“I…w-well…yeah, but-“

“Laz. I’ve been living in this Wasteland as long as you have. Surely you can tell when you’re being played…” Tempest frowned, her eyes scanning Lazuli’s face for recognition.

Lazuli paused, sitting there and staring into Tempest’s not-quite-equine eyes. “But…she’s…so innocent…” She finally said.

“I know. And I’m not saying you shouldn’t help her, it’s just…” Tempest sighed. “Don’t put all of your trust in her. You don’t know if she’s just here as a bug. You know how hard it was to convince the soldiers we shouldn’t get rid of her?” She patted Laz on the shoulder.

“Okay…fine. But I want to see her.” Lazuli said firmly. Tempest nodded almost right away, and the two of them started to stand up. The dull hum of Tempest’s body using a bit more power to move, coupled with the clicks and whirrs of her body, made Lazuli shiver just a bit. It almost physically hurt Lazuli to argue with Tempest…and besides, she had a point. She had trusted Pearl due to her foal-like innocence…but maybe that was what Ayize had wanted.

Lazuli was led to a door near the end of a dim hallway. It almost felt eerie, but calming at the same time, with the gentle blue lights that shone above. “Ultraviolet,” Tempest had explained. “Low energy consumption, plus if anything goes wrong we end up seeing the erm…fluids, before we get in.”

The explanation was morbid, but Lazuli liked it nonetheless. As she stopped in front of the door, Tempest nodded curtly. “I’ll let you go in alone.”

Lazuli nodded in response, and let Tempest open the door. The metal blockade slowly slid to the side, allowing Lazuli to step inside, before it shut behind her. Presumably it was for safety – there wasn’t a guard in the room, after all.

Upon entering the room, Lazuli’s heart ached just a bit. Pearl was immediately obvious, her light green fur glinting in the dim light. The cell itself was cozy, with clean concrete floors and walls, and Pearl’s bed was at least somewhat furnished, with a proper sheet and a blanket. Pearl herself looked about the same as the last time she saw her. Her fur was a bit tattered in some places, and she could actually see some stitch marks in some places, but otherwise she looked…decent.

The filly was facing the opposite direction from the door, though. Lazuli could hear sniffling, and decided to speak up so she wouldn’t be scared. “…Pearl?”

The unicorn – Lazuli refused to call her a synthetic, a robot, whatever – tensed up a bit, but she didn’t turn around. If anything, she pushed her head further into the corner.

“Pearl.” Lazuli repeated, gently stepping forward.

“Go away.” Pearl said, her voice quiet.

Lazuli paused, standing still in the middle of the room. Pearl didn’t say another word, and she wasn’t quite sure what to say.

“I said go away.” Pearl said again. Her head turned slightly, and Lazuli couldn’t help but wince as she watched the filly’s left eye fizzle and blink like a monitor that had been hit by a rock.

“I’m not just going to leave right away like that, Pearl.” The Dracony slowly walked forward, turning herself around and sitting down on the bed next to Pearl.

“I said…” Pearl’s voice cracked, and she fell silent.

Lazuli tentatively reached over with her hoof. “I know you’re scared, Pearl…and I know you’re confused. But I need you to trust me, okay? Everything is fine.”

Another long two minutes of silence. Pearl was the first to break it.

“…Did you know?”

Lazuli shook her head. “I didn’t. I swear to Celestia I didn’t.”

“…I…” Pearl sniffled, reaching up and wiping her eye, though it was more out of reflex than anything. No tears came out. “I-I’m not even a pony…”

Lazuli firmly wrapped her hoof around Pearl, pulling her up onto the bed. “Hey.” She said quietly, hugging the filly against her. “Listen. I’m not a pony either, really. Ponies in the Wasteland call me a mutant.”

“That’s not the same…” Pearl sounded slightly choked up. Lazuli could tell if her eye wasn’t broken, it would probably be dripping with tears.

“It is the same, and I’ll tell you why.” Lazuli said firmly, holding Pearl tightly. “We’re both not ponies, but we feel just like anypony else. I can tell you’re not like a robot. You’re scared, you’re sad, you’re feeling things. Right?”

Pearl’s lips twitched a bit, her mind unsure of what emotion she was feeling. Her left eye sparked again. “Y-yeah, but…but I…”

“There’s no buts.” Lazuli turned Pearl to face her, looking her right in the eyes. “You’re as much a pony as I am, you got that? I dunno who made you, or…what you’re for…” That was a lie, but she hadn’t the heart to tell her. “But clearly, you’re not evil, and you have control over yourself.”

The filly’s ears folded back against her head. Her lip started to quiver, and Lazuli let out a soft “Oof!” As Pearl moved forward and pushed her face into the Dracony’s chest, wrapping her forelegs around her in a tight (or, as tight as a filly could manage) hug.

Don’t cry. Don’t…don’t cry damnit, you’ve seen worse…Lazuli told herself, breathing deeply as she gently wrapped her hooves around Pearl, her wings slowly unfolding to embrace her tighter. “I’m sorry this happened, Pearl. I swear…I’m never letting anything bad happen to you again.”

Pearl just nodded, dragging her muzzle up and down the soft surface of Lazuli’s fur. The two of them sat there for quite a while, until Lazuli felt the filly slump against her fully, falling asleep.

“I didn’t realize you’d have foals here, that kind of surprises me.” Lazuli’s voice echoed down the hallway as she trotted along. She had an earpiece in her ear, which was the method that most ponies living in the Riders’ base communicated with Tempest, since her robotic body was only really used when she needed to make a point in the ‘flesh’.

“Well, we don’t exactly have strict rules on…ahem…mating, so it happens sometimes. We’ve got a few resident caretakers to keep watch on them when their parents are away and all.” Tempest replied.

“…Are you sure Pearl will be okay there, though?” Lazuli asked, occasionally swiveling her head to look at the doors along the walls.

“She’ll be fine. We teach the foals here that any mutants, ghouls, whatever, they’re all like us. And…she’s no different.”

Lazuli kept trotting around the halls, glancing from door to door. Tempest’s voice came to her again. “Laz, do you have any idea where you’re going? I can see you on the cameras.”

“Wh- uh, yeah, I’m just um…looking around.”

“You’re in the wrong hallway. The armory is in the west wing.”

“Uh…” Lazuli cleared her throat. “Yeah, I knew that. Just er…” She peeked into one of the doors, where she saw large stacks of papers sitting on desks. “Checking the um…file room.”

Tempest’s laughter was like a melody to her ears, so while her cheeks flushed bright red under her fur out of embarrassment, it still made her happy to hear her laugh.

When Lazuli finally made her way over to the other side of the building, she trotted into the armory. She was about ten minutes later than she would have liked, but the soldiers there with her seemed not to mind. Most of them stood at attention as soon as she arrived.

“Er…hi there. Why are you saluting me?” Lazuli asked, tilting her head.

A mare chimed in quickly from the left side of the room. “It’s protocol to salute to a higher officer, Captain Lazuli!”

“…Wh- Captain?” She blinked.

Tempest giggled a bit, her voice popping into her earpiece. “You’re Captain Lazuli now.”

The Dracony yelped a bit. She stepped away from the soldiers slightly, excusing herself from the main room to duck into the closet. “Captain?!”

“Well, the group’s named after you, of course you’ve gotta have a higher role!”

“Tempest, I don’t have any experience with-“

“Hush, you’re not going to be making any of the big decisions…but you’re in control of this next operation. I mean, if you want. You can stay back too, I know this is a bit sudden.”

Lazuli blinked incredulously. “…Well…alright…what’s this ‘operation’ though? I’m not much of a military mare, you know that.”

“Oh, it’s simple. There’s a small raider group living just outside of a town called Ashtown. It’s not a big place, more like a village really. The townsfolk don’t even have electricity, I believe, so it’s difficult for them to defend themselves. We tried to negotiate with the raiders, but…”

Lazuli raised an eyebrow. “Negotiate?”

“…Yeah, I guess it was kind of stupid. But…we have reason to believe they’re holding slaves there, too, so it’s important you do things quickly. The raiders aren’t heavily armed, but they have guns, as far as we know.”

“So, we’re taking them out?” Lazuli asked.

“It’s…not ideal, I know, but there isn’t much else to be done, unfortunately. Peacekeeping is our main priority, but well…yeah.”

Slowly, the Dracony stepped out of the closet and sighed, looking around the room. There were six soldiers with her, presumably all that was needed when you had the enemy outgunned. “Right…” She inhaled deeply. “Okay, well-“ She cleared her throat. Damnit, I’m not a leader, come on…she rubbed her throat with a hoof, then spoke up again. “I’m sure you know who I am. Uh…but I’m new here, of course, so I’ll need to know everyone’s names…or at least their codenames. From left to right. Give me your specialty too, if you have one.” She swept her hoof from the left side of the room all the way to the right, then pointed at the pony on the far left, a smiling unicorn mare.

Lazuli couldn’t see her colours very clearly in the dim light, but she appeared to be red with a darker red, velvety mane almost completely hidden by a helmet she was clipping on. “Velvet Rain, specialty in long range engagement, Captain!”

She looked to the stallion next to Velvet, a pegasus – that alone surprised her, but she didn’t falter. His coat was black, with a dark grey mane with silver streaks in it. “Swift Bolt, ma’am! Specialty in aerial combat!”

Her hoof went to the next, a large earth pony stallion who sported a bit of a beer gut, but also impressive muscles, with brown fur and a sleek blonde mane. “Steel Mustang. Specialty in heavy weapons.” As if to prove his point, he hefted his battle saddle onto his back, loaded with a heavy machine gun.

The next pony was a zebra, which oddly surprised Lazuli a lot less than the Pegasus. She stood just a hair taller than Lazuli – emphasis on the hair, which was styled in a mohawk that seemed almost required for zebras. “Mahiri,” She said, with a bit of an accent. “Specialty in surveillance.”

Next was another unicorn mare, this one with a pure white coat and a bright blonde mane. She was less armoured than the rest, and her bags sported a large red cross. She was a bit on the chubby side. “Crystal Harmony, captain! Specialty in healing magic.” Her voice was soft and friendly.

Finally, she pointed at a stallion sitting in the corner, checking the magazine of his rifle. He was clearly a unicorn, but he had a scar running all the way from the left side of his jaw to the top of his right eye. His fur was a light brown, like freshly cut wood, and his mane was a much darker chesnut shade. “Hm? Oh. Wild Ace, Cap’n.” He said politely, standing up and saluting. “Specialty in close to medium range combat.”

When he stood up, Lazuli’s ears flattened, but quickly went back up. She was shocked at the state of him – it wasn’t that he looked terrible, but he was visibly augmented. The entire right side of his body was metal, his right leg an extremely advanced cybernetic limb. The metal stretched around his right side as well, his hind leg on the same side also completely synthetic. In fact, so was his rear…a long metallic brace ran up his neck, presumably to hook into his spine, and was secured with plating all the way up his neck and up to the back of his head. His left hind leg was partially metal, only about down to his thigh. She decided not to comment on it, but she could only imagine what had happened to him to warrant such extensive (and likely expensive) prosthetics.

Lazuli nodded, straightening up a bit and flexing her wings. “Alright, well now we know our names. Oh, and I’m Lazuli, of course. Or-…I guess you’d call me Captain.”

“We’ll call you whatever you like, ma’am!” Velvet Rain offered from the side, with a cheery smile.

“Well…if it’s all the same to all of you, call me Lazuli, or Captain.”

“Yes ma’am!” They all said in unison, their hooves once again meeting their foreheads in a salute.

Slowly the Dracony turned around, taking a few deep breaths to calm her nerves. “So, you all know the mission?” She asked, glancing back at them.

“Yes ma’am!” They said again.

“Good…” She exhaled, biting her lip and muttering under her breath, “Because I’m confused as hell…”

She turned back around to them. “We’ll head out in five. Make sure you’re ready.” She stepped past her ‘squad’ as Tempest had elected to call it earlier, and went to change into her gear.