Fallout: Equestria - Reclamation Day

Fallout: Equestria - Reclamation Day

Chapter Four: Scorched

*click* *click* *click* *click*

I glanced down at my PipBuck, realizing the clicking sound was coming from it. Rapidly. Radiation? From what? My eyes drifted up to the glowing sphere in the center of the room. It pulsed. My eyes widened.

“Everypony needs to get back now,” I said quietly. “That thing… whatever it is… it’s emitting a fuck ton of radiation.”

Sunny scowled, glancing at her own PipBuck. “Cherry’s right. We need to take a step out before…”

*THUMP*

Apple Tart fell to the ground next to us, wheezing loudly. Her coat was matted with sweat and she cried out in pain. I was at her side in a moment, pulling her away from where she’d been standing and out into the hall. Tender Taps and Sunny pulled back with me as Sunny pulled a pouch of orange liquid from her saddle bag.

“Here, RadAway. This should help her,” she said. “She must have been standing closer than we were and got the full brunt of that radiation.”

I nodded, taking the pouch and lifting it to Apple Tart’s mouth, helping the foul smelling orange stuff down her throat. The effect was nearly instantaneous as her breathing began to calm down and she could open her eyes.

“If it’s all the same to you,” she said weakly. “I’d rather not go back in there.”

I smiled softly. “Yeah, you need to take a breather. Keep sucking on that RadAway, it’ll help,” I replied before turning to the other two. “There’s no way we can take that thing out of here, not with it putting of that many rads.”

“Agreed. We should figure out a plan to get out of this place and report the status of this thing back to the Overmare. This is a lost cause if there ever was one,” Sunny said, looking down at her PipBuck. “And we can’t go anywhere until Apple here is feeling able to move.”

“I’ll stay with her,” Taps said. “You two should go and see if there’s a way out of this shithole that doesn’t involve those crazy ghouls.”

I grimaced. I didn’t like the idea of splitting up, but it made sense. Both Taps and Sunny were relatively well armed, so having one in each group was logical. Still, my mind couldn’t pull away from what the ghouls had said. ‘She Who Comes’. What did they mean by that? Did they mean the dragon egg? I looked over at Sunny.

“That’s fine,” I said. “I’ll come along in case we need to hack into anything to get out.” I glanced down at Apple Tart. “Keep sucking on that, and get better alright? I’ll be back for you soon.”

Apple Tart smiled softly, and I realized that my host body and her were definitely friends. I felt a warmth in my chest as I stood and headed to follow Sunny. I glanced back one more time, sincerely hoping it wasn’t going to be the last time I ever saw her. My gaze rested on Taps. He seemed… interesting, and sort of cute. I found myself hoping the same about him.

“Alright, let’s go,” Sunny said.

We walked silently through the halls of the center, looking for a way up to the next floor. We finally found a set of stairs leading upwards after several long minutes. It lead to a level containing nothing but offices and conference rooms. Large sweeping halls lined the sides of the floor. More pony skeletons littered here or there. Nothing in this center had been touched since the end of the war. We stalked across, looking for some way out. We passed by several large windows that gazed out into the University grounds. There was nothing out there, not even the ghouls from earlier. It seemed like they just disappeared into nowhere.

We walked the entire length of the floor and back, finding nothing but another set of stairs leading upwards. With nothing left to lose, we quietly walked up them finding ourselves on another office floor, however, this one had an office marked ‘Dean of Anthropological Studies’. I poked Starry in the shoulder, motioning towards it.

“Maybe there’s something in there that could tell us how to get out of this place,” I said.

Sunny nodded, following behind me as we made our way towards the office. The door was unlocked, for which I was grateful at least. The office was sparsely decorated, a large bookshelf filled with books of all shapes and sizes at the far back of it. In the middle, an oak desk with a terminal sat empty. I moved to the terminal, finding it still active. After a few long moments of sitting there of hunting for the password, I finally found the correct one. Turns out, it was ‘parrot’. Weird. The terminal opened up to several data logs and a few audio files. Clicking on my PipBuck, I accessed one of the more recent ones, dated just a week before the megaspells had dropped. A masculine voice came out of the speaker, low and growlish.

“This is Professor Boyle of the Stable-Tec University Cultural Appreciation Center.

I… I don’t really know what those fat heads up at Stable-Tec were thinking. I had assumed that there were no more dragon eggs left in existence, but then suddenly there it was. The mare from Stable-Tec said it was a donation, a gift from the Dragon Lord. I didn’t even think there was a Dragon Lord anymore! I asked her what I was supposed to do with a dragon egg, and she just shrugged and left!

I’m not really sure what to do with this thing. One of my advisors mentioned that we could maybe make a big deal about it and stick it out in the center as an exhibit. My brain nearly exploded until he said something about charging admission to see it. While Stable-Tec treats the school well enough, the extra fundage would really go the extra mile in helping some of our extracurricular activities. I told him to go ahead and get it taken care of. We’re calling it the Dragon’s Fire, and of course being very vague on the specifics of what it actually is. Celestia knows somepony would probably get super pissed if they found out we had an actual fucking dragon egg down there just on display.

I am a little worried however if the egg were to hatch, but baby dragons are supposed to be small, right? I mean, the dragon that assisted Ministry Mare Sparkle is sort of big, but he used to be a lot smaller. Either way, I am having a tunnel access installed in the exhibit hall, just past the mummified pony exhibit. The code to get in is Alpha-Alpha-Tek-Bravo. The tunnel should lead right underneath the university and to a safe house. I only hope that we don’t actually need to use it, but it’s there if something does happen.”

I flipped to the next entry, dated just a day or two before the megaspells.

I can’t believe this. We got everything ready to show off this thing and Stable-Tec steps in and has us delay the opening by a week at best. Wouldn’t even say why, really. One of their actual co-founders, the pegasus, came by and delivered the news herself. An actual founder of the company? Here? I nearly died.

Anyways, she cited some safety regulations that sounded like a bunch of bullshit. When I asked her if this had anything to do with the possibility of that thing hatching, she looked nervous, but said no. That didn’t fill me with a great amount of confidence.

Regardless, I’ve sealed off the exhibit room we’re keeping it in for now. I’ve got my team monitoring the thing, but sofar there’s nothing. If nothing happens by next week, fuck Stable-Tec, because I’m opening it up to the public. The University needs this extra funding.

“Well,” Sunny said flatly. “That sounds… ominous. At least there’s a way out of this place beyond the front door. We should head back down and see if we can find this--”

Her voice cut as we felt something shake and rumble beneath our hooves. Something was happening below us in the hall. My eyes widened as they met Sunny’s. We both scrambled from the office and darted back down the stairs as the rumbling intensified. Even from the second floor I could hear something scratching and roaring.

I realized as we hit the ground floor what was happening. This couldn’t have been a coincidence. The egg was hatching. It had to be it. But… Professor Boyle said it was only a baby dragon. Baby dragons were tiny, right? We dropped to the ground floor running towards the exhibit hall. In the distance, I could see Tender Taps carrying Apple Tart across his back as he moved away from where the Dragon’s Fire had been. The building shook as something very large roared from within.

“Something’s happening in there!” Taps shouted as he stopped in front of us. “I think that fucking thing just hatched!”

“We have to get out of here! There’s a tunnel that leads out just past the mummies,” I called back. “Hopefully that thing is stuck in--”

The building shook again as whatever was inside suddenly burst out into the exhibit hall. Black leathery reinforced by hard obsidian scales covered every inch of the creature. Its wings stretched out, unable to fully extend beyond the confines of the hall. What concerned me the most was the fact that the thing had three heads, each one filled with rows of sharpened teeth and green glowing eyes. Each head roared loudly in unison as the creature struggled to stand. My PipBuck started to click madly.

“The radiation,” I said under my breath. “The radiation made it… bigger.”

“Come on, let’s hurry!” Sunny shouted, grabbing a hold of my hoof and practically dragging me away from where I had been standing.

I turned and started running behind the others as Tender Taps reached the hall with the mummies first. The dragon creature let out another roar of anger as it tried to move forward through the hall. It crashed through a display case, sending its contents smashing onto the ground, before sliding into the nearby wall. It appeared that despite its initial growth, it was still learning how to control its massive body. I hoped that would give us the time we would need to get the hell out of this place.

Sunny pushed past Taps and put her hooves to the wall next to the mummies. She knocked quickly, a metallic sound ringing back at her. She grinned widely as she pulled away the wallpaper to reveal a small metal door. She pushed it open, revealing a set of stairs leading downward into the darkness.

“Come on!” she called out.

Taps entered first, still carrying Apple Tart along his back. The mare looked better, but the radiation from the dragon’s hatching seemed to have affected her further. I found myself worrying for her as Sunny dipped in after them. I stopped and glanced back for a moment. The dragon had managed to reorient itself and was now staring at me with three sets of glowing green eyes. All at once, I felt the air around me go still as the three heads inhaled. My eyes widened as I ducked into the tunnel. Three gouts of glowing green balefire flame roared past me, nearly singing my tail off. I slammed the door to the tunnel shut and clicked on my PipBuck light and took a deep breath.

“That was close,” I muttered to myself, realizing quickly that there was no way the dragon was going to stay cooped up for long. It was going to get out of there, and when it did… “We have to warn the Overmare.”

I followed the tunnel along until I could hear the soft voices and hoofsteps of the others. They had managed to make it several lengths ahead of me it seemed. I caught up to Sunny and grimaced.

“That thing being loose is not good for anypony,” I said. “We’ve got to get back to the Stable and warn the Overmare.”

“I don’t disagree, but we’ve got bigger problems. We have to get back there alive first,” Sunny replied. “I can only hope that this tunnel takes us to safety.”

My eyes drifted to Apple Tart. “How’s she doing?” I asked.

“Taps says she passed out again after the initial burst of radiation from that thing hatching,” Sunny said with a frown. “She could be highly radiation sensitive. Makes me wonder why the Overmare chose her to come along. She would have had access to all of the Stable’s medical files.”

“You think the Overmare knew about all of this? About the egg, and what we found here?” I said, grimacing.

“I’m not sure what to think right now, but I know we need to get out of here and rest before deciding what to do next,” Sunny said. Her voice turned lower so the others couldn’t hear. “This mission turned out to be a bust, but we did learn something. We’re not alone in this region. Those… ghouls. They used to be ponies, right?”

I blinked. Sunny knew more than she was letting on too it seemed. She had caught onto the fact that I wasn’t quite who I said I was. I nodded.

“You know how they got that way too, right?” she pressed further.

“I… I do. The balefire radiation... turned them into those things.”

“I see,” Sunny said. “You know more than you’re saying, but right now… I can’t really place why. What about that thing up there? How did you know what it was?”

“I… I saw it in a book,” I said. Technically I was telling the truth. There were some books about dragons where I came from, given that the dragon Spike was around during my time. “I know this sounds weird, but I’ll tell you everything once we’re safe, alright?”

Sunny grimaced, but nodded. “Alright, let’s keep moving.”

The tunnel extended for what felt like forever, never wavering from its straight line configuration. At some point the tunnel started trending upwards eventually leading to a set of stairs leading up to a trap door. Sunny took point and cautiously pushed on the door. It opened with relative ease into what appeared to be a basement. There was nopony around and no sounds to indicate anything but us. We stepped up inside and breathed a sigh of relief. Either the dragon had gotten bored of us or hadn’t been able to figure out how to get into the tunnel.

We made our way towards the stairs at the far end of the basement when a scuttling noise made us nearly jump out of our skin. Sunny turned and shot first, hitting what looked to be a radroach, causing it to explode in a pasty green mess. When nothing else moved, she scowled and motioned for us to follow up the stairs.

“Even the roaches out here are fucking gigantic,” she muttered to herself.

The stairway led into what appeared to be somepony’s kitchen, albeit now abandoned. My eyes and body went to the window where I realized we were on an incline overseeing the University grounds from afar. What I saw…

“Uhh… guys, you should probably see this,” I said, pointing down at the University.

The others came to the window and I heard Sunny gasp. The Cultural center’s roof had been torn in half, the dragon creature pushing its way out from within. The ghouls had appeared, seemingly lifting their hooves in worship of the creature. It ripped completely out of the roof and stood on top, extending its wings.

“That… that is not good,” Taps said calmly.

“No, it most certainly is not,” Sunny said. “We have to get back to the Stable and let the Overmare know about this. Ponies will need to be warned.”

The dragon thing slowly lifted into the air, roaring its supremacy to anything that would listen to it. The roar echoed across the Wasteland as it struggled to flap its wings to propel its massive body. Eventually it did, lifting just enough to soar over the University grounds and deep into the city. The ghouls seemed to follow, disappearing one by one.

“That thing loose… all those Stable ponies who came out expecting to build a new life…” Sunny said to herself. “Somehow we freed that thing, or caused it to hatch.” Her eyes drifted to meet mine.

I scowled. Everything about this felt too coincidental. Too orchestrated. A three-headed dragon loose in the Wasteland? My eyes went to the cloud cover above. Surely at some point the Pegasi Enclave would notice right? I realized it was wholly possible that they wouldn’t. Even with their advanced systems, the Pegasi spent much of their early years after the War squabbling over petty politics in the formation of their burgeoning governmental structure. I worked my mind through everything. If this were a simulation of some sort, then how would the ones who created even know about the cloud cover to begin with? Something wasn’t right, didn’t feel right.

I sat there for several moments, processing everything I could, applying what logic I could to places. The Overmare had sent us to locate the Dragon’s Fire, which she had claimed was a device. The Fire hadn’t been a device, but an egg, which conveniently happened to hatch upon our discovery of it. Sunny was right about one thing… we had freed the thing, but had we done so inadvertently or had somepony else…

“The Overmare,” I whispered. “She must have known somehow.”

“What do you mean?” Sunny asked.

“You said it yourself,” I replied. “We caused that thing to hatch, but we were here in the first place because of the Overmare. She must have known what was going to happen.”

“You think she set us up?” Taps interjected. “Why would she…?”

“To release that… that thing?” Sunny said, working her way through it. “But why would she want a dragon to be released?”

“I don’t… I don’t know,” I said, scowling. “But the only way we’re going to find out is to confront her. We need to get back to the Stable.”

I glanced down at Apple Tart. She was breathing steadily, but she was still unconscious. It took me a second to wonder why she had been sent on such a mission with her apparent susceptibility to radiation. Why was Apple Tart here? It didn’t make sense. Was it because she was Cherry Blossom’s friend? Or was there some ulterior motive that the Overmare had. I intended to ask her when we found her.

“We’re going to need to rig up some sort of stretcher, just until she can walk again,” Taps said softly. “I’ll scrounge this place and see what I can dig up.” He got up and started out of the room.

“Good thinking, Taps. Meanwhile…” Sunny said, reaching down to rummage into her saddlebag. She produced a mouth-grip pistol, hoofing it over into my direction. “You probably know all about this stuff, don’t you? Seems like you should be able to protect yourself.”

I hesitated, but nodded, taking the firearm from her and placing the cord it was attached to around my neck so I could access it easily. Sunny eyed me cautiously as I tucked it inside my collar. I think she thought that maybe I was going to actually use the weapon on her. I grimaced.

“Don’t worry, I’m on your side. You can trust me,” I said softly.

“That’s what worries me… is that somehow… I can tell you’re telling the truth,” she replied. She frowned. “You really promise to tell me all about this as soon as you can?”

“I promise,” I said as Taps re-entered the room.

“Well, it’s not much, but it will help keep her stable while I carry her,” he said, brandishing a thrown together set of poles and sheets.

Sunny and I nodded, helping him pull Apple Tart onto the sheet. We lifted her and carefully fastened the crude stretcher to Taps. After testing to make sure she wasn’t going to fall out of the thing, we walked to the building’s exit and stepped back out into the Wasteland.

An eerie quiet had fallen over everything. In the distance I could no longer even hear the roars of the dragon. What had happened to it? Where had it gone? I didn’t know. Things were spiraling completely out of control it seemed. I didn’t really have a handle on what the point of all of this was. Furthermore, what was my body doing on the outside? I had been here for at least several days going on a week, surely my body was having problems with that. Unless time somehow worked differently here, but I couldn’t be sure.

We started walking down the University grounds, keeping our eyes peeled for any of the ghouls. They had appeared to have completely disappeared. Still, as quickly as they could pop up, I wasn’t about to trust the PipBuck’s threat detection. We carefully made our way back along the path we’d taken to get to the University, but something was off. The landmarks had shifted slightly, or at least it seemed like they had. We found ourselves running into dead ends and inevitably being pushed deeper into the city.

It had been about several hours worth of walking when we came across what looked like an encampment set on the side of an old convenience market. My heart jumped when I saw the familiar blue of a Stable jumpsuit attached to the older unicorn standing in the guard tower. They had to be from Stable 76! Sunny stepped forward into view, causing the pony to take notice. As if on instinct he lifted his rifle into the air with his magic, focusing it on us. He stopped and glanced past it.

“You’re not one of them… zombie ponies, are ya?” he called down.

“Do I look like a zombie pony?” Sunny asked, raising an eyebrow.

“I guess you don’t. They don’t talk as good as you do,” the pony said. “You’re from the Stable aren’t you? Is that Cherry Blossom I see down there?”

“Uh, yeah, hi,” I said, waving awkwardly.

“Shoot, I almost shot you on sight,” the pony replied. “Come on through the gate. You look like shit.”

He motioned to a crudely built metal gate along the mishmashed walls of appliances and other random items. We approached it as he made his way down to meet us. He pushed the gate open and grinned sheepishly.

“Sorry about the mix-up,” he said. “Been having lots of trouble with them zombie fellers. Name’s Party Favor. You guys look like you’ve been through Tartarus and back. And oh, you’ve got somepony you’re carrying there. Let me help with that.”

His horn lit up and the makeshift stretcher lifted away from Taps and floated along to land on the tattered remnants of what used to be a bed. He unwrapped Apple Tart and stood back, his mouth wide open.

“You brought… brought…” he stammered.

I pushed past him to see what he was looking at. My eyes widened as I realized what was wrong. Apple Tart’s coat, her body, it had started to flake away. Her skin was patchy in places. Her mane was shriveling. She was still breathing, but her cheeks were gaunt. I knew what this was. She was becoming a ghoul.

“She’s one of them zombie ponies!” Party Favor growled. “You brought her here!”

“Hold on, now,” Sunny said, lifting a hoof. “We didn’t know this was happening to her. She got hit with a big blast of radiation down by the University.”

Party Favor’s eyes showed it all. The disdain, the hatred, the fear. He was afraid of what Apple Tart represented to him. He was fearful of her kind. I had seen it many times before in my time.

“I don’t know what game y’all are playing here, but bringing a zombie pony into my camp is... “ Party Favor said, stammering. “You don’t know what them things have…”

“Calm down,” Tender Taps said, lifting a hoof to try to calm the unicorn.

Several things happened in rapid succession, and all of them in slow motion. Party Favor’s horn glowed brightly, bringing up his rifle to bear upon Tender Taps. Taps moved to duck out of the way as out of the corner of my eyes I noticed Apple Tart stirring. With supernatural speed she moved into place between Taps and Party Favor, lifting her hoof to the muzzle of his rifle. I turned to shout as Sunny also moved to stop her.

*BLAM*

Apple Tart howled in pain as the bullet tore through her hoof and into the ground away from Tender Taps. Blackish ichor poured out from the wound. A guttural growl erupted from her throat as she lunged onto Party Favor, who had dropped the weapon from sheer shock and fear. The unicorn tried to lash out with his magic, but Apple Tart was simply too fast, landing on him as his head cracked into the ground. Blood gushed from his skull as he lay there, unmoving. Apple Tart stood, shakily. As she turned, I could see it in her eyes, her intelligence… her brightness, it was slowly going. She was turning feral. I pulled out my weapon as slowly her eyes began to go bright again. She panted heavily before dropping to her knees.

“What… what happened?” she asked, her voice already beginning to rasp. “Where am I?”

“Apple Tart? Is that you in there?” I asked carefully.

“Of course, silly filly. What’s got you all Cherrynanas?” she said, as cheerful as ever. “Seriously though, what happened? You guys are staring at me like… oh Celestia, I’m covered in blood.”

She looked down at the unicorn below her and screamed before jumping away. Sunny and I glanced at each other and then down at Taps. The stallion was shaking slightly, but he seemed to be okay. I approached Apple Tart cautiously, side-glancing at Sunny again. She nodded. She went to take care of Taps.

“What’s the last thing you remember, AT?” I asked.

“There was a dragon egg, and I got blasted pretty good by some radiation, and you gave me some RadAway… can’t remember much more than that,” she said. She thought for a moment. “Why does my voice sound funny?”

“It… it’s a long story, but I don’t want you to freak out a little about it, AT,” I said. “First things first we’re gonna need to see your hoof so I can see what the damage is.”

“My hoof? Okay…” she said, lifting it up. Her eyes caught the black ichor and widened. “Cherry… why does my hoof look like that?”

“Well… this is going to be a shock, but you remember those ghouls we ran into before? Ghouls become the way they are from extreme amounts of radiation… that radiation blast that hit you… you must have been very susceptible. I’ve never seen it happen so quickly,” I started to explain.

“You mean I’m…”

“Yes, you’re a ghoul, or at least becoming one,” I said simply. There was no use beating around the bush on this. She needed to know. “Furthermore… just a moment ago we almost lost you. Something that happens to ghouls… they start to lose their minds after a bit. They call it feralism.”

Apple Tart looked down at her bloody hoof, tears forming in her eyes. “I don’t… I don’t understand how you know all of this, but… but I trust you,” she said finally. “Am I going to be okay?”

“As long as you don’t go all feral on me again, sure,” I said softly. “I was really worried about you, you know that right?”

“I… I’m sorry,” she replied. Suddenly her body went stiff and her eyes went to the sky. “Cherry… I have a confession to make.”

“What?” I asked.

“I can… I can hear her… she’s singing to me. She wants me to follow,” Apple Tart said. “She wants me to come to her.”

My mind reeled. She? Was she talking about the Overmare? Or something else? My eyes drifted to the sky in the distance where Apple Tart had been staring. I realized what it was she’d been talking about. There it was, in the far distance. I hadn’t even noticed it before. The dragon. It floated and flapped around the center of the city. It was communicating with Apple Tart all this way?

“AT, you can’t listen to that,” I said frantically, bringing my hoof down to shake her out of it. “Don’t listen to it! Please!”

“She’s so beautiful, Cherry. She’s calling me. She wants all of her children to come. The Scorched. Those cast aside by the balefire,” Apple Tart intoned, taking a step forward. “I want to see her. I want to feel that beauty, Cherry.”

“Sunny!” I shouted as Apple Tart started to move forward, nearly plowing me over. “Close the gate! Don’t let her out!”

Sunny nodded, moving to close the gate. Taps stood to block Apple Tart’s path as well, but she merely walked through him, pushing him aside like he was nothing. As she walked she grew increasingly more agitated until she reached the gate as Sunny was getting it closed. She growled viciously, slamming into Sunny and the gate with wild abandon. And just like that, she was through, leaving a very dazed and confused earth mare lying on the ground.

I shouted after her, but she was gone. Disappeared. I shouted until my voice had gone hoarse. Everything had suddenly gone very, very wrong, and deep down… I was to blame.

I had to get her back.