The fire crackled and popped as the damp wood burned. Light danced over the small clearing in the trees showing a single figured covered by a large cloak sitting on a fallen tree staring into the fire. The faint light from the smokey wood barely illuminating the creatures face. There was a glint of navy coloration under the hood, though the fire kept the figures face from view. A small camp had been set up. A simple barricade, slash, lean to made up the majority of the camp along with the fire. A large bag sat next to the figure propped up against log, and bucket of liquid sat near the fire likely to douse it when the night was over. Laying in easy reach was an odd looking combat shotgun. The woods around the camp also had a number of tin can alarms and simple thin strips of wood with jagged nails driven through it as hoof traps. The howls of creatures echoed faintly in the distance punctuated with the occasional scream and sounds of gunfire, though all of it was faded as if it was some distance away from the camp, which was silent save the crackling fire.
A small beep sounded from the figure and it raised one of it's fore limbs.
Metal armor covered the creature's arm and clawed hand, along with an odd device with a green glow coming from it. The device was covered in knobs and buttons. There was a name half scraped off the top of the device that was just legible enough to read the tag 'Pip-drake' a single faded and chipped screen lighting the figure up in a green glow. A glow that showed a elongated muzzle filled with sharp teeth under the hood.
A few taps on the device turned the light off and the figure lowered it's arm, the blue clawed hand resting on one leg as it looked to the sky as the last notes of a song faded out coming from the device.
Far above the sky was empty and clear. Countless stars dotted the blackness. The cloud cover over the land had been stripped away years ago. A number of heroes had emerged from the wastes far to the north and set the world back on a path to recovery.
That didn't mean things were fine everywhere however and some places were even worse now that the wastes had been beaten back by so many heroes, the monsters had to go some where.
Still none of this seemed a concern the figure at the fire. After a moment of staring at the cloudless sky the music stopped and a voice came on the radio. The voice was raspy as if the lungs of the creature speaking had been burned out or he was a life time smoker.
“Hoooooooooooowdy out there in the valley, this is your DJ wolf bringing you the latest and greatest hits from a time when everything wasn't a pile of shit. That was a classic by the band Pontera with the only song of theirs I have called 'Trot'. Next up is of all things a new song, well not new per-say, but a local valley dweller let me record his singing one of the old songs I have … and personally I like the Griffon in black's version better.”
A deep drum beat sounded along with the sound of claws clapping and feet stomping. A baritone voice joined in in the sound from the device as the song started in earnest.
“You can run on, for a long time...
Run on for a long time...
Run on for a long time.
Another fire burned though this one was much larger and encompassed what might have once been a small settlement of houses. There was screaming an two legged feline like creatures running around in the flames, some trying to escape, others trying to fight the fires with what water they could.
The sharp crack of gunfire sounded along with the sounds of laughter as a group of grungy looking ponies stood about on the hills over looking the town. The town was surrounded by these figures, and any time one of the feline like creatures managed to make it into their sights away from the burning town, they were gunned down by the ponies.
One of them fiddled with an old radio out of boredom and soon the screaming had a musical accompaniment.
“Sooner or later you'll be cut down...
sooner or later you'll be cut down...”
There was little but darkness save a few emergency lights shining dimly down on dust and refuse caked corridors. Green mushrooms sprouted from some of these piles adding to the odd tint in the corridors.
There was movement as a figure lurched down the hall staggering as it moved. A blue body suit covered the creature, though it was soaked in blood and who knew what other types of bodily fluids. A device strapped tot he creatures foreleg The figure inside it looked little better A black beak was cracked and broken away partially , the skin pulled back away from the end of it and a bloated black tongue showing through the holes in the damaged beak. The hair and feathers on the things head had fallen away in patches as the skin pulled tight against it's skill. White milky eyes shifted as it's gaze darted around the corridor and a rotted and half missing mo-hawk of feathers sprouted from it's head, showing the creature might once have been a griffon. The thing let out a hiss and rushed forward slamming into a pile of refuge ripping free a large squirming bug of some kind. The former griffon wasted little time ripping the rad roach to pieces with it's claws and beak growling and hissing as the sound of other hooves clattering on the floor echoed in the corridor draw by the sound of violence. A green light glowed on one of the things clawed limbs and a crackling voice played from it.
“ Go tell that long tongue liar.
Go tell that midnight rider....
Tell the gambler,
the rambler,
the back biter....
Tell'em someones gonna cut'em down
Tell'em some ones gonna cut'em down”
There was a crack of laser fire and a hulking brute of a canine creature crashed to the ground.
An armored pony like figure stomped forward. The hiss and whine of the servos in the massive suit he wore filling the air as the penumatics hissed, drowning out the crunch of bone as the armored figure stomped the head of the beast and shoved his way through a rotted door. The sounds of screaming and the report of laser fire and other weapons sounded through out the large building.
The heavily armored pony stopped on the other side of the door, the battle saddle he wore coming around to aim at a cubby hole under one of the large desks that dotted the room.
Sitting atop the desk was a computer, a single blinking dot on the green screen showing that it was ready for a command to be input.
The armored figure lowered his gaze and the barrel of his weapons, looking down at the two pups huddled under the desk that held the technology he sought. The pair couldn't be more than a few months for the youngest and the older maybe a year or two given the size. The older one growled at him as he approached, tears staining the beasts eyes showing it's fear as the other bawled.
It had probably been the mother he had just shot down.
There was anther glance given to the computer , then back to the pups.
For a moment there was nothing, then there was several flashes of laser fire from the Rangers battle saddle before he approached the computer.
In the back of the room and old radio could be heard to be playing a tune.
“Well my goodness gracious let me tell you the news...
my heads been wet with the midnight dew..
I've been down, oh mercy me,
speaking with the mare from the stars yah see...”
The forest glowed softly as a river ran through it , the brook trickling among the rocks with a faint hiss as it ran towards the swamps and the seas to the south.
The faint crunch of fallen leaves announced the arrival of a thin creature.
It seemed female, long of leg with it's four limbs ending in cloven hooves a rabbit like tail sat on it's rump and a pair of horn like nubs poked up through the scraggly mass of it's mane. The creature was clearly sick, scars new and old covered it's form, the tattered rags it wore doing little to hide the fact it was thin enough for some one to count each and every one of it's ribs.
Draped across it's back was a smaller figure. Clearly a foal of the same species as the creature it rode on. The foal was in the same state as it's mother, it's tan and white spotted hide pulled tight against it's body. The foals limbs were mangled, the spine slightly deformed, it's eyes were lifeless and it looked to have been that way for some time now.
The female continued on stopping at the river and nearly throwing herself down on it drinking deep of the water as it flowed.
Her head shot up suddenly from the water her eyes going wide as her ears perked up catching the strains of music in the distance. She took a step away from the water before her legs gave out from under her sending her tumbling to the bank, the corpse of the foal falling off her back as she coughed and hacked, blood gushing from her mouth as she spasumed and twitched before lying still.
In the distance a large building loomed, huge pipes ran out from it over the river oozing unknown materials in the river.
Between the fallen elk and the factory a curious looking ball shaped robot about the size of a foals head floated past with buzzing mechanical wings, music playing from the speaker taking up most of it's front.
“She spoke to me in a voice so sweet,
made my ears ring an my fears retreat,
She called my name and my heart stood still,
when she said jack go do my will...”
The figure remained where he sat on the log, staring into the fire as the song continued. There was a faint rattle of cans and the figure shifted a clawed hand, reaching for the shotgun sitting next to him, a faint blue glow formed around the weapon as the clawed hand grasped it. The music continued uninterrupted.
“go on tell that long tongue liar...”
The figure surged forward suddenly towards the fire as the pop of energy weapons sounded, peppering the log where it had been sitting moments before with beams of orange energy, chips of wood spun through the air as the old log burst and burnt from the attack.
“.. go and tell that midnight rider...”
The figure whirled kicking the bucket into the fire.
Rather than a hiss of team and a doused flame, the liquid hit the fire and the entire clearing lit up like day light as the pre war booze that had been filling the bucket it the flame and went up like a mini mega spell. The flames licked over the cloaked figure hot enough to set it ablaze as well though it didn't seem to care.
“Tell the gambler...”
The light caused a number of figures around the clearing to rear back. Four heavily armored figures that looked vaguely like bugs cursed near in unison as their night optics flared, blinding them until the gear could adjust. Robotic scorpion like tails flicked behind them as they staggered firing blindly from their battle saddles at where the figure had been.
“The rambler...”
A burning cloak slammed into one of the armored pegasi from above, the oil soaked material crackling merrily as it burned and roasted the screaming stallion inside his own armor as he fought to get the heavy cloak off of him.
“The back biter...”
One of the soldiers ripped off her helmet, the mare blinking her eyes to recover her vision only for her head to suddenly go missing as a loud report filled the clearing as the targets shotgun sounded out in the night.
“He's above us!” shouted one of the remaining armored figures.
"Tell 'em some ones gonna cut 'em down..."
The sickening crunch of metal, bone and flesh filled the air as a massive form dropped down from the sky landing on one of the armored pegasi. Bits of flesh and blood bursting out of the shattered armor as if some one had stepped on a grape.
The final pegasi had seen enough and took off into the air wings flapping like mad. He was suddenly stopped as a claw grabbed the scorpion tail of his armor yanking him back down to the ground slamming him on his back . The stallion shrieked as his wing armor crumpled crushing and shattering his wing beyond useless.
Before he had time to try and recover a large clawed foot slammed down on his chest and he found himself looking up at a metal armored demon that towered over him. Large reptilian wings flapped once on the creatures back as he stared down at the last pegasus, green eyes narrowing as a smile crossed it's blue scaled lips, a crackle of electricity darting across his brilliant white fanged teeth.
“Noooooo, please..” the pegasus begged before the shot gun was raised and fired twice, ending the life of the stallion.
“Tell 'em some ones gonna cut 'em down...”
The music continued as the dragon kicked the body to the side moving back over to the log and taking a seat to check over his weapon as the music started to fade.
TDR presents.
Fallout Equestria.
Blue of Scales.
Author's Note
Despite my gravitation to a lighter work with Twilight Gets a Puppy, i needed an outlet for my darker ideas.
And the Fallout setting is perfect for that.
This is the replacement for Record of Beryl Wars, which is now canceled.
Chapter one, In which the tale begins.
Fallout Equestria
Blue of Scales
By TDR
Chapter one
In which the tale begins.
“You should not have done that, Twilight Sparkle. The truth of some things, you should not seek to learn.”
I don't remember when the mega spells were cast. I'm not 'that' old after all.
I'm actually rather glad for it in truth. Not that the spells were cast mind you, I'm not that fucked up yet, but that they were cast before I was around to see what the world was like before they fell.
The elders used to talk about it all the time. How ponies lived and thrived in the sun, and played and slept in the beautiful night with two Princess watching over them. They talked of the food and the friends and the goings on with looks in their eyes as if the place had been a perfect paradise.
If it was so perfect, why did it get blown to shit?
No one ever liked that question.
I was told had I lived there, I would understand.
Telling the young such things was pointless. We were never going to see that paradise, at best we were going to see the aftermath of what our elders did to the world all because of some stupid war that had no business happening.
I was born in a Stable.
Stable 76.
Located in the north western part of Equestria among the mountains and hills that marked the beginnings of the border with the frozen north. It was one of the few places in Equestria to have it's own coal fields and during The Great War it became filled with mines as the war effort went full swing.
Stable 76 was under full control of the Ministry of Arcane Sciences, much of the region was in fact . It was rumored that Twilight Sparkle herself was to be the first Over-mare of this Stable if the unthinkable happened.
Well it did, and she never bothered to show up for some reason.
The most likely cause was she was directly targeted by a mega spell. Given all that that mare was said to have done in her life if I were on the other side I'd target her first too.
The first overseer was a pony named Moon Dancer. She was to have been the second in command of the place, but she wasn't young when everything went to shit and despite a long life underground. She eventually passed on. Her successor was the first overseer I met, Sandy Shoal. She was there when I hatched.
Yes, hatched.
I suppose I should explain this a bit better while I'm reminiscing. Let's step back a bit for those following at home.
The Great War was fought between the largest Zebra nation, Ihavenoballsestan, and Equestria over resources. Equestria had Magic Gems, Zebra-la, or what ever it was called then, had coal. Now in our modern society..... our modern Tartarus damned latrine I mean, one would think that the easy way to fix this was to trade. You have what I want, I have what you want. Boom! There's a deal. But no. Ponies and Zebra's had to shove their own heads so far up their ass that killing each other was the best way to do it. No wonder so many of the four legged shits turn to raiding. It's just them going back to what they know without the fragile rule of a goddess over them.
Okay now I'm forcing opinion into this and not facts... backing up again.
Equestria had just started into an age of industrial revolution utilizing the coal to power some of the basic machines which in turn created better machines and so and so on. I really don't understand any of it , arcane sciences are not my thing. There were plenty of other power sources, but around here all any one cared about was how important coal was. Nearly every one in the Stable used to be a coal miner or some one experimenting with coal or some of the other minerals found in the mines here.
Any way before I get too far off tangent, Twilight Sparkle wanted this vault to follow the values and teachings of the school where she herself was trained.
Princess Celestia's School of Gifted Unicorns.
Most of the Stable was unicorns, the few earth ponies and pegasi around seemed to have been those who managed to get into the stable as the mega spells fell.
All of the foals that were born or brought in were trained the way Twilight had been. And as a result this vault had a stockpile of something that no other vault did.
Dragon Eggs.
I was hatched from one of those.
Obviously.
My partner was a dark blue colored unicorn filly named Iceberry Lily.
She was the first and only unicorn to hatch an egg in her generation. There were only three hatched in the time frame the Stable was given.
Fifty years after the door was shut, it would open again and the brilliant minds of Twilight Sparkle's personal stable would go out and rebuild the world.
Fifty years was the calculated time most thought it would take for a new generation to be grown and trained enough to start the process of rebuilding Equestria.
Fifty years was enough time for all the ponies who had come into the Stable when the spells fell to die off, or be too old to go out on their own, thus leaving behind any prejudices and hatred they might have had happened.
A gross oversight, was that the idea that a mostly unicorn Stable wouldn't develop new prejudices or wouldn't inherit the older ones from their parents. Then again if Twilight Sparkle had been Over-mare, perhaps it would have worked. If Moon Dancer hadn't died due to complications of old age and an allergy she didn't have on any record for almonds, perhaps things might have worked.
Yeah I didn't buy that explanation either.
Over-mare Sandy Shoal was dead set on having unicorns trained. And ONLY unicorns. She planed the curriculum to focus soly on magical studies. Construction, survival, combat, all through magic.
This meant that the hatchlings like myself wound up being little more than curiosities, or assistants to the ones we were bonded with.
Berry treated me like a younger brother.
Wisp was treated like a pet.
And Gale was treated like a toy.
But at least we would be paired with some pony who could cast spells so we might survive when it was time to leave.
The few Earth Pony and Pegasus foals that grew up there on the other hoof. Well they were pretty much put to work on menial tasks the moment they were old enough to anything, otherwise they largely ignored at best by the teachers or used as examples as what not to do at worst.
Given how short of a time there was before the door opened, the seven non unicorns were written off as acceptable losses.
None of the teachers even considered what would happen if one couldn't cast spells. The over mare didn't want them too, Sandy Shoal was from a tribalist noble family before the bombs fell ,convinced of unicorn superiority.
I grew up with this and so I thought it was normal, thought the winged and hornless ponies were deformed somehow. Iceberry disagreed, but she didn't try to stop any pony from treating the others like shit. She was too focused on learning everything she could to notice anything else around her.
Top of her class in everything, loved by every one, every teacher's pet, and had the ear of the over mare.
If she was the sort who was in charge in the elders paradise I could see it being as wonderful as they said.
Of course to make a long flash back short this is probably why she had to die. The whole vault evidently had to.
Five days before the door opened ponies started getting sick. Three days until and the first of the elders started to die one after another. By the eve of the last day they had isolated the issue to contaminated water supply, but it was too late.
By that point every one was infected, every one sick. I was there when Iceberry died, to weak to do anything. I watched her wither away to nothing in days before she finally died in her sleep. I watched the stable door open. And I watched seven young ponies who had been discarded and mistreated step out into the wasteland along with two dragons, one who thought he was a pet dog and the other who had been treated much as the ponies had, the group leaving behind a tomb they created.
Well the tomb and me.
I was still sick as shit, but turns out dragons are pretty hearty, and after revisiting everything I ate for another three days after the door opened. I finally managed to make my way to it and out into the waste, closing the door behind me and leaving the vault to be every ponies sarcophagus.
Still recovering from being poisoned, I set claw into the wasteland.
Oh right.
My name is Azure.
And this... well... this is the beginning.
[ Level 2 reached ]
Perk card gained.
Endurance increased.
Lead Belly; 30% less radiation or 5% less taint from unfiltered or prepared food and drink.
Author's Note
After a bit of fiddling i decided to base this loosely off Fallout 76. the location was taken off the fallout Equestria wiki
