Fallout Equestria: Future Visions

Fallout Equestria: Future Visions

By: DJ Bron3

Editor: Dr. Hoofs

Chapter 2: Outside

“When it feels like the world’s gone mad”

Darkness. I saw nothing. I felt nothing. I only heard the soft echo of Candy’s voice. “DJ? Are you there?” Thank the goddesses she was alright. “Candy? I’m right here. I can’t see you.” I knew she was right next to me, but in the pitch black darkness, it seemed like she was a mile away.

Then a bright light pierced the darkness. I looked at Candy, and at the tip of her horn, there was a soft glow that must have been the source of the newfound light. Her face was blank with no expression. Her mouth was hanging open.

I looked around, and in shock, I saw bones. Bones of ponies. Dozens of piles of bones that must have been there since the massive door of Stable 27 had closed over 200 years ago.

I took a closer look at the bones of the ponies closest to the door, and saw that their hooves were cracked. “What happened here?” I mumbled as I looked at Candy, who seemed to be thinking the same thing. “I don’t know, but it looks like after the door sealed, ponies tried to pound on the door to get in, but it wouldn’t open.”

I could only imagine the cries of ponies that hadn’t made it into the stable in time. Were they separated from friends? From family? Then I remembered that it had happened centuries ago. Why was I contemplating the deaths of ponies who were centuries long dead? Still, I couldn’t help but feel sorry for them. “Come on, let’s go Candy.” She nodded and we walked on.

At the end of the tunnel, there was a metal staircase that led upwards. At the top, there was a metal door with the Stable-Tec logo on it. I nodded to Candy, who knew what I was thinking. This door led outside. She couldn’t see my hazel eyes behind my red glasses, but inside, I was shaking.

Two minutes we had been outside the stable, and we had already found bones. Now we were to enter a landscape that was completely alien to us. I could tell Candy was scared too, as she was also shaking ever so slightly, and her breathing was shaky. I opened the door, and we entered the Equestrian Wasteland.

As soon as we stepped outside, both of our pip-bucks notified us that we had “discovered Stable 27” I pointed it out to Candy, who just shrugged. The area around was just as I had seen it in the observation room.

The sky was covered in clouds, so I couldn’t tell if it was day or night. As a pegasus, I had read about clouds, the sky, the sun and moon, and the weather as part of my education in the stable. All I saw now was clouds, clouds, and more clouds. No sun, no moon. Just clouds.

The open space gave me an idea. I spread my wings and took off. Never before had I had so much room. Stable 27 had an “Outside room” designed specifically for pegasi, where the ceiling was so high, I couldn’t see it.

I felt bad for Candy, because as a unicorn, she couldn’t fly. However, I had also read about a really powerful spell that only the highest level unicorns could use. Self-levitation.

I guess unicorns became jealous of pegasi, so they invented a spell that would allow them flight. But apparently, it took a lot of strength to cast, much less maintain. I joked at the thought of Candy using such a spell. In the stable, she had used pretty basic magic. But she once surprised me by levitating me when I tried to tell on her for breaking one of my toys when she was a filly.

I was a pretty good flier, as I had practice in the “Outside room” but I wasn’t nearly as good as the best flier there ever was. Rainbow Dash. I had read about her in the books of the stable’s library. She also was kinda cute...

Apparently I was taking too long for Candy’s taste, as I heard her voice from the ground, interrupting my thoughts about Rainbow Dash. “DJ! Can you get down from there? We have work to do!” I flew down at a steep angle, stopping at the last second to get a reaction out of Candy. She wasn’t impressed, but I was grinning from ear to ear.

“Alright, you’ve had your fun, can we go now?” My smirk didn’t fade as I replied with a witty comeback. “Hey, based on what I’ve seen back in the stable, we won’t be able to have fun for quite a while.”

The facehoof and groan she gave as a response made it all that better. I was outside, but I wasn’t alone. I had my oldest and bestest friend with me. As long as I had her, we were unstoppable. That was my first big mistake.

We had been walking for an hour before we found the nearest building to the entrance to the stable. Then there was good news and bad news. The good news was that there were ponies here. Actual living ponies. The bad news was, as soon as they saw us, they started shooting at us. SHOOTING! Three ponies in spiked metal plate armor were shooting at us with guns and bullets.

One with a sawed-off shotgun, one with a 10mm pistol, and the third was charging at us with a baseball bat in his mouth. “Stop shooting! We mean no harm!” They kept shooting. “Didn’t you hear me?! I said stop!” They kept shooting. Then it was Candy’s turn. “If you don’t stop shooting, we will be forced to kill you!”

What surprised me next wasn’t the fact that Candy had just threatened another pony, or the fact that they were still shooting after Candy threatened them, or the fact that these ponies were even shooting at us for no reason in the first place. It was the horrible, maniacal laughter that filled the air. The other ponies had stopped momentarily to laugh their heads off! Their eyes were yellow, and their mouths were foaming.

When they resumed shooting, we took cover behind a large pile of rubble near their camp. These must have been the “raiders” I had seen in Stable 27’s observation room. They were named because of their habit of invading buildings, taking things of value, and turning it into a gorey, bloody, makeshift base. There were dissected corpses on the ground, heads on stakes, and many corpses had bite marks on them! They were eating ponies. They were cannibals. They had to be stopped.

The sharp blow to my side snapped me back to reality. It didn’t hurt, but damn, I felt it! The raider kept laughing, even with the bat in his mouth. I pulled out my own weapon. I swung the baton over his head as I shouted out the words, muffled through the baton, “IT’S! NOT! THAT! FUNNY!” One word for each swing. On the fourth swing, I heard a sharp crack, and I felt something break.

His skull cracked, and he fell silent into a bloody heap. I had just killed a pony! I didn’t have time to get over my initial shock when I heard one of the remaining raiders yell in pain. Crack! Crack! Crack! The second raider fell. Over her body stood Candy! How had she gotten there without anypony noticing?

Her eyes wide, she drew her attention to the last raider, anger in her eyes. The raider looked as shocked as I was, as she dropped her 10mm. Four more cracks and the last raider dropped.

The two of us were once again alone, both in shock of killing another pony. Candy picked up the 10mm from the raider she had just killed, and tossed me the shotgun. “Well, at least we both have a ranged weapon.” She gave me a look that read, “yeah shut up”.

After our encounter with the raiders, with their gory decor, dismembered bodies, and by the way, very little ammunition, we picked our jaws up from the ground and started walking again.

I knew there were ponies who wouldn’t try to kill us on sight, so I checked my pip-buck for radio stations, and sure enough, there was at least one. I clicked on the first one and was greeted with a strong, deep, male voice.

“This is DJ Pon3, and that was Sweetie Belle, singing about that one great truth of the wasteland: everypony has done something they regret. And now, my little ponies, it’s time for the news! Now you ponies remember when I told you ‘bout those two ponies who crawled themselves out of Stable Two? Well, I’ve been gettin’ reports that one of those little ponies took out the raider nest in the heart of Ponyville, and saved several pony captives -- including the beloved author of The Wasteland Survival Guide, Ditzy Doo! Hey kid, thanks! From all of us! And now the weather: cloudy everywhere, with a chance of rain, gunfire and bloody dismemberment...”

At the moment, I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. Then he spoke again.

“…one last thing, the other Stable Dweller was last seen out near Appleloosa. My prayers go out t’ that one. And that’s the truth of the matter. Now back to the music. Here’s Sapphire Shores singing how the sun can’t hide forever. From your lips to Celestia’s ears, Sapphire!”

His voice cut off, and was replaced by music. At first, I wanted to question which Appleloosa he was talking about, but I changed the question. “Stable Dweller? You mean there are more of us?” I turned to Candy. Her expression was smug. “Well you didn’t honestly think that we are the only ponies to come out of a stable did you?” I wanted to slap that smirk right off her face, but at the same time, I also liked it. “For your information, that wasn’t what I was thinking at all.” A ‘yeah, right’ look from the smug mare said she didn’t completely believe me.

“Can you please stop giving me looks that make me want to slap you?” The stood her ground and said with satisfaction, “Nope.” Great. Just what I needed. The very pony I was traveling with just happened to be a smartass unicorn who had perfected the art of giving looks. “Let’s just get to Tenpony Tower. Maybe we can get clues as to what happened. Maybe we can find out where this ‘DJ Pon3’ is and ask him.”

Candy just kept up the smart remarks. “What if this DJ Pon3 is in Tenpony Tower, and asking where he is will make us look like complete idiots” I was really getting tired of her remarks. “If that pony knows what’s happening in the wasteland, then maybe he knows what happened before the wasteland.”

Our discussion was interrupted by a strange, floating robot. It looked like a metallic bug. Then a voice came out. “Are you two new around here? I’ve never seen you before.” Candy and I blinked, stared at the robot, then Candy answered the thing. Him? Her? It? The voice sounded masculine, so I assumed it was a male. “Yes, we are. We just came out of Stable 27, then we ran into some crazy ponies who tried to kill us just back there.” She gestured back at the pile of rubble that used to be a building.

“Raiders.” He replied, confirming my suspicions. “Be careful, it’s very dangerous in the Equestrian Wasteland. There are five things you would want to have if you want to survive properly out here” Five things, right. “What are these five things?” I wanted, no, needed to know how to cope with the dangers I’ve seen out here. “First, you need weapons, preferably guns, then ammunition for said guns, armor to protect against hostile ponies with weapons, and healing potions for when weapons inevitably hurt you.” Ok, so guns, ammo, barding, and healing potions. I did the math in my head.

“Wait, that’s four, you said there are five things we need.” Was it me, or did the robot chuckle a little at my response? “You’re right, but I can tell you already have the fifth thing” We did? Well, Candy and I already had the other four things on the robot’s list. We had security barding from the stable, I had healing potions, and we both had a gun with ammunition. But other than that, what did we have? Was it something Candy had in her saddlebags? If so, how did the robot know? “Well, what is it?” I was starting to grow impatient. Then the robot’s answer surprised me. “A friend.” I blinked, then looked at Candy. Had the robot somehow known that we were friends, or had it just guessed?

I turned to face the robot. “Who, or what are you?” I tried to look friendly. “Right now, you can call me Watcher.” Watcher? That was a strange name. “I’m DJ, and this is Candy.” I nodded to the mare next to me, who smiled. “Time is running out DJ.” Time for what? “Why? Is something going to happen to us if we stay here?” Watcher’s voice seemed almost desperate.

“Have you heard about DJ Pon3 yet?” Well, this seemed to be going off topic. “Actually yes, we just heard his report on somepony he called, ‘The Stable Dweller.” I thought I heard him say, ‘I’m glad she’s safe’ under his breath, but I could have been hearing things. If I was, that was probably just me. If I wasn’t, that meant that the Stable Dweller was a mare, and Watcher somehow knew her.

“Well, stay tuned to his radio station, because pretty soon, I’m willing to bet he’ll do a report on you two.” Ok, confusion level was escalating from ‘I have no idea’, to ‘What the fuck’. “Us? Why would do a report on us? He talked about the Stable Dweller because they saved ponies from raiders. All we did was kill raiders.”

Watcher wasn’t letting up. “You’re missing the point. Sure, the Stable Dweller saved captives from the Ponyville ruins, but she came from a stable. Just like you two.” She? My suspicions was correct. But how did Watcher know that? DJ Pon3 hadn’t mentioned the Stable Dweller’s gender in his report. “After all, his motto is ‘Bringing you the truth, no matter how bad it hurts’. That means he will broadcast the fact that you two came out of your stable any time now. He has eyes and ears all over the wasteland.” Then his voice cut off, and music played, and the robot floated away.

“Wait, so Watcher wasn’t the robot, he was just controlling it.” That meant that he could’ve been on the other side of the Wasteland, and we wouldn’t even know it. That was probably how he met the Stable Dweller.

“Wow, the Stable Dweller. Really inventive when it comes to names, isn’t he?” My sarcasm invoked a smile from Candy. “I wonder what your nickname will be?” I also detected sarcasm in her voice. Was it hard? We had just come from Stable 27, I called myself by my initials, I was wearing my DJ glasses and I had my headphones.

Since we had been walking the entire time we were talking to Watcher, we weren’t very far from Tenpony Tower now. I was curious about DJ Pon3. If he really cared about the ponies in the wasteland, why would he only make reports about what was happening in the wasteland instead of doing something about it? That was a question I would be sure to ask him when we tracked him down, along with the questions of what happened before the megaspells. If he really had a reason for telling ponies about the wasteland and not helping the wasteland himself, then it had better be a damn good reason.

We stood at the base of Tenpony Tower. It was in the location my pip-buck called the “Manehatten Ruins”. The tower was obviously made to withstand anything. Even a megaspell blast like the ones that had destroyed the world, because it looked compact, solid, and indestructible. One side of the building was blackened, scorched by the megaspell. If you looked at it from the right angle, the tower, aside from the black burns, missing chunks, and obvious decay due to time, looked almost new.

There was a guard at the door, not outside, but inside. His voice came from a speaker on the outside. “Welcome to Tenpony Tower. Before I let you in, you must please remove all ammunition from any guns you have.” What? I didn’t understand. “Why do we have to do that?” I hoped he was in a talkative mood. “Sorry, it’s just policy.” Very well, it seemed reasonable enough. If this was a settlement, then they had to be careful. I nodded to Candy, who nodded back. “Okay. How do we do it?” Then a slot opened next to the door. “Please deposit all ammunition. It will be returned to you when you leave.”

I was surprised to see Candy easily eject the clip from the 10mm, seeing as she had never used a gun before. Meanwhile, I took the shells out of the shotgun, and we also put all our extra ammo in the slot as well. The slot closed. The door opened. “Thank you, and have a nice day.” I turned to Candy as we walked through the door. “He seemed friendly enough.” Yet again, I was answered by a, “yeah shut up” look. I really wished she would stop doing that.

It wasn’t as I had pictured it. The inside of Tenpony Tower was a marketplace with stalls selling everything from clothing to rubber ammo. Wait, rubber ammo? The ammo for the 10mm and the shotgun were metal, but never before had I seen or heard of rubber ammo. I walked up to the pony running the stall. “Hi, do you know where I can find DJ Pon3? I want to ask him something.” The pony’s smile changed to a frown, as if he didn’t like what he had to tell me. “DJ’s up in the radio station on the top floor, but don’t waste your time.” The last part was unexpected.

“Wait, DJ Pon3 is in this building?” Candy was right! I couldn’t believe it! “Well, yeah. What? You didn’t know that? Have you been living under a rock your whole life?” The irony of his question was almost amusing. “Nevermind, why would it be a waste of time?” His serious expression seemed to change to an annoyed one. “Because nopony here has ever seen him. Only his little assistant Homage goes in and out of the studio.” Maybe I couldn’t talk to DJ Pon3, but maybe his assistant could tell me what I wanted to know. “Do you know where Homage is?” He shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe in the station, maybe in her room, nopony keeps track of her.” At least I had a lead. “Thanks for your help.”

I walked back to Candy, who was talking with a vendor at the moment. “Candy, you’re not going to believe this, but you were right! DJ Pon3 is in Tenpony Tower! She didn’t look surprised. “I know, this vender told me the same thing. Another thing I found out was that ponies in the wasteland use bottle caps as currency.” That must have explained why we found bottle caps on each of the bodies of the raiders we had killed. We hadn’t taken the caps because at the moment, we had dismissed them as trash.

“Another thing Candy, is that nopony here has seen DJ Pon3 go in or out of his studio. They’ve only seen his assistant Homage.” She seemed to contemplate some sort of possibility. I did too. If nopony saw DJ Pon3 enter or leave his studio, and they only saw his assistant go in and out, then maybe…

No. It wasn’t possible. DJ Pon3 was a male. The way the other vendor had described Homage, she was the opposite of DJ Pon3 in every way possible. There was no way they could be the same pony.
“I’m going to check the studio on the top floor and see if I can find DJ Pon3 or his assistant.” Candy nodded. She turned to face the vendor as I headed for the stairs. The last thing I heard her say was, “So how can I acquire more caps?”

The studio was very different from the one in the atrium of Stable 27. There was a single headset and microphone in the center of a large desk. There were dozens of terminals that were showing images of the whole wasteland. There were only one or two terminals that were dark, and showed nothing. The terminals reminded me of the stable’s observation room, and made me homesick.

Then I heard a voice from behind me that made me jump in surprise. “You must be new here, because everyone knows the studio is off-limits.” I turned around, and there was a pony standing about five feet away from me. She had a steel-gray hide and light blue hair. The smile she wore assured me that she was friendly.

“Umm, are you-” “Homage” she said, interrupting me. “I’m sorry, I was told that the studio was where I would find DJ Pon3, I didn't know it was off limits.” Sweet Celestia, that smile was actually cute. “That’s because nopony said it was, I’m just messing with you.” Wait, was I blushing? “You what? Oh haha, very funny.” I said with sarcasm. I couldn’t see myself, but I was faintly sure I was blushing.

“You seem like a nice pony. Did you touch anything?” Holy merciful Luna I was blushing! “No, I didn’t, do you know where DJ Pon3 is? You’re his assistant right? How come nopony has seen him leave or enter the studio?” It was time to get answers.

“You sure are talkative. DJ Pon3 has his reasons for staying out of sight.” Reasons? “What reason could he possibly have to only broadcast news about the wasteland and not help it himself?” She then changed the subject. “You have your suspicions, yes? I’m the only one who’s been seen going in or out of the studio, DJ Pon3 has never been seen in the tower, and I’m his assistant?” Was she hinting me, or reading my mind, or both? “You mean? That’s impossible. DJ Pon3 is a male with a deep voice. There’s no way you are him.”

“Don’t be so sure. Not all is as it seems. Some things are exactly as they seem.” Great. Now she was talking in riddles. She spoke again, but this time, her horn glowed and her voice was deeper and masculine. “How about now?” It was the same voice that I had heard on the radio! “Wait, so you and DJ Pon3-” “Are one in the same” She cut me off again. “So if you’re the one doing reports on the wasteland, and with all these terminals-” “I know who you are” How did she do that? “How did you know what I was going to say?” She shrugged. “Just a hunch”

Then I remembered. “Ok, DJ Pon3, or Homage or whatever you want me to call you.” She chuckled a little at my comment. “You can call me Homage, most of the ponies in Tenpony don’t know who I really am, except for a select few.” I dared not to ask her who the select few were. “Well Homage, if you know everything that happens in the Wasteland, then do you know how it became this way?” She laughed. “I forgot you’re from a stable, because many ponies in the wasteland know how the wasteland came to be.” I blushed again. Not because of the cute little mare in front of me, but because for once, there were ponies who knew more than I did.

I had spent my whole life in Stable 27, I had read all the books in the library, and was by far the smartest in the stable. I had read about the princesses, the elements of harmony, and six ponies who appeared a lot. Maybe she knew about them.

“Homage, when I was in the stable, I read about six ponies who were mentioned quite a bit. Do you know about them?” I felt hot, like the red in my cheeks was burning me. “Do you mean the Ministry Mares?” Ministry Mares? I had only known them as six friends. “Who were they?” She just seemed more amused by my ignorance. “They were the ponies you were talking about. Applejack, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, and Twilight Sparkle” That was them! The ponies I read about! Two earth ponies, two pegasi, and two unicorns. “Yes! That’s them! Six Friends!”

I wasn’t blushing anymore. I wasn’t nervous, or agitated, or bashful of the cute mare. Now I was excited. Excited to finally find out a lot more of what had happened. “I’ll tell you, if you do something for me.” A favor? With the excitement I was having right now, I would have done anything for her. Jumped over the moon, slap the next guy I saw, had sex with her, wait what? Why did my brain go to those places?! This isn’t the time or place for naughty thoughts DJ! I locked those thought out of my mind and threw away the key. “What is it? I’ll do anything.” What she said wasn’t what I was expecting, or hoping. “I’d like you to kill some raiders”

Footnote: Level Up

New Perk: Swift Learner- You are indeed a Swift Learner. With this Perk, each level gives you an additional +5% bonus whenever you earn experience points. This is best taken early.