Fallout Equestria: Rewritten

"The Prench have a saying for that kind of problem: 'Cherchez la cavale'."

The 'cavern' turned out to be a poorly lit cellar with a floor which happened to be occupied by rock, due to the deeper excavation of the Stable's door. In front of us, two heavy cellar doors were inset in a metal outcropping. Luna, the larger pony, took the main force of the doors, and I helped, at her side. They swung outwards, and we filed out of the cellar.

I hadn't settled on any particular imagining of what the outside world would be like, but I had imagined something like this. A plain of greyish desert spread far across the landscape, interspersed with trees and bushes. As my vision drifted upwards, vertigo disrupted my balance, my eyes settling on a high mountain-city, nested in the nearby mountain chain. My Stable's protective mountain seemed so insignificant compared to it.

The mass of clouds above created a ceiling for the outside world, the likes of which I had never seen before. I had seen the outside in movies and pictures, but seeing it with my eyes was entirely different.

We weren't dead yet, which was a good sign, and a sign and that Velvet wasn't either. There was a long road ahead, one that would certainly take much of us, and how much that would be was to be seen. I looked across the horizon for any kind of hint for where we should go. I could see a ruined village not far from where we were. Behind us was a building, built over the cellar.

"I wish that I could fly," Luna suddenly complained, "I'm a pegasus and I can't even fly properly. Maybe out here I can learn."

"Well, you aren't leaving me behind, yet. This seems like a good place to start. Nopony around, an open field; it’s perfect."

"All right, let's do this." She started to flap her wings in unison, lifting her off the ground. For a spontaneous trial, she was doing great. As she flew higher, she began losing her balance.

"You're doing good!" Just as I finished talking, her left side twitched, rolling her body leftwards as the unbalanced force of her right wing sent her spinning. She completed a quarter-rotation before landing hard on her side.

"Are you all right?" I asked, running over to her.

"I'm fine, maybe we should stick to walking for now."

She stood up, and shook some of the dust off herself. We'd have to clean that later. Despite her accident, she was smiling. This was an opportunity she rarely had in the Stable.

"Let's look through this building; we might find something useful." Suddenly, a gunshot shattered the peaceful air, the bullet digging itself into the ground near my hooves.

"The house!" Luna shouted. We ran into the empty door-frame of the building, disappointed to see natural light piercing the roof and walls through the decaying wood. The walls weren't much for stopping bullets, but they kept us out of sight. The shooting hadn't progressed past the first bullet, so we started to look around. The first floor was mostly empty, with only a kitchen, ransacked bedroom, and an empty front room. Luna was the first to go upstairs, the steps creaking as she ascended. I followed suit, and we looked around the second floor. In the room furthest across from the stairs Luna discovered that,

"There's a desk with a terminal," I walked towards her voice, "The drawer is locked," she fiddled with the terminal, "and so is the terminal." The desk was well-preserved in comparison to the rest of the building, still retaining most of its color and hardness.

"Let me look at it. I'm sure that I can get it working."

I tried to break through the computer's security, but it was too difficult to do from the terminal itself. I broke open the case to access its components directly, but found that the disk was encrypted,

"Whoever owned this was didn't want anypony else to access it." I took out the hard drive, and put it in my saddlebag, just in case I thought of something. "They didn't want anypony looking through their drawer either."

"Can I have a screwdriver?" Luna requested, as she sat in front of the drawer, the desk against the wall.

I levitated it out of the toolbelt hanging off my chest into her waiting hooves. She jammed it between the drawer backing and the desk, pushing it down, hard. The drawer snapped out with a crack. She pulled it out completely, and inside was a revolver, a holster, and what looked like a preserved box of ammunition. She sat down, and opened it with her hooves. She inspected a hooffull of bullets, nodding at what she saw.

"The bullets are fine, .357. The pistol is a unicorn model; you have to use it."

"Like, for shooting ponies?" I said nervously.

"If we're in danger, you have to promise me that you'll use this. We have to defend ourselves if anything bad happens." That was easy for her to say, but not for me to accept.

Reluctantly, however, I agreed, "I guess I'll have to use it if I don't have a choice." I levitated the holster, and played with the straps until I got it on. I slid the revolver into the holster, it slotting in perfectly. What was it like to kill another pony? Don't think about it, Littlepip. Just don't think about it.

She looked at me for a few more seconds, before inspecting the rest of the house. In total, we found a rusted mouth-held knife and sheath, an unusable box of ammunition, a rifle decayed beyond repair, and a pile of books decayed beyond recognition. Luna took the knife.

The clouds had momentarily parted, giving us a better view of the sky and sunset.

"It's beautiful," I said.

"Yes, it is."

Luna and I sat next to each other, watching the sun disappear below the horizon, through a window. Luna took off her saddlebags, took out a bottle, and swallowed one of the pills inside. She drifted asleep, and I didn't move, to not disturb her. Eventually, I followed her into sleep.

*** *** ***

There was no sunlight when we awoke, only the gray diffraction from the barrier of clouds above lit the floor of the earth. I woke up first, my shifting quickly waking Luna.

"What time is it?" she attentively asked.

I checked my pip-buck, "6:34."

Nothing is sacred, everything is free for negation! This particular quote came from a pivotal moment in the book I was reading. I didn't understand a lot of it; Luna's favorite books were always complex, but, just like Echo, this was still entertaining. The story itself still made sense, even if I misunderstood some pieces of it here and there. I wondered how Luna perceived the world. Did she feel emotions and thoughts in the same way that us other ponies did?

Anyways, now was a good time to depart from the house. After an hour of rest and conversation, we both felt energised enough to walk to the nearby town. Our breakfast consisted of beef jerky, the one food supply we had brought. I wished I had at least brought some fruit, even though it was perishable. At the time of decision, though, I thought that it might have made the following meals less appealing.

Our journey to Ponyville contained no more surprises, the area around the ruins proving to be mostly safe. It seemed that the gunshot we experienced was an isolated incident, at least outside of the town itself. I had taken the liberty of downloading pre-war maps from the Stable's computer, and determined that where we were going was once named Ponyville. This was the town whose residents evacuated to the small farm under which our Stable was excavated.

We were never taught much about history in the Stable. We knew that there had been a nation that created the Stables, and that it was ruled by two Princesses, who kept it peaceful, until they didn't, and then the world ended. That was essentially my knowledge of the old world outside of private study, which still didn't amount to much.

Reaching the edge of the village, the poor state of the buildings struck me. This place hadn't been populated in a very long time, probably since before the war. Following one of the dilapidated roads, we continued towards the heart of Ponyville.

As we walked, something caught my eye: a round, white building. I had seen carousels in pictures before, and they were the closest thing to the structure that I knew.

"This place looks interesting, we should check it out before we leave."

Luna nodded, and we headed inside. The interior was falling apart, but the basic structure remained standing. The first floor contained an assortment of ruined dresses and other outfits, draped over pony-shaped mannequins. One metal cabinet remained intact.

I tried to open it, but it was locked. I decided to put an old trick of mine to the test. I pulled out a screwdriver, and requested a bobby pin from Luna. She obliged, and I put the two in place. After some fiddling, the lock clicked, and I opened the container with a whoosh.

Inside was a perfectly preserved piece of clothing. I unfolded it, revealing it as a wonderfully made and designed dress.

"Beautiful," Luna commented.

It was beautiful, like a sunset across a desert.

*** *** ***

We left the building, satisfied that there were no more pretty dresses to collect. Across the street, I could see another pony. I pre-emptively drew my revolver, pointing the barrel towards the ground, remembering the basic safety rules from the Stable's shooting range.

"Hello?" I asked the figure.

Its odd saddlebags clanking, it turned around. The voice revealed it as a him, saying, "Don't shoot! I'm friendly."

He spoke in a strange accent, supplementing the I with a mixture of I and ah, along with other subtle differences from the Stable's speech, making his similar to accents I heard in old movies. His body was covered shoulder to hoof in various objects, from pots to bottles filled with ubiquitous-looking liquids.

Behind him, a huge metal sheet reflected his junk-covered behind to us. A rifle sat on his back, connecting to a mechanism which ended just below and in front of his mouth. I had read about these, called "battle saddles", which allowed non-unicorns to mount weapons on their back, then manipulate them from their mouth and hooves. Many had the capability of aiming within a narrow cone, allowing non-unicorns to be just as dangerous with a firearm as a unicorn.

"Who are you?" I lamely wondered.

"My name is Scrap Pile, I'm a travelle-, scavenger. Like, looking for things to sell."

Sell? There was organization out here after all.

He continued, "It's not often I see Stable ponies, didn't know there was one 'round here.

It was Luna's turn to speak, "You've seen us before?"

"All over the place, those things were everywhere, ah, the Stables I mean."

"Were?"

"A lot of them have opened up, I see less and less of you guys nowadays. I've been all around, so I see a lot of things like that," he paused, then spoke, interrupting Luna before she could finish asking another question, "I don't suppo-"

Bang!

He was cut off by a bang! of what I presumed to be gun-sized proportions. The bullet tore through his armor of scrap, landing somewhere in his barrel. Luna and I ran for cover behind him, between two buildings. Another bang! sliced the air. I cocked the hammer of my own gun, ready to do what was necessary.

Around the corner crept a mare. I would like to say that I hesitated, but I didn't. She had no time to fire before the bullet pierced her neck. She screamed, dropping the rifle from her telekinesis. The screaming, it was horrible. I held her in my forelegs, and I screamed, too.

*** *** ***

Mom used to be wonderful. She would do her best to keep us happy and well-raised. When Luna was born, she volunteered to raise her. A few years later, my father died. Both of us were devastated. Luna was too young to ever know him, but he was a wonderful father, like Mom was a mother.

Mom was always proud of us, even when I was sent to pip-buck maintenance. "You're doing what nopony else in the Stable can, you should be proud!" I supposed she was right. There were a few things in the pip-buck that nopony else knew about, but it still wasn't fun.

Mom was supportive of me, but she didn't ever push me enough. She never got me to talk to Velvet, for one.

I hoped that Mom wasn't taking our leaving hard. We had left without telling her. I wondered what she felt when we let Velvet escape. I hadn't talked to her in some time before we left.

What would Mom think about what we had done, so far?

*** *** ***

Magic isn't just the application of force, it's purely essential. I was never particularly skilled with magic, only ever being able to use it for 'applying force'. Not many unicorns learned to cast more than simple spells, but I didn't learn any at all, aside from telekinesis. I could make myself more useful with tools: hammers, wrenches, screwdrivers, etc.

Now, I was carrying another kind of tool. The mare died quickly, but painfully. Scrap Pile had disappeared, further into Ponyville. Nearby, we found a partially-renovated house, its frame re-covered by wood. Inside, we found all of the mare's former items.

Luna put on a leather jacket, saying that the Stable jumpsuits may as well say "I'm stupid" on the back. I kept mine uncovered, as the only other clothes were on the two corpses outside. She offered me the jacket, but I joked,

"We might as well let the smarter one have the jacket. It has wing-holes, anyway," I assumed a faux-disgusted expression.

We collected some food and other supplies, then left. We would have buried her, but we didn't have a shovel. The mare's sad little house would decay, like everything else, and it bothered me, a lot.

The rest of Ponyville was similar to the round building; through the windows I could see more dilapidated creations of the old world.

Luna and I discussed the next step of our search. We didn't even think of doing anything else but find Velvet, as we didn't have anything else we needed or knew to do. Luna suggested that the west would be an even worse desert than it was before the war, making it unlikely that Velvet would go there. I spotted the perfect place -- a rail depot east of Ponyville.

We could follow the tracks from the town east, then find something. What would be at the station was a mystery, but I hoped that Velvet would be smart enough to go that way. I wasn't sure. I was nervous that we were going the wrong way, and that we would never find her.

*** *** ***

"Are you okay?" Luna asked, after we walked for a while.

"I don't know how I feel. It just happened so quickly, and I want to feel bad, but I just did it. I killed her on instinct, and I don't feel it!"

She hugged me, "It's okay to feel bad about it, you have to try to feel something for me, all right? I don't want you feeling like I used to."

I cried. I cried for a long time, and Luna stayed by me.

Through my teary eyes, I saw something on the eastern horizon. A stripe of color sat upon it, before which a mirage of water formed.

"Look at that," I pointed out, "Civilization."

*** *** ***

Walking towards the town, I noticed another shape in the distance, moving towards it. I suggested that we look at it, to confirm that this was, in fact, a town.

We approached it, and saw two ponies pulling a cart covered by a tarp. As we got closer, thunder blasted my ears, and the sand was kicked up all around us. An excruciating pain kicked through my shoulder. We were being attacked, again! Swinging my head in the sound's general direction, I could see that, in the sky, a pegasus was firing on us, and probably the caravan, as well.

I was helpless, we were all about to die. My vision started to fade. Somehow, a gunshot rang out next to me, then, once my ears stopped ringing, silence cast its hood over me. This expedition was doomed.

Luna was over me, trying to stop the bleeding, certainly, but sleep felt really appealing right about then. Terror was replaced with slow breathing, as I slipped into unconsciousness.

"Stay awake... the shooting stopped!" her voice bubbled and whispered through my head.

Luna never did clean off that dirt, did she? Now I would have to clean off my own dirt. I laughed, before letting everything fade away.

*** *** ***

I awoke on a bed, with a red mare standing next to me. Luna appeared above two, along with the orange pegasus from earlier. I squirmed.

"Take it easy, the anaesthetic is wearing off, you'll feel a little woozy," the mare said.

"Whhoo are yoouu?" I mumbled, my throat dry.

"I'll go get some water. I'm Candy Heart, the nurse here, in New Appleloosa." She walked away for a second, and put a glass of water to my lips. I drank it down quickly, thankful for the cool sensation.

"What's he doin' here?" the words stumbled out of my mouth.

"Ah'm the pony who shot you. Sorry about that, mah name's Calamity," the rust-colored stallion answered, his accent thicker than any I had heard in person, before.

"Why di' you do it?"

"Ah thought y'all were raiders, sneakin' up on that caravan. Ah watch the outside of New Appleloosa, and shoot anypony who tries to slip one on us."

"Excuse me, but I'd like to talk with her, Calamity," Luna interjected.

"I see why they call you Calamity," I giggled, my speech starting to return to normal, the anaesthetic wearing off.

"Are you feeling all right, Littlepip?"

"Never better. How's my shoulder?"

The nurse responded, "We got the bullet out, and gave you some healing injections. It shouldn't take more than a few days for you to be fully healed." I noticed that she had a slight accent, similar to the ones I had heard in the wasteland, but it was softer, subtler.

"When can I get out of here?"

"We'll need to give you a brace, then you can leave whenever you like. Calamity already paid for your treatment, so you don't have to worry about that."

"Pay? When I came out here, I expected worse, somehow."

She looked confused, and Luna explained, "Stables aren't like it is here, we get ration cards; there isn't money."

The nurse nodded, "Right," going to fetch the brace. She placed it on my foreleg, latching the device around it, transferring the support of my leg from my shoulder to my midsection. She helped me off the bed, and I groaned in pain, as my hoof hit the ground.

"It'll be sore for a week, even after it's healed, take it easy with that leg, you don't want a muscle tear."

"Right, I'll do that, thanks."

The room was surrounded by beds, themselves enclosed by moving curtains. Near each one was a cart, some surfaces empty, and others covered with medical supplies. Candy Heart led us to the door, revealing a sand-swept deck which emerged from the ground.

"This is the Helping Hoof Hospital, the primary health clinic in New Appleloosa. If you ever need more medical attention, feel free to come back," Candy said.

"Thank you, very much," Luna responded, smiling at Candy.

"You're welcome, it's my pleasure," Candy said, smiling back.

"So, uh, what now?" I asked.

"Right now, y'all are gonna come with me to Old Appleloosa. Ah'm pretty sure that Ah tracked down your missing mare. Your friend here told me all about her, once Ah explained how sorry Ah feel for shootin' at ya. You need money out here, anyway, so it's an all-round good deal."

"You found Velvet, how?" I excitedly asked.

"News is that Old Appleloosa has secured the employment of a very good performer. Ah heard about it just before you ponies arrived with the caravan. There's a train going south to Old Appleloosa, soon. Ah'll talk to the mare in charge, and get you two spots in their cargo security."

"Security, us?"

"It's just a formality, New and Old Appleloosans never ran into trouble with the train."

Luna asked, "What do you trade with Old Appleloosa?"

"Just supplies, we never take slaves, if that's what you're asking."

"Slaves?"

"Shit! Ah didn't mean to say that. Stable ponies don't like slavery, right? Neither do we, but we make it a habit to do what Red Eye tells us, and he wants supplies and transportation for Old Appleloosa, which has a lot of slaves. We get our share, and don't complain."

"So, Red Eye, is some kind of slave-owner?"

"Slave-owner? He's more like the slave-king. Got a whole army of ponies, griffons, and who knows what else keeping the slaves in line. He owns Old Appleloosa, and controls a lot of Fillydelphia, south-east of here."

"Can't you just stop transporting for him?"

"We're surrounded on two sides, and he has more trains than our two. Our only options are to take it, or get packing, and ponies out here ain't willin' to leave this place, it bein' so built-up and all."

"That sounds like a tough situation," gears spun in my head, "When is that train leaving?"

"8 AM, tommorow."

"Is there anything to do in the meantime?"

"Well, since you're Stable ponies... There's a Stable under the old station, and nopony has figured out how to get inside. It's right next door, if you're feeling up to it."

"Well, looking at it can't hurt," I looked at Luna, who thought for a second, and nodded.

She added, "I'm sure there's something interesting in there."

"I sure hope you can get it open, Red Eye's forces have tried it, but couldn't."

Luna thought out loud, "Why would Red Eye try to get into a Stable?"

"I don't rightly know, supplies, maybe? There's gotta be plenty in there. We'd better start now, it's noon already."

I realized something, "Noon? I've been unconscious for a day?"

"Right on the spot."

I wondered why I hadn't asked this before. It was the second most obvious question for somepony coming off an anaesthetic in a strange room, right behind "Where am I?"

"If we open it, would Red Eye get whatever was inside?"

"Yeah, but they'd probably pay you a fine sum of money, or you could just close it up again, Ah won't tell. Ah could organize the town to scavenge it, too. We wouldn't mind walking away with it, although Red Eye may not like that."

I had a bad feeling about this, but we didn't have anywhere else to go, and, if Calamity really was trustworthy, there wouldn't be a single issue.

*** *** ***

I asked the nurse, and exploring the Stable was an acceptable exercise, as long as we stayed out of danger. She said that walking around might even help the accelerated healing process.

The Stable's entrance was on the lowest basement floor of the station platform. The station was designed (or redesigned, maybe) to accommodate large numbers of ponies, including a cargo elevator, still working, after all this time.

The platform was a massive, concrete structure, still perfectly intact. The main floor was filled with crates, barrels, and pallets carrying all kinds of supplies.

"We use this place as a storehouse, it was used that way before the war, too."

We took the elevator down, and arrived in a musty room. The Stable door loomed over us, embedded in the concrete wall. On it, the number 14 was carved. Beside the door, a simple control panel waited for instructions. I pressed the intercom button, and got no answer.

"We tried that already, never got a response."

I plugged my pip-buck into the panel, then began inputting Stable II's override code. Lights flashed on, and, for the second time in my life, I witnessed a Stable door open. The gear-shaped door was pushed out, and pulled aside, although not into a concrete case, as it was in my Stable.

"Wow, that was something," Calamity said, amazed.

Stable 14's entrance airlock was waiting for us. I gulped, nervous about what we would find -- and what we would do with it. I trotted inside, anxious to start. The lack of a greeting was worrying. At the end of the airlock was a heavy door, which opened with ease. The entrance level was empty, upon first inspection. The lights were still on, and the walls were decently clean, both good signs.

We continued searching. The medical room was devoid of ponies. A computer was standing by the wall opposite from the door. I walked over to it, and inspected it for the 'on' button. The screen flashed to life, as I accidentally activated the terminal. Various options filled the screen. I selected the first, 'Stable-Network Emergency Alert System'
Stable-Network System -- Error: The Stable-Network is heavily damaged --
Please, somepony, if you can see this, open the door, let us out, please please please please

It wasn't what I expected, although it was what I probably should have. I exited the menu, selecting the next, 'Medical Logs.'

It contained years worth of data, ending at '9/4/1147.' I chose the first entry, which appeared on the screen.

Got new samples today, they say its from the classroom on Level 7. Fuck, the children shouldn't have to deal with this shit. Thankfully, none of them were in there, but thismeans that we'll have to start moving up to Level 6, soon, and nopony wants it to be any more crowded.

Clearly missing something, I skipped over dozens of entries, landing on '2/16/1145',

Update: the residue seems to reproduce at a rapid rate, somehow breaking down everything it touches, like a cancer, but worse. It affects non-organic materials too. So far, we've found that it will eat through steel, titanium, and copper. I hope that the team we put together can contain it. It would be awful if it got someplace we couldn't reach.

'2/11/1145'

A maintenance mare found something on Level 16, a mass of black residue on one of the terminals down there. I've been too busy to make entries during the time that we've been studying it. The mass keeps growing, eating through the terminal, and its slowly engulfing the thing. It contains some signs of genetic material, but we cant really figure out how it reproduces. It seems to be more like a virus than cellular. It eats something, reproduces, then eats more. It only has a simple 'protein' coat, but we've seen all kinds of things that make it up. I've never seen an organism like this. Magician on level 20 said it was from them, but it shouldn't be out here.

Disturbed, I left the terminal alone. We left the medical room, setting our path to the elevator; it still appeared intact. As the doors opened, I could see the aforementioned black residue covering the inside. The partially-consumed body of a pony sank into the floor, and another into the wall. I yelped, stepping away from the door. The door closed, and I sighed heavily.

Before leaving, we copied all of the data from the medical terminal, to look over later. I raided the medical cabinet, just before I forgot, finding some labeled vials (which I didn't care to bring with us, after seeing the elevator), various clean needles, and a roll of bandages. On second thought, I left everything I found in the cabinet behind. We sealed the door behind us, hoping that we hadn't brought the black mass closer to devouring the surface. I worried that we could have awoken something very dangerous.

After we recovered from the experience, Luna asked us, "Should we announce it?"

"It might cause a panic," I responded, "We don't know what might happen."

"If we don't do it, then, how long do you think it'll take for that stuff to spread out here?" Calamity protested.

"Even if they tried to fight it, they might just make it worse; they might spread it out here. Stable 14 couldn't stop it, so they may not be able to, either," Luna said.

"What if we tell the town, and encourage a quarantine?" I said, "They'll know, but the Stable will stay closed. They can study the logs, and try to find a way to stop it, in the meantime."

"That sounds like a good plan," Calamity agreed, "Eclipse?"

"It seems like a perfectly logical conclusion."

We agreed on it, and moved to address the town. At the top of the railhouse was a large, metal bell, used primarily when a pony needed to talk to the other townsponies. In this case, it was Calamity talking. After we rang the bell, a crowd formed in front of the railhouse.

Most of the ponies seemed clean, and none wore ragged clothing. Their fur was healthy, and I saw no other signs of any kind of poisoning. We really had found civilization out here, although it was a shame that Velvet was still missing. Soon, we would find her, I promised myself.

Calamity spoke to them, "An expedition into Stable 14 has been done," the air filled with gasps, "And we found something dangerous. Inside is a black tar, which eats everything it touches, then expands,

"But, we shouldn't panic, the Stable ponies who opened the Stable suggest that we quarantine it until we study the data they collected."

The crowd murmured among itself, some ponies suggesting ways of fighting the "tar", all falling flat in face of Calamity's description. After a while of conversation, the crowd disbanded.

"So, now what?" I wondered, out loud.

"Ponies will discuss it, and after a while, the Council will come to an agreement."

Luna asked, "The Council? As in, elected officials?"

"Yup, we have a council of ponies who make all the big decisions. Who we don't trade with, where the trains don't go, what isn't allowed, things like that."

"Interesting."

Calamity began leading us to the wasteland equivalent of rented apartments. The streets were bustling, maintaining a constant drone over the jewel of the desert that was New Appleloosa. Along our path, we bought food, in exchange for bottle caps, which gave me a few ideas for how we could make money. Carbonated drinks, one of the vices of the old world.

I was relieved when we finally arrived. The building was constructed from adobe, matching the sand. Calamity paid for a room for Luna and me, while he slept alone, somewhere. There was only one bed, but I was all right with that.

By the time we arrived, it was late in the afternoon, and my wound was already feeling better. The day had been as eventful as the last, even more so. I was tired, so I went to bed early. Drifting asleep, I thought of the events of the past few days. In that time, I had fired a gun, killed a pony, almost died, made up with the pony who almost killed me, and almost released a bio-weapon under a town. A day ago, I had found knocking a pony unconscious unusual, and now I was a murderer.

In all respects, I was adjusting quickly to the outside world.