Fallout Equestria: The Vanhoover Chronicles

Everypony knew of miss Pega, most ponies had heard her broadcasts on the radio, but very few had the honour of actually meeting her. These privileged ponies were as a rule limited to representatives from influential groups such as the other great families, mercenary companies or caravans. Exceptions to this rule were carefully investigated, disarmed and only accepted under armed escort.

Regardless, everyone knew miss Pega, and everyone knew that she was the undisputed queen of the city of vice. The closest thing to a princess one could ever find in the wasteland, she was beautiful, charismatic and knew everything that went on within her city. Many groups have tried to overthrow her, only for their plans to be foiled at the worst possible moment.

Of course, few were foolish enough to walk straight into the Hive casino and try to force their way to her. Those who did so where either suicidal or insane, and Courier 7 was most certainly known as both. Not to mention exceedingly dangerous, and rumoured to be nigh unkillable.

***

"Ah, Courier. You know the dri-"

BLAM

The ponies at the reception desk stood there stunned, covered in green blood and grey matter as the corpse hit the floor. For a heartbeat there was silence, and in that moment every onlooker watched the dancing smoke of the barrel, not daring to move lest it be aimed at them. Then the mare in the duster took a single step forward and the shock began to break. As every pony turned their gaze towards the face of the assailant and were met with the stare there were all too well familiar with, that of a killer.

In a panicked frenzy the guests dived behind the closest furniture they could find, overturning tables and unholstering their own guns. This was New Pegasus, where those foolish enough to be unarmed died a pathetic death, and where the desperate tried a foolhardy gambit like this every now and then. None of the guests aimed or attempted to fire however, this was a casino and such business is handled by the family that ruled it.

And within seconds a dozen pegasi dressed in the finest suits and wartime combat armour appeared in a rough concave around the courier mare, machine guns aimed, and ready to unleash a torrent of bullets fierce enough to rip apart a building. The moment she moved, the triggers would be bit.

Only, she didn't move.

"Gravitas"

The word was low, deep and rumbled through the air. It was met by a disparate chorus of screams as the winged ponies crashed into the floor, breaking limbs and floorboard alike. There was no longer any such thing as a bystander as the audience felt the full force of the spell, and unwillingly hit the floor. Furniture splintered and even the sturdy structure of the Hive itself seemed to groan in suffering as pillars struggled to stay intact.

Then she stepped forward, walking past the ponies in anguish around her, neither noticing nor caring if any of them died or not. A rifle was shaking in the air, levitated in a struggling telekinetic grip, only for the red magic aura to be replaced with one of golden light.

Skrnch

The metal bent and broke as if it was wood and not hardened steel, before dropping to the floor in a pile of worthless scrap. Somepony had tried to shoot her, she didn't know whom, nor did she particularly care as she continued inwards into the casino.

Two turrets descended from hidden slots in the roof, whirred to life, and failed to fire as they couldn't detect any intrusion. They relied on Stabletech software, Eyes Forward Sparkle for threat detection, and the Stabletech Assisted Targeting Spell for unerring accuracy. Unfortunately for the defenders, said spells are fairly ubiquitous and far from infallible. Miss Pega knew this of course, and it was just one of many steps in the Hive's defenses.

The mare ignored the frantic shouts from the corridors, and entered the elevator as if it was just a casual visit. Taking the elevator when the place was on high alert was a foolish mistake by any semblance of reason, the car could be detached at any minute, sending the invader to a sharp fall past the Hive's many basement levels. It happened of course, and the reaction was merely a word.

"Inverta"

The mare fell upwards and twisted her body to land on the inside of the car's roof, and the car began its elevation towards the royal suite at the very top. Not at ever increasing speeds but a calm, and slow ride, until the car reached its destination. By now the electronics had all been shut off, but that didn't pose much of a hindrance as a soft golden glow gripped the doors and pushed them apart.

She stopped for a moment when she stepped outside, into the exquisite suite. The decoration was expensive, in excellent condition and the location hinted at its owner's true self. A cultured wastelander would be content with whatever scavenged furniture, literature and art objects they could get their hooves on, a ghoul would specifically pick things they recognized as part of their former life. This was none of those, this place had been decorated during the Great War by a lady who knew her tastes.

Then she realized why she had stopped, the decor had changed since she last visited. It felt familiar, nostalgic even, as it reminder her of Canterlot, the queen of of Equestrian cities. True, miss Pega had her own link to the ancient capital, a quite interesting story in its own right but that wasn't why.

"It would seem that I am expected."

The mare said to herself as she stood there for a few moments, reflecting over the tranquil peace of the room. Yet, there was a tense quality to the air, an ambush or a trap perhaps? She opened the door to the next room and heard a pair of beeping sounds to her sides.

Mines, in a suite like this?

"How wasteful and pointlessly destructive."

The mines didn't beep a second time as the proximity alarms shut off. She levitated them upwards, took a look at them and bit by bit dismantled them carefully. No sense in wasting any of the amenities after all.

Suddenly, the flow of air stopped, a bullet floated harmlessly in the air besides her, and in the corner of the room there was a constant flash of light from the muzzle of a rifle. No sound, no smell, and evidently no mere stealth buck. The bugs had snatched a Zebrecian stealth cloak from the stripes. It is of course the perfect counter for her defenses, if she hadn't readied a time shield well in advance.

Miss Pega was getting clever, perhaps there was a third step to this ambush?

"Umbra"

All light went out of the room, and not in the mood to try out the defenses any further she decided to take a shortcut. The usual sudden flash of magical light was absent and as the flow of time resumed, the assailants found themselves blind against an opponent who wasn't even there anymore. And there were few things that panicked professional warriors more than the unknown, perhaps they would kill each other in the ruckus?

***

Miss Pega was standing on the balcony, looking eastward across the desolate wasteland, enjoying the rough wind blowing through her orange mane. She was trying to ignore the troublesome ruckus occurring within her casino, her castle, and she failed. Unlike the younger generations of ponies, the troublemaker had a certain presence around her, one that that was painfully obvious whenever she was in town.

An emerald glow gripped her mane as she decided to turn back inside, closing her eyes as she did so. There was a certain flutter of wings that she could hear, too rapid and too nervous to truly be that of a pegasus. Sighing at the incompetence she gave the command.

"Just drop the disguises for now."

The guards and servants in the room were engulfed by by emerald fires and replaced by inequine predators. Covered in dark rigid carapaces, in stark contrast to the sharp white fangs, the eyes truly insectoid and the wings surprisingly soft and fragile for such a creature. They stretched their wings, changed to telekinetic grips for their weapons and fidgeted nervously.

It was strange, even the fools in the Enclave hesitated when surrounded by the ferocious changelings. The younger drones weren't quite the same as back during Celestia's time, prone to aggression and some of them developing a taste for pony blood in this love starved era. The perfect infiltrators, slowly turning into yet another wasteland monster. More primordial, more driven by instinct, still blindly obedient to her rule.

Yes, it was strange. This pony was hardly the only one that didn't fear her warriors, but she was unique in how the drones shivered and unconsciously shied away from her presence. It was a fool's errand to drive them to attack her, to their semi feral instincts it was like trying to hunt a full grown dragon. That was why the guard squad in the lobby were actual pegasi, of Sunset's tribe, and why the assassin had been her personal head hunter.

Opening her eyes again she looked curiously at the grey pony clad in a duster and desperado hat, aiming a levitating revolver at her face. Her anger clearly evident, hammer pulled back and ready, and her intent to kill already proven. Despite the clear threat miss Pega just stood there, waiting patiently for her adversary to pull the trigger.

Her supposed honour guard, the most reliable and experienced warriors in the entire hive, they didn't interfere. She wondered if it was paralyzing fear or if they merely knew that their queen could take care of herself if need be.

Wanting to get this silly distraction out of the way she broke the silence.

"I am waiting."

The gun wavered a little, yet the hammer remained cocked and she remained very much alive.

"Care to tell me what triggered this childish outburst, Starlight?"

The grey mare scowled in a sardonic grin.

"We had a deal, Pega."

So that was what it was.

"And what, pray tell, were the details of said arrangement?"

Not that she needed to hear it, obviously it was the non aggression pact they agreed on a few decades ago

"Your bugs were supposed to stay out of Vanhoover."

The tone was cold and threatening, and met with a theatrical sigh.

"You are well aware how many hatchlings I have these days, and how unruly they can be. I can't be expected to keep track of all of them, some of them are bound to wander away somewhere."

It was a pointless diversion and they both knew it.

"Do you have any idea what you are risking here?"

Pega rolled her eyes at that, intentionally of course.

"Imminent doom and destruction? Please, I am well aware of the threats above."

She waved her wing as she said the first words, her eyes becoming serious towards the end. Ignoring the gun she began walking around the room, stretching her wings pointedly. It was ironic, they were surrounded by changelings in their true form, both of them knew who she was and yet she stayed a pony. For some reason she had grown attached to this persona of hers, maybe it were the little surface pegasi who seemed to adore her.

"Really? And yet you don't seem to care if any of your little hatchlings poke their horns somewhere they don't belong? I told you to stay out of the city for a reason, there are things buried there, things that you and your bugs shouldn't touch."

At that, Pega snorted sarcastically at that.

"The same could be said for Canterlot, but that didn't seem to stop you. And-"

She raised a wing to hold the initiative in the discussion.

"-I do notice that you still refuse to tell me what these things are, and there aren't exactly any other ponies I could ask."

The revolver's barrel followed her every step, locked at her eyes.

"The point is, you broke a promise, and I can't have you endangering what little there is left of my birthright. So this, ends here."

Clearly, talking herself out of this confrontation wasn't going to work.

"Then by all means, do what you must."

There was a wave of anger emanating from the courier.

"DO NOT belittle me, Pega. By all means, I should shove a grenade into your ovipositor for this!"

They weren't going to get anywhere while she was in that mood.

"And yet, you haven't pulled the trigger."

The grandiose pegasus stepped closer to her attacker, intentionally putting her head in front of the barrel and pushing the revolver backwards as she closed in on the pony before her. An advantage of this form, there were few ponies large enough for her to be forced to meet them at an eye level.

"DO IT."

The command wasn't just inviting, it was imperious and undeniable. The magic around the gun fluttered and broke, her own magic grasping the weapon just before it hit the floor. She grasped the hat as well and threw it to the side, and finally she could get a good look at the silly pony who caused such commotion.

She couldn't help but smile a little, the grey unicorn's eyes were filled with fear and she actually trembled. Such a silly pony indeed, so ruthless, so drenched in blood, and so very fragile. Technically, miss Pega didn't have a special talent, but she liked to think that hers was discovering and exploiting weaknesses. And Starlight's weakness?

The unicorn suffered from abandonment issues, she craved attention and support, and was at the same time severely paranoid when it came to trusting people. Back during the Great War this wasn't really an issue, but when Canterlot was ruined and everypony she relied upon died one after another... These days, surrounded by ponies utterly alien to her, she struggled to create relationships and had unexpectedly bonded with the one creature that could understand her.

Even if said creature was a changeling queen.

"Leave us."

As the black insectoids hurriedly left the room she unfolded her wings and embraced the smaller form before her, and the grey unicorn mare broke down in tears. Her legs gave out and she half fell to the floor and half into the embrace of the supposed pegasus.

***

When miss Pega opened her eyes she sensed something was wrong, she was still in her bed and she could smell Starlight in the immediate vicinity. This was definitely still her hive, she blinked slowly and rose to her black hooves. Glancing down she realized one of the things that were off, her beautiful pale green coat was gone and replaced by obsidian coloured carapace, irregular, jagged and filled with holes.

She stretched her wings and there wasn't the flap of feathered wings but the buzzing of gossamer wings, she felt her jagged horn and wondered how long it had been since she last transformed back into the form of a queen. Years most likely, not since the last time the hive required her duties. Had she changed during her sleep, or did the unicorn do something?

Looking around the room she noticed other little faults around her, where was the courier outfit? The saddle bags? The revolver? And the light, there was something off with the light. Even at a full moon the suite was never this bright, not even before the cloud cover was made by those accursed pegasi. And why was it crimson? No... Azure? Shaking her head trying to figure it out, it now looked golden.

"Starlight, what-"

Her voice died off as she got a better look at the unicorn standing on the balcony outside, had her coat always been that dark? The mane and tail were luminescent and glowing with a soft golden colour, didn't Luna once glow like that when it was nighttime? As she stepped closer she realized that the mare didn't look like any unicorn she had known, golden hairs of the tail was just a small tuft at the end of it, the horn resembled that of an alicorn.

"Who... or what are you?"

The unicorn didn't seem particularly bothered by the question, and continued her gaze skywards. Severely disliking being ignored, especially when caught by some strange spell, the queen raised her voice.

"I ASKED WHO YOU ARE."

"I heard."

"... You're refusing to answer then, can you tell me where we are?"

"In a dream, more or less."

Stepping out on the balcony she saw what the stranger meant, the city of New Pegasus wasn't there. Outside of the hive itself were nothing but dry fields of vermilion grass as far as her eyes could see, shivering for a moment she realized that even the mountains had disappeared.

She looked at the face of the mare in silence, the pony was still staring upwards, occasionally blinking. Her features were slightly odd, the ears were in a strange shape, and her eyes... they had no pupils, just empty golden irises. No, not empty, there were hypnotizing patterns in there, shimmering in blues and reds under the golden light. Forcefully breaking away her gaze she made the mistake of looking at the night sky.

It was a kaleidoscope of three colours, tints of red, blue and yellow. Not against a black backdrop as she expected, no, it was nearly as bright as a midday sun. Not as fierce or blinding, it was none the less still brighter than a full moon. It was transfixing to watch as various tiny individual lights flashed and pulsated, it seemed to form into patterns but whenever Chrysalis looked at one it transformed into something else.

"What is this..."

Somehow she could hear a smile in the tone of the pony when she answered.

"The sky of Equestria of course."

"Do I have to act like an idiot or?"

"Of course not, your majesty. The reason why you never noticed it before is due to interference from Equestria's sun and moon. Not to mention the radiation that has flooded the lands these days. It has been a while since I last looked at it, so I took the liberties to remove such distractions."

She was meant to be impressed, awed, it was intended as a declaration of power.

"You just happened to remove the sun and the moon, and everything else by the looks of it?"

"Dreams are wondrously malleable, and it is not like Luna is around to stop me anymore."

There was something in the wording, it reminded her of old pony tales, or was it zebran? Unfortunately she never cared much for the stories of creatures she once saw as mere prey, as food for her children. Still, she couldn't put the thought out of her mind and decided to try prod for more information.

"I suppose there is a point to showing me this?"

As the queen of New Pegasus she had built her empire on information, the one weapon she could use to guarantee the safety of her hive and her brood. The one weapon those above feared above all. And for once in her life, she was at a disadvantage.

"Correct, I will explain in a bit. Would you mind closing your eyes for my sake for a few moments?"

This better not be something as silly as a kiss, she thought to herself as she did so.

"Now, deep breaths, and relax. And listen."

The tone was like a school teacher explaining basic magic to a foal and she cared little for it. It didn't help that all she could hear was a haunting wind, and there it was. Haunting, when she thought of the word she realized there was something carried on the wind. Voices, or at least recognizable patterns, faded and echoing. Trying to focus she reached out for them in her mind, to no avail as they seemed to whisper away.

"Excellent, now try to put them out of your mind and listen deeper."

A bit peeved she did as she was told, this was a form of magic she hadn't encountered before and if this dreamwalker wanted to show her how to access it then all the better. After all, magic is power. Clearing her mind she listened once more and felt low rumbles, different tones, distances and directions but there was definitely something out there.

"The golden star to the northwest, the one with seven corner."

Frowning, the queen wondered how she was supposed to know which one. Then she found it, and heard a deafening roar, a cry of anguish, fear and rage. Opening her eyes in shock she stumbled backwards, staring at the small thing glimmering clearly despite the bright backdrop. It wasn't just the voice, it was the raw power behind it...

"That thing could burn all life in the world..."

Stories whispered in the back of her mind, superstitions of the zebras, or so she had thought.

"Ah, so you understand, good. The same goes for the sun, it is just another star after all. They are all like that. One could say that we are but motes of dust, in the grand scheme of things. Some of us more than others, of course."

"Celestia..."

The changeling queen found herself hyperventilating and struggling for breath.

"Celestia, she could have killed me at any point, couldn't she?"

"And the zebras, not just individually but the entire empire. One small final step into ascension and none could have stood against her. Not even Nightmare Moon at her pinnacle, regardless of what Luna thought, her light was a mere reflection of the solar glory."

There it was again, something in the wording.

"What was that thing, why that star specifically?"

"It belongs to the Van Hoofs, or they belong to it, the details are a bit fuzzy."

And she understood, the point of this exercise, and what the courier mare was so deathly scared of. And scared she had been, after the breakdown she hadn't uttered a word until she passed out. The only other times Starlight had appeared to be terrified of anything was when she had nightmares of balefire bombs.

Nightmares!

"You are a nightmare, aren't you?"

For the first time the mare before her gave a proper reaction and turned her head to the changeling, a faint smile revealing a pair of fangs. Sitting on her rear hooves she raised her front hooves in some alien form of applause and clapped, now the queen noticed that they where cloven.

"Very good, your majesty. Would you prefer I change shape into something more eldritch or is the equine form more to your liking? It doesn't matter much to me either way."

"Why do you even look like her in the first place?"

"I do not, technically she resembles me."

Riddles, puzzles and vague hints. No matter, one does not survive for centuries without paying attention.

"Are you a Van Hoof then?"

"I am."

The clear honesty was refreshing, but the answer was too short to give any further hints.

"And here I thought you were all earth ponies."

"There has been a few exceptions to the rule over the centuries."

She was old then, older that the wasteland at least.

"IF you wanted my attention, you have it. Now, let's talk, nightmare."

***

The changeling queen opened her eyes once more, she was on her bed again, her coat a soft greyish green, her mane a beautiful orange and her wings were as fluffy as they were supposed to be. Next to her, face buried in Pega's chest, laid a grey unicorn, snoring soundly. This time, everything was as it was supposed to be. She looked at the peacefully sleeping pony in her bed and shuddered.

"A balefire bomb..."

No wonder the mare was seriously overpowered, walking away from ground zero was bound to have some side effects to her magic. Not to mention her psyche, dying had to have a detrimental effect to anyone's sanity. So much magic in a single pony, and so much trauma, and yet she looked so innocent when she slept there.

Again, thank you for taking care of her.

Awake, and she could still hear it. Perhaps the experience last night had awakened some latent senses, she thought back to it and the agreement. No changelings in Tall Tale or Vanhoover, it was not worth the risk, the ghoul had to be treated most delicately. However, that didn't mean she would stay away from it. No, she would contact Sunset and send pony agents instead.

If there were artifacts hidden up north that were a threat to the Enclave, she would not just let them lie there. Looking back to the unicorn she realized another thing, perhaps it was time for a deeper cooperation, they both had the same goal here after all.

Yes, miss Pegas smiled to herself, the sky will burn.