Fallout Equestria: Fractured Memories

Still seething in rage, I carefully hold my torn skin together and use magical energy to heal the gash. I feel a bit of perverse humor in watching Rose look a bit sick as I heal myself, the skin slowly bubbling until it fuses back together into what it should look like. I stand up slowly to grab a length of cloth from my saddlebags, a remnant from Sunset's work on my holsters for my daggers. I then use the rag to clean the remaining blood off my face and her desk, before touching it and causing it to evaporate as I take the magic from within it.

I take a deep breath to continue talking with Rose, only for the door to slam back open, and Sunset to walk in and glance at Rose before glaring at me.

"Auburn," she growls out. "I leave you alone with Rose for two minutes, and you already caused her to cry!? What the hell is wrong with you!"

"I-I-I" I stutter like an idiot. My first reaction is to lash out at her... Wait... Is that what I am doing? Am I lashing out to avoid confronting my mistakes myself? I look between the two of them, my eyes going to pinpricks as I realize what it is I am doing.

"I am... sorry, Rose. I was... angry at myself for making a mistake with Sunset, and when you decided to rub my nose in it, I lashed out at you. I know I gave you a warning, but it does not excuse my actions towards you, especially using such a blatant disregard for the good you are doing here, trying to save enslaved ponies. Please, forgive me."

Rose looks up at me, wiping away grimy tears from her eyes and nods slowly, giving me only the barest hint of a smile before slipping her apple-shaped object back inside the desk.

I turn towards Sunset, but she immediately holds up a hoof and says, heading off my apology. "Can it, Auburn. I don't want or need your pity for what happened to me, or your remorse about what you said. Let's move forward and get these slaves saved, and then, maybe, we can talk about it. But don't count on it, deal?"

I gave her a nod of acknowledgement for her honesty, and I put my hoof out. She just smirks and slaps the hoof back to the ground. "Don't be silly. This isn't that kind of agreement, Auburn."

I say with a sigh and the remnants of a grimace, "So, Rose, you guys need a distraction to get these almost rescued slaves out of this place. You refuse to let us kill the slavers, but you admit that they are becoming more... depraved over the last years. Why can't we kill the slavers? Slavery is seen as evil in most places, Rose, right?"

"Why do ponies in this Luna-damned day and age immediately come to the conclusion that killing the problems solves them?" Rose grumbles aloud. "This is bigger than a single slave camp. It is bigger than even my group, let alone you two."

She seems to look at both Sunset and I with an appraising, apprehensive expression before letting out a long sigh of resignation. "Auburn. Sunset. I can't tell you why. I... I do not have the authority to disclose that to you both. I am only in charge of this one node of the underground, mainly because of my knowledge of this manor house and its grounds. And, before you ask, Grimfeathers is my protection detail, he gave me his contract after we were unable to find Lady Albite."

Seeing both Sunset's and my confused expressions, she elaborates: "Griffons are very much a mercenary race. They work for whoever owns their contract. Grimfeathers was Lady Albite's bodyguard and legal advisor. He currently serves as my protector and bookkeeper."

Interesting to know, and it seems to alleviate both Sunset's and my confusion.

"If you cannot tell us, can you ask someone with the proper authority to tell us?" Sunset asks hesitantly. I think she is not sure if she really wants to know or not, judging from her expression, but unwilling to have the question go unasked.

Rose's gaze hardens as she looks over Sunset after she asks her question. Rose seems to mull over her reply slowly and methodically. Rose then carefully inspects me as well, continuing to think about her answer. It takes her several minutes to decide how to answer.

"I might be able to pull something like that off. BUT, I don't trust you two yet. You both have secrets that I don't like not knowing before I try to do something like that. Answer my questions, and I might try to see what I can do. Is that a deal?"

With a gaze that seemingly tries to bore into Sunset, she asks pointedly, "How in Tartarus did you get Lady Albite's manor gate coordinates, Sunset Shimmer? Those were not published anywhere during or before the war, and sure as my tail is bald, they weren't shared after the Last Day."

Sunset goes to say something before Rose cuts her off with a warning. "You try to lie to me, Mrs. Shimmer, and I ain't gonna remain this civil."

Sunset gulps and deliberates how to answer for a bit before seeing Rose's eyes narrow dangerously at her deliberation. "I... am not from this place. I ended up here after a mishap with an artifact. I found my... corpse where I used to live, and found clues that eventually led to my doppelganger's bunker. My doppelganger's bunker happened to have this old map." She carefully pulls out the map and sets it on the desk. "Your Lady Albite's manor is the only named set of gate coordinates on this map."

Rose studies the map for a bit, pulling out a pair of old silver-framed glasses to do so. "Thank Celestia, you fucking idiot, that you chose to use the named coordinates, Ms. Shimmer. This one is at the bottom of a collapsed iron mine. This one is beneath a lake of still-molten rock. This one is close to 1500 meters in the air because of a balefire bomb. Damn near roast you like a marshmallow in a bonfire, even if you did survive the fall. Tartarus, every one of these except Lady Albite's manor is a death trap! Wait... Every one of these was part of the manufacturing process for..."

She glares at Sunset for a few moments before letting out a deep and slow exhale of breath. Despite her deep breathing, she still clenches her teeth tight enough I thought I heard a crack. "The only reason I believe you, Sunset, is because I knew your doppelganger, as you put it. Let's just say you don't look like the skeletal pony I saw a few years after the Last Day.".

Rose dug around in her desk for a bit before pulling out a waxy green spherical mineral and squeezing it repeatedly until she calmed down a bit to ask another question. "And what are you looking for, Ms. Shimmer?"

Sunset stammers at the unexpected question. "Oh, I am not dumb, Sunset. The only reason you would have risked using a dimensional gate was if you were seriously looking for something. Anyone with the skill to use a gate would understand the risks involved with using coordinates without knowing where they would end up. What are you looking for?"

Sunset looks at me with a pleading look for suggestions. "Sunset, we might as well be honest with her. We want her help to understand the truth of the situation, and she needs our help to get these slaves to safety. Trust me," I say with a gulp, "I am not looking forward to her questions for me, but I will answer them." I say to her in a barely hidden whisper, clearly audible to Rose. "To be honest, she scares me too."

"Fine." She says, with a roll of her eyes. "I am looking for a crystal, Rose. I need one capable of storing a grade 12 spell matrix in a stable environment so that I can use it to use a device to cast a spell to get me home."

Her direct answer seems to shock Rose and she drops her mineral on the ground with a clatter. "A grade 12 spell matrix, you say? one-two? Um... That is a high grade matrix to hold in a crystal. I only know of a few crystals that could have been used for that back in the day." Rose smirks slightly and adds, "I might even know where one could be, if you succeed in helping us rescue these slaves."

Rose groans and looks away from Sunset, as her pupils somehow dilated impossibly wide. "Don't give me those fucking eyes. I don't give a shit how much you beg me. I will only agree to give you the location if you help us rescue those slaves."

"Auburn." I give a slight yelp as Rose calls my name, cowering in my seat at her precise tone of voice. I quickly compose myself, embarrassed at my reaction. "You called yourself an Argaroth. What in Tartarus is that?"

I try to give her the simple explanation I gave Sunset, but Rose just smirks. "Oh, so you eat magical energy, use it to cast spells, and are using one such spell to look like a pony? That seems like you don't want to get answers from me, Auburn."

My ears unconsciously droop onto my head, and I sigh. "Okay. Fine. I got it, you don't want the bare bones answer, you want the meat."

Both Rose and Sunset shiver at my analogy, but I'm so lost in thought, staring at my hooves, I don't react to their discomfort. "I am an Argaroth. We were a race of hominids... bipedal creatures made up of a thickly-congealed blue interior with a translucent white 'skin.' We don't have organs as you would understand them. I'd offer to show you my normal form, but my spell takes a while to recast to change back into pony form, so I'd rather not do so. I have a limited mana pool to cast spells with, based on my input of magical energy and a maximum threshold. I also must eat magic instead of eating normal food."

I sigh and look at Sunset with a slight curl of a smile barely crossing my lips. "Normal food does not provide me with any sort of sustenance, save for inherent magical energy within the ingredients. This is why I didn't eat your ration you gave me in your bunker."

"I can use magic to heal myself from most wounds, as you both have seen before." I gulp and press my forehooves tightly together. "My magical knowledge extends primarily to magical theory, including various types of spell matrices, enchantments, and most any kind of magical barrier you can think of. I am most skilled with Abjuration magic, or magic used to protect areas, and Enchantment magic, magic used to create a lingering magical effect within an object or creature. I can absorb most forms of direct offensive magic, and I can slowly disassemble most kinds of defensive or obstructive magic." I pause, and then add as an afterthought, "Oh, I can also see, read, and eventually understand spell matrices and most enchantments given enough time to study the magic's energy."

I gulp again and blush slightly as I explain the next concept. It's not strictly necessary, but given my mistake with Sunset, I think it needs to be said. "My race is genderless, the act of procreation done through collaborative effort to create a new pupa through joint magic expenditure. This pupa travels and absorbs magic, oftentimes following a wizard around to consume their extra magical energies. Upon absorbing enough magical energy, this pupa physically explodes, and then they reform at a junction of at least... 4?... leylines as a baby Argaroth."

I sigh as I start to discuss our learning cycle, a cycle I never had the opportunity to complete. "We typically start learning how to gather energy for the clan at such a young age before learning magic, and we show particular promise in typically one field of magic, the one we absorbed the most of in our pupa stage. I, instead, was immediately placed into a guard role for our town --" I snort in frustration before I ask softly, "Do you really want me to go on, Rose? This... I really don't like talking about this."

Rose looks at me with a small sigh. "You definitely answered my first question. But, well, you started to answer my second question: How did you get here? Please do continue."

I pause, grinding my teeth before sighing and slumping into the chair. "Do you mind if I... do something as I explain. I need something to focus on..." I trail off as I try to find the right words to explain what I need.

Rose looks at me warily before nodding yes. With a sigh in relief, I use magic to create a spherical shield the size of an orange, holding it between my forehooves and press against it as I continue. "I was put into a guard role for my town, rather than as a gatherer. Oh, sure, I technically learned the role of gatherer as I was learning to be a guard, but I was not told to focus on that part of my learning. As I said, we typically have skill in only one field of magic. I have skill in two. My mentor was rushing my teaching so that I could be a functional guard for the town, as..."

I grind my teeth audibly, "Humans." My hooves crush my spherical shield, consuming its magical energy. I let out a snort of disgust before generating a new shield, this time a cube. "Were using my kind to create a kind of magical item. A kind of item that stored magic so that they could recall it to use later. In the end, it wasn't them that took out my village." I give out a shaky, mirthless laugh before continuing. "A magical entity, I guess one might call it a god, but no god would ever do what it did." My hooves crush the new shield and I sigh, unable to create another shield because of how much I am shaking.

I suddenly growl out in rage, "You know how you both have a fucking dimension? One you live in, or desire to return to!" I stare right at Rose and then Sunset as I say what they have, ignoring their fearful gaze at me and their sudden recoil from my outburst.

"But do you understand what it's like to lose everything you've ever known?" My voice trembles with a mixture of anger and bitterness. "To watch your world crumble before your eyes, to see your home reduced to ashes and rubble?"

Rose goes to interrupt me, clear indignation on her face. "Oh, please." I sneer, slamming my hoof on the floor in a stomp hard enough that I feel the sting of the impact. "This destruction... The ruins of your civilization. By the Nine Hells, it's not even a scratch on what could happen to a universe. Your world can still repair itself, life will continue to grow and thrive." She looks at me, eyes widening in horror as if she could somehow see what I have seen.

I close my eyes, and take deep inhales and exhales as I slowly create the formula for a dodecahedral shield in my mind. Some small part of me hesitates to continue, wanting to hold back my explanation, but after my outburst, I can't do that. They need to know why I am so upset at... I force my emotions back down to calm myself, focusing entirely on the spell I am crafting in my mind. When I finish and cast it, I hold my eyes firmly shut.

In a much lower tone, I say, "Mine isn't intact any more. The entity destroyed it, shattered it into pieces right before my eyes."

I pause, my voice breaking as the vivid recollection of the laughter echoes in my mind."I can still hear its laughter, mocking and cruel, haunting me."

I speak softly, my voice barely above a whisper, "My master barely got me out with a teleport, timing it right for when the entity attacked, somehow he knew, and of all of my kind, he saved me." The gratitude mixed with confusion still lingers within me. "But I saw my dimension shatter right before my eyes, unable to stop it from happening."

I look at Rose with bloodshot eyes and barely contained rage, my hooves shattering the shield in my hooves once again. "You ask me how I got here, Rose. There is at least one shard of my dimension in this one, and it called me here, pulling me from other dimensions once I collected those shards from those other universes."

I close my eyes tightly and say, "And I got here before this world turned to this fucking wasteland. My memories are gone from between then and now, and I cannot help but wonder one thing: What would these fucking ponies have done with a shard of my world if they found it?" With a tiny frail voice, I add, "Just look at what they were willing to do to their own." I cover my head in my hooves and curl up in my chair, trying very hard not to cry, and failing.