Fallout Equestria: Mothership Eta

The world righted itself around me in a burst of red light. I noted, with some dismay, that my surroundings were not much better lit than my previous environment. In the dim blue glow of the small room I found myself in, I could make out Dew’s anxious form through the piles of garbage that surrounded me. She was twisting in circles, apparently trying to see something near her cutie mark.

“Rusty! Thank the skies, I need your help! I think the teleport might’ve taken off my tail!”

As funny as it might be to watch her chasing her tail, I couldn’t leave her hanging. “It’s still attached, hon. That was something the Estro made up. One last scare before we left.”

Dew stopped spinning and fixed me with a disbelieving stare. “Seriously? What is wrong with these bucking humans?”

“More things than I can count. Including, apparently, their cleaning skills.” I knocked one of the scraps of scattered trash away with my hoof. “It’s like they’re turning this place into their very own wasteland.”

“No kidding. And it might go beyond cleanliness, too.”

“Huh? What makes you say that?”

“It’s almost as if the wasteland has made its way up here,” Dew said, as she played with her own piece of debris. “We’ve already seen torturers and rapists, and we just left the sadists. If we run into diseased cannibal slavers next, that’s every wasteland stereotype in one place!”

“Wow.” That was certainly food for thought. “I hadn’t thought of that. And it goes beyond stereotypes. Limited resources? Isolated factions? And infighting too, if you believe what Vivian said about an uprising.”

“Yeah... Rusty, why doesn’t somepony do something? There have to be heroes in the wasteland, right?”

That prompted a bitter chuckle from me. “Going back to comic book logic again?”

“Rusty, I’m serious!”

“So am I.”

That earned an incredulous look from her. “Really.”

“Yes, really. Heroes work great in comic books, where they always save the day and any defeat is temporary. In real life? They save the minute at most, and defeat comes in the form of a bullet through the head. Sure, you hear occasional stories of do-gooder ponies, coming from caravan tales and over the radio. But they never stick around long enough to make much of a difference. Becoming a hero is the easiest way to guarantee yourself a short life.”

“Is that how everypony in the wasteland thinks?”

“Pretty much.”

"So it would take somepony from outside the wasteland to really make an impact?"

“Probably.” Wait. I was suddenly suspicious of where this conversation was going. “Hold on. Dew, you’re not seriously thinking you could be a hero, right?”

“Don’t be silly, of course not!” Thank Celestia the mare had common sense. I was worried for a second. “We both could be heroes!”

My heart skipped a few beats. Despite the dim light, I could tell she was completely earnest. “Dew, didn’t you hear what I said about a short life?”

“Well, yes, but that was down in the wasteland! It’ll be different up here!”

“We literally just had a conversation about how the wasteland is up here too!”

“It’s like the wasteland, not the same thing!”

“Close enough. Dew, there is no fucking way you’re going to convince me to go off heroing with you.”

“But Rusty, earlier you said we were going to fight all the humans on the ship! How is being a hero any less dangerous?”

“Hon, I said that because I was pissed off and desperate. I’m not taking any more risks now that we’ve got a possible way out.” I started looking around for an exit door. I had to get away from this madness!

“What about all the captives the Guros and Cloppers have? We need to do something for them!”

“If we try to be heroes, we’ll end up in the same state as those captives!” Found the door. I started clomping towards the exit.

“Rusty, what happened to wanting to do better?”

I paused in my tracks, my heart caught in my throat. Fuck. That’s twice now my words have come back to bite me in the ass. But she was right. Dammit. Dew had shown me that I could be better. And for her sake, that's exactly what I'd have to be. I turned to face her and caught her pleading look.

“...I guess that means I’ll have to be a hero.”

Dew let out a squee of delight and clapped her hooves together... hold on, that wasn’t a squee, that’s a squeal! And it’s not coming from Dew, it’s… everywhere?

I could feel the air vibrating as the walls lifted around us, neglected machinery grinding as it struggled to life for the first time in what must have been years. The blue lighting was drowned out by a crack of brilliant green surging through a gap at floor height. As the gap expanded, I was able to make out more and more of the massive chamber being revealed to us. What was it with these humans and their enormous rooms? Even the most ostentatious wasteland buildings I had explored never had so much wasted space! The green lights turned out to be rows upon rows of glass cylinders far below us, each topped with a dome of blinking lights and a thick cable running to a central column. Only a few darkened cylinders broke up the regular pattern, like dead pixels on a terminal screen. Despite my irritation at the massive waste of space above the cylinders, I had to admit the effect was rather impressive.

Finally the screeching of tortured metal ceased, and I was able to hear Dew’s voice as the final echoes died away. “...really have a thing for the dramatic, huh?”

“You said it.” I had been hoping we’d left that shit back with the Tragicians. “Well, we followed Pinkie's instructions. Now what?”

“I guess we keep moving? There’s stairs over here going down to the next level. Lit up and everything. We should probably take them and head towards level forty-six. Our next stop is Engineering, after all.”

“Give me one second.” I still wanted to check out the exit door I had spotted earlier. Call me contrarian, but I felt that when given such an obvious path, there had to be something else hidden elsewhere. Scavver habit, I suppose.

The door was still there, but it was shut tight, with no convenient terminal nearby. And lockpicking had never been my strong suit. “Okay, obvious staircase it is.”

“You think it’s a bad idea?”

I shrugged. “We don’t know anything about the humans on this level, except that they’re not Engineers. Brightly lit stairs just scream ‘trap’ to me, but I don’t see another option. Unless you want to levitate me down?”

“I’ll pass. Way too far for me to jump after you.”

“Fair point. Stairs it is. Guns out, we don’t want to be caught flat-hooved.”

We proceeded side by side down the steps, our bodies casting shadows on the ceiling from the luminous white steps. The stairs appeared to meet the main floor right next to the central column. As we advanced, I took a closer look at the cylinders. I was able to determine that their glow wasn’t uniform, but it wasn’t until we were almost at the bottom that I could make out what was causing the difference in luminosity.

“Dew, hold up,” I whispered to her. “Do those look like humans in those glass tubes?”

“Yeah, you hadn’t noticed yet? I think they’re being held in stasis or something, those look like feeding and breathing tubes going into their faces.”

“You mean you knew what they were and didn’t say anything?” My shitty perception was going to get me killed one of these days. “Don’t you think that’s something worth calling my attention to?”

“You do know what stasis means, right?” She was looking at me incredulously. I nodded back at her. Come on, Dew, just because I’m a wastelander doesn’t mean I’m completely ignorant! She continued, “They’re just sitting there; that means there’s nothing to worry about. We need to keep our eyes peeled -- open, sorry -- for things that can actually hurt us.”

“Point taken.” We could worry later why everyhuman here was trapped in a tube.

The final few stairs took us right between a row of humans floating in their glowing capsules. We stepped gingerly in spite of our apparent solitude. The eerie stillness of the chamber made us feel like we were stepping into a mausoleum. I knew it was foalish to be scared; the humans I could make out through the dingy glass showed no recognition of our presence. Still, it just felt spooky.

We reached the ground floor directly in front of the large central structure. I had called it a column before, but that word was completely insufficient to describe what we were seeing. The base was an enormous glossy black bulb that expanded from the floor, then tapered at least twenty feet above our heads. From that point a massive collection of silvery pipes and cables spiralled upwards before reaching out and descending to individual glass tubes.

The whole assembly was easily the most alien-looking thing we had seen since arriving on the ship. Eerie, otherworldly, intimidating; whatever it was, it was giving me the creeps.

And then, a noise. A multitude of soft voices rose from all around us. The bulb in front of us began to glow a soft blue, its intensity pulsating along with the speech I could now just begin to make out.

“...they have come...”

“...the oracle was correct...”

“...those who travel between...”

“...rust and water...”

“...what will their actions be…”

Another set of walls rose around us as the bulb’s light coalesced into an image of a featureless human face. I bumped into Dew; we must have instinctively moved towards each other upon the realization that there was something watching us! The individual voices died out, and the image’s mouth opened to speak.

“Welcome, ponies. We have been expecting you.”

Despite the major creepiness factor, I felt a sense of relief. At least this thing wasn’t trying to kill us. We were stuck for now, but safe. I could sense Dew’s body relax beside me as she apparently came to the same conclusion.

“The Tragicians called down ahead of us, huh?” I said, before stowing my pistol in its holster. The creepy factor was fading fast, this looked like another faction’s overly elaborate welcome. “Fancy reception you all put together, but that kind of shit is getting old. Not every faction needs a dramatic reveal, you know!”

“The Tragicians are insular and ableist! They could tell us nothing! We have known of your arrival since before you entered this vessel!”

“...it was foretold…”

“...years, decades…”

“...fulfilling their destiny…”

I caught Dew’s sidelong look before she continued where I left off. “That’s more than we needed to know. I have to admit I’m a little curious about how you knew to expect us, but it’ll have to wait for later. We’re on a mission and we really would prefer to complete it without too many distractions.”

“...she is unimpressed…”

“...were they contacted before?...”

“...must not deviate…”

“Tell us. What is your mission?”

Okay, things weren’t adding up here. “Are you saying you knew we were coming but not why?”

“Our knowledge is incomplete.”

“...always seeking…”

“...so much more to know…”

“...another perspective…”

“...never enough…”

Dew facehoofed with a drawn-out sigh. “All right. Let’s just get to the point. Who are you and what do you want?”

“Your mission! First, you must tell us your mission!”

“...the mission…”

“...we must know…”

“We’re heading down to see the Engineers,” Dew responded. “That enough for you?”

“The Engineers… They mock those who pursue their own passions, yet they inwardly yearn to take part!”

“...they are to be pitied…”

“...they are yet dangerous…”

“...such potential within them…”

“...they must be made to join…”

“Is this seriously all you ever do?” I spat out. You just sit around and judge everypony -- everyhuman -- everywhatever?!”

“That is our purpose! We are the Analysts! We observe and interpret!”

“...only we can judge…”

“...we are the stronghold of knowledge…”

“...we speak what is true…”

“What’s with this we brahminshit? Are you seriously saying everyhuman here buys into this?”

“There is no everyhuman! We exist together! Our minds are one! We are one!”

“...all agree...”

“...minds linked together…”

“...the consensus is all...”

Well. I thought I had seen the craziest shit these human factions could come up with, but I was obviously mistaken. Did they really link their minds together? How many chems did they huff to think that was a good idea?

“‘We are one?’ Then what are those other voices coming in after you?” Dew asked. She was apparently less concerned with the implications of mind melding than I was.

“They are but echoes, reiterating the truth that was spoken!”

“...whole truth…”

“...nothing but the truth…”

“Great.” Dew’s shoulders slumped as she sighed. “We’re in a literal echo chamber.”

Echo chamber. Must be some Enclave expression. “Getting back on track, you were going to explain why you’re keeping us here. Right?” Heroes or not, I was about ready to start shooting if they dragged this out much longer. The only issue was, between the curved screen and the walls, the amount of damage I could do was bound to be minimal.

“We offer a trade.”

No echoes this time. Thank Celestia. “All right, what’ve you got?”

“...so blunt…”

“...valuable viewpoint…”

“...acceptance unknown..."

...And there they were.

“Knowledge traded for perspective. We are the caretakers of all that has transpired concerning this vessel and its inhabitants. We offer you enlightenment on matters few equines have even pondered! In exchange, we desire your assessment of what you have witnessed.”

I glanced over to Dew, confused. She apparently shared my feelings on this exchange. “I’m sorry, am I hearing this right? You’re going to tell us your history and all you want from us is to tell you what we think? What kind of trade is that?”

“The terms are as you stated. The transaction is valuable. Knowledge is important, commentary even more so.”

“...when all facts are known…”

“...like, comment and subscribe…”

“...outsider’s perspective…”

“And if we say no?”

“...unacceptable…”

“...disappointing…”

“...must comply…”

“Then you will not be permitted to leave.”

Well. That certainly would put a damper on things. “Looks like there’s not much choice, Dew. I don’t see any way we could fight our way out of this, and having to sit through a lecture and take a survey isn’t the worst fate.”

“Yeah. And it’s not like we’re in any position to negotiate, either.”

“That too.” I turned my attention back to the screen. “All right, we’ll do the lecture. How long is this going to take?”

“The transfer of knowledge will take minutes, though in your minds it will appear to last longer.”

“...direct transfer…”

“...melding of minds…”

“Wait, you mean you’re going to plug us in to your collective?” Oh, now Dew was worried about the hive mind aspect.

“You are concerned about being forced into the consensus. Do not worry, we are only interested in your perspective. This perspective would be tainted if you are joined with us.”

“...thoughts read, not written…”

“...unique opportunity…”

“...analysis pending…”

“Dammit, whatever.” Anything to get us moving again. “Dew, I already had my mind read once today by that Pinkie freak. It’s not that bad. Let’s just get it over with.”

“Fine,” came her reply.

“...success…”

“...gratitude…”

“...pinned comments…”

“Excellent. Please remain still. Uplink will initiate momentarily.”

Two dark, twisted cables emerged from the central column, heading in our direction. As the nearer one contacted my head, there was only one thing my addled mind was able to think.

“Never should have checked out that wreck…”