Fallout Equestria: Mothership Eta

"Hello? Any humans around?"

There had been no welcoming committee as we entered the physicists' territory. The room was bright and well maintained, a stark contrast from the abandoned top level of the Guros' turf. But it was just as deserted.

"What do you think?" Dew continued, turning her attention to me. "Maybe the Cloppers didn't actually let them know we were coming?"

"Gee, Dew, if only there was a Ponish-speaking Clopper we could ask. Oh wait, there is! I just hope she's still willing to talk to us after she was vaporized!"

"All right, you made your point," Dew scoffed. "I'm sorry for killing the human that drugged you and let me be assaulted."

I was again struck by just how indifferent Dewdrop was to the murder that had just happened. In the space of a few hours she had apparently forgotten that watching a killing can be pretty fucking traumatic. Apparently it was now my job to remind her. "It's not just that, Dew. Did you think of how the physicists would react to a pony that murdered a human right outside their territory? They're probably shitting bricks right now!"

Dew at least had the decency to look slightly guilty. "Oh... I hadn't thought of that. Hey physicists!" she shouted to the walls. "We're not going to hurt you! Look, I'm taking the battery out of my gun!" The lights on her pistol faded as her magic removed the battery and placed it in her overalls.

What a change. We had entered Clopper territory while being assured we wouldn't be harmed, and now we were promising the same thing upon entering their neighbors' turf. The hunted had become the hunters, or however that saying went.

"Nothing," Dew said in a huff. Then, "Hey, does something look off about the floor?"

I barely had time to look down myself before a set of metal bars shot up with a loud clang around me! They were almost touching my sides; I could barely move!

Dew let out a shout of surprise. I couldn't turn my head, but I was able to see her out of the periphery of my vision. She was trapped like I was, her cage extending from floor to ceiling. "Rusty? Are you okay?" she shouted to me.

"I'm stuck, just like you," I yelled back.

"Did we set off a trap?"

"Both of us, at the same time? When neither of us were moving?" Now that I knew there was something to see, I was able to make out the odd pattern on the floor that Dew had called my attention to. There were evenly spaced circles recessed into the ground, and the bars surrounding us matched up perfectly with the pattern. "Somepony else must have triggered it! There's no way we'd be stuck this tight in a preset trap!"

Then all the lights went out.

Dew and I both shouted this time. The only light I could see was coming from my hoof terminal and the rear of my pistol's barrel. There was none coming from Dew’s direction; her own pistol was powered down. I heard her take a number of quick, shallow breaths, then her horn lit up, dwarfing the meager light I was able to provide. I guess she finally remembered she had a light spell.

"Ok, who's messing with us?" Dew shouted to the walls. "I know you're there, show yourself!"

Her voice reverberated off the metallic walls, quickly fading to nothingness, but we heard no reply. I kept scanning the walls that were within my line of sight, hoping to catch a glimpse of just who was fucking with us. But I was only able to inspect part of the room before without warning, her horn winked out. We were back to near total darkness. "Dew?" I called to her. "What happened?"

"My- my horn doesn't work!" she shouted back. "I can't cast any spells! I can't even see!"

"Give your eyes some time to adjust, Dew! I've got some light with me, you'll be able to see it soon!"

For a few moments, all I heard from Dew's direction was her rapid breathing. It sounded like she was on the edge of panic. To be honest, I was near hysteria myself. Then I heard her voice again. "There it is! I can see something!"

Immediately after she finished speaking, there came a massive crash from in front of me! I heard Dew continue, muffled this time: "What happened, Rusty? Your light's gone! Are you still there? Please! Answer me!"

“I’m here, Dew! It sounds like there’s something in the way!”

“It’s pitch black here, Rusty! I’m starting to freak out!”

“Keep talking, it’ll help! I’ll see if I can do anything over here!”

“Talk? About what?” She sounded near her breaking point.

“Anything! Tell me a story!”

“Okay… ‘Once upon a time, in the magical land of Equestria…’”

All right. Now that her panic was under control, I could focus on what was going on around me. My night vision had improved to the point where I could see the walls to my sides, lit up with clashing colors and shadows from my meager light sources. In front of me, though, the floor abruptly ended in a pitch black line. I could hear Dew’s story, faintly, continuing from the other side of the void. Now, was there any way I could move?

I tentatively lifted my hind leg. I thought I might be able to try bucking down the bars behind me, but to my surprise, my hoof met no resistance as I bent it outwards! What? I had felt the bars there before! I lifted my other leg, with the same result. Could I actually back out of my prison? How long had it been open?

“Dew, I think I can get out of my cage! Try it, are there bars behind you?”

“Ow! No, I’m still stuck!”

Well, it had been worth a shot. I took a tentative step backwards and felt the bars at my sides squeezing at my barrel, but as I thought, there was nothing blocking me from backing out. It would certainly take me a while, but at least I was finally making some amount of progress.

I had only made it a few inches when Dew’s frantic voice cut through whatever was separating us. “Did you hear that?”

“I didn’t hear anything, Dew." And her yelling shit like that was not helping my own mental state. "Hold tight, I’m working my way out!”

“There it is again! It’s coming from behind me, you have to be able to hear it!”

“Hear what? You’re saying it’s coming from over here?”

“Those thuds! They have to be right next to you!” Dew's voice was rising higher and higher.

“There’s nothing here, Dew! I’m seeing nothing, I’m hearing nothing!”

Dew was screaming now: “There’s more of them! They’re coming from all over!”

“Dew, what’s going on?” I struggled against the bars as I tried to hurry my escape. I had to find a way to reach her, she sounded terrified!

“Those thuds, and scrapes, and screeches! It’s so loud!” I could hear her sobbing. “No, please, leave me alone!”

“What? Is somepony there with you?” I threw myself against the cage, hoping beyond hope that I might be able to bend the bars and hurry my escape. If somepony really was coming after her, I had to get to her fast!

“Stay away! Sweet heavens, please don’t kill me!”

“Dew! Hold on, I’ll find a way there!” Damn these bars! It felt like I was about to break a rib as I forced my way through them!

“Rusty, help me! NOOOOO!!” Dew’s scream reached a crescendo as my barrel finally squeezed through the narrowest section -- only for my rump to hit something solid. I whipped my head down and peered behind me. No… how were there more bars? What the fuck was going on?

“Dew! Are you still there?” There was no reply. “Dew? Answer me!” Only silence.

I shouted out to the void. “Who are you? What do you want with us?”

There was an answer, of sorts. With a series of earsplitting slams, the black oblivion from where I had heard Dew’s last scream extended to completely surround me. The walls, the ceiling, even the bars, all of them disappeared. The entire visible universe was reduced to my own dim lights, my legs, and a small patch of floor beneath me.

I don't know how long I spent in that one spot, fixated on the pattern of circles under my hooves. There had been no sound apart from my own breathing since Dew's final terrified scream. I saw nothing farther than a couple feet away from me. My senses had effectively vanished. I was utterly, horribly alone.

However long it took, I eventually realized the implications of what I was missing. Touch. I couldn’t feel the bars keeping me in place! I tried shifting my weight. There was nothing obstructing me! The next step was turning up the brightness of my hoof terminal, to use it like a makeshift lantern. Its cool blue light spread out, creating an island of light in the sea of darkness as I raised my hoof higher. And as I had hoped, there were no bars visible within its reach!

I could work with this. One last thing to try before I set off into the gloom. I pulled my pistol out of its holster and fired a single shot. “OW!” That thing was fucking bright! Okay, new plan. I stared directly at my terminal screen until my eyes adjusted, then fired again.

It worked much better the second time. The beam shot far out into the black. It almost immediately disappeared from view, but at least I had learned one thing from my experiment. It hadn’t impacted anything nearby. Wherever I was, it wasn’t the same room I had seen before the lights went out.

Knowing this, it almost seemed pointless to try exploring. But I had no choice. Dew was out there somewhere, and I couldn’t let her face whatever was hiding in the dark by herself. Once again, I lifted the makeshift flashlight on my hoof to expand its reach, and set out on a three-legged trot.

There was only one advantage this mysterious room granted me: the regular pattern on the floor continued wherever I went. There was no chance I’d stray from my original direction as long as I followed a straight line of holes. My sense of time had returned as well, and I was able to keep track of how long I had been walking with some semblance of accuracy.

It had been nearly ten minutes of hobbling along with my foreleg held high when I saw it. A dim light, far in the distance. It was off to my left, but I was more than willing to stray from my path if it meant finding something else in this endless night. As I approached, the pale yellow separated into its red and green components. Soon, I was able to make out the pool of light it cast upon the floor. And as I reached the edge of the illumination, I was finally able to identify the object.

Dew’s pistol.

I hesitantly lifted my hoof higher, fearing what I might uncover by extending my view. I couldn't think of any reason Dew would abandon her pistol, and I despaired at what I might find through further exploration. But I had no choice. I had to find my friend.

I stepped forward, slowly illuminating the floor beyond the pistol. My heart sank as I picked up signs of a dark stain between the gaps in the floor. I was almost certain I knew its implications, but there was still a sliver of hope. The stain wasn't necessarily red; there were plenty of other colors that would show up black under my blue light.

But as I travelled further, I saw the outline of a misshapen pile, located completely within the stain. I drew nearer, and felt my stomach twist into knots as I picked up enough shadowy details to identify it.

It was Dew. I was staring directly at her body, twisted inward horribly upon itself. Congealed blood seeped from enormous triangular wounds in her side, spreading out into the stain that I knew I couldn't bring myself to step upon. Any hope that she might still be alive was shattered when I saw the massive injuries on what was left of her head.

Dew... No...

I sank back to my haunches, my heart sinking with me. Dew was gone. Whatever unknown force it was that attacked her, it had succeeded. I had failed to keep her safe.

Tears welled in my eyes as the reality of what I had lost came crashing down on me. “Dew,” I sobbed to her broken body, “I’m sorry. I’m sorry I wasn’t there for you. I’m sorry I was such an ass. I’m sorry I drove you away! But I promise, whatever those things are that took you, I’ll track them down and destroy them. I’ll scour every inch of this damn ship until I avenge you!”

“You hear that?!” I shouted to the void. “ I’m coming for you! I don’t care what the fuck you are, you’re dead when I find you!”

The void responded. An illuminated square appeared barely fifty feet from me. There appeared to be a thin mist filling the intervening space, but I could make out the distinctive shape of a human doorway.

“That’s where you bastards are?” I broke into a gallop, not even watching to make sure there was floor beneath me. “Get ready, I’m coming to end you!”

The door slid open as I approached, revealing a second door down a short hallway. I didn’t even consider the implications of running blindly into an enclosed space; I just barreled forward in mindless rage. As I should have predicted, the first door closed behind me.

But I didn't care. “What, you think you can trap me again?” I challenged my unseen opponent. I drew my pistol and aimed it at the far door. “I’ll just blast my way out! You’re never going to stop me!”

Before I could tongue the trigger, the door fell forward, off its tracks. It landed with a deafening crash and a massive cloud of dust. The smell of rust and decay hit me like a sledgehammer. I slowly stepped forward, blinking, my pistol at the ready.

The room before me was massive. Bigger than even the docking bay Dew and I had discovered, and in far worse condition. Industrial spotlights pierced the gloom far above me, cones of white reaching down and each illuminating an individual circle on the floor. The air was thick with dust. Streams of fine particles slipped through the light and added to the otherworldly sensation. I saw rust and stains in the few areas of the floor that were unconcealed by debris.

“Trying to hide in here?” I tried my best to sound tough, hoping it would distract me from my growing apprehension. I fired a few beams into the spaces between the lights. “Come out and fight me!”

I caught a substantial motion out of the corner of my eye, too big to be just whirling dust. I whipped my head around. Was that it? I tensed, ready to unleash a barrage of shots at the monsters tormenting us. ...me. Oh, Dew…

Movement again! I focused my vision, expecting to see some atrocious beast. Instead… a griffon? It was reared back on its hind legs, wings folded by its sides. It slowly spun around to face me.

"Hello?" I called out. "Who are you?"

I received no response. Instead, as the griffon continued its turn, it moved into the shadows and out of sight.

“What’s going on? Can you hear me?”

A few moments passed. Then the griffon reappeared, beak pointed directly at me, glassy eyes half open and unfocused, claws dangling limply. Dead.

What a useless distraction. The griffon’s body swung back out of the spotlight. Now I could make out the rope suspending it from the ceiling far above. A flying creature hanging itself? I’d seen stranger things, but not by much.

I stepped away from the corpse, keeping a lookout for my quarry. I had promised Dew I’d take her murderers out. There was no time for distractions. I clung to the shadows, skirting the edges of the brilliant beams emanating from the ceiling. I was so focused on the hunt that I neglected to watch where I was stepping. Squish. Ugh, what the fuck had I stepped in? I shook off my hoof and bent down to investigate.

It was a pony. Dead, of course. I was barely able to make out its form, and a discolored trail heading away from it, towards the light… wait…

I slowly turned my head to follow the trail to its destination. Now that it was fully lit I was able to identify it. It, and all the other stains I had seen illuminated in this room. And I now had a good idea what caused the floor to rust as well.

Blood. All over the place. Some of it brown and flaky, obviously years old. Some deep crimson, more recently spilled. Some still liquid, reflecting the light, that hadn’t had time to dry. I had been walking over it all this time! I shuddered as I was reminded of the blood spilling from my friend's body. I involuntarily took a step back.

Lights blazed on from all over the room! I thankfully wasn’t blinded, but as I took in the full details of my surroundings, my thankfulness faded to fear.

I was in a morgue. I had never seen so many bodies! They ran the gamut from bare skeletons to creatures I would have thought were sleeping if not for the blood covering their carcasses. The pony I had stepped in turned out to be a donkey, its mouth stretched open wider than I would have thought possible! Over to my side, a green pegasus with one of its wings stretched out, covering a black insect carapace. As much as I wanted to rejoice in the death of a pegasus, she didn’t deserve to die in a place like this! These sorts of scenes repeated over the whole extent of the room, it was a miracle I hadn’t tripped over a corpse before now!

And like magic, all the lights went out. I was reduced to seeing only the glow of my hoof device.

“Motherfucker…” I had hoped I was done with this shit. Terror was creeping up on me once more. Time for some more fake confidence. “Are you seriously pulling this again? Just come out so I can kill you!”

That was apparently too much to hope for. There was no creeping monster revealing itself, only a solitary, unmoving glow from the far side of the room. Fuck. Well, nothing else to do but make my way to it.

As I cautiously took my first few steps forward, I started to reflect on my situation. I was alone again, my first and only friend killed by the monsters keeping us captive. Whether it was the physicists or some other shithead aliens, I owed it to her to exact violent revenge on them. That was my primary goal. And it would help immensely if I knew who the fuck they were.

What did I know about them? They were murderers, though considering the moral failings of the two factions I had already met, this was probably the rule rather than the exception among humans. They had access to the ship’s systems, that much was obvious. They had a tendency towards the dramatic, as evidenced by their selective use of lights. And now that I thought about it, most of the dramatic shit was in response to something I said or did. Were they experimenting on me? One of the first things Whispering Meadow had told me back in that cell was that they loved doing tests. That must be it! I’m a test subject! That realization was enough to banish the fear from my mind, replacing it with determination. They want a response? I’ll give them a response to die for! I continued towards the light in the distance, a new confidence fueling my steps.

My trip took forever. I was inching along, focusing on the small bit of ground I could see around me, and gingerly stepping around any cadavers. Several times I had to retrace my steps after encountering a solid wall of bodies. There was no way I was going to risk putting my hoof through another corpse. I was already nauseated enough from the body fluids still caking my leg, there was no way I was going to risk any more. And who knew what nasty-ass diseases were just waiting to infect me? Nope, no more disturbing the dead if I could avoid it.

I finally drew near enough to the light to identify it as a terminal. At last, some good news. Hopefully I could put my skills to use and hack my way out of here. Or at least figure out where my target was. I swear, if it just led me to another chamber of horrors I was going to blast a hole to the next level down.

Three surprises awaited me as I warily crept forward. The first: this wasn’t one of the terminals I was used to seeing on this ship. It was pony-made; it looked like it had been taken right out of a prewar Robronco storeroom! Focusing on the screen, I saw the second: the terminal wasn’t even locked! So much for needing to hack it. The third came as a sudden crunch beneath my hooves. I looked down. Dammit. The minute I stop paying attention to the ground, I step on another corpse. At least it wasn’t mushy this time. It was another one of those insectoid things, dead for long enough that only its outer shell remained. An “exit-skeleton,” I think it’s called. I kicked it away and, at last, accessed the terminal.

It was indeed unlocked, and there was exactly one line of text at the top of the screen. Audio Log: Day 3 Post-Megaspells. “Fucking Tartarus…” What was it with these recordings? With how often they showed up, it was like they were the single most important thing on this ship! I could only hope, as I selected the file, that some more options would open up once it finished playing.

An oddly buzzing voice came from the terminal, too consistent to have been caused by unshielded wiring. I absently wondered what kind of creature would speak like that, as I began to listen:

Audio diary, Infiltrator Ripple, Ephema hive. It’s been three days since the end of the world and the destruction of my home. I was in radio contact with northeast command when they reported radiation spiking to lethal levels throughout the hive. Contact was lost soon afterward. I personally observed eight megaspell detonations, including one at my destination, the Dodge City secondary rally point. I changed course to the tertiary rally point, but I somehow lost consciousness along the way.

I woke to find myself undisguised, in an unknown facility. I assume I’m deep underground, as I’ve seen no sunlight and felt no radiation since I arrived. The layout of this facility is confusing, with many dead ends and circular paths. Every corridor I explore eventually leads me back to this room. I’ve done my best to create a map of the routes I travelled, but the paths seem to pass through each other, never coming into contact. I’m certain there’s some wild magic at work that allows such impossibilities.

My store of love is nearing its end, and I will most likely die here, sharing the same fate as the other bodies I’ve seen. To any creature that may hear this message, I’ve transferred a copy of my map to this terminal. I will continue to search for an exit and if I succeed, I will return and mark the way to freedom. Even if I’m the last member of my hive, I won’t abandon our ideals. As long as there is breath in me, I will continue to act for the benefit of all creatures, not just Changelings. The hive lives on in the gift I leave here.

I had to admit, I’d never heard of any creature that lived in a hive. But I'd bet good caps it was probably the same bug I’d kicked away from the terminal. And a map sounded pretty damn useful. Thanks, bug buddy! Sorry you couldn’t make it out. Oh, and sorry about that new hole in your chest too. My bad.

As my hoof reached out to access the terminal, it slid into the floor, revealing yet another dimly lit hallway behind it. Okay, these games were really pissing me off. “For fuck’s sake! Learn a different trick already!” I was sure they were still trying to scare me, but I was far beyond feeling any fear.

I stormed down the corridor, pistol at the ready. Once again, it ended in a closed door. “You fuckwads going to lock me behind this one too?!” I yelled as it opened before me. I wasn’t shouting to distract myself from the situation anymore; I was pumping myself up for the inevitable confrontation.

The door led to a small room this time, reasonably lit. Finally. I was sick of trying to navigate by the light of my hoof device. I scoped out what I could of the room while hanging back in the hallway. I couldn’t see anything out of place, but that wasn’t too reassuring considering I had just seen a terminal disappear before my eyes. I stepped over the threshold, quickly glancing to my right. Good, nothing. To my left…

“Rusty, how did you get over there?”

“DEW?!”

She was alive?! Somehow... She was standing up straight, no visible wounds of any kind, and her pistol was stowed in its normal spot in her overalls! This wasn’t possible! I had seen her body lying back behind me! Hadn’t I?

I raced over and wrapped Dew in the tightest hug I had ever given. “Dew! I can’t believe it!”

“Hi, Rusty. Um, why are you so excited?”

I ended my embrace and stepped back from her. “Excited? I’m ecstatic! I thought you were dead!”

She looked at me askance. “Dead? How could I have died in the ten seconds it took you to show up over there? And you still haven’t explained how you managed to loop around me so fast!”

Wait, what did she say? “Ten seconds? What are you talking about? I’ve been wandering in the dark for an hour, at least!”

"An hour? Wow, your sense of time is way off!" She craned her neck to examine my head. "Do you have a concussion or something?"

This whole situation was making less sense every second. “Okay, let’s back up. What’s the last thing that happened before I showed up here?”

Dew fixed me with the most incredulous look I had ever seen in a pony. “Well, if you need a reminder, my magic had gone out and I had just gotten used to the darkness when a huge crash came from where you were. Then the lights turned back on, my magic came back, the cage retracted, and there was a brand new wall between us. And then you came charging in from the opposite direction! What’s going on with that?”

I was wondering the same thing myself. Had Dew seriously lost over an hour of time? And what about everything else I had heard? “Are you telling me you don’t remember screaming about the noises all around you?” She shook her head no. “No crying for help?”

“The last thing I told you was that I could see your light, Rusty. I don’t know how you turned that into screaming and crying, but I’m honestly a little insulted!”

What the fuck was going on here? “Dew, stick close to me. I don’t want to get separated again,” I told her as I trotted over to where I had dropped my pistol. “Something in here is messing with our heads, and we’re going to find out what it is!”

“So it really took you an hour to get here?” she asked as she followed me over to the doorway. I nodded in the affirmative. “Then I’m with you. No splitting up, we watch each other’s backs, and we get to the bottom of this!”

I bent down to grab my pistol in my teeth, but hesitated as I heard a sound coming from a different direction:

“All right, good job, everyone! Wrap it up, and I’ll go greet our new guests!”

I turned to face the voice, only to see the solid wall in front of me shimmer and fade, exposing a wide glass window with several humans on the other side. A door opened beside the window and one of the humans stepped through.

"Dew? Rusty?" the human spoke, folding its hands together. "My name’s Alan. Welcome to the horror block."