Fallout Equestria: Tales from Stable 83

When I awoke I couldn’t see due to something covering my eyes. So I could only guess where I was. By how hot it was I would have guessed Celestia sent me to Tartarus for some crime I committed while I was alive. Probably all the lies about the cost of our operation. The familiar feeling of leather bindings over my torso was present, so that probably meant eternal torture as well.

“How’s he doing?” A stallion asked a few feet from my right. His voice was rough and grating on the ears, but he sounded concerned. Maybe I was still alive for the time being. “He looks like shit. You’re sure he’s going to pull through?” Ok worried, but by no means a medical professional with that kind of language. Hopefully not the nurse, that would be some rough treatment if he was.

“I wouldn’t’ve brought him back if I thought he was gonna die. We’re low on medical supplies as is, I’m not wasting ‘em on a corpse.” That was the mare who saved me. Good to hear a familiar voice, even if she did just compare me to a corpse. I knew I was in bad shape, but I’d seen ponies come back from worse. “He’s currently recovering from sepsis, and from what I can tell parts of his skull are still cracked. He’ll need another one of the good potions and a few days in bed ‘for he can be up and walkin again.” She trotted over to my bed and began inspecting where I knew my wounds were. “I did what I could in the field, he wouldn’t’ve lasted much longer without help.” She ran a hoof over the fresh scars left by the bullets and sighed.

I coughed a couple of times and drew this putrid and humid air into my lungs. “Yeah, thanks for that. Didn’t expect to get mugged on my way home.” I coughed a few more times, feeling a lot worse having expended some energy to speak. At least I knew I was still alive, even though I wished I wasn’t.

Sepsis huh? That was really bad, but if this was a top rate hospital I’d be out quickly and on my way back home. I’d get an earful for making my wife worry this close to the foal being born, but who would have expected I’d get shot on my way home?

The stallion let out a soft sigh. “Well, seems ya patched him up well enough. If you’ve got the strength for it, might I ask your name?” Considerate, a good quality to have. Didn’t make him a good nurse though.

How did they not know my name already? This had to be the hospital in Fillydelphia, that was the closest proper hospital to work. I knew my records were on file there and they knew who I was. So maybe this was a triage tent and they were waiting for a proper medical transport for me.

I took a few deep breaths to try and quell the pain before I spoke again, it helped ever so slightly. I knew that this was still going to hurt. “Crimson Armor, PhD. At your service as much as I can be after getting shot.” I took slow shallow breaths and concluded that was the best way to breathe for the time being as it didn’t hurt nearly as bad.

“Twice,” she said with a hint of irritation. “Plus a pretty nasty head wound, but you’re alive, so that’s a start.” I felt the blanket pull away from my body and a needle rest against my right foreleg. “This might hurt a bit, but it’ll help with the pain. It’ll also keep ya awake so we can talk an make sure the head trauma didn’t give ya serious brain damage.” Without hesitation the needle pierced my hide and injected some sort of medicine.

Whatever was in the needle kicked in fast and I felt quite a bit better. Breathing became easier and the sense of pain coursing through my body dulled enough to be only slightly irritating. My pain level is a two now nurse, maybe another shot would quell it completely? “I don’t think my mental faculties were damaged when I got hit, though I’m not trained to diagnose that sort of injury. My only prognosis is that whatever was in that needle is fantastic.” Medical professionals probably already knew my blood type and that important information, so I was prepared to answer some more personal questions. “What do you want to talk about?”

The mare walked away as the stallion stepped closer. He tossed the cover back up to where it had been resting before he spoke. “Well, first and foremost we want to know what was in that stable ya walked out of. The pony that closed the door has a pretty high bounty on his head and we need to know what we’re up against if we can find a way in there. It wasn’t full of weapons and heavy duty armor, was it?” The way he said ‘pony’ worried me.

What did he mean saying it with that inflection? A criminal? Or did he mean to call him less than a pony due to some physical deformity? Either option was unprofessional in this situation. Maybe that broken leg was what he meant.

“Well, not exactly. There is an armory in there, but from what I remember mostly small caliber rifles and pistols. Precautionary measure just in case the staff had to arm themselves during an emergency. We hired guards to keep the place safe, they packed around the big guns.”

I stopped for a brief moment to think about what that meant. This wasn’t a hospital, I couldn’t hear any other ponies or any of the usual medical equipment. Not a triage tent and not a hospital. So where in the wide world of Equestria was I? “I thought bounty hunting was frowned on unless you got orders from Celestia herself. You two outlaws, or are you friends with Celestia?” I was hoping for the second option, but the first was much more likely.

The room became deathly quiet, they both stopped moving and breathing as far as I could tell. I waited with bated breath thinking I may have just offended my rescuers. But when she spoke, even more questions entered my mind. “Ya mean… Princess Celestia? As in, the princess before everythin went to shit? There’s no way in Equestria ya met her, all stories say she’s been dead for over a hundred an fifty years.”

Now it was my turn to be dumbfounded and not talk or breathe. I opened my mouth as if to say something a few times just trying to grasp what I had been told. Princess Celestia, my boss and one of the rulers of Equestria. Was dead, and had been dead for over a hundred years? Surely they were joking, I’d only been under for a month… hadn’t I?

“Ye… yeah that’s the one. I gave her a monthly report on the progress we were making in our research so we could keep justifying the ludicrous amount of bits we were shoveling into that place… You’re joking right? This is just some sick prank you like to play on ponies?” There was no way Celestia was dead, these two were just trying to scare me. A sick prank and one I’d be reporting to whoever managed these two.

The stallion cleared his throat after a few seconds and sighed. “Afraid not friend, we heard she died around the same time the war broke out. So if what you’re saying is true, that you actually met her... You’re almost two hundred years old. Looking pretty good if that’s the case, and not that you have severe brain damage.” He chuckled nervously after he finished, he was really sticking to the bit.

“Now come on Smoky, give him some benefit of the doubt. I admit I thought brain damage at first, but just look at ‘im. He look like the type ta lie?” Ok, rude. I could get away with lying, but I would never lie about meeting Celestia herself. “Don’t give me that sour look. I know you’re doubtin ‘im, but let’s just wait and see.” She closed some kind of metal box before trotting back over. “What’d ya do in there Crimson? Or was it just some sorta spell that froze you in time?”

“Well, a number of things…” I don’t know if these two can be trusted, but they’re already on guard and will catch me in a lie. I’ll tell them just enough to get by for now, until I figure out what’s actually going on. “I was one of the researchers. I helped out with all the other projects we were working on. My specialty was in composites used in armor making, that’s what my PhD got me in for. Nothing particularly special” I said, leaving it intentionally vague. That would hopefully be enough to get me by, and avoided saying anything about power armor.

“Alright, armorer by trade. Any sorta experience with alchemy or potion making? Much as I hate to bring it up, we spent a lotta remaining resources on keepin ya alive. We need to refill that stockpile if we wanna keep doin our jobs.” She at least sounded remorseful, but this was more predatory than any medical center I’d ever been to before. At least most hospitals waited a few weeks to send you the bill.

“If you’ve got the equipment to make them, I’ve got a few recipes memorized. In fact, since my eyes are still covered in this… bandage, and I am in no condition to work. If you’ve got my lab coat, there is a notepad in the chest pocket that has a couple of recipes on it. I think the twentieth page has a pretty simple one that only requires a hot plate and a couple of beakers for equipment.” Nothing on that notepad could be used against me, only some basic recipes that most medical professionals would know. Nothing special, just enough to convince them I was worth keeping alive.

That reminds me, once I can see properly again I need to write down the notes from my last time under. See about finally getting my prototype armor fabricated, or maybe start making it myself.

She was quiet for a moment as she ruffled through my lab coat. “Well, it’s still here so that’s good news. Bad news is one of us’ll have ta go out and find the plants we can use ta make this from. Smoky, if ya wouldn’t mind making a run out ta the grove, we can start rebuilding our supplies while we let Crimson recover.” That recipe didn’t say anything about plants, but she could know what plants released those chemicals. Why plants? Shouldn’t any proper practitioner have access to chemicals?

Smoky trotted over and looked at the notepad for a few moments before trotting for the door. “I’ll be out for a few hours. If I’m not back by dusk come looking for me. I’ll try and shoot some game while I’m out, could always sell any extra hides to help out. Stay safe Orchid, and keep him in line.” As if I could get into any trouble right now. Bound, injured, and unable to see. I would be such a threat to a mare with every advantage over me.

“Roger that Smoky, I’ll keep the bound an helpless stallion from doin anythin stupid” Orchid said sarcastically. Sarcasm, lovely, at least she was having fun with it. “Get goin or ya won’t reach the grove by nightfall.” She had some redeeming qualities, if I could get on her good side I’d get out of this just fine.

I heard Smoky trot out of whatever shelter we were in, hopefully he was back soon. At least then I could be a little bit of help to the ponies who had saved my life. Until I got my sight back and could strategize my way out. “So… out of curiosity. How long until we can get this bandage off my eyes? I know injuries like this take time to heal, but I’m getting really tired of staring at an endless black abyss.” I was tempted to flirt with her, but I still needed to know more about her before making that kind of decision.

Orchid took a seat nearby and began fiddling with something made of metal. I knew the sound of a pistol being cocked and chambering a round when I heard it. A gun, and one that was currently loaded. “Tomorrow more than likely. After a night a rest we’ll need ta take the bandages off an make sure those cracks in yer skull are healing proper. If you’re on the mend, then the bandage can stay off an you might be able ta walk around a little. If not, you’ll be laying in that bed for the next couple a days.” A consummate professional, with a gun likely aimed at my head.

“Ah, I see. Well, let’s hope that I can be up helping out tomorrow. I know my hornwriting is pretty atrocious. That or just the bare minimum for me to remember the process.” I sat in silence listening to her mess with that gun. The magazine dropped out and a fresh round was loaded in. Topping up the magazine was unnecessary if she meant to kill me.

“Let’s hope. That brings up the next question I have for ya. Ya said there was an armory in that place in case you had ta defend yerself. That mean ya know how ta handle a gun? You’ll learn pretty quick out here that damn near everyone and everythin wants ya dead. An honestly, I don’t want to see this world take anypony else 'for it’s their time.” That sounded terribly somber, she must have lost somepony close… I guess we’re not so different after all.

Can’t let that distract me, this could be a dangerous outlaw… Wait, everything wants to kill me? So we had gone to war. That meant this was a medical tent, a woefully understocked one. “Yeah… well… technically. I bought a gun and practiced at the range a bit before… all of this. I’m not the best shot but I can probably hit a stationary target.” I wonder if that range is still in use, probably is if they’re lying about everything.

There was a light click as she flipped on what I could only assume was the safety. I would be living to see another day. “That’s better than nothin, I guess. I’ll leave this pistol an a spare mag with yer things. Not the best gun an not in the best condition, but it’ll hopefully be all ya need. Once you’re on ya hooves again we’ll have ya start helping out. For now, why don’tcha try an get some rest. That syringe is gonna wear off anytime now. We can talk more tomorrow.” She stood and walked towards where Smoky had left from.

“Alright. I’ll be here if you need anything from me.” No response, guess I’m alone with my thoughts then. Goddesses, I hope this is just a fever dream. What if it isn’t? What happened to my wife and our foal? Oh please, for the love of Celestia and Luna, let this just be a bad dream.

I could feel the medicine’s effects waning, the pains in my chest and head were creeping back in. Short lasting dose and they didn’t ask any form of medical questions. Either I was in incredible hooves, or was going to die very shortly. Only way to find out would be to make it through the night and wake up tomorrow. I thought of my wife’s beautiful smiling face to forget the pain. With my eyes already blinded, I slowly drifted off to sleep.

My dreams were filled with visions of my wife. Her beautiful plum coat and lilac mane with those mint highlights she got done regularly. Her sapphire eyes looked right through me as always. Never had I felt deeper love than when looking into her eyes. I simply embraced her and enjoyed this moment of peace.