Fallout: Equestria - Operation Killjoy
Chapter 13: Unseen
Previous ChapterNext Chapter“A hundred little lies are easier to believe than the obvious, world shattering truth.”
Every moment they weren’t walking west, Shibboleth sat down and listened to the Enclave. Midnight didn’t know what she learned. He didn’t want to ask. Every time he thought about her, his mind urged him to disengage. Not because of the irradiated metal splints. He thought himself of being a greater threat.
At times he looked at the murky reflection on the metal pieces he took from the warhead. He hoped to find his face. Instead he only saw the hole in his cheek and shattered teeth behind.. Sometimes he held the splints against his cheek and hoped they would grow together again. He hated the feeling that his appearance was finally catching up to how weak and frail his body felt.
As they followed the road they often came across points where old vehicles blocked the road. The hills and roads became steeper and steeper and sometimes it was easier to walk farther off of the highway. Skeletons were littering the roadside and the pink pony on the advertisement billboards for Lunaland looked as if she was amused by them.
After miles of wandering on the highway, Midnight stopped at the exit leading to Lunaland. It was clogged with so many vehicles that he couldn’t see the road anymore. The indoor amusement park promised protection. But for Midnight it promised answers.
“Edmareton is this way,” Shibboleth said after she realized that he had stopped.
“I know.”
“We have to get to Edmareton.”
He shook his head. “You want to get to Edmareton.”
Shibboleth turned around. “Beg pardon?”
“We will go to Lunaland.”
“Lunaland? My daughter is in danger and all you can think about is a carousel ride?” She shouted. “I didn’t drag you to that irradiated spot just so you can go to an amusement park!”
“I am not your fucking chess piece!”
Shibboleth stepped back, fear in her eyes. The rest of the air in Midnight’s lungs escaped his throat like a long growl. He turned down the highway to Lunaland and began climbing over the vehicles.
Midnight stomped ahead even though his damaged legs made it difficult to keep his balance on the uneven ground. Shibboleth was lagging behind, freezing from the cutting winds, which rushed through the valleys the highway was snaking through. Midnight didn’t mind them. All he was thinking about was to find something in Lunaland, even though he didn’t know what he was supposed to find.
He suddenly stopped. After he climbed on top of another cart, the road was descending into a dark tunnel. The entrance still bore the welcoming decoration of balloons, streamers and pictures of happy ponies. Their colors were slowly bleeding off, giving the impression of tears on the ponies’ faces. Above all of it, a billboard showed the pink colored Ministry Mare. Her appearance was mocked by wind and weather. Her smile was discolored by a yellow and green patina and her eyes were missing.
Midnight couldn’t shake off the feeling that the pink pony was still watching to make sure he was still a good pony. A good pony who was supposed to save others. When he looked back at Shibboleth to reconsider going to Lunaland, he only remembered how his body was tensing up from an urge of violence.
Midnight traveled into the dark tunnel. He was surprised to see the lights still working. Despite that, the tunnel was freezing and he felt the cold creeping into his body. The radiation from his splints did little to shake off the feeling. The pictures at the tunnel walls showed dozens of ponies enjoying candy, cold drinks and exciting rides. All of them were smiling like Midnight did. All of them were good ponies. All of them were fake.
A low rumbling noise suddenly echoed through the tunnel. They stopped and not too much later they heard cracking noises as well. They recognized them as gunfire, interrupted by a rare explosion. Lunaland was supposed to be abandoned. The carriages and skeletons reinforced that fact, but somepony was digging among the bones and woke something up.
Midnight continued on his way. When he moved around a long curve he saw the huge entrance to Lunaland. The gates, high enough that pegasi could fly in, were opened only partially. But the light from the park cut through the darkness like a knife. Through it Midnight saw the massive pink rocket, which he was sure was the actual Ministry hub.
In front of the door were three ponies. Midnight could only see their silhouettes, but he saw that they were armed.
It smelled like smoke. The sounds of the battle came from the park. Midnight crouched closer to the entrance and hid between the hundreds of vehicles occupying the huge parking lot around the hub. More often than not he found the remains of families cuddled up under blankets. “Dying peacefully and quietly. Not making any noise. Just like good ponies were supposed to do,” Midnight thought, remembering a sick feeling.
As he crouched closer, he eventually recognized their assault rifles and combat bardings. Dirty, but in a good shape. The Mandate was already here and Midnight asked himself what required Everlast’s army to fight here. But he forgot about his worries when he recognized one of the three soldiers. He still remembered the scruffy fur of Everlast’s little spy. Midnight wanted to have his rifle.
“You stay here.” Midnight whispered to Shibboleth.
“You are not going to go in there…?” She hissed, a warning clearly noticeable in her voice.
“Shut up.” He didn’t have time to argue with her.
“How do you even plan to get past three ponies without a weapon?”
“I will just do what Fade does.” He looked around, his attention going everywhere but the main entrance.
“How is that going to help?”
“By shutting up, being quiet and not being discovered!” Midnight hissed. “Make yourself useful and listen to Everlast’s radio.”
Midnight left her at the spot, slowly and carefully sneaking along the walls, looking for a different entrance. He remembered vaguely how the cannibal from Tall Tale talked about some logistic tunnels. At least Midnight didn’t have to fear him this time.
Amidst the public parking lot Midnight found a big area occupied by countless trucks and heavy transport carts. As he wandered among the looted trucks he came across a destroyed robot. It looked like a few rocks stacked on top of each other, propelled by sturdy tracks. But what bothered Midnight the most was that the top rock was bashed open and revealed a rotten brain inside. Not even the insects wanted to eat it.
He passed by the robotic corpse and soon Midnight found the entrance to the logistics tunnels. When he arrived at the first junction he knew he could never navigate the maze without a map. Occasional bursts of gunfire made him refrain from exploring the tunnels any further. The moment he found a set of stairs leading upwards, he decided to leave the tunnels before getting hopelessly lost in them.
He suddenly heard hooves behind him. Turning around quickly he expected Shibboleth, but no one was there. It made him leave the tunnels even faster. Climbing up the stairs he quickly found himself in a diner. The storage room and kitchen were plundered, but clean. It looked like they were never used. In the dining hall the menu still showed all kinds of hearty dishes, but every ingredient was replaced with candy. He moved through the room and found it in the same pristine shape as the kitchen. The only thing that surprised him were the shattered windows, but there was no glass on the floor.
Feverish colors were flooding into the store from outside the diner. Midnight got used to only seeing dull grays. Even his memories felt devoid of color, but now his senses were assaulted with bright colors and the constant noise of battle all around the park.
Something loud clattered back in the storage room. Midnight looked back, over the counters, and spied into the kitchen. Nothing was there but he knew something was toppling over dishes. He slowly backed out of the store, not letting the kitchen out of his sight. He noticed too late how close he was to the huge entrance to the park. In the corner of his eyes he noticed that the scruffy pony was staring at him.
“It’s the ghoul!” He yelled, alarming his companions.
Cursing his stupidity, Midnight ran back into the diner, jumping over the counter and searching for a different exit. Fleeing back into the maze of tunnels was no option. He needed to find a back door. Rushing through the kitchen, he fell over something, crashing muzzle-first against a shelf. He couldn’t see what he stumbled over, but he had no time to wonder about it. The three soldiers were already rushing into the building. He scrambled up onto his hooves, keeping his head low to not be seen, but his hoof steps on the naked tiles alerted them.
Just as Midnight rushed into the back rooms in the hopes of finding another exit he skittered to a halt. A robot, shaped like a huge sack of flour, wheeled out from another room. The decorative fabric was torn and revealed a tiny window to the robot’s interior. Inside was a brain, swimming in a white milk.
Midnight’s attention was quickly drawn to one of the many manipulator arms when it ignited a pilot flame. “Pinkie Pie will recognize me as the greatest of all friends, once I have dispatched these pesky… five… intruders!”
Bumping against the walls, the robot drove down the hallway and Midnight could only turn around to run back into the kitchen. One of the three ponies immediately opened fire at him. Midnight ducked into cover while the bullets pinged around him. Pans and other dishes were shattering to the floor and he found himself pinned.
The flour bot was approaching fast. “Die, naughty zebra scum!” The robot’s voice growled and it pointed its flame thrower at him.
“No! Wait!” Midnight shouted. “I was in Shattered Hoof. My arrest was processed here. Midnight Gambit! I’m a good pony!”
The robot stopped immediately and a tiny light blinked a few times. “Oh no!” The robot’s voice was calmer now. “Pinkie Pie would have been very sad if I—”
The ponies opened fire at the robot and it began to scream in rage. “You are bad ponies!” It shouted and turned to rush down between the isles of the kitchen. The pilot flame flickered and a massive billow of fire and hot vegetable oil sprayed into the dining room.
Midnight curled up briefly and he heard the three ponies shout and yell in panic. He didn’t look and just ran to finally get out of the diner. Rushing through the back rooms again, he finally found a door with a pink exit sign above.
Midnight rammed the door open and was blinded by the bright colors. He was in a small backyard, painted in glaring colors to make it look nice from the roller coaster overhead. In the middle and only a few feet away from Midnight was a spider-like robot, vacuuming the intestines out of a dead pony and polishing the bones.
“Good gracious, how many more corpses does a knight like me have to clean to make Pinkie Pie recognize me as the best friend!” The robot hollered and turned to Midnight. Without warning, the many appendages, armed with sharp cleaning implements, whizzed forward.
Midnight fell backwards, trying to crawl away and kicking the malfunctioning robot while its arms were cutting into Midnight’s dead flash and tearing at his meager clothes.
“You will no longer sully my park with your filth!” The round and plush covered chassis turned to Midnight, to bring the vacuum closer. Intestines were dangling from it.
“No! My name is Midnight Gambit! I was arrested here!”
“Filth can’t talk!” The robot brough the vacuum closer like it was a hungry maw.
Midnight growled when the urge for violence overcame him and he began kicking at the vacuum opening. After a few hits the robot backed off, blubbering strange noises. “Oh no. Pinkie Pie won’t be happy about yet another malfunction.”
In the brief moment, Midnight turned around and escaped back into the diner. Smoke was filling the kitchen and he stopped when he felt the heat from the grease fire. Behind him he heard the robot ordering him to stop, but Midnight slammed the door shut. Quickly the robot pulled and tore at it. The hinges squeaked and Midnight stared with fear in his eyes at the robot’s relentlessness. Without a weapon he’d rather face the fire and Everlast’s ponies.
As he rushed into the kitchen he heard the bot chasing him eerily fast on its thin legs. He felt the heat of the smoke surrounding him, singing his skin, but he didn’t stop. He searched for a place to hide in the kitchen, but the robot was just crawling over the aisles, always a few feet away and ultimately cornering him.
“Sir Lintsalot has truly never seen moving filth. But no matter what locomotion drives you forward, witness how I strike down—”
The robot began to shudder and a plush covered metal plate was torn off its hull.
“Only deceptive zebra scum shuns an honorable fight! Show y—”
The robot’s voice turned into garbled beeping noises when something tore at the brain inside. The white fluid was splashing out of the container as the robot shook, twisted and turned uncontrollably. Before it died, the vacuum reversed and blew the clogged up organs back into the kitchen. Midnight found himself covered in the gore when the robot came to a stop.
Above it the brain floated in the air, the white liquid running down a stump. A hoof.
“Look what you've done,” a voice said and Midnight pressed himself against the kitchen cabinets. The hoof threw the brain between Midnight’s legs. His mind could no longer conjure up any words as it was flooded with memories of repulsion and vomiting.
“They were happy!” The pony jumped off the robot and some magic flickered to adjust for the filth covering parts of the body. “I did something great in Tall Tale. They loved my food! They were happy!” He said. “And then you took it away!”
A knife was hurled into Midnight’s face, digging deep into his mouth, jaw and skull. Not feeling any pain, Midnight did the only thing he could imagine; He jumped away from the voice, hoping he wouldn’t crash into another knife.
A second blade glanced off the metal plates on his legs, but the force and momentum of his own body made him fall. Another hit cut open his back, almost severing the wing. He kicked backwards but hit nothing until he saw no other choice but to bite the brain and whirl it around in hopes the white milk would reveal his attacker.
It tasted like bile but Midnight saw a few white specks in the air. He hurled the lumpy piece of meat at it and the mad cook retreated to dodge it. In that brief Midnight got up, rushing through the kitchen and the smoke into the still burning dining room.
Before he could turn to the broken windows, a strong current of cold foam erupted into the diner and made him fall into the soot. Beneath the loud hissing noise of a huge fire extinguisher he heard another voice shouting praises to Pinkie. But he didn’t care. He wanted to get away, wanted to leave this madness.
Midnight tried to crawl out, slipping on the wet floor and foam dripping from his body. He eventually managed to emerge from the diner. He couldn’t see any of Everlast’s soldiers and his mind felt sluggish from the aggressive colors, constant gunshots all over the park and the smell of fire.
And in front of him one of the robots shaped like a pile of rocks was trying its best to extinguish the burning diner. It was cheering at its own attempt to save the building. Midnight was ready to leave but hesitated when he saw something in the air. A flying robot, shaped like a pink turnip, was approaching fast.
Without a warning it fired two darts into the other machine. The thick cables connected to the darts pulled tight. “Do not resist,” the turnip shaped robot said slowly. “You are under arrest for not being Pinkie’s best friend.”
“Don’t you see that I have fun fire fighting? I am Pinkie’s best friend!”
“She always liked me more than you!” The flying robot beeped and suddenly bright sparks erupted from the hooks.
The robot screamed and its arms were flailing wildly, spraying foam everywhere. The entire body twitched and contorted like it was a living creature being electrocuted. A loud pop made the top most rock burst and the brain alongside the boiling white liquid splattered out and over the path.
The flying bot detached the hooks and turned to Midnight. “Welcome back, Midnight Gambit. Your belongings are still held in our storage.” Without another word the robot floated away, soon curving when somepony opened fire at it.
“The old ghoul permitted me to kill you. He even asked for it.”
Midnight turned around. He searched for the cannibal, but couldn’t find him. The spell kept him invisible.
“But it looks like you have… some unexpected purpose. Now that we have to become friends, tell me… why is the old ghoul so… nostalgic about you?”
Midnight didn’t care to answer him. Instead he just rushed to the destroyed bot, surrounded by a thick layer of foam. His legs didn’t carry him as fast as he wished. Just when he wanted to climb on top of the robot, something heavy hit him and threw him right into the slippery foam. He looked to his hip and saw the hatchet deeply embedded into his side, splitting the cutie mark in two.
“Do you really think I am that stupid and would step into that sludge? You look really helpless without that sneaky bitch.” He laughed. “Tell me… what is her best part? Does her rump make a good steak? Or is she only good enough to be fucked?”
The cook stormed forward. Midnight only saw the foam parting from the heavy steps and then he felt the invisible force pushing him against the destroyed robot. A long blade cut into Midnight’s neck and he felt the tip grating over his spine.
In a violent urge, Midnight snapped madly, ignoring that the knife was cutting deeper into his cheek. He bit until his teeth got hold of an ear. The cannibal cried in pain, pushing the knife through Midnight’s flesh, while Midnight tore at the ear like a starving animal.
The ear became visible in Midnight’s mouth. The blood gushing from the cannibal’s wound allowed Midnight to briefly see his face. The cook couldn’t decide if he should hold the stump or wipe the blood from his face. Midnight pulled the knife from his muzzle, rushed forward and rammed the knife into the cannibal’s eye for the first time, a second time… a third time.
The urge for violence only grew until Midnight realized the taste of blood and sweaty fur on his tongue. “This is not like me.” He spat the ear out, his body shaking and he collapsed into the dirt and blood. He stared at the imprint of the invisible body in the foam. “This is not like me.”
Midnight retreated into the ruined kitchen and curled up on top of the demolished spider bot. He remained behind the cage of metallic legs and arms until the gunshots quietened down a bit.
He didn’t know when his mind was finally able to ignore the icky taste on his tongue. Thoughts about survival were slowly creeping back and made him believe he was actually alive. He realized that the three ponies didn’t return. Midnight was sure they were about to warn Everlast. However, he didn’t care. Instead his thought gravitated to the garish, pink rocket in the center of Lunaland.
He left the diner through the back exit, ignoring the carnage around him. He tried to move like Fade. Listening, hiding, waiting… waiting for an opportunity for violence. When he realized he was waiting to ambush a lone soldier who got lost in the chaos, Midnight retreated back into a small hiding spot.
He would no longer move like Fade. After all he was a good pony and the pink space rocket would prove it. After all, the turnip robot welcomed him. He must be a good pony. He knew it.
“Vmeste Za Mir,” he remembered. Like he remembered the protests, the confetti, pink cake, pink parties, pink streamers, pink overalls, pink hoof cuffs… the smell of blood and fire. Midnight shook his head. He would prove them wrong. He would prove Fade wrong. He was a good pony after all. Wasn’t he?
Eventually he arrived at the rocket. He couldn’t see the top of it and he didn’t want to try with the huge gash in his neck. Instead he just approached the wide, pink door. A pink terminal was embedded in the wall next to it. Its watchful sensors recognized Midnight from a few feet away. “Welcome back, Midnight Gambit! You have been a good pony for… error… days! Your personal belongings are still in the super-duper-securely-secure storage room! Follow the magenta line and you will also find a surprise!”
Midnight smiled. He wondered what the surprise was.
The door opened and invited him into the welcomingly pink interior of the Ministry Hub. Every shape he saw was round, inviting, comforting and was promising a fun filled future. He felt happy. True happiness, even though the ticklish feeling in his stomach was missing. It was true happiness nonetheless. Even the sight of the bones inside the entrance hall, scattered on the soft couches and pillows didn’t hamper the impression.
He ignored them and went straight to a vending machine, where he pressed the button to receive Pinkie Pie’s favorite drink. He waited but nothing happened. He pressed the button again and only realized now that the machine was empty. Midnight noticed a whirring noise behind him. Turning around he saw a small, flat robot cleaning the floor and polishing a skull. A small brain, suspended in white milk, was controlling it.
The happiness immediately disappeared.
“This is not like me.”
Following the magenta line he left behind the doll-house-like entrance hall. Below he found only pragmatic, rectangular shapes, but everything was covered in these gaudy pink colors. The walls were pink, bearing huge numbers and letters in a slightly darker pink to help navigate the immense storage hall. Shelves, lockers, boxes, crates and plastic bags bore variations of pinks and made the entire hall look like it was covered in confetti. Even the terminal, telling Midnight where to find his locker, had a pink screen.
He had to move to the E-File of shelves and wandered down the numbered rows until he reached Row 8. Each container was marked with a cutie mark, topped with a big red stamp saying Shattered Hoof. Some crates didn’t have a cutie mark. Only the stamp. He stopped by a plastic bag, containing nothing more than a zebra doll.
“Shattered Hoof was a good place,” Midnight lied to himself.
Eventually he stopped by a locker. It showed his cutie mark; A pawn surrounded by stars. The red stamp looked like a scar on it.
Midnight opened the locker but then he hesitated. He wanted to take a deep breath but couldn’t. He was unable to say if he only remembered the tightening sensation around his chest or if he really felt it. He didn’t know what to expect. Didn’t know if he wanted to know. He didn’t even know if he was in control when he opened the locker.
Inside he found stillness. Keys to a ruined house, spare change for vending machines and the wallet of a pony who wasn’t even alive anymore. Everything was wrapped in thin sheets of pink plastic. But in the back corner of the locker, he found a familiar shape, hidden in a massive plastic bag. Midnight recognized the familiar shape of a rifle. The proportions were always the same. He could even sense the weight of the handle and the barrel, understanding how this rifle must have felt off-balance for ponies unfamiliar with the zebra’s way of handling them.
The urge to hold something familiar made him take the bag. Attached to it, he found a waiver.
“By order of the O.I.A., this high caliber rifle has to be stored alongside the possessions of Midnight Gambit.”
He unwrapped the weapon and when his hooves brushed over the metal and hard synthetics, he recognized the feeling all too well. He turned the rifle and looked at the stock. It greeted him with a name he wished to never see again; Cicada.