Fallout Equestria: The Blue Lightning

– Where are we?!

– The future. Or rather, the present.

– But there’s nothing there!

MLP, 5/26

The wasteland stretched in every direction as far as the eye could see. It was a vast, flat expanse, almost entirely covered in sand and rock, interspersed with sparse, stunted forests and groves struggling to survive under the impenetrable veil of clouds. The wind howled thinly, lonely, blowing sand and swaying crowns everywhere.

Not a living soul. In fact, who would seriously stay here, in the middle of nowhere, with only a limited supply of food, a canteen with no place to fill it, and a dosimeter that clicked nonchalantly? Bad company, to be honest.

On the other hand, solitude was not the worst choice. It was possible to meet ones who would make the rest of a hapless traveler’s life more miserable than hunger, thirst, and radiation combined. Fortunately, those who could do that seemed to be elsewhere at the moment.

To the north, the dark hulks of the mountains loomed on the horizon, jutting out of the plain like the fingers of a giant paw into the sky. On the almost sheer slope of one of them, if one looked closely, one could see the ruins of a once majestic city, the former capital of a forgotten empire, shrouded in a pink haze.

Nothing seemed to disturb the emptiness and silence of the area, as it hadn’t for many years. In fact, it had been a long time since the last time a raider had chased some loser in the wrong place at the wrong time. Except for the occasional passing sprite-bot, following the course set by the program.

But all things come to an end.

And on one of those cloudy, windy days – and every first day was like that – something happened.

A shining circle appeared in the air – and immediately spread out and became a thick golden ring about two meters in diameter, floating above the surface like a huge coin on a rib. Inside the ring was a different landscape, so different from the windswept wasteland; there was clearly more life on the other side than there was here.

And then a foot in a worn-out sneaker emerged from the portal and stepped on a sand-covered rock.

He stepped out from behind the infinitely thin transparent membrane that connected these two so different worlds and looked around in amazement, as if he couldn’t believe what he was seeing.

What happened here? a thought ran through his head. Everything should look completely different… Where is everyone? Where is everyone? Or am I just in the wrong place? But we've calculated everything exactly…

“Oooooooooooow!!!” rolled across the barren plain, a lonely cry filled with confusion and despair.

There was no answer. There was no one to pay attention to the sound that was not peculiar to this place – a call for contact that faded into the void.

The portal closed behind the unexpected visitor, leaving him alone in the silence.

His steps left footprints in the sand that the wind immediately picked up. The alien had chosen a random direction and was now walking through the wasteland, not even realizing how strange his lone figure looked to this world.

I don’t understand… his thoughts swarmed in his disproportionately large head. I saw it… It’s supposed to be different! But how… damn it, how did this happen? What kind of apocalypse did this dimension go through…? He thought for a moment. And then where do I look for what I came here for?

A thin hand in a spotless white glove reached for a leather pouch hanging from his belt. Pausing, the traveler loosened the straps and peered inside. The pouch contained a scattering of golden rings, just like the portal, but small enough to fit the alien’s little finger.

Maybe I should go back and try something else. You can’t just fixate on one solution… I wish I’d brought the detector – it was too big… I’d have known where to go right away.

Shaking his head, he tied up the pouch with the rings and prepared to continue on his way – but then a more appealing idea apparently came to him.

“Well… since I don’t know where I’m going,” he said, “I need to look around. And as soon as possible.”

The alien smiled contentedly – and leaned forward slightly, right in front of the invisible starting line.

Gotta go fast…

In the next instant, his lanky figure took off, racing forward at lightning speed. And behind him stretched a bright blue smeared trail, sparking with electric flashes.

An hour later, the runner stopped and bent over, hands on his knees. Heavy breathing came from his chest.

“It’s been… a long time since I… ran a marathon like this,” he muttered. “My energy is infinite, but my legs aren’t made of iron… and neither are my shoes.”

He lifted and turned his foot, looked sadly at the scuff marks on the sole, and shook his head.

“When I’m done, I’ll have to ask for new ones. And I think I’ll be walking a lot soon…” He looked ahead and sighed tiredly, “At least we have a place to start looking now.”

The alien was about a quarter of a mile from the first settlement he had found here. Behind a sturdy fence of wagons and iron beams, topped with barbed wire, houses were visible, and guards walked along the improvised city wall. As the traveler approached, he saw their weapons: revolvers and rifles, some of an unfamiliar design.

“Had I really arrived at the right place? How could everything have changed so much…?” He frowned and clenched his teeth. “Well, I’m gonna find out.”

The alien came within a hundred meters of the township and circled it to find the gate. There were two gates on opposite sides of the village, both large sheets of steel, obviously locked from the inside with a heavy bolt.

A fortress, not a village in the middle of nowhere.

We’ll take care of that, too, the alien said mentally.

Heavy thoughts took over his mind. Standing to the side of the village, the traveler looked into the distance, at the vast, lifeless wasteland. There was only pain and incomprehension in his big eyes. Even the unanswered questions faded in the face of the desolation, replaced by sadness and loss.

After standing there for a while, he sighed again, turned around… and faced the barrel of the carbine between his eyes.

Note: New game.

New perk: Feet Like the Wind – +2500% to movement speed, -50% to stamina consumption.

New quest perk: Uninvited Guest – -3 luck, -5 reputation.