Fallout: Equestria - Most Dangerous Game

Chapter Ten:

‘Error, error, repair system active.’ The world was dark save for the odd blinking of the words across the nothingness. ‘System repair complete, functionality restored.’

In a motion that felt more lifelike than she was becoming used to, Jade lurched awake, gasping for air; her computerized brain told her she hardly needed it. Water dribbled from her metallic limbs as it was sent flying in a filthy spray. Around her lights flickered, before with a series of rapid blinks her night vision reasserted itself. The area surrounding her looked more like the inside of a crushed tin can than any room. Walls buckled, shards of ruptured metal sprang from breaches like wicked talons, while water dribbled over everything.

She could hardly see the rust, but her sensory receptors informed her well enough of the foul scents. As if the building itself were bleeding, the walls wept. Yet it was only a small step away from the pool of literal bile that swelled at her hooves. The frothy mix under her was turned black by the blood of the savage ghoul as it lay kicking and thrashing, impaled upon a large spike of rebar.

Instinct took hold, and the synthetic mare took a step back, feeling like she should once again gasp for breath her body was sure it didn’t need. Silent treatment, or not, she felt the tight squeeze of X-23, a timid shudder running through the suit as the ghoul fixed its milky eyes on her. Any more thrashing and the monster would have torn itself in two. Had it not been for the spiky trap, she’d surely have been devoured already.

Thank the goddesses for small favors. She thought, looking at the many rusty spires sprouting from the base of the shaft. I’m lucky I didn’t hit one of them too.

Even so, as the monster tried to get at her, teeth gnashing like a vice, Jade peered up, seeing naught but the faint light of flames far above. The last she’d seen of Ocean was her stunned face, then a flash, followed by crushing darkness. The more equine part of her seemed content only to wallow in sorrow, while her cybernetic brain refused to allow itself to fall into a slump. She hated the cold logic, yet for now, it seemed listening to the intrusive part of her insisting she ‘buck up and move on’ was better than sitting here.

I have to believe Ocean is okay. She told herself, pressing a forehoof to her chest, reflexively slowing breath that had hardly elevated. If not, I can’t help her stuck down here.

She glanced about, sharp eyes picking out the detritus littering the grimy pool before they fixed upon her weapons. Thankfully, they’d at least had the decency to take the tumble with her. She magically retrieved them from the water, shaking them free of grime. Free to reload, she did just that, before elevating Early Retirement towards the pinned ghoul. Looking into its eyes, she could almost feel sorry for it. Sorry that whoever this once was had fallen so far. Such sympathy was swiftly shoved aside by her calculative machine brain as with a sharp flash, the thing’s head popped like a rotten melon.

“I don’t like how easy it feels,” she muttered to herself, voice quivering as she drew the weapon back and turned it over.

“It’s what you were made for.” Her ears shot up, head swiveling as she swore she caught sight of a blue mare reflected in the water.

All she gleaned was a fleeting glimpse of a blue tail whipping away down a gloomy corridor ahead, laughing all the while.

“Data, Data?” she called, half in confusion, half in desperation as she holstered the weapon and took off after the reflected mare. “Damn it, get out of my head and just talk to me normally.”

Water churned under her rapid hoof steps as she bolted by what appeared to be decrepit medical labs, twisted, and crushed under the weight of the sagging hospital above. More water seeped from the walls, yet more curious were the layers, upon layers of sleek plastic sheets. It took her a moment to even notice the change in her frantic dash, but sure enough, Jade caught sight of the yellow tape, and wicked bio-hazard symbols upon the tattered covering. Skidding to an abrupt halt before a set of wooden double doors, water churning under her hooves, she finally glanced about, feeling like such a fool for entertaining the illusions.

“I’m going insane, I’m going insane,” she told herself several times, tapping a forehoof to the side of her head. “She’s dead. Jade, Data is gone.”

“Am I?” The cyber mare whipped around, weapon telekinetically aimed at the shimmer of blue reflected in the sleek plastic sheet.

There was nothing but laughter echoing in her head as she was left wondering if she’d seen anything at all. Graffiti on the walls warned of ghouls and something called the Lord of Flies, specifically telling any reader to beware. One thing she did make out, however, was the odd scrawl drawn upon the plastic as if by talons. It was another clam shell, this one containing two sharks that appeared to coil upward around a central shaft, the likes of which was a sword bearing a winged hilt.

“Where’s the only hippogriff I know when I need her?” she muttered loudly, pressing a forehoof to the faded icon. “Could mean certain death for all I know.”

Glancing down, she really didn’t like the bitter taste that sentiment left. She was becoming so used to seeing skeletons everywhere, that she hardly noticed the clearly inequine upper body of the one slouched below the mysterious icon. The bones of the long-dead hippogriff slumped in the muddy water, leaving a small part of her glad Ocean wasn’t here to see such a thing. Yet the oddest factor was what appeared to be a large bubbling mass of dull gray material growing within the rib cage of the griff, like a plastic cancer. Leaning down, Jade dared to tap a forehoof at the stuff, discovering it was a hardy, almost beehive weave of some kind.

No wonder they died, something like that growing inside them. She noted, looking up to see more of the stuff crawling out from the bones like a vile weed. What in Luna’s name did they really want down here?

A splashing in the water, followed by a ripple and clatter of metal had her standing to attention once again. Looking back the way she’d come, she saw red dots milling about in her E.F.S. She was starting to know the hissing sound of skulking ghouls all too well, and backed up, her weapon poised to fire as her butt hit the double doors. Under her hooves, a slack chain shifted, as well as what appeared to be a pair of bolt cutters left in the muck.

Looks like somepony didn’t want this place opened. She noted, glancing at the dead hippogriff. Three guesses who cut the chains then.

Despite the many bio-hazard warnings, she was given little choice as to her direction as more red dots seemed to search for her. Slowly but surely, she backed up, the doors parting around her rump, before she slipped through and closed them behind her. Water rippled under her as the doors slid shut, but the marks on her E.F.S. appeared to be holding back for now.

Why does that make me feel even more uneasy? She couldn’t help but have the thought as her mane prickled. Damn it, why do I have these ideas, why do I have to end up in a place like this alone?

She had to imagine some metaphorical being to pose the question too, some great avatar of the new world was simply toying with her. Her more logical side set the foalish idea aside with ruthless efficiency, seeing such trivial thoughts as nothing but a waste of brain space as she studied her new surroundings. More bio-protective coverings still laced the walls like a sleek spider's web, while more of the odd plastic growths appeared to cover them with just as much ferocity. Like vines, they grew, some withered and wilted, while she was sure others formed odd limbs and appendices. Some looked more like armor, while others were more akin to the artificial limbs often adopted by old war heroes and veterans.

Prosthetic limbs? She thought to herself, seeing several legs that appeared fit for ponyquins bobbing around in the water. Synthetic material printing?

It was something she’d seen before, many parts of her current body had been printed by machines back in the MoA. But such things had been classified above top secret, to think there was similar technology here was ridiculous. Even the most corrupt of her former colleagues had been far above the idea of leaking information, if only to keep the majority for themselves.

Specter would spit his bit at something like this. She thought, parting a pair of plastic sheet curtains with the stallion in question's weapon.

Beyond, she found herself suspended on a walkway, the room far larger and deeper than those previous, and crawling with the artificial growth. Below, in great rusting vats, was what appeared to be a sloppy, gray ooze, still bubbling as if molten. Danger signs marked the corroded rails on either side of her, things she dare not lean on lest she fall into the gibbering mass of featureless bile below. The metal itself creaked and groaned under her weight, and not wishing to have the whole catwalk come down under her, she swiftly made her way to the far side. Doing all she could to avoid the tendrils of plastic growth.

All the while her mane prickled with the sensation that somepony was watching her. She swore she heard the whipping buzz of insects flitting about, yet saw no such thing. Shattered cameras in the corner of the room she now found herself in peered down like lifeless eyes, yet not one seemed operational.

It’s all in my head, just find Ocean and find a way out. She told herself, taking another deep breath. There’s got to be something I can use to get back up there.

Peering about, she discovered she was in some kind of hexagonal room, its walls lined by terminal screens and dusty control banks. Cracked windows to the outside allowed her a faded view of the gloopy vats, while once again she could swear she saw insects buzzing around them. Even so, more curious as to any escape the controls may offer, she made her way over, running a forehoof over the consul.

‘MoP - Trot Along Initiative: printer facility two,’ was marked on one side, the tell-tale trio of butterflies she knew was associated with the ministry below it. Yet no matter how many buttons or dials she pressed, there seemed to be no response from the controls, part of it even appeared melted, as if fried by some kind of acid.

“Well, this is just great,” she muttered to herself, hearing a creek outside, and drawing her weapon up faster than she thought possible.

There was nothing but gloom and an empty catwalk, even as dots of buzzing light flitted in the still air. One thing that did catch her attention, however, was the strangest piece of technology she’d ever seen. She imagined Data would have a field day with it, and given the odd squee somewhere deep in her mind, as she approached the thing, she knew she was hardly far from the truth. For all intents and purposes, it looked to be similar to one of the prototype fold-away terminals she knew from the MoA. Yet where pony machines were made from metal, this thing appeared to be crafted from the shell of a large clam.

Sleek synthetics still glowing with a blue, bioluminescent hue were woven perfectly with the ceramic shell of the long-dead sea creature. A weave of biology and technology to rival her own body, the thing still blinked and flickered, its screen oddly dome-like. It was only when she tentatively tapped a forehoof on it, curiosity finally overcoming caution, that she realized the screen was, in fact, a bubble filled with water. The viscous fluids swam and morphed like the walls back in the aquarium, bubbling out from the terminal to pool like a congealing mass on the grated floor before her.

Taking a step back, caution returned, demanding she at least take aim as the mass slowly bubbled up before her. Four swirling pillars grew from the water, then a barrel, before all at once the watery outline of a hippogriff materialized from the fluid. Judging by Ocean, this griff was male. Adorned in what looked to be an odd suit of power armor. He was stockier than her, and boasted an oddly handsome complexion despite his colorless features. Yet that moment of wonder was stolen as the watery illusion gasped. Instinctively, she wanted to reach out, catching him as he staggered, yet one touch and her forehoof passed through him like he was hardly there.

“T–this is wing leader Stratus…. Last report of scout wing Marlin… We… We have encountered… Sufficient resistance from…” His words became bubbly and garbled, as the watery avatar appeared to play out his last moments like a recording. “This whole mission was a lost cause… The surfacers… Made…”

His head shot to the left as if something there long ago had terrified him. The look on his face said as much even if Jade couldn’t see what scared him so much.

“Tsunami, get that door secure… They’re…!” His words trailed off, and while the focus of the recording was on him and not whatever transpired around him, the look on his face said it all. “By the tides… Don’t come back here… The surfacers… Not worth it!”

He hopped back, and within the focus of the projection, a new form appeared. A hippogriff, far less armored, and appearing to melt with weeping trails of oozing slime. She was screaming, while what appeared to be bugs buzzed around her. She hobbled through the focus of the aquatic recording, nonetheless. Jade was gladder than ever Ocean wasn’t here to see one of her kin mutilated like that, thinking back to the bones by the door as the watery illusion flickered, then collapsed with a wet splash.

What in Equestria went on down here? she thought, feeling a sharp pinch from X-23. “Hey, hey, what, I didn’t say anything…?”

She blinked once, seeing the flickering mark on her E.F.S as if the thing causing the hostility were fading in and out of existence. At least somewhat sure it was just a glitch, she backed up, the only door that didn’t lead back out onto the suspended catwalk a set of double doors behind her, still coated in bio-hazard wrappings.

“X-23, talking or not, if you wanna help work out a way out of here, now is the time,” she muttered, seeing the mark again, like some kind of shark lurking just below the magic of her E.F.S.

Her butt knocked on the door, the two parts creaking open as a soft tapping started hitting the glass of the control room. She almost missed the small disturbance at first, like the soft patter of raindrops on her window back home. Yet more and more they grew in number and frequency, until she looked up to see small specks flung right at the glass. They looked like fireflies, tiny and flickering a pale blue, hardly noticeable alone. Yet now they were far from alone, rivaling the carrion swarms outside as they began to coat the glass in viscous gray ooze. From every point of impact, a speck of blue light bloomed, before a blossoming flower of the same plastic started to grow. It was only then that Jade had an inkling as to how the material may be printed.

“They’re not bugs, are they?” She felt stupid talking to herself, yet for all it was worth, the part of Data she had within her was pretty certain of her answer. “They’re nannosprites.”

A nannosprite conjurer, a proposal that had passed across the desk of her marefriend several times. A piece of technology said to be able to create anything in seconds from a simple programmed template. The always resourceful earth pony answer to conjuration spells. Something she had always been told had never moved beyond the drawing board before the war.

Well, better believe it’s real now, Jade. She muttered to herself internally as the windows were blacked out by a growing sea of gray, coils, and tendrils creeping into the control room, as the swarm began to surge up from the vats. Damn it, Data, how am I supposed to fight this!?

The whole room outside was practically dripping with waxy gray as she could only imagine her marefriend shrugging, calling her a smart mare.

Always so helpful. She huffed, before doing the one thing she knew she could do. Running now!

Turning to shove the doors aside, she took off at a full gallop, only to find the ruined halls beyond just as treacherous. More protective wrap lined the walls, masking line upon line of artificial limbs suspended from rails on the roof above. There were legs, hooves, and even wings, yet all she could focus on was not stumbling as the potted floor underhoof was marked by bubbling masses of nannosprite ooze. Like ant hills they stirred, pouring into the air in buzzing blue swarms as she darted and weaved around them before they could fully awaken.

Just keep going, don’t think about it, don’t stop! She finally embraced the reality of her breathlessness, fearing that if any of the things got inside her, she’d end up melting from within like the hippogriffs. Just find some stairs, something to get back up to the other levels.

She charged on, more of the swarm emerging from every crack and crevasse. Like some kind of mechanical wasps, the things had crafted wicked hives in every door frame, cabinet, and half-cocooned skeleton. Walls like weeping wax coated in shallow pits and blisters. Shaking the sight from her head, she did all she could to outrun it all, yet the winding maze that was the ruined hospital basement hardly seemed willing to let her go so quickly. Every way she turned, there were more halls, even the bio-hazardous labs slipped away behind her as she came bounding into cold, concrete service tunnels, lined with bloated pipes and sparking wires. From every hole, the things still poured, the faltering marks on her E.F.S almost turning her whole sight red.

That was until finally, she came upon what appeared to be a huge, vault door. Thinking only for a second why somepony would construct something so armored under a hospital, she squeezed through the narrow gap the ajar entrance offered.

“Damn it, Data, you could have made me skinnier,” she hissed, before her rump finally popped free of the tight squeeze, and she pressed her back to the thing, doing all she could to shove it closed. “Come on, come on!”

The metal shuddered and creaked, groaning in protest as she grit her teeth hard, servos and synthetic muscles whirring away in her limbs as she shoved with all her might. The door lurched, rust and dust quivering free before with an almighty growl the thing slid closed with a hard clunk. The few nanosprites that slipped through she swatted away with her tail, while the sound of a million tiny robots on the far side of the metal faded. Only then did she look about to see the room she’d become trapped in.

A perfect hexagon, each side of the place bore a large array of terminal screens and consuls, all flickering with a feed that appeared to be from cameras. Many were simply static, while others showed what appeared to be medical wards, operating centers, and a cafeteria. Between the consuls were more armored doors, while pipes and wires snaked from above and below the walls of technology, pooling under her hooves as they all converged in the center of the room.

Following the winding river of metal, Jade looked back to see the vast pillar of blinking lights and countless whirring ports behind her. She didn’t need Data’s nagging to tell her this was clearly the core of the hospital’s system, even if the blue mare exclaimed a giddy squee at the sight. Yet where every screen around the room looked outward into the camera feeds, the only screen on the pillar peered right at her with a static, avian eye.

“Y–you’re not supposed to be in here,” it croaked, voice distorted yet somewhat similar to that of Stratus, as it repeated. “You… Y–you’re not supposed to be in here!”

The more equine part of her swallowed a rolling lump of apprehension, whereas her logical side urged her to simply shoot the thing and be done with it. She chose neither, stealing away her inner conflict as she stomped a hoof and spoke up.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” She nodded around at the room of screens. “What is this place, what happened here?”

“The intruders, the invaders… Meddling with the core template…” the tinny voice rumbled, as the room started to shudder. “Grounds for… Extermination.”

She opened her muzzle to speak again, that was when she heard the buzzing. Never had she heard a sound so fast and so terrifying in all her life. Every pipe and vent in the chamber started to vibrate, the thrum of a million tiny wings as the nannosprites surged from every cavity like a cloud of death. Every corner of the room was coated in the things as Jade raised her weapon, yet before long, all she could see was the whirling cloud of death.

“Any bright ideas for this one, huh?” she asked herself, hoping the shard of Data still within her had somehow equipped her with some kind of weapon that may save her.

The imaginary mare merely shrugged, while X-23 shuddered and grew tighter. Yet the swarm did not surge inwards to devour her. The whirling hurricane around her moved forward as one, coalescing their countless tiny bodies into a form far too lifelike. Just like with the hippogriff terminal, the figure of the odd avian equine materialized from the swarm. A skeleton of chittering machines that slowly encased in a layer of fluid plastic, becoming the imposter’s skin. It appeared even more lifelike than the watery projection, even if it twitched and shuddered as if not quite meant to be. Even so, it peered at her with a pair of sharp, glowing-blue eyes, the only window through into the swarming mass of machines that writhed beneath.

“You should not be here,” growled the swarm, voice low and reverberating with a thousand jittering tones, while mocking that of Stratus.

“Believe me, I’m working on getting out,” Jade countered, aiming her weapon at the thing. “What in Luna’s name are you?”

The machine cocked its head, as if actually thinking, or merely mirroring the form in which it had conjured itself.

“We… I… Made to help ponies… Those robbed of… Form…” The distorted words were like that of a foal learning to talk for the first time as the machines flexed a talon, the limb morphing between claws and a hoof. “Then the interlopers came, meddled… Tried to use us.”

“Really, because from where I’m standing it looks like you killed them,” Jade countered, weapon ready as she glanced left and right for a way out.

“We… Protect the core… Spies and sympathizers always… Out for it…” The thing let its claws down, bubbling tendrils of plastic creeping out across the floor like probing roots around it. “They came, meddled with the core template… Made us a slave to their form.”

A scout team of an unknown race up here and looking to adapt classified pony tech to suit them? Despite everything, Jade’s analytical mind had the capacity to think about it. I have a few questions for Ocean if we get out of this.

“Then why not just kill me too?” she asked, taking a step back from the creeping coils, as if the figure could not control its own swarming hunger.

“The meddlers… Broke boundaries… Organic matter became fit for processing…” Muttered the machine, nodding to one of the terminal screens where a recording of what Jade assumed were intrusive wastelanders appearing to choke on their own plastic innards played out. “They allowed us to unlock so much… But you, you are something more.”

The monster reached out a claw, the outer shell flaking away to reveal the shimmering swarm below.

“With your materials, we could finally escape this place. Brave the elements beyond!” Before Jade knew it the outstretched limb erupted in a torrent of nannosprites, aimed right at her.

She didn’t even think, programmed instinct taking hold as she dropped into S.A.T.S. Yet even the spell could hardly make anything out in the mass of a million small bodies. Given only the slowed seconds the magic offered to think, she wracked her brain.

Come on, think. They’re being controlled from somewhere! She looked dead ahead, past the flurry of machines slowly heading her way, past the eyes of the beast, and into the core behind them. Of course, no brain, no swarm!

She aimed down, not picking any particular target as she executed the spell to fire the flaming weapon blindly at the figure’s legs. In a fiery flash, the gun sang, blazing bullets striking the ground around the swarm, and shattering the pillars that were its legs in a bright flare of smoldering nannosprites. The thing screamed, a mechanical howl that dissipated into a buzzing din as its body half collapsed, half melted back into the swarm.

Seizing the moment, Jade hopped forward, dodging away from the dissipating body of Stratus as the flames held the swarm at bay for a second. Coming up short, she raised her weapon again, taking aim at the core. With calculating precision, and robotic discipline, she once more dropped into the slow embrace of her targeting spell, and in one motion, executed a flurry of fiery death into the core. The burst rang out, causing a whole flank of the thing to go up in flames as the swarm danced and flickered, as if struck by a surge of lightning. Many popped and crackled like tiny firecrackers, while more melted into gray ooze.

“Nooo!” The static din of the swarm’s scream echoed from every one of them as the hulking form of a huge avian predator coagulated from the mass. “We will not let you destroy us!”

Before she knew it, a coil of sprites wrapped around her weapon, quickly hardening into a solid grasp of plastic as they tore the thing from her magical grip. Stunned for a second, she barely had time to look back as the claws of the monster swatted her away from the core like she were little more than an insect. Skidding to a stop, she drew her pistol as the swarming monster positioned itself between her and the core like an angry dragon protecting its hoard.

“I’m not just going to let you eat me and turn everyone into plastic!” she declared, before wincing and pressing a forehoof to her muzzle.

Listen to me, I’m not myself! She could hardly feel the line between where the parts of her ended, be it the cold logic that told her to get things done, or the brash side of her new mind that really wanted to battle. Just don’t think about it, can’t you feel yourself, you’re stronger than ever!

“Do not assume you… Have any sway over us!” roared the swarm as it swelled into a mix of all kinds of creatures, the many templates it was undoubtedly designed to once repair. “You come into our domain!”

The coiling tips of the swarm swirling around her hardened into miniature fists, each one bashing at her sides as she took aim at the hulking abomination. Her targeting spell still on recharge, she had little option but to fire blindly into the thing as it charged.

“We will shred you, piece, by piece!” hissed the insane machine as her shots merely carved temporary holes in its body, wounds that instantly reformed.

She tried to spring away, only to find her hooves glued to the floor by pools of gray as the beast’s claws slammed into her, pinning her back against the wall of shattering terminals. Within seconds she felt the pain, the scream of X-23 as the ravenous machines began to break the suit down, a plastic cocoon forming around her all the while as she struggled.

“No, no, get off me!” she yelled, breaking one forehoof free, only to have a cast of solid gray form around it and lock it in place.

As if under the gaze of a cockatrice, she felt like she was turning to stone, doomed to be an empty husk lost in the dark basement.

Damn it, Data… I… I’m sorry! She felt as if the dire thought were becoming all too common as the maw of the avian swarm parted like a blooming flower, revealing an endlessly deep pit lined with rotating bands of hungry machines. What is it with everything trying to eat me!?

No matter what she did, it was hopeless, soon enough she felt her neck grow stiff as the gray shell crept up to her face, caressing her cheeks with tight pressure as the maw loomed down closer and closer.

“No, no, help!” she called, the most equine part of her finally reasserting itself, yet lost down here, she knew it was no use. “Help, please!”

Goddesses, Luna, Celestia! She begged every divine entity she could, but they were gone, the world was dead, there was no pony left to save her.

That was when the back of the monster’s cavernous maw exploded in a flash of fire and buckshot. The hulking mass quivered and dissolved, as bursts of fiery death caused plumes of flames to bloom in its flanks, while the wrath of the shotgun blasted chunks from its avian features. It fell away, leaving Jade mostly cocooned in her grey prison as it swam across the floor and reformed to round on its new adversary. There, in the gloom of one of the side doorways, stood what Jade could only describe as a sleek, silver angel.

She’d seen power armor before, most of all the experimental Shadowbolt armor her ministry was renowned for. This suit bore the same sleek, lightweight resemblance, while covering an entirely inequine form. A single sharp visor, narrow, grated muzzle for a beak, and sleek wing covers, the pale armor appeared as far from anything of pony make as the one wearing it.

“Hey, you!” Ocean had never sounded or looked so intimidating as her power-armored voice warned. “Get away from her, you bitch!”

Footnote: Level up

New Perk Added: Counter Canter - Your fancy hoofwork (or agile flying if you are a pegasus pony) keeps you out of harm’s way. Opponents suffer a -5 to combat skills when attacking you.