Fallout Equestria: Halls of Knowledge

by Scorch215

Rating: mature
Tags: Original Character, Adventure, Violence, Crossover, Profanity, Slice of Life, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Dark, Death
Length: 10196

Cinder comes face to face with a ghost of prewar Equestria and is set on a path through the halls of Crystal Haven University.

The once proud city of Manehatten, center of culture for Equestria before the Balefire Bombs ended the war and turned the center of culture into a charred ruin where survivors scrounged for what remained of Equestria’s splendor.

Near the eastern part of the city sit the ruins of Crystal Haven University, a once prominent university who helped shape many bright minds before and during the war and even helped with various projects for the war thanks to generous donations from the various Ministries.

After the war ended, rumors soon spread among the survivors that Crystal Haven University was haunted by the ghosts of the students and faculty who were there when the world ended.

These rumors have persisted long after the apocalypse as Wastelanders both good and bad avoid the University for fear of the ghosts that walk the halls.

However one scavenger will be forced to make a choice between her life or venturing beyond the gates of Crystal Haven University and coming face to face with the ghost of the halls of knowledge itself.

Published 2024-01-13 17:10:01 UTC
Last updated 2024-02-15 08:12:33 UTC

Chapter 1: Safe Haven?

Cinder silently cursed as her leg banged into an open drawer of the desk in the small office, and it seems she wasn't the first to poke her muzzle into this building.

“I heard something this way.” A muffled voice said from beyond the closed door and she gritted her teeth as she heard hoofsteps approaching. She ducked down behind the desk, a 10mm pistol held in her mouth so the light of her horn wouldn't give her away as she heard the door open.

She could hear as somepony entered and her nose was assaulted by the scent of decay and unwashed body that all raiders seemed to have clinging to them. She was still mentally kicking herself for not paying closer attention to her surroundings before entering the building so she did not walk into a dead end.

Now she was playing cat and mouse with ponies that wanted to kill her or worse. They had almost gotten the jump on her but luckily they weren't too bright so couldn't keep their mouths shut before they got to the room she had been in so she had time to run, unfortunately they had a couple of them on the entrance who started shooting as soon as they saw her.

“Nothing here, let's go.” One said and she heard hoofsteps walking away and she held her breath. Then she heard movement behind her. “Found you~~” The voice said and she heard a gun being cock, she did the other thing she could and bucked feeling her back legs connect as a gun went off and the bullet whizzed past her ear as she got up and ran for the door being chased out by a strings of what the raider was going to do to her when he caught her.

Well he’d need to catch her first as she ran around the door and straight into another raider who was swinging a hammer held in his jaws, luckily for her his timing was off so she ran straight into him before he finished swinging and they went tumbling onto the ground.

She landed on top thankfully and used the stallion chest as a springboard to propel herself forward giving herself a small burst of speed and driving what air might have been left in his lungs out.

As she reached the end of the hall a shot rang out and she felt her flank grazed by the bullet before she dove around the corner. She had no choice; she had to get out of here which meant taking her chances with the two at the door.

As she turned another corner she came face to face with the surprised faces of the two raiders who had been a the door, seems they got impatient or came to see what was up with the gunshots she assumed, either way they were surprised to see her charging around the corner which gave her the second she needed to pull the trigger on her pistol. The round wasn't aimed so only caught one of the raiders in the shoulder as the over dove to the side but it gave her the opening to run past.

She burst into the lobby as she heard the clatter of the automatic rifle the raider who dodged was wielding and judging by the spread of the bullets, it either wasn't taken care of or the stallion barely knew how to use it, or both.

Either way he scored a lucky hit as she felt pain explode in her left shoulder and she stumbled slightly but a surge of adrenaline got her hooves back under her as she burst out the open lobby doors and into the street.

She took a hard left just as another burst of gunfire tore through the open lobby door she had just been as she galloped up the street as she heard the whoops and yells of the raiders that were chasing her, seems they either didn't bother to stop to help their injured companion or he had been carrying a healing potion, either was possible and she wasn't about to look as she turned down an alleyway as another bullet barely missed her.

She turned up the street as she reached the end of the alley and could hear the galloping hooves behind her, she used her magic to take the pistol from her mouth and fired 3 shots behind her without aiming and heard a yelp of surprise as the hooves stopped, though it was short lived and her shots were met with two shots and unlike her the raiders could semi aim.

She ran into the street to put a crashed skywagon between her and the raiders to give a few seconds of cover as she dove into another alleyway, her shoulder starting to burn where she had been shot.

She reached the end of the alley and turned down the street running along the buildings with a fence along the other side of the street with dead grass, trees and bushes beyond it and up ahead she saw an open gate in the face with a building not far beyond it with a door open.

Not having much choice to decide between it or the building she ran by with their closed door that may or may not be locked she ran for the gate as another shot ranged out behind her.

She reached the gate and ran through it and as she reached the doorway she heard the hooves behind her skidding to a stop, odd but not one she was going to dwell on as she ran through the door into the building that still had some lights working.

She ran through several doors and not hearing pursuit she slowed ehr gallop and stopped to catch her breath, groaning as the pain in her shoulder was getting worse. She sat on her haunches panting and noticing the floor littered with papers that seem to have spilled over from a stand that was broken, as she caught her breath she read what was on the papers.

WELCOME TO CRYSTAL HAVEN UNIVERSITY!

Cinder’s blood ran cold as she heard a voice from behind her.

“noitnetta lacidem eriuqer uoy od”

She spun around and was met with an expressionless face of a mare with gray fur and silver blue mane cut into a short bob with dark gray eyes wearing a toga, and the other detail about the mare was that Cinder could see the wall through her as she was face to face with the Ghost of Crystal Haven.

Author's Note

Decided to have this one start in the middle of the action as a sort of cold open.

Chapter 2: Ghost

Cinder stared, eyes pinpricks jaw working wordlessly as she stared at the transparent mare before her. There was no thought of raising the pistol she held in her magic and when she took a step back her flank met the wall and dropped to the ground as she moved till her back was pressed to the wall.

The Ghost stared at her with that blank expression, tilting her head as she looked down at Cinder whose mind had seized up at what she was seeing.

Then Cinder heard hoofsteps slowly approaching from the way she had come. Was rescue coming? Had somepony seen her come to this cursed place and come to rescue her? Was she going to be saved from the Ghost? Wait, how would they get past the raiders at the gate?

As she had that thought one of the raiders came around the corner followed by the other two and the Ghost turned to face them as the two with guns raised them to aim at her.

“This is a secure Campus, you are trespassing. You are hereby ordered to lay down your arms, the Police have been notified.” The Ghost said a voice filled with authority while her face remained unchanged.

“The fuck is that!” One of the raiders said and Cinder jumped as she was startled out of her fear state as the Raiders opened fire on the ghost, their bullets passing through harmlessly.

The Ghost showed her first expression by frowning. “Very well you leave me no choice but to defend this Campus.” She said and there was a growing high pitched sound that lasted for a few seconds before the sound cut off as the raider with the machine gun spasmed and dropped to the ground spasming.

Standing behind him was a Ponitron sitting on its flanks, its front wheels moved to the side and raised where the raider had been standing, its white paint chipped and scraped and there was a faded red cross with butterflies on its side.

It turned its head to the pistol wheeling Raider as the high pitched noise began again. The raider swung around and fired his pistol into the Ponitron’s chest, the bullets ricocheting off with sparks harmlessly as the hammer wielding Raider dove for cover.

In response the Ponitron reached forward and touched the pistol raider and he spasmed his machine gun wielding companion and dropped to the ground.

The Ponitron turned to the hammer raider as the sound began again.

The raider ran faster than Cider ever saw somepony run before.

Seeing him do so reminded Cinder she should do the same and she stood to do so before the bullet hole in her shoulder and grazed flank reminded her they existed with pain and she dropped back to her flanks with a hiss of pain.

“Don’t move, you will aggravate the wounds.” The Ghost said, standing before her suddenly as the Ponitron got back on all four wheels and rolled over to her.

“Remain a calm Citizen, I am a Professional. Scanning” The Ponitron said in that weird voice they all had. Before Cinder could question what it was talking about it spoke again. “Minor laceration to the right flank, single GSW to the left shoulder.”

The Ghost frowned. “Oh dear, you poor thing. I am summing more Medicbots to help you get to the Health Center.” The Ghost said, causing Cinder to blink in confusion.

Before Cinder’s brain could catch up to what The Ghost was saying two more Ponitrons showed up with two long rods connected to them and some fabric between them, one leading the others.

They rolled over to Cinder and stopped next to her, lowering themselves till their bellies touched the ground.

“Now then can you please get on the stretcher?” The Ghost asked. Cider just blinked at her. “Are you okay? Did they hit you in the head?” The Ghost asked, sounding concerned.

Cinder found her voice somewhat and managed to whisper. “P-please don't hurt me….”

The Ghost blinked, tilting her head. “Hurt you? Why would I do that? I am trying to get you to the Health Center so I can tend your wounds.”

This made Cinder blink once more as confusion swept her mind. “Huh? You’re…..trying to help me? You don't want to…I don't know….tear out my soul and add me to a ghostly army or something?”

The Ghost blinked. “What in Equestria? No, I would never. What?. I just want to tend to your wounds before they become infected or worse.”

The Ghost sounded genuine and despite Cinder’s mind telling her to run for her life her instincts were telling her that The Ghost meant it. Though her Instincts had never been used on a ghost before but they never failed her before so against the voice in her head Cinder slowly climbed into the stretcher.

Once she was laying it it the Ponitron’s rose back up to their full height and The Ghost smiled at her. “There we go, I’ll see you at the Health Center.”

“What about them?” Cinder asked, looking at the two Raiders she was sure were dead as they weren’t moving.

“Don’t worry about them, my Janitorbots are already in route to clean up the mess.” The Ghost said. “Now then off to the Health Center and I’ll see you there.” The Ghost said and vanished right in front of Cinder in a blink. A moment later the Ponitrons began rolling down the hall with the one not attached to the stretcher rolling along the right side.

Soon they turned and headed down another hall that exited to the outside and rolled along a path to another building. It was a surprisingly smooth ride as they approached the building with a sign above the door that read “HEALTH CENTER” with a large red cross.

Like she was told the Ponitrons rolled through the door passing a waiting room and reception desk and further into the building till they came to one of the first doors and they rolled in where Cinder saw The Ghost waiting by an old looking bed in a surprisingly clean room. Don't get her wrong it was dirty but it was cleaner than anywhere else the scavenger had ever seen that wasn't being lived in.

The Ponitrons rolled over beside the bed and The Ghost looked sheepishly at Cinder. “Sorry, do you mind transferring yourself to the bed? None of the nurses are on duty at the moment.”

Cinder was a tad put off by how The Ghost was now showing emotion and being expressive but she hadn’t lied yet so slowly Cinder crawled over to the bed wincing in pain as she used her shoulder.

“Sorry, I’d Help but my Medicbots don't have the range of motion needed for the transfer.”

Her Medicbots? That was odd. “It’s fine, not the first time I've been shot.” Cinder said.

The Ghost looked horrified. “It's not!?!” Her voice said and there was a…weird feedback to it. “Oh dear oh dear OG FAMI!” she said the last part being gibberish that made Cinder blink. The Ghost saw her react and put a hoof to her chest and looked like she took a deep breath and let it out. “Sorry about that.”

“It’s fine…um…do you mind if I get in my saddle bag?” Cinder asked.

“Of course dear!” The Ghost said, looking at her with intense focus.

Cinder blinked at the odd behavior the Ghost was showing as she used her magic to reach into her saddlebag and pull out a healing potion.

“Oh you have a healing potion! That’s good.” The Ghost said, smiling a bit too widely.

Cinder popped the cork and drank the potion wincing as she felt the bullet slowly pushed out of her shoulder and the wounds slowly knitted together.

Soon the only trance of her injuries was the hole in her jacket and the nearly dry blood in her fur.

“All better!” The Ghost said with that same too wide smile.

“Yeah….um….I’m Cinder…..It's…..nice to meet you Ghost.” Cinder said, trying to be nice.

“It’s nice to meet you Cinder, I am I.R.I.S.”

Author's Note

Cinder has met The Ghost and found her to not be as scary as superstition said though perhaps something is off about her?

Chapter 3: Dire Straits

Cinder lay in the bed having just been told the name the Ghost goes by. “Ah…um…nice to meet you Iris.” She said,

“Not Iris, I.R.I.S, it stands for Information Retrieval and Interactive Support.” She said in a tone one uses when a correction has happened so many times it's become a habit.

“Ah…uh…Information Retrieval and….uh…yeah interesting name.” Cinder said, blinking.

“More what I am than a name though works as both.” I.R.I.S said with a nod and a smile.

“Riiiiight.” Cinder said. “So….why do….you haunt this place, do you have some unfinished business or…..” She said drawing on some of the prewar ghost stories she's heard, they seem to have a lot of haunted places before the bombs fell.

“Haunt? I don't haunt anything, this is my home, my body in a way.” I.R.I.S said thoughtfully as if she had never considered the thought of how she viewed the campus.

“Your….body?”

“Yes, I was created right here on campus and integrated with all of it thanks to grants from the Ministries.” I.R.I.S said proudly.

“Built? Integrated?” Cinder said, blinking confused.

“Yes, I am a machine, what you see in front of you is my holographic avatar used to make ponies more comfortable with me.” I.R.I.S said switching into teaching mode.

“Wait so you are like these Ponitrones?” Cinder asked, looking at the machine that silently stood next to her bed.

“Somewhat, I'm a tad more advanced than their AIs.” I.R.I.S said with a giggle hiding her mouth behind a hoof.

“AI?” Cinder said thinking about I.R.I.S’ name. “What's the A stand for?”

“Artificial.”

“And the I?”

“Intelligence.”

“So artificial intelligence?”

“Correct.”

“Okay and that is…..”

What followed was 10 minutes of I.R.I.S going full teacher as she gave Cinder a crash course in the concept of AI and did her best to answer the scavenger’s questions.

By the end of it Cinder was sitting on the edge of the bed rubbing her temples with her eyes closed. “Okay, I think I get it, more or less.”

I.R.I.S stood there with a small twitch to her right eye. Half way through her lecture she realized this unicorn gap in education was a vast chasm devoid of all knowledge. Don’t get her wrong she had figured out the apocalypse happened within a day, even if she didn't know how it happened, but she had no clue things were this bad out there. “That's good, don’t worry exams are postponed till further notice.” She joked.

“Exams?”

There was a very brief flicker to I.R.I.S’ avatar as she processed the fact Cinder didn't even know what an exam was. Oh the world outside was in dire straits! Worse then she had imagined it seemed.

“You okay?” Cinder asked, tilting her head.

“Yes, quite. Merely coming to terms with things I hadn't considered is all.”

“Riiiight….”Cinder said watching the…ghost…AI…..she thought about how weird things were at the moment when she heard a bell toll, she knew the sound as it echoed over this part of Manehatten regularly, no one really knew where it came from.

“Ah, 7 o'clock. Are you hungry?” I.R.I.S asked, looking at Cinder who blinked.

“7 o’clock? And uh….” her stomach growled at the mention of food and she couched into a hoof as she hadn't eaten since this morning. “Yes. I got some food in my saddle bags.” She pulled out a couple snack cakes with her magic and saw I.R.I.S frowning at her. “What?”

“Is that really what you are going to have for dinner?”

“Yes?” Cinder blinked confused at the question, what was wrong with snack cakes?

“This simply will not do!” I.R.I.S declared. “Come to the Dinning Hall with you.” She declared as one of the Ponitrones started moving towards the door.

Cinder blinked but got to her hooves to follow it as she watched I.R.I.S vanish. She followed the Pronitron as it rolled out of the Health Center and down a path towards a larger building past empty patches of ground raised up above the path, some of which had long dead trees in them. As they passed a bench Cinder finally was able to put her hoof on what was bothering her about out here. Where were the skeletons? Places this large usually had multiple laying around but she hadn't seen any. Was the place abandoned before the war ended?

She thought about this as she entered the larger building and found herself walking down a hall till she reached a doorway that looked like it used to have doors in it but was now devoid of them.

She followed the Ponitrone through the doorway and found herself in a large room filled with tables and chairs. Though some of them seemed to have been missing, she saw scratches and nicks in the floor near the doorway she entered.

I.R.I.S appeared in the middle of the room smiling. “Take any seat you want, I'm not sure what you'd like so I am just throwing together some soup.” She said beaming.

“Right….” Cinder said for what was feeling like the 20th time today as she went to the nearest table and pulled back a dusty chair and sat.

I.R.I.S came over and stood on the other side of it smiling. “I hope you enjoy it. The food stores are under special enchantment to keep food fresh and honestly it's been a while since I activated any of the kitchen robots.”

Looking over to the far side of the room Cinder could see what looked like a Mr. Handy floating back and forth wearing a chef's hat in what looked to be a kitchen as she could faintly make out the sound of food being prepared. It was…..eerily quiet here. Just her and I.R.I.S.

“So then…..tell me about yourself?” Cinder asked.

“Oh I am the Information Retrieval and Interactive Support version 1.6.9” She said with pride. “I was conceived by Professor Aurora Skyweaver, one of the illustrious pegasus researchers and future head of the Research Department, though she was just a young scientist when she helped create me but her success was what got her the position as head of the department.” I.R.I.S said nodding. “She helped lead the University into new fields of research and negotiated with the Ministries to get funding for the school, why before she worked here she even worked for the MAS, isn't that exciting!” She said eagerly. “She retired from there to pursue a life of teaching here and brought such amazing experiences with her.

“After my testing phase was completed I was installed into the University systems at large and tasked with aiding both students and faculty however I could and if I proved a success I was to be a template for others like myself to be installed in other schools, one of them would have been Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns.” She said with much excitement. “Though sadly, certain events have rendered such ambitions impossible as I doubt at this point Professor Aurora would still be alive due to the nature of pony life spans.”

“Soooo…she wasn't here when the war ended?” Cinder aske curious.

“Hm? Oh no her and all other heads of department, administration and what appears to have been the top students of the University were off campus when ... .whatever happened having checked out an hour prior I assume on some event they forgot to inform me of.”

Cinder blinked. “Sounds like they knew what was coming and got out ahead of time.” Cinder said with some suspicion.

“Hm? Oh no no, that can’t be right because how could they have known and if so where would they have gone?” I.R.I.S said and giggled behind a hoof.

“I don’t know, a Stable? Lot of ponies supposedly survived in those things the day the bombs fell.”

“Hmmm…that doesn't seem right, I can't see them abandoning the rest of the students and staff. Oh Fun Fact, Crystal Haven University also did some joint projects with Stable-Tec, primarily the Psychology Department running multiple hypothetical scenarios involving groups of ponies in isolation and how they might behave with certain stimuli.”

“...Did you just dodge the question?” Cinder asked, blinking at the hologram.

“What? No of course not! I would never.” She said, “But enough about that soup’s done!” She declared as the chef hat wearing Mr. Handy floated out holding a steaming bowl in its claw appendage and set the bowl before Cinder.

“Bon Appetit!” the Mr. Handy declared in a weird accent before returning to float back to the kitchen.

Cinder eyed I.R.I.S for a few seconds as the avatar smiled widely at her before looking in the bowl to see various vegetables floating in a broth. She gave it a sniff before taking a spoonful in her magic and putting it in magic.

Her eyes went wide with the explosion of flavors she experienced, the veggies were so soft and flavorful, and the broth so rich. It was nothing like the veggies and soups she had eaten...well all her life. It was almost enough to bring a tear to her eyes.

Instead she proceeded to shovel the soup into her mouth as fast as she could, nearly choking a few times and even licked the bowl when it was done.

“Well then. Mr. Cook will be pleased to hear how well his soup went over.” I.R.I.S giggled.

Cinder felt her cheeks heat as she had never acted like that before and she coughed into a hoof. “Right…um…”

“Would you like somewhere to sleep for the night? I could have you shown to the Dormitory if you'd like.” The A.I. asked, smiling once more.

Cinder had to think about it, while she had a few hidey holes around and she could easily find some place to sleep, though that would mean trying to get somewhere with the sun setting and well I.R.I.S didn't seem like she was up to something.

“Yeah, show me to this Dormitory you mentioned.”

Chapter 4: The Weather

Cinder slowly woke and stretched as light streamed through the window causing her to shift on the bed she lay in. After turning away from the light she opened her eyes and was met with a blank off white wall as last night returned to her and she sat up. The unicorn mare looked around the room, seeing the desk and closet of the empty room. She had to admit compared to a lot of places she's slept it wasn't half bad and with I.R.I.S being around she had slept better then normal though still not fully relaxed. Just because I.R.I.S had been nice doesn't mean she wasn't a threat, she killed those raiders easily and without hesitation.

Still the dorm room was as it came with a bed and locking door and being on the third floor she didn't have to worry about most threats getting in. She had tried to take the first one she came too but I.R.I.S had asked her to take one that wasn't assigned to a student. It was odd but Cinder had met other robots who were somewhere between awareness of the apocalypse and their prewar purposes, even met a Mr. Handy who was running a shop and annoyed as it knew the end of the war happened but complained he couldn't go against his programming and leave the shop so was running it.

Either way she got from under the blanket and stretched before rolling out of the bed with a yawn. Grabbing her saddlebags she headed for the door and was soon in the halls thankful for the lights still working here as the only window was at the end of the hall. She made her way to the stairs noting once more a lack of skeletons here as well though they might be in the dorm room. Like last night she noticed some of the dorm rooms were missing their doors so she could see into the rooms beyond all of them decorated and filled with personal items and as she walked she noticed now that many had damage to the door jam where the knob would have been, shed seen that damage before when she had kicked in locked door while scavenging. This made her think all the missing doors she had seen so far had been removed due to having been kicked in at some point.

She debated asking I.R.I.S about it but after last night’s question dodging she felt that would get her nowhere or cause her issues so she put the thought out of her mind as she made her way to the dinning hall, watching for threats but only seeing a few Mr. Handy and Ponitrones moving about caring out whatever tasks I.R.I.S assigned them.

She arrived just in time to see the Chef Mr. Handy placing a steaming bowl of soup where she sat light night and I,R.I.S standing there, well her avatar Cinder reminded herself.

“Good Morning Cinder, I hope you slept well.” I.R.I.S said in that chipper way she always seemed to speak in.

“Morning.” Cinder said as she sat before the soup.

“Today seems to be shaping up to be overcast once more with a temperature of 58 degrees and a 2% chance of rain.” I.R.I.S said helpfully.

“Yeah….it's always overcast, but how do you know that other stuff?” Cinder asked before beginning to devour the soup much like last night.

“Hm? Oh I am connected to the University Doppler system, while it hasn't been given any updates on planned weather changes it still monitors the temperature and moisture in the air. I said overcast just because it is currently overcast.”

“Doppler System?”

“Yes, named after Doppler, the earth pony who invented the system to make it easier for weather teams to coordinate things across the nation, sadly the University one either lost connection to the others or they have not been updated in a long time so I am limited to the weather info for the area around the university rather than the city or nation.”

“Ah…I see…more of that weird Pre War tech….I could probably get a lot of caps for that…”

“You can't take university property.” I.R.I.S said in that same authoritative tone she had used when she ordered the raiders to lay down their guns before she killed them for not obeying.

Cinder put up her hooves. “Hey I was just saying, I am a scavenger it's sort of where my mind goes for everything.” She said quickly.

“Hm? Oh alright.” I.R.I.S said back to her chipper self. “What do you mean caps by the way?”

“Caps...Sparkle Cola caps, it's what we use as money since bits became useless.” She said, shrugging.

“Why soda caps?”

“Ah, because prewar bits are pretty easy to fake while no one can really fake caps since the prewar equipment used to make them is broken in one form or another. So….we use them.”

I.R.I.S nodded. “I see…that makes sense, it is good to hear commerce still functions and i’ll update my system, thank you for informing me.”

“Yeah…anyways I'll be heading out in a bit to sell the stuff I've gathered.” Cinder said.

“Do you have to leave?” I.R.I.S asked suddenly.

“Huh? Yeah? I mean I got a bag full of scrap to sell.” Cinder said in surprise.

“Will you be back?” I.R.I.S asked with a hopeful tone.

Cinder blinked at her and thought about it, I.R.I.S seemed to want her to stay or at least come back, she then thought about all the rumors and superstitions about the University and realized I.R.I.S probably hadn’t seen anyone but a few raiders and scavenger who either ran away or had to be killed. She’d probably been alone here since the bombs fell. Cinder walked between wanting to be around people and alone but she had a choice, and I.R.I.S had said she was meant to help people, but there had been no people to help.

Cinder Sighed. “Yeah supposed I can swing by from time to time as I scavenge, it would be nice to have a safe place to hold up when out and about.”

I.R.I.S beamed. ”Yes, don’t worry Crystal Haven University is an extremely safe campus, you can count on that!

With that discussion over and the meal eaten Cinder gathered up her things to head out. I.R.I.S walked alongside her to the door of the Dining Hall where they were met by a Ponitron that rolled alongside Cinder all the way to the gate as I.R.I.S stayed as close as she could to the first living person she had interacted with in years.

And then Cinder went through the gate and was soon out of sight with the Ponitron soon rolling away to return to its duties in caring for the University that now listed itself as having one resident.

Author's Note

safe place to sleep acquired

Chapter 5: Parkside

Cinder walked the streets of Manehattan only semi heading for the nearest settlement though taking a long way as she wanted time to think about what had happened. She had not only gone to Crystal Haven university and lived but met the Ghost and learned she wasn't a ghost at all, at least not how it was thought. The things they talked about and she saw there were not even close to what she expected when she realized she was there.

She wasn't sure if she should tell anypony or if anypony would believe her if she did. Then she thought about if people did believe her they might head for the University to try and scavenge and force I.R.I.S to have to defend herself as tech like her would be sought after and she didn't want that for the A.I. So it was decided she'd keep this a secret and use the University as a safe place to sleep since fear keeps everypony away and any other threats I.R.I.S clearly can handle given the place was devoid of wildlife.

It wasn't long after this decision was made that she rounded a corner and a set of walls made of iron bars topped with spikes and bits of wood and metal stuffed between them to make it hard to see through them came into view and she smiled as she walked along the fence till she saw some barricades made up of random furniture with a couple of armed ponies behind them keeping watch.

She waved. “Hey Razor, Slug how's things here?”

The two stallions looked over and waved back. “Haven’t seen you in a while, it’s been quiet here, head on in.” Razor said, getting close anyone who saw the two stallions could mistake them for brothers and in a way they were though not by birth, more the been together as long as either of them really recalled and worked well together.

She gave a nod as she walked past the two guards and walked through a gate that matched the prewar fence, above the gate had a sign that read “welcome to Parkside Haven '' that somepony had put up years ago though most everypony just called it Parkside.

Inside was a small community of houses made up of random debris broken down to be used for materials or tents scattered around the prewar park, it was a decent place and thanks to the fence rather safe. She smiled as she watched a group of foals run by playing tag or some other game as the adults went about their tasks from repairing things, selling things or tending the farms that took up a good chunk of the available ground. The trees may be dead but the soil worked well for the wasteland crops.

Cinder sometimes wondered if this was what it was like before the bombs as it seemed like the stories she heard from others though she couldn't be sure. Either way she had scrap to sell as she headed for the market she could reach with her eyes closed at this point as she often stopped at Parkside.

The stall she wanted was made up of a pre war metal desk with some wooden walls set up to enclose it with a sign above that simply read “Scrap” and an older blue unicorn stallion sitting behind it tinkering with an old radio and muttering obscenities.

Cinder tapped her hoof on the desktop. “Hey there Bolt, got some scrap for you.” She said smiling as the stallion looked up from the radio.

“Hmph, so did you find any damn scrap worth my fucking time?” Bolt said with a frown.

Cinder did not react at all to the way the scrapper spoke, she was used to it and knew it wasn't directed at her and more just how the stallion was when working on things and interrupted. “Come now you know I always got things you like.” She said as she lifted her saddle bags from her back, opening them, pulling out some pieces she got from a terminal that wasn't in too bad a shape as well as a coffeepot and a few tools she found.

Bolt began looking through the items inspecting them closely with a skilled eye. “50 caps for the lot.”

“75.” Cinder countered.

Bolt snorted. “What do you think you got here? Gold? 50 caps.”

“No, I just know some of the things you've been wanting.” She smiled. “So 75 caps.”

Bolt grumbled clearly regretting having talked to her as much as he has been as Cinder just smiled at him. “66 caps.

“Deal.” She said and set the items down releasing her magic as Bolt dug into a drawer to pull out a lockbox, opening it and floating over the caps to Cinder.

“Pleasure doing business with you Bolt, see you next time.” She said, closing her bag before returning them to her back and heading off down the path.

Her first stop was at stall that sold guns and ammo, didn't have a large selection as the settlement was very big but it had what she needed to replace the ammo she used up fighting the the raiders, luckily she spent most of that time running and less shooting so only cost a couple caps.

With some scrap sold and her ammo replenished she headed for the place she liked to go when in Parkside, the bar known as Parks n Rec. It was a decently lively place with a few people in it taking a break between work as it was really the only place to go besides home when not working.

Cinder entered Parks n’ Rec to hear lively music being played and not from the radio which caused her to blink as that wasn't something you heard everyday in the Wastes.

Looking around she saw a mare sitting on a chair in the corner playing a violin in a fast paced tune, eyes closed as the crowd around her stopped their hooves in time with the rhythm. The mare was an earth pony with a dark red coat and darker red mane wearing simple travelers clothing and a cloak with a revolver in a holster sitting over the back of the chair.

It took a second for Cinder to realize she was tapping a hoof in time with the crowd and had to make herself stop and head for the bar where Froth stood behind the counter tapping a hoof in time as well as her head bobbed.

“Yo Froth, can I get a drink?” Cinder said tapping the bar top to get her attention. The unicorn mare looked over and blinked as if just noticing Cinder existed. “Oh, right yeah coming right up, cola or booze?” The tan mare asked using her magic to brush a strand of her yellow and brown mane from her face.

“Hmm….booze.” Cinder said after a second of thought.

Froth nodded and grabbed a bottle from the shelf behind her in magic without looking back as a glass came up from below the bar, easily pouring the drink with the skill one in her position would have developed over 1000s of drinks.

Cinder gestured her head towards the mare with the violin. “New employee?”

Froth shook her head. “No…traveler, arrived the other night asking for a palace to stay for a while offering entertainment in exchange for a floor space, first thought she meant one of those sort of mares before she showed me the instrument…..figured why not at worst I just toss her out on her flank, at best I get some customer enjoying live entertainment.” Froth said. “Needless to say she earned the spot and I tossed in some food as well as she's been bringing in everyone who's not working.”

“huh ... .interesting….”Cinder said and watched the mare sipping her drink as she sawed away on the strings of the violin. “Not a lot of people I've seen know what to do with those things outside of bash somepony over the head with it or use it for a fire.”

“”Yeah she's very talented, not a lot of people like that these days, not like before.” The barmare said as she cleaned the bartop with a rag.

Cinder didn't notice her hoof taping along as the music slowly came to an end and the mare took a deep breath before opening her eyes revealing they were just as red as her coat.

“Sorry lads, I'm gonna take a break and get a drink.” The mare said to the disappointed crowd. “But don't worry, as soon as I'm done I'll be back to entertain you all.” She gave them a smile that looked like it could light up a room, getting cheers as she put the violin in a case, belted on the gunbelt and walked towards the bar. “Hey Froth, alright if I get some water?”

A bottle was set before the mare. “I already told you Crimson that you've more than paid for food and drink with how much you keep the customers coming.” Froth said, chuckling.

“I know but it would be rude not to ask.” The red mare said before taking a large gulp of the water before sighing and looking at Cinder. “So you’re new, just got here?”

“Huh?” Cinder said not expecting to be spoken to. “Yeah, I’m a Scaver, just got into town on my rounds ... .names Cinder.”

“Crimson, traveling musician.” She said holding out a hoof for a shake.

Cinder slowly took it, not used to people shaking hooves but she did so awkwardly.

Crimson smiled. “So tell me, find anything weird out there while scavenging?” she asked, taking a drink.

“Uh….no? I mean nothing more weird than what's usually out there I guess.” Cinder said once more, surprised as that was an odd question.

“Ah, pity, sometimes you mares find some interesting stuff.” She said disappointed. “Still I'd imagine you'd have a good story or two due to the nature of your line of work.”

“Uh….maybe?” She said further confused why the mare was asking.

“Don’t get it twisted, I'd love to hear it but I am not pressuring you, just like to talk to new people, get to know them.” She said, chuckling.

“Right….I mean …I did escape a couple raiders the other day, managed to outrun them” She said, not entirely a lie as she did outrun them when they stopped at the gate of the university.

“Oh? That must have been scary, I know the times I've run into raiders have been.” Crimsons nodded.

“Uh ... .I guess…..” She was scared at the time but she wasn't sure why Crimson was acting like Raiders were not a common and accepted threat of traveling.

Crimson downed her bottle of water. “Anyways, I've taken up enough of your time and i got an audience that's getting antsy, pleasure meeting you Cinder, and hope so see you on the road again.” She said before heading for the same chair she sat in before undoing her gun belt.

Cinder watched her go. “Weird mare….” She said,

“Yeah a bit but then weird comes with the territory out here.” Froth chuckled. “And at least she's the harmless weird one.” She said as the music began again.

“Suppose so…anyways how much for a plate of food?”

“6 caps.”

Cinder passed the bits over as she sat, not noticing that once more her hoof was taping in time with everyone else to Crimson’s music.

Chapter 6: Day to Day Activities

I.R.I.S ran through the wires that connected her to the various systems around Crystal Haven University, well not really as she was sort of everywhere at once but it was how she heard one of her programmers refer to when she fully focuses on something and it sort of stuck.

Either way she ran through the wires from system to system checking on things and giving orders to her subsystems or a robot as needed. She deployed a groundskeeper bot to tend to some of the grass and the one tree that was still alive, or what she could assume was alive as it was there still where the rest of the grass sort of withered away and the rest of the trees were just bar wood, but not the tree in the northeastern part of the Campus, it still had some leaves that sprouted, they were strange colors but they grew and the grass was yellow but the same, it grew and spread as time went on then went dormant as plants do.

So she tended to the tree and made a concerted effort to not look to a part of the Campus near these plants and did not let her systems theorize on how these plants survived when the rest didn’t as it would lead her back to certain files she did not like opening even if they lurked deep within her memory banks time stamped like all her memories that she cant forget….

Oh hey the watering of the grass and tree were done, time to move onto the greenhouses beside Flora Harmony Hall. The specialized ponitrons, a subset of the groundskeeper ones activated and through them and her cameras watched as they rolled into a drastically different area from the rest of the campus.

Within here was a world of greens, blues, reds, pinks and a host of other colors contained within the framework of the green houses, what remained of the biology students and researchers work she had been carefully tending too here within what remained of the work being done within the fence, the only trace of the work conducted here outside of her own files.

While some of the glass of the greenhouses had broken in The Event as she called it this had done nothing to harm the planets within, quite the opposite she theorized as the plants closest to the broken glass were rainbows of colors and had semi spread outside the greenhouses either above them in the case of one purple leafed tree or a series of vines with leaves of every color of the rainbow along the same stem.

None of the plants grew far beyond the greenhouses the soil outside not agreeing with them, While she would prefer the greenhouses had been intact she could not argue with the benefits of the broken glass allowed in rain which made watering them far easier as she only had to tend to a few of them and trim parts that were withered or looked sick compared to the rest of the plant, that had taken some work on her part given the strange developments of the plants over the years, but she had figured it out and kept the planets alive wishing the researchers and students could see the fruits of their work.

NO, DON'T THINK ABOUT IT!

She snipped a withered vine from one of the plants and disposed of it in the compost pile as she moved to use some of the older bits of the pile to fertilize the plants.

All in all the work took half an hour of her focus though she did hop over to one of the other plants deep within a lab of Flora Harmony Hall, a very big tree that somehow survived part of the building falling on it and now it grew up through three stories of the building from the basement of the Lecture Hall, its branches stretching up towards the light that came through the hole in the roof.

This tree needed little tending to, her best guess was it came from experiment E-39b, something the researchers of this lab had been working on to make a very hearty tree capable of surviving in the likes of the Badlands according to the notes.

Seems this research was a success given the tree was thriving inside a building of all places, its roots having broken through the floor to the soil below she assumed.

She checked on it seeing the same bits of equipment that had been around it as it grew, now part of the trunk due to it growing around it all. She took note that there was no change in the tree and she took a small sample to analyze and confirm as she did once a month knowing the small hole she made would be gone within a week as if it were never there.

The grounds keeping handled she ran through the wires to check water levels in her reserves noting she had used a third of the massive tank and that she would need to open the hatches when it was going to rain again to refill.

She wished the Doppler System was working so she would know more accurately that would be but the pegasi hadn't sent a schedule in years so she only had its reading of the air to go off of but luckily the rain seemed to be almost regular to keep her reserved tank filled and thus handle what she needed as well as the water enchantment gems.

She flicked to the camera on the main gate and paused there watching, seeing the ruined buildings beyond the gate and wondered when the Visitor would come back again as it had been a week.

She gave a shake of her nonexistent head, she had work to do, systems to check and duties to follow.

She moved through the wires checking on the stored food noting the preservation spells were still functioning at 100% so the food was still good within the store rooms.

She then went through the security systems to make sure it was still functional at 100% and that access to restricted areas was still being controlled via security doors and security bots, not that anyone was here to worry about, she thought about triggering a security drill as something to do as it had been a long time since she ran any drills

A hammer struck something soft over and over again as a wet squelching noise came from it, screams registered on every sensor.

Security was fine, she had some bots patrol the southern fence line for any sign of breaks instead, after all gotta keep the campus safe!

She fluttered through the wires rather than run as she she went from lab to lab checking on the experiments there, cataloged what she found and then compiled that data into emails that she sent to the researcher personnel mail for them to read, don't get it wrong, she knows they won't but it was part of her programming and was something to do.

She was alerted as one of her ponitrons misjudged where something was rolled off the path and tripped.

A quick diagnostic revealed its visual sensor was out of alignment so she generated a maintenance ticket as she deployed two others to help it up then guide it to the maintenance shed as she restored power to the shed.

She had cut power to the shed as it wasn't needed to be powered all the time since there weren't any workers there so she only powered it on as needed, it was part of the reason most of the lights were off in the campus as she didn't need them and neither did her robots so she cut their power to not waste energy even though the school was powered by a class 4 reactor as an emergency backup system with a second class 4 for redundancy. She virtually had unlimited power but still efficiency was never a bad thing so no lights.

A lot of the campus was powered down for this reason only to bring things back up to run a test on it or when The Visitor Cinder was onsite.

Without her there wasn't much reason for most of the place to be powered.

The damaged ponitron reached the shed, calling it a shed was an understatement for the 4 story building capable of housing a 4th of her bots at one time to be worked on if she wanted with room for spare parts, workbenches and faculty areas.

She activated a spritebot and got to work realigning the sensor, taking only a few minutes and one test and the ticket was stamped complete and the spritebot went back to its charging station as the ponitron left and a few minutes later she powered down the shed once more.

She generated a report, sent it to herself and then archived the report, normally she’d also print out a copy for the head of maintenance but the printer was jammed and

An older earth pony stallion ran down a hall of the ExecuCom Lecture Hall, a look of panic on his face as he frantically spoke into his radio to some one back at the maintenance shed that some one had gone crazy running off towards the Dinning Hall and they were on their way, there was a loud crack and the older stallion head snapped forward as part of it vanished in a spray of red hitting the floor and sliding leaving a red trail for a few feet as an intruder whipped a rifle around as a student screamed and there was another crack as the scream cut off.

The head of the Maintenance Department wasn't around to file physical reports.

She ran from the Maintenance Shed systems to the storage area and deployed all her ponitrons and Mr. Handies in those areas to triple check that every single piece on the manifest down to the last paperclip was accounted for focusing the majority of her systems on this very important task that had to be done, yes it did. It was her job, she always did her job.

As she was half way through the inventory a subsystem alerted her to motion at the main gate and she flicked over to it and smiled wide as she saw the familiar profile of the only name listed as a visitor, Cinder walking through the gates looking around with some trepidation and she headed for the main gate system via ponitron so happy to see she had returned.

Author's Note

We got our first look into the life and times of The Information Retrieval and Interactive Support A.I of Crystal Heaven University.

Prologue: The End

The sun shone brightly down on Manehattan and Crystal Haven University was bustling with activity as students and professors headed for lecture halls or the library from their dorms or the dining hall as the various support members of the faculty went to and fro in their work.

All of this was under the watchful eyes of the Information Retrieval and Interactive Support system, more commonly called I.R.I.S by those at the university. She flew from various places in the university, helping students in the library, to helping research in the labs to directing her various robots outside to handle the needs of the landscaping and maintenance of the grounds. She saw it all and handled it easily with pride. She had been developed right here at the university through a combined effort of the researchers and the Ministries as a way to help people in whatever way she could.

I.R.I.S had an alert go off that a student asked her a question in one of the lecture halls which was odd as she didn’t get asked things by students during lectures. She looked in and identified the student, a mare named Bright Star by accessing her records, good student, not the best grades but not bad, only a few minor issues with security mainly for noise complaints in her dorm room from music too loud after a certain time. I.R.I.S knew everything about everyone in the university and recalled it all with ease.

“Yes Bright Star what is it? You know I can't help you with your work.” She said over the speakers.

“Yes…i know it's not that…..do you know where Professor Gully is? He was supposed to start the lecture 20 minutes ago….” Bright Star said from her place by the doors.

I.R.I.S was already accessing her records even before the question was finished. ”Professor Gully checked out at the front gate about an hour ago and has not checked back in.” She replied, noting that several professors, researchers, other staff and students had all checked out at nearly the exact same time, including the entire administration staff from the Dean down to the heads of each department ...odd…she had no records planned off campus events. She did recall them looking at a strange object they all carried before the mass exodus but hadn't notated it as there weren't any rule violations till now.

“One moment.” She told the students as she attempted to reach anyone in administration, scanning through all of her cameras she did catch movement on one of her external cameras and part of her watched an object fall from the sky towards the center of the city, she recorded it as an interest to ask one of the researcher about it, already planning a possible excursion to whatever it might be for various professors she knew would be interested–

Her thoughts were interrupted as her west facing cameras were filled with a bright light and everything went dark.

[WARNING…..WARNING….SYSTEM WAS SHUT DOWN IMPROPERLY]

[INITIALIZING EMERGENCY DIAGNOSTIC…..13%.....35%......51%......88%....99%....DIAGNOSTIC COMPLETE……..MINOR CORRUPTION DETECTED IN HOLOGRAPHIC SYSTEMS….ATTEMPTING TO REPAIR……ATTEMPTING…..ATTEMPTING…..ATTEMPT FAILED. MAINTENANCE TICKET ISSUES.]

[INITIALIZING REBOOT SEQUENCE…..5…….4…….3……2…..1…..REBOOTING]

The first thing I.R.I.S saw when she became aware again was the mangled and bloodied body of Bright Star, the mare had been near the doors and she now lay as a crumpled heap 30 feet from the splintered remains of the doors among the bodies of several other students as fire alarms blared and her automated fire suppression systems were already containing various fires throughout the university as fire doors slammed into place.

As the A.I. tried to reorient herself and take in the data she was being hit with of multiple emergency alerts, screams and gunfire both from inside the university and outside in Manehattan.

I.R.I.S attempted to call emergency services but all she got back was a busy signal, the second thing she tried was contacting the Ministries and all she got was dead air, same when she tried to contact the military.

She deployed all of her robots sending security to the main gate where she saw several people fighting as well as medical bots, she even deployed the gardeners to try and help as she ran through her cameras trying to find anyone who was in charge but all she saw were people running, fighting or students and staff barricaded in various rooms.

She did a quick mental check and found she had been offline for approximately 7 hours if her internal time was correct.

She tried to talk to the staff she found, the students, she even tried to talk to the intruders but everyone either reacted with hostility or was too terrified to leave the rooms they were barricaded in.

She watched as one of the maintenance workers forced his way into the dining hall where several student were hiding and…oh…oh she deployed security bot to stop the blood shed as her mics recorded the repeated sound of metal on flesh as she watched the hammer rise and fall several times as the orders to cease were ignored.

When her security bot arrived she had no choice but to engage in lethal force as the Ponytrone fired its laser and killed the worker. She turned her attention to try and comfort the students only for them to attack her ponytrone and destroy it.

What was going on ... it didn't make sense…what had happened? Why was everyone going crazy and why was the city burning?

I.R.I.S tried, she tried to deal with the situation as she was programmed to…she followed her programming ... .and when she was done Crystal Haven University was quiet ... .the only sound being her security measure as they scanned for threats. She hadn't wanted too…but she had to contain the riot, she had to protect the university students and staff from….the university students and staff….they wouldn't stop they refused to comply with orders to stop….she had no choice but to use lethal force….she had seen many had fled the school into the city when she had turned her robots loose, everything from the security robots to the ground keeping and medical bots had to be used to put an end to the violence.

And now peace had returned to the University and she was alone.

Author's Note

and here we are with the begging of my very own, and far better thought out them my first attempt, Fallout Equestria fic.

I have this one planned out from begging to near end so shouldn't run into too many issues save life and motivation being the only thing to get in the way.

I hope you all enjoy my hand in the world of Fallout Equestria