Fallout Equestria: Chronicles of a Rad-ling

Horilous stirred from his semi-comforable position on his bed.

The plan had succeeded in getting him the position of fulltime manager of the Seaddle branch of the MoI. Any file, document, and code that moved into his jurisdiction was copied and sent back to his zebra counterparts. This success came with a unintended side effect however…

A twenty hour work day.

Horilous' first day had been a killer. Printing press number three died, and the repairpony had taken the worst of times to go on a four hour lunch break. Wispy had been his only solace the whole day. Her internship was finally over, and she had asked if she could throw a party on their floor. Being they were currently ahead of schedule, even with the printer misshap, he had agreed.

Horilous staggered his way to his bathroom on his one and a half hours of sleep. He examined himself in the mirror, discovering that changelings CAN get bags under their eyes. He prepared to take a quick five minute shower to wake himself up so he could function at work.

Unfortunately, he didn't notice that the shower pin had rusted in the on position. When he turned on the shower, a freezing jet of water doused him. He clumsily reacted, attempting to jump out of the shower. He slipped, and got caught up In the curtain. In a wet, freezing mass of plastic and changeling, he plummeted to the floor.

He groaned as he untangled himself and the curtain. He returned it to its original position, and got back in the now toasty shower. He washed himself for what felt like about two seconds. He pulled the curtain aside to look at the clock for the sake of keeping time. He had been in the bathroom for about twenty minutes.

"Twenty minutes!" the changeling panicked, having only ten minutes to get to work. The curtain was again knocked from its place as he rushed out of the bathroom. He collected his briefcase, scarf, and other office supplies as he got ready for the sprint to work.

There was a rapid knock at the door. Horilous changed his appearance, and Black cap opened the door.

He was shoved aside by the changeling infiltrator that burst through the door as he unlocked it. Cocoon hadn't even performed his illusion spell, and his rifle was drawn.

"What was in your contingency plan?!" The infiltrator questioned. He sifted through Horilous' belongings, as Horilous stood confused at his side.

"Why?" Horilous asked. The infiltrator spotted the briefcase and ripped it open, revealing the locked plans in question. The infiltrator pointed at the box, and Horilous reluctantly surrendered his key to the soldier drone.

Cocoon unlocked the case to find a talisman looking device sitting in the bottom of the case along with a cigar. He hurled the case and its contents into the wall with his telekinesis in frustration.

"What?!" Horilous asked, quickly becoming more concerned about why a well-trained infiltrator would be acting this way.

"They screwed us all," the changeling muttered, not paying attention to Horilous.

Now that Cocoon wasn't rumaging through his belongings, he could hear something he couldn't before. A faint, constant noise that filled him with dread the instant he realized what they were.

Sirens.

Cocoon moved quickly to the door, motioning for Horilous to follow.  Horilous stacked up next to the door behind him.  Cocoon drew his previously holstered 9mm handgun and passed it to Horilous.

"Now, listen. You have to stay right behind me. I'll explain on the way, but we have to leave now if we're going to have a chance of surviving this." Horilous nodded, and both changelings quickly left the appartment. Leaving a pulsing talisman behind, attached to a remote detonator.

___   ____   ___

"They used us to deliver a mega-spell to Seaddle's doorstep?" Horilous questioned as both changelings moved quickly in between alleyways.

"It would appear that way, The only safe place we could reach is a old abandoned hive that is connected to the sewer tunnels.  Hopefully we'll be far enough underground to avoid any magical radiation should that spell detonate."  Cocoon's tone of voice betrayed this worry about how protected they would really be.

"And if we aren't?" Horilous questioned, quickly hating himself for doing so.

Cocoon stopped for a moment to peek around a corner that lead to another alleyway, "Then we pray that Hive Queen Flux has mercy on our souls."

Horilous swallowed, loud enough for Cocoon to shush him.

Back around the corner, a sprite-bot lazily floated towards the pair of changelings.  It floated around the corner the same second Cocoon peered around again, the robot bumped into him.

Cocoon, Horilous, and the sprite-bot shared a deathly silence.  Cocoon inched his rifle out, and pointed the business end at the floating robot.

BANG!

The robot faltered, but didn't fail.  Its speaker began blaring sirens, and returned fire with the laser weapon attached to it. Cocoon emptied his clip into the floating radio, which fell to the ground in a flaming hulk.

"MOVE!" Cocoon turned from the incapacitated sprite-bot.  Rushing past Horilous, who was still staring at the burning remains of the robot. Cocoon grabbed Horilous as he went, breaking him out of his trance.

Now, over the din of the siren, Horilous could hear voices approaching.

"Draw your weapon. We're going to have to fight our way out," Cocoon reamained calm. The same could not be said for Horilous however. The pistol was barely held afloat by his telekinesis. He held it almost up to his face. The sights trained on the direction of the alerted guards voices.

Seconds passed like hours.

"Keep your sights steady. When they ease up, we make a run for the nearest pony-hole. We're gonna make it, just stay with me." Cocoon said again, trying to reassure himself as much as his worker counterpart.

The first guard rounded the corner, and Horilous' world exploded around him. The pistol dropped to the ground. He couldn't even hear the siren anymore. Gunfire ripped through the alley. Guards were slain by precice rifle shots while Cocoon sustained multiple wounds of his own. Three guards dead, one fatally wounded, and Cocoon losing blood quickly.

Horilous shook even more as he examined the scene. Cocoon staggered down the alley, locating a pony-hole around the next corner. He attempted to remove the cover, as the mortally wounded pony shifted. The pony lifted his weapon. With his last breath, he would end Cocoon's life.

Horilous reacted. Without thought, he instinctively aimed the pistol and emptied the gun's contents into the guard's skull. When h finished, nothing but a bloody pulp was left behind. Horilous slowly levitated the pistol up, and examined it.

Cocoon watched as Horilous looked between himself, the bloody mess of the last guard, and the pistol. Horilous threw the gun away and fell to his knees, realizing what he had done. Sobs escaped him as Cocoon supported him on his own shredded body.

Cocoon removed the pony-hole cover, and helped his traumatized friend down into the sewer.

___   ____   ___

It had taken a while for Horilous to compose himself. Ten minutes after their violent encounter, Cocoon had collapsed. Now Horilous was the one supporting him. Cocoon had enough energy left to direct Horilous towards the hive.

They finally reached a rusted metal door that Cocoon identified as the entrance. A terminal with a shattered screen was attached to the wall next to it.

Cocoon could barely stand on his own but he did so anyway. He coughed up blood as he pulled a old key out from a pocket. He slid the key into a slot where the spell matrix interface port should have been. He turned the key, and the door opened. Revealing a odd force field that sat in the threshold of the door.

Cocoon looked over at his worker friend, who walked through the force field. Horilous stopped and turned when the infiltrator didn't follow. His flesh began to itch again.

Horilous spoke first, "Do you need my help?" Horilous moved to cross the threshold again, but Cocoon waved him away.

"I'm afraid this is as far as I go. The wards on the door prevent magic use across it. I have to close the door behind you." Cocoon's voice sounded at peace through the green blood trickling out of his mouth. "There wouldn't be enough medical supplies to treat my injuries. Best I die and you live than both of us getting consumed by magical fire."

Horilous couldn't argue, the infiltrator was set in his thinking. Horilous locked eye-contact with him as the key turned back. Locking him inside on somewhat-safety, while Cocoon sacrificed himself for the safety of another.

Horilous waded through the darkness that consumed the tunnel.

Suddenly the earth shook, and a loud rumble sounded through the cave.

A boulder the size of a small cart dislodged from the ceiling, catching him by surprise. The rock crushed him from the flank back. His chitinous exoskeleton was the only thing that had kept his legs from bursting.

He managed to lift the rock up enough with his magic to slide his legs out from under it. He couldn't move them, the muscles came apart under the weight of the rock.

He laid there bleeding, broken. Horilous fought to stay awake, but shock eventually overcame him. He slipped into unconsciousness on the cold rock floor.