Fallout Equestria: Eclipse

We are not dead when our souls leave our bodies, but instead when we are forgotten.

***

A small yellow filly awoke, bathed in blood, unsure if it belonged to her or others. Her hooves were held down by chains, and an especially heavy one around her neck. She stood up, her fur dripping with the red liquid. It disgusted her, yet she... she... loved it. She loved it! That weird, sticky feeling, the wetness of the fluid dripping down her leg. She laughed like a madmare, her eye twitching. Her laughter gradually died, and when it did she looked around, and her heart stopped.

She was surrounded by dead ponies. Suddenly, her stomach hurt. She convulsed like she was going to throw up, but couldn't. She finally resorted to screaming. The concrete walls shook with her shouts of pure, unbridled fear. She pulled against her chains, unable to escape this horror. Her fear only grew when one by her hoof rolled over, staring at her with empty eye sockets. It reached a hoof out to her, causing her to scream louder. Then all all crawled towards her... the worst thing is, she knew them all. Tears leaking down the foal's cheeks as she howled in horror.

"No, no... NO! HEELP! HELP ME!" She screamed, desperate for anything. Her best friend grabbed her hoof and clung to her. The dead pegasus was slaughtered, missing eyes and large chunks of flesh. Her mouth opened, and spewed more blood on the living soul.

"HEEEEELP!" She cried again, the tears falling faster.

It was no use, they were on her. She bowed to face her demise.

Then another came.

A shimmering white alicorn. Her mere presence drove the massacred bodies away. The blood dried, and a slight snippet of calm entered the foal.

"C-celestia?" The filly gaped.

The mare shook her head. "Be brave, Sprite, worse is coming."

Sprite couldn't answer, as the mare put her horn to the chains, and the formerly chained pony woke up.

"A dream," Sprite murmured. "All a dream."

She rubbed her head, her body void of blood or chains. She kept murmuring about a dream. No, a nightmare. Who was that mare? How did she know her name? "Don't be silly, Sprite, it was a dream. Alicorns don't exist anymore..."

The yellow foal curled her hooves into herself, laying her head down. She was too afraid to sleep, but was exhausted. She mushed herself into a ball, hiding her face in her body when she felt a gentle hoof on her back. She flinched, still afraid.

"It's me, little one," A gentle voice cooed. Sprite looked back up, seeing a soft pink mare with a green-and-white mane.

"Mama, I had the dream again." The filly murmured. The mare held her child in close embrace, stroking her mane, the same color as her own. "When's it gonna stop?"

"It's gonna stop soon, baby."

"Mama, I want it to stop now. I hate that dream." She seemed to turn into a foal only a couple years old when she was in her mother's hooves. "Blossom is always in it."

The mare held her child's head in her hoof, kissing her forehead. "It's all gonna be okay, it's only a dream."

"It doesn't feel like a dream."

"It never does, Sprite, but know it is."

"Mama, it was different this time. There was... was an alicorn." Sprite couldn't display the correct expression on her face. "She drove them all away, and she freed me. And... and she told me that something worse is gonna happen."

The filly buried her face in her mother's chest, crying. "I don't want it to get worse!"

"Sprite, honey, nothing is going to happen."

"But the alicorn..."

The pink mare put a hoof on her lips. "Mommy will always be there for you. Also, you said an alicorn told you that, right?"

"Y-yes,"

"You have a guardian angel. She'll protect you when I can't."

"I guess, but I'd rather have you."

"I do, too, but someday I have to go away."

"Why, mama? Why do you have to go?"

"Because one day you'll be a big mare, and you won't need me."

"I'll always want you, though." Sprite murmured, snuggling deeper into her mother's embrace. Her mother looked at her lovingly. She stroked her mane more as she sang in a soft voice.

Hush now, quiet now, it's time to lay your sleepy head.

Hush now, quiet now, it's time to go to bed.

Drift, drift off to sleep,
Leave the exciting day behi~ind you.

"I love you, mama."

"I love you, Sprite."

***

Sprite awoke to being vigorously shaken.

"Sprite! Sprite, wake up!" Her mother said, her green eyes frightened.

"Mama, what's going on?"

"Bad ponies. You need to go."

Sprite looked horrified. "Without you?"

"Go to the cave, I'll be with you soon." The mare said, putting something on the foal's hoof.

"What's this, mama?"

"A PipBuck, it can help you. Now go!" She pushed the foal out a broken window. "Run!"

All Sprite heard was gunshots as she ran. She was on a heart attack level of panic as she skidded into the cave. She huddled down as she waited for her mother.

She sang soft songs, told herself stories, looked at the clouds, anything she could to pass the time. But as the hours droned on, she knew her mother wasn't coming, nor would she see her ever again. Sprite couldn't even cry, tears couldn't relieve this pain. She knew what happened. She knew she was truly alone.