Fallout Equestria: Memories of Lyra

“It’s been over a year since you died.” I recognized my voice as that of Bon Bon’s. She was standing in front of a park bench in a grand city. I could hear a dull thud of missile fire overhead. The city was surrounded by a massive shield which protected it from the explosions.

“So much has happened since we last spoke. I remember that day like a waking nightmare. My captor said you were going to be killed, that 50 of his companions were waiting for you. He even set up a camera feed so I could watch your death.

When you first arrived, I thought you were a monster, but then I remembered that you had created those silly human arms and legs. You always joked that you would cut of your legs and use them one day, but I never thought you would use them the way you did.

Your fury was unlike anything I had ever seen, before or since. The way you destroyed those griffons was disconcerting, but you were doing your best to save me. When the last one fell, when you stood there alive among so many enemies, I knew you would find me and free me.

But then you were shot. I watched you fall, and my world fell with you. I screamed and screamed, but you couldn’t hear me until that gunner found me. And then you died in my hooves.

I gave Applejack your designs for power armor. The pony kind, of course, not the human kind, and she’s done a lot with them. There's an entire subsection of the army now called the ‘Steel Rangers’. They act as her personal force, escorting her and working with the Equestrian military frequently. They aren’t as powerful as you were, or as terrifying to look at, but they are still very formidable. They’ve added a self-repair talisman to the suit. Just some scrap metal is all it takes to fix any defects from combat.

I gave your arms and legs to Silver Stripe. You remember her, right? She was the prodigy from Hoofington that you were always talking about. Last I heard, she was working on a project to give ponies who lost their legs in battle cybernetic limbs like yours. Some ponies even opted to have fingers! Looks like you were ahead of your time, as usual.

Stable-tech bought the designs and code for the PipBuck and ran with them. There are several models out now, both for personal and for combat use. Applejack named the gun she commissioned from you Little Macintosh and eventually gave it to her cousin, Braeburn, at the Ponyville branch of Ironshod Firearms.

As for me, I’ve moved to Canterlot. It makes visiting your grave easier.

After you died, they brought your body to the Ironshod Firearms HQ here in Canterlot to remove your armor and your limbs. They wanted to cremate you, but I didn’t allow it. When I requested that you be buried in Ponyville, they said that transporting a dead pony just to be buried isn't feasible, given the state of the war. We compromised and had you buried in Ministry Walk, underneath the bench.

You always loved sitting on the park bench in that weird fashion of yours, all sprawled out like your hips were broken when you had the free time. I miss the days when I could rest my head in your lap and doze off under the sun, listening to the birds and the conversations of the ponies passing by.

I wish you were still here...

I say that, and I mean it, but in a way it's good that you don't have to see how the war is going. We have the advantage, which is a good thing. We've invented a weapon called the Megaspell. It basically takes a small spell and magnifies it a hundredfold. We also have something called a Bypass spell, so we can target specific things without affecting others. For instance, a megaspell bomb that only targets zebras and doesn't affect ponies. Or a grenade that only affects electrical things.

Sadly, the zebras somehow got their hooves on megaspell technology. During the last MWT meeting, I learned that we and the zebras have missiles armed with balefire bombs, our most powerfully destructive megaspell, trained on each other. I'm afraid that somepony will eventually push the button and end the world...” Bon Bon's cheek became wet as the first tears started to pour.

“Sorry... I promised myself that I wouldn’t cry, but this is just so hard for me to think about. Let me take a seat.” She paused for a moment, regarding the park bench. When she finally approached it, she sat down and leaned back awkwardly. “You know, this is the first time I've been on a bench since the day before I was foalnapped. The way you used to sit feels... odd, but not uncomfortable. Now... Oh yes, the end of the world." Bon Bon composed herself.

"Even with that horrible outcome, Stable-tech has a plan. They've been building Stables all over Equestria in case it comes to that, so the populace can survive. They have governments set up to ease the transition. Canterlot may be the only place that survives, because the Princesses are shielding--”

Suddenly, screams emanated from all around. Bon Bon looked around until she spied the cause: the castle was issuing an enormous pink cloud. Every pony it touched seemed to melt in place, either becoming a puddles of goo or fusing into whatever they were touching. The cloud was swiftly approaching the rest of the city, causing a general panic and a stampede toward the Stable.

“Somepony just pushed the button, Lyra. No missiles made it through the shield, but they smuggled something in that's killing everything, and I don't have time to make it to the Stable. It's been over a year, but now you don't have to wait for me anymore. I'll see you soon, my love...” The pink cloud overtook me.

I mentally screamed as my skin dissolved away, leaving my flesh and nerves exposed to the mist. Bon Bon was just as tough as Lyra in ability to steel herself from the pain, but it racked my senses violently. I could feel her liquefying muscles flow past her bones, which seemed impervious to the cloud. I watched Bon Bon's body sink into the bench just before her eyes disintegrated from inside her skull. The pink flooded her sinuses, eating away at the nose, throat and tongue. Then the cloud found her brain...