Fallout: Equestria - Martingale Fairytale

Chapter 1 - Devastation

The common area of Stable 222 was a cacophony of shouts, none of which made any real sense, all coming from ponies waving equally senseless signs.

I heaved a sigh.

Stable 222 had been my home for a long time. Thirty-two long years, in fact. In these 32 years, there'd been relative peace. Stable 222 had been an experiment, according to the Overseers (both of them), to see if separate communities of zebras and ponies could live together. The Stable was split, with almost a full Stable on both sides of the common area. Everything had gone well, until just over a week ago, when one of the scout/scavenging teams returned. With them, a number of books destined to either be recycled or restored, and among these books an anti-zebra propaganda booklet.

Somehow this booklet had managed to escape recycling and get leaked among the Stable's population. Within days, it had become a talking point, which morphed into zebra protests in the common area, followed shortly by pony protests. After an accident in the pony reactor room claimed the life of a zebra engineer, the protests rapidly became more angry, and more violent.

As I leaned on the railing of the mezzanine above the common area, I watched as ponies and zebras that had known each other for just as long stood off on either side of a line of Stable security, shouting obscenities at each other and waving signs demonizing the other side.

I heard hoofsteps over the metal walkway that stretched over the common area, and looked up to see my counterpart, Doctor Kugusa, trotting toward me. She was...well, quite frankly, an absurdly beautiful zebra mare. She was lithe, with a coat of light grey with dark grey stripes, and a black mane and tail. Her mane was typically medium length and a little wavy, but today it was done up in a ponytail, as usual for when she was on the job. She was the doctor on the zebra side of the Stable, and a little more than a friend to me. I smiled half-heartedly at her, and looked back down at the mess below.

“Who is it?” I asked without looking at her. These days, we rarely saw each other unless it was to ask for the other's help with something. It was often rather dangerous to go into the other's side of the Stable.

“Jiwe, poor stallion. He went to go see his son-in-law, and had to cross the line to do it. He got caught up in a brawl,” Kugusa replied. Her voice had a slight Zwahili accent to it, and I absolutely loved it.

I sighed again. That was a common story...a pony goes out to see a friend on the other side of the Stable, and either gets beaten, or gets swept up in one of the riots. I looked over at Kugusa, who was leaning over the railing as well. As we watched, a light blue stallion got into a fight with a zebra, who's stripes were of the same shade of blue. Security dragged them away, and I shook my head. I recognized them, and knew the zebra was the pony's son, hence the stripes. This too was a common story, the mob mentality snatching up even families, tearing them apart.

“Is it bad?” I asked, looking over at Kugusa again.

“It's...not terrible. He's got a broken hind leg, as far as I can tell.”

I felt a bit of a smile tugging at my lips. “You can't reset a broken leg?”

Kugusa rolled her eyes, but smiled nonetheless. “You're the one who's good for that, String Bean. With Jiwe's age, I don't want to risk there being something worse.”

I nodded in understanding. The two of us, while trained in a wide variety of medicine, had separate skills. I was better when it came to wounds, broken bones and such. Kugusa was better for psychology and the like. I leaned away from the railing and followed Kugusa as she led me across the walkway. A pony below spotted us.

“Zebra lover!” he shouted. I turned toward the voice, in time to see a bottle of Sparkle~Cola flying toward us.

Doctor Kugusa flinched. I reacted rather quickly, wrapping the bottle in a glow of bright blue magic. I glared down at the pony who threw the bottle, and the pony flashed me a rude gesture with his forelegs, bending one on a ninety-degree angle, and slapping his other foreleg against the first, right near the bend. Yet another pony I recognized, this one a chef in the pony cafeteria, and a usually mild mannered stallion.

I frowned, but managed to resist the urge to throw the bottle back. Instead I slipped it into the pocket of my labcoat and trotted along.

“Pathetic, isn't it?” Kugusa asked, looking back at me.

I nodded, looking to my left at some shop windows. I caught my reflection, and I looked exactly as I felt: tired. There were dark circles under my eyes, and my earthy brown mane, usually well groomed and a bit curly, was now a bit of a mess. The labcoat that covered my light green coat was just as messy, and I took a moment to try and smooth out my appearance. Kugusa watched me with an amused smile, trotting over to help with my mane.

“You look fine. And besides, it's not like Jiwe cares what you look like.” She grabbed my hoof and dragged me forward, and I complied.

“Just been a long few days. Things are getting worse, ever since those scavengers brought that book back.”

“What's done is done, Bean. Now we just gotta fix it,” Kugusa said, smiling a little.

“I know,” I said quietly. Down below, the shouting continued.

I sighed again.

It was looking to be another long day.

~~O~~

“ 'bout time! Been sittin' on my ass, waiting for you two to show up!”

“Good afternoon, Mr. Jiwe,” I said, a little dryly and with a forced smile. Jiwe was always brusque and a little rude, despite being a generally good stallion. The zebra was stretched out on one of Kugusa's operating tables, his left hind leg at an odd angle to the rest of his body. Aside from that, Jiwe appeared totally unaffected by his injuries. He was nothing if not tough.

“Ah, there y'are, Stringy. Let's get this over with, I'm needed back at the orchard,” Jiwe said as I trotted over to examine his leg. My horn glowed a bright blue and I closed my eyes while he spoke. Even though they were closed, I could see the zebra still on the table, able to see the bones, the muscles, everything. I just wanted to make sure the leg was the only wound, and aside from a slight fracture of the hip, there wasn't anything else. I opened my eyes again and looked at Jiwe.

“Uh, I'd have to advise against that, Mr. Jiwe.” I wrapped his leg in my magic, and looked up at Kugusa. We'd worked together long enough that I didn't have to verbally question if she'd given him anything, and she nodded.

“Local,” she said.

“Perfect.” I looked back at Jiwe. “Now, as I was saying, while the healing potion will work quickly, I would not recommend going apple bucking, or any other kind of bucking, for a few days. Three, at least,” I said. As I spoke, I shifted the leg back into position, so that the healing potion would be a bit more effective. “Your hip is fractured as well as the leg break. You wouldn't want to break it again.”

“Bullshit. I can still work!” Jiwe grabbed the healing potion from Kugusa and took a long sip before hoofing it back. Either from the anaesthesia, or just pure toughness, I noted that he didn't react at all. Healing potions, while effective, were often painful, as you got to feel things like bones grind together as they fused back together, or muscles stretch and stitch themselves again. In this case though, Jiwe barely seemed to register the pain, and I felt a bit more respect toward the stallion.

“I'm sure you can. But while the healing potion will work, I don't want to see you back here with an even worse injury,” I explained. Jiwe simply grunted in response and looked over at Kugusa, who chuckled.

“I agree with Doctor String Bean. At least two to three days of rest, and then you can get back to work,” she said.

Seeing his was out-numbered, Jiwe seemed to relent. “Fine. But you two better not just be pulling my tail.”

“I'm a doctor,” I said with a chuckle. “I would never dream of it. Now, lets get you up...”

For the next few minutes we helped Jiwe to trot around Kugusa's office, and make sure his leg was functional again. Once satisfied, he trotted off, and I had a feeling it was straight to the zebra's orchard.

“Tough stallion, isn't he?” Kugusa said from her desk, where she was inputting something on her terminal. I leaned against the doorframe and watched Jiwe leave, then looked over at Kugusa with a nod.

“Yeah. Just hope that's all we have to deal with today,” I said. The crowd in the lobby was still rowdy.

“Come on in, close the door. I can't concentrate with all that yelling.”

I did and sat across the desk from her, watching as she typed. After a few moments, she pulled her hooves out of the round slots in front of the monitor and turned to look at me.

“You busy tonight?” she asked casually, leaning against the desk.

“No. Not particularly. I have a few reports to type up in my own office, but...”

“Well, one of the scouts from the latest expedition brought back some interesting stuff. Spices and such. The cafeteria's having a bit of a party to celebrate,” she explained.

I grinned a little at the thought. Parties were rare nowadays, with how high tensions were flaring, and nopony seeming to be able to relax. I enjoyed the thought of some good Neigh Orleans style gumbo, perhaps some dancing and music as well. It was better than my plan for the evening, which consisted of grabbing something to go and reading.

“I'd love to go,” I said sincerely.

Kugusa smiled and she leaned across the desk to give me a quick kiss on the nose. We were close, but not romantically involved, though not for lack of trying on my part. It had begun when we were apprentices, and decided to throw the professionalism of our predecessors to the wind, and had continued ever since. I smiled at the kiss, curious as to what, if anything, would ever come from this relationship, aside from the occasional tryst.

“What time?” I asked as I got there. I turned back to look at Kugusa, who had risen from the desk.

“Eight. Should I walk you over?” she asked.

I opened the door while she spoke. The riot below was still going on. Her concern was valid. Even as a doctor, I might not be safe as a pony in the zebra section, just as she wouldn't be as a zebra in the pony one. I didn't want her hurt, and I feared if she did cross the floor to walk with me, she might fall victim to some of the more violent protestors.

“No. It'd be safer for me to go across alone. I'll meet you there,” I said, smiling softly at her. “Don't worry about me, I can handle myself,” I assured her.

I left, heading for my office on the other side of the stable.

~~O~~

The destruction of Stable 222 came quickly, and without warning.

It happened late, and I wanted to believe that was for the better, as those who died in the initial stages never saw the horror of the evacuation.

Stable 222 was designed to house both ponies and zebras in separate, yet connected, communities. As such, the megaspell reactors were linked. I speculated that sabotage to one had the unintended consequence of rippling to the next reactor, causing both to begin overloading, but there was no way for me, or anypony else, to know for sure exactly what happened, nor why the failsafes didn't engage.

It was three in the morning when the first blast rocked the Stable.

I'd left Doctor Kugusa's room a few minutes before then. The party had been wild, and had started winding down shortly after two. I retired to Kugusa's room for a little while, then decided to make my way back, so that I wouldn't have to deal with that morning's inevitable protests. I had just crossed the darkened atrium, kicking aside fallen signs and trash, when the first explosion happened.

I felt the blast, more than I heard it. It was a deep rumbling that shook me to my very core. At first, I was confused: I had never felt a sensation like that before, and at first, I thought I'd imagined it. It wasn't until I felt a second rumble that I realized it was truly happening. All of a sudden, the lighting cut out. An alarm began to wail from the wall behind me. It was the general evacuation alarm, and could only mean that something was catastrophically wrong. I had no idea what was going on, but I knew I had to get my stuff together, and quickly. My horn flared up in a bright glow to serve as illumination, and I galloped down the hallway to my room. I ducked inside as quick as I good, and got to work.

Despite being the head doctor, my quarters were average. Stables were the ultimate equalizers: from the janitors to the head of engineering, we all had a small, basic room. I quickly grabbed everything and threw my labcoat over my Stable barding. I tossed saddlebags on and began to pack everything I would need into them: boxes of preserved food, some bottles of water. Medical supplies.

Another blast rocked the Stable, this one stronger than the others. I had reasoned by now that something had hit the pony reactor. The fire alarm went off as well, mixing with the evacuation alarm and only adding to my confusion. What was happening to my Stable?

My saddlebags stuffed with medical supplies and other essentials, I made for the door, then stopped. I looked back at my room, and the hooflocker at the end of my bed. It was open, the books and other items I'd decided were useless strewn about. Sitting at the bottom of the hooflocker was a magical energy pistol, my only weapon. It had been my father's, who was Stable security. A rather blocky looking weapon, with an adjustment knob on the back and a small hatch on the side.

I debated for just a few short moments before floating it over to my saddlebag. If these continued explosions were any indication, we'd be spending time outside the Stable. As the head doctor, I'd been in the meetings with the other heads, and heard the stories from the scouting teams. From their reports it was dangerous, and I figured I'd rather have the pistol and not need it, than the other way around.

All in all, it took maybe five minutes to get my bags packed and ready to go. In total, approximately seven minutes since I felt the first blast. It wasn't very long, and yet when I stepped back out into the hall, the Stable had been transformed into something out of a horror story.

Red emergency lights had finally turned on, casting an eerie glow that was only magnified by the thick smoke in the air. I could barely see through the red-tinted haze, but I could hear screams, shouts, and hoofsteps. I felt another rumble, and something I had never felt before: the Stable floor shifted beneath my hooves. I feared the concrete pillars that acted as brakes to keep us from sinking into the swampland had been damaged, and that the entire Stable would slide away into the muck.

The smoke began to irritate my eyes and I started to cough. I covered my snout with the collar of my labcoat, looking back as a rush of heat passed over me. The stairwell down to some of the lower levels was engulfed in flames.

By Celestia, all those ponies...

There was nothing I could do. I turned and ran for the stairs up to the next level, needing to keep ahead of the flames. I heard screams, and ponies rushed from the rooms around me. A hoarse shout rang out behind me, and I turned in time to see a pony running up the stairs...on fire. He screamed and screamed before collapsing against a wall. He was finally still, mercifully dead. I winced, but knew I had to keep going, and so I kept running.

On the pony side of the living quarters, I lived on the third of six levels, meaning it was quite a distance up. Along each hall, confusion reigned as ponies shouted with each other and the mob made for the doors. Families were separated in the chaos, and every now and again there would be a body, either asphyxiated by smoke or simple trampled. I was cantering down a hall when a heating pipe behind the wall to my right exploded outward. The blast shot one of the wall panels off, and it soared across the hallway in front of me, before smashing into and crushing a pony against the wall.

The mare let out a scream of pain. I ran toward the mare, but had to stop before I could get close. I couldn't have gotten to her if I wanted to: the superheated steam shooting from the pipe made it impossible to just walk over. In desperation, I put up a shield. It wasn't a spell I was very good at it, but it was strong enough to let me get close to the mare. I crouched and checked her pulse. Gone. I turned back to see a terrified family of four who had seen the whole thing. I edged over to let them get into the radius of my shield, and helped them, one by one, to get through the cloud of steam. Once they were on the far side, I lowered my shield and followed them up to the common area.

I entered the common area, blinded by the smoke. In the semi-darkness, I heard shouts, screams, and rough coughing from all around me. Another blast rocked the Stable, and from a pipe overhead came a sudden wave of heat, and a wooshing noise. The flames had reached the gas lines. I knew time was short, so I tried to clear the way to the front of the Stable and the exit hallway, but the crowd was too thick, too panicked. The Overseers were calling out, trying to get a sense of organization to the crowd. Somewhere, a gun fired, and the screaming redoubled.

I could barely see, my eyes watering from the smoke. This was bad, very bad. An emergency light above my head exploded, showering a stallion next to me in broken glass. I heard another gunshot, this one followed by a wail of despair, but I couldn't see who had been hit. The crowd surged toward the Overseers, trying to push through. I managed to get to the front of the crowd, and made for the exit, guided only by the glowing letters above the door. I flung open the door when I got there, and finally managed to get a breath of mostly clear air.

“This way!” I called hoarsely, brightening my horn to act as a beacon, so that they could find their way to the exit door, past the Overseers. I felt ponies rush past, and I followed down the corridor beyond. It was a short trot to the door at the far end, which would open to the Stable's entrance door. Just twenty paces, not too far...

As I ran down the corridor, I heard the pipes next to me rattling. A quick glance at one, and I saw it was a gas line. Guessing what was coming, I quickly brought up a shield with only a second to spare. The gas line burst with a roar, spewing out flames that engulfed me and my shield. I gasped...the shield protected me from the flames, but the heat was still incredible. I heard a pitiful cry from nearby, and looked down to see a small form below the flames, where a young foal had fallen. I quickly yanked him into the protective bubble of my shield and helped get him through the flames. Once on the other side, I let the shield go, sweat pouring down my coat, and I looked down at the foal I had saved. A zebra, barely even a colt, cowered.

“Come on! We have to go,” I said, my voice still hoarse. I quickly grabbed the zebra by the scruff of the neck and tossed him over my back, running for the great Stable door. Behind us, I hear shouting and an explosion. Somepony cried out “Back! Get back!”

At the door, I saw a small crowd, waiting for it to be opened. A stallion was leaning over the controls, trying various codes to get it open. “Eight-one-seven-A-B-one,” I rasped out. The stallion looked at me in surprise, then recognized me and punched the code into the console. Sure enough, with a soft klaxon that was nearly lost in the mix of alarms, two lights began to flash on either side of the Stable door.

In front of a crowd that had likely never even seen the door, an arm connected to the door, and gently rolled the massive, gear-shaped door along its track. It rattled along to a stop, revealing the way up out of the Stable. The reveal was rather anticlimactic, as the door opened to a small, dark hallway with a set of stairs leading up. The ponies ahead of me ran for the stairs, and I followed.

I stopped in the doorway, looking back at the controls. For a split second, I debated closing the door behind us. However, I decided I'd leave it open, on the off chance that some ponies found an alternate route up to the doors. The Stable rocked again, and I winced. I took one look back at the Stable I had called my home for over thirty years, then ran up the stairs after the rest of the group, to take a look at the real world for the first time in my life.