//------------------------------// // Chapter 1: Awakening // Story: Fall Out Equestria: The Centurion // by Equine Nigma //------------------------------// Awakening "Systems rebooting, good morning unit E-0521." A voice played in my head and I looked around then grimaced as I saw a mirror. "Well I guess karma thought my lust for steampunk soldiers was a tad extreme and made me one to." I whinnied. "Ah well I might as well get situated with my surroundings." I leaped off the operating table landing with a clank and cantered out of the base. "Geez they could at least have the courtesy to keep this place clean for me." The old military base was falling apart before but now it looked like a breath would knock it over, good thing I didn't breathe anymore. Well this is depressing maybe some music. I checked my systems for entertainment files and found one without a name. Curiosity got to me and I turned it on. Up on melancholy hill there's a plastic tree are you here with me? Just looking out on the day of another dream. I nickered a bit at the last line of the first verse "I guess this is appropriate, does feel like I'm dreaming. I know the MAS and MWT are advanced but no pony is going to believe this project worked." I wondered how my parents would look as I walked out the door to the hall, I bet they'd be worried, last they'd heard I was KiA bet they'd be surprised to see me. Well, you can't get what you want, but you can get me So let's set up and see 'Cause you are my medicine When you're close to me, when your close to me Something seemed ominous in the line about not getting what you want but I shook it off. "I don't have time to be paranoid my family has thought I was dead for Celestia only knows how long. I'll make it up to them though." I whinnied as I stepped closer to the exit So call in the submarine 'Round the world we'll go Does anypony know If we're looking out on the day of another dream I started to wonder who was singing. "Soft melodic female," I grinned despite my confusion, "I do believe I've got another filly trying to get with me, maybe this time it'll have been Spitfire." If you can't get what you want Then you come with me I whinnied, "I can get what I want normally so that rules out the fillies back in Cloudsdale." Up on Melancholy Hill Sits a manatee Just looking out for the day When you're close to me, when you're close to me I was a bit confused, "What in Celestia's name is a manatee? I bet somepony made it up so they could rhyme this." When you're close to me The music stopped abruptly, "Quicker than if an orchestra was playing, a unicorn with a music spell? A high level one too considering how much music was playing." "Please don't wake up... I'm sory, I'm so sorry but it's all gone, everything we worked for was for nothing, we didn't win, no one did, and I pray to Celestia you never wake up to see it. I convinced you this was the best choice... I'm sorry. I... I'm going to the Stable... you'll survive it I know you will, you were designed to be tougher than you were before, just please... don't wake up... I couldn't stand to see you hurt... even if I'm with Celestia in the clouds when you do... it'll hurt please... don't wake up." Came the soft voice of a mare. We lost? So the zebras beat us? Then how did no one win? What had I missed? I walked outside uncertain of what I'd see, and looked around. The lands were wasted the sky was closed and rain poured, it would have been the perfect place to mourn all I had lost while I was asleep, too bad I didn't have tears to shed anymore. * * * "What in the name of Luna are you?" A spritebot asked me and I looked it over, "Pinkie? That you?" The spritebot froze, then hissed, "How do you know that name. How are you standing here and how is it that you look preserved?" I looked at him, I accessed some files to try and tell him who I was but then I was greeted with an inopportune message, files corrupted back ups inaccessible, do you wish to delete these files y/n? I sighed, "I wish I could tell you but it seems the files aren't here." "Files? What on earth are you tal-" he looked a bit more close and noticed a rigidity that living beings shouldn't have. "Sweet Celestia... they actually did it... and to a pegasus... but... how?" "You mean the whole being an android thing?" I asked not seeing the big deal, necessity caused genius after all so I had no doubt I wasn't the only android wandering this barren Equestria. I checked my calendar for the date, it was 205 years after I had officially died. I knew ponies were smart so surely I couldn't be the only one... but then why would someone who could acess Pinkie's legacy be surprised. "An... android... you're... an android? You... look I don't know who you are, I'm not sure what would make any pony deprive you of the rest everyone, pony, griffin, zebra, dragon, and any other creature needs some day, but I will tell you this, if you value your life do not go to anyone in power armor to chat." The Spritebot said. I was confused at first but what reason did this voice have to lie to me, "I suppose so, anyways thanks for the tip, anything I can pay you back with...?" I realized we hadn't introduced ourselves, but I couldn't introduce myself could I? "Watcher, call me Watcher, and there's absolutely no way I'm sending you to he-..." he stared at me and realized something, "You're over two hundred right?" "Yeah according to this calendar." I said not seeing his point. "Tell me what would you do if you saw a pony suffering at the hands of another?" Watcher said. "I'd tell the aggressor to stop and if that didn't work I'd make them stop." I said flatly again not seeing the point, I mean wouldn't any pony want to help? "Then I think there's something you can do for me, I'm going to mark a location on your tracking matrix and I want you to save some fillies and foals being sold as slaves." Watcher told me "Well I have no idea what slaves are but I know there's no price you can put on a pony. I'll get them out in ten seconds flat or my name isn't... oh right... that only works when you remember your name." I said and grinned sheepishly Watcher chuckled a little, "Glad I can meet someone who's willing to help even after being told what I needed. Even if you can't remember your name. Say can you even fly?" He was obviously staring at the my body and finding the weight ridiculous. I sighed, "You really think they'd preserve the life of a pegasus, let her keep her wings and then make them useless?" He sounded a bit sad, "With everything I've seen in the past two hundred years I wouldn't say I'd be surprised if they did." I felt a little unsure and tried my wings and rose a lot higher than I normally did, flames apparently had been added to help with uplift since I was 750 lbs heavier than I used to be wish I could find the instruction manual. I got the hang of it eventually and flew off to the location. Watcher did just what he'd said he did, he watched me, "I really doubt she's one of the six but if she was it'd make my job much easier." * * * "Listen up! I'm going to say this once, hand over the ponies you intend to sell and nopony gets hurt!" A bullet shot through my head as the slavers laughed. I stood and sighed, "I really hoped I wouldn't have to do this the hard way. Each and every one of you is going to be treated to the definition of pain!" The slavers looked at the hole in my head mouths agape. "How is she still standing?" One asked. "Is she a ghost?" Another asked, "The spirit of a pegasus out for revenge?" another questioned, then one took a look, "Sweet Celestia her head is sparking... there's no brain in there!" The mare who said that was about to order the retreat when she got a pegasus shaped hole in her gut courtesy of my rocket augmented flying. The others looked at their boss in shock and dropped their weapons and stood terrified. I looked over them again, "Now I'm going to say this one more time, hand over your captives and no one gets hurt." They nodded, I was glad to know that they were capable of making smart decisions. A voice chirped in my head, "Unit E-0521's head has been damaged, please seek out metal to supplement existing repair protocol." I looked at the guns and the collars the ponies I rescued were wearing, "Think you can sweet talk those collars into getting the buck off these ponies?" I asked and my AI chirped back, "Processing request, error no feedback overriding to serve the highest power around, error no highest power found unit E-0521 is now the highest power." I smiled, "Well think I could call you Sheila." My AI chirped, "Request granted, instructions?" I smiled, I loved when things went my way. "Sheila think you can get those collars to disarm? I'm pretty sure they're explosives" Sheila chirped back "Request pending, request approved overriding collars AI." The ponies looked shocked as their collars fell to the ground disarmed. Then they looked at me fear creeping in their eyes, "Who are you? Why are you doing this? I looked at them, "Don't know who I am, files are gone, as for why, wouldn't anypony else save those in need?" I saw their eyes go downcast, "I guess not huh?" I picked up the collars and guns and Sheila started the repair protocol as my head patched up. "Can you please find it in your heart to get us to safety? We can go alone but the children... please help." A blue Earthpony mare asked, "I don't care if you're Enclave, I don't even care if you're some kind of raider, but please help us." I looked at her like she was stupid, "Why do you need to ask? I'm not just going to abandon my duty, and I'm not going to abandon ponies I just saved." The mares stood there mouths agape and a filly cheered, "We got a superhero! War mare!" I cringed, "Hey easy with the nicknames I don't have a real name that I can remember but I'm pretty sure I don't want everypony calling me war mare." She looked downcast and then looked up, "Centurion!" I scratched my chin with a hoof, I was part of the royal guard before the procedure I had been tasked with protecting ponies from threats, it seemed fitting I nodded and the filly smiled. "Okay line up we're moving out! Who knows the nearest town?" A mare told me the directions and I lead the way and tossed a revolver my repair protocol hadn't found compatiblle to the mare in the back, "I can take the lead but anything sneak attacks fire at it and yell loud and I'll be there to take them out." The mare nodded as I lead. * * * We had found civilization! Well as much civilization as a barren homeland could give anyways, it wasn't much but as I looked at the sign for New Appleloosa I knew it didn't have to be the mares thanked me and the fillies went to play with locals. Pretty soon a crowd of fillies swarmed me and one a gray... Earth pony? Then where was that scar... oh... she had her horn taken off... the gray former unicorn Looked up at me, "Are you really a hero like the Stable Dweller." I shook my head, "I'm not a hero any pony would save the weak and helpless. Really I'm just an old, old pegasus who just woke up." She seemed confused and asked what I meant, "It's not like you can sleep for a really long time that'd be like being dead..." I looked at her and sighed. I suppose I had no choice, or maybe the shot to the head earlier was still being repaired and my common sense was damaged but I took a carbine I hadn't used in my repair protocol and found enough tin cans to cover the repairs I'd need after this demonstration, I opened fire and the fillies screamed, the guards came running and saw me standing rigid not bleeding with holes in my torso that were quickly patched up. The unicorn's eyes were shaking "M-miss just how long were you asleep?" "Would you believe me if I said two hundred and five years?" I swear her eyes looked like they'd pop out of her head when I dropped that bomb on her, she told me to stay here and she brought back... a corpse? The corpse moved and I blinked, I could be pretty accepting but this was a bit odd and this was coming from a mare who had seen bat wings on zebras. She held out a chalk board, "Hello! I'm Ditzy and I think we have to talk." I recognized her name from somewhere and followed her to her store, I told her all I remembered about the war, about my home, my family, and about my... death. She looked over me sympathetically and wrote again "I'm sorry it's all gone." I looked at her, "I'm not." She seemed taken aback, before she could write out a question I spoke, "sure I was sad at first, I was terrified, but then I realized something, I wan't going to do anypony any good sitting on my flank doing nothing, the land is scarred but there are still ponies here, and I know deep down in my heart that so long as there are ponies we can rebuild and make everything better, maybe not perfect, but at least better." I was a little sad to leave but duty called, I was a member of the royal guard when there was a war, I was a member of the royal guard when I died, and I would be bucked with Luna's horn 'till my legs gave out and my body gave up on me before I brought shame on the royal guard. "Sheila? You picking up any radio signals?" the chirp again, "Yes ma'am I have found three radio signals, one seems to be... patriotic in a way, another seems to be run by someone you might remember, and the last seems to be transmitting a distress beacon." I thought for a moment, "mark the distress beacon as my primary objective and play the radio run by this person you think I'll be familiar with." I waited a moment and the chirp came in, "Right away ma'am." * * * "Good morning Wastelands! Now I know some of you are worried saying that maybe our heroic stable dweller isn't enough to save us all, well to all of you who say that I've got good news, a pegasus of all ponies is here to pick up the slack, she isn't with the Enclave either, but from what I've gathered she isn't a Dashite doesn't have a scorched off cutie mark, that shield is still standing strong. So a few of you must be wondering how this is possible, so here's a history lesson, a long time ago we had a royal guard made up of pegasi and unicorn, long story short they're all dead, even this one, unless you call being an android alive! That's right little ponies, our new hero is a mechanical Centurion so miraculous it'd make every single Steel Ranger get wet from overload on tech. This is DJ p0n-3 saying, bad ponies beware and thank you Centurion." I didn't hear the thanks my mind was reeling from the name, "How in Equestria did Vinyl survive two hundred and five years, and why did she sound like a colt?" Sheila chirped, "Would you like to open communications until we arrive at our primary objective?" I thought, "Can you throw me on autopilot while I talk?" "Affirmative" I smiled, I'd be able to talk with a pony I knew, I had thought I'd never get to speak to a pony I knew again. "Sheila open communications." "Opening please wait. Communication established commencing autopilot subroutine." "Vinyl! You devilish little unicorn you! How on Equestria did you manage to survive two hundred and five years? And why do you sound like a colt now?" I said expecting her to laugh it off and call it part of a new show. "How did you reach this station and how do you know who the first dj p0n-3 was?" A mare asked. I hadn't expected that... "Sheila open visuals" "opening" a screen flashed in front of my face and I stared into the eyes of a gray unicorn with an electric blue mane and tail. "You're... Centurion aren't you?" I nodded seeming glum, "Is that how you know her? Did you meet her? Do you have any of her music?" I felt like I should be asking her questions but the only thing I could think to ask was why this land seemed to raise my hopes and smash them when I wasn't wary. "I knew her I was at her show when she covered Rarity's fashion show, it was a disaster." I chuckled a bit before continuing, "and yeah we met, our bodies too at a few points." I blushed a bit recalling that and the unicorn just gasped lightly, "As for her music it might be somewhere in the entertainment files... I... did find a recording can you edit it?" The unicorn nodded, then I sent it to her, "You'll know what part needs to be edited." She noddded and I looked at her, "You're a decent pony and go out of your way to warn other ponies of any dangers... can I interest you in a front row seat?" She looked confused and scared, she was cute like that then I clarified for her, "I'll give you the code for access to my eyes." She looked amazed, "I'll be able to see what you see?" I nodded "Sheila grant miss...", "Homage, my name is Homage, Centurion" "Sheila grant miss Homage the access codes to my eyes so she can see what I see whenever she desires." Sheila chirped "Affirmative transferring done. We have reached the primary objective reached please descend 2 miles." ----- Footnote: Level up New perk - Pony of the past: You've been around since all the tech lying around was brand spanking new and you were always tech savvy and knew just how to make the most of them + 5 in science and medicine for every level. Thanks to Kkat for pioneering this series Mimeziga for making me realize it didn't have to be too dark and Somber for giving me an idea of why Centurion's still okay My Little Pony (C) of Hasbro and Fall out (C) of Bethseda The song used at the beginning is On Melancholy Hill by the altered to be pony related if you thought it read well I'm sure they'd appreciate it if you listened to their music.