Fallout Equestria: Broken souls & kindred spirits

by Dj Scratchjack

Chapter 13: Awakening

Chapter 13: Awakening

"Welcome back..."

My mind became flooded with images of a life of pain, anguish, and hatred. Captain DJ Harmony wasn't very...harmonious in his last few months it seemed at first glance. The Pegasus was cold, calculating strategist and tactician on and off the battlefield. when it came to the "Zebra Menace", he was even less merciful. More flashes of sped past my mind's eye as I tried to absorb the knowledge and extruded memories of my past self.

It finally stopped as the blurry picture became clear. DJ...I...stood in front of a mirror in a small, square room with red walls. I was clean and bathed. I wore a solid blue dress uniform with ornaments and trinkets hanging off my chest. My cold, hard stare held a soulless-like gaze at myself in the reflection. My four real legs stood on polished marble flooring, making the scene feeling like I was in a palace or somewhere similar. a black crown-like device sat on top my groomed mane.

"Hello future Me." my reflection spoke to... himself? This was weird. If I could feel my skin, it would be crawling. "Hopefully by now, you should already know about who we are. You know about the war and the failure that our nation has earned. We have been labeled traitor to the nation and to all ponykind." DJ turned away to look through the lone window to the outside. The red sunset brought a wonderful feeling, filled with joy and happiness. It was the glorious sun! Canterlot was as beautiful and vibrant as well, ponies trotted about freely with no fear of death or danger of mutilation from each other.

"As of now, Celestia has sent her damned guards to track me down and kill me, but Princess Luna has other plans." The reflection in the window wore a the same stern expression. "As of today, The Lazarus Project is activated." A loud bang came from the other side of the door, shouts for my surrender. I turned back to the mirror, wide-eyed. "Find Sunny Springs in Manehattan. She will have any answers about us and the 52. She will be in stable 29. Luna is counting on us!" I turned towards the door, awaiting the guards to burst in. The wall next to me buckled in with a explosion, sending me sprawling into the opposite side of the room. Concussed, I couldn't make out the commands being shouted at me. I turned towards the window as I was being hoofcuffed and dragged out of the room. The glare from the wonderful sun grew brighter until a swift kick to my head put me back into pure darkness.

I woke up gasping for air. I quickly realized that I was back in Stable 132. I took a quick look around the room for Reign. He wasn't in sight.

A loud bang came from the hallway signaling that Reign was in a firefight. My brain kicked into action, throwing myself onto my hooves, opened up the lockers, and shoved everything into my saddlebags. I slammed open the next one, and stared in awe at the sight before me.

A lever-action style rifle and a semi-auto rifle stood side-by-side, cushioned in a dual-holster. A six-shot revolver sat next to them on a shelf with a big box of ammo. With big bullets. Hanging on the other side of the locker was a military dress uniform, decorated in several medals and ribbons. on the collar was two adjoined silver bars on each lapel, signifying the owner as a Captain. next to it was a battle uniform, slightly used. The same insignia was sown on the sleeves on both uniforms. the dark purple-blue uniforms were pressed nice a neat. Whatever I did in the past, I must have been good at it.

I snapped out of it as another shot rang out from the hallway. I slung the dual holster rifles around my back and threw everything else in my saddlebags. I pulled out my pistol, pushing into the corridor, seeing nothing but stirring dust. Reign somehow got the lights back on down here, but nothing but mold was out of the norm. Another shot bounced off the wall further up the hall. I picked up the pace to aid Reign.

I turned the corner to see Reign and a purple pony in a suit wrestling for his rifle. Without a second more, I put two hole in the head of the assailant. Reign shucked the body off of him and recovered.

"You good?" I asked, helping him off the floor.

"Are you?" he retorted with a touch of hesitation.

"Not sure. But right now is no time to figure out." I smirked at Reign. He opened his mouth to reply, but decided not to and reading his weapon. "So who are our friends?"

"No fucking clue. Came in shortly after we did. Shot first, no word prior." Reign racked a round, and proceeded to the stairway.

Hoping that Red and Grey Oak are okay, we continued our escape from Maintenance One. Nopony was in the way yet, but we remained on the cautious side.

"This doesn't settle with me very well. I feel an ambush." Reign hissed. I pushed into the room, sweeping it for any hostiles in a way I've done countless times before. As I came around the corner, I saw Reign smile.

"Go to have you back, Captain." He whispered, almost to himself it seemed. I didn't know how to respond to that. I didn't feel any different. I didn't...remember anything worth explanation, just small bits and pieces of my life before the war. nothing concrete. Just the empty feeling of torment and deception from the orb.

Reign poked my chest, breaking me out of my trance. " No time to dwell, DJ. Let's get going before we find ourselves perforated." He pushed past me, climbing the stairway. I nodded in response and fell in behind him.

We crept up the staircase as quiet as mice. I peered around the corner into the dark atrium as Reign swept the rest of Maintenance One. Nopony was in sight. both level of the atrium were clear. nothing but sil-

*BLAM!* A flash from the darkened clinic compartment. The bullet ricocheted off the corner, slamming into my leg. I was knocked off balance and fell back into the room with a sharp yelp. Reign slid into the adjacent side of the doorway, returning fire. I opened up my saddlebags and ripped open one of our bandages, wrapping my fresh wound and stanching the blood flow. I picked up my pistol off the ground and turned back to the fight. A small glint danced on Reign's eye, and in rapid succession, fired three shots directly into the enemy's body and head, making a bloody mess of the clinic.

Two more ponies came out of the entrance way, brandishing assault rifles. The first one didn't even get a chance to react before I put four rounds into his chest, dropping him to the floor. the partner screamed as she flicked the safety off and started to spray lead at us. I ducked back into the room. Reign clicked through his Pip-buck, trying to find search for another weapon to use. The red stallion produced a apple-shaped, metal ball out of his saddlebag, giving me a slight grin as he turned back towards the door. he pulled the pin with his teeth and chucked it at our foe. A very loud boom echoed reverberated through the Stable and through my ears, causing them to ring painfully. I winced as I looked through the doorway to see the damage the grenade had caused. A black soot spot was all that was left. With a slight nicker, Reign moved through he door, ready for what might come next.

Nothing came out at us again. I heard a slight whimpering cry coming from the entrance. slowly and cautiously, I made my way towards the sounds, ready for a trap.

In the entranceway, leaning up on the wall, was the crimson mare that came in with the other, her assault rifle still held in her hooves. Her hind leg was missing, the other mangled beyond uses. she must have got caught in the blast. As soon as she saw me and Reign, she went crazy and wide-eyed, aiming at me and open fire.

Click...Click!

She screamed and threw the rifle at me, trying to crawl away. I stood there, contemplating ending her life right then and there. One bullet and be done with it. I was supposedly a mad warmonger bent on killing thousands a labeled a traitor, what's on more pony on the pyre?

I felt Reign place a metal hoof on my back. I turned to see him staring down at the mare. He rushed past me, and without a word, reached out the mare with a upturned hoof. The mare looked between Me and Reign, scared out of her mind. Something must have snapped as she slowly returned the gesture. the old captain slung the mare onto his back.

"Let's get her out of here and find some help before she bleeds out. She's had enough." He glared at me, almost like he read my mind. That put it into perspective.

I was going mad. I was about to kill a unarmed, surrendering mare in cold blood. Like a dog. The very thought chilled me to the bone.

What was I becoming?

Sounds of gunfire and screaming echoed from the tunnel, making both of us nervous. Reign galloped out of the Stable, dead set on getting the mare medical attention. I started to follow, but something caught my eye on the balcony. I turned to see a white, blue-maned Pegasus standing on the upper catwalk. I rubbed my eyes to make sure it wasn't a hallucination. He was gone! was it just my imagination? What was going on?

"DJ! Get yer lanky arse out here!" I heard Reign yell from the opposite end of the tunnel. I looked back down the tunnel, Back to the walkway, then ran as fast as I could back to the outside.

As so as I burst through the wooden door that separated me from the wasteland, I felt like a Idiot. As the door swung open, a bullet glanced off my prosthetic, making me rear back into the tunnel. I heard a battle going off outside. Ponies yelling for our surrender, rifles and pistols and shotguns shooting and blasting, screaming off wounded and jeering from a rather large pony. I cautiously pushed the door back open, analyzing the battleground.

Grey Oak and Red had retreated back the Stable side of the flood river, both putting well-aimed shots at the agent ponies trying to advance from the hillside. From the small amount of us, the agents were definitely not intimidated by us at all. Reign was on the opposite end of the clearing, hunkered down between a rock and a petrified tree. One of the ponies saw me peaking out the door, pointed a hoof at me and yelled, "There he is! The Blue Pegasus!" All the attention was now on me, so was all the weapons. a dozen or so more agent ponies come out from cover and over the hill, rifle scopes glinting in the small amount of sun breaking through the ever dingy cloud cover. I slid into cover beside Grey.

We were surrounded. We were going to die right here.

A loud static click rang out from the hillside over the gunfire.

"Cease fire! It is no use, Elric!" A mare's voice blew out through the sky, amplified by something. "You are to surrender your weapons and hostage, and comply to our commands. If you do not, we will be forced to execute you right here, right now. Again, lower your weapons, come out, and do it now!"

The gunfire stopped as soon as the voice were heard. I looked to my companions, which all looked wary.

"Do we have enough ammo to fight through?" I asked.

"No. I get two more rounds, maybe three." Grey grumbled, keeping an eye out.

"I'm out." Red whispered. She was glancing at me like I was a newcomer. I guess that was appropriate, considering why we are here in the first place. "Is it still you, Elric?" She asked, cautiousness in her eyes.

"Yes, Its still me, Red. Don't worry." I responded with a smile. "How about you, Captain?"

"I'm eating up my reserves. But no matter. We are out ponied here, sir." Reign replied. Being called sir really left a bad taste in my mouth.

"Well, It looks like we have two options here. Surrender and possibly die... or Last stand it and die, regardless." Reign spoke. all of us looked around to each other, then to me.

"What?" I retracted.

"Well? Your the supposed great tactician of Equestria. Tact-tate. make a decision." Grey Oak growled.

Me?! I looked to Reign, who just shook his head. For Celestia's sake! I'm not the Captain of the Royal Guard anymore! I don't know how to lead! What would the Old DJ harmony do in a situation like this? Think, Elric, Think!...

As they chained my front and backlegs together, they didn't do much to hurt us nor kill us. Maybe it was the fact we didn't have much to take, or the fact the mare we spared, Flower Dance, told the others that we were trying to help her. Regardless, we were chained up and put in the back of a cart. I hope I made the right decision. none of the others openly disagreed, but I feared the backlash I was going to get from my friends once we get out of this predicament. I found out during the ride to.... wherever these ponies hide away, that whilst they were trying to track me down, their scouts saw me enter Stable 132, and met "heavy resistance when questioned" by Grey Oak and Red. A fight broke out, causing both sides to escalate into a shootout, putting six of their "Finest" wounded and eight killed between that slipped past into the Stable and the ones that died outside by the river. The only reason why we didn't join the dead was because an agent started the fight to begin with, trying to subdue Grey Oak by himself. The agent in question suffered a broken leg and a nasty hoof sized welt on his side from where Grey punted him into the river.

I tried to reassure myself the we didn't do anything wrong. That everything will be fine... until I saw the damned place they were bringing us. The building was fortress itself, complete with watchtowers and barbed wire fences all around the complex. "Baltimare Correctional Facility" was cut out of a rusted plate of solid metal and hung above the front gate. Guard ponies were everywhere, dampening any idea of escape.

What in Luna's blessed name did I get us into? I was so deep in my own thoughts and worries, that I didn't even notice the giant bird like creature following us the entire time.

Level up!: Amnesia recovery Lvl 1: With the first memories back, you gain knowledge of tatctics and battles of old. Your Guns, Speech, Sneak, and Survival skills increase by 15, but your perception decreases by 1 until completion of memory transfer.