Fallout Equestria: Final Message

by errant

There's Always a DJ PON3

Vinyl slumped at her terminal, staring at the flickering green screen. Behind her, screams filtered through the heavy steel of the walls and doors. If she tried, she could almost imagine it was a foal shrieking in happiness.

She hurt all over. The deep lacerations in her body nearly hurt as much as the horror strangling her heart.

The blood pooled on the gleaming, spotless metal floor. The crimson matched her eyes.

It was the brightest color she'd seen since the door of Stable 29 had closed.

With a shuddering sigh, she leaned forward and placed her hooves on the terminal.

Tavi, I . . .

Oh, Celestia Above, what do I even say? Its all bucked up. Its all wrong. What the hay happened to us?

I don’t understand anymore. It doesn’t make any sense.

Everypony up there is dead. You’re a hundred miles away from me and I miss you so damn much it hurts.

But I don’t wish you were here with me. Not now. Not anymore.

Those motherbuckers at Stable-Tec are killing us. Their stupid robots and automated systems are killing us off one by one. I locked myself in my room, but I can hear the screaming from here.

Oh, Celestia, what happened to all those kids . . .

Tavi, I love you. I want you to know that. Because I’m not going to get another chance to tell you.

I’m dying too, Octavia. The damn robot chef went nuts with its stupid knife and came after me. It cut me up. Like, a lot.
Speaking of a lot, that’s a lot of blood. Oh, jeez. That’s really a lot of blood. I’ve gotta hurry this up.

Octavia, I love you. However many times I’ve said it, its still not enough. I just hope that you’re still safe over there in Stable 101.
I love you so much. Please, be okay. Somehow, please, be okay. For me.

And please, don’t forget about me. Don’t let my music die with me. It and you are the cornerstones of my life, my everything. Make it last.
Hay, maybe there will always be a DJ Pon-3 if people still have the music.

I love you, Octavia.

Goodbye.

Vinyl didn't bother to read the message again. She just hit the button to send it. She just had to hope it could get through, like some of her messages to Octavia had been able to ever since that awful day. She specifically did not think about the messages that had refused to send at all.

The terminal's screen flickered, showing her its efforts as it tried to obey her command.

It was taking a long time.

Vinyl closed her eyes.

"I love you, Octavia," she whispered.

Her eyes did not open again.

Sending transmission . . . . . . . . .
Transmission failed. Communication network primary transmission route unresponsive.
Trying secondary transmission route . . . . . . . . .
Transmission failed. Looking for available routes . . . . . . . . .
Transmission failed.

Message not sent.
Retry? Y/N

Author's Note:

So, here we are the end of this little fic.

I recently got sucked into re-reading Fallout Equestria. Then, I saw that Vinyl Scratch and Octavia Day was coming up on EqD and I decided I wanted to do something. And then this story happened.

Just a few things I wanted to point out about it. I only drew from two sources here; Fallout Equestria's demonstration that Vinyl was in Stable 29 when it closed, was alive to host a party 3 months after the Last Day, and was presumably still alive there up until she met an unspecified fate after the Crusader Maneframe starting culling the population. I also drew from psp7master's story Fallout: Equestria - Vinyl and Octavia's Story (which you should read, btw). That's where I got the idea that Octavia was in Vault 101, and presumably lived her natural life there since Vault 101 lasted until Red Eye destroyed it.

I hope my small contribution to the annals of Fallout Equestria is well-received and that it brought you some enjoyment. Please feel free to leave your thoughts, comments, or critiques as a comment or PM.

Comments

[forrest yuchnitz]

I probably would have liked it more if Octavia got that last message just to have some closure instead of imagining Octavia just worrying about what happened

[The Amateur]

This is probably the first time I have read a good tragedy in the Fallout: Equestria fandom. It takes beloved characters from the overall MLP community, and crushes them with the themes of futility and detachment found in the Fallout setting. Putting the reader in the point of view of Vinyl Scratch was already a smart move, as anyone who read the original fiction knows her fate. But with that unexpected twist, the real gut punch, that choice of perspective becomes a brilliant act of attention deflection.

The same praise could be heaped on the narration and messages. There are some truly stunning lines in this short story. Every line really is accounted for. Not to mention how well the messages depict the personalities and relationship of these characters.

The only thing I can imagine would have made this story better is a little more casual dialogue between Octavia and Vinyl Scratch before Octavia's messages stop appearing. It may be more content to a story that really does not need it, but I think it would have really helped increase the impact of the ending.

[forrest yuchnitz]

8191209 it was actually vinyl's messages that stopped sending out because of the automated systems messing with the system and all the damage to the facility messing with wiring i assume so octavia doesnt initiate stuff she waits for vinyl to say something then responds although vault 101 was the vault from fall out 3 so maybe in this story octavia was the one that got kicked out and became the wanderer and did not have access to a terminal anymore

[MixMassBasher]

I thought that if Vinyl message was sent, Octavia would receive it and decides to create the persona of DJ Pon 3. Hence when in the events of Fallout Equestria there is always a DJ Pon 3