Fallout Equestria: Influx

Chapter 1: Awakening

“Is it going according to plan?” A strong commanding voice asked.

“She, but yes Colonel. I have implanted her brain into I-01’s skull and decided to use both the Chimera grown heart and lungs since we know they are both undamaged,” Replied a braytish accented female voice, sounding annoyed about her superior’s inability to see their project for being more than a mere thing.

“It’s looking rather well, should the heart be beating right now?”

“Yes sir, once we extracted her brain from her head, we only had a few minutes to get it into the skull of I-01 and connected to the circulatory system. Thankfully, everything went off without a hitch, and the heart and lungs are working fine to keep the brain alive.”

“Good, well then, keep me posted. I want to know how everything is progressing.”

There was the sound of a door closing before the doctor sighed.

“She, colonel, despite the fact she’s going to be more machine than pony, she is still a female and will still be alive.”

XXXXX

“How is it coming doctor?”

“SHE, sir, is coming along swimmingly,” Growled the braytish mare.

“When will it be ready?” He asked, ignoring the doctor’s frustration.

“She’ll be ready for her trials in the next month. We still have plenty of slight modifications to make regarding her chest and cranium.”

“Modifications?”

“Zebras are very strong melee and unarmed combatants and if our latest reports into some of their abilities are to be believed, they can break solid rock with their hooves. So, we are increasing her mechanical skeleton’s durability with titanium. Especially around her chest and head, since they will be protecting her brain and heart.”

“Very well doctor...” He trailed off as he looked over at the mechanical skeleton. “Are its eyes supposed to be glowing red?”

“What?” The doctor cried out in surprise. “Oh bollocks.”

XXXXX

“What do you mean you’re moving her?” Dr Pear asked in outrage.

“Project Infiltrator has been compromised, doctor. Pinkie Pie has got it into her head that some of the ministries are trying to sell out to the Zebras or are hiding something. Which of course we are. She has gone off the rails much harder than usual. She is currently digging through all MoA archives and using all kinds of backdoor access codes to get into restricted areas. Infiltrator is on the very secure archives and she’ll discover it eventually if nothing distracts her. When she does, we do not want her to find I-01, nor us.”

“We can’t move her just yet.”

“I can only give you twenty four hours before we have no choice but to move it.”

“That should be enough time for me to finish what I need to do right now. But where are we moving the project to?”

“Back to Las Pegasus.”

“For the love of Celestia.”

“Sorry doctor.”

“Fuck off! You’re not sorry. You just want results. I can’t rush this; this is damn delicate work. Normally, it’ll take a day or two for the application of her living flesh but you’ve forced me to rush here.”

“Will you be able to apply the skin before we move it?”

“Yes sir, I’ll have to work throughout the night but it’ll be done.”

“Those eyes are glowing again.”

“What, oh for fuck sake.”

XXXXX

“...having to move you my flank. They just want to keep you to themselves and use you like an expendable thing. They want to make fully mechanical versions of you now. I wanted to make the perfect infiltrator but I never wanted to make a fucking army of machines like this. I wish I never accepted this position but I can’t stop now. I need to finish you before we move.”

The doctor sighed with a heavy heart. “I hope you’ll forgive us when the war is over Crystal.”

A ringing sound followed by vibrating interrupted the doctor. She sighed as she levitated a mobile phone out of her lab coat pocket and answered it.

“Dr Pear here... What, Manehattan General? Are you insane we can’t... Stasis pods? But sir civilians will see... You mean the private ward, but again civilians will... Shit, ok sir. She’ll have her flesh graphed to her endoskeleton in time for the move.”

The doctor sighed as she hung up her phone and approached a console. “Stupid, this is so stupid. Now they’re saying Pinkie is surprise raiding MoA R&D labs. This is insane. This has pushed my timetable up. Computer, initiate flesh application.”

“At least you’ll still be alive despite being more machine inside. I can hear your heart beating even with the gentle beep from the heart monitor on your chest plate. I hope when they finally get the combat training chips and reprogram your mind, you’ll remember you’re alive. Don’t worry, we’ll be making a copy of your original mind so we can give it back when the war is over. I made damn sure they wouldn’t kill you for real by doing that.”

“Four hours until the procedure is done, and we can move you to stasis in Manehattan General before the train ride back to Las Pegasus. It’s a damn good job I know what I’m doing here and... oh for Celestia’s sake, why won’t you stay offline?”

XXXXX

“Attention all ponies with Stable passes. Please report to your assigned Stables immediately. This is not a drill. Repeat...”

“No, not now. We can’t abandon her here like this!” Dr Pear cried as the colonel began to drag her away.

“There is no time anymore, doctor. The war is over and so is Equestria. I just got word that a Pink Cloud bomb had gone off inside of Canterlot’s shield. The princesses are dead. We are on our own now. We are the future of equine kind now. It’s up to us, now come on.”

“But sir, she could come with us.”

“It’s just a machine, Pear Shape. Now come on.”

“But sir, we can’t leave her to die here.”

“It’s already dead, remember? Now move.”

“But sir...”

XXXXX

“Warning, insufficient power to stasis chamber, repeat, insufficient power to stasis chamber.”

“Initiating emergency wake up procedure.”

I groaned to myself as I started to wake up. I could hear voices talking but couldn’t make them out clearly with my sleep addled brain waking itself up. There is a hiss and a mechanical grinding noise as something in front of me moves which then allowed a breeze to flow in and across me. Suddenly, my nose is assaulted with the most disgusting smell I’ve ever smelt. I wish I knew what it is, so I could describe it, but it’s the foulest smell I’ve ever had the misfortune to smell in my entire life. It certainly woke me up. My eyes flew open, and I found myself to be inside a hospital ward, surrounded by other pod like devices. I remember seeing something like these in a ward I passed when the nurses wheeled me back to my room after one of my operations, though I never asked what they were. However, I didn’t recognise the grimy walls or the ward I found myself in.

“Where am I?” I asked out loud to myself as I shakily pulled myself out of my pod and landed with a thud on the floor. Groaning to myself, I tried to get my unresponsive limbs to work. It was like I haven’t moved them in like forever, and they were taking a minute to catch up with my brain’s commands.

“Ow…” I moaned as I slowly pulled myself up off the floor and onto my hooves, only to land flat on my face. I blinked in surprise as my ears were swivelling around, trying to pick up any other noise, but no matter where my ears twisted to, all I could hear is silence. “What’s going on?” I asked myself with a shaky voice that I didn’t recognise but with the sense of fear creeping over me, I didn’t think about it.

My limbs felt heavy as I began to walk around the room, and I looked into each pod that I passed. Growing more confused by the second, I could see rust, dust and other grime covering every surface, making the place look centuries old and in disrepair. I didn’t know what had happened but my gut was telling me something really bad happened. I came to a pod that had a large crack in the glass cover but what may be inside is hidden by a thick layer of dust. Gently using my green overall covered foreleg to clear away the dust, I immediately jumped back and let out a scream of horror. My scream echoing throughout the building only made it feel far creepier and scarier than it already was.

A half decomposed pony lay in the pod. I’ve seen stuff like this before only in movies, but they didn’t look as horrifyingly disgusting as this. It looked like the pony was melting with how its body was peeling off the bone. I don’t know how long it would take for a body to completely decompose, but this looks like it’s been here a while. Sick to my stomach, I charged out the open door to get away from the horror and the smell. Standing outside the door, I panted and screamed out my horror at what I saw again. I only just woke up and had been treated to the sight of something I would only see in my nightmares. Definitely not something I want to wake up to.

Taking in some deep breaths, I composed myself and looked around. I found myself in a long hospital corridor that looked like someone did the Running of the Leaves in here. Everything was a shambles. Tables, beds, chairs, you name it were scattered all over the place, and the tiled floor had many of its tiles missing or broken, while also being covered in piles of rubbish. The hallway is dark and there seemed to be only a hoofful of lights working, but most importantly, there wasn’t a single pony anywhere in sight and the silence. I couldn’t hear a single thing, which added to the creepy feeling. I lived most of my life in and out of a hospital so I am very aware of the sounds of a hospital. The moans of patients, the many conversations blending together, the beeps and bops of machinery and etc. There was nothing, just the deafening silence.

“Where the hell is everypony?” I asked with my growing sense of fear making me start to shiver.

"Anypony here?" I shouted as loud as I could. My shout just echoed throughout the empty hospital without a single reply or sound. I'm truly alone here. This gave me more reason to be scared.

I looked up and down the corridor that I was in, trying to get a sense of direction, and noticed a sign half hanging from the ceiling above my head. I craned my neck to get a better look at the sign, and saw that it had a grimy white arrow pointing at the door behind me. I moved around a little to better see the sign from the side, and gasped in shock at what the sign was pointing at.

“Stasis Ward?” I cried out in shock. It’s clear now. I hadn’t been my hospital room before I fell asleep, and somehow, I wound up in stasis. I have heard of stasis before. Stasis is a form of suspended animation that preserves the body outside of time, preventing it from aging or degrading any further until it is released. I don’t understand the magical mechanics but I get the gist. Wait a minute! If I’ve been put into stasis, how long have I been asleep for?

I didn’t know how long I’d slept for in stasis and the idea that I’ve slept throughout the war and Celestia only knows how long into the future scared me to my core, making my already fast beating heart thump harder with my growing anxiety. I didn’t want to stay here any longer, with my fear induced brain telling me to run; I bolted as fast as I could over the rubbish strewn floor to the nearest door. I could see with a lot of light shining through it.

Bursting through the door, I found myself in a large reception hall. Behind the large row of desks at the back of the room, I saw writing. However, before I could read it, my hooves caught in a pile of mess and I fell hard onto my chin. I cried out in pain as the fall wound up with me biting my tongue. I whimpered and cried in dismay as I lay panting on the floor, gathering my breath. That was of course until I saw what I had fallen over and it wasn’t alone. My eyes bulged out of my skull in absolute horror at what lay around me. The entire reception was full of blackened skeletons with tatters of clothing still clinging to them. There had to be hundreds of them all piled up in here. I screamed my lungs out, jumped to my hooves and charged to the wall of glass that was the front entrance to the hospital. I dived out of the broken glass doors and skidded to a stop as I behold the city around me and just froze.

Everything was destroyed.

I stood ramrod stiff as my entire body locked up as I gazed fearfully at the jagged and crumbling buildings around me. I didn’t recognise anything. The architecture of the buildings still standing despite being wrecked is completely different to Las Pegasus, and the cold air again is a reminder that I’m not where I fell asleep. Las Pegasus was never cold even in winter but here it was freezing. Slowly, I regained control of my legs and turned around to face the hospital I came out of and,my mouth fell agape when I finally discovered where I was now.

“MANEHATTAN?!” I screamed in complete shock. “HOW DID I GET HERE?”

This is insane. It makes no sense. I’m in Manehattan. A city on the east coast of Equestria. But that’s impossible, how could I have gotten here? I shook my head. The number of questions to my current situation and to what happened here just kept growing, and it was making my head hurt. I sat down and started to weep from all the stress and confusion.

I don’t know how long I cried for, but the sound of crumbling brick and mortar made me stop and get to my hooves. I looked around frantically for the source of the noise and stopped as I looked up at the ruined tower of the hospital. It was leaning precariously towards me, and with every crack and groan of the old brick and steel, it leaned even further forward. It didn’t need to take genius to know what was going to happen so I turned tail and ran as fast as my legs could carry me up the rubble strewn road. I jumped over holes and cracks in the road and weaved between the many abandoned chariots as I ran.

“This has to be a nightmare,” I cried when there was a sudden bang and then a cascade of wrenching metal and crumbling brick filled the air.

There was an almighty crash as the building kissed the pavement. I didn’t dare look back as the ground shook violently, causing small fissures to open in the road, and one of my hooves caught in one of the newly opened cracks causing me to fall hard onto my chest and I cried out in pain as my body, carried by its momentum, scrapped along the road, rolling over onto my side and came to rest as I skidded to a stop after crashing into a bus. I whimpered and moaned in pain as I felt numerous scrapes on my hide but again, felt utter confusion as I didn’t break a bone. A fall like that would have shattered my sternum but it felt fine. My only complaint from that fall is the scrapes I got. I then noticed my heart beat. Despite its speed, the rhythm is perfectly normal. After all the running I’ve done since I woke up my heart, would have felt like it was about to give out on me before I fell asleep but no it feels fine, it’s never felt fine. What happened to me?

No matter what I could think of, I couldn’t explain my new found health. It honestly felt fantastic to feel like this. My chest hurt from the burn of my lungs trying to gather oxygen and my heart thundered in my chest, but I didn’t feel like I was about to drop dead like I’ve felt like before when I’ve exerted myself in the past. I felt a small amount of joy that I could experience a healthy life now, but that pleasurable feeling was dulled by all the destruction and death I could see all around me.

There was even more death outside the now collapsed hospital and it made me feel sick to my stomach to see all these blacken skeletons. What made it worse was also how many foal skeletons I could see. What the hell happened here? I couldn’t even begin to think of what happened, but I know for certain I’ll find out eventually.

My ears perked up as I began to pick up the sound of crashing water somewhere up ahead. I pulled myself back up to my hooves and weaved around the bus and stared ahead as the lines of destroyed buildings gave way to an endless green horizon. I walked for about ten minutes until I came to a rusty guard rail overlooking a rocky sea wall. What I can see is both beautiful and horrifying. A green tinted ocean laps at the sea wall calmly, but the rolling dark grey clouds gave the impression that a huge storm is on its way. I’ve never seen such a scene before in my life.

Lights caught my attention to my right and I turned to look and found a sight that gave me hope that there is still life in this city. I could see a small island not too far from the Manehattan shore and I could see a long bridge connecting the island to the city. As I gave my full attention to the island I began to see other things such as guard towers and ponies in those towers manning huge guns and pointing them out over the bridge. I immediately didn’t want go anywhere near that island nor those ponies with guns. I turned around and began to walk along the sea wall away from the island.

I must have walked for about an hour before my progress was halted, as I came across a wall that had metal spikes sticking out the top of the wall to prevent anypony from climbing over it. The wall was pretty much intact leaving barely any damage for me to look through. I also noticed by now the sky was darkening and this made the dead city feel even scarier as the deep shadows everywhere only grew larger and more ominous. I followed the wall around until I came to a large iron gate, which unfortunately is chained up tight. I am able to see through the bars in the gate and found myself looking into the Gold Star Line’s Manehattan Harbour; I could see the sign on a building in the distance. My jaw dropped when I saw the giant great white ship sitting in her berth. The RMS Celestia.

Well, I now have a vague time line now. I saw the news coverage when the RMS Celestia was announced and then the ceremony when the first piece of the ship was laid. Princess Luna attended in the place of her sister that the ship was named after, and hammered in the first rivet. I found it funny watching her on the TV since she looked uncomfortable doing something in the name of her sister. It was also kinda sad since after the assassination attempted on Princess Celestia, she attended public appearances less and less until we barely ever saw her. So, if the Celestia had just been started before I fell asleep and now since she is complete I would estimate I’ve been asleep for over five years. FIVE YEARS! No, maybe more considering the state of the ship. She looks extremely rusty and grimy and the fact she has sunk in her berth. She was sitting too deep in the water to be floating. Further observation of the ship also shows that her aft mast has collapsed and fallen over her starboard side and into a dockside warehouse. The bow mast looked to be leaning a little too far back, and the steel cables meant to keep the mast in place looked to be straining heavily to hold the mast from falling back. I don’t think they can last much longer. With the state of the ship I am going to now say more like ten years. Ten or more years, oh Celestia my mother must be beside herself in worry about me or... Oh goddesses, she must think I’m dead. Oh, oh mummy. I need to get home.

Something flashed in the corner of my vision. It looked like an exclamation mark. I turned my head to my right where I saw it flash and looked around trying to find it. What was that? Suddenly a heavy weight slammed into the gate causing me to stumble backwards slightly.

“What the hell?” I shrieked out in surprise from the sudden impact. What I saw lying in a broken heap on the floor made the air in my lungs catch in my throat in fright. What I can see can only be described as a zombie, a real life zombie. A walking corpse. This is impossible, this should not exist, it can’t, and it makes no sense. Trying to make sense of what I am seeing ,I could only think of old horror movies where the dead were reanimated by spells gone wrong or from viruses but all that stuff was make believe but here right now I can see a real zombie and it looked hungry. The monster pulled itself back up to its broken hooves and opened its lipless mouth and let out a loud hiss like cry as it charged at the gate again and began to push against it as it tried to get to me. Oh my goddesses this is sickening and disturbing. My eyes widened as I noticed more coming towards the first. There had to be hundreds of them and they were all coming for me. I don’t wanna be eaten. Seeing an army of the living dead I did the only thing a sane filly would do in this situation. Scream and run like hell in the opposite direction.

I ran for as long as my lungs could gather oxygen. I stopped, panting heavily as I sat down on the cold cracked concrete of what looked to be a high street full of shops. I clutched at my chest as my lungs burned for air and my heart thundered. I sat and rested until my chest no longer hurt and I was breathing at a more normal rate again. So much stress can’t be good for me. I’m going to need to find some shelter soon; it’s getting really dark now. I started up the street. Maybe I can find a news agent so I can find out what the heck happened to this city and why it’s deserted and filled with the living dead.

This street is an absolute mess. Just like the rest of the city. Every window is either boarded up or broken. Some of the buildings have collapsed internally, leaving a shell behind. My stomach growled with hunger as I trudged up the road. Wow, I didn’t realise how hungry I was with all this running for my life. I hope I can find an intact shop that sells food. I walked for at least another five minutes before I finally found what I was looking for. A news agent where I could find a newspaper so I can find out what happened.

I pushed open the half broken door and stepped into the shop, half expecting to greet the shopkeeper but of course like the city, the small store is deserted. I frowned as I walked through the aisles, looking for the newspapers. The shelves were pretty much devoid of anything edible and what was left was no good. Grumbling to myself about the lack of food, I walked up to the counter and found a stack of mushy pulp that had once been a stack of papers. I didn’t give up on finding a news paper as I climbed over the counter and jumped down behind it. I smiled when I saw a box sitting on a shelf below the counter marked with the symbol of the equestrian news. I pulled the box out and opened it. Inside, I found a stack of old yellowed newspapers which thankfully were intact but discoloured from age. The headline of the paper made my jaw drop to the floor as it told me what happened in one single word.

“ARMAGEDDON”

It can’t be, they can’t have, can they?

“Armageddon, Equestria launches WMDs in retaliation to Zebrica’s launch of their Balefire Bomb arsenal...”

So the war is over and both sides lost. No wonder this whole city is a wreck and... Oh my goddesses. It’s not just here, it’s the whole country and that means... Oh Celestia no, my mother! I then saw the date on the paper and that just confirmed my worst fears. The paper is dated five years after I fell asleep which means my mother is most likely dead, since we didn’t get a place in a Stable. Oh mother, I never got to say good bye. I couldn’t help the tears that fell from my eyes as I broke down again. I’ve lost so much, I can’t handle this.

“Well, well, well what do we have here?” A sinister male voice said from behind me. I shrieked out in surprise and spun around to see two stallions standing in the doorway wearing what looked to be makeshift suits of armour made from cobbled together rubbish.

“A fine young zebra cunt that’s what,” The first stallion’s companion answered with a dark lustful grin.

“I’m not a zebra,” I cried out as I got to my hooves.

“Heh, whatever you say bitch, you still got a fine ass,” The second one said as the pair of them walked closer towards me. I didn’t like how the two of them were looking at me and I backed myself up until my rump hit the wall behind me.

“Nowhere to run little bitch,” The first one said as he opened the counter door.

“Stay away from me!” I shouted as I jumped over the counter and made a break for the door. The second stallion was quick to get in my way and forced me to grind to a halt inches from his yellow tooth smile. I saw the exclamation mark flash in my vision again and then suddenly I felt a weight on my back and a pair of forelegs tightly hugged around my waist. I let out a cry of surprise and then felt something hard, warm and wet poke at my flanks as the stallion who had mounted me started to gyrate his hips. Oh Celestia No! “Get off of me!” I screamed and bucked hard. To my surprise I lifted him into the air as I pushed off with my hind legs. In his surprise, he let go of my waist and as he was still in the air, I kicked out with my hind legs and bucked him in the chest, sending him clear over the shelves to land against the counter in a heavy crash. I stared in shock at what I just did. I just threw a fully grown stallion off my back like he was nothing and then sent him clear across the store with a single kick.

"Haha, you just got your ass hoofed to ya by a mare Billy," The second stallion laughed in the doorway.

"Oh shut up," Billy groaned as he climbed over the counter in pain.

The stallion blocking the door continued to laugh but kept enough control of himself that he craned his neck back and pulled a rather large knife from a tattered saddlebag on his back and held it with the blade pointing at me. I began to quake in fear as the stallion continued to giggle manically around his knife while still he blocked my escape.

"I'm gonna fuck you good for that bitch," Billy said as he slowly began to approach me from behind.

"No please" I begged as I looked around fearfully around, looking for any other way to escape. I quickly dashed down an aisle to get some distance from the two bad stallions.

"Stay in the door, don't let her escape," Billy growled.

I don't believe this, what happened to these ponies? Ponies never used to be this dark.

"There you are."

I screamed and began to charge up the aisle and away from Billy. I rounded a corner and found myself running straight at the other stallion. In my panic I poured on the speed and just kept running. I could see the stallion grinning as he blocked the door but his grin began to fade the closer I got while still running at full pelt.

"She ain't stopping, oh shit."

He quickly dove out the way as I charged through the door. My vision blurred as tears threatened to blind me as I ran for my life. Why me?

"You fucking coward Crowbar," I heard Billy yell.

"Dude, she threw you off her like you were nothing, I ain't gonna let her bowl me over"

I ran as fast as I could into the street to get away from my attackers. I could barely see with how my teary eyes blurred my vision and then I saw the exclamation mark flash again. I looked in the direction I saw it flash but that momentary distraction stopped me from seeing the bus in front of me. I looked forward again just in time to see the large rusty steel vehicle. Oh no. I let out a scream of pain as I collided head first into the bus and staggered backwards. My head hurt badly, and my vision began to swim.

"Haha she ran straight into a bus," Crowbar laughed as the two stallions casually approached me.

I moaned as I turned around. I could barely stay on my hooves with how badly everything was swirling around. I felt so dizzy.

"Let's help her relax," Billy said as he pulled a large plank of wood off his back, covered in nails.

"Pl...please," I begged while I spread my legs to keep me up.

"Nighty night," Billy said and swung his nail board.

I screamed in agony as I felt the nails dig into my cheek but then felt the heavy impact of the wood against my head and everything went black.

XXXXX

The zebra mare collapsed to the floor unmoving as she took a nailboard full force against the side of the head. To Billy's surprise his weapon exploded into splinters along with his teeth being rattled and he dropped the now useless piece of wood.

"You really need to take better care of your shit," Crowbar laughed.

"Fuck you, argh damn, that felt like I hit a brick wall," Billy groaned as he worked his jaw.

Crowbar continued to laugh at his friend's expense as the two vile stallions approached the unconscious mare.

Down the street just out of sight of the two raiders a beige pony with a brown mane dressed in bloodied doctor scrubs watched the scene while hiding behind a rusty red mailbox. "That poor mare." Suddenly to his surprise he watched as the downed mare picked herself back up like nothing happened.

"What the fuck?" Billy yelped.

"She should be out cold after a hit like that"

The zebra mare turned around to face her attackers. Her once baby blue eyes had taken on a now threatening red.

"Self defence protocol initiated, engaging hostile targets," She spoke in a monotone emotionless electronic voice.

The two stallions blinked in confusion as the mare showed no signs of the concussion she should have taken from the two heavy impacts to her head and she calmly approached the two males with her red eyes boring into them. Crowbar got over his surprise first and grinned as he took hold of his knife again.

"Ya wanna go bitch, alright then, come on," He mumbled around the grip of his knife as he went in to slash at the mare. The zebra tilted her head to regard him and with a quick fluid flick of her foreleg she blocked the strike. She pushed up with her other foreleg to free it from supporting her weight while still holding the blade back with her other foreleg she thrust her free hoof out with lightening speed at the stallion's exposed chest. Her hoof connected with his chest and a loud crack reverberated throughout the street as her hoof broke his sternum and pushed into his chest. Crowbar let out a gasp before collapsing, dead. Her strike had pushed his broken sternum against his heart with enough force to stop it.

Billy gasped in shock as he watched his lifelong friend die from just a single punch to his chest. His mouth fell agape when he saw just how deeply the mare's hoof had sunk into his chest when she pulled it out of the hole she made. Her hoof had sunk at least an inch or two into his friend's chest.

"You... you killed my best friend... you fucking bitch!" Billy yelled in rage as he quickly dug out a ten millimetre pistol.

The zebra calmly turned to face him, not seeming to even notice the gun now pointed at her and began to approach him.

"Die" Billy yelled over the mouth grip and fired three rounds at the mare. Three loud bangs echoed down the street, which were then followed by three dings.

Billy dropped his gun in complete terror as the red eyed mare continued to approach him despite being shot in the head three times. The bullets themselves had bounced out of the holes they dug into her forehead.

"What are you?" He cried out in panic as he began to walk backwards.

The zebra didn't speak; she kept her gaze locked on him as she continued her approach. Suddenly, without warning, the mare jumped forward, landed on one forehoof then twisted her body around, spinning on her hoof until she had her back to the stallion. He had just enough time to let out a cry for help before two hindhooves found themselves slamming into his head. The double hoof kick to his snout broke his jaw and nose, sending shards of bone into his brain but the strength of the strike also threw his head back hard enough to break his neck. Billy was dead before he hit the floor.

"Holy shit," The wasteland doctor gasped as he watched the mare defeat two stallions with a single blow each. He was also curious about this mare, something didn't seem right about her since she had collapsed from two hits to the head but then fought two stallions like nothing happened and also got shot in the head. Part of his mind was telling him to run before she killed him too but the injuries she had taken needed treating, and the good doctor in him couldn't allow him to run to leave this mare to likely get an infection in the deep gashes in her left cheek where the nails had dug into her from the nailboard. He slowly crawled out from behind the mailbox, and began to approach the mare slowly.

The mare raised her head as if sensing something and turned to face the approaching stallion. After a moment of regarding him she began to approach him. The doctor noticed that the mare had seen him and stopped. He sat on his rump and held his forehooves up to show he was unarmed.

"I mean you no harm," He spoke as confidently as possible as the red eyed zebra came within inches of him.

He cringed at the sight of the gashes in her cheek and he was sure he could see some teeth through one of the holes in her cheek. The mare moved her head closer as she stared at him and he did his best to not break eye contact. After what felt like forever and a day the mare pulled back from him.

"Self defence protocol disengaged," She said in the same lifeless tone as before and then her red eyes faded back to their baby blue colour before rolling into the back of her head as she collapsed.

"Oh shit, are you alright?" The doctor cried out in surprise as the mare fell. Seeing that she was unresponsive he attempted to pick her up only to find he couldn't budge her. "Goddesses you weigh a ton," He groaned before giving up trying to move her. "Brutus, get your fat ass out here!" He yelled out.

A large black spotted Brahmin trotted out from behind the corner and approached his master. "You called sir," The left head spoke in a calm voice.

"We need to get her to my clinic now, I can't lift her."

The two headed cow nodded, and allowed the doctor to assemble his makeshift stretcher he had in the Brahmin's large bag and with the help of the mutated cow, pulled the unconscious mare onto the stretcher. The doctor made sure his patient was secure, before he tied two ropes from the Brahmin's saddle to the stretcher and with the cow’s strength began to haul the mare towards his clinic.

XXXXX

I smiled to myself as I snuggled close to my mother's soft pink sparkling fur. Despite all my pain and suffering from my illnesses I could always find comfort with my mother. She bent her head down and gently licked the sour on my cheek, her soft tongue calming the burn from it.

"Sweetie you got to be more careful, you know you are more fragile than most other fillies and colts" She spoke softly.

"I know mum but it was a really fun game," I chirped.

She giggled softly, her sweet voice making me smile happily. "Oh, I know darling, but you know how rough some of those colts can be."

I cooed happily as I snuggled close to my mother's side. She shifted away from me after a few minutes and I looked up in confusion. I blinked in confusion to see the sparkle from my mother's crystal coat had faded away leaving her looking dull and sad. I then realised I am fully grown again and that I'm dreaming. My fondest dreams are mostly of me as a carefree filly.

"You, you have to go away for a while sweetheart," My mother said as tears built up in her eyes.

"What, but mummy I don't want to leave," I whimpered.

"I know you don't sweetie but you have a lot to do now and Equestria needs you," She said breaking down as the door to our house exploded as two ponies dressed in black outfits with face wraps stormed into the house and seized me. As soon as they grabbed me the entire house morphed into a clean steel grey corridor and I found myself strapped to a gurney being pushed along by the two stallions. We drew near a set of double doors which as we got close to them opened and a blinding light filled the hall but a silhouette of a large stallion stood in the middle. I felt a shiver run down my spine as the shadowed stallion smiled.

"Excellent timing, we are ready to extract her brain," He said in a ghostly voice as everything faded to black as I felt myself being pulled away from the land of nod.

I woke up with a start from the strange dream I had which was now starting to fade from my memory but the voice of that shadowed stallion still lingered making me shiver. What was all that about? I never had a dream like that before. I went to move a foreleg so I could rub my forehead since I can feel something pressing on it and froze when I found myself unable to move it. I tried to move my over limbs and found myself completely bound to whatever I'm lay on and incapable of any movement apart from useless wriggling.

"Help!" I screamed out in fright.

"Ah, you're awake" Came a soft male voice from my right. I tried to turn my head but found I couldn't move it like the rest of me though I was able to see him with my eye. The beige stallion walked up to the table or whatever I'm on and sat down. He didn't look threatening and his soft voice didn't give any malicious intent.

"Help me, I can't move," I whimpered.

"I'm not going to take the chance until I know you are safe to release. You did kill two stallions with one hit each before collapsing again. Not to mention you are not even a pony, I don't know what you are," He told me as he looked over my prone body.

"I, what?" I shrieked. "That's impossible I..." I remembered I was hit by a nailboard and was knocked out. "I was unconscious, I couldn't have done anything"

He stared at me for a while before speaking again. "You're eyes were red at the time but they are blue now, but I suppose you weren't in control either. Who are you?" He asked.

The bit about me having red eyes confused me but I let it pass. "My name is Crystal Éclair. I'm a Crystal Pony from Las Pegasus," I told him truthfully.

He tilted his head and raised an eyebrow at my answer. "Crystal?" He asked. I nodded my head with how much the strap on my head would allow me. "You look more like a Zebra than a Crystal Pony but you aren’t all Zebra either," He told me, looking over my body to which I began to feel strange sensations in multiple areas on my body like a cool breeze blowing over an uneven surface.

"What, what are you talking about?" I cried in confusion.

He simply reached up to the table and flicked his hoof against something and the strap holding my head became slack and he gently pulled it off my head.

"Have a look," He told me.

I weakly lifted my head and looked at myself. For the first time since I woke up in the hospital, I took the time to actually see myself and finally understood why everypony was calling me a Zebra. My once dull pink coat and yellow tail had changed to the white and grey stripes of a Zebra. I don't understand; how did this happen to me? What did this to me? But then I saw the gaping holes cut into my body; there were like several holes dug into my flesh on my chest, belly and legs and disturbingly, they were not bleeding but it was what lay within those holes that made me scream.

"What the hell has happened to me?" I screamed as I struggled against my bonds. I could hear and see the mechanical, skeletal like limbs moving and straining with me. It's like it is my body. I can feel everything trying to move. What's happened to me?

"Do you still believe you are a Crystal Pony?" He asked me.

I looked at him with tears now streaming from my eyes. "CELESTIA YES!" I cried. "I was born in the Crystal Empire, moved to Las Pegasus with my mother and father and lived there until I was twenty six," I wailed.

He frowned as he looked sympathetic. "I believe you. No machine can emulate that much raw emotion. I could see it all in your eyes. I don't know who did this to you but I can certainly tell you what they have done," He said as he began to undo the straps holding me down. I just lay there and cried, letting all my anguish out as he freed me. I wept until I had no more tears. The pony was patient with me as he let me calm down. I slowly hauled myself up so I'm sitting upright on the table and looked at the bloodstained pony. My eyes widened at the blood, and he followed my gaze.

"Oh, don't mind the blood," He said dismissively. "It comes with the job of being a healer."

I nodded and looked back down at my holed body and whimpered. "Why am I all cut up?" I asked looking at a large hole cut into my chest to reveal a steel breast plate with a green screen which I recognised as a heart monitor.

"I can explain that," The doctor said looking sheepish. "I might have got a little carried away.”

"What did you do?" I cried.

"Let me explain... Um, right. You collapsed after you killed the two stallions and I noticed that you had several wounds on your body so I brought you here to my clinic to treat you since I'm a doctor and all. Anyway, when I was examining your gashed cheek, I noticed a metallic gleam so I thought one of the nails from that nailboard had been pushed in much deeper so I had to cut you more to get at it, but as I did, I discovered it wasn't a nail but your skull. I got curious and when attending to your chest which was pretty scraped, I discovered metal under your skin there too, and one thing led to another and I had revealed you entire skeleton to be mechanical. It is rather remarkable since you have living tissue on top of a robotic body and also this thing," He explained with an excited tone. This just horrified me, to know that I've somehow been turned into a machine and not only that into a different species all together. The doctor pulled a pink diamond that is set into a blue steel ring out from his scrub's pocket and then held it in his hoof to show me. "I had to pry this out your chest to stop your body from reforming while I examined you."

"You took that out of me?" I yelped and looked at my exposed chest and sure enough there is a circular indentation where something did sit.

"Don't worry I'm going to put it back, since I know you aren't going to kill me."

I just blinked.

"Anyway, this is weird. It's a zebra made regeneration talisman and is used to heal injuries and illnesses and whatever, but this is the strange thing. When I was cutting you to examine you, a simple cut didn't prompt it to heal you, but cutting a sizeable chunk out of your flesh it would then regrow within seconds. I performed a magical scan on it, and this blue ring seems to be controlling the flow of power from the talisman. It suppresses its healing capabilities if the injury isn't major say, like a cut or a scrape then the ring forces the talisman to not heal the damage and since your flesh is alive it would heal on its own eventually."

This is all too much. I'm just a machine now is that it? Oh Celestia what happened to me?

"So I'm just a machine now, I'm not alive?" I asked with a fresh set of tears starting to build up.

He frowned for a moment. "Hold still," He said as he pushed the strange diamond into my chest and with a click I felt it settle in the groove. My eyes widened in surprise as I felt a wave of energy rush through me and then I felt a tingling in all the areas I had parts of my body cut away and in total shock I watched as the holds slowly closed until I was whole again.

"Incredible," The doctor said as he looked over my now healthy looking zebra body. "Oh and to answer your question about being alive. I can safely assure you that you ARE alive," He said with all the seriousness of a pony who was held in high authority. "I performed several medical scanning spells, and to my surprise I found that you have a living brain in your head although there is a small computer in there with it, and a set of lungs and a heart in your chest which are pumping blood and oxygen to your brain to keep it alive. Because you still have those you are very much alive.”

I let out a sigh of relief to know that I'm still in some way alive and not just a machine.

"Your mechanical body is also very unique, well to me it is. It seems like it was designed to emulate a living pony completely, because not only do you have your organic brain, heart and lungs but you also have synthetic organs. You have a synthetic stomach and intestinal tract, so you can still eat food like a normal pony but also I've discovered you can also eat metal and gems. You also seem to have a repair system built into your mechanical body similar to that of a Steel Ranger's armour so I believe that is why you can eat metal but also your power cells are very weak, won't last you for a week but its genius," He gushed. This pony seemed to know a lot about this. "Your body is designed to recharge itself from you eating food and gems on a regular basis. Whoever made you seemed to have designed you so you could blend in with the all organic ponies or zebras. I've never seen anything like you before, not even the ponies I've met from Stable 101 who are all big on cybernetic modification are anything like you. I learned a lot from those ponies and with how many cybernetic ponies I've met lately I'm glad I learned from them."

Well now I know why he knows so much about my mechanical parts. I have conflicting emotions right now. One part of me is sickened and horrified with what I've become while the other side is overjoyed that I'm still alive and healthy for once, and I suppose that side was winning as I couldn't help a small smile.

"Um thank you doctor for making sure that I'm ok, even though you cut me full of holes."

"No problem. I couldn't leave a helpless mare lying outside in the middle of the street like that."

I smiled a little brighter. He thankfully was like the doctors I used to know.

"Um, can you tell me what's happened please? When I was put into stasis none of this had happened, I mean the end of Equestria," I asked.

He frowned, and then recounted what he knew of the end of the war and Equestria itself. I listened and was horrified to know the whole country had been laid to waste along with Zebrica. I can't imagine how many ponies and zebras died that day. He went on to tell me that thousands survived in the Stables and that many did survive in the wasteland but then came the biggest shock since I found out I'm mostly machine. He told me it's been a hundred and ninety years, give or take a year or two since the bombs fell. That blew my original estimate out the water.

"A hundred and ninety years!" I screamed in complete shock and then I broke down for another round of crying, as that just confirmed that by now my mother is long dead.

"Hey what's the matter?"

"I thought I've been asleep for five or so years so there was a chance I could get home to my mum but now I know I have no chance of that since she'd have been dead for over a century," I cried. I feel like such a cry baby right now.

"I'm sorry," He said as he turned and trotted over to a locker and opened it. "So, what are you going to do now?" He asked as he rummaged about inside.

"I... I don't know," I answered. What am I to do now? I got no pony to go home to and no home to go back too. I'm totally alone out here and have nothing left. I looked down with a sigh and regarded my zebra body and I felt a surge of anger. There was something I could do. "Actually, I think I'd like to find out what happened to me."

"Oh and how are you going to do that?" He asked as he turned around, carrying a bungle on his back and trotted up to me.

"Well the last thing I remember before waking up here in Manehattan was going to sleep in my hospital room, in the Las Pegasus Fluttershy Hospital, so that's where I'll start."

"That's on the other side of the wasteland; there are a lot of dangers between here and there."

"Um, you wouldn't know a safe way back would you?"

"Actually, there is a train that still runs between the east and west. It's not entirely safe but, it’s quicker and safer than walking there. The train won't be here for another few days yet, but if finding out what happened to you is what you are going to do, then I'd suggest checking out the Ministry of Awesome hub here before the train arrives."

"Why the MoA hub?" I asked as he set the bundle on the table beside me.

"The Ministry of Awesome's insignia is etched onto your metal skeleton," He answered as he then patted the bundle. "Here, you might find these useful; you have a Stable-Tec Jumpsuit and a Pipbuck-3000 here. Dressing in this suit and wearing the pipbuck will help convince ponies you are a Stable-Dweller, and not just a random zebra. Most ponies still don't trust them much. They belonged to a Stable-Dweller who I was unfortunately unable to save. The pipbuck is a very useful tool and will help you greatly. Hmm, maybe I can directly integrate it into your system for easier control."

"What do you mean?" I asked as I slipped into the tight jumpsuit.

"I mean so you can control it with your mind as it'll be a part of your body with its direct link to your mechanical system. Your brain controls your body, and the automated systems will aid in your control, but you can still use it manually too."

"If you think it'll help me then sure."

"Ok, hold still," He said as he took a clean scalpel from a tray of tools and brought it to me left foreleg. I began to shiver as he brought the blade to me leg and then cut into me. I screamed in pain, and yanked my leg back as the small blade cut into my skin.

"That hurt," I cried.

"Remarkable, you can still feel pain," He then coughed. "Erm, well, I'm sorry I didn't mean to hurt you."

I held my foreleg as I watched blood seep from the cut. But after a few minutes, the pain subsided along with the blood flow. I've cut myself before from accidents, and they still hurt longer after I did them, but I can't feel this one at all right now.

"It doesn't hurt now, I can barely feel it."

He gently pressed the small cut, applying pressure and parting the wound until I let out a grunt as the pain returned.

"It seems you now have a high pain threshold. It's amazing she can still feel pain too."

I rolled my eyes as he spoke that last part quietly to himself.

"I can try again if you wish; I'll proceed slowly as to not overwhelm you"

I nodded and grit my teeth since I knew what to expect. He brought the blade to my flesh again and began to cut into my lower foreleg. I grit my teeth hard as my leg spiked in pain again as he cut a sizeable length, and using his magic, he pried the cut apart to expose the mechanical leg beneath. With the cut open, he brought the pipbuck over and opened the back panel connecting a wire to a port and then slipped the wire into the cut. I didn't watch, as watching him doing something inside an open wound like that was actually making me feel sick. Just feeling it in there was making me queasy. I felt a spark from my leg, and then my vision was awash with text until all that remained was a flashing line that read.

"Pipbuck system installed successfully."

"It worked!" I shrieked in surprise.

"Eyes Forward Sparkle acquired, initiating..." Another line said as it replaced the last and then I found a compass appear in the bottom left of my vision and a chart on the right with empty spaces below, but on top it had several bars with AP next to it. "Eyes Forward Sparkle installation complete. Thank you for choosing Stable-Tec."

"There, your pipbuck is online," The doctor said as he then fastened the device to my leg.

I cringed as the device squeezed my leg, and caused a slight rise in pain as it agitated the cut beneath it for a moment. "Thank you doctor," I groaned.

"Not a problem."

I gently pushed myself off the table and landed with a thud back on all four hooves.

"Oh and you weigh a hell of a lot by the way," The doctor whined from my heavy impact with the floor which caused the nearby shelves to rattle.

"Err, ok, um, thank you for helping me doctor."

"My pleasure, it's always good to help a pony in need... or in your case a bio-mechanoid zebra."

I smiled as I turned to leave.

"Oh wait here," He said getting my attention so I turned around to face him. He gave me a piece of paper with what looked like directions on them and then he gave me a pistol. It was a gun I recognised from some movies. A basic 9mm Pistol. "The directions are to the train station that'll take you back to Las Pegasus or as it's called today, New Pegasus, and the gun you will need for your protection. There is a lot out there that'll try to kill you, so be careful."

I nodded. "Thank you again. Good bye doctor."

"Take care, Crystal. Good luck."

I stopped and turned back to him with a sheepish grin. "Um, how do I get to the MoA hub?"

XXXXX

I looked around with more apprehension at the ruined city as I walked into the downtown district of Manehattan, where I would find Tenpony Tower. The doctor told me I'd find the MoA hub near by the tower. By now, it was the dead of night and to my surprise, a good portion of the streetlamps were working. I did notice several spark batteries connected to some of them as I passed. It's really odd and disturbing to see that this city still tried to live without ponies to maintain it. I came to an intersection and looked up at the rows of buildings ahead of me and saw one tower that still had lights on. The doctor had told me that Tenpony Tower is pretty much the only building still intact in this city and contained a pony settlement. I might be able to get some supplies while I'm there, that is if they let me in being a zebra and all. Ugh, I can see this becoming a problem in the future.

While I stared up at the tower in the distance I then noticed red bars appearing in my EFS compass along with the exclamation mark flashing above my AP metre. It was now I finally understood what the flashing exclamation mark is. It's a threat warning.

I quickly turned around and found a small group of ponies dressed similarly to the two stallions from earlier but in this group I could see mares along with them.

"Little Zebra, you killed two of my Raiders today. I can't have a cunt like you making us look bad," A large buff looking stallion said as he stepped forward. I gulped in fright and backed away as he advanced with his group behind him.

The large raider smiled darkly as he could read how scared I am with how wide my eyes are. "The bitch is scared. Awww," He taunted. He then unexpectedly stopped and looked up with his eyes growing wide. Against my better judgement I turned and looked as well only for my jaw to drop as I saw two balls of cackling green energy streaming right for us.