• Published 3rd Oct 2014
  • 1,160 Views, 9 Comments

Fallout Equestria: Tactics - lordlaneus



Driven from his home in Stable 16 due to a combination of superstion and bad luck, Scouts Honor now has to survive in the harsh enviroment of the Equestrian wasteland.

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Into the Abyss

Chapter 2: Into the Abyss

“She might banish you from Equestria. Or throw you in a dungeon. Or banish you and then throw you in a dungeon in the place that she banishes you to!”

Darkness.

It was everywhere. Everything. I could feel it closing in all around me, squeezing the air out of my lungs, and sapping every bit of the strength that Jubilee had inspired in me.

Jubilee...

She wasn’t really gone though, was she? In reality she was just a few feet away. The thought somehow made me feel even worse. My mind recalled a story I’d heard of a pony who was cursed by Magic to eternally stand neck deep in a pool of water. Whenever she bent down to drink, the water level would recede to just below her muzzle, leaving her in perpetual, agonizing thirst.

No! That wasn’t me. I wasn’t here forever. One week. That was it. Just seven days and I was done. One week and I would see Jubliee again. One week and I would be welcomed back into the Stable. One week and everything would be normal again. One week.

With renewed determination, I re-assessed my situation. Problem: it’s too dark. Solution: activate my PipBuck light. See, Scout? Things are simple when you don’t panic.

-Click-

The light wasn’t particularly powerful, but in the absolute darkness it seemed as bright as the main atrium lights. The architecture of the under-Stable was similar to rest of the Stable except for the numerous metallic struts and the increased number of conspicuous welds and bolts. Clearly this area hadn’t been constructed for aesthetic appeal. From where I stood there were only two visible paths, and one of them was currently obstructed by the
Overmare’s desk. I took a breath and began walking.

The path quickly came to a fork, then another, and another. I was beginning to worry about finding my way back to the Overmare’s office, but I set my anxiety aside. I wouldn’t have to worry about that until tomorrow when I needed to collect the provisions Jubiler would leave for me. In the mean time, I might as well continue exploring my new surroundings.

The under-Stable was filled with strange machines I couldn’t identify. Each made distinct noises that ranged from quiet humming to deafening screeches. I generally avoided the louder machines, but appreciated them as navigational tools.

Regardless of how loud a room was, I made of point of visiting each and every one I came across at least once. The odds were slim that I would ever return here, and I wanted to see everything there was to see. One room contained six loud devices that were constantly shooting sparks back and forth between each other.

In another particularly cruel room, there was a large metal cylinder that gave off the sound of rushing water. Despite my best efforts, I was unable to determine whether or not the machine actually contained water. The sound of water made me acutely aware of my thirst. After several minutes of fruitless effort, I quit trying to access the machine. Even if I could open it up, I didn’t actually know if there would be any water inside. Also the tape had said that the under-Stable was vital for keeping the rest of the Stable running, so it would probably be a bad idea to break anything down here.

I did however make one exception to my policy of exploration when I came across a door marked with a strange yellow and black symbol. The sign was intriguing, but when I approached, my PipBuck began clicking and one of its previously useless dials began to move. I came to the conclusion that this was either a good sign or -- more likely -- an extremely bad one. I decided not to take the risk.

After hours had passed, and I had failed to find anything even remotely soft, I ultimately settled for curling up in the corner of a quieter room. It was far from cozy, but I would have to do.

***

I waited patiently at the bottom of the Overmare's tunnel. A sliver of light appeared then grew into a crescent as the Overmare’s desk slid out of the way. The widening beam of light revealed a silhouette standing at the top of the stairs. “Jubilee!” I called out.

“No,” came the reply. As my eyes adjusted to the light, I saw for myself that this wasn’t Jubilee. She had a blue coat and a well kept mane of brilliant gold. Her cutie mark was a familiar pattern of a dot inside a circle sitting atop three horizontal lines. I was looking upon the face of Stable herself. I instinctively bowed before the goddess.

Stable responded, "Please, Magic, save your false humility."

Wait, What?

"B- but, I'm not Magic," I protested.

"Silence!" She bellowed, "I will have none of your tricks. I do not know how you breached my inner sanctum, but I will not allow you to corrupt my children."

She stomped her hoof and the patch of floor I was standing on suddenly liquified. Before I had time to react I had sunk down to my knees. “Please! I’m not Magic, I’m Scouts Honor. I’m Scouts Honor!”

“No. You are a liar, and an imposter,” Stable stated coldly, before turning and walking away.
The last thing I heard before my head fell beneath the surface was the sound of Jubilee’s voice saying, “I trusted you…”

***

I awoke with a start.

My heart was racing. It had just been a dream. Just a dream. It didn’t even make sense anymore. I knew from the tape that the Stable wasn’t a sentient entity. It had been designed and built by ponies, and if Stable didn’t really exist, then how much of the story of her and Magic could possibly be true? I reviewed the tale in my mind.

In the beginning there was Harmony. Everything, and everypony existed in perfect balance, just as they always had, and just as they were intended to forever. For this was the will of the Stable. But then somehow a pony known as Magic upset this balance. At first Magic was no more clever, stronger or wiser, than any other being, because at this time all were equal. But then somehow, by some fluke, Magic discovered a flaw in the Stable’s plan, a mysterious secret that allowed him to elevate himself above all others. His ascension was by no means drastic. In fact it was so minor that at first the Stable failed to notice the divergence from her plan. But this slight imperfection in the natural order was enough for Magic to exploit in his pursuit of power. Magic knew that he would never be able to become strong enough to overthrow the Stable by himself, so instead he his focused efforts on performing supposed miracles that appeared to improve the lives of any who would follow him, never letting them see the true cost of his actions. He preached that the Stable was a tyrant enforcing a regime of stagnation, but that through him the world could progress, and become a better place for all who inhabited it. At this point the Stable recognized the threat, but could not bring herself to strike down her own creations. Instead she futilely tried to restore her perfect balance. But an object once cracked can never be put right again, so while the Stable struggled in vain, Magic continued to amass power. When the Stable finally saw that hope was lost, she did the only thing she could, she found the few ponies least contaminated by Magic's influence and took them into her bosom. There the Stable could keep them safe and pure while she waited for Magic to inevitably destroy himself.

Considering my new evidence, the story seemed ridiculous, but I couldn’t help remembering what had happened in the atrium. If I could break the natural order by making a die ignore gravity, then that seemed to lend credence to the theory that a figure like Magic really did exist, and had done the same. What if I had discovered this ability while I was by myself, kept it a secret, and learned to control it? Would my slight advantage of being immune to having dice thrown at my head somehow allow me to overthrow Jubilee and end up accidentally destroying the entire stable? This seemed unlikely.

But then again, the stable wasn’t the perfectly even playing field in which Magic had supposedly lived. And besides, the story never specified precisely what Magic could do. His advantage could easily have been greater than mine. In fact, I couldn’t think of any potential advantage that would be smaller than the ability to catch dice. Such a random ability too, I wonder-

~Gurgle~

My rumbling stomach interrupted my train of thought. I would have to attend to my hunger before I could make any more progress in questioning everything I’d ever known. I began to make my way back to the under-stable’s entrance. The previous night’s exploration had granted me a surprisingly workable understanding of the under-stable’s layout, and I was able to navigate back to the Overmare’s tunnel with only minor difficulty.
When I arrived, I was disappointed to find that Jubilee hadn’t left anything for me yet. Understandable; it was still early morning, and she didn’t know I had missed lunch. Disappointed and hungrier than ever, I continued my exploration of the under-stable.

The under-stable seemed smaller than it had when I'd first arrived. Most the rooms I came across were ones that I had already explored the previous night, but a few were new. One such room was notable for being noticeably a few degrees warmer than the rest of the under-stable. Apart from the entrance, its walls were tiled with large heat emitting devices, four more of which formed an island in the center of the room. The ceiling was adorned with several loud spinning pieces of metal. Behind each of the whirling devices was a tube leading to some well lit area. Then I noticed a humble computer terminal attached to the back side of the island in the center of the room. I could communicate with the rest of the stable!

No.

That would be a bad idea. I didn’t know how Jubilee was handling things up there, but odds were good that it wouldn’t help my situation if I reemerged early via computer. At the very least, I could still look at other ponies’ public correspondences to try and get a grasp on how close they were to forgiving me. I nervously approached the console. Wait. This wasn’t an ordinary terminal.

ROBRONCO PRIMARY MAINFRAME TERMINAL
TIME SINCE LAST NETWORK REFORMAT 17 HOURS, 9 MINUTES.
>

Stupid computer. I was trying not to think about how long it had been since I’d last eaten, but now that this computer had told me, the pangs started to hit me with full force. I decided to stay the course and keep fiddling with the computer for the sake of distraction.
The terminal wasn’t connected to the stable’s public communication system, so my idea to monitor my public image was a bust, but the terminal did have access to numerous other files with strange names. Wait, where had these files come from? The terminal itself said that everything had been erased a short seventeen hours ago. Could these possibly be persistent files?

Had I not been in the early stages of dehydration, my mouth would have been watering. I opened one file at random called ‘PRIMARY REACTOR BASELINE OUTPUT LEVELS.’ The screen filled with numbers I couldn’t make heads or tails of. Even though the information was unintelligible to me, I decided to download the entire database to my PipBuck. I doubted I would ever be able to convince the Overmare to let me share them, but then again, if I could, Porkpie would give a leg for them. I suddenly realized that I wouldn’t be able to find out the results of Porkpie’s experiment for another six days. Unless….

I began scrolling through the list of files until I managed to find what I was looking for, a file marked ‘STABLE RESIDENTS NUTRITIONAL RATIONS.’ I opened the file and scrolled down to resident four hundred thirteen. Sure enough, it displayed that I had used one of my six rations yesterday, and none today. Porkpie was right, there really was a persistent storage accessible through the food dispensers. I noticed Porkpie had already used up four of his rations that morning -- made sense considering he had given away his dinner the previous day.

I attempted to vicariously alleviate my hunger by resetting Porkpie’s rations. Just because I was starving didn’t mean he shouldn’t eat like a king. However, when I attempted to change the data, I was prompted for an administrator password. My best guess, ‘PASSWORD,’ was predictably rejected. Figured.

I scrolled through the database for a while longer until my growling stomach compelled me to check the staircase.

Nothing. I decided to just lie down on the stairs and wait. This way, when Jubilee dropped off my rations I would get a chance to see her and get the food and water immediately. Really, I should have done this from the beginning; there would be plenty of time to explore the under-stable on a full stomach. I rested my head against the stairs and waited.

***

I didn’t remember falling asleep, but I must have since I woke up starving. I checked my PipBuck. It had been forty-six hours since I’d last eaten. I realized that I had to face the possibility that Jubilee wouldn’t come, though I refused to consider why. The important thing was that I had to get water somehow which meant I had to get back up into the Stable. I wasn’t dying. I could probably hold out for another day, but I only had one idea for making my return, and if I waited any longer I might not have the strength for it.

I returned to the room with the terminal and turned my gaze towards the ceiling. If I could get past one of those spinning things, I could try to shimmy my way up one of the tubes. I didn’t know where they led, but hopefully it would be an improvement. If not… well going down the tube would be significantly easier.

I used the terminal, as a hoofhold to climb on top of the island. Balancing on my hind legs, I was just able to reach the spinning blades. The blades weren’t moving all that fast, but the edges looked sharp enough to easily slice through my leg even at their moderate pace. The obvious solution would have been to jam the blades with something rigid, but based on my exploration, the under-stable didn’t seem to contain anything that wasn’t either bolted to the floor or too heavy to lift. I’d have to do this without any tools. The blades seemed to be held in place by a single bolt at their center. The bolt was rotating with the blades, and it was even going counter-clockwise from my perspective, which meant that if I had had pliers I could have just held the bolt in place and let it unscrew itself. Unfortunately, I didn’t. I saw the obvious answer. I didn’t like it, but I saw it.

Alright on the count of three.

“One.” I mentally braced myself for what was about to come. It would hurt. Probably a lot. No, definitely a lot. But then again so did the lack of water and that was only going to get worse. Really, the key difference between the two options was that this one would be over in a few seconds, but dying from dehydration would be agonizingly slow, and would have the permanent, irreversible consequence of my being dead.

"Two.” I stretched closer to the bolt so that my muzzle was almost touching it. Was I really about to do this? This is crazy! There had to be a better solution, and even if there wasn’t there was no harm looking for a bit longer. But just as I was about to back out, I felt my mouth begin to form the final numeral.

“Three!” I bit down on the bolt. The metal ground against my teeth. Damnit! It was still spinning. I would have let go, but I knew that I wouldn’t be able to work up the nerve to try this again. My entire mind was screaming for me get this spinning hexagon of pain as far away from my mouth as possible, but I defiantly focused all of my attention on tightening my jaw. To an outside observer, the entire affair would have only lasted a few seconds, but for me it seemed an eternity before I finally felt the sweet sensation of the bolt beginning to give.

I pulled back and let out the scream I had been suppressing. I was still screaming when the metal blades fell to the ground with a deafening crash that echoed around the room, drowning out my own prolonged shriek. I was wrong about the pain being over in a few seconds. I could still feel the bolt throbbing in my mouth. Probing the area with my tongue revealed a disconcerting wiggle in several of my teeth. Hopefully it wasn’t anything that an Auto-Doc couldn’t fix.

I wrapped my hooves around the beam that had been supporting the spinning blades, and hoisted myself up. Under normal circumstances I probably wouldn’t have been able to manage this feat of strength, but my blood was still running hot from my recent dental trauma. I managed to get myself perched on the cross beam, and got my first good look at the tube. It looked like it extended straight up for maybe a hundred feet. I braced myself against the sides, took a deep breath, and began to climb.

***

Progress was slow and strenuous, but it gave me a chance to think. Priority one was getting back to the stable, then get something to eat, and more importantly drink. After that I would speak to Jubilee and find out what had happened, and then I could go directly to medical and have one of the Auto-Docs take a look at my teeth. Wait. No. Hunger was clouding my judgment. Speaking to Jubilee was clearly a higher priority than sustenance. I had to avoid being seen by anyone until Jubilee gave me the all-clear.

My inner monologue was cut short by the top of the tube, and more importantly by the heavy iron grate that impeded my progress towards… Hmm… I wasn’t actually sure. There was light coming through but all I could see from my current vantage point was more iron. I heard the sound of flowing air. Wherever it lead, the grate returned my throbbing limbs to the forefront of my mind. It’s one thing to ignore pain when you have a clear plan to alleviate it, but that reprieve vanished in the face of this new obstacle.

The grate looked sturdy. It would have been difficult to break through, even if all four of my legs weren’t presently occupied with the arduous task of holding me in place. The grate was secured by several screws. The screws were far too small for me to grip with my mouth even if I could somehow position myself to reach them. My plan wouldn’t work. I’d have to descend back down to the under-stable. And then what? Hope I didn’t starve? If I went down now, I wouldn’t be able to get back up. So what? There wasn’t anything I could do up here anyway. I didn’t want to admit that all of that effort had been a waste, but what I was willing to admit, had little to do with what was or wasn’t a waste. I sighed, and rearranged my limbs to prepare for the slide back to the under-stable. But then, a thought occurred.

Somewhere in my head, some lazy part of mind suddenly bolted awake and began screaming a realization with all the volume it could muster. Within moments every one my mental faculties were focused on a single thought: ‘Who said I can only manipulate dice?’ My mind raced trying to unravel the meaning and implications of this revelation.

Could I manipulate anything I wanted? No that would be impossible. But floating dice were also impossible. Surely limitless mind powers are somehow more impossible than a momentary lapse in physics. No, degrees of impossibility don’t even make sense. Either something can be done or it can’t be done. There was a clear line between the two. A line that I have already crossed. Anything that happens must, by definition, be possible, a rule which now somehow applies to the impossible. But that in and of itself is impossible!

This line of reasoning was getting me nowhere and there was an obvious experiment to settle the matter. I focused on a screw and put every ounce of my concentration that wasn’t preoccupied by my aching limbs into making it turn. I gave up after several seconds of grunting and scowling.

This result was at best inconclusive. Assuming I did have the ability to bend the rule of reality to my will, it would still have been incredibly optimistic to think I could master it in just a few seconds. I owed it to myself to try a least one other approach before abandoning the entire enterprise to go waste away in a hole.

I thought back to incident with the die. I had caught it without thinking, but at the same time, on the subconscious level, the die had been the center of my attention. How was I supposed to replicate that? Well come to think of it, that’s not too different from how you control any other part of your body. No matter how hard you concentrate you can’t think your legs into motion, you have to will them into motion.
Alright take two.

I closed my eyes and pictured the screw in my mind. I visualized the small piece of metal twisting itself free. I mentally mapped out every minute detail of what needed to be done. Then, in a brief instant, I willed it to happen.

And it worked. I knew it had. Even without any visual evidence, the surge of energy I felt in my horn was a dead give away. I opened my eyes anyway to see the screw engulfed in silver light make one final rotation, before the light faded, and the screw fell to the bottom of the tube, landing after a few seconds with a satisfying clink. I should have been stunned, but something about the experience felt so natural, so right, that it was hard to view it as anything other than how things were supposed to be. I felt as if I had been blind for my entire life and was finally seeing for the first time. It was exhilarating to say the least.

I gleefully turned my attention to the remaining five screws. Each screw came out more easily than the last, I even managed to remove the final two simultaneously. I retract my previous simile: this wasn’t seeing for the first time, this was running full speed, with the wind in your mane, after a lifetime of paralysis.

With the screws gone, it took only moderate effort to lift the grate and slide it out of the way. At the top of the tube there was a small metal room, barely large enough to contain me comfortably, even ignoring the pony sized hole in floor I had entered through. I lay down on my side, hugging the outside wall. The position wasn’t strictly speaking comfortable, but my aching body was glad for the rest regardless. The room was lit by small slits in each of the walls. The box was welded together, which ruled out the possibility of utilizing my new found skill. The walls seemed pretty flimsy though. Even I could probably just kick them apart. Let the stable worry about repairing itself.

The hole in the center of the room made it difficult to line up my kick, but with a little finagling I managed to find a suitable position. I leaned forward and shot by hind legs towards the wall. A quick glance over my shoulder revealed a sizable dent. Two bucks later, the wall came free. I climbed through the makeshift exit, and found myself-

What.

I closed my eyes and calmly counted to three before reopening them. When the scene remained unchanged, my mind begrudgingly attempted to process it.

I was nowhere. Weird brown stuff below me. Weirder grey stuff above me. An infinite expanse in all other directions. Nope, nope, nope. I reject this. This place didn't exist. I wasn't there. Things can’t just go on forever, that wasn’t possible- No, dammit! I was not going down that path again.

The mere sight of the infinite abyss made me sick to my stomach; I curled up in a quivering ball. I barely resisted the urge to jump head first back down the tube. On some level I knew that this was progress. But my rational side was only able to argue my terror to a literal stand still.

***

After a few hours of petrified quivering, I realized I was going to die there, completely alone, and literally in the middle of nowhere. It wasn’t fair. I had made the most amazing discovery of life, only to die a miserable few hours later. What was the point of that? What was the point of anything? Soon I’d be dead. So what? That was always how my life was going to end no matter what happened. What did a few extra cycles of life matter when compared the countless ones I would spend dead?

Unconsciousness began to take me. I knew that I probably wouldn’t wake up again, but even so, I couldn't muster the effort, or even the desire, to fight it. I closed my eyes and embraced the darkness.

-drip-

What? I though I felt a drop of water hit my snout. I was hoping for peaceful passing, undisturbed by hallucination. I would prefer to go without the phantasms of loved ones and bright white lights.

-drip-

Okay, that one was definitely real. I lifted my head and looked around. Water was falling from the nowhere above. This was the precise moment I gave up trying to figure out the difference between the the possible and impossible, and decided to just take miracles at face value.

I held my mouth skyward, catching every drop I could. At first the scarce amount of water only served to highlight my thirst, but the dripping quickly turned into torrent capable of at least partially satiating it. Access to water bought me some time. I would still need to find food, but my hunger was nowhere near a severe as my thirst had been. But more importantly, I was alive and planned to stay that way.

Not dealing with imminent dehydration made everything seem brighter. Or maybe everything actually was brighter. When I had first come up it had been brighter than the under-stable, but I had still needed my PipBuck light. This was no longer the case. I switched off the light and surveyed my surroundings. I was currently standing on a massive mound of the soft, now soggy, brown stuff. There were other mounds, but the one I was standing on was by far the largest. I scanned the ground for anything that might give me a hint as to which direction I should go, but there wasn’t much to see other than the brown floor, and grey ceiling. Wait. I noticed an inlet in the side of the mound. Lacking any other leads, I decided to investigate.

The opening contained a door made of a material I didn't recognize, and surrounded by a wall made of wire. To my surprise the door was unlocked. It lead to a narrow passage that sloped downwards into the mound. The floor of the cave was suspiciously smooth compared to the jagged walls and ceiling. This lead me to believe it had been intentionally made flat for the sake of easy traversal. I eagerly started my descent.

I can not express how comforting it was to be back in a finite space. Locations should always have boundaries, that just made sense. The tunnel grew steadily darker until I was forced to reactivate my PipBuck light. My heart skipped a beat at what I saw. Just a few yards in front of me, the jagged cave walls were suddenly interrupted by the orderly stable architecture that I was accustomed to. In the center of this, there was an enormous gear emblazoned with the ever familiar numeral, sixteen. This was definitely progress.

The console standing to the side of the gear only had a single lever. My course of action was clear. I tentatively extended my hoof to grasp the handle, then paused for a moment. If I was lucky, and I mean extremely lucky, this might just be the end to all of my problems. First my amazing new abilities, then the water from nowhere, I just prayed that miracles really did come in threes. I nervously pulled the lever.

A red light lit up on the console, and the chamber reverberated with the sound of a buzzer. The buzzer was soul-crushing, but my immediate attention was captured by what I heard next. Hoofbeats.

I turned around to see an equine figure standing just outside the range of my light. “Thank Stable, you found me!” I called out, “I haven’t eaten in days. Can you help me get back inside?” The figure approached, and let out a hoarse growl. “Oh, um…,” I mumbled. “I’m sorry, did the buzzer wake you up? I didn’t mean to… ” That’s when I saw her face, at least what was left of it.

The pony was missing large strips of flesh, her coat was almost completely missing, and the skin she had left was discolored. If I had been thinking clearly, I would have probably tried to find out what was wrong with her, but this particular moment was the most terrifying I had ever experienced. Fortunately, this also happened to be one of the few times when my fear was proposing a better course of action than my logic; I bolted for the exit.
Back in the stable, I had come in dead last in every race I’d ever run, but in that moment I probably could have set the record for the hundred yard gallop. Unfortunately, the other pony’s screams weren’t getting any further away. I was almost at the surface. If I could just get the door closed behind me, I could hold it shut until I figured something out, or my pursuer got bored. Just another thirty feet. Twenty. Ten. I dived through the door and slammed it behind me.

It didn't shut.

The other pony had gotten a hoof into the door frame. I frantically tried to shove her flailing limb back inside. I felt a sharp pain in my leg. She bit me! I recoiled from the door in pain, and instantly realized my mistake. The crazed pony burst through the door. I ignored the immense amounts of pain, and the blood coming from my leg and kept running as fast I could. I had barely been able to outrun her before, and now that I had an injured leg, she caught me easily, and took a gaping bite out my hind legs. I collapsed onto the ground. Flight was out, which only left me with fight. I repeatedly flung my hooves into her as hard as I could. She was unfazed by the assault, I on the other hand was accumulating bite wounds at an alarming rate.

For the second time that day I realized I was going to die, though this time around the loss of blood prevented me from descending into another philosophical sinkhole. The edges of my vision were going black, and I was losing feeling in my limbs. When my desperate flailing subsided to wooziness, my attacker lunged at my throat for the killing blow.

*BANG!*

The last thing I saw before falling into unconsciousness was her head exploding into a spray of giblets and thick red paste.

Miracle number three.

---------
Footnote: Level up!
New Perk Added: Intense Training-- The harsh trials that you've faced in the Equestrian wasteland have granted you a permanent +1 to endurance.
---------

Author's Note:

Remember to send any comments, question, compliments or complaints to FoE.Tactics@gmail.com

Seriously, any and all feedback is immensely appreciated.