After figuring out how to pause the recording, the group took a moment to collect themselves on what they had discovered. Ignoring the fascination that they were learning about a different world for their project, they had learned of horrors and technology that were beyond anything they could ever dream up.
For Sandbar, he didn’t like how this world fell into corruption and greed. He also had a very negative view of humanity. They seemed more intent on building things for their own personal gain, or gain power without working for the betterment of their kind. Sure, maybe they weren’t all like that, but he still couldn’t forgive them for eating sentient beings like cows or even using his kind like a farm animal. Not mention causing a war that killed billions. What did happen to the ponies of this world? Did they get into the vaults too, or were they all killed in the Great War?
On the opposite mindset, Gallus and Smolder had a more positive view of humanity. Despite seeing such horrible traits, it was clear that the humans were warriors like their own species. They dominated their world with technological wonders and weapons that could rival even the legendary Elements of Harmony. Gallus was really interested in the robots as he dreamed about controlling such a force against his bullies back home. A good laser blast to the tail feathers for each of those swirlies they gave me.
Smolder, however, saw the humans as something to respect for the ingenuity and fighting spirit. Dragons had to fight it rough each day to survive in their lands, and it looked like these humans had to do the same thing as well. I wonder who would win in a fight? Dragons or humans?
Their eager note taker, Ocellus, had already burned through six pages writing down what she knew. Not only did the changeling feel confident about the grade she and her friends were going to get from this, but the fact she was learning something no average being knew about was exciting. Despite the grim situations she saw, Ocellus was determined to see more.
She wasn’t the only one. Silverstream had been just in awe of what she had seen. She had thought the surface of her world was amazing, but what the humans created was magical. While frightened a bit by the monstrous weapons designed by the humans, she was too into the fascinating wonders they had built such as the cars or inventions. Some of the pre-war buildings she saw could even rival the architecture back home. I wonder if Auntie Novo wouldn’t mind redecorating?
For the last one, well, Yona said it best when she shouted, “Yona wants to learn more. This fun to learn.”
“I guess we might as well continue,” Ocellus replied as she commanded it to continue.
Chapter 1: Vaults & Vault-Tec
“Isn’t Vault-Tec the group that made the vaults for the humans to survive?”
“Yeah, they sound like really good people if they managed to do that,” Silverstream said, sitting down in anticipation.
The first thing they saw was another nuclear explosion which made Smolder roll her eyes. “Yes, we get it. Big boom and all that. Seriously, how many times are we gonna see that?”
“It is getting a bit dull,” Ocellus admitted.
The narrator started the chapter by talking how the day that everyone feared had arrived. The bombs went off, and with it came a nightmare unlike anything ever seen. People from scientists to school children ducked under anything they could find near them from desks to cars. It made the six students wince to see so many lives futility trying to prevent their demise. No harder was this hit home then when they saw a couple in bed hide behind their blankets only to appear as burned skeletons moments later. All the six could do was hope their deaths were quick.
“Hey, Ocellus? Has anything like nuclear bombs ever be developed before?” Sandbar asked, keeping his eyes on the destruction in front of him.
“Not to my knowledge, but then again a lot of magic has been lost before. Most of it powerful stuff,” Ocellus answered with a nervous shake. “I just hope that if its as dangerous as these bombs it stays hidden forever.”
The others nodded in agreement before focusing back on the screen in front of them. The narrator went on to explain that any effort to escape the blasts were mostly in vain. The armies of the opposite sides mattered little anymore as destruction raged everywhere killing millions in seconds and billions more in the aftermath from something called radiation. No place was safe from it not even in the sky or the water. This made Silverstream gasp as she wondered if her home down in the ocean could survive such an event as this. If these nuclear weapons can even reach the sea, and poison the air, where would hippogriffs go to be safe?
“Could Equestria fix a land that’s been hit by a nuke?” Gallus asked to Sandbar. “You guys do know how to control nature to an extent. It sounds like this radiation thing poisons everything from the sky to the earth to the water itself.”
“I... don’t know...” Sandbar answered, biting his lip. “Maybe magic can do something to fix it...”
“Or it might not react at all to this radiation stuff,” Ocellus pointed out.
Sandbar shivered at the thought of something completely immune to magic and poison to everything it touches. I really hope we never build such horrible things in the future.
Fortunately, the narrator did tell them that certain safe areas outside of the blasts. The survivors would go on to find tribes that would make the first citizens of the new Wasteland. However, there were also those who were safe thanks to the Vaults; about a hundred thousands survivors chosen to live underground like Diamond Dogs.
“That enough for town in Yakyakistan” Yona exclaimed.
“Really? How many yaks can you fit in a town?” Gallus asked.
“Uh, a lot?”
The narrator explained how a few years after the war, some of the vaults opened up. The group saw males, females, children, and elderly of all kinds leave the vault and head out into a desert. The vaults were apparently scattered throughout the entire country with tales of them spreading as time went on. The screen showed two important humans, both male, dressed in fancy suits as they talked around what looked to be some kind of rec room designed inside one of the vaults. Just like the last time he mentioned it, the narrator said the US government and its elite knew the end times were coming. So they made plans to make sure that their citizens could survive in the upcoming event of total annihilation.
“Hey, why don’t we have a pool table?” Smolder asked, noticing it on screen.
“We have a pool, silly,” Silverstream answered with a giggle. “Although I don’t know why you want to put a table on it since it would sink.”
“Not that kind of pool. I’ll explain later,” Smolder said, rolling her eyes.
The vaults were sturdy stuff. Designed to withstand not only nuclear bombs, but every other disaster one could think of from meteorites to floods. Yet, despite the warning signs, most normal people didn’t believe such a war was coming. Thus, there were only a hundred or so vaults made with some even holding less of a population then intended. “Bah, these people idiots. When leaders say danger coming, you prepare for danger coming,” Yona proclaimed. “Talking voice right. These vault humans smarter.”
“I notice that this Vault 101 is getting a lot of attention on screen,” Ocellus pointed out as she saw it for the third time. “I wonder if it holds some significance?”
Inside the vaults, it was apparent that the designers at Vault-Tec designed their vaults to last a long time. Giant generators that were geothermal (a theory Ocellus said was about taking energy from underground heat), plenty of vegetation to plant and grow food, and a water purification system that came with a twist.
“Ew! They were drinking their own pee! Gross!” Ocellus shouted as the others made a disgusted face except for Silverstream.
“Why is that gross?” the hippogriff asked.
“Uh, because your drinking the same water you go to the bathroom in?” Gallus pointed out.
“So? Hippogriffs do it all the time,” Silverstream replied.
The others paused as they had to remember again that their friend had lived underwater her entire life. There really wasn’t much of a need for toilets in a place that was one hundred percent H2O. “Uh, Silverstream, where do you go to the bathroom?” Ocellus asked, closing her eyes in hoping the answer wasn’t gross.
Her hope went unanswered as Silverstream replied with a smile. “Oh, I just go outside in the water that leads to school. Why?”
“The same water we sometimes swim in for fun?”
“Yup! That’s the one!”
The others quickly turned green.
“I need to take a shower now!” Gallus and Sandbar shouted at the same time as they struggled to get into the shower in their dorm room first. They shut the door as the sound of their tussle could be heard from outside.
“Me/Yona too!” the girls shouted as they ran out of the room leaving a confused Silverstream to wonder what she did wrong.
***
After washing their bodies repeatedly, (As well as the two boys swearing to never talk about sharing a shower again) the group first told Silverstream to properly use a toilet from now on while also making plans to never visit her home in the future. In an attempt to push what had just happened from their minds, the group refocused their attention on the screen.
In addition to the basics needed for survival, the vaults were designed to be comforting as well such as diners to hang out at, advanced medical supplies, and good food. It was an exact opposite from the surface world as they saw the ruins and devastation above after the bombs fell. Many had died from radiation, injuries, illnesses, and violence. The only problems the vaults seem to have was being clustered as evidenced by one of the darker skinned humans watching in amusement from his bed as others tried to share a single bed despite being four people. It made the group laugh at the sight, something they welcomed after seeing the previous destruction.
“Reminds me of home,” Yona replied with a melancholy sigh. “Always fighting to get best place to sleep. Sometimes Yona forced to sleep outside at night. Yona love pony beds. Very bouncy!” She said this as she jumped up and down on Sandbar’s mattress.
The leaders of the vaults were called Overseers. They had complete control over every decision for the vaults. Almost like a mayor, only with more power. He then explained that after ten years, the radiation from the bombs began to fade away from most of the country which meant that it was soon time to rebuild society and start anew. Vault-Tec had prepared them for anything that could have happened in the new devastated world as well as gave knowledge of the old world for them to use. Although only Gallus found an appreciation for the multiple ideas on how to cook and eat rats. Mmm, I miss Rat Veal.
“Maybe these humans learned from their mistakes? I mean it took ponies their near extinction to come together in harmony,” Sandbar said with hope. “Who can say it couldn’t happen to them?”
“If that’s true, why is it still called The Wasteland?” Smolder asked, scoffing at the optimism. “I have a feeling things are still rough out there.”
Her suspicions proved correct as the narrator explained how the Wasteland was indeed a harsh place to live in. He pointed out that if the pre-war days were such a golden era for humanity, the apocalypse wouldn’t have happened. No, it had just as many bad apples then as it did in the current Wasteland. And Vault-Tec was no exception.
“Wait, what?” the others all said upon hearing this.
“... I have a bad feeling about this,” Ocellus replied upon hearing that the so called saviors of humanity weren’t as noble as they believed.
The narrator mention a paradise city called Vault City which was able to become what it was thanks to some kind of device that was given to the residents of Vault 8 called the Garden of Eden Creation Kit or G.E.C.K. Unfortunately, this was only given to a few rare vaults because the truth of the vaults had made each of the six drop their jaws.
The vaults, and all those involved, were part of one large series of experiments. Each sabotaged or given special conditions to see how the human psyche could react in such situations before it cracked.
“What the what?” Smolder whispered in disbelief. “That’s just sick!”
“Experiments? Like lab rats? Why would you do that to your own people?!” Silverstream shouted in disbelief.
“Yona would never be experiment!”
The ones behind all of this were none other then the very leaders who promised to save them. They saw what looked like contamination suit wielding humans in front of a giant tube that had a living brain in it much to their disgust. These so called elite had their own safe houses, protected and working of course, where they monitored all the vaults to see how their experiments were doing. The excuse was to rebuilt society by seeing how they could monitor the human mind, but in the eyes of the others it was just a farce to play god.
There were entire vaults sealed for generations by orders of Vault-Tec. Not designed to open for eighty years, hundreds, or even never. Entire generations of humans never seeing the surface world once in their entire lives. None of them could image such a thing. No touching the soft earth. No flying in the skies. Not even swimming in the ocean. Ever.
I’d go insane trying to break free, they all thought at the same time.
Other vaults had experiments that just made them sick to their stomachs like a thousand man with only one woman. The grasp of how bad this situation was hit home upon seeing the female cornered by a bunch of men, looking at her with lust in their eyes.
“Oh god, does that imply what I think it implies?” Sandbar asked, tearing his eyes away from the screen.
“I think it does... bastards...” Smolder growled. If it was her in there she’d fight every last one of them so they didn’t touch her.
“Yona don’t get it. Just find it silly. Why it bad?” Yona asked innocently.
“We’ll... tell you later,” Ocellus answered.
The screen then showed a thousand women with one man who looked like had hit the lottery. Gallus couldn’t help but chuckle. “Well, someone sees to be happy.”
“Yeah, but think of it this way,” Ocellus replied, narrowing her eyes. “That single man and woman in those vaults? They’re the only ones who are key to breeding a new generation. That woman would have to deal with being the mother of all those men’s breed while the male has to be the father of all the women’s children. Now imagine that?”
“... I am, and now I’m thinking of going celibate.”
The weirdest one had to be the one where it was just one man .Nobody else. No other humans. Only a box of puppets for him to use forever. Gallus shivered. “I hate puppets. So creepy. Imaging having to spend years with them as companions? I’d go mad.”
“I think that’s the point,” Silverstream answered, shaking her head. “I was really hoping Vault-Tec wasn’t this...”
“Evil?” Smolder suggested.
“Well, I don’t know about evil,” Silverstream started until the video mentioned one vault being a holographic world. All to the amusement of a sick minded Vault-Tec employee who wanted to be a god and torture the simulations occupants with endless death and rebirth. “Never mind. Evil it is.”
“Seriously, what the actual buck is all this?! What kind of sick leaders would do something like this to their own people?! And what happened to the cows and ponies?! Did they make it out alive as well?” Sandbar asked, growling as he stomped the floor. “Damnit! Everyone of these bastards are just a bunch of greed selfish flankholes!”
He gasped for breath as his friends just stared at him with wide eyes. Usually, Sandbar was the most relaxed out of all of them. To see him like this was a bit unsettling to say the least.
“Geez, dude. You never get this angry on... anything,” Gallus pointed out, eyebrow raised.
“I know... it’s just this... this is just so... wrong,” he emphasized, holding his hooves to his face as he looked ready to cry. “How could a world like this even exist? How can you even save a world like this?”
None of them had answers, but Ocellus walked over and patted his back. Looking up, he saw her smile and blushed a bit as she said, “Hey, I know how you feel, but we need to learn this. Not only for our project, but also maybe to learn from their mistakes. I don’t know if we’ll ever get to the point of such a great disaster, but we need to know about this for everyone’s sake.” She then held his hoof. “Of course, if you want we can take a break. I don’t mind.”
He stared at their hooves touching and shook his head. “Nah, I just needed to vent. You’re right, let’s continue.”
The two nodded and went back to watching, but a little closer to each other much to their friends amusement. The narrator pondered the question of whether or not the vault dwellers knew they were nothing but tools for Vault-Tec. Did they know that their lives meant nothing? That the problems they had to deal with were deliberate and not accidental? The others hoped they did and managed to either break free or get revenge on Vault-Tec for what they went through. The narrator said it was unknown if the elites managed to get any useful data from all this, but as Gallus put it, “Whatever they gained they can shove it up their butts.”
Still, despite the suffering, the vaults did open and others escaped into the Wasteland. Trading one living nightmare for another, yet there were apparently people of importance who managed to do great things in the Wasteland. Such as one vault dweller who managed to bring clean water back to the former capital area of the country.
“Well, I guess the vaults were good for something if there were good people that came out of it,” Smolder admitted.
“I wonder who this hero is?” Ocellus asked, rubbing her quill under her chin. “Creating the means to have clean water in a place whose water is poisoned would be a miracle to these people.”
“I’m sure we’ll learn about him in the future if he’s that important,” Sandbar said, with a sigh of relief. “I’m just glad there are some good people in this Celestia forsaken world.”
While it was possible to get advance tech and equipment from the vaults, which would be useful in the Wasteland, the narrator warned them of the dangers that came out of them. Including the Super Mutants. The group gasped upon seeing one in one of the tanks being controlled by the suited up scientist. It was green, big, and nasty looking. It reminded them of the ogres they read in class one time. The size and angry expression they saw made each of them back away a bit, gulping at the thought of facing such dangerous creatures.
“Yona not scared. M-m-me can beat green giant,” Yona argued, but she was still shaking.
Her shaking only increased when she saw the next scene that looked like the entrance to an underground vampire’s mansion. The skull up top didn’t really help calm any of them down, as they learned it was the home of ghouls that once lived in Vault 12. Their vault didn’t close all the way, exposing them to radiation which turned them from human to the undead looking abominations.
Still, most people stayed away from the vaults or used ones that were known to be safe. To the groups surprised, they saw what looked like a city (yet clearly needing some renovation work) with bright lights and everything. Casinos were seen as well as a giant sign that said “Vault 21 Hotel”.
“Wait, they took one of the underground shelters designed to save humanity and turn it into a hotel? Ha! I like it,” Gallus replied, grinning.
“Ohh, so many pretty lights! What is this New Vegas place?” Silversteam asked, wide eyed at all the dazzling sights.
“I’m sure we’ll learn about it in the future too,” Smolder replied. “Although, I don’t see what so great about a... woah...”
The six began to blush as they saw what kind of a hotel this one was. Near naked female humans, dressed in the most scantily clad of underwear were shaking and dancing rather... erotically for some male humans. The underwear was something you would see in the red lantern district of Canterlot, only there seemed to be added stuff to cover the teats too. Gallus and Sandbar couldn’t help but... stare at the rump shaking in front of them. Even if they werent the same species they weren’t half bad looking. They stared for a long time, taking notice of everything until the girls smacked sense into them.
“Oww, come on. I was just... paying close attention to what we were learning,” Gallus replied, rubbing his head.
“Oh, I’m sure it was very educational,” Smolder snorted.
“Wait... New Vegas... Las Pegasus.... Am I the only one seeing a connection?” Sandbar pointed out.
“Yes, I suppose even in a Wasteland you need a place for males to piss their money away for drinks and whores,” Ocellus replied, huffing with her cheeks pouted out as she glared at Sandbar who just looked away with a red face.
The screen changed (Much to Gallus disappointment) to show another hidden vault. Even after so many vaults it turned out that there were still some hidden away. Ready to be opened. That could mean entire generations of people were still unground. Descendants of the survivors of the end of the world.
“Imagine if Equestria had built such things? I wonder how that would be?” Sandbar pondered.
“Eh, I couldn’t see it unless you guys got into a major war with some faction or another,” Smolder answered.
Speaking of factions, the narrator went on to explain how the citizens of these locked vaults would find out just how different the world 200 years after the Great War. Like who was in charge or trying to take charge. And those in charge might want to use them for their own gain. Yes, the vaults had goods and technology, but the dwellers were the only ones currently in the world who had a pure gene-pool untouched by radiation.
“So? What does genes have to do with anything?” Gallus asked.
“Genes important. Strong genes make strong children for yaks. Make all yaks stronger as a result,” answered Yona.
“Huh, I think that actually makes sense,” Ocellus thought out loud.
Yaks weren’t the only ones to think so, because apparently there were those in the Wasteland who thought the same thing. They watched as the screen changed into a dark shadowy figure that seemed to be a series of machines, computers, and... flesh?
Whoever it was, or whatever it was, it was a story for another day.