Chapter 1
"Now hold on a second..." I said, holding my forelegs out. "I don't know what you're doing here but you don't wanna fire that..." *BLAM* I was cut off as the gun discharged into a crate beside the pod which, unfortunately for the unicorn, triggered the automated defenses. "UNAUTHORIZED USE OF FIREARMS DETECTED, LETHAL SUPPRESSION PROTOCOLS IN EFFECT" Boomed the speakers as a half dozen turrets popped out of the roof and opened fire on the hapless unicorn, who just barely managed to dive behind the command console as it opened fire, the shotgun clattering to the ground beside me as he lost his focus on it. I scooped up the gun in my own blue aura and popped the remaining shell out of it before snapping it shut again and setting it on the bed.
"Protocol over ride 1138-alpha, authorization Sugar Cane, deactivate and return to standby!" I called loudly over the din of gun fire, causing the turrets to stop.
"PROTOCOL OVERRIDE ACCEPTED, RETURNING TO STANDBY MODE" The turrets snapped back into their locked positions and slid away again, vanishing just as quickly as they'd appeared.
"You can come out from behind there now..." I called to the other pony.
"You...how did you do that?" He asked, emerging slowly, his face pale with fright.
"My turrets..." I shrugged, grinning. "Turrets, protocol 221-B." The turrets popped back out and opened fire around me, a perfect ring forming around the pod I still sat in without anything coming anywhere near me. He cowered back at the sight but didn't duck back outright. Once the ring was finished the turrets again locked and slid shut. "Now, maybe you'll tell me what the hell is going on? Who are you? What are you doing in here and why does it look like a bomb went off in this place?" I asked, looking around slowly. There was garbage and junk strewn all about, a number of other pods lay smashed and gutted, amazingly mine looked to be the only one still in tact...
"Seriously, answer me!" I demanded, throwing the gun back to him. He caught it in his magic and slid it back into a holster on his back.
"My name's Brute Force." He answered. "I'm scavenging these ruins with my team...and it looks like a bomb went off because they did..." He sighed and rubbed his face with a hoof. "You don't know do you?"
"Obviously not..." I answered, tapping a hoof impatiently.
"The zebras attacked..." A husky female voice answered. I turned to see the new arrival and almost screamed at the horrific sight. "You...wha..." The mare had a pasty sickly green coat and a few tufts of purple mane hung along her neck, her tail was basically just bone, her eyes milky white. "I'm a ghoul yes, go ahead and get it out of your system..." She sighed.
I took the offer and started screaming in horror for a moment, falling backwards out of the pod and sliding backwards. "You...you're a ZOMBIE PONY!"
Brute Force chuckled and shook his head. "Name's Crackshot actually.” She smirked, shaking her head too. “But I know it's not an easy sight to get used to. I been looking at it every day for 200 years and it doesn't get easier...”
“But...but...two...hundred?” I stammered, looking from one to the other.
“I'm afraid so sugercube.” Crackshot nodded sadly. “The zebras attacked all across Equestria, balefire bombs, megaspell missiles...laid waste to the whole world...” She sighed. “I'm sorry to be the one to tell you this but you're friends and family are all gone, unless you stored others away in these pods that we haven't found yet.”
I shook my head and looked around slowly. “I don't even know how I got into the pod.”
“Okay okay okay.” Brute Force interrupted. “Seriously I have questions of my own. Who are you, what are YOU doing here, how did you turn off the turrets, what do you mean they're YOURS and why shouldn't I just shoot your ass?” He demanded.
“Seriously Brutus?” Crackshot smirked. “You can't piece it together from what you just said?”
“Uhh my name is Sugarcane...you can just call me Cane...I am...was...the lead researcher here. I was in charge of the cryo pod project, and I'd appreciate it if you didn't shoot me in the ass because I'm kinda freaking out and the last thing I want is to get shot.” I sighed deeply, looking miserably sad.
“I'm sorry hon.” Crackshot said, patting my shoulder. “I'm sure it's all a lot to take in...”
“I'm sorry I called you a zombie pony...” I muttered quietly, fighting back tears. My friends, my family, my home...everything gone...
“HEY!” A high happy voice called from the upper levels, a pink blur darting through the air. “SOMEPONY NEEDS TO COME HACK THIS TERMINAL...BRUTUS...oh...hello...” The blur flew down as she bellowed orders, stopping as she realized I was sitting there, resolving into a very pretty pink pegasus with a short red mane. “Who's tall, mopey and handsome?” She asked, looking from me to Brute Force to Crackshot and back to me. “You're cute.” She winked.
“This is Sugarcane...” Crackshot replied softly. “We just thawed him out...” Brute Force cleared his throat. “Sorry, Brutus thawed him out.” She rolled her eyes, which was a weird sight. “He's from...200 years ago...missed the end of the world by just a coupla hours from the sounds of it.”
“Oh, well hiya Sugar baby.” The pink pegasus broke into a wide grin. “Name's Ruby Star, pleased to meetcha.”
I couldn't help but smile a little at her enthusiasm. “You can call me Cane.” I said softly, shaking my head and looking up at her. “Oh hell no.” She said, shaking her head. “Sugar you are and Sugar you shall be.” She laughed. “Now I guess if you're from back then you can open the weird harmonic lock on the door upstairs?”
“HARMONIC lock?” Brute Force asked, looking at her curiously.
“Seriously! I pressed the unlock panel and it played music! I just sort of stood there for a sec, then it played the music again and turrets popped out of the roof and started shooting at me!” She explained, looping through the air. “If it weren't for the fact I was so fast I'da been toast!” She laughed, her voice cracking a little as she landed again and grinned. “Now can you open it or not?” She asked, looking back to me again.
“Yeah yeah little Dashie settle down.” I laughed again.
“What did you call me?” She asked, her voice getting cold and all the happiness draining from her face.
“I'm sorry...she's a friend...well...now she's just somepony that I used to know...” I couldn't help slumping a little as the happiness sort of drained out of the room with her sudden mood swing.
Crackshot smacked her in the back of the head. “He's been on ice for two hundred years dumbass, he doesn't even know what a Dashite IS, let alone know how to use it in a derogatory sense.”
“A what?” I asked, looking between the three of them.
“Long story.” Brute Force said. “Let's just get upstairs and see what we can salvage shall we?” He asked. “You CAN open the door right?” He looked at him and cocked his head towards the door. I nodded.
“Yeah sure...no problem.” I nodded, too stunned by the whole situation to really question their motives. “Just let me...” I turned and pulled open a drawer on the side of the pod, grinning at the sight inside. My utility barding, my lab coat, both of which I pulled on quickly with practiced ease, my pipbuck, the tools to lock it back on and most importantly...”Hello my little babies, did you miss daddy? Daddy missed you, well don't you worry I'm here for you now and we're gonna be a family again...” I levitated the two matching pistols out of the drawer, one shone purest white, like it was made of pearl, the other gleamed a menacing black, looking like it was carved from a chunk of black opal.
Crackshot whistled softly. “Those are beauties Cane.” She nodded.
“Thanks, these are my twin girls, Ebony and Ivory.” I twirled them side to side with my magic, a small indicator light blinking on at the back of the gun, just below where the hammer sat, the guns had no triggers either. Ebony's was green, Ivory's red. “Custom made 10 millimeter pistol frames, arcano-kinetic charger talismans generate power for the plasma and laser energy cells...” I fired at the walls, Ebony spitting a green ball of energy about the size of a gumball, which hit the wall and burst, leaving a small smoking hole, while Ivory fired a red beam, the same as a laser pistol, which scorched the wall only inches away from the pit the plasma shot had dug. “They're also capable of using the standard 10mm ammo types. I don't want to sound like a jerk or anything, but they can only be used by a unicorn...” This made Crackshot sigh sadly. “The guns are fired by focusing magic on a button inside the gun, if you don't know where the button is inside the gun it's useless even to a unicorn...” I spun them around a few more times before sliding them into the holsters on the sides of my utility barding. “My marefriend made them for me for my last...birthday...” And there it was again, my beautiful Rosealea...I'd never see her again, and just like that I'd lost my good mood. “Anyway lets go...” I said flatly, moving towards the stairs leading to the upper levels.
“Okie dokie Loki!” Ruby grinned, leaping back into the air and soaring away towards the hallway above.
“That girl...” Brute Force sighed, shaking his head. “Don't let her get to you...she's kinda touchy but she's a good girl.”
I just nodded and started up the stairs. They were rusty and starting to bend, last I'd seen them they looked brand new. The hallway at the top was littered with junk, discarded clipboards and pencils, dropped coffee cups...it looked like everyone had fled in a damned hurry. “Wow...” I sighed, stopping as I rounded the corner and looked at Ruby standing in front of the door. “Come on come on come on!” She said impatiently, hitting the button. A tune played for a moment and I smiled. “To the town of Appleoosa came a stranger one fine day, hardly spoke to folks around him didn't have too much to say. Nopony dared to ask his business, not one dared to make a slip, the stranger there among them had a big iron on his hip.” I sang back to the machine. It chirped happily and opened the door.
“Are...you...kidding?” Ruby asked, fighting a fit of laughter.
“I think you have a beautiful singing voice.” Crackshot said, glaring at Ruby as she fell back howling with laughter.
“Well it's more secure than a simple passcode or spoken command...you need to match the pitch and tone to within a certain acceptable level as well as have your voice match...” I walked into the hallway, in here it was much cleaner, well it was REALLY dusty, but not so much refuse scattered about. “Alright...Armoury is that way...” I told them, earning a happy SQUEE from Crackshot who took off quickly. “Computer core?” Brute Force asked. “Same hallway, third door, it's made of bulletproof glass so you can see the servers inside.” He nodded and started off.
“Guess that leaves me to keep YOU company.” Ruby grinned.
“Guess so.” I nodded. “Come on, lets go to my office, I have some stuff I want to pick up if I'm leaving here with you...” I paused and looked at her. “I assume I'm leaving with you..?” I asked, suddenly unsure exactly how that was meant to go down.
“Are you kidding?” She asked. “There's no way we'd leave you behind in a place like this, not only are you, like, the oldest non-ghoul pony in the wasteland you know computers better than any pony I've met...”
“How would you know how good I am with computers?” I asked, stopping in front of a pair of wooden double doors. “All you've seen me do is unlock a door I knew the password to.”
She grinned sheepishly and dug into a saddlebag at her side, drawing out a tablet computer and tapping it on with her wing. On the screen was my personnel file from the archives. “I may have been doing some reading earlier.” I took the tablet from her, wrapping it in my magic and drew it to my face to read. I scrolled through the pages, it talked about my work with computers, robotics development projects...in a box near the top marked 'status' it read: M.I.A. Presumed to have abandoned post after an attempted attack on the city by Zebra infiltrators.
“You went missing about two months before the bombs actually fell...” She explained, taking the tablet back and tucking it away again.
“Oh...I still can't explain that one...” I sighed, looking to the double doors, reaching out for the unlock button I paused and looked at her. “Don't...laugh...” I said seriously, pressing the button. Another little tune played and I let out a slow breath. “Isn't it awfully nice to have a penis? Isn't it frightfully good to have a dong, it's swell to own a stiffy, it's Divine to own a dick, from the tiniest little tagger to the world's biggest prick.” I sang into the speaker. It buzzed and opened, revealing my office inside.
“R...really?” Ruby snorted and collapsed into a heap of laughter on the ground again. “You...you gotta be kidding me!” She managed between fits of laughter. “The Pythons must be rolling in their graves! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!”
I glared at her and stormed into the office. It was almost exactly as I left it, the back wall lighting up as the three computer screens on my desk turned on automatically. “Welcome back Doctor Cane.” A soft female voice came from the speakers hidden around the room. “It has been...ERROR COMPUTATIONAL STACK OVERFLOW...hours since your last terminal log in.” The feminine voice was replaced by a stock robotic computer voice as it delivered the error, and seamlessly switched back to the female voice.
I sat down at the computer and started downloading data off my private server, ignoring Ruby for the moment while I pulled schematics for computer components, robotics upgrades, as well as all the reports about my disappearance. While the data downloaded into my Pipbuck I levitated out the tools to unscrew the device and put it back on, smiling happily as the EFS popped back into my vision. I watched the downloads finish and then unhooked the pipbuck as Ruby finally made her way into the office.
“I...I'm sorry Sugar...that's just too funny...” She says, wiping tears from her eyes. “Who uses a song like that for a lock? And a female voice for a computer? Lonely much?” She asked, smirking but not laughing.
“It's Rosalea's voice...” I replied flatly, gesturing to a number of pictures sitting along a shelf on one wall while I skimmed readouts on the pods in the warehouse, hoping to find somepony, ANYPONY else who might still be alive down below, but of the 2000 other occupants not a single one was still registering vitals or movement of any kind within. The pictures on the wall made Ruby's smile fade. Pictures of me and Rosalea, a red pegasus, her mane slowly running the spectrum from blood red down to a light happy pink. Pictures of us at parties, picnics, one none too flattering one of her sprawled out on her back on a couch asleep with a her wings stuck out at funny angles and a lamp shade on her head, empty bottles littered the ground in front of the couch.
“That was the morning after we finished celebrating the approval of the Cryo pod program.” I explained when Ruby gave me a look. “I took the picture but I wasn't in a much better state. She HATED it...she'd come in and take it down, I'd print out another one and it'd be right back next time she came in.”
“Her cutie mark is a pistol crossed with a sword...” She said, leaning back and looking at my flank. “ I can't help but notice that you have something similar branded under YOUR cutie mark...” She smirked.
“Yeah...sign of devotion...” I stammered.
“Why doesn't she have one of your double helix?”
“Why don't you kiss my ass?” I grumbled.
“Not till the third date at least.” She winked.
I glared at her and turned back to the shelf. The picture beside the one of the partied out Rosalea I took down to tuck into the saddlebags I'd pulled from a drawer in my desk. It was a party in Ponyville, I had proposed to Rosalea...it had only been a week and a half to me since this picture was taken.
“Whoa, you knew the Ministry Mares?” She asked, gesturing to Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy in the background of the picture. I was kneeling in front of Rosalea, I was dressed as the Mysterious Mare-Do-Well, though the mask had been discarded and she was in tears. We were surrounded by dozens of ponies, all of them cheering. “Well I knew Rainbow Dash...she is...was...my second cousin.” I shrugged. “And Fluttershy was actually there on official business to meet with me and my brother to update her about the Cryo pod program.”
My pipbuck chirped and grabbed the picture from me, filing it away inside the bags. An indicator popped up in my vision: Quest added 'Ghosts of The Past.' I pulled it up and saw it marked 'try to find out what happened to your family and friends.'
I shrugged and went to close out the program but flipped to my inventory screen out of curiosity. My saddlebags were full of random stuff I had shoved into them last time I'd used em. “Well I don't think I'll need this stuff...” I laughed, tossing the cups and empty bottles out, followed by a rather large pile of bottlecaps I had been meaning to toss but never got around to.
“WHOA WHOA WHOA!” Ruby yelped, grabbing up the caps. “Dude, you've got a hundred caps here! It's not much but it's something!” She snaps, tossing the caps back into my saddlebags.
“Wait what?” I asked, looking at her curiously.
“Bottlecaps are money.” She said. “Only small thing that's easily rounded up and used.” She explained. “Ooo and you're keeping this too.” She says, tossing me back a bottle of Wild Pegasus.
“Umm alright.” I nodded, pocketing the booze again. “Wait what's this...?” I pulled up a crumpled piece of paper that was marked 'note.' Grabbing it with my magic I unfolded it, unfortunately it did little more than upset and confuse me. 'For what it's worth, I'm sorry Cane' it was signed with a stylized R. “This note is from Rosalea...” I said softly, looking up at Ruby sadly. “I don't know why she wrote it, but it's obvious she wasn't happy about the circumstances...”
“She thought you were a deserter...” Ruby said. “That would upset most anypony...I should know...”
“And what makes you a qualified expert on desertion?” I asked kind of angrily.
She gestured to her cutie mark with a wing. I realized for the first time it had been branded over with a cloud and lightening bolt, it was so covered I couldn't tell what it had once been. “I'm a Dashite...a pegasus that has been branded a traitor and banished from up above...” She explained.
“Oh...” My eyes went wide as I realized. “OH...no wonder you got so upset when I called you Dashie...” I looked down. “I'm sorry, I didn't mean to insult you...”
“Hey don't worry about it, we all make mistakes. I assumed you were single remember?” She asked.
“I suppose I am now.” I sighed, not letting my sadness show again. “Come on, we should go find the others.” I tucked the note back into my saddlebags, not like I could do anything about it right now anyway. Pausing I hurried back to the desk and came up with a pair of memory orbs, putting them away too.
“Ooo, lemme guess, memories of you foolin' around with your filly?” Ruby grinned.
“None of your business.” I said, sticking my tongue out at her.
“Well it's a good thing we have a recollector onboard the sky wagon, I'm sure you won't mind me watching them?” She asked, moving out into the hallway in front of me. She turned and leaned in close. “I love to watch...” She whispered in my ear, nipping it ever so gently as she moved down the hall, swaying her hips suggestively as she did.
“I...I...wha?” I stammered, closing the door behind me and following her quickly.
Crackshot was going through three crates of ammo and guns like a foal on their birthday. “I have NEVER seen guns in this good condition!” She giggled, a haunting noise you'd expect to hear coming from the darkness between the trees in a forest late at night. “Oh Cane...I think you'll want this back...” She dug into a crate and came up with a sword. I slid it out of the scabbard; it shone with an amazing light and was sharpened to a perfect point. I was surprised to see my name etched into the hilt.
“It's not yours?” Crackshot asked when she saw the look of amazement on my face.
“Never seen it before in my life...” I said, shaking my head. My pipbuck chirped and added it to my inventory 'Rose's Thorn' appeared in the corner of my vision. “Oh...” I smiled softly. “It was Rosalea's...she didn't make swords but she certainly had people on her staff that were able to forge them...”
“His marefriend...” Ruby explained, seeing the confused look on Crackshot's face.
“Your marefriend made these?” Crackshot asked, nudging the box of weapons.
“Yeah...” I nodded. “She designed every single one of em...probably actually made at least half the ones in those boxes.”
“Well sheeeit...” She grins. “I'd go gay for a girl that could make me custom weapons...”
“Well take those with my blessing.” I smiled, sliding the sword back into the scabbard and sliding it through an unused loop on my barding, designed to hold a hammer originally, and slid it down my side, hooking it through an unused belt loop.
“Perfect...” I nodded.
“So we're ready to go?” Brute Force asked, coming back from the server room, two pipbucks on each foreleg and at least 10 hard drives sticking out of one saddlebag.
“Geeze did you take everything on the servers?” I asked. “Most of it is junk encryption data to hide the classified material you know...”
“Yeah these bad boys are running decryption now.” He said, tapping the two lower pipbucks together. “Alright my little ponies, lets hit it.”
I levitated one of the crates for Crackshot and Brute Force took the other and we started out of the building. Brute Force paused at the entrance to the building. “Alright kid...” He paused.
“I'm 200 years older than you...” I smirked.
“Yeah yeah...welcome to the wasteland...” He reached out and pushed the doors open and I stepped out into the real world...
Footnote: Level up
New Perk: Computer Whiz--Fail a hack attempt and get locked out of a computer? Not if you're a computer whiz! With this perk, you get a second chance at any computer you were previously locked out of.
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This fanfiction is based on Fallout Equestria by Kkat; a familiarity with the source material may aid your understanding.
You can read Fallout Equestria by Kkat on Equestria Daily
The Fallout: Equestria logo used above was designed by DotRook, who, according to the original deviantArt page, allows usage in supplementary materials created for and associated with the series. Images really do make a difference, so he has our eternal gratitude and respect.
If you enjoy Fallout Equestria Side Stories, you will want to check the Fallout Equestria Side Stories post on Equestria Daily and the Fallout Equestria Side Stories thread on Ponychan
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