//------------------------------// // Chapter 8 - Smokestack Lightnin' // Story: Fallout Equestria: Blue Destiny // by MagnetBolt //------------------------------// “We were in a fighting retreat,” Emerald explained. “None of our weapons were working against the dragon, but we tried to at least slow it down.” “Dragon?” I asked. Either I’d missed something big (dragon-sized, apparently) or I’d misheard her. Emerald shrugged. “I don’t know what else to call it. Maybe it looks like something else now. It was like… you know how in school they show how ponies evolved, starting with primitive fish and…?” she trailed off. “You probably have no idea what I’m talking about.” “My dad was an archaeologist, and for your information, I have been to school.” Briefly. As long as we didn’t discuss my grades I’d be fine. “I’ve seen pictures. A fish crawls out onto land, then it becomes a lizard, then a different lizard, then sort of a lizard-horse, then it’s a pony. Evolution.” Emerald nodded. “It was like that. It was evolving the whole time it was leaving. I don’t even think it was really chasing after us, we were just in the way. We got to the prison block just ahead of it, and the Colonel set up demolition charges in the main tunnel. He thought he might be able to stop it by collapsing the tunnel right on top of it.” “It didn’t work?” I asked. “I don’t think so,” Emerald sighed. “And I got caught on the wrong side of it because I was too slow getting to safety.” “And they didn’t come back for you?” Quattro asked. “I always though the military was about nopony left behind.” “This maintenance tunnel doesn’t link up with the main line,” Emerald explained, ignoring Quattro. “We should be able to go all the way to the surface.” “I don’t think she likes me,” Quattro whispered. “You wanted to leave her to get eaten by monsters,” I reminded Quattro. “It was nothing personal.” Past the security door, we’d found a tunnel that was so narrow and cramped even Emerald was bumping into things. I felt like I was being squeezed on all sides. I couldn’t even stand up all the way, which I was conveniently reminded of when I bumped my armor’s horn on a pipe going by just a little lower than the others. “Careful,” Destiny warned. Her voice was a little stronger than the last time she’d spoken, like she’d recovered some strength. “I can feel that, you know.” “What was that? Who was that?” Emerald asked, turning to look at me over her shoulder. “Are you actually getting radio transmission down here? I haven’t been able to contact the outside since things went bad! Can you get word to the Colonel that I’m alive?” “Sorry, it’s local,” Destiny said. “I’m in the armor.” “In the armor?” Emerald tilted her head. “It’s haunted,” I explained. Emerald sighed. “Chamomile, that’s a primitive superstition. We’re advanced, modern ponies, not zebra. The armor isn’t haunted, it’s probably some kind of onboard artificial intelligence. That would be very impressive, though. I didn’t think they could fit inside something that small…” “No, she’s right, it’s haunted,” Destiny said. “I’m a ghost.” Emerald frowned. “Really?” “I’ve got unfinished business,” Destiny explained. “And I’m pretty sure this is an unexpected side-effect of the built-in thaumoframe, so I really don’t recommend dying in this thing. I feel like a reflection in a mirror, and I know that doesn't make sense but that's undeath for you.” “Primitive superstition, huh?” Quattro asked, giggling. Emerald looked away, blushing. “I just assumed… that Chamomile had somewhat misunderstood the situation.” “You thought I was an idiot,” I said. “I thought you were a pony who I saw get shot in the head. That kind of trauma can be difficult on a pony, and it wouldn’t be strange if you had hallucinations or mood swings or just forgot a few things here and there. It would be normal.” “I did forget most of what happened after I got shot,” I admitted. “It’s all kind of a blur.” “That’s too bad, or you would have seen Colonel Ohm pulling everypony together. He really is a good leader, that’s how he got elected to his position. Ponies had faith in him.” “Chamomile’s mom got elected too, and look at how that turned out,” Quattro said. “No offense, I'm sure she's great at parties, she's also a monster.” “She’s not all bad. Or wasn’t. She was a really good parent sometimes when…” I trailed off. It didn’t matter. “She’s gone now anyway. I don’t want to talk about her.” “We’ll find your father,” Emerald promised. “I know the others got him out.” “Makes me wish I’d gone with them,” Quattro said. “I got away as soon as they were busy with the monster.” “And you left Chamomile.” “We all left ponies behind. You got left behind. I thought she was dead.” Quattro was probably right. I’m pretty sure I was dead for a while. “And then she came back and for a moment I thought she was an alicorn with that horn attached to her helmet,” Quattro said. “That scared me more than the monster.” “Understandable,” Emerald agreed. “Anyway, I’ve got ponies counting on me,” Quattro said. “For one thing, I have to warn them about everything that happened here. Before you ask, no, I’m not going to give you their names so you can pass along a message.” “I wasn’t going to ask,” Emerald protested. “When we get to the surface, we can escape on the Asperitas. She’s a Raptor-class ship. The Colonel was going to get her prepped for launch as soon as possible. In a crash drill, that should only take a few minutes if they’re not onboarding extra supplies.” “A few minutes? And you think it’s still going to be there?” “Colonel Ohm promised to stay as long as possible to give ponies time to escape and get aboard,” Emerald said firmly. “Even if he had to leave, we’ll be in radio range. I can contact him for a pickup.” “That’s good for you, not so great for us,” Quattro said. “We’re escaped prisoners.” “You’re survivors of a disaster. Our first priority is getting you to safety. Technically, since you’re both civilians I should prioritize you even above myself.” “I’m a little worried about the prisoner thing too,” I admitted. “Aren’t they just going to throw us in the ship’s, um… ship prison?” “Brig,” Destiny supplied. “That,” I said. “I’ll make sure that doesn’t happen. When we report in, I’ll tell them you saved me. You’ll be debriefed, and as long as you just tell the truth, everything will be fine. I’ll make a request to have your records purged so you can return to normal civilian life.” Quattro snorted. “That’s kind of you, but I don’t have a normal civilian life.” “You’ll have the choice to go back to one,” Emerald said. “That’s more than a lot of ponies ever get. Maybe you’re a rebel, but you don’t have to be. If you get a clean slate, maybe you could choose to be something else.” “Maybe,” Quattro allowed. “Besides, whatever crimes you’ve committed, it’s nothing compared to what you’ve been through. You don’t deserve to die or go back to prison. This situation has been a total buck-up operation and you’ve paid in full for anything you might have done.” “You know, Chamomile, I can see why you wanted me to save her,” Quattro said. “She’s the kind of idealist the Enclave could actually use. If there were more ponies like her there would be less like me.” “When we get outside, stay behind me,” Emerald said. “No, actually, stay behind Chamomile. She’s better cover. They might think we’re infected and escaping from the mine, but as long as I can talk to them I can tell them what’s going on.” “Are you really trying to get me shot again today?” I groaned. “We’ve all got hidden talents,” Quattro said, patting my side. “Just don’t step on me.” Emerald rolled her eyes. I couldn’t see her doing it since she had a helmet on, but I could just tell. She had very expressive body language regarding different flavors of annoyance. She tapped the keypad at the security door a few times, and the indicator turned green, the door swinging open with a squeal of metal-on-metal. Ahead of us, I could see dim sunlight. “I’ll go first,” Emerald said. “Just in case. I can vouch for both of you.” “No arguments here from the only pony who isn’t wearing armor,” Quattro said. Emerald led the way, keeping us a few paces back. I had to resist the urge to run past her and out into the open. The tight tunnels were really getting to me -- I wasn’t nearly as claustrophobic as some pegasus ponies I’d met but all it would take was one really badly placed pipe or the volcano deciding to rumble a little harder and I might end up wedged in place. It wasn’t the first time I’d been annoyed by my own size but it was the first time I thought it might actually get me killed. “I’m picking something up,” Destiny said. “Sounds like radio traffic from outside! I guess at least a few ponies made it after all!” “I’m getting it too!” Emerald agreed. The voices were faint, and I could just hear them through the static. “...Lost sight of the target… ...making best speed… ...report to…” “I can barely make out anything they’re saying.” I said. “The signal is pretty bad,” Destiny said. “There’s not much I could do to boost it even if I had everything in this armor back online.” “That has to be coming from the Asperitas!” Emerald said excitedly. She ran out into the light, the dull red and grey outside only a little brighter than the emergency lighting in the tunnel. She only made it a few steps before I saw her wings droop. “No… no!” “What’s wrong?” I asked, almost shoving Quattro ahead of me to get out there and see what she was seeing. The ash falling around us had turned from a light fall of grey fluff to a blizzard, the air hot enough that it felt like we’d walked out into a giant oven. The outside of the base had been a maze of shipping containers and temporary prefab cloud buildings. The clouds weren’t on fire, but damn near everything that could burn was trying to do it. There must have been some firestorm we’d missed, because I could see scorch marks on almost everything around us. That wasn’t what was upsetting her, though. We could clearly see even from here the shape of a Raptor-class cloudship slowly pulling away, probably a mile away already. “They’re leaving already?” Quattro asked. “So much for nopony left behind.” “We can catch up to them! If we just fly…” Emerald groaned. “Right. You can’t.” “That’s going to be hard with our wings clipped,” Quattro said. “I know you can’t carry Chamomile and catch up to them. I don’t think you could even carry me. If you take off on your own, you could make it.” “I could fly over there and ask them to come back to retrieve you,” Emerald muttered. Quattro gave her a knowing look. “You really think they’d turn the ship around to pick up two prisoners?” Emerald was quiet for a long moment. She clearly didn’t think so. She was also watching safety fly further and further away while she stood there with us. Before she could come to an immediate decision, things got a little exciting. The entire command section of the Exodus Blue was half-uncovered ahead of us, metal gleaming in the light with a few Enclave flags stuck on it just to remind anypony looking who had claim to the salvage. I think I sensed something at the same time Destiny did. “I’m detecting a lot of movement,” Destiny cut in. “Take cover!” “Cover from what? Where?” I asked. Quattro and Emerald looked at me, so they missed the exact moment the command section tore apart and something ten times the size of a pony ripped its way free from it, spreading wide wings and roaring at the sky with a screech somewhere between a dying mare and metal being thrown into a recycler. “There,” Destiny said, very helpfully. My helmet visor outlined the monster in more detail than I wanted and later than I needed. It really did look like a dragon, but instead of scales and reptile parts it was made out of twisting living metal, like clockwork turned inside out. It took to the sky on wings that were half turbine and half steel feathers. “Move!” Quattro shouted, shoving us from behind. Well, trying to shove me, but the effort was enough to get my slow, lightly refurbished brain back into motion. I ran for cover, pressing myself up against one of the pre-fabs, wishing I could go right through the clouds and-- Wait, I couldn’t go through the clouds, but it probably could. This was really, really bad cover. And it was too late to do anything about it. The SIVA dragon hovered for a moment over one of the shipping containers before dropping the last few feet down onto it, hitting it hard enough that the container bent under its weight, the thin metal squealing. Emerald and Quattro were right under it, in what I had to hope was a blind spot. I saw them freeze in place, probably not even breathing. The thing’s chest was right above them, overlapping steel plates like scales, shifting against each other like every tiny motion meant adjusting every tiny bit of its body. I had to do something. It wasn’t like the building I was hiding behind was actually going to do me any good if the thing decided to come after me anyway, right? Maybe I could find a weapon and distract it and… get myself killed because I didn’t think I’d ever seen a gun big enough to do anything to a creature like that. The roil and shifting of the creature’s form was disorienting. I could hear it muttering over the constant grind of metal and meshing gears, but I couldn’t make out what it was saying, if they were even words at all. The dragon was looking around the camp from its perch, obviously searching for something. Or somepony. Its entire head shifted, turning from an abstract mess of gnashing blades and teeth into something I started to recognize as it took form, pressing out of the chaos with bright yellow eyes. “Mom?” I whispered. It looked just like her. I couldn’t stop myself. I stepped out into the open. “What are you doing?!” Destiny hissed. “You’re going to get both of us killed!” “I think my mom is in there,” I said. I looked up at it, and it spotted me, flaring its wings in alert. “Wait!” I shouted. “It’s me! Chamomile!” The image of my mother shifted from one emotion to another. Confusion. Anger. Joy. It was less like the face moved and more like changing the setting with a dial, flipping through channels on the radio and instantly popping from one to the next. She sat up a little, the constant motion and roil of her body starting to slow. The muttering cascaded together, like a thousand voices in chorus and finally finding the right note so they spoke words instead of overlapping gibberish. “Chamomile…” it rumbled, with discordant echoing tones. I could almost believe my mother’s voice was among them. “Please, Mom, if you’re in there--” A blast of light so bright it almost blinded me took her head off, disintegrating it. The edges of the metal glowed bright yellow, faded to red, and a swarm of angry bees poured out of the neck hole, the headless dragon turning towards where the shot had come from even as they rebuilt it from the inside out, a terrible fanged skull growing where my mother’s face had been. I followed its gaze. The Raptor, the Asperitas. It had fired on the monster with its main guns. Even that hadn’t been enough. The SIVA-dragon-devil, whatever you wanted to call it, took off, jerking to the side to avoid a second volley. If nothing else, the big guns had at least annoyed it a little. It shot past the Raptor and for a moment I thought it was just running away, but a moment later one of the Asperitas’ turrets exploded in a multi-colored blast of sparks and flame. The dragon came around for another pass, landing on the deck and tearing into it, leaving huge holes in the steel. From here I could just make out the neon lights of small-arms fire. The crew was putting up one heck of a fight. “So much for rescue,” I muttered. “Quattro, Emerald! Are you two okay?” “It almost landed on top of us,” Emerald said, breathless. “I don’t think it even knew we were there,” Quattro said. “Not after you got its attention.” “My mom is still in there, somehow,” I said. “It looked just like her. It recognized me.” “Your name, anyway. I’m pretty sure the armor is what got its attention,” Destiny said. “We were trapped together for a long time and I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s holding a grudge. We’re lucky it didn’t attack.” The dragon ripped deep into the ship, plunging its skull-like head into the deck. It must have hit something important, because there was a flash exactly like a bolt of lightning or a lot of spark batteries rupturing at once. Part of the ship’s lower hull exploded out, and black smoke poured from inside. The SIVA-dragon screeched in pain from the epicenter of the blast and took off. Whatever it did, it had been bad enough to scare it away. “Is it coming back here?” I asked. “No, tracking shows it leaving the battle area,” Destiny said. “I don’t think we can catch up to it.” “Can you still contact the Asperitas?” I asked. I had a radio, but Emerald was the only one who might be able to beg with the proper language to get them to come back for us. Emerald shook her head. “I’m just getting static. I think the attack damaged their radio tower.” We watched for a few moments as the ship limped away, heading the opposite direction from the dragon. I couldn’t blame them after the beating they’d just taken. “We didn’t come here on a Raptor,” Quattro pointed out. “No, prisoners are transported on skywagons,” Emerald said. Before she’d even finished I heard the understanding in her voice. “Skywagons! If we can secure one I can fly you both out of here along with any other survivors!” “That’s a good idea,” Quattro said. “These buildings look an awful lot like where we were interrogated, and I remember the transport landing not far from here.” Emerald nodded. “Come on. I’ll get the gates open.” She ran ahead of us and flew over the fences, opening the locks from the other side and letting us through. “Do you think we’ll actually find other survivors?” I asked. “I’ve got a feeling we just might,” Quattro said, her ears perking up. “That sounds more like a regular mob than a monster mash.” The landing zone was a large, mostly flat surface, which meant we saw the crowd before running into it. It was nice to not be surprised by something. Even better, they looked like ponies instead of twisted-up half-metal monsters. The only monster was the one standing on top of the last skywagon, shouting down at them. “I told you, none of you are getting onboard!” Rain Shadow yelled. “There’s a familiar face,” Quattro muttered. “How did those miners get out?” I asked. “Shouldn’t they have been locked behind those gates?” “Look at the way they’re dressed -- they were on kitchen and cleaning duty in the command section. Five of them were, anyway.” Emerald pointed to the sixth pony, who looked even more annoyed than the rest but kept to the back of the mob like he was too good to shout along with the rest. “Dad!” I gasped, running for him. He spotted me and stood up, looking surprised. Rain Shadow spotted me at the same time and had the kind of instincts I wish I had, because he fired warning shots at my hooves that cracked against the rock. “Stop right there!” he warned. “What are you doing?” Emerald Sheen demanded. “Emma!” Rain shouted. “I knew you’d make it! I’m holding this transport until the last second for any other survivors!” He looked scornfully down at the crowd. “And no prisoners are invited.” The ground rumbled under my hooves, and the sky was getting brighter in a way that was deeply concerning. I heard rock sliding against rock, a deep rumble like the biggest dragon in the world. “I’m pretty sure this counts as the last minute,” I said. “Nopony’s left down there, and I don’t like anypony’s chances if they were in the other half of the ship after that dragon tore its way out of it.” “Shut up,” Rain growled. “We can’t leave these ponies,” Emerald said. “They’ll all fit on the transport. We can take turns pulling it and maybe even catch up to the Asperitas!” “They’re criminals, Emma!” “It doesn’t matter, they’re ponies,” the military mare stepped closer. “Besides, they were kitchen staff! You know what that means! All of them were on good behavior and were trusted enough that we were willing to put knives in their hooves. None of them committed a crime worth being sentenced to death and even the Commander knew that!” “Let us in!” one of the prisoners shouted, going for the transport door. Rain Shadow shot him, entirely on reflex. I think he meant for it to be a warning shot. I could see his expression well enough to tell he didn’t expect to hit the stallion in the head. There was a pop like a cloud apple bursting and the pony’s head was just gone. His body swayed for a moment and collapsed to the stone. The other prisoners backed off, shocked. “What did you do?” Emerald gasped. “What I had to do,” Rain Shadow said. “You can either come with me or not, Emerald. None of them is getting on this transport even if I have to shoot them myself.” “I don’t think he’s going to negotiate,” Quattro said. “Make me wish we had a rifle,” I muttered. “At least then it’d be fair.” “I’ve got something,” Destiny said, surprising me. I’d almost forgotten she was there. “I’m still pretty gassed but I think I’ve got enough in me for one shot.” “One shot of what?” I asked. “Just get me a little closer,” Destiny said. “We’re only getting one try.” I took a deep breath and had to hope she knew what she was doing. I stepped closer, and Rain Shadow spun to face me. “Calm down,” I said. “I don’t have a gun.” “I do,” the soldier retorted. “We’re reasonable ponies. We can talk this out.” It wasn’t the first time Destiny had used magic while I was in the armor. She’d used a little telekinesis here and there, activated the vector trap, and if I understood her correctly, everything the armor did was more or less powered by her magic. This was the first time I really, really felt it, though. It rushed through me in a way I can only compare to, well, your first time, if you get my drift. I was scary and exciting and there was a rush and release that made me see stars. Possibly more important to everypony else, it meant I fired a bolt of red magical force into Rain Shadow’s chest and knocked him clean off the transport, off the edge of the camp, and down to the cloud layer below. I stumbled, feeling suddenly dizzy. Or maybe Destiny was dizzy and I was just feeling it too. “I had no idea you could do that,” I gasped. “I honestly wasn’t sure I still had it in me,” Destiny said. She sounded faint and exhausted. “Those evocation self-defense classes were a long time ago. I can only barely remember a few of the lessons.” “Nice trick,” Quattro said, slapping my back and using the motion to help hold me up. She whispered in my ear. “Try not to look like you’re about to collapse in case he comes back and you need to do it again.” “I don’t think I can do it again,” Destiny said. “All the more reason to pretend you can.” Quattro kept holding me up, looking like she was congratulating me. “Is he alive?” I asked, looking at Emerald. Was she going to shoot me in the back if he’d died. “I doubt it,” she said. “Get everypony onto the transport, okay? I’m going to check on him.” I nodded. With where he’d fallen, we weren’t going to be able to get to him. Emerald took wing and flew down to where Rain Shadow was lying prone, and I stormed over to the transport and opened the doors. “Everypony in,” I said. The former prisoners ran inside, out of the constant rain of ash and the increasing rumbling. Dad stopped to look at me. “Chamomile, I…” he hesitated. “I know what happened to Mom,” I said. “She’s still inside that thing, somehow. It used her face. It recognized my name. It remembered me.” He sighed. “I tried to warn her. I knew being careless with all this technology would bite her in the flank. It’s exactly what happened to end the war -- ponies played around too much with things they barely understood, and they ended the whole world.” “The military will make sure it doesn’t happen again,” Emerald said, landing next to me. “He’s alive, but stunned. I left him my emergency rations and medical supplies. It’s enough to get him to civilization once he wakes up.” “I’m sure he’ll appreciate that and won’t hold a grudge for the rest of his life,” Quattro said. “I wasn’t going to shoot him while he was down. And I won’t let him shoot us. I took all the ammunition he was carrying. It’s a fair trade for the medical supplies.” She nodded to the transport. “Do we have a destination?” “Not going to chase the Asperitas?” Quattro asked. “I can’t catch up to it carrying all this weight. Maybe if Rain Shadow had taken turns with me, we could have sprinted enough to catch up, but not now.” She shook her head, looking back at where he’d fallen. “Idiot.” “We’ll head for Cirrus Valley,” Quattro said. I blinked in surprise at the suggestion. “What, you don’t want to go home?” Quattro asked. “It’s probably the closest settlement, just a nice quiet little cloud town. Plus I left all of my supplies there. I’d have to go back anyway, and it’s a safe place to let these low-risk criminals go.” “It’s a good suggestion,” Dad said. “I’ll be glad to put all this behind us. Hopefully no thugs have gone and robbed the house while we were away. The last thing I need is to have to organize everything again.” “I doubt we can stay there,” I realized. “The military will want answers. They know where we live.” “One stop at a time,” Quattro interrupted. “What we’ll do is, we’ll head back, I’ll pick up my things, you pack up what’s important, and we’ll have a few drinks at your bar to celebrate our freedom. How’s that sound?” “It sounds--” the ground started rumbling and didn’t stop. “Sounds like time to go!” The smoke pouring out of the Smokestack doubled like something had broken inside it, lightning striking down from the black ceiling overhead and into the broken mountain like beam weapons being used against the earth itself. “Inside!” Emerald said, shoving us into the transport before running to the other end to start strapping herself in. I got in last, standing in the open door of the transport. The ground cracked, shattering like ice. The rifts slowly grew wider and longer, getting closer. The faint rankness in the air got worse, and I heard the ponies behind me starting to cough as we slowly got moving. “We need to go faster, Emerald!” I yelled. The remains of the command section started to slide, folding in on itself while the ground opened up under it. I saw the glow of something red-hot and too liquid to be good starting to well out around it. “I’m working on it!” Emerald shouted back. I could hear her struggling. The systems in the transport would reduce the weight of everything inside, the same way power armor did, but the number of ponies she was trying to move was working against her. “How big is it going to be?” I asked, looking back at Dad. “Volcanic eruptions have leveled entire cities,” he said. “They’re like megaspells. Multiple, overlapping megaspells. Poison gas, walls of fire, massive explosions… we have to hope this one is relatively tame.” “Hold on!” Emerald warned us, as we plunged over the edge. I could actually feel it crumble under us those last few paces, the rock giving way as we struggled into the air. She fought to get us as much distance as she could, angling up and climbing like a struggling foal. Behind us, the peak of the mountain crumbled, and I could see down into its throat. A roiling pot of black and red, like the world was bleeding from a wound. The remains of the Exodus Blue fell into it, breaking the black crust open and offering a glimpse of the furnace inside. I could feel the heat even from this distance! “Your mother must have done this on purpose,” Dad muttered. “What? What are you talking about?” I asked. “You said it yourself -- she’s inside that thing.” Dad gestured at the volcano. “And it caused this. I doubt it did it on accident. She must have decided she’d wipe the slate clean to make sure any clues about how to destroy the SIVA core were lost forever.” “I wouldn’t say we lost every clue,” Destiny said. Her voice sounded fragile. I didn’t know if it was exhaustion or something else. “I’ve got a few ideas.” If I'd really been paying attention I might have noticed that we were flying off in the same direction the dragon, my mother, whichever it was, had gone.