//------------------------------// // Chapter 1 // Story: Fallout: Equestria - Forgotten // by CoolBreeze //------------------------------// Fallout: Equestria Forgotten - Chapter 1 “Wish upon a star...” Bright and beautiful, an orange star brushes past as I rouse from my slumber, warmth washing over me as others like it of varying colours, density and brilliance wink into existence around me. Their warmth and strength tugging calmly at me as I regain my senses, I reach out to them and return their touch in earnest. Smaller stars dance around me, they sing a clear note as they circle then wink out gleefully, and suddenly I am filled with a deep sorrow, the stars are being pulled away, out of my reach. “Come back! Don’t leave me alone, please...” The first star returns, brushing close and easing the sorrow deep within myself. Confidence radiates from it and washes over me, before it too fades from existence. * * * I open my eyes, dim light filtering through a cold mist that clouds my vision and the room beyond, my body spasms from the cold air as I inhale a lungful of it laced with dust. Exhaling I wait for my eyes to focus on the dome around me, a sense of panic forcing its way inside me and I lash out, kicking hooves clean through the glass dome and out into musty, warm air of the outside world. The panic envelopes me and I struggle, forcing my weakened body out of the steel prison I had woke up in before slumping and sliding the rest of the way out and onto the cold, steel floor. I gaze down at my fore-hooves, noticing the M series PipBuck just below my left knee, green coat ruffled at the edges of the device’s case. My attention is snatched away from the PipBuck to a speaker in the wall several meters away as a mechanical voice calls out calmly. “Warning, critical power failure, emergency generators online, stasis pod one, two, three, six, seven and eight critical failure. Stasis pod four breached! Paging security.” Struggling up to my hooves, I wobble precariously before staggering into the nearby pod with a bright white number five painted on its side and smack my head into the misted glass dome. I cry out, my voice strangely hoarse and put a hoof to my head to rub as it throbs, that's when I noticed the crack in the glass as it begins to grow, the spiderweb of cracks eventually reach the seals of the dome before the glass shatters entirely and reveals the occupant to the dirty air. What I see makes my stomach heave, as I gag on my tongue, I chance another glance. The occupant had been a pony, like me, but where their eyes should be, were only hollow sockets. Their hide had partially mummified, their leathery skin and their sunken sides show their ribcage clearly. I rise up and take a closer look at the pony, remembering my medical training under the Peace Corps, I can clearly see that the pony had died from dehydration and the stasis pod had further worsened the condition to the point that they mummified. “Warning, unauthorised intrusion detected in level four. Security teams not responding, all personnel proceed to safety zones and await further instructions.” As the PA system cuts off, I can hear muffled gunfire somewhere above me just before the doors open and a bloodied figure tramples through the entrance, assault rifle floating beside them. Without hesitation or even being aware of the action until it occurs, I duck behind pod five as a volley of automatic fire peppers the plating where I had squatted only a second before. “Goddess damned zombies! Come out so I can finish ya off!” I listen carefully as my attacker approaches, gauging the distance they had moved by the sound of their hoof-steps, then I spring over the pod, quicker than I thought possible. They try to level the zebra-made automatic rifle at me, but I am quicker and far better trained, my hooves lash out, crushing ribs into lungs, puncturing the vital organs and causing my attacker to gasp in agonising pain. Even still, they swing the gun and fire a wild volley, missing me by a half meter, but I don't even flinch, knocking the weapon from their magical grip before lunging down, biting down on the grip of a combat knife sheathed to their left fore hoof and driving it deep into their neck in one swift movement. They spasm, struggling for a brief moment against the inevitable, then they crumple to the floor, the fight leaves their eyes and it’s over, the brief moment of madness gone. Blood seeps out of the wound and down onto my PipBuck under their neck before I stagger back out of sheer shock, hooves knocking the assault rifle aside. “Threat level Alpha, security protocols initiated, all personnel evacuate to safety zones.” The pony that I so easily killed is filthy, covered from head to tail in grime and gore, worse still their cutie mark is a horrid depiction of a pony skull skewered on a steel beam. My gaze wanders to the assault rifle, at a glance I can tell it is in horrible condition, the rust is a stark indicator of that. With barely a second thought, I scavenge what ammunition I can from the pony, three extra magazines, a bandoleer with pouches to fit said ammunition and the combat knife were all there is. I then scour the room, finding a quarter filled healing potion in a desk with an audio recording. I copy the contents of the recording to my PipBuck and stuff the potion into one of the larger pouches on my bandoleer before stumbling from the room. I quickly begin staggering down the hall, assault rifle in my mouth, the rust on the weapon tasting awful but I’m still having trouble coordinating my body as well as I would have liked to and magic seems far beyond my conscious self at this point. As I move further along the hall, I notice a set of double doors ahead to my right, just before they open and a pony, that resembles something out of a horror movie with parts of its skull and ribs showing outside of its flesh, it shambles out. I begin to stagger faster, almost at a gallop as my motor functions grow stronger. A blood chilling, gurgling howl erupts from behind me and I dare not look back as I hear shuffling hoof-steps quickening in pace. I turn left into a stairwell and begin to climb it as fast as I can, turning onto the upper floor and being greeted by a great big poster of the ministry mare, Pinkie Pie, smiling at me with the word: “Smile!” I snort in disgust as red lights begin to flash throughout the hall, prompting me to begin moving again, worse, the dry shuffling has caught up with me and I fear whatever it was had followed me to the stairs. I began to feel panic welling up within me once more but manage to swallow it back down, panicking now would only result in bad things, I have to keep a clear mind. Where ever I was, it was underground, I had not seen a single window since I woke but at least I was going up. I stagger around a corner, following the exit signs only to come upon another skeleton pony in mortal combat with a pony just as filthy as the one who attacked me. I wiggle past them and rush onwards, steel walls turned to concrete and finally to plaster as I finally come up into an office, bright light filling the large room and I feel my heart skip a beat. Sunlight! I gallop, leaping over toppled chairs and tables, rushing towards the light source and hit solid glass, filthy with what looks like years of grime. Moving along the glass I find the entrance doors, however they are blocked by a pile of concrete rubble from the outside, I can't open them even when I put my full weight behind the effort. There is a muffled explosion and the ground beneath my hooves trembles. I hear an awful cracking noise and half wonder if the ground might be torn asunder and the depths of hell itself would swallow me whole, reclaiming me. I turn to the glass and slam my right hoof into it, the outside world was so close, so close! With an effort I hit the glass repeatedly, but even with the strength I have regained over time, I can't beat it down. I throw chairs, even desks at the infernal glass but that too fails. That is when I see the orange glow beginning to rise from the tunnel entrance I had only just come from. The ground trembles once more and I realise that I have to break the glass or I would die. The rifle! I concentrated as hard as I could, trying to use my magic to grip the firearm. A faint glow emanates from above my head and feebly wraps around the gun, I concentrate every fiber of my being into this task, forcing the fear and panic out of my mind. Spitting the gun out, the light entirely envelopes the poorly maintained weapon and I let loose a fury of bullets that tears the glass apart, shattering it into a million shards. With a final look behind me only to see a ball of flame erupting from the entrance to the halls below, I leap, clear through the window with the assault rifle at my side. I crash into dirt, roll, struggle back up to my hooves and get a single step before I am blown into oblivion... * * * I come back, kicking and screaming into the world. Thrashing my limbs around and letting out a scream of unchecked horror. Hooves knock my muzzle, which stops my screaming for a moment and I open my eyes only to see a grey mare standing over me. After giving me a rather pale looking Healing Potion, she watches me as I watch my quite nasty shrapnel wounds heal before our eyes.  The shards of metal and concrete sliding out of the closing wounds, coated in drying blood and plopping down onto the dirt at my hooves. “So,” she starts. I simply prod the spot a gaping wound had been moments earlier.   “Looting the place and accidentally trip something?” She asks, pressing for information. I shake my head from side to side, more to clear my head than to answer and then looked around, “Where’s the assault rifle?” She gives me a slightly puzzled frown before answering, “Over there with my packs, wasn't sure if you were a raider or what.” “Ah” There is an extensive, awkward silence for a minute or two before she speaks up again. “Nice horn you have there, longest one I’ve seen except for those blasted Alicorns.” I can’t see my horn of course but that matters little at the moment. I am still disorientated and worse, I can’t remember anything from before waking besides a very vague dream about stars and a blast of incredible pain before I had slipped away. Taking quick note, I examined her out of the corner of my eye, instead of the grey coat I had initially seen her coat is in actual fact, filthy, but under the muck I can see it had once been a brilliant white, her mane and tail are a powerful orange as are her eyes. “Not all that talkative are you? It’d be great if you could at least join in the conversation as repayment for using a Healing potion on you seeing as they’re scarce enough as it is.” she comments. Looking back at the smoking remains of a mostly obliterated building that I had only just before, been kept in, I wonder who and what I am. As I do, my PipBuck clicks and I look down at its white screen to see a message. Corporal Aid Medic Peace Corps Assigned to special operations -omitted- Status: KIA. She moves closer to look at the screen herself, “KIA?” I look up from the screen, “It means I’m dead... but I’m quite clearly not.” My name is Aid, I was a medic during a war and apparently I’m dead, go figure eh? “Wait there’s some audio logs in your Buck, lemme... there! -” “Audio Log twenty-three, Subject four, Corporal Aid, all vitals within projected parameters, Four has accepted the high performance replacements and the bone grafting to supplement his physical strength, theoretically he now matches a strong Earth pony in strength but still retains his arcane gifts. Four is our most promising subject yet, only a month or two more and he’ll not only be combat ready, but unlike those silly monster-pony experiments taken out under Project Chimera, he’ll be able to live a normal life among civilians. Princess Luna will be pleased” I shift uncomfortably, listening to this pony talking about me like this is... it gives me mixed emotions, it makes me feel like a bit of meat only useful for observing at a distance. “So you’re a pre-war pony then? Do you remember anything?” my rescuer asks. I think for a moment then shake my head, “Nope... at least now I know my name and where I’m from though.” She nods, “Well, Aid, I’m Sweets if you’ve even wondered in the least.” Suddenly, feeling quite ashamed, I apologise profusely for being so rude but she laughs, “Honestly, I don’t mind, you’re dealing with quite a lot. At any rate we have several large problems to deal with. If you are an experiment pony, what nasty secrets are hidden inside you or your past, how will you handle the wasteland and can you maintain and fire a weapon?” “I... well I know for sure I can keep a weapon working and fire it, but I’m a medic, now I realise why I was shocked at killing that pony back there... I’m supposed to help ponies, not hurt them.” She sits next to me and puts a hoof around my shoulders. “Lighten up buck, did he attack first?” I nod in response. “Well you had to defend yourself, simple as that, especially now. You’re in the Equestrian wastes, the world you can’t remember no longer exists, it’s kill or be killed out here, Aid.” Taking a moment to process this, I slowly nod to show that I understand. “Thank you Sweets, I... probably wouldn’t have pulled through that if you hadn’t turned up when you did.” She keeps her back to me, gazing off across the hills, “Yeah yeah... just don’t go getting yourself senselessly killed.” I nod, my head still filled with questions of the current state of Equestria, what to do next, how I can repay Sweets for her generosity. Just so much to process and all at once... it is overwhelming to say the least. “Look, Aid. I'll take you to the nearest settlement, but after that you're probably gonna have to be on your own. I have clients to meet with all across the coast.” Sweets says, still gazing out across the hills. I follow her gaze and that’s when I truly notice my surroundings and worse... the sheer devastation caused to the once beautiful land. Dark, twisted trunks mark where beautiful trees had once flourished, a hardy, tough bladed grass grows in pockets instead of sweeping across the ground. Then in the far distance, nestled in the mountain ranges that make up the ‘spine’ of Equestria, I see our once beautiful capitol. A nexus of activity for the well-to-do, the entrepreneurs and royalty. A memory slowly surfaces, almost reluctant to rear its head to me and I remember as clearly as if it were yesterday as I wandered down the paved streets of Canterlot with my class as a colt. The once magnificent city is in ruin, towers had crumbled and even the palace, a beacon of peace and hope had fallen into complete ruins, worse, an ominous pink cloud clings to the buildings and masks the air around the city. I had seen that cloud before, seen the effects it caused, been part of the medical teams operating on ponies who were exposed to it even for mere seconds. It was a dark magic, Zebra magic.  Then I realise that we lost the war, the Zebras had won.