//------------------------------// // Chapter 1: Weatherproof // Story: Fallout Equestria: Pink Eyes // by mimezinga //------------------------------// This fanfiction is based on Fallout Equestria by Kkat; a familiarity with the source material may aid your understanding. FoE can be found on Equestria Daily Edited by uSea, Curebores and Silfir CHAPTER 1: Weatherproof. Do you believe in ghosts? “Please let us on! The shield is failing, there’s no time!” A long line of ponies waited impatiently in front of an air wagon, but there was no sign of the pegasus pilots. A green unicorn mare at the back of the crowd suddenly started screaming, desperately pushing ponies aside in a wild dash for the front. “It's impossible! This can’t be happening! Celestia abandoned us! Luna abandoned us! There's n-” BLAM! The panicked mare fell silent as her body hit the ground. All eyes turned to look at a soldier who racked a fresh shell into her riot shotgun. “FORM A LINE AND WAIT YOUR TURN! THERE'S ROOM FOR EVERYPONY, TROUBLEMAKERS WILL BE MET WITH LETHAL FORCE!” A little filly with a blond mane and pink coat was looking up at the sky towards Canterlot. A gigantic shiny bubble engulfed the whole mountaintop. The pink cloud trapped inside was the most incredible sight of her life, capturing her attention completely. “Hey, you there!” A unicorn medical officer dressed in a white uniform was distributing protective suits to the foals. She paused for a moment in front of the pink filly and gave her a worried look. “Are you alone? Where are your parents?” The foal smiled back at the officer. “Mom is up there!” She pointed a hoof at the force field surrounding Canterlot. The energy bubble seemed a lot thinner than ten minutes ago. “She'll be back for dinner!” The officer hesitated, before looking at the foal and trying to smile. “Of course she will. What's your name, little one?” “I'm Puppysmiles!” cheered the filly, bouncing up and down on the spot. “Yes... yes Puppy, alright... Now, listen to me carefully. I want you to take this suit and put it on. You must wear the suit and not take it off, do you understand?” The filly looked at the yellow object with a puzzled expression, then at the white pony. “Yes miss pretty pony! I like you!” Dear Celestia, she’s just a foal, she hasn’t done anything wrong! This war is killing more than just ponies. This war is killing hope itself. The unicorn levitated and unfolded the suit: it was lemon yellow, with several pockets on the legs and a couple of saddlebags on the sides. “Ok, I need you to put your hooves in the holes for me. It's just like... like the pony pokey! Do you know the pony pokey?” “Yush! You reach your right hoof in, you reach your right hoof out!” “Right, that’s perfect! Now the tail... here, let me close it up and put this on your head... done!” The mare put a round glassy helmet on Puppysmiles’ head, then snapped shut a pair of locks on each side, finally sealing the small pony safely inside her radsuit. “Woah! I look like a space pony! Like... like Captain Andromeda! Wooooosh!” The foal started running and jumping in circles, giggling naively. The white mare simply sighed in relief and turned towards the next group with foals. Puppysmiles was having a super duper great time. Everything began with those big fireworks like a super humongous surprise party and the castle was encased in a splendid bubble, like those she made with soap, just bigger... biggest... no, more! Biggester! And now everypony was in the streets for some sort of celebration. She prayed to her lucky star that mommy would come back home sooner today, so they could have fun together. The helmet and the space suit were just the icing on the cupcake; they were super cool and she was sure they made her look awesome... Right! What she needed now was a mirror! Without hesitation the filly rushed home. The muffled street noise filtered into her mother’s room. Puppysmiles stood in front of the dresser, examining her helmet from the inside. Strange lights and symbols danced across the glass. Objects in the room were ringed in green halos and as she looked at them in turn, writing appeared below... Too bad Puppy couldn’t read. Her mom had barely taught her the basics. “Buh... eh... duh.” The filly frowned as she tried to construct the word. “BED! Wow, I'm good!” Satisfied, Puppy trotted downstairs, totally forgetting the mirror. Instead, she went for the fridge. “Muffins!” Puppy plucked one from the tray and went to take a bite. This immediately presented a problem: she couldn’t get near it with that stupid helmet on... “Do want but can't has... Bad helmet! How do I take you off?” She grabbed the offending fishbowl between her hooves and wrestled with it for a full minute, but to no success. Panting, she sat down hard on her rump and decided to play her trump card. “WAAAAAAaaaaahhhhhhh!” Unnoticed by the whining Puppysmiles, a red symbol appeared on the visor. Her tantrum was cut short as a metallic voice began talking from within the suit. “Status of the host – panic” The filly derped for a moment. What was going on? Who was speaking? “Wut?” “Internal medical diagnostic initiated. Error. System rebooting. Estimated time, thirty seconds.” All those funny words were amusing but it didn't help with getting rid of the helmet. Puppysmiles was still upset. “Go away stoopid talking space suit! I want muffins!” “Reboot complete. Checking version. Initiating. Ten seconds to full operational status... eight... seven..” In that moment Puppysmiles heard a crescendo of voices from outside. A mounting roar as all the ponies in the city screamed in terror; it was as if Canterlot itself cried out one last time before the end, a desperate realization of the incoming doom. “Five... Four... Three...” Suddenly, the world went pink. Looking out of the window the foal could see a shadow that grew darker and darker all over the place, as if a gigantic sugary pink cloud was falling on them. Oblivious to its meaning Puppy pressed her helmet against the glass of the window, curious as to what was going on outside. “Two... System rebooted. Starting diagnostic routine. Warning. Primary healing talisman is not responding. Activating backup healing talisman. Starting diagnostic. Female. Foal. Earth pony variety.” Wow, this space suit was smart! It knew a lot of things! “Hi, I'm Puppysmiles!” A blanket of pink mist flooded the streets, muffling the sounds of the ponies it caught, their terrified screams being washed away as the cloud brought them death... or worse. “Life support online. Temperature within parameters. Blood pressure within parameters. Warning. Radiation level above the average by three hundred percent. Minor radiation poisoning detected. Inoculating -Rad-X- inoculating -Rad Away- inoculating -Rad Away-.” Puppy sat in front of the window looking a bit puzzled at the mist leaking inside. She now wasn't sure of- “YEOW! Stoopid space suit! Why you stung m-YEEEOW! STOP IT!” “Warning. Hazardous agent detected. Analyzing. Pink agent, Littlehorn type. Lethal at a concentration exceeding 5%.” Puppy giggled. “Tee-hee, space suit says fancy words!” “1.8%... 2.0%... 2.2%... Warning. Concentration of pink agent above safety limits. Evacuate the area immediately.” Puppy stared in amazement as the pink fog poured from the window and across the floor, she smiled as it streamed between her hooves. It was like candy floss... pink candy floss! Yay! Her mom hadn’t let her eat it since she made herself sick last Nightmare Night. “I feel funny...” “Danger! Mutation detected! Concentration of 5.4%. Danger! 6.0%! Evacuate immediately! Contact Ministry of Peace for immediate help! Initiating transmission of distress signal. Scanning for emergency channel. Transmitting. Warning! Concentration at 7.5%!” “Ugh.. mommy... I don't feel very... can I stay... home... tomor...” Everything became foggy for the foal; she felt like she was sweating a lot while at the same time she was freezing. “Inoculating -Med X-. Inoculating -Healing potion-. Concentration at 12.1%. Inoculating -Rad X-. Inoculating -Rad Away-. Concentration of pink agent at 16.0%. Inoculating -Poison Antidote-. Inoculating -Healing potion-. Inoculating -Healing potion-. Concentration at 22.6%. Inoculating -Healing potion-. Inoculating...” The ceaseless litany of the radsuit’s medical systems continued as Puppy’s legs gave out beneath her. Lying unconscious on the kitchen floor, the healing potions that coursed through her veins kept her alive. As the deadly pink agent slowly permeated the suit, it did its best to mitigate the worst of the effects. She did not die, but she didn't quite survive either. “... Healing potion. Inoculating -Healing potion-. Inoculating -Healing potion-. Warning. Healing potion doses left: three. Concentration of pink agent at 35.0%. Inoculating...” Like an abandoned doll, Puppysmiles slept as her suit sang its clinical chorus of programmed procedures. Hazardous atmosphere, suit compromised, medical supplies exhausted. She heard none of it as minutes flowed into hours, hours into days... The filly simply lay there, on the floor. Wearing the noisiest medical suit ever, which kept stoically informing her that she was almost dead and she needed... practically everything. Days became weeks, weeks became months as Puppy kept sleeping, frozen in that very last instant of life. Months stacked up in seasons, and season gave way to years; the suit continuing to sing its lullaby of medical emergencies. Year upon year the voice of the suit became lower and lower, starting to crackle. The transparent helmet covered in dust hid the tragedy of the world outside from the filly's face as she took her longest ever nap. Sealed inside her suit, tainted by the cloud, decades passed until they became a century, then two... The house bore the years without a single repair; it was a good house, built by earth ponies in the old pony way: brick by brick, with a solid roof and strong foundations; but everything has to meet its end. It began as a little crack in the middle of the main roof beam during spring, growing larger and deeper with every rainstorm until the whole thing just resigned to old age. Right on Puppysmiles’ head. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- DAY 1 - TIME approximately 5:00 P.M.- LOCATION: Clover Leaf Terrace, suburb of Canterlot When the building collapsed it raised a cloud of dust and pink smoke that persisted for several minutes before everything went silent again. When the dust finally settled, from under the ruins came a tiny, muffled voice. “Owie...” Slowly a brick moved, followed by another, revealing something glinting in the rubble. A round glassy helmet popped up, followed by the yellow silhouette of a very small pony wearing a radsuit. There was a long crack in the helmet, but somehow the damage began to disappear as the pony finished freeing herself from the collapsed building. “Mom?” The filly resembled an astronaut taking her first steps on an alien world. “What is this place? Where is everypony? Mom? MOOM!?” Something felt wrong, beginning with the fact that she was still wearing that talking suit. “MOOOM!” “Bzzzt- FzZZzzZzt- line... rebooFZZZt necesszSzT!” “Shut up suit! Where’s Mom? Where is my house? Where... am...” The filly’s words died in her throat as she looked up to see a familiar mountain, topped by a ruined but unmistakable castle. There was no doubt: this was Canterlot, her home. “What... b-b-but... it's... all broken!” “Fzzzt... critical failure... no living parFZZZTT! Requesting conffFFZZZTanual rebooting” “Yeah, whatever!” the filly yelled, while still looking at the ruins of Canterlot looming above her, and all of a sudden she felt funny again. At first her sight became foggy, and she fell on her flank, her legs unable to support her. Puppysmiles grew weaker and weaker, feeling a terrible pain crawl from her hooves up to her spine. It was a new type of sensation: everything in her just seemed to stop working and the harder she tried to do anything, the more she felt trapped in her own body. The little filly tried to scream but her mouth wouldn’t move. The only thing she could do was look at the empty street through a cloud of pain and a dusty helmet. As she stood there, her focus shifted to a pile of strange dirty white stones. Their shape was unusual: long, thin, some curved, some straight. Now that she was paying attention, the foal realized that they were everywhere. The sight disturbed her slightly, but the sensation didn't last long: a green dot pulsed before her eyes, commanding her full attention. “Reboot complete. Checking version. File not found. Starting emergency mode. Version 0.2...” “Ugh.” Puppy tried to say something, but she was still completely paralyzed. The foal just stared at the weird lights in front of her eyes that turned from green to pink. Hey, good news at last! She loved pink, it was her favorite color! “New components detected. Initializing matrix. Connecting.” A spark ran through the foal's body, from her nose to her tail, washing away that horrible sensation of paralyzing weakness. With some hesitation the filly tried raising a hoof. Finding no resistance, this encouraged her to try a few uncertain steps: it worked. It was as if the last five minutes had never happened. She just got better all of a sudden... go figure... “Wow, that was weird... Now I just need to get this stoopid space suit off—” “All systems operational. Starting diagnostic routine. Analyzing. Subject 001, Puppysmiles. Female. Foal. Earth pony variety. No vitals. Checking for errors in diagnostic equipment. No error found. Repeating diagnostic routine. Female. Foal. Earth pony variety. No vitals.” “What are whytles? I want whytles! Are they yummy!?” “Launching Learning Program for Foals. Connecting to Ministry of Image for recent updates. Unable to establish communication bridge. Launching program from backup files. Please wait for installation to finish.” The filly started trotting around, moving toward the pile of old weathered stones and stopping to get a better look at them. The HUD in her helmet illuminated the heap, surrounding its silhouette with a pink halo. “Curly cuh... oh... ruh... puh... ss... eh! Cor... corrupse!” The filly jiggled, reading was fun! A second later, she frowned. “What's a corrupse?” “Corpse, noun. Remnants of a dead creature – the more you know!” The metallic voice quickly answered the question. “Dead? Like... dead dead dead?” “Searching synonyms for dead... Cadaverous. Deceased. Defunct. Departed. Done for. Erased. Expired. Extinct. Gone. Inanimate. Inert. Lifeless...” Puppy listened for the first part of the list, then poked a long white bone with a hoof. Her eyes pointed out something just too familiar in this skeleton. “Uhm, mister voice... this corpse... what was it?” “Analyzing... Pony. Adult female. Unicorn variety” The little foal shivered, or at least felt like shivering. Her eyes rose, looking down the street littered with bones everywhere. Skeletons of dead ponies, curled on themselves, lining against the walls, corralled in small groups as if they had tried to find safety in numbers. All dead. Everypony was dead. “What... what happened? Mom? Where's Mom?” Puppysmiles felt a cold sensation running down her spine. “Mister Voice... where's Mom?” “MoM, Ministry of Morale. Analyzing data. Connecting to Equestrian Cartography Onspark. Downloading data. Error, name matching failed. Searching for MoM broadcasting signal. Spritebot found. Establishing communication bridge... ” Puppysmiles stopped following the voice after the first two or three sentences, now she was trying to find her home. Maybe her mother was there waiting for her! “Why is everything different? Where is my house, where are all the pretty ponies?” Glancing down the street she saw the rusted and battered remnants of the Pony Joe's Doughnut shop, confirming that this was the street where she lived. Her house must have been... “B-B-But...” She stood in front of the ruins she’d crawled out of just minutes ago, looking at them in disbelief. “Query: broadcasting source. Broadcasting signal found. Location marker transmission in progress...” “If this is home... where's my mom?” Puppy sat down and started to cry, or at least tried to; quite soon the foal realized that she was just bawling; no tears ran down her face and she didn't feel relieved at all. Now the filly was almost sure that something in her was wrong; she was going to ask the mechanical voice about that, but was interrupted. “Ministry of Morale's locations added to map. Nearest MoM hub displayed on the navigator.” “You... you found my mom!?” “Affirmative. MoM has been located. Nearest MoM hub outside Canterlot Ruins is set as new navigation priority.” “Uh... I... guess that's a yes?” “Instructions: follow the pink arrow on the compass until destination is reached.” “Uh... thanks?” The filly took some seconds to realize how great this thing was. That voice had just found her mom! She was going to see her mommy, everything was going to be all right! Who cared about the house, the dead ponies, the ruined castle or this stoopid... no wait! This super duper smart talking space suit was going to find her mom! The thought filled her with such glee that it pushed everything else from her mind. Who cared that she didn’t feel hungry or tired or whatever, Mom would know why! She was going to find her mom, everything was going to be fine! “YAY!” --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- DAY 1 - TIME approximately 8:30 P.M.- LOCATION: Sunshine Plaza, outskirts of Canterlot “Warning. Vital parameters absent. Warning. Medical supplies exhausted. Warning. All emergency channels are mute. Warning...” “Warning wrap up warning wrap uuup!” Puppysmiles was trotting down the streets of Canterlot's suburbs, singing her personal version of the greatest hit ever in all of Equestria, trying to match the suit’s timing so that it seemed like a chorus... and no, it didn't work. “The medical supply’s tired! warning wrap up warning wrap up! We'll soon need batteries!” “Negative. Energy supply is sufficient. Estimated lifetime of the spark before red level, one thousand and two hundreds years.” “Oh come on! Just sing and stop whining.” “Negative. This is not whining. This is a warning. I can supply appropriate audio samples of whining.” “Warning for what? Everything will be all right as soon as we find my mom! She’s the coolest pony ever!” “Negative. MoM is not a pony. It's an acronym for—” “Of course Mom’s a pony... and she’s not an... uh... an acrobat either!” “Negative. It's Ministry of Morale.” Puppysmiles giggled. “Silly mister suit, sticks and stones can break my bones, but words will never hurt me!” She giggled again, “Ministry of Morale, as if that has to do with anything...” Puppy trotted the deserted roads, past the bombed out relics and ghosts of ponies long dead. As daylight faded into dusk, she found herself in a large city square before a statue of Princess Celestia. “Wow, pretty princess Celestia... when I'm big I want to be a princess too!” Puppy paced around the monument with curiosity, trying to find a way onto the statue’s back. Having a ride on a gigantic marble Celestia seemed just too awesome to be a bad idea, but as she prepared to start her ascent, the suit interrupted. “Warning. Hostile detected. Distance, twenty meters. Analyzing...” A red dot appeared on the compass beside her pink objective. Turning to face it she saw a pony watching her from the doorway of a post office. At last! Somepony else! What’shisname, Horse Tile? Tee-hee, that’s funny name! The filly skipped towards him with her best winning smile. “Hi mister Horse Tile! I'm Puppysmiles!” “Warning. Hostile at six meters and closing.” “Oh, and this is Mister Voice! He lives in my space suit and whines all the time but he's super smart!” The creature stared at Puppy with an empty, glowing gaze. He was a horribly disfigured earth pony; his mane was almost completely gone and skin peeled off his body in several places, revealing rotting meat and yellow bones. “GWAAH...” growled the ghoul, as he took a step towards her. “Uhm... is something wrong with you, mister Horse?” “Analysis complete. Creature: Canterlot feral ghoul. Threat level: lethal. Tactical retreat is advised.” Puppy stopped, transfixed by the ghoul’s unwavering red glare, suddenly aware of the horror standing before her. The ghoul simply stood, and stared back. “Iforgotsomethingveryimportantsorrygottagookbyebye!” The foal turned and sprinted for her life, scrambling over bones and screaming like the scared little filly she was. “AYEEEEEEEEEE!” The ghoul watched her display until she disappeared from sight, then sauntered back into the post office. After several blocks Puppy finally decided it was safe to slow down and catch her breath. She looked over her shoulder, hoping the monster had given up the chase. The street was empty. Lucky Puppy, she was best runner ever, maybe she could do a sonic rainboom without even flying? Was that possible? It would have been super cool for sure... “Okay mister Voice... you’re the egghead. Is that not-so-pretty-pony still chasing us?” “Negative. Scanning shows no activity in the area.” “Super... now let me just catch some breath then... then...” Puppy realized something strange. She was barely winded despite having just ran half a kilometer at full gallop, she had really only stopped because she felt she should be tired. This seemed a teeny tiny bit wrong and made Puppy recall all the warnings the suit kept giving her... maybe there was something that she needed to know. “Uhm... mister Voice... am I ill?” “Running diagnostic procedure. Please wait. Negative. The subject is not ill nor wounded or poisoned.” Puppy felt relieved: the thing about not being hungry or tired was probably nothing unusual. Her mom was always awake after Puppy’s bed time, she never got tired. Maybe she was growing up at last? Yush! Puppy was becoming a big pony like mom! “Diagnosis complete: the subject is deceased.” “Diseased? You just told me I was all right!” “Negative. I told you that you were not ill.” The filly frowned. “Waaaait just a moment. I'm not ill, but I'm diseased?” “Negative. You are deceased.” “But that's the same thing I said!” “Negative. The word you are using is incor-” “Aw, just stop with this I say tomato you say tomahto thing! It was boring even when I was five! You don't want to tell me what's wrong? Fine! I don't want to know! Bleh!” Puppy stuck her tongue out at the helmet HUD and again started to follow her pink compass heading. She barely noticed that the night had drawn in around her, she could still see her way as clear as day... Unknown to Puppy, her eyes now shone with a faint pink light. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- DAY 1 - TIME approximately 10:00 P.M. - LOCATION: Dead Hills, Wasteland As the yellow suited filly made her way out of the city, she found herself at the top of a long and winding road. As it stretched into the distance she saw it pass through a desolate landscape of scorched hills and dead forests with little sign of civilization in between. In the darkness Puppy slowed to a stop and looked around, confused. “Hey, mister Voice... are you super duper sure that this way is okay? We’re not heading anywhere near the mountain top...” “Affirmative. Nearest likely-intact MoM hub is located in this direction, however it is not currently broadcasting. Other hubs are also located further down this route.” The little filly frowned for a moment and it seemed that some big gears were making a lot of noise in her head while she was trying to translate what the suit had just said. In the end, she just smiled. “Okie dokie lokey... let's sing something then!” “There, is a place, where the grass is what's for dinner! Charmed, fun and wild, there must be something in the water!” In the wasteland, walking down the road making as much racket as she was is just asking for trouble. Within half an hour Puppy had attracted the attention of every potential aggressor in the area, though most of them were a bit wary of how to proceed. “Warning. Several hostiles detected. Caution is advised.” “Wut? Mister Horse Tile again!?” Puppy looked around in a frantic panic; she was sure that she lost him in town, how could he- BLAM! Suddenly the filly fell on her rump as a stinging pain in her left hind leg made it buckle. The pain wasn't that bad but for some reason she couldn't get up. “Owie...” A group of three ponies were running in her direction, screaming and foaming like mad. “You! I’m gonna eat your heart! GRAAAAH!” “I want his helmet it’s mine I saw it first it’s mine it’s MINE! He's not bleeding! Why isn’t he bleeding? MAKE HIM BLEED!!” “Warning. Breach in containment layer. Exposure to external elements unavoidable. Survival of subject not guaranteed. Self repairing magic activated.” The foal waved a hoof at the new arrivals. “Hi pretty ponies! I'm Puppysmiles! Have you seen my mom? Oh, and watch out for the horseflies! They sting like crazy!” Puppy just sat smiling at the three ponies, trying to behave and ignore the annoying sting on her leg. Stoopid insects. The trio of ponies rushing towards her showed no sign of slowing down. She frowned for a moment. “Is something wrong?” “Immobilize that bastard! Cut his fucking legs off, I want to see how he does as a snail!” A large earth pony tackled Puppy to the ground, effectively burying her under his sheer bulk. The other two ponies split up: the unicorn kept his distance and trained a rifle at the foal’s head, while the earth pony mare pinned Puppy's forelegs. “Got you! Now hold still while I—” “Warning. Pink agent, Littlehorn Type detected.” When the earth pony landed on Puppysmiles a thick pink cloud puffed out from the large bullet hole in the suit, right in his face. At first the pony looked annoyed, but this emotion was rapidly replaced by realization, fear, panic, terror, as finally his head started to melt. “Aaaah! Help me! Help! PLEASE! AAAGH! KILLMEEEAAAGGK!” The other two raiders stared in disbelief at the massive earth pony as his face melted and dripped from his skull like an ice cream on a hot summer’s day. The earth pony mare looked at the filly inside the helmet. She seemed so small, so innocuous... she has big... pink... gleaming eyes... “It’s a ghoul! Back off! Back o-COUGH COUGH!” The mare tried to flee but started coughing up blood. It was too late to run, she had already tasted the pink venom and without a healing potion she was just as dead as her companion. The unicorn screamed in panic like a foal, threw the rifle against Puppy's helmet and then ran for his life. In the meantime the big male rolled from Puppy’s back as liquefied brain leaked from his skull’s orbits and splashed onto the asphalt. The female tried to run while choking on her own blood, managing to get about a hundred meters before collapsing. “Warning. Breach in the containment layer. Exposure to external elements unavoidable. Survival of the subject is not guaranteed. Repairs in progress.” Puppy was reeling: shell-shocked by the big pony dying right in front of her... it was worse than a horror movie, mostly because this was real. What in Equestria could have done that? Melting a head with all the skin and the bones and... suddenly she realized. “Mister Horse Tile! He had the same melted face! He killed them!” and now she was next! No... no, no, no, no! That wasn't good, she had to get up and run away super fast. Rainbow Dash fast! Unfortunately her leg wasn't cooperating. She tried to get up and run but could barely manage a stagger, so stagger she did as fast as... uhm... let's say a crippled turtle. “Repairs completed. Containment restored. Running medical diagnostic. Subject deceased.” “Don’t you dare start that again! We're in a pinch here!” “Negative. No immediate threats detected. Hostile count in the area: zero.“ “Count? Mister Horse Tile is a noble pony?” “Negative. The correct word is hostile. You are distorting the meaning of-” “What are you, a dictionary!? I'm tired of your fancy words!” Puppy sighed with frustration. “Look, there's a super evil zombie pony count after us. We have to get out of here before he finds us again!” “Negative. There's a misunderstanding of Celestial pro—” “CUT. IT. OUT!” As the anger grew inside Puppy her eyes began to burn. No really: they were literally producing brilliant pink flames! They were so bright that she could finally see herself reflected in the glass of the helmet, working like a mirror in the darkness. What Puppy saw was a terrible creature with mad, burning eyes: a soulless monster that scared her to the bone. Speechless and completely lost in the vision, Puppy fell to the ground. She clutched the helmet between her hooves, closed her eyes and started to cry. There were no tears, but it was loud; a soul-felt wail that lasted for hours. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- DAY 2 - TIME approximately 6:45 A.M. - LOCATION: Dead Hills, Wasteland During the night several creatures had been lured by the sound, but none of them dared to approach the yellow filly; something about her unsettled them deeply. It was already morning by the time Puppy finally stopped crying. Slowly she lowered her hooves from the helmet and opened her eyes. The suit had gone mute since her little scene the previous night; now she was starting to feel a little lonely. “Uh... mister Voice... are you there?” “Affirmative. All systems are powered and ready.” “Ah... right... I... I just wanted to say that I'm sorry... I didn't mean to shout at you. I...” “Warning. This program is not designed for socializing. The emergency mode only provides hardware support, voice command interpretation and basic survival advice.” “I... please... please, please, please, don't leave me alone! I'm sorry! Please take me to my mom!” “Location MoM already set as priority navigation point.” Puppy hesitated for a moment, trying to understand what the voice was implying. “Uhm... are you saying that we are still going to find mom together?” “Affirmative. It is the set priority.” “YAY! I love you mister Voice!” Puppy was suddenly interrupted by the sound of a manly metallic laugh, but it wasn't coming from inside her helmet. The filly looked around, trying to pinpoint the source, and found a spritebot fluctuating in the air behind her. “Uh... hi? I'm Puppysmiles...” After her last experience with newcomers she wasn't completely sure that the everypony is a welcome pony approach was the best one, but she had been told to be nice and she didn't want to disappoint her mother. The spritebot hovered for a few moments longer, then replied: “Oh, hi Puppy... can I call you Puppy? You are quite an interesting encounter.” Puppy smiled happily. A friend at last! “Sure! Everypony calls me that. What's your name, buzzing eye?” “I'm Watcher, pleased to meet you.” The foal tilted her head. “What are you watching?” “Well, anything that I find interesting.” “Wow, that must be a lot of things!” The bot laughed for a moment. “Well, yes, quite a lot... say, is that a fully functioning Mark VI Omni-Environmental Suit you are wearing?” “Nope, it's a space suit! It's super cool and it also talks, but I can't get out of it.” “Oh, and how did you get inside it?” “A pretty pony put it on me yesterday.” “Yesterday? Can I ask who that pony was?” Puppy pondered for a moment. “She had a pretty white vest and made me sing the Pony Pokey... it was all a bit crazy, she didn't tell me what her name was...” “Crazy? Like what?” The filly frowned, trying to remember the important details of the encounter. “Well, there was this big bubble all around the castle and the streets were full of ponies and soldier ponies and then all that pink mist and-” “Woah, slow down for a moment! Pink mist? Castle? Do you mean in Canterlot?” “Yup! Well... not Canterlot Canterlot... we live downhill, but it's still Canterlot, you know?” “Yes I... I know...” The voice hesitated. “And... this happened yesterday?” “Uh... maybe it was a couple days ago... yesterday I woke up and all the pretty ponies were gone and... ah... my house was gone too and... there were lots of corpse ponies and it was creepy... and a really ugly pony chased me but now it's okay because me and mister Voice are going to find my mom!” The spritebot was silent for a long time; Puppy just kept smiling, waiting for her new friend to say something else. When the voice finally came back it sounded distant and somehow not so friendly. “So, after the thing with the pink cloud, you went to sleep and you woke up the next day and everything was just... gone...” “Eyup!” “And... you’ve not been able to get out of the suit since then and... you haven’t had to drink or eat or... go to the restroom?” “Nopey mopey.” The filly smiled. “Mister Voice said it was because I was diseased but then he said no and then yes and we had this big argument about fancy words.” “And... can I ask you where you are going right now?” At last an easy question. “Sure! I'm going to find my mom! Mister Voice found her and I'm following this super nice pink arrow! When I find her everything will be all right!” “This... mister Voice... pointed you in that direction? Down this road?” “Yes! Wow, mister Watcher, you are super curious, aren’t you? You should be called mister Questioner!” The filly giggled, the voice didn't say anything for almost a minute. “Oh Celestia I... I can't... Listen, Puppy, I...” “Yes?” The filly’s eyes grew bigger. The voice went mute again for a long while. “I'm sorry, I have to go. I... I wish you luck.” “Sure! Good luck to you too! When I find my mom I'll tell her that you were nice to me! Bye bye!” The spritebot gave a brief burst of static and began playing some music, floating away in the direction of Canterlot. “Wow, music! He has music! Cool! Hey mister Voice, do we have music too?” “Affirmative. I receive several radio signals. Some of them are meant for entertainment.” Fancy words again, Puppy frowned trying to translate that sentence. “Uhm... this means we can has music?” “Affirmative.” “Do it!” After a few crackles of static the radio began playing. The little filly in yellow continued south, trotting merrily along the lonesome road. “What is this place filled with so many wonders? Casting its spell that I am now under...” Footnote: LVL up... no wait, Puppy uses a monster template! does she get lvls? I think not. Link to Chapter 2 All credits for the setting go to Kkat, author of the original story Fallout Equestria published on Equestria Daily Puppy’s S.P.E.C.I.A.L. Strength: 5 Perception: 4 Endurance: 5 Charisma: 7 Intelligence: 4 Agility: 6 Luck: 9 Edited by: Silfir and uSea (yay!) Additional thanks to Anonsamurai and Llama Llumps for reviewing and a big help with some basics in English I completely missed. GALLERY Puppy before the megaspells, by Easteu F.E.S. MK IV technical data, by Easteu Puppy by Sip Puppy and the parador, by Easteu Cover, full view, by Sip Henrietta Firebright, by IrkenGeneral