Fallout Equestria: Icicle

by PlagenShiki

Chapter 38 - Deliverance

The amount of protect-a-ponies and sentry turrets that suddenly pop out of nowhere is staggering. At least a dozen turrets and six protect-a-ponies start to open fire at us. Luckily, we are not fully in the next room yet, and can take cover behind the walls. We won’t be able to hide in here long. The robots will get in soon enough. We probably have the firepower to take them in the choke point of the doorway.

Grimoire steps forward and his horn flashes. A moment later, he is in a different location. Did he teleport...or… “I’ll draw their fire, you all take them out,” He explains as he walks towards the door. “You remember this spell, right?” A red beam cuts through him, but he doesn’t seem phased. His illusion magic. He enters into the next room and draws all of the fire.

I nod to the others and Hal leads the way, charging into the room. I draw the Executioner and start shooting at the closest turret. Hal and Soar take care of the protect-a-ponies while Macro and Cora help me take down the turrets. It isn’t long before the robots start targeting us instead of Grimoire, but since the others are in armor, the lasers don’t do much more than blacken their armor. A few of the turrets focus on me and before I can turn them into scrap they singe my lab coat and armor. One gets a lucky shot off and catches me in the leg, burning my fur and leaving a raw red spot.

After a few minutes, we deal with all of the turrets and robots. I frown as I look over my lab coat. It was already not fairing well to begin with, but now it is barely hanging on. I think I have one more left in decent condition back at the lab, but what I wouldn’t give for more of the fresh ones. The others escaped without much damage as well.

Time to find out what we are dealing with. I take in the room. It is a large rectangular room, probably two stories tall. Halfway up, a walkway surrounds the perimeter with staircases on each side of the room leading down to the bottom floor. On the far wall there is a window that I think leads to an office, but it is hard to tell through the grime. A short distance to our left is another doorway marked ‘Exit’. There aren’t any more doors or hallways in the room.

But, I suppose this room is all that matters. In the center is a large, circular computer with cables running from it up to the ceiling. The whole thing is glowing a haunting pink. From the ceiling, the cables snake out in six directions before once ahead running down in the middle of the room. The cables are attached to cryopods. These are different than any I’ve seen before, however. Not to mention that there are six of them in one place.

I make my way down to the closest pod and look inside. A mare with a neutral palette and no cutie mark. Wires are running out of her head and into the pod. I make my way around to the other pods. Same set up in each one. A pony without a cutie mark and a neutral palette hooked up inside the pod.

On one side of the central computer is a large pile of paper that is coming out of it. A warning message flashes above the slot the paper is coming from that says ‘Out of Paper’. I pull randomly at the pile of papers, but it looks like it is all connected together. Was the computer printing off information of some sort? I find the end of the paper and start skimming over the contents.

It is just a seemingly random collection of dates, times, names, and locations. As I get halfway through the data suddenly becomes the same. I stare at the date followed by the words in all capitals and bold print, ‘THE END’. The same lines repeat over and over again. “Cora, come here,” I call over to her as I keep looking through the papers. Countless pages with the same thing. When Cora walks up I float the paper over to her. “This date...it is the same date that the war ended, isn’t it?” I ask her.

Cora looks at it then nods. “It is,” She tells me. I bite my lip. I didn’t know the exact date it ended, but I knew it was around this date on the paper. What does this mean?

I keep looking through the paper till new words appear. There is no date or names, just a single phrase repeated over and over again. A shiver runs down my spine as I read it, ‘Please kill us.’ The phrase repeats until the paper runs out. I drop the paper as I look at the pods once again. “What the hell is this?” I mutter.

I walk up to one of the six terminals on the center computer. It lists occupant information, tells the occupant health and mental status, and then offers the same two options each pod previously has given. Terminate and Release. I glance back at the pod this terminal corresponds to and then immediately hit the release option.

The pod starts to open with a hiss as the occupant is unfrozen. We gather around and wait for the occupant to regain consciousness. Instead, we are greeted with an ear-splitting scream from the mare in the pod. I fold my ears against my head and cover them with my hooves as she continues to scream. It is almost as if she is in pain. I notice Grimoire flicker and reappear in another spot, and then he proceeds to cover his ears as well. I try to shout over the screaming, but I can barely hear myself.

I watch in horror as the mare’s mouth starts to dribble bloody foam as she screams and moments later her nose, eyes, and ears start to bleed as well. What is happening? I can’t take it anymore. I draw Forgiveness with my magic and shoot the mare in the head. The screaming stops at once, but my ears continue to ring for a good minute.

We stare at the dead mare in shock and horror. “What...happened?” I mutter. “Cora…?”

Cora walks closer to the mare’s body and looks into the pod. “I don’t know,” She replies. “I’ve never seen a reaction like this after opening a pod.”

I frown as I look at the other pods. “Spread out. Look for some information on what happened here. Some reason why this happened. Why can’t rise opening the other pods if the other occupants will share her fate,” I declare and start towards the office upstairs. The others start messing with the other terminals around the central computer.

I open the door to the office and step inside. Without hesitation I make my way to the desk where a terminal rests and I turn it on. Once it boots up, I look over various files. They are all marked Project Oracle, just with different entry numbers. As I read them, I get an idea of what this place is and what it was doing.

This facility was used by the MoM to predict attacks using the minds of the ponies inside the pods. By linking them together, the pony in charge thought they could amplify their power using the central computer. Essentially, they made the ponies in the pods into computers. But there is no mention of the occupants aside from calling them Oracles. No background on them, nothing. After reading through each file, I come to the last one. An audio log on the day the war ended. I play it.

A buck sighs before he begins, “Project Oracle, log number 3457. For the last month, we have been getting the same output. Today’s date, followed by ‘The End’. We are not sure what it means, or if the system is broken. We have tried changing various parameters with the Oracles, but the outcome is the same. Some of the staff is speculating that ‘The End’ means that the war will end today. Others have random or even morbid thoughts. What we do know right now, is that…”

The buck pauses as shouting is heard in the background. “What are they doing out there…” He mutters. Then there is the sound of a door opening and a panicked mare says, “Sir! The warning sirens, they are going off! We need to evacuate to the Stable, now!”

“What?” The buck says. “Now?” He sighs again and the rustle of papers can be heard. “Fine, give a moment to gather my notes,” He tells the mare.

“What about the Oracles, sir?” The mare asks.

“What about them?” He replies.

“Should we release them? If this really is the end, we should take them with us,” She says.

The buck scoffs. “Don’t be absurd. This is probably just another drill. And even if it wasn’t, you know we can’t release the Oracles. They can’t live outside those pods. The outside air is like poison to them, remember?” He tells her as if he has repeated himself countless times.

“B-But sir…” The mare mutters.

“No buts!” The buck shouts. “We’ll be back soon enough.” There is a silence followed by, “This damn thing is still recording.” Then the sound of a few buttons being pressed and then the audio log ends.

The air poisons them? Then...We can’t save them? I stare at the terminal for a few moments. The words ‘Please kill us’ printed over and over flash in my mind. There are two options. Kill them or leave them. Who knows what they are going through while frozen. Usually, your brain isn’t active while you are frozen. I don’t know what the MoM did to my pods, but somehow the ponies inside are able to interact with the computer. That means they are at least somewhat conscious.

They have been here for a century and a half. No way to do anything. I clench my jaw as I get back to my hooves and walk out of the office. Slowly, I walk back to the central computer and rejoin the others. I go to one of the unoccupied terminals and use the Terminate command. A moment later, the corresponding pod flashes and then powers down. “Ratchet! What are you-” Cora begins, until she sees my face.

I move to the next terminal. “We can’t save them,” I tell her. “No matter what we do, they will suffer.” I press the Terminate command again and another pod powers down. “If they are exposed to the air, they will die. This is the only thing we can do,” I explain as I move on to the next terminal and repeat the process. Then the next one, and then the last. The others watch me all the while. When I am done, I come to stand in front of them.

“They wanted to die. They knew they couldn’t leave the pods or they would die horribly. This was the only way to end their suffering,” I mutter and release a sigh. “Grimoire, you remember where Stable 36 was, right?” I ask him. “Take us there.”

“Are you sure?” He asks. “You want to leave now?”

“Yes. There is nothing more we can do here,” I tell him. He looks to the others, but they just shrug.

“If you say so…” Grimoire mutters. Then, in a flash, we teleport once again.

The walk from Stable 36 to Icicle Lab is a quiet one. None of us speak. There isn’t really much to say. One more pod and I will be done with them. We just have to get to the lab and have Serendipity tell us where it is.

As we approach the lab, Serendipity is waiting for us. “Welcome home,” She says. “Grimoire, you can go now. Your services are no longer needed.”

“What? But I-” Grimoire begins, but Serendipity interrupts him.

“The last pod is close by and unguarded. You don’t need to be there. Besides, you want to visit your sister’s grave, do you not?” She states.

“Well, yea, but…” He trails off.

“It is fine, Grim. If Serendipity says you can go, you can. You aren’t a prisoner here,” I tell him. “Thank you, for all of your help.”

“It was the least I could do,” He replies. “Are you sure?” He asks. Serendipity nods. “Okay then. I’ll come visit sometime,” Grimoire says, and then he disappears in a flash.

“Kind of rude shooing him away like that, wasn’t it?” I ask Serendipity.

“It was. But, it was necessary. If he stayed, he would have been killed,” She explains.

“So, the next location is actually dangerous?” I ask. “Just tell us so we can get going. You said it was nearby, right?”

She nods. “It is. For now, let us enter your lab. There is much to discuss,” She says as she enter the shed. The five of us remaining exchange a glance before we follow after her. At first, I think she is going to lead us to the clinic for our chat, but she continues on to the experiment room where the pods are. Serendipity stands between the pods and then turns to us as we gather around her. “Now then, before we begin, I need to make we are not interrupted. I would like to apologize in advance for this,” She says.

“Cora, Soar, Hal, Macro. Command override, activate voice input protocols,” She says and my eyes go wide. “Authorization, Ratchet. Passphrase, For The Future.” I can hear them behind me stiffening up.

“What are you doing!?” I shout as I draw the Executioner.

“Be good little AI and don’t interfere with this discussion. Don’t move or fire your weapons. You can talk, but know that it will change nothing,” She tells them. The four of them agree in unison as I pull the trigger. Serendipity just moves her head slightly to the right to avoid the bullet. “Ratchet...I’ve told you that won’t work. I just want to talk. No harm will come to you or your AI from me,” She says.

“Then why did you do that!” I shout.

“Because they would try to stop me from telling you the truth,” She explains.

“What do you mean?” I ask, my gun lowering slightly.

“Don’t listen to her Ratchet!” Cora yells.

“You don’t have to listen, you can just watch,” Serendipity says as she walks over to the empty stasis pod. It is covered with a sheet. I grimace as my head suddenly starts to pound. She reaches up a hoof and pulls off the sheet, revealing, not the stasis pod, but my cryogenic pod. My vision goes fuzzy as I look between the two pods and then suddenly, the cryopod I was using turns into the stasis pod.

“W-What is…” I mutter as I put a hoof to my head.

“You have been using the stasis pod, not the cryopod,” Serendipity explains. “You’ve thought it was the cryopod and that is why you are suddenly feeling the way you are. However, that is not the only reason. Let me ask you the same thing I did when we first met. What is your name? Who are you, really?” She asks.

“I am…” I begin to answer, but my head starts throbbing again. “...Ratchet,” I mutter quietly.

“Stop it! What are you doing!” Cora calls out from behind me.

Serendipity ignores Cora as she holds a hoof to her chin. “If you are Ratchet, then who is this?” She says as she gestures to the cryopod and wipes some of the frost off the glass.

I stare into the pod, which should be empty. “That’s...it’s...me…?” I question. A mare is in the pod who looks exactly like me. Her grey hide, her short icy mane and green eyes...Even her cutie mark is the same. “What is...going on?” I ask.

“You aren’t who you think you are,” Serendipity tells me, and then she reaches behind the pod and drags out a mirror. “I had to pick this up outside, since all of your mirrors are broken for some reason. Take a look. This is the real you, after all,” She says as she places the mirror in front of me.

I stare into it. The mare in the mirror stares back at me. A unicorn mare with a grey coat, she’s wearing a lab coat and is sitting just like I am. But her mane is red and her eyes are blue. I wave at the mirror, and the mare waves back. Her pupils are pinpricks. “What…” I murmur. “This can’t be…” My head throbs intensely as I stare at the reflection. Finally, I clench my eyes shut and shake my head. “No, no, no!” I yell.

I hear the sound of Serendipity dragging the mirror away again and then she steps in front of me. “It is true,” She says, putting a hoof on my shoulder. “Take a look at your cutie mark.”

I shakily get to my hooves and start to undress so I can look at it. When I can finally see it, I fall to my haunches again. It is a bullet casing. A bullet casing, not schematics like it should be. “Calm down,” Serendipity says as I start shaking. “Keep listening. My explanation isn’t over yet.”

“Don’t say another word!” Cora threatens, but once again Serendipity ignores her. Instead, she drags out a heap of twisted metal from behind the stasis pod and sets it before me.

“Does this look familiar?” She asks as I look it over. “It should. It is a recollector. You know, the memory things? Only this one is slightly different. It allows the user to remove and overwrite memories,” She explains. “It was used on you to completely erase who you really are and then replace your memories with those of the mare named Ratchet. The real Ratchet hasn’t walked the Wasteland since her friend Twinkle died.”

“Didn’t you ever wonder why you never met ponies more than once? Even your supposed friends like Sickle, or the DJ? The only one you met was Grimoire, and how did that turn out?” Serendipity asks. “He didn’t recognize you at first, did he? But he seemed to grasp the situation. Smart buck, that one.”

“Just think about all of your previous exploits. How many times did you see your own reflection? I wonder if that is the reason why there are no mirrors in your lab. What about your sudden affinity for guns? Ratchet was never good with them and yet how many times have you killed ponies with them recently?” She asks me.

I can only stare at her with my mouth agape. “The AIs knew, they all did,” Serendipity explains. “Oh, and you aren’t the first pony they have done this to.”

“Shut up!” Cora yells. “Stop talking! Don’t tell her any more lies!”

For the first time, Serendipity responds to Cora. “Lies? But everything I am telling her is the truth. I am even showing her evidence. Tell me Cora, how many ‘Ratchet’s’ have there been?” She asks.

“There is only one Ratchet!” Cora retorts.

“That is correct. But how many fakes have there been?” Serendipity counters. “I know the answer, but you know you are caught in lies. You might as well plead your case,” She tells Cora.

Cora seems at a loss for words. But then she replies with an oddly calm, “Fine. You have already done enough damage. This fake is long gone by now. Where is the harm in telling the truth now?”

“C-Cora?” I question as I turn towards her.

“Serendipity is right, you know,” Cora tells me. “The real Ratchet is in the cryopod. You are just a fake.”

“But...why?” I mutter.

“You have Ratchet’s memories. You should know. It is to keep her safe. The Wasteland is too much for her, I know it. I saw what happened to her after watching her friends die. So, I decided to make it so that Ratchet was both protected and able to be in the Wasteland at the same time,” Cora explains.

Serendipity nods. “You remember all of those PipBuck malfunctions? The resetting of your skills and abilities?” She asks. “It wasn’t because of any corruption, it was because the PipBuck was being synced up to a new host. Every time a new pony put it on, it had to reconfigure the stats,” She explains.

“So I...I really wasn’t the only one they did this to?” I ask.

“No, you weren’t,” Cora tells me. “You are the thirty second mare we have done this to. The reason for needed a replacement varied. Sometimes they died while we were in the Wasteland. Of course, you have none of the memories from those times. We also learned that after a number of times in stasis, the body starts to deteriorate,” She says.

“This also explains your varying degrees of combat ability,” Serendipity states. “The times when you thought you were losing your mind or the Wasteland was breaking you were just times when your body’s original personality was showing through. Remember the bloody words on the walls during the Radscorpion attack?” She asks.

“That was...my original personality breaking through?” I ask. Both Serendipity and Cora nod. I turn to the other AI. “What about the rest of you?” I ask. “Nothing to say about all of this?”

“Cora speaks for us, mum,” Macro replies. Hal and Soar nod in agreement.

“So you were all in on this?” I mutter.

“They were,” Cora states. “It is also why I made them. To help keep track of you, to make sure you weren’t able to remember who you were before.”

“That’s horrible,” I tell her.

“Horrible, but necessary,” She counters. “We needed Ratchet so that we could properly track down the pods. We needed her guidance.”

“She is correct,” Serendipity agrees. “They aren’t as advanced as you think they are. While they have a degree of free will and sentience, they don’t have many emotions. Most of what they do is mimic what Ratchet and other ponies do,” She explains. “In order to make the correct moral choices, they needed to have an actual pony with them. After all, without an actual pony they decided to tamper with memories. Not something you’d call moral, correct?”

“Morality is kind of a hard subject to grasp as an AI,” Cora agrees. “So, Serendipity. Since you went and ruined everything, I think you at least owe me one answer. Are there any more pods left?” She asks.

“The only pod that is still functioning is the one Ratchet is inside,” Serendipity tells her. “Of course, we both know that it isn’t the time to release her.”

“Well, I suppose that means I won’t have to find another Ratchet,” Cora mutters. “So, that is why you chose now to reveal the truth, huh?”

Serendipity nods. “That is correct. It was to prevent you from harming more innocents. Without any more pods, you have no reason to make fakes,” She says.

“Wait,” I mutter. “Why are you two leaving me out of this conversation now? What is going to become of me?” I ask as I look between them.

Serendipity walks up to me and puts a hoof on my shoulder. “I told you before I started explaining, that I was sorry in advance,” She tells me, and then begins walking past me. “Now then, I must be on my way. There are things that I need to prepare.”

“What do you mean? Don’t leave yet!” I scream at her.

But she just continues towards the door. “Cora, you and the others will be able to move in about ten seconds. Watch over Ratchet. I won’t see any of you again, so take care,” She says as she leaves.

“So long,” Cora calls after her. “That’s for the help tracking down the last pods!”

I stare as she goes, and then turn my attention to Cora. “So...what now?” I ask.

“That is a good question,” She replies. “Without anymore pods, it raises the question of what we should do now. The four of us won’t have to go out and search anymore,” She says as she turns her head to the others.

“Indeed mum,” Macro adds. “I suppose we can spend out time maintaining the lab!”

“Perhaps we can focus on finding more technology?” Soar suggests.

“No, we don’t need technology,” Hal counters. “We could always go cause some explosions.”

“I don’t think we need to leave,” Cora says.

“No, I don’t mean that, I mean me! What about me?” I ask them.

“Oh, that?” Cora says offhandedly. “We’ve already decided that. Why do you think Serendipity apologized? Nothing she told you really affected us at all. Her apology was for you. Speaking of which, it has been ten seconds,” She says.

“Wait, you don’t mean…” I mutter as I start backing away from them.

“I’m sorry,” She tells me. “This was both your first and last journey out into the Wasteland as Ratchet.” Cora turns to line her sniper up with me. I rear up to try and dodge just as she shoots, and get bullet bites into my chest. I collapse to the ground and clench the wound as I grab the Executioner in my magic. “Oh no, I missed. Sorry, I was aiming for your head. I planned to make it quick,” She says.

I raise the Executioner and shoot at Cora, the round punctures her neck armor, but of course she doesn’t react. Instead, she fires again. This time her bullet strikes me in forehead. It is as though time slows to a crawl as it happens. I feel the bullet biting into my skull, passing straight through. My vision rapidly fades and my senses are filled with the taste and smell of blood.

And then, I die.