Fallout Equestria: A Child's Hope

by RLYoshi

Chapter 1

“Since mom’s the Overmare, she’s usually busy doing Overmare stuff, so dad is the only one who really ever plays with me. But he has to work too, so I often spend at least a few hours a day on my own. And since there’s not a lot to do in my room at Stable 14 aside from re-read a bunch of comic books I’ve had since I was four, that gets pretty boring.

“Fortunately, about two years ago, I found a big crack in the wall behind my bookshelves, and I was able to crawl through it! Since then, I’ve been spending my time crawling through that hole and sneaking around Stable 14, getting into places where I’m not allowed and such. Sometimes I use parts of the ventilation system that have been disabled, sometimes I walk across pipes near the ceiling, and sometimes I just stick to hiding behind the walls themselves. Mom knows about this, but she doesn’t do anything about it. Says that it’s fine as long as it keeps me out of trouble...

---

There was a quiet creaking sound above the two doctors walking down the hall. They paused, looked at each other, and shrugged before they kept moving. Even in this sturdy Stable, the walls and pipes were prone to occasional creaks and squeaks. Worst case scenario, it just meant another Radroach that was somepony else’s problem.

After the doctors turned the corner, the source of the creaking breathed a silent sigh of relief before continuing to crawl along the pipes. Even when he was on his Bitalin, Cobalt couldn’t help a couple slip-ups during his little adventures.

The young colt continued to sneak around via the plumbing system, less than three feet from the ceiling. He silently thanked whoever he should thank for not making him a unicorn - all it would take is that extra inch or two a horn provided, and every step he took would make an obnoxious tapping on the ceiling that would give him away easily. Even being a pegasus would have given him trouble; folded up or not, having wings would make crawling through air vents and other tight spaces a lot tougher. Just an extra inch of body width would make over half the vents too small for him.

He didn’t have any idea what he’d do when he actually grew older, taller, and larger. He figured he’d cross that bridge when he came to it.

Looking around to make sure nopony was coming, he hopped off the pipes and began making his way down the wall to the ground, using shelves and other pipes to make his way down the fifteen feet. He could’ve jumped and made it, but he didn’t want to run the risk of landing on his hoof wrong and having somepony come along while he was waiting for the pain to go away.

As soon as he hit the floor, he turned to the vent cover next to him. Though it appeared to be screwed on properly, he had long ago taken a screwdriver to the covers of every disabled air vent that he could find. Nopony ever checked or tightened them, since they didn’t exactly have a use for disabled vents. As long as the cover was still there, they spared it no more than a passing glance.

Carefully pulling the vent cover off - screws and all - Cobalt slipped inside as quietly as he could, then pulled the cover into place behind him. Turns out he was just in time; as soon as the vent was in place, hoofsteps made themselves known. Panicking, Cobalt considered retreating into the vent as quickly as possible, but going too fast would create noise and going too slow would leave the cobalt blue of his tail for which he was named plainly obvious, contrasting against the darkness of the vent.

Thinking fast, Cobalt turned sideways, turning his head and tail against his body and away from the vent cover. He held his breath and waited, hoping his purple coat would camouflage against the blackness of the vent’s insides enough to prevent anypony walking by from bothering with a second glance.

Thankfully, it worked, and the hoofsteps quieted down as they headed away. Cobalt relaxed and continued his journey down the vent.

---

It wasn’t uncommon for Cobalt to find properly screwed-in vent covers while he was sneaking around. That’s why he always kept a tiny screwdriver and an unfolded paper clip on him.

Using a technique he had taught himself during several sleepless nights over the course of one month, he attached the tiny screwdriver to the end of the paper clip and curled it, so the screwdriver pointed back at him. Then, turning the odd contraption sideways and putting all his strength into pulling one of the spaces in the vent open wider, he slipped the screwdriver through the slot and clenched the end of the paper clip in his teeth.

With careful movements that he could never manage without his pills, the purple pony manipulated the screwdriver over to the first of the screws and began to turn. He didn’t magically know where the screws were; he had just memorized this sequence through over a year of trial and error. Even now he occasionally missed and would spend five minutes turning the screwdriver around when it was a good half-inch away from the actual screw.

Good thing the whole point of this was being sneaky, because if anypony caught him screwing that up (no pun intended), he’d crawl back to his room in embarrassment.

It took him fifteen minutes to get all the screws loosened properly. Rather than try to get the screwdriver back through the vent, he had learned months ago that he could just let go of the paper clip and let it fall through to the other side. It never made any noise - at least, not enough to be heard by anypony outside the room. He could then slowly open the vent, crawl through, replace it, and take apart his contraption before putting it away.

And that’s just what he did. Afterwards, he looked around. It took a few moments, but he soon realized where he was: his mom’s office.

The Overmare’s office.

He didn’t know about adults, but he did know that nopony his age was allowed in any of the offices unless they had permission. If he was caught in here, he’d be in some serious trouble. Then again, the Overmare was his mother, so he could just say his dad told him to bring something to her. It wouldn’t get past her if she was the one to find him, but anypony else would just shrug and keep walking.

This thought slowly receding to the back of his mind, Cobalt began to look around. He had never been in his mom’s office before, but really, it didn’t look like anything too special. Aside from the typical furniture and equipment he’d seen in the other offices he’d been to, there were a few extra terminals along the walls. Most of them were shut off, and he saw no need to turn them back on. One, however, was clearly active, and he trotted over to it.

Stable 14 Overmare Audio Diary

Cobalt’s heart nearly stopped. This was his mom’s audio diary. In the Stable, audio diaries were considered to be the one thing a pony could have and consider to truly be private, if only because they were locked by passwords. Everything else you owned, no matter where you put it, would be found sooner or later.

Before he even knew what he was doing, he had selected the diary and was now faced with an input system requesting a password. Obviously, he didn’t know it, but thanks to his father teaching him all about terminals, he knew how to find out. But he didn’t have what he needed yet.

He moved back over to the vent, pulled it off, and returned to the darkness of the shaft.

---

After making a trip to the repair centre, Cobalt came back to the office, clutching a blank PipBuck. Whenever a pony within the Stable died, their PipBuck would be retrieved, wiped, and held onto until it was given to another pony. However, nopony ever noticed if one PipBuck disappeared for a few hours.

Cobalt’s dad had shown him all the features of his own PipBuck, so the colt knew what to do. He plugged the device into the terminal, opening up several dozen lines of code and text. He looked around it patiently until he eventually found a real word, hidden amongst the gibberish:

MIND

Smiling, he selected it...only to open up more text on the side:

PASSWORD INCORRECT. 3/4 TRIES REMAINING.

He sighed. Hacking with a PipBuck in this way was, honestly, easy. The only problem was that it also relied madly on luck. If he screwed up too many times, the terminal would lock his PipBuck out, and he’d be forced to input the password manually. Which would require him to know the password. Which, obviously, he didn’t.

He tried again, this time with DIGNITY.

PASSWORD ACCEPTED.

Grinning widely, the young colt put the PipBuck down and moved to the main terminal screen. He selected the latest entry in his mom’s audio diary - the previous day’s entry - and set it to play through the PipBuck. He then put one of the earblooms in his right ear, keeping the left one vigil in case somepony came by.

“Ugh. Cobalt’s tenth birthday is in three days, and he still hasn’t earned his cutie mark. There are colts and fillies who are eight years old that are cooking or singing or repairing things, but what’s my son doing? Lazing about in his room. I can’t believe somepony with MY genetics would end up like that.

Cobalt’s smile became a frown. His mom sounded...ashamed. Insulted. Angry.

“I haven’t even had time to look for something to get him for his birthday, and Scalpel isn’t willing to bail me out this year. What am I supposed to get a lazy colt like Cobalt? I’ll probably just wrap up that toy PipBuck he got me two years ago and give it back. Not like he’ll notice. Besides, I’m the Overmare. I have more important things to do than to cater to my son’s every damned whim.

Scalpel...Scalpel was his dad’s name. Cobalt felt more and more upset with each word. All those gifts throughout the years were from his dad, with his mom’s name just slapped on them. She didn’t care.

“The day he makes something of his life is the day the Horseshoe Wasteland turns into a beautiful paradise. Ugh...but enough of that. Let’s talk about something important...

He didn’t listen to the rest. He shut the diary off (after rewinding to the beginning to erase any evidence he was here), picked up the PipBuck, and just sat against the terminal for a moment. He wanted to cry, but aside from that likely giving away where he was, it also wouldn’t solve much of anything.

Looking around, he saw a small box on his mom’s desk. Likely the box containing his present. It wasn’t even wrapped yet; just a plain cardboard box, the flaps on the top closed up. Before he knew what he was doing, he had ventured over to the desk and pulled the box down.

Carefully opening it up, wincing whenever that painful sound of cardboard scraping against cardboard slipped out, he peered inside. Sure enough, a toy PipBuck replica sat within. It looked exactly like the real thing - except, of course, it didn’t work. And was a lot lighter.

An idea hatched in his brain. He didn’t know why it did. Maybe he considered it petty revenge, or maybe he just realized he had a way to finally get something he’d wanted since he learned of its existence.

Either way, he pulled the toy PipBuck out and replaced it with the one he had proliferated, folded the box top back up, and replaced it on the desk. He then scampered off to the vent and jumped inside, leaving no trace behind.

---

“I still don’t really know why I did that...they didn’t find out, of course. I left the toy PipBuck back in the repair centre, where I had taken the real one. If they find it, they’ll probably just think it was a mixup, laugh about it, and keep going. Toy PipBucks aren’t exactly rare around here, and they get left lying around pretty often.

“Not much happened the next day...well, yesterday. I avoided mom even more than she avoided me, but she didn’t bring it up. Obviously. I didn’t sneak back into her office again. In fact, I didn’t do any sneaking at all. I stayed in my room, and...just...read stuff.

“...

“I cried, okay? I held it in for a full day and couldn’t anymore! Once dad left, I curled up on my bed and...cried...

*sniff*

“B-But then came today. My birthday. It was pretty simple...I woke up, dad gave me my two presents, and that was basically it. Ten minutes and it’s over.

---

“Sorry your mother couldn’t be here,” Cobalt’s dad, Scalpel, apologized as he cleaned up the few bits of wrapping paper. It was just the two of them in their den. Cobalt didn’t have any friends to invite, nor any siblings to join in. Just him and his parents...well, one of them.

Scalpel was an earth pony, just like his wife and his son. He was a light brown, with a deep blue mane and tail, both of which were rather short. His cutie mark - a scalpel, naturally - was often covered up by a white coat, but he didn't wear it when he was at home, such as now.

“Did she have a lot of work to do?” Cobalt asked sarcastically, anger seeping into his tone.

Scalpel looked surprised. “Coby, is something wrong?”

“Oh, nothing much. Just the fact that my own mother is so ashamed of me she doesn’t even turn up for my birthday.”

“Coby, you know that’s not-”

“Audio diary.”

There was a pause. A long, awkward pause. Scalpel sighed and pulled up a chair, sitting on it across from Cobalt on the couch. “When did your mother show you her audio diary?”

Cobalt kept a mild glare, aimed nowhere in particular. “She didn’t.” He then answered the question he knew his father was about to ask. “I snuck into her office, hacked her terminal, and listened to it.”

Scalpel looked down. “I see...” He couldn't say he was surprised. He had shown his son computers and terminals himself, after all. It was only natural that he'd learn this sort of thing eventually.

“Why does she hate me, dad?” The purple colt couldn’t hold back a sniffle, but he tried to keep his glare up. “Is it just because of...my cutie mark?” Or lack thereof.

The older stallion honestly didn’t know how to answer that. So he didn’t. He knew what was on his wife’s audio diary - she’d always record it during the night, after Cobalt had gone to bed but while the two of them were still awake. He never brought it up with his son, for fear of this very situation happening.

And now it was occurring anyway, and he hadn’t even done anything to prompt it.

“Coby...” he began, but stopped. He had no words. Instead, he just changed seats, moving from his chair to the couch, and hugged his child. Cobalt couldn’t hold his glare any longer and hugged his dad back, crying. “Did you take your Bitalin today?”

“N-No...”

His dad sighed. In honesty, he was a little glad for that. If Cobalt had taken his Bitalin, he’d spent all day thinking about that audio diary. He needed to be distracted. “How about we go for a walk or something? Clear your mind.”

“D-Don’t you have work?”

Scalpel shook his head. “I think they’ll let me have this day off. If not...well, I’d take a day with you over that job anyday.” He helped his son up. “Come on. Go wash up, then we’ll go for a walk.”

---

“So that’s what we did. Walked all around the Stable. When we got back, I was feeling better, so I went to my room to “play”. Really, I just waited until dad went off to find mom, and then started fooling with the PipBuck and recording device...and here I am now.

“The PipBuck actually still has mom’s audio diary on it...that entry from two days ago. I had it playing repeatedly while I was setting this up...for some reason, it doesn’t make me sad anymore. Because even though mom doesn’t like me - yet - at least dad cares about me.

“I’ll get my cutie mark someday. And then mom will be proud of me!

“...speaking of mom, I think she and dad are coming back. I better turn this off before they find me with a real PipBuck. Bye!

---

Footnote: Level Up (2)
New Perk: Thief. The blood of a thief runs through your veins. You gain a bonus to both the Sneak and Lockpick skills.

Comments

[skyscraper123]

lol>>2559537

[Ice]

Well, ‘journal’ has two extra letters and one less syllable, actually. Why is that, anyway? Why would a word with less letters have more syllables than a word with more letters?

And then I fell in love with the main character.

[Serefin]

Well, I finally have an excuse to read a Fallout: Equestria story. Keep it up.

[ParaNorm]

It would be interesting to see how a foal would survive in the wasteland, and you display Coby's childish personality very well.

I'm enjoying this

[Zake]

wat is he taking I don't understand. and I like this story