Fallout Equestria: An Eternity to Rebuild

by Fillyosopher

SS2: Error's Escape

Short Story 1:

Chapter 1: Normal Day

"It's Present Week!"

I jumped out of bed, hitting my head on the ceiling of my spartan bunk. Rubbing the soon to be bump, I turned to see the eye of a large pastel orange pony peering excitedly into my refuge.

"Comeon, comeon, comeon! Get up and be excited with me! Oops." the orange face slide down across the aperture of my bed, the pony herself apparently having overbalanced in an attempt to see me. I slid out enough to watch her flow across the indented surface down to the floor nearly 5 feet below. Apparently she was able to poke every pony as she made her way down, as a chorus of groans followed in her wake. Mandarin had mastered the art of the alarm clock, that much was certain.

"Good Morning! Good morning. good Morning. Hi there Sandy! Good Morning!"

"Darn it Mand'rin!" "Can't I sleep in today?" "We have a full hour 'til Class!"

I'd learned long ago that once Mandarin was up, we should all be up. If she woke me up early, it was worth it. Knowing today would be a special day, I moved out of my bed and slowly, carefully made my way to the steep staircase which was the correct way to exit our condensed sleeping section.

As I moved into the Class E communal showers and began my shower (shockingly cold as always). I thought back. It was Present Week.

----------

Present Week was a yearly occurrence in Stable 70. Built off TunnelWay access 30A-70F-C370, Stable 70 was one of the many Stables built by Stable-Tec during the later years of the war. The Zebra Legions had been developing ever more powerful weapons, and it was decided that a fall back should be made to keep alive the Equestrian culture should the worst come to past. over 100 were made, not nearly enough to house the entire populace. I had been just lucky enough to get myself a spot, although I can't remember how I procured a place. I couldn't remember all that much really, but that's why I was in E class.

Pony were classified by their knowledge when they first entered the Stable. A through J depending on how well they could function. The Overmare had been given a number of ponies she could allow to live in the Stable and given clearance to drop the lower groups if their was not enough resources to keep them. She hadn't expected to have to use this power, but it quickly became apparent that the automated Stable door accepted passes for any Stable at all. In the end, over 4 times the sustainable population had arrived. Thus the J group had to be dropped. then the I. and so on. E was the lowest group still remaining, but the last removal had been 3 years ago. There was enough food for everyone now, so they were trying to reclaim us. Still a bit less space then we might want, but everyone had to make sacrifices. I knew this because they taught us in school.

Basically, E group was the group who operated at 60% (of what, I don't know). Most of us hadn't held jobs supporting the Stable yet; those that had for a long time had been moved to D. The rest of us had the same schedule every day. All of us, regardless of age, went to school for the first half of the day. Then we apprenticed for the second half of the day. More on that later

----------

"And don't forget everyone, this week is Present Week. As I understand it, many of you have not received a present in the last 4 years. That makes this your year! I heard from the Overmare herself that the last of the presents are all ready, so keep an ear out for your call this week!"

Joyous Link, out teacher, awoke me from my stupor. I couldn't remember moving from the shower, but no one was looking at me funny, so I guess I'd done ok over the last... 4 hours. That was all of breakfast and class. I did hate it when that happened... and Mandarin had even woken me up early. I'd hoped I'd remember all of today.

As we filed out of the classroom, a deep navy unicorn with a blue mane came right up to me. She poked me in the cutie mark and smiled before speaking.

"You remember me today Error?"

"Um, Sky... something?" I smiled back hopefully.

"Nope. Good guess though. I'm Turquoise. Before you ask, it's my name too." I had been about to ask. "So, is this your present year?"

"Yep, and I think I'm really excited. I don't know what it will be, but I'm sure everyone will enjoy seeing all the new things."

"Are you sure it's your present year?" We were in line for lunch now.

"Yep. Mandarin woke me up extra early to tell me!" I thought about it a second. "It will be today too, since she wouldn't have reminded me otherwise."

"Error, you know that Mandarin can't know that, don't you?"

"Of course she can! She's Mandarin. Hey, I'm hungry too. Oh. Plate." I started eating.

----------

After lunch, I went to see Cog. That wasn't his real name, but I never could get it right. I was his apprentice, and had been for as far back as I could remember (not very long). I had been shuffled around a lot previous to that, since I was Very forgetful and all. The only thing I had ever really liked was the constructor's sector, but after I ignored a few safety signs to finish faster they had told me to leave. I'm pretty sure I wasn't in danger, but I'm probably wrong.

Anyway, this was a predictable day with Cog. He hooked me up to his magic machine, and asked me questions. Usually his questions were about remembering things, like what I learned in class, or what he showed me in a book a few minutes earlier. Sometimes he would ask me different things though, like what the Tunnels were like or if I believed in pegasi. Silly questions most of the time. This time was one of those weird question times.

"Have you ever thought of something and then had it come true, Error Message?"

"What, like wishing that they'd serve cookies for dinner, and then eating cookies for dinner?"

"Yes, but something less common. They serve cookies every dinner you know."

"Cookies for dinner!"

"Quiet. I can see you're already offtrack. Let's try this a different way. I heard that this is your present year. Do you remember what your present will be?"

"Of course not! (PRESENTS)"

"Since you don;t know, what do you predict your present will be?"

"I think it's gonna be a sparkly toy which everyone will like. They will all want to share with me, and I'll get to use their toys for a little while but I'll get to keep my sparkly and sleep with it forever."

"So your present will sparkle and make you happy. Is that fair to say?"

"Of course! Everyone is happy when they get their present!"

Cog started to do his mumbly thing again, so I went over to the toy stack and started playing. Usually it took quite a bit longer before he'd let me go play, but whenever he started mumbling he would ignore me for the rest of the day. That meant toy time!

Chapter 2: Called to the Office

"Error Message, you are needed in the Overmare's office. Please drop what you are doing and come immediately." The voice over the intercom sounded very serious, but then again it always sounded serious. Everything to do with the Overmare was serious, but I knew better than to be scared by the voice. They were calling me to get my present, and no amount of formality was going to get in the way of my enjoying it.

Cog jumped a bit when he heard my name on the intercom. He had stopped mumbling, and was taking notes on his terminal. I'd asked him what he was doing, but most of his words had gone over my head. Something about being a psychicologist and helping everyone stay sane. He didn't let me help very much for being his apprentice.

"Well, it looks like today is your present day! Come, let us discover whether your present is as shiny as you hoped." With that he climbed from his chair and began leading me to the Overmare's Office (at least, I thought so, but I'd never been so bad as to have o go there before).

We pasted the E section door and entered the CDE general corridor which lead to the Great Auditorium. It was really, REALLY big. I'd been there a few times during the Drilling Festival and the Celestial Celebration (All Praise to the light goddess), but E's weren't supposed to go there without a teacher or a Level C (or higher) leading them. I looked around, but so much was unfamiliar and interesting that I couldn't really get a sense of the place before Cog pushed me through side door and into a pretty hallway with granite siding and really small carvings everywhere. Again Cog wouldn't let me stop to look, so i just had glimpses of ponies with drills and hard hats, then swords, then guns, then lasers. The end had a BIG picture of an explosion in the biggest cavern ever (I could tell it was big cause the ponies were so small).

At the end of the hall were big doors of clay and metal. They opened to let Cog and me into the Overmare's Office. The room had lots of other double doors and lots of really nice marble tables and chairs, all matching. It must have taken quite some digging to get all of the raw materials, especially with how rare marble was.

There was an elderly mare sitting at a desk, with a disapproving look on her face. "I assume you have an appointment."

"This is Error Message. I brought him as quickly as I could."

The mare looked at me with disapproval on her face. "I didn't realize he would require an escort or I would have sent one. You may leave now, we will provide him with a guide back." She turned from Cog, assuming he would comply. "As for you, please go through those doors. and don't touch Anything but the doors, we clear?"

"Yes, miss mare" I started skipping toward the door when I was surprised by the near growl coming from the desk.

"You will call me by my Title and level, E. Do it now." Her face was very red. It was only then that I noticed the Orange A floating right between her eyes. How could I have missed that she was a Level A. They were alway sticklers about rank and titles and such.

"Um, yes Mrs. Orange Secretary of the Overmare!" She was still very angry looking so I ran through the door and into the next room.

It was a library. not like the library in our classroom though, which was very colorful and had one book shelf. This library was big, bigger than big, and all of the books were yucky colors. They were thick too. I walked over to a shelf and was about to pull one down when I heard the door handle creak. Thinking the Mean Secretary was coming to scold me for touching something, I jumped under one of the big chairs dotting the room and hid.

"Yes, Overmare, I feel he can handle presents this year. He has improved drastically over the last 4 years."

Two ponies came through the door, which I could see through the legs of the chair. The big stone thing had very thick legs though, so they soon passed out of my vision. Still, I was able to recognize Cog talking to none other than the Overmare herself!

The Overmare was wearing a purple dress, mostly transparent, which hardened miner's plate underneath. She also wore a hardhat modified to look like formal wear. Considering how heavily it was based off of protective mining gear, it looked surprising good. Not that I am such a good measure of that. It didn't look like something Twice Scarlet would wear, but it did look nice.

"But he still isn't E class level, is he. What did the last hand test place him at, G?"

"Yes, but we should talk about this later..."

"No, it needs to be discussed now. Cognizance, we still don't know why the initial scan placed him in A class, when he is so obviously unable to function. The initial scan has always agreed with the hand test, in every case except for his. I would not be surprised by a few mistakes, but for its one mistake to be so severe. I mean, the poor colt should have been dropped off with the Fs, but the recycling system wouldn't accept him! It still thinks he is M class, despite all attempts to override. We can't even change his name! All we get is the same error message that was displayed when he first passed testing!"

The voices finally stopped moving around the room to settle directly above me. Overmare was sitting in the very chair I was hiding under!

"When I asked you to solve the problem three years ago, you said it would be a snap. What went wrong, why aren't you done?"

"I don't think this is the best time..."

"NOW"

"ok, ok. Error Message is not his name for no reason. The stallion breaks medical equipment simply by being near it, and the attempts at physical procedures have yielded little results."

"Stallion?"

"Well, yes. Despite his size and maturity, Error Message is somewhere in his 30s. He seems to have suffered from growth problems from a young age, although we cannot find any examples of viral or bacterial agents. Although again, most of our methods of checking for that sort of thing don't work near him. I've asked Doctors Bloodbank and Kindhoof for advice, but they have been as perplexed as I. He doesn't respond to drugs as expected, but he seems to ignore all of he common ones placed in the level E food, so we haven't had to do anything there."

"What about his memory?"

"Without the drugs, we've fallen back to Psychotherapy, which is almost entirely ineffective when the patient forgets sessions entirely twice a week. Frustratingly slow seems to best describe our progress. But we have made some progress. I can recognize when he has forgotten things now. And he seems to be happy now, as happy as he has been since you moved him from construction."

"You know why I had to."

"I understand your reasons and agree. It still would have been better for Him if he had stayed."

"I guess what I really need to know is this; can we trust him with his 'present.'"

"Everypony responds differently to their present. We never gave one to an F or lower, so I don't have much to work off of, but as far as I can tell he will do just fine with it. He's been looking forward to it for a long time. Haven't you, Error?"

"What are you..."

I knew my cue. As weird as Cog was, he was nice. So when he used the all clear words, I knew I'd be safe to come out.

"Hi there Miss Overmare! Are you going to give me a present. I can't wait for my shiny present! I really have been looking forward to it for a long time and i just know it will be amazing and ..." I stopped for a breath and noticed that the Overmare wasn't even looking at me. She was scowling at Cog, who seemed quite pleased.

"Of course she will Error, now that I've backed her into a corner."

"Cognizance, don't you try to decide this for me! You knew he was there?"

Cog pointed to my forehead. "How many chairs could you own with a Purple M underglow?" Then with a smile had led me to another Big door, labeled 'Present storage.'

Chapter 3: Present Party

"Ok, Error" The Overmare pulled out some keys from her pocket and after a second placed the correct one into the lock. It was a Really big key, but then she had a really big mouth, so it would be hard to use otherwise. After unlocking the door, she turned to stop me from going through.

"Your present is through this door. But I need you to be patient. We need to test you a bit as we give you them, so just be still and do as your told. If you don't, you don't get a present. Are we clear?"

I nodded vigorously.

"Ok, lets get this over with."

The Overmare led the way into a medium sized room, about half the size of the library. There was a big table in the middle, as well as Cog's chair and a weird looking pedestal that the Overmare laid on top of. It looked really comfortable...

But not as awesome as the presents on the table! I started bouncing on all four hooves right where I stood. There were a bunch of them, more presents on that table than half of the Es combined possessions. There were cases and satchels and boxes. Almost all were closed, but they were sure to hold amazing things!

"Ok Error, your first present is this case. We want you to open it."

The case was shiny black, with a strip of silver running around it and two hooks for attachment to a saddle. At first it looked like I could just pull on the silver part and it would fold open, but when that didn't work I looked up to the Overmare.

"Can't you just open it?"

"No, Error. You have to open your own presents." Cog was right of course. Now to think, think, think.

After a second, I got it. I pulled on both of the hooks until they touched and BAM, the case snapped open. The hooks shocked me so that I dropped the case, and the contents came spilling out.

"You couldn't figure that one out, huh?" "Sush, Cognizance"

Chapter 4: Awakening

I must have memory gapped again. Felt like it had been a long one too, since I felt tired. My eyes were shut, but I couldn't open them. Not good.

Suddenly my eyes did open, though not because of me. It was like someone else was controlling my body! I was staring a blank wall though, so I still wasn't sure where I was.

“Is it working?” It felt myself say in a deep voice. I didn't even know I could speak that low.

“Yes. It is worked.” The other pony sounded funny, like his tongue wasn't working right. “You can turn now.”

My body spun on it's chair and I realized I must have been out for a LONG time.

I was sitting in a chair next to the biggest wall I'd ever seen. It just kept going, up and up, but when it got to where the ceiling should be, it just disappeared. Instead of the tunnel roof, there was just a giant blackness, far enough away that the spotlights nearby didn't light it at all.

Around me was a camp, spread out in this massive room. There were tents and a small wall on the outside, fitting up against the big wall behind me. All around the camp were zebras, working and talking. I would have fainted right then if my body would let me. Zebras! I was surprised they hadn't killed me already. If there was one thing I learned about Zebra's from class, it was that they killed everypony who wasn't like them, especially little ponies like me.

Right in front of me was a skinny grey zebra staring at glowing which, as far as I could tell, were being projected from a rock. He was still speaking with that accent.

“Well, the scanner say it working. Pony tech is … strange, so I not … sure. Gah, pony language is strange too! How do speak it Nexus?”

“Experience. Experience that you will have to catch up on if you wish to make the assault team. You have only this month to learn, or cope as you might see it. I must leave now though, no reason to wear this stupid thing longer than the training requires.”

My name was Nexus now? Why did the evil zebra not kill me? My every instinct and teaching said to hide in a corner, but my body just strode right through the camp. I didn't talk to any of the other zebras, probably because they looked so scary. Eventually I walked to the biggest tent and went inside.

The tent was much like the auditorium from the stable. The center was an oval platform filled with sand, and around it were stands so that everypony (or every zebra I guess) could see the center. But instead of a lecturer or band, the platform was empty but for a single zebra and a TON of weapons. They were organized in racks on either side, all types of blades and hammers and things I didn't recognize.

I walked right up to the zebra in the center, who was stretching her legs and back. As I walked up she stopped and looked quisically at my forehead.

“That is the memory talisman?”

“Yes. We think it is worked, but we won't know until after this first test. Considering how costly they are, our first test is supposed to be usable as a sparring lesson as well. Thats why I asked you here.”

“Are you certain it isn't because you wanted to see me alone?”

The world spun suddenly. I was not prepared for my eyes to roll like that!

“You are the best melee fighter in the camp and you know it. That is the only reason. Now then, have you stretched enough?”

“You are such a bored soldier sometimes Nexus. To much honor, not enough personality.”

“And you are just trying to gode me now, Klymax. Are you ready?”

“More ready than you. Is the talisman active?”

“It shouldn't be. If you are ready I'll activate it now.”

I … um, lets just say Nexus for my body, until I figure this out … put his forehoof to his forehead and suddenly things shifted. Time sped up, so slowed, but for a few moments everything blurred. Then things cleared, and Nexus was in the middle of a fight.

Nexus had two blades attached to his forehooves, which would have stuck out to the sides were he was standing normally. Ahead stood Klymax, a big blade held in her mouth. She charged and turned her head to bring the edge down between Nexus' ears, but he had fallen back and crossed his hooves, using the two knives on his legs to catch the sword. For a second he was on two legs, but Klymax slid in and kicked one of them out from under him. Nexus fell forward, his knives sliding along the sword toward Klymax, who was forced to turn her head back across her body. Nexus' knives slide just passed her, but in the process she had left her sword point first in the sand.

Thuroughly unarmed, Klymax rolled away from Nexus, who took a second to uncross his hooves and rise. As he turned toward, Klymax reversed her roll and in a cyclic flurry, pushed off the ground with one hoof and spun toward Nexus. Unable to get his blades above his head in such a short time, he ducked and crawled forward underneath the tornado of blows. I felt pain as he was struck multiple times, but where I would have cried out, he simply stood and turned, readying to buck the now fleeing Klymax.

Only she wasn't fleeing. As soon as she neared the ground, the agile mare planted a hoof and spun, somehow keeping her momentum as she reverse direction. Nexus was ready this time though, and what followed was a series of action and reaction faster than I could follow. Hammer blows pounded along my legs and neck, although most of them seemed to be from blocks. What a full hit would feel like I cringed to imagine.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, the bout ended with both combatants taking a few measured steps backward. I could see that Klymax was bleeding for her lip and crest. From the pounding on my (Nexus') face, I probably was too.

“Well? Good enough for a practice run?”

Nexus seemed about to respond, but before he did his pushed a hoof to his forehead again. Again the world swirled, time stretched and compressed. This time though, when I returned, it seemed no time had passed at all.

“I hope so. I wouldn't wish 10 minutes of that on any trainee. I hope this will prove the usefulness of the memory storage as a training method. I have some ideas for correct operation's policy now.”

“What could anyone want with memories of you getting trampled for 10 minutes anyway?”

“Good Question. I don't see anyone learning from random sparring. Maybe if we listed off the techniques previous to using them... I'll need to talk to Sparks before he demos this to the superior. I promised I'd make this work for him, and he has done me more favor than I care to count.”

“Well, I know one thing he shouldn't do. Force the superior to watch that disgrace you call technique from the Losing point of view.” With that, Klymax cantered out the entrance, nickering as she went.

Nexus seemed to ignore her exit, instead going through a few moves before pressing a hoof to his forehead again. I expected the shift this time, but this time it lasted longer than before. Things slowed so much I thought I would fall asleep...

Chapter 5: Unexpected Consequences

When I awoke, I was relieved to see I was back in the small present room. Mayor Mare was gone, but Cog was still here. He had a hoof on my neck when I opened my eyes, but he quickly back up. Funny, he had looked really unhappy there, but now he was back to normal Cog...ni...sense (I try sometimes).

“Error, are you ok?”

“Hnuglrsh” I mumbled confidently. After some coughing and a sneeze I tried again. “Hungry.”

What? I was hungry.

“Well, that's good, I think. Mayor Mare sent for a doctor to see what your present did to you.”

I looked around quickly. I never did see what the present looked like. But the table was empty, and the case wasn't on the floor anymore. They weren't going to give me my presents after all. It was too much. The zebras, the memory jumps, the pain, all of those I could deal with. They had been scary, but they had already happened. Not getting my present though... that was just one step to far.

“Oh. Oh shit. Error? Its ok Error, it will be ok. Everything will be fine.”

“No present!”

“It was a bad present Error. You don't want a bad present, do you?”

“I just want my shiny present!”

“We'll get you a shiny present, ok. It will be very shiny and you will be able to share it with your friends and everything. But I need you to stop crying Error. It's, uh... it's making your letter turn different colors.”

I didn't know what he was talking about, and I didn't want to. Instead I just buried my head under my hooves and cried. As I shifted, one of my hooves hit my forehead, just above my eyes, and the world slid away as the time shift took hold.

Chapter 6: Life's Tutorial

Again I ended the memory shift in a different place than I entered. I still wasn't sure wether I was going forward or backward in time with these jumps, but I seemed to be able to get back to the present afterward, so I didn't worry too much.

This time, I was in a small room with wavy brown walls. They looked kind of like an Tiger's Eye, but nowhere near as shiny. Beside the walls, there was a door of the same material and a Big mirror on the opposite wall.

The mirror showed the room, and Nexus. I knew it was Nexus now because he didn't look anything like me. He was a zebra, for one, mostly a pale yellow with grey stripes. I think he was small, but it was hard to tell with as little references as the room had. He was wearing nothing but a braclet and a strange black stone suspending just between and above his eyes by woven straps. As I watched he lowered his hoof from the stone and placed it on the ground. Then he began to speak in a language I couldn't understand.

(translated)”Welcome to the Nexus training program. If you would prefer to hear this tutorial in pony, speak now.”

“Huh?” I couldn't understand a word of it. As soon as I'd spoken, however, he started talking normally.

“Welcome to the Sparky-Nexus training Program. If you would like to swich back to Latin, speak now.”

I stayed very very quiet. After a second, Nexus continued.

“This is your first time using the program, so I will give you a quick tutorial.”

He pointed to the mirror. It lit up from behind, and suddenly runes appeared floating in front and around it. More and more appeared, spiralling out of the mirror to move about the room until every wall was covered by them. They glowed in different colors and sizes, but one by one they resolved into words, some of which I could read. Thank goodness for all the time I'd put into reading in class, otherwise I'd have been totally lost.

“This program is the result of nearly 40 zebra-years of work and contains everything necessary to train you in the various skills of warfare against the ponies. Very few apparatus have been made, due to the rarity of gems required, so use your time wisely. Most of your activities in this module have been time compressed to allow for longer periods of use. Still, you must be careful not to stay inside longer than required, since time will pass while you train. Always keep an eye on the wall clock, which will tell you how long you have been inside,” Nexus gestured to a glowing clock floating to the left. “For more information on safe use, see the Safe Use Library.” another symbol to the left, this one a thick circle.

“The memory libraries are sorted by subject, and then by sub-categories. As an example, the culture category' “And he touched a word near the mirror. The symbols began shifting, only those on the left staying the same. Soon new words littered the room. “is further broken down into such sub-categories as language and celebrations.” Nexus pressed the back key and everything returned to the last set.

“As you have probably noticed, you are not in your normal body. This body is Nexus, your avatar while you run this program. Since it is based of off memory storage, the program can only access avatars created previous to its finalization. All of your avatar's movements are prerecorded, so you will be limited in the number of actions you can preform while in this program.”

With that, the tutorial ended. I waited a second to see if Nexus said anything more, but after he did not, I tried to move. Sure enough, Nexus moved the way I wanted to. I tried walking, and found that I had no problem walking around the room. I wasn't sure what the limitations were supposed to be, but I seemed fine.

So, now what. The door might let me go out, or it might not. I didn't want to hit my forehead on the off chance I was forced to leave. This place was cool! Yes, I was in a scary zebra body, and yes most of the lessons were on evil zebra things. But I bet the culture part had all sorts of cool things! I could check up on my spelling anyway.

I took a look at the clock. I must have been reading it wrong, because it said it was 12 seconds after noon. Maybe the library would have something on clocks! I started pressing buttons to find out.

Best present ever!

Chapter 7:

Chapter 8: Claustrophobia

Chapter 9: Field Failure

Chapter 10: Entering the Tunnelway

This fanfiction is based on Fallout Equestria by Kkat; a familiarity with the source material may aid your understanding.

You can read Fallout Equestria by Kkat on Equestria Daily

The Fallout: Equestria logo used above was designed by DotRook, who, according to the original deviantArt page, allows usage in supplementary materials created for and associated with the series. Images really do make a difference, so he has our eternal gratitude and respect.

If you enjoy Fallout Equestria Side Stories, you will want to check the Fallout Equestria Side Stories post on Equestria Daily and the Fallout Equestria Side Stories thread on Ponychan

The Ponychan group is also a hatching ground that you can join if you want to share your experience, writing or comments with us.

Comments

[8Aerondight8]

For some reason a cold shiver keeps running down my spine every time they say present. I keep expecting something to go horribly wrong.
Cant wait to see what happens next. Oh! I was planing to name a pony in chapter 4 Cog but more as in a piece of a machine and not Cognizance.

[Fillyosopher]

this particular sort story is set 5 years after the great war, so you can assume all of it's characters are dead. so reuse names at will! :)

[Super_Big_Mac]

Can't wait for update! Error seems to have an innate gift.