• Published 26th Aug 2014
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Fallout Equestria : The Lost Slave - SkyDreams



Lock Love had a life, a life he thought was wonderful. But how does a mindless slave survive in the wasteland by himself?

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Chapter 2: A Lesson Learned, Lessons Loved

Chapter 2: A Lesson Learned, Lessons Loved

The Zebra, a chieftain as it turned out, had allowed the three ponies into the long house. Inside were several families of zebras all living under the same roof. Lock Love was provided a small hammock to recover in while Cann and Gyle spoke with the chieftain over bowls of soup.

Lock Love awoke to the sweet smell of soup and the sounds of zebras of all ages milling about the Longhouse. He moved to sit up to get a better look at his surroundings but found his efforts thwarted by a heavy hoof on his forehead pushing him back down into the pillows. “No don’ chu be movin, dear.” Came a heavily accented mare’s voice. Looking down on him was Zebra wearing some sort of paint on her face, and a thermometer sticking out of her mouth. “Let me check ya over ‘fore ya get up an join dem friends, yors.”

The Zebra pulled the thermometer out and popped it into Lock’s mouth. “Don’ bite.” She said, forcefully as she began pulling out various doctor tools and set about using them. As he was given a full check up, he couldn’t help but notice that this Zebra was different from the others. Where as all the other Zebras in this building had black and white stripes, this one displayed bright red stripes over her soft white coat.

“Nephita!” Called an older Stallion’s voice, interrupting the doctor. “Our guests are willing to assist. Can you supply them with medicines from your list?”

Nephita pulled the Thermometer out of Lock’s mouth and gave it a quick look before popping it back into her own mouth. “Jur okay, Eat.” She said, forcing the bowl of soup Lock had smelled earlier into his hooves. She turned to look in the direction the voice had come from. “Yah. I got somt’n for em. But it’aint much.” With that, she walked off, allowing Lock to sit up for a better view.

The longhouse seemed to be housing more zebras than it should be, with adhoc bunkbeds pressed into overly tight spaces. It looked like the whole town had moved in here. In the center area, which had been cleared for sitting and eating, was a fire pit complete with oversized pot still steaming with its savory contents. Sitting on old rehabilitated lawn chairs were Lock’s new masters and an old looking Zebra with a fancy headdress on. They were talking avidly as Nephita showed them a satchel filled with bandages and medicines. It looked more like a first aid kit to Lock, he hoped they wouldn’t get hurt more seriously than what a first aid kit could provide for.

Since he wasn’t about to disobey anypony, he decided to pick up his soup and start eating. It was every bit as good as the savory sweet smell in the air. Lock guessed that it was made with Mutfruit and Tubers. Though the seasonings he couldn’t quite place.

He was just about done when he heard the clacking of Gyle’s Talons coming his way. His heart leaped. He was still lying in the bed while his master was clearly coming to give him a command. He choked down the last chuncks from the soup and threw himself out of bed, standing at attention with his head lowered. “I’m sorry Master Gyle. It won’t happen again I promise.” He pleaded quietly, awaiting the punishing strike that would surely follow. He waited, gritted teeth, eyes focused on a single spot on the floor, all concentration on what he did wrong and bearing the pain of his failure.

Gyles Talons stopped, just within view, but didn’t raise up to strike him. Was he going to use his beak? His beak looked sharp, Lock would definitely be bleeding for awhile if that were the case, did Gryphons eat ponies? “What do you mean?” Asked Gyle, cutting off Lock Love’s thoughts. Oh no! Lock had clearly made a mistake so great that apologies wouldn’t work. That docotr must have cost caps. Oh no! He had cost his master caps! “Lock? You didn’t do anything wrong. I was just coming over to see if you were okay.” Gyle used one talon to lift Lock’s gave upwards to see how concerned Gyle had been. “ARE you okay?”

A wave of relief, mixed with a tornado of confusion swept over Lock as he tried to process what had just happened. “Y-yes? I think so. Yes definitely. I’m fine now.” What was going on? How could a master not punish him after causing them to purchase the service of a doctor? He had gotten punished for causing expensive doctor’s visits before and some slaves were even killed for costing too many caps to keep alive. Why wasn’t he being punished now? Was this gryphon new to being a master or something? Regardless of all the questions buzzing around in his head, he knew he needed to show more strength to not cause it to happen again.

The talons around Lock’s face were removed with a smile from Master Gyle. “Alright then. So those Ants from earlier have been terrorizing the village-pon… Village-Zebras here. Apparently it's whenever that bell tower rings. So we’re going to go up there and cut the bell down. You good to come along?” Gyle explained. Grabbing Lock’s stuff from beside the bed and throwing the saddle bags onto his back. Lock assumed he didn’t actually have a choice and simply nodded. “Awesome, c’mon. Let’s get going.” He turned and walked over to Master Cann who was still talking to Nephita.

“Da, Da, This doesn’t help still. None of us are medicine mare. Bandages, yes, nothing else.” Stated Cann, matter of factly. He was holding pink bandage rolls and trying to push the first aid satchel back to Nephita, who was getting annoyed with the stallion’s stubbornness.

Nephita pushed the satchel back to Cann. “Take deh whole ting! I don’ wan’chu dead. Too much work!”

Lock saw Cann’s face lock into stone. He was very clearly getting frustrated. It was probably for the best that Lock spoke up then. “I know first aid. I can use everything in there.”

The short lived argument stopped as both the Zebra Mare and Cann looked to the ash black stallion. “You can?” Asked Nephita and Cann simultaneously.

“Ah perfect.” Said cann, snapping back to a happy demeanor. “We take medicines then.” Nephita just rolled her eyes, handed the satchel over and walked away. On her way to mix in with the other zebras she put a hoof on Lock’s should and whispered a thanks. Lock nodded, making a master happy was one of his specialties. A good specialty to have in his honest opinion. Cann hoofed the Satchel over to Lock Love. “Here, you’re doctor pony now. Come, we go to break bell.”

“Yes of course.” Lock answered before eyeing the satchel. It had three rolls of pink bandages that smelled like healing potions, several antiseptics, thread, five needles, and a single bottle with a hoof written label called ‘Purge’. Lock didn’t have time to read it but it’s use seemed obvious enough. He pocketed the satchel and follow his masters out the door and back into town.

Their destination was the school house they had seen earlier whose bell had remained silent since the ants arrived earlier. The bell itself had been obscured by metal bars, stopping Gyle from simply flying up there. They would have to go inside the schoolhouse to get to the actual bell tower.

The double doors that served as the entrance had long since been boarded up. After a few failed attempts to pry the boards off, Cann decided to simply blast them off with his shotguns. A few blasts and they were in. The doors creaked open under the force from the final shotgun shell, revealing a darkened hallway that seemed to lead all the way to the back of the school house. There were five doors, on on the left hoof side all the way at the end of the hall and four more on the right, spaced out almost evenly from the back to the front.

“HELLO!?” Gyle shouted, only getting a slight echo in response. He shrugged looking at his companions. “I guess nobody's home.”

Cann Nodded. “Da, we salvage while we’re here. Watch for bugs.” He said, marching forward.

The First door on the right went to Cann to search. From Lock’s point of view it seemed to be an older, smaller, version of a stable common area. He had been to the one at Final Spark’s stable many times. There were tables folded up and set to the side to make room for a court that was probably used for indoor sports.

The next two doors would have gone to Gyle but they turned out to just be the filly’s and Colt’s rest rooms, which just left the last two doors at the very end. The duo moved on to the last door on the right, pushing the door open only to have it collapse onto the ground in a cloud of dust and rotting wood. Gyle coughed profusely as he reeled from the plume of old dust. “Aw! Pffftt oh no it’s in my mouth. Pffft PPPPPFFFFTTTT. Bleh! That’s not coming out. But look, stairs going up. That’s probably our way to the tower.” He was pointing to a spiral staircase made of rotting wood and a pile of dust that was probably an inch thick. “Let’s check that last room before we head up. What do you say Lock? Maybe we can pick up chalk?” Lock didn’t know why chalk was important but he nodded in agreement.

The last room proved difficult to get into, the door being sealed shut by it’s melted hinges. Gyle and Lock hand to ram the door several times to bust it open. Inside was a large class room with a play area in the back that was currently being occupied by a much more serious looking bombshell. There was a boarded up hole in the ceiling where it must have crashed into the building.

“Oh damn, Ponies are messed up.” Gyle commented, looking at where the bomb had wound up at the end of the war. “Foals? Really?” As bad as it made Lock feel, this didn’t seemed to be aimed towards him specifically. Gyle looked over to Lock. “You have a PipBuck right? Is that thing still hot?”

Lock looked down to the PipBuck and held it out in front of him. PipBucks could detect magical radiation and would begin clicking if there was enough to cause noticeable harm. The tiny leg mounted computer didn’t even click a little bit. He decided to scoot closer. Nothing. Closer still and nothing to be heard. He was almost touching it and there still was even the faintest hint of Magic Radiation. This close he could see why.

Off to the side, the bomb’s casing had rusted and cracked open, spilling its contents into ground below the school’s floor. It was hard to see inside, but it looked as though there was a deep pit underneath the bomb that must have safely disposed of the radioactive materials. “I think it’s safe. I think the balefire fluid leaked out.” Said Lock, pointing to the rusted section of the zebra bomb. “Also, I think it was Zebras.” He added noting the stripes painted on the bomb casing.

“What?” Asked Gyle.

Lock Love fidgeted, realizing he had made yet another mistake. He shouldn’t have corrected his master. Maybe he could turn it around? Maybe he could just use this chance to show how useful he was. “The bomb, it’s Zebra make. This bomb had a Necromantic Liquid Payload. Equestrian models use solid crystal spell matrices set to a contact switch at the tip of the shell.” He pointed to the crack in the casing. “The only way for this bomb to not be radioactive with a crack like this is if the payload was missing. So, I’m guessing it was liquid, which would make it a Zebra bomb.”

Gyle sat back on his paws and scratched his head. “How do you know this stuff? You’re well educated for a slave. Most slaves I’ve seen can barely read.”

Phew! That was close, it seemed like Lock’s impressive skill disguised the fact that he had done something bad. He perked up, happy to share about how he was trained. “My first ever master lived in a laboratory with lots of books! He taught me to read so I could help him out. Most of the books there were all about this kind of stuff. That and computer code.”

“Huh.” Gyle said, folding his arms in thought. “You know, your talents were clearly wasted as a slave. I’m glad Cann and I got to you before some other asshole. If we get the chance, I’d love to get you up north to the Crystal Conclave. We have a huge library you’d probably adore.” He chuckled to himself before continuing. “And the librarians would love you too.” He stood up and began checking through the student’s desks.

Crystal Conclave? Lock assumed it was Gyles home town, and probably had something to do with that crystal around his neck. The library did seem interesting. He had a love for books and relished the rare chances that he got to read them after being sold off from his first master. But one word didn’t quite register. “Librarian?” He asked, meandering about to look for useful things. There was a coat rack that still had some things hanging from it in the corner.

Gyle toppled a desk over after clearing out the contents to remind himself that it was empty. “Yeah, tall white owl guys. They mind the library and its secrets. They remember everything and know everything. Don’t piss them off by doing anything stupid, like say; shoving a block of packed snow in the returns chute with a note that says I.O.U..” He toppled another desk after looting some sort of magazine and shoving it inside his armor.

Lock flipped one of the hanging objects around to discover that it was a pristine Spidermare saddlebag. It looked so cool! The was a mare swinging from the tall buildings in Manehattan all while wearing a full body suit that was blue and red and webs all over it! He wanted it really bad. Slaves didn’t really deserve cool stuff like this, but these masters had been letting a lot of things slide. Maybe it would be okay to push his luck? He could tell them it was just to carry more stuff for them… Yeah that would work. He needed a distraction. “That um.. That seemed very specific.” He asked, hoping Gyle’s attention would stay on talking about his home.

“Well-” Gyle said, stopping momentarily to look towards Lock who appeared to be fiddling with a random assortment of packs and coats on the rack. Lock love tensed up, feeling beads of sweat forming at the back of his neck. The moment seemed to drag on forever before gyle upturned the last desk and started heading for the teacher’s desk. “I was drunk, it’s a long story. How about you tell me how you learned about first aid?” He said, in an obvious attempt to divert the conversation elsewhere.

This was perfect. Lock quickly picked the saddlebag off its hook and stuffed it into his old master’s saddlebags while Gyle was distracted. Of course, now that he thought about it, slaves were really not suppose to have good things. Mid-way through stuffing the bags in something large and solid slid out and slapped against the wood floor with a muted boom. There on the floor laid a huge science book.

Locks hairs all went on end, knowing he had been caught trying to take things for himself. He slowly turned his head to look at his gryphon master, tears already beginning to form in his eyes. Gyle was staring back at him, fully alert of the situation. “You alright?” He asked, cutting the tension like a puppet’s strings.

The weight of fear that had pressed itself down on Lock suddenly vanished. Gyle hadn’t seemed to notice what he was doing at all. Lock quickly brushed away his tears and nodded. “Yeah, I found a book.” He said, continuing to stuff the Spidermare pack into his bags.

“What kind?” Gyle asked, talons still deep in the teacher’s desk.

Lock panicked for a second. In the excitement he had forgotten. He looked down to read the title again. ‘Science! For Eggheads’. Oh! Duh, how could he have forgotten a title like that. “Um, Science book?”

Gyle waved his talon dismissively diving back into the desk. “Not interested. You can have it.”

The world seemed to go still for Lock Love, confusion reaching its peak. He must have heard something wrong. Slaves weren’t allowed to ‘have’ things. Even the things he was holding on to belonged to his old master, and he was the Spidermare bags he was taking without permission. “You mean, to keep?” He asked, feeling as though time itself had stopped, trying to make sure that circuit in the universe hadn’t simply shorted out to allow such an atrocity to occur.

“Yeah sure, whatever. That’s what scavenging is all about, if no one else needs it keep it- oh! Chalk!” Gyle said, sounding excited about finding chalk. He proceeded to shake the little box and then count how many pieces were still left.

What Gyle had said took a moment to sink in. He was allowed to keep it and call it his own? He levitated the book up, reading the title allowed. “Science, For Eggheads.” He felt a tight pain in his chest and tears began to form. They weren’t the tears of fear like earlier, these were warm and welcome. He couldn’t help himself as the muscles in his face briefly contorted before snapping into a silly feeling grin. “I’m an egghead.” He said to himself, holding the book to his chest and hugging it dearly. It was old, worn, and a little bit faded but it was his. His very first, really his, thing.

Quickly turning to face the coat racks again, Lock happily sobbed as his searched for anything else that might be useful. His vision had gone blurry from the water in his eyes but he was so happy that he didn’t really care. He kept a tight hold one the book with one fore hoof as he searched, a small part of him not willing to let it go as though losing contact with the book would make it disappear.

After a few more minutes of searching, Lock found a Fancy Buck Cake and an unused juicebox but not much else. He was told to hold onto them incase he needed a snack later. When they met up with Cann in the hallway later on they found him covered from head to tail in radroach bit and guts. His only comment was ‘Don’t ask’. Gyle just shrugged and Lock wasn’t willing to disobey the command, regardless of how curious he was.

They stood at the entrance to the Belltower while Cann picked insect legs and antennae out of his mane. “Okay, last on list is breaking of bell.” Cann looked at the narrow spiral staircase and grimmaced. “Oi, one at a time then.” He brushed some goop out of his beard and shifted his mechanical harness before stepping up onto the stairs. “Cann goes first, I have best guns for small spac- ARGH!” CRACK!! As he pressed down on the first step the wood gave way, trapping Cann’s hoof inside the decrepit wood. “Ah! Debil!!!” He cursed, trying to free his hoof from the wood. “Gryphon goes first then. I must stay here.”

Gyle just shook his head. “Sorry that space is way too narrow for me.” He fluffed up his wings to emphasizes his point. “Those stairs were clearly made with just ponies in mind. Lock, That’s all you.”

Lock smiled brightly, tears threatening to form in his eyes again. There was something that he could do for his masters that only he could do? “Of course, right away.” He levitated his science book out of his arms and into his saddle bags so that he could use all four legs to slide past Cann. Once on the step, he found that they supported his weight just fine since he wasn’t wearing any armor, though the creaking of wood under him with every movement made him nervous. “Just, Break the bell right?” He asked, prompting a nod from both masters.

Each step was made cautiously, slowly pressing his weight against each step until it was supporting his entire weight. Climbing the tower seemed to take ages and more than once a faulty step caved in, halting his progress until he could climb up to the next one. Eventually his slow climb was rewarded with the faint beams of light piercing a wooden hatch. Lock pressed on the hatch to find that a metal lock had slipped into place long ago, preventing the door from being opened. From the wear in the wood, it looked as though something had been trying to pull the hatch open. Lock guessed that it must have been the wind passing through the tower, or maybe the bell vibrating the wood when it rings. He flicked the little mechanism and pushed the hatch open now that it was unlocked.

The breeze at this height was crisp and made the day seem bright, even with the eternal cloud cover blocking the sun. Climbing out of the stairway, he immediately turned to look out over the town. He could see everything from here and couldn’t help let a quiet ‘Wow’ escape his lips. He could see all the way from a the large gates, which were currently closed, to the abandoned mine at the other side of town, with the Zebra’s longhouse dead in the center of town.

Lock was pulled away from his sightseeing by a scraping sound behind him. He turned around to investigate the source of the scratching. At first he was horrified, his magical grip surrounding the handle of his old Master’s recharger rfile. After a moment he realized what he was looking at.

In front of Lock Love was the upper torso of a decrepit looking unicorn mare, resting in the center of a mass of continuously rotting and healing flesh and bone. Her throat was missing entirely, leaving only a few supporting muscles and her spine to keep up her head, which was now drooping slightly to the side. This necromantic horror was a ghoul, a resident of the wasteland who had been cursed with eternal life in a rotting body due to exposure to magical radiation. She was scraping something into the wood in front of her.

Lock relaxed. Even if the ghoul mare had been feral and wanted to eat him, there wasn’t much she could do while melted to the floor. He leaned over to see what she was scraping into the floor while staying far enough away that she couldn’t swipe at him. ‘Mrs. Melody Majesty.’ the first part had an arrow pointing to herself. “Melody Majesty, that’s your name?” He asked, hoping for some sort of answer.

To Lock’s surprise she nodded. She wasn’t feral. This ghoul had maintaintained her mind for over 200 years, all alone! Then it clicked. She must have been ringing the bell causing the ants to show up! Maybe he could just ask her to stop? “It’s uh, a pleasure to meet you Mrs. Melody. I’m up here because the bell keeps ringing and summoning a bunch of killer ants. I’m supposed to-” Before he could finish, Melody began swinging her hanging head back and forth as if to say no. “Oh, the bell isn’t summoning the ants?” He asked, guessing at what she meant.

Melody lifted a hoof to her snout and tapped it, the universal charades sign for yes. She went back to scratching in the wood. Which gave Lock an idea. “Oh hold on. I think I have a better way for you talk. Or, more specifically my master does. Please wait here.” He said, starting to shove hi rear legs into the hatch to get back to the stairs. Melody made a lame face as his last comment but ultimately nodded.

After a little bit of convincing and a lot of Lock beating around the bush to try and explain why he needed Gyle’s chalk, he returned to the ghoulish mare with two pristine pieces of chalk. “Here!” He said, offering the chalk to her.

Mrs. Melody happily plucked the chalk from luck with her magic, which seemed to still be very strong. She immediately went to writing on the nearby wall, stopping from time to time to remember how to write certain letters. ‘I’m ringing the bell to warn the town ponies.’ she wrote.

Nocturne nodded, understanding what she was doing. “They’re Zebras actually. And how do you know the ants are coming?” He asked out of curiosity. He gave himself the excuse of gathering information that could keep his masters safe later.

Chalk went to wall again, with a great deal of energy. It was obvious that Mrs. Melody was enjoying the idea of a conversation. ‘Either way, Their music has been keeping me sane all these years.’ She waited for a moment before erasing the words and continuing. ‘ as for detecting the ants, I just use music. Watch. ‘ After waiting a few moments to let Lock read, Melody let her horn glow a gentle orange like the rest of her magic. A small mote of energy popped into existence Vibrating with the sound of a violin. It began playing a single note that rose in pitch until it was was unbearable to hear. Before Lock could ask her to stop the sound vanished all together, but the mote was still vibrating as if playing that same note.

Something he had read long ago clicked in his brain. “You’re using Sonar!?” He asked, hardly able to contain his excitement over this new way to use magic. The mare tapped her snout, even managing to smile at the sight of somepony with the spark to learn. She pointed for him to watch the mote of energy as it slowly began to take shape. What was once just a ball of orange energy was now a window into the mines deep below. Lock could make out tunnels and hundreds of small moving dots crawling around the tunnels. “So with your music magic you’ve been watching the ants and warning the towns zebras whenever they get too close to the surface?” He asked. Once again Lock was rewarded with Mrs. Melody patting her snout in agreement. “You’re amazing Mrs. Melody Majesty! I’m sure with this information the Zebras will sing for you every day!”

Mrs. Melody began convulsing, a smile on her face. If Lock had to guess, she was doing her best version of a laugh. After a few seconds her fit passed and she went to write on the wall again. ‘You remind me of my students. Can I teach you something?’

This was probably the most Lock had smiled in a single day ever in his life. Both the offer and the comparison made him blush. He nodded, not willing to turn her down. “Sure, I’m happy to learn.” Maybe he could use it to help his masters, whatever it was.