• Published 1st May 2012
  • 1,769 Views, 26 Comments

Fallout Equestria: Out of Time - Silverwolfdemon



The tale of a little pre-Wasteland filly waking up to her world after two centuries

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Ch.1 What a wonderful world


“WARNING! POWER MALFUNCTION IN PODS 00 …krrrkt... AND 268. ENACTING EMERGENCY REACTIVATION OF SUBJECTS” An automated announcement said through damaged speakers. The sound of dripping water and the feel of frigid air came next as the message repeated. Jade didn’t like the cold, she liked summer, not winter. But there was no use to complain about it she figured as she walked out of the pod.

“Mommy, Daddy?” the filly called out as she looked at another pod, only to fall back as she saw the mare inside that it looked like a skeleton with fur.

“Subject 00 ...shhh... please proceed to the Stable door and elevator.” The speakers announced.

“Why is that pony still sleeping?” Jade asked.

“Subject 00 ...shhh... please proceed to the Stable door and elevator.” The speakers repeated.

Jade ignored it looking in each of the pods. Seems like all the ponies were sleeping and seem to be too still. Till she found her parent at the end of the hall in the same white blocky pods lying in them like the others, being too still. She tried waking them by yelling, then crying, then trying a red lever on a pedestal with dim lights near the side, thinking the doors to their pod acted like her Jack-in-the-box toy.

“Error, manual release is malfunctioning.” Speakers announced before repeating the message for subject 00. Jade tried again getting the same result before another door opened by splitting in half, one piece going to the roof the other to the floor.

“Hey, kid, you the other survivor it seems.” A stallion with a black coat and silver mane said walking through the door. “What are you doing sitting…” he began to ask untill he noticed the pods. “Oh.”

“Mommy and Daddy won’t wake up.” Jade said as she tried to shake the box-like pods, like she did to her parents beds, but they wouldn’t move.

“Hey, uh… come on kid, we have to get out of here.” The stallion said slowing down and picking Jade up with his wings.

“NO! I want to leave with Mommy and Daddy.” Jade wailed as she was taken away from the room her parents were in. “They might wake up…”

“Kid, I know you’re, like, five or something, but your parents are dead, they died in those pods like every other pony except us. And if we don’t get out of here we’re gonna die too.” The pegasus said as he walked out with Jade on his back. “They’re... gone. Just accept it.”

“I WANT TO STAY WITH MOMMY AND DADDY!” Jade yelled at the top of her lungs trying to get out of the stallion’s grip. “Mommy and Daddy can’t be dead! Their smart and tough! There’s no way some stupid sleep would kill them.” Jade muttered to herself.

The stallion didn’t seem to notice as he walked to the closed gear shaped door, the very same door Jade and her parents passed through before going to sleep. Now that the filly was looking around noticing red pipes, blue walls and how the room looked like that spaceship Harmony used to ask Moon Ponies for help.

“Okay how do I open this?” The stallion said as he looked around a consol. “Pip Buck remote access, so maybe one of those guys would have one I could use.” Pegasus muttered to himself while looking at the skeletons Jade just noticed were around the door. Before he could search even one for a Pip Buck, Jade made a connection she had been denying for the past few minutes.

“My parents really are dead, aren’t they, Mr.?” She asked sadly, thinking of other ponies who seemed to be not moving and how the Stable was overall. This place had a lot of things like computer she helped to repair, or like the clock she had been fixing for mommy. Even the little bit of damage or miscalculation could result in the clock or computer to be a giant paper weight. Her pod worked, theirs hadn’t.

“Yeah kid, they are. Look, we need to get out of here, this place is losing power from what I can tell and we don’t have a lot of time.” The stallion said worriedly. “Names Sentential Sky, by the way.”

“Jade Charge,” the filly said as she hopped off his back and walked over to one of the skeletons, finding a blocky thing on its leg. She took the blocky thing and saw it was like a wrist band the doctor had been wearing before she fell asleep, though it was turned off.

“Found one!” Sentential Sky exclaimed as walked back to her, “oh, so did you, huh? Put that on, these things can be really useful. Here, let me help.”

It was over a minute. Jade was sure that she should do it herself if she wanted to. It was just, well… too simple! You merely needed to put wristband around your leg and close the lock on it, nothing more. Almost immediately Pip Buck activated herself and assured little filly that he was at her command.
Jade looked at the Pip Buck seeing a game on it already and decided to play while Sentential Sky worked on the console. Though she stopped when some kind of metal paw moved from over the walkway and connected with the gear shaped door, then there was a loud screeching which caused the young filly to start crying.

“Ouch! It loud, too loud!” Stallion cringed. “Oh, crap,” Sky said before getting closer and tried to calm the filly. “Shush, it’s just the door, nothing wrong. There’s no need to cry.”

“Why was it so loud?” Jade asked.

“Sorry, kid, this stuff old and nopony was around to do upkeep.” Sentential Sky explained before picking her up and walking through the opening left by the giant gear. Beyond was the true entrance to Stable 092, the massive elevator that all of the residents had to stand on to descend into the depths of the earth to be safe from the Megaspells.

“Let’s just hope this thing isn’t busted.” Sentential Sky said as he walked to the platform. The stallion breathed a sigh of relief as the speakers stated that subjects would be moved top side, the platform slowly ascending whining and squealing along the way.

“My Daddy worked for MWT, what did you do?” She asked as they waited for the elevator to reach the top.

“Ministry of Arcane Science. I didn’t work on this project, though, didn’t even knew it existed until I got to the door. It’s strange for the Ministries to get this involved in a Stable. I mean, sure, we sold some tech to the company, but MAS didn’t got this involved, or at least to my knowledge.”

“What do you work on? Daddy made robots and other stuff.” Jade said.

“Oh, well... I worked on the energy sources of Thunderheads, trying to make them more energy efficient. I mean, it’s fine and well, but just because something uses thunderclouds as a power source doesn’t mean it isn’t wasting power. A lot of energy was lost when it transferred from clouds to the ship’s systems. Lights, consoles, guns were losing the most, in fact they’ve lost so much so when they were trying to fit the new lighting cannon into the thing it was almost impossible! You know why?” Sky smiled seeing how Jade shook her head. “It was because it would get enough charge, then all the other systems couldn’t work with the power left.” Sentential Sky explained. “I almost had it, too... Maybe when we get to the top I’ll contact the Ministry and see if the project is still running.”

The rest of the ride up was held in silence as neither really had much to talk about. Walking out of graveyard of ponies you were living with seemingly just moments ago, before you woke up, was quite the shock. Jade decided to play the game on her Pip Buck to pass the time. It was about this pony climbing a mountain while avoiding falling rocks and animals. She could barely get past the first level.

It took about five minutes to reach the top just as Jade was about to beat the second level. She looked up from her Pip Buck and was dumbstruck at what she saw. Blue skies she enjoyed so much during the day were covered with dark grey clouds. The green grass she loved to roll in was gone, leaving brown dead ground and long dead trees littering the landscape. The city her family visited often to see plays or movies looked like something out of nightmare. Crumbling buildings, towers tipping or standing with damage clearly evident. Highways broken and leaning, stretching through the city in suburbs like dry dead veins of an once vibrant animal.

The world before her was neither dead nor silent. There were bugs flying about sickly brown grass, animals she barely recognized wandering through streets and fields. She could also see green flaming birds hunting in the distance and huge dog-like being even further away. And there were still ponies. They were specs from where she and Sentential Sky stood on the hill, but they were there.

“Um, okay, I don’t live that far from here. Barely an hour walk and I think I had some supplies in a cellar we could get. I’m totally sure it’s not THAT much time has passed, maybe a month… or two… hehe.” Sentential Sky said worried as he looked around.

“Maybe I can find Cherry Pie and Tea Leaf!” Jade said excitedly.

“Yeah, and I’m sure not the whole world is like this. I’ve heard of forests that could stand up to anything thrown at them. So I’m sure places like the Everfree Forest are still green a… alive.” The Stallion said as he started walking. “Come on, Jade, we need to get going. Neither of us has had food in a while and I think it's best that we grab something to eat.”

The filly followed the stallion noting some skeletons near the elevator platform, though none of them looked like it belonged to foals. So, her friends didn’t die here, but Jade had a thought at the back of her mind concerning the skeletons. How long did it take a body to become like that… she knew she was young and still had a lot to learn, but she was smart and could read books most ponies could only scratch their heads at. She had trouble with ponies, but when it came to machines and tech, her Daddy said she surpassed a lot of the ponies he worked with. She had read up on the bodies of animals too and a lot of other subjects like magic. She could barely lift a toy block, but she could recite the process of how to make a power matrix, or how the multi spell matrix was made.

Jade knew all that and she still didn’t have her cutie mark. She was by all account a prodigy, but none of this was her talent. Her Mommy and Daddy said she was destined for greatness if she still didn’t have her cutie mark. She also felt stupid a lot of the time because her friends or other ponies would say something and she didn’t understand if it was a joke or they were serious. The Doctor said her brain worked differently than other ponies, but she could overcome some of the problems she had with a little help.

Mrs. Polly came by and helped her learn to talk and showed her how to interact with others. Mrs. Polly was a nice mare from MoP. Miss Twilight came by every once and a while to give her a new book, and Miss Fluttershy would be with her to talk to her parents. It was because of Miss Fluttershy that she had met Cherry Pie. Miss Fluttershy had said Cherry had sickness that doctors were having trouble curing and that she needed a friend. Both Ministry mares wanted to help Jade be a better pony and even miss Pinkie came by to help. Jade hoped they were alright.

“Hey kid, what grade were you in?” Sentential Sky asked.

“Um, sixth grade.” Jade explained. “Miss Twilight said I should be higher, but Miss Fluttershy said I would have hard enough time with other ponies, Mrs. Polly agreed. Though miss Twilight said I should be trying for Celiestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns, but I’m pretty weak in magic.”

“Wait. You’re, what. five…”

“Six, I’m six years old.” Jade said happily.

“And your…why were so far ahead?” Sentential Sky asked.

“Miss Twilight and doctors said it was something involving brain and how I learn. I read books that most ponies can’t, but I can’t understand ponies too well.” Jade explained.

“You seem to be doing fine now.” Sentential observed.

“Mrs. Polly had to teach me how to, but sometimes ponies confuse me. Like... why do you find jokes about pain and farting funny, or why are you nice to ponies who are clearly being mean, or why do you do this instead of that when this would be so much easier.” Jade explained. “And sometimes I say stuff that makes ponies look at me funny.”

“What did you say?” He asked.

“Um… did you know that a Spritebot levitation rune have to use 5.5 joules of force at intervals of 1.2 milliseconds to stay afloat while at the same time pushing air at 2 MRP to move forward.” Jade said right off the top of head. “I can also tell you how the rune works.”

“You certainly are a gifted one. Why weren’t you in Celestia’s school?” he asked.

“I can barely lift a block of wood.” Jade explained. “Mommy and Daddy said I would be stronger when I was older. I wish they hadn’t….”

Sentential Sky didn’t say anything more, looking just as sad as the filly beside him. They continued to walk for awhile until they came to a crumbling house, one amongst others. Their bright colorful paint were still present but some of the walls were gone exposing the buildings skeletal innards. Some of the furniture was also still present if a little molded and stained.

“Well, home, sweet home.” The stallion said before walking in and to a hatch in the back. “This should be the cellar, looks like the lock held up AND I still have the keys, so…” His ears turned to the front door and then to the opened cellar hatch.. He pushed Jade in before closing it. “Well hello there gentlecolts, how may I help you?”

Jade tried to ask Sentential why he did that and who he was talking to but heard another pony speak.

“Yeah, hand over your caps and anything else you got, or else.” A pony said from the other side of the door.

“Um, what…caps what are those?” Sentential asked, confused. “Look, I sure we can talk about…”

There were some loud bangs and then a thud followed by distressed moaning, then cursing and more bangs as hooves galloped away.

“Idiot.” Pony harrumphed and spat. “Well, at least we get a meal out of this. Come on, boys, let’s get out here! I’m sure some of the local wildlife heard that and this far from the city it's more than likely a predator will come looking the kill.” The pony said. “We all remember last night.”

“Yeah, we lost Skull Breaking to a Prowler.” Another pony said.

“What about the door?. I think I saw this bastard open it, might be something valuable or edible.” Another said.

“Too, much to carry, and with this corps plus the crap we got from the railroad station we’re already overloaded.” The first explained. “Just go, we can come back later for whatever it is in there.”

Jade backed away from the door as she noticed a pool of red, which she now connected with blood stuff she had read about in the anatomy book Twilight had sent her through the mail two days before she and her family went to the Stable. She was barely past chapter one.

She heard other ponies dragging something away as the world beyond the door grew silent. She could guess what happened to Sentential Sky was the same as what happened to that pony that that Power Armor pony had…had shot. She stared at the blood as all that had happened to her over the past few hours started to catch up to her. She realized that the Power Armor pony had killed that stallion; her parents were dead, and now the only pony she knew she could probably trust had just been killed by a random group of ponies.

The filly wanted to cry, but all she did was breath harder and faster till she threw up what was left in her stomach and passed out in her puke and Sentential Sky’s blood.

To be continued.

Author's Note:

well there's the Wasteland. and I thank Chayn editing this chapter. hope like how the story is going