Fallout Equestria: Do Robot Ponies Dream of Electronic Bunnies

by ScottWolf

Ch 10: To The Rescue

FoE: Do Robot Ponies Dream of Electronic Bunnies

Chapter X: To The Rescue

"Come on, you apes! You wanna live forever?" – Unknown Sargent, Starship Troopers

System Report: 0000000010
Unit Status: Active
Location: Trottingham
Satellite Signal Status: On Stand-By, Timer is running.
Begin data dump to external off-site memory back-up:
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
- - - - - - Done.
Preparing visual report: Done.

Date: --/--/2212, 200PA (+16 days activation)
Time: 2200 Local

Dark.

The area where we landed was dark. Sure, it was night time, but something about the place made it feel extra dark. Like something evil was waiting. Lurking.

Scary quickly unhitched himself from the Sky Bandit and joined me in peering into the dark. I wasn't sure what his eagle-eyes could see, but I knew what I saw: Hellhounds. Thousands of them. All sleeping in groups of ten to fifteen.

Whose bright idea was this anyway? Oh right.

"Oh, man," Scary commented. "Frieda's gonna be damn happy to see you after all this. If she's still alive, that is. That's an ass-load of dogs."

"Hate to see the ass that big," Night Rose commented as she joined us. Starry Grove and Winter Frost were with her. I was pretty sure they could see at least the edge of the horde; they both looked like they were reconsidering their decision.

"Well, don't worry too much," Scary replied, digging into one of the bags attached to his barding. "Gawd didn't send you out here unprepared. Use these." His claw came out with three little machines, each looking like a miniature of an embedded satellite dish. He passed them to my flesh-and-blood companions. "StealthBucks," he explained. "Mark II's. Don't ask where she got them. Should help you get past them and to Frieda's position."

I looked over at Starry, remembering he didn't have a PipBuck when we left, but surely enough, his left leg sported one of the machines. It came up tagged as a Military issue PipBuck 5000. Somehow I even had a serial number, registered user, and issue date. I briefly wondered what other useless information that cleaning program had uncovered.

"Where'd you get that," I asked as he fit the StealthBuck onto it.

"Traded a passing merchant for it about a month and a half ago," he replied. "Cost me some good scrap, but it's worth it now."

I was about to ask how he'd attached it, then remembered the PipBuck toolkit Winter had. Derp.

Night Rose was struggling to attach hers to the port on her helmet. It wasn't sliding in right for some reason. She had the thing in her teeth, and was fighting with the helmet on its hook. It looked like she was losing badly. I stepped over to help but she turned away from me quickly.

"I got it," she said, angrily. She gave it another shove, but that only succeeded in popping it lose, where it promptly fell to the ground. Cursing, she picked it up and tried again.

"Are you gonna be mad at me forever?"

"Who's mad," she asked around the device. "Last I checked, you were angry at me."

"I'm not angry at you," I replied. "I was just… upset. I want to know you better but you keep bucking me away for it."

"It's better that way," she said, and tried to fit it again. Again it popped free and hit the ground.

I was quicker this time, picking it up and holding it while looking at her expectantly. She stared back, her eyes smoldering with… I'm not sure what. Annoyance? Jealousy? Anger? Whatever it was, it lasted only a minute before she turned her body and gave me access to her helmet. I easily slid the StealthBuck into the socket, at the same time, seeing the trouble she'd been having. She'd been trying to attach it upside down. A smart pony would have kept that to himself.

I am not a smart pony.

"It was upside down," I said, pulling back. The glare I received could have melted steel. I cringed and backed away, instantly realizing my mistake. Without saying another word, she flipped the helmet over her head and sealed it.

I sighed and turned to the rest of the group. Everyone else was ready, or at least as ready as they'd ever be. "You'll be here when we get back, right Scary?"

"Yeah, yeah," he replied with a wave of his claw. "Just try not to take too long."

I nodded and then turned to start towards the city. Night Rose pushed past me, taking the lead. I stared after her, slightly annoyed, but sighed again and followed, Starry and Winter falling in behind me.

Trottingham had borne no direct attack during the fall. Its buildings remained fairly well intact, if not worn and slightly crumbly. It looked more like a large scale battle had gone on here. There were holes in walls, pock-marked cement barriers, sandbag gun nests, and wrecked vehicles everywhere. The roads were chewed up terribly by both impact craters and tank treads. It didn't help much that there were a few thousand Hellhounds around us.

The StealthBucks were doing quite well for my companions. For myself, I had my own cloaking device. It was a function I'd lucked into discovering on the way here as I went over the files I'd cleaned. When activated, little cameras just below my skin would capture the landscape and anything on one side of me and transmit it to little reflectors on my other side, which projected into my skin, making it seem like I wasn't there. In essence, this active camouflage was better than a StealthBuck; it didn't even leave the faint trace outline the StealthBuck normally left. Was there anything they hadn't thought of?

I was glad I'd made everyone copy each other's ID tag onto their PipBucks, armor, and my own E.F.S. It was the only way they'd be able to find each other and me. I had other ways, but the ID tag was fine for now.

Night Rose crept quickly past yet another group of Hellhounds, being as silent as her armor allowed. Fortunately, they seemed to be fairly heavy sleepers. She was following a waypoint to the last reported location of Frieda and her squad, if Gawd's info was to be believed.

One of the Hellhounds stirred as Night Rose went past. I saw his ears perk and his head turn toward her. I reacted instantly, stepping behind him and wrapping my front legs around his neck. With a little pressure, I heard his vertebrae pop and he went limp. I laid him back down, positioning him to look like he was asleep, then moved gestured for her to move on. She didn't budge, so I nosed her flank. I saw her jump, and whip back around to face me. She must have remembered I was behind her, for she relaxed a few seconds later then continued on. I looked back at our other two friends and activated my thermal vision. Both had a look that said, "that was close." I had to agree.

We were about fifty yards from our destination when a pair of Hellhounds stepped out in front of us. We all froze, and I'm sure each of my friends looked down at their StealthBuck's spell meter. My own technology could run for a long time, as it drew power from my core, but the others had to be running out soon.

The two Hellhounds walked forward along our path. I mentally begged them to go away, but they didn't listen, coming to stop right in front of the access hatch we needed. I heard them start a conversation in Dog-speak, a really degraded version.

"Strange bird-cats still inside, right," one asked. The other shrugged.

"Me not care," he replied. "Them can rot all away in there. No fur off my tail."

His companion nodded and leaned against the wall. I cursed to myself. A night guard, which meant we'd have to eliminate them.

"Starry, Winter," I whispered, trying to be as quiet as possible. "You two stay put." They both nodded and I turned my attention to Night Rose. You take the left one, I transmitted to her E.F.S. I'll take the leaning one. Keep it QUIET.

She nodded and moved into position as I did the same. Her target's ear twitched and he turned toward her. "You hear noise?"

"Me hear nothing," his partner replied. "You hearing things."

I winced inwardly as the Hellhound turned his whole body towards Night Rose. She froze, trying her hardest to be a hole in the air. I was about to strike my target to provide her a distraction, when something crashed to our right. Both Hellhounds turned to the sound, and we both pounced. I bucked my target in the face full force, snapping his head around and breaking his jaw. Night Rose landed heavily on the others back and brought both hooves down onto his skull as hard as her armor could. His skull caved, blood spraying out along with bits of brain as I did the same to the first Hellhound. If her StealthBuck hadn't chosen that moment to shut down, the blood she was suddenly covered in would have given her away. I de-cloaked and spun, looking for more targets. None of the other creatures stirred. Stealth kills complete.

I quickly turned my radio to the frequency Gawd had given us to contact Frieda as Starry and Winter faded into existence next to us, and began transmitting. "Help is outside, open up," I said, and repeated it several times before the door opened. We all slipped inside, and the door closed behind us.

I found myself with a nose full of machine gun. Four others of similar variety were trained on us. At the other end was a not-happy looking griffon. She stared at me down the guns iron sights, talon on the trigger.

"Was ist Ihre Absicht hier," she asked.

"Wir sind auf einer Mission von Gawd," I replied. Her face lit up with surprise, but the gun did not lower.

"Sie sprechen Gryphonen?"

"Ich weiβ, aber mein Begleiter nicht," I told her, gesturing to my friends. "Es wäre unhӧflich, dies auch weiterhin tun."

She blinked, then lowered her weapon. Her squad did the same. "It would," she nodded. "I'm Frieda. You must be from Gawd. Glad she remembered us."

"Now that we understand each other," Night Rose said, slightly annoyed she hadn't caught any of our exchange, "what's the plan for getting out of here?"

The griffon regarded the armored pony with only a glance, then nodded to the door we'd just come through. "That's the only way out of here. Past that, I'm sure you notice our dilemma."

"We took out the guards they posted," I said. "Can you fly out?"

"It makes it easier, but we have a few wounded below."

"If you can carry them quietly, we have a Sky Bandit waiting."

"Well hell," she replied with a laugh. "Why not just bring a Raptor while you're at it?" She barked an order in Griffonic to her squad, who turned and ran down the stairs at the end of the hall. "If you can keep them off us, we can fly out."

"Problem," Starry said, joining the conversation. "There's a whole lot of them, and only a few of us. We'll need a distraction to get clear safely. Ideas?"

"Well, Trottingham had a large munitions factory during the war," I replied. History files are awesome when you can read them at light speed. "Suppose we go set a fuse and light it up? Should draw some major attention, and probably a good chunk of the creatures away, giving you a chance to get out."

"How are you going to get there," Frieda asked.

"It's not far from here," I said, looking over the map on my E.F.S. "I'll walk over-"

"Wrong," Night Rose said, stomping her hoof. "You're not going alone."

"They're gonna need cover, Night Rose. You guys need to stay with them."

"They have a few guns too, you know," she retorted. "You might need help. You may be an iron pony inside, but you're not infallible. I'm going with."

I went to reply, but her visor seemed to bore into my eyes. I sighed for the umpteenth time tonight, and nodded to her. I then turned to our not-so-tough-skinned companions. "You two think you can cover the griffons as they pull out?"

"No sweat," Starry replied.

"Alright. Give us some time for the StealthBucks to charge, and we head out." I looked at Night Rose. "Let's get cleaned up. Can't have blood giving us away."

Twenty minutes later, I led Night Rose in the direction of the factory. We both hoped it still had something inside that would make a big boom. As we crept along, I talked to her via text.

So when are we gonna stop being mad at each other?

"I thought you weren't mad at me," she replied.

I'm not. We just seem to be falling into a cycle, is all I'm saying. You get mad when I ask your personal stuff, and I get mad when you give me "I don't want to answer that" responses.

"Why do you care about that stuff?"

I don't know. Maybe because you're my friend? Isn't that what friends are supposed to do?

"Friends also don't pry where they know they aren't supposed to. I don't want to talk about my past. It's… too painful." I detected a waiver in her voice. She clearly wasn't comfortable talking even this much about herself.

Maybe it's painful because you're keeping it bottled up, I suggested. That's not healthy. It'll eventually explode, and get someone seriously hurt in the process. That someone is likely to be you.

"What, are you a psychiatrist now?" There was humor there. I must have been getting through to her.

No, but I'm not the only one who feels this way. Winter's worried about you too.

She was silent for a few minutes. I stopped as a patrolling Hellhound crossed our path. We'd past a few patrols already, but hadn't needed to take them out. I watched him turn a corner and disappear before Night Rose spoke again.

"If I open up a little more, will you stop hounding me about it?"

I promise. We just want to be sure you're alright. I'm not a psychiatrist, but I do know it will help you feel better about yourself, and maybe not want to get yourself killed.

She went silent again, I presume remembering what she'd yelled at me that day a week ago. I looked back at her, her thermal image showing bright orange with a red outline and a yellow center that faded to a dot of white. Her head was turned away, gazing into the distance. "I'm sorry," she said as we moved on. "For yelling at you. And for telling you I wanted to die. It's… It's just…"

Something to do with your past, I prompted, stepping around a Hellhound that had flopped out of a doorway in its sleep.

"Yeah," she said, hesitantly. "If we make it out of here, I'll tell you about it. I promise."

I want a Pinkie Pie Swear on that.

"You seriously want me to do that," she responded, sounding both irritated and confused. "In the middle of a mass of killer mutant puppies."

That's how I'll know you mean it.

"Ugh. Fine. Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye. Happy now?"

Very. ^.=.^

The factory soon loomed over us. Smoke stacks rose out of the back of the building like fingers pointing at the sky. The row of windows across the front of the place (that seemed to be typical of any factory in existence) were all broken, either recently or back in history. There was no door, just a big square portal for us to enter. We stepped inside cautiously. The Hellhounds didn't seem to want to be inside, but there was evidence that they'd been in here. The missing doors lay a few feet inside, looking like they'd been kicked with steel feet.

We disengaged our stealth and proceeded to prowl around. She headed for a cluster of what looked like miniature grain silos while headed into the office area. The hallways were covered in scratch marks, indicating the Hellhounds had been here briefly. Two floors of cubicles yielded very little. I found a few dead terminals, some boxes of ammo, and an unopened medical container, all of which went into my inventory to be itemized. My newfound knowledge of commerce labeled each item with a price tag, in case I decided something needed to be sold.

The third floor was labeled "Corporate Country." I tilted my head in confusion before opening the door. Behind it were stairs up. I entered Corporate Country quietly, and was greeted with a few red dots. I kicked in my stealth out of reflex, then crept along further. There were several offices branching from one main hall. Each one seemed to house a Hellhound with a high-powered rifle in its paws. I considered taking a few out. Those weapons looked valuable. I decided to do it on the return trip downstairs.

The office at the end of the hall was completely empty. A glowing terminal on a very large desk lit the room. Behind it, the wall was missing. It looked like there used to be a large piece of glass that looked out on the factory floor. Every bit of the various assembly lines was visible from here. Whoever had run the place liked to keep an eye on it.

Cutting off my stealth, I plugged into the terminal and was perusing the most intimate of information minutes later. The smaller files I scanned at light speed. Notices and inter-office memos, and a suggestion box that was completely full. Curious, I opened the box and read a few.

Please add a new vending machine to the worker's break room. The one currently in there keeps breaking down.

The awning over the smoking area needs to be repaired. A Pegasus with some weird eyes crash landed on it two weeks ago, and it hasn't even been looked at yet. It could become a safety hazard.

We would appreciate it if the guards for the Special Projects lab weren't so forceful. Cotton Cloud tripped yesterday and fell too close to the doors. Those maniacs jumped on her and nearly broke her wing off. Could you please talk to them?

Special Projects lab hmm? That was worth investigating. Night Rose, there's a secret lab in this place.

"I know," she replied. "I just found it."

What's inside? Anything good?

"No, nothing good." I suddenly detected fear in her voice. "In fact, it's decidedly very bad."

What's wrong? What did you find?

"You'll have to see for yourself."

I downloaded the rest of the files, then leapt out the window, using my wings to silently glide to the floor. I quickly made my way to her tag, bursting into the lab.

"Vers," she said, not turning around. She was ridged, her whole body tense. Her head looked down at something a floor below. I trotted up next to her.

"What's wrong," I asked as I came alongside, then slammed my mouth shut. On a large test platform below us sat a very large oval shaped item. It seemed to pulse and swirl with contained energy, an energy that seemed to want out badly.

"It's a balefire bomb," Night Rose said, her voice trembling in fear.

"Worse than that," I said, my automatic scan complete, "It's active."

Footnote: Level Up!

New Perk: Shadowstep – When cloaked, you could sneak up on a mouse, and do just for practice. Your sneak skill gains 5 points, and you get a +30% damage bonus when attacking undetected.

Author's note: Yes, I did use german for the griffon language and named it something else. For those of you who don't speak it, here's a translation of the conversation between Versatile and Frieda.

Frieda: What is your purpose here?
Versatile: We're on a mission from Gawd.
Frieda: You speak Griffonic?
Versatile: I do, but my companions do not. It would be impolite to continue to do so.

I'm a big movie fan, so I sneak in references when possible. If you don't get the second line, you suck.

Comments

Blues Brothers

BTW, greatly enjoying your writing style.

[Ablesoap]

Shadowstep was a name in the arena in oblivion good reference

[Random Duty Guard]

All I could think of was:

Night Rose: Oh my god, JC, a bomb!

Versatile: A bomb!

[Cirnoskire]

gryphons speak german?