Fallout Equestria: Do Robot Ponies Dream of Electronic Bunnies

by ScottWolf

Ch 05: Destination Nowhere

FoE: Do Robot Ponies Dream of Electronic Bunnies

Chapter V: Destination Nowhere
"It is a barren wasteland, riddled with fire and ash and dust .The very air you breathe is a poison." – Boromir, LotR: FotR

System Report: 0000000005
Unit Status: Active
Location: unknown road (approx. 98 mi. south-southeast of Fillydelphia)
(Satellite Signal Status: Uplink established, searching for functioning relay)
Begin data dump to external off-site memory back-up:
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
- - - - - - Done.
Preparing visual report: Done.

Date: --/--/2212, 200PA (+6 days activation)
Time: 1830 Local

Boredom.

When I was told that it would be two weeks trotting from Fillydelphia to New Appleoosa, I thought it would have been an eventful two weeks. I thought we'd be running into trouble every other hour, either from raiders, mutants, or more Reapers. The sad fact was we hadn't run into anything bigger than a radroach. I was partly happy/partly sad about that, but I constantly reminded myself we were only four days into our trip.

Night Rose trotted ahead of Winter Frost and her foal, Tiller. It was her turn on point. I had rear guard duty, scanners working at maximum. I still hadn't figured out how that Snake Skin pony had evaded both scanner AND E.F.S., and it was gnawing at my logic circuits. Over the past three days, I'd pondered it in a sub-routine at the back of my mind, and had come up with no real acceptable answer. The idea of a Stealthbuck had crossed my mind, but my E.F.S. was finely tuned enough to detect such a ruse. I'd also ruled out a malfunction in my system. A full diagnostic (which took about four hours earlier today) confirmed I was green across the board. I was completely perplexed and about to give up when a stumper thought hit me as I checked our surroundings visually. How had Night Rose been able to track him for as long as she had? She'd told me she'd followed him from Hoofington, or "the Hoof" as she'd put it, for a week before pinning him down to Filly, but she'd never said how. This question needed an answer. And quickly.

I looked up at her past Winter, and was glad to see she had her helmet on. I tapped into her suit system via her comms, and sent her a burst message in text. I didn't want to look like I was talking to myself, and as much as I trusted Winter and Tiller, I didn't think they needed to know I'd been fooled like that.

On her E.F.S. I displayed a message: So I noticed I couldn't track that Reaper guy the other day when he jumped us.

"You couldn't," she replied, her voice clear in my head but not in my ears. I was glad she caught on that I wanted this private, and had turned off her external speaker. "That's a surprise to me."

Vocal analysis told me it was a lie. She had known I hadn't seen him. I messaged back: Try again. You knew I couldn't. Could you?

"I don't know what you're talking about."

Please don't try to lie to me. I have programs that can tell.

"What do you want me to say, Versatile? I don't know why you couldn't see him."

But you could. I did a replay this morning. You were looking right at him when the shot hit you.

"How do you-"

Android, remember?

"Fine, so you saw," she replied, angrily. "What's your point?"

Why didn't you warn us?

"He wasn't aiming at you," she said as if it explained everything.

So? You could have warned us… You WANTED him to shoot you?

"You want to stop talking about this now," she said coldly. I knew I was encroaching on dangerous territory, but I was angry that she'd taken that kind of risk.

Why? What reason would justify you taking a bullet?

"Leave it alone, Vers," she cautioned, anger creeping into her voice. "I have my reasons."

I can't accept that, I replied. What if he hadn't been aiming at you? What if it was Winter he shot at? Or Tiller?

She suddenly whirled on her hooves and stomped up to me, getting nose to nose despite our height difference. My ears flicked back as her scream filled my head. "BECAUSE I WANTED HIM TO KILL ME! Happy now?? Does that satisfy your curiosity program?? I! Want! To! Die! You get it??"

I was stunned, my body paralyzed as her gaze bored through her visor straight into my eyes. It took an entire thirty seconds to process what she said. In that time she turned away and resumed the walk down the road. Winter looked just as surprised.

"What was that about?"

I realized she hadn't heard any of the conversation, and didn't know how to respond. Night Rose saved me again with her reply.

"Nothing," she said, not turning to look back at us. "Just had to do that for some reason. Let's make camp on that hill."

Night fell over the wasteland. Winter and Tiller ate dinner and bedded down quickly, both falling asleep within minutes. I was on guard duty again (not having to sleep had advantages and disadvantages). Night Rose sat with her back to me, staring into the fire we'd made to keep warm. Her armor lay in a pile next to her.

We stayed like that for hours. I didn't want to anger her again, so I resolved to wait till she spoke to me. Sadly, she wasn't in the mood. She lay down and went to sleep sometime before midnight, back still to me. Damnit, I thought. Once again, I've pissed her off. Next time she says leave it, Versatile, fucking leave it.

I stayed up the rest of the night, on alert for anything predatory. The worst that came calling was a bloatsprite. I dispatched it well out of smelling range of my companions (those things smelled horrible when burned to a crisp). As I resumed my vigil, my mind began to wander into a place I didn't know I had. The conscious world fell away before I had a chance to stop it.

oOoOoOo

I was on some sort of table. Wires came out of my body from everywhere. I looked back and saw I had no cover plates, and my superstructure was incomplete; I was missing my entire back half. Strangely, I wasn't disturbed by this. It was almost as if there was two of me in my head. I could feel myself doing a diagnostic.

"He's online now," I heard somepony say. My head turned and focused on a blue unicorn I didn't recognize. An orange earth pony stepped up beside her and looked into my eyes.

"Is there any way we can dim them eye receptors? He looks like a giant pony-shaped flashlight," Applejack asked someone behind me. The glare reflected in their eyes dimmed a bit, and Applejack smiled. "Hey there, partner. Ya doin' okay?"

"Unit is functional," I heard myself say in a monotone, electronic voice. "Unit is forty-seven percent complete, according to diagnostic analysis. Unit awaits command."

"Well, shoot," Applejack said. "We gotta do somethin' about that there voice ya got. Yer soundin' too mechanical. Run vocal program thirty-two-bee."

"Complying," I replied, then my voice turned deep, with a southern accent. "Program a-runnin, boss."

"Oh, Celestia," the unicorn said, stifling a laugh with her hoof. "That sounds worse than you, AJ."

"Can't have that," AJ agreed. "End previous program, and run vocal program fifteen-dee."

"Program running," I replied with a slightly feminine giggle at the end. "I can't believe you actually tried this, Applejack." Where the hay had that come from?

"Ugh," AJ said to no pony in particular. "Typical Pinkie Pie. End program. Let's try runnin' one at random."

"Stand by," my electronic voice said as a randomizer sub-routine selected a new voice. My next words came out in the voice I recognized as my normal voice. "Program two-two-seven-eff online. Is this acceptable?"

"Sounds perfect to me," the unicorn said, turning to AJ for approval. AJ nodded in agreement.

"Yup, we found a winner," she said. "Save to default voice setting. Moonshine, we're gonna need ta cut off his logic circuits fer this next part of the programmin'."

The unicorn, now tagged as Moonshine, nodded and turned to me again, her horn glowing. "Nighty-nite, big guy. We should really think of naming you something…"

oOoOoOo

The real world came back to me in a burst, and I physically jumped, my hoof thrusters flaring briefly. I looked around, startled. Everything was fine, it seemed. Winter and Tiller were still sleeping peacefully, but Night Rose appeared to be having a nightmare, groaning and kicking in her sleep.

"Get off," she was saying, apparently in a fight for her life. "No… Get away with that…"

I walked over and lay down next to her, giving her a small nuzzle. She seemed to settle then, and I returned my attention to the area around us, my mind going back to the memory I'd uncovered. Clearly, it was something from the days of my construction. I'd recognized Applejack right off, the part of me that knew it was a dream remembered her. But the other pony, Moonshine… Somehow, she was important to me, but how? I couldn't process it. She seemed like she was… special. I briefly registered something within my emotion circuit. It was a deep hollow feeling, as if something was missing, and it made me sad. I didn't understand at the time, but I hoped the answer would come soon.

"Target, forty-five degrees left," I called to Night Rose as I ducked back down under cover again, my shotgun having ended a suicide charge from a raider pony.

"I see him," she yelled back. She didn't need to; we were linked by her comms again. The heat of battle really gets your fluids moving.

It was midafternoon on the fifth day of our trip, and we'd accidentally come across another raider nest. Night Rose had opted to scavenge a building not far off our path while I watched Winter and Tiller. We'd been in the middle of a game Tiller was teaching me called Hooves Up (he'd invented it himself), when Night Rose came barreling out of the door she'd entered earlier, shots pinging off her armor from the doorway. Things escalated from there.

Night Rose took aim with her suit's built-in S.A.T.S. and took the top of his mane down a few inches as he barely made it to cover, her laser leaving a smoking part in it. I pulled a grenade from my saddlebag and armed it. With a three count, I tossed it through a broken window. It quickly came back out and exploded harmlessly outside. These raiders weren't stupid. At least, most of them weren't.

Another raider charged through the doorway and ran straight for Winter and Tiller's hiding spot, shooting wildly. S.A.T.S. was charged, and I aimed in front of him, putting two rounds through his front legs and dropping him cold. Night Rose's shot settled him into death's embrace.

"Whose bright idea was this anyway," she called. "Whoever it was deserves to be shot."

I nearly chuckled when she said that, then I remembered the day before. The comment was quickly labeled as not funny, and I went back to putting solid slugs into the building's wall and windows. The place was made of simple wood siding, and appeared to have been painted a very gaudy orange. Something inside me cringed every time I looked at it.

A grenade landed just behind me, and I rapidly bucked it far away, then jumped up and put shots into the windows. I caught one of the raiders full in the face, his head exploding from the impact of the .22 slug going from his muzzle to his brainstem to the wall behind him. He was down before the grenade had gone off.

"There's too many of them," I said to Night Rose as I dropped back down for what seemed like the hundredth time. "We need to retreat."

"No," she replied. "They all go down." There was a strange finality in her voice, one that broached no argument.

"Fine," I yelled as I leapt from cover, popped out my Mini egg launcher, and put a round in both windows. I dropped to the ground as the shockwave hit me, my hooves barely finding purchase on the ground as my main and tail were blown wildly behind me. Night Rose had been partly above cover, and was tossed onto her back. The double explosion took out most of the bottom floor, part of the second floor, and the face of the building for both floors, as well as part of the third floor. Fortunately, the supports were made of tougher material, and the building stayed upright. The raider, however, weren't as fortunate. Two that had been caught outside went flying past me, landing in a heap ten yards back. Another had been blown out a side window, his back breaking upon exiting. The rest were either vaporized in the initial blast or pulped from the shockwave forcing them through walls and closed doors.

"That down enough," I asked, weakly. Night Rose just turned her head to look at me. I could feel the glare.

I looked back to where Winter and Tiller were hidden. Both still had their hooves on their ears, faces scrunched tightly. I made a note to find them some protective gear soon, definitely something with ear guards.

Night Rose was getting to her hooves as I stood up, putting the launcher away. She looked at the building, then at me.

"You enjoy that far too much," she told me over the comm channel. I detected irritation and a distinct hint of mirth in her voice. Looked like I wasn't the only one with a fondness for big booms. I smiled, glad she was back to her normal self again. I still wanted to apologize about last night. I owed her at least that, even if she owed me an explanation.

While the raiders hadn't survived the blast, their weapons had. Night Rose went in to loot the bodies and what was left of the building as I checked on the two that had been blown clear. Neither was in a condition to talk. Only one had survived, the other having died on impact. The lone survivor wasn't long for the world either. His vitals told me his insides were mush, and he had a very unhealthy dose of radiation from the blast. He looked up at me, but could only gurgle. Blood came out of his mouth, ears and nose.

I brought a hoof to his neck, then looked back at Winter. She nodded to me and turned Tiller away, guiding him around a fallen wall. This was nothing a young foal needed to see. I looked back down at the raider. His eye was closed, as if he knew I would end his suffering. With a strong push and a twist, I did just that.

"I'm sorry," I said to the corpse. "It was you or my friends. You'd have done the same I hope." I then went through his barding. He had very little on him. A few shotgun rounds and some bottle caps. I wasn't sure the purpose of the latter, but I took them anyway. They were important enough for him to keep, so maybe they were useful elsewhere.

I looked back to where Night Rose was scavenging. She was holding up a raiders pistol, and seemed to be talking to herself. I tuned in with my enhanced hearing (have I mentioned how useful that feature has been?), curious to what she was saying.

"Oh, you're a pretty thing," she said. "You're coming with me now. Let's see if we can find some ammo to go along with you, hmm?"

Medical records I'd downloaded days back had notes about ponies that talked to themselves or to inanimate objects. They labeled such ponies as "in need of psychiatric assistance." What I saw was somepony coping with the situation she found herself in. The whole wasteland seemed to be a bad situation. Unless she ended up being a danger to herself, or worse, others, I saw nothing wrong with talking to her weapon. Some military records I'd picked up had footnotes about soldiers naming their weapons and treating them as loved ones.

I stopped listening to her and trotted over to Winter. She was telling Tiller that what we'd done wasn't supposed to be cool or fun. She saw me coming and brought me into the conversation.

"Would you please tell my son that this was in no way supposed to be a good experience?"

"Tiller," I said, looking down at the foal. "What we did here today is not something to be proud of. We did what we had to because, if they had the chance, they would have killed us all. This was definitely not something to be admired."

"Okay," he said, looking a little dejected. "But the explosions at the end were pretty cool."

"Be that as it may, I want you to promise to never go looking for a fight. Understood?"
"Yes, Versatile. I promise."

I nodded to Winter, then turned to check on Night Rose again. She was trotting back to me with her helmet off, several weapons strapped to her back that she hadn't had before. My eyes widened in surprise. "How the hell did you get that many so fast?"

"What can I say," she replied. "I'm good at scrounging." She sat down next to me and Winter and laid out her haul before us. "Let's see. Two shotguns, a neat pistol, an assault rifle that doesn't work (too bad about that), some lever-action rifles…" She continued to take inventory as I analyzed everything she had, a program scanning each weapon inside and out. Most of it wasn't usable, except for parts. The pistol (the same one she'd fawned over earlier) was small and looked like it could easily be hidden in a boot or in a mane holster. From its dimensions, it fired rifle rounds. Damn! My scanners labeled it simply, "That Gun." I cocked my head to the side, confused. Night Rose looked at me. "What?"

"That pistol is a beast," I replied. "Looks like it uses .762 ammo."

"I know, right," she said ecstatically. "I was thinking we'd give it to Winter."

"Oh no," the ice blue mare said, backing away. "I'm not carrying any kind of weapon."

"Come on," Night Rose said. "You handled a rifle like a pro. What's wrong with having this?"

"No weapons. Period. You two can have all you want, but I'm not going to hold one around Tiller. I won't be a bad example to him."

"Winter," I said, "you might need it, in case something gets by the two of us. Remote chance, I know, but the risk to Tiller is still there." Dirty pool, bringing in her kid, and I knew it, but it was true. "Take it at least for defense. I promise you don't have to use it until necessary. Besides, how is it a bad example to want to protect your loved ones?"

Winter looked at me, then at Night Rose. Then at Tiller, who looked back at his mother innocently. I think I saw her heart break, and then she picked up the pistol. With what seemed to be expert practice, she took some rounds, loaded the small clip, jacked back the action and clicked on the safety. She then tucked it into her saddlebag. Both Night Rose and I looked at her in wonder.

"Wow," Tiller said. "That was super cool, mom!"

"No, it wasn't," her mom replied, putting a few more rounds in her bag. She then turned and walked back toward the road. We watched her walk away, and I had a distinct feeling of "What The Hell." A glance at Night Rose told me she had the same feeling.

As I'd assumed, the rest of the loot was junk. I had parts for my shotgun, and we had ammo to replace what we'd spent, but the net profit minus That Gun was zero. Neither of the rifles was savable. We returned to the road and resumed our journey.

We made camp that night in an intact building. I went in first, making sure it was empty of hostiles, then let the others in. Surprisingly, the building had a small generator in the basement, and with a button push and a good buck, we had power for the evening.

A thorough search found medical supplies, edible food (Winter was wary of it until Night Rose took a bite, and that was only after I'd confirmed it was safe), and a little more ammo.

Every pony was downstairs, making themself comfortable for the night. I was wandering around upstairs. Nosing my way into a side room found me with a working terminal. I plugged in and made my way through the files it contained. The security was painfully easy to get through.

Apparently, the building had been a Ministry of Morale music distribution hub, sending digital media out to radio stations across Equestria. I downloaded several intact song files, from country western tunes to hard bass electronica. There was even a few labeled as "rap" genre. I activated one file as I continued through the other files. The song started small, but grew into a sad melody. The author of the song was somepony named Octavia, and featured a Lyra, whoever they were.

It was mainly a string-based song, but other sounds joined it quickly. Soon an entire orchestra joined in, and a proud sound came across, as if the song was made for a ruler as they strode among their people. It didn't end there, though. It suddenly dropped into a darker tone, giving me a feeling of sadness and loneliness, but also a feeling of resentment.

By this point in the song, I'd completely pulled out of the terminal, its files safely stored in my memory. I was too lost in the music to go through them. It had captivated me.

When I thought I could take no more bitterness, the proud sound of horns tried to intrude. The dark fought back, and it seemed a battle had begun. I wasn't sure what had happened, but I knew that proud side had won, conquering the bitter and anger. The song, however, didn't see it that way. Where I expected the proud to return, I only got a regretful feeling. As if a great wrong had been committed in winning the fight. The song ended in sorrow and remorse.

As the track stopped playing, I felt myself return to the moment. I hadn't moved in fifteen minutes, I realized. I quickly looked around, and found little Tiller staring at me. I had to shake myself, to register his voice correctly.

"Are you okay," he was asking, his fore hooves propped up against mine as he tried to get closer to me. I blinked several times, my eyes feeling strange. I reached up with my other hoof and wiped at them. My leg came away wet. I blinked again, and looked down at the foal, his face full of concern. My eyes became misty again as I looked at him, and I had to wipe them a second time.

I looked down at him again and smiled. "I'm alright, Tiller. I just found something that kind of got to me."

"What was it," he asked, bringing his hooves back to the floor.

"Just a piece of music," I replied. "It's not important. What'cha need?"

"My mom and miss Rose were worried because it got so quiet up here. We couldn't hear you moving around, so I told them I'd come find you."

"Well, thanks," I told him. I wiped my eyes one more time (damn, tears were annoying) then nosed him toward the door. "Go on back down. I'll be there in a bit. I promise."

"Do you Pinkie Pie Swear?"

"Where did you learn about that," I asked, the term coming up immediately in my embedded memory.

"My mom said there used to be a pony who made a special phrase, and when she said it, she would always do what she promised."

"Alright then," I said as I sat down in front of him and went through the ritual. "Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye, I promise I'll come down soon. Okay?"

"Okay," Tiller replied happily, and trotted out the door. I listened as he went down the stairs and reported dutifully to his mom. I returned to my searching, replaying the song for myself. Songs like these were made for a reason, and I had a feeling there was a story behind this.

Footnote: Level Up!

New Perk: Child At Heart – You've learned a thing or two about how to talk to people. This perk greatly improves how you talk to children, some adults, and even robots (if they don't shoot you first.)

Comments

[Freeflyingwolf]

46936

[Gizmo Gear]

47028 thas alota faces there friend........