Fallout Equestria: The Light Within

by FireOfTheNorth

Chapter 64: Endings

Chapter Sixty-Four: Endings

In the aftermath of the battle, Sage, Violet, and I took Zherana’s body away, leaving the power armor that had marked where she’d fallen. If the Steel Rangers wanted to capture the badly damaged power armor that had once belonged to Shining Armor and try to restore it, they were welcome to it. We buried Zherana near the ocean, where we’d disposed of the megaspell that had helped her find atonement for destroying Vanhoover once upon a time. I was worried by the prevalence of Steel Ranger hoofprints on the beach, but there were no signs that they’d been able to retrieve the megaspell. Zherana could finally rest easy, and if there was such a thing as ghosts, maybe she’d keep anypony at bay who tried to recover the megaspell we’d sunk here. I knew next to nothing about zebra beliefs and funeral practices, but the three of us tried to give her a dignified send-off, sharing stories of the time we’d spent with her. Naturally, I found myself talking the most, since I’d known her the longest. There were a lot of feelings welling up in me as we saw Zherana off, not least because she’d been the second of my friends to die in less than a month and we’d been denied the opportunity to bury Rare Sparks.

There were some skirmishes with the Ponies’ Republic of Stalliongrad Expeditionary Force as they withdrew, but nothing major. Like the Battle of Burnside had broken the Northern Lights Coalition army, the Battle of the Strip had broken the back of the PRSEF. They retreated to their camp in northeastern Vanhoover, but didn’t stay there for long. Fearful of an attack on a camp that no longer had enough ponies to garrison its defenses, they abandoned it and slunk back to Stalliongrad. The Steel Rangers reached it and made claim before any NEA force did, but at least they mercifully deactivated all the radio towers broadcasting PRS propaganda instead of just replacing it with their own. An uneasy peace formed between the Steel Rangers and the North Equestrian Alliance.

Upon returning to Stalliongrad, the PRS army retreated behind their settlement’s walls to nurse their wounds and rebuild their strength. If the North Equestrian Alliance had anything to say about it, they’d never leave those walls again. Patrols and cordons were established to box the PRS in and keep them from expanding or from attacking any other settlement ever again. The settlements of the North Equestrian Alliance now had to consider their future. They’d been formed to fight the Northern Lights Coalition and the Ponies’ Republic of Stalliongrad, but both of those organizations had been defeated. The PRS was still around and there were the Steel Rangers, sure, but they weren’t the immediate existential threat that they’d already faced and survived. The North Equestrian Alliance had worked together in war, and now they needed to learn to work together in peace. Plans were drawn up to revitalize settlements, pacify the Wasteland, and rebuild some of what had been lost in the Last Day. The North Equestrian Alliance was turning in a good direction, for which I was relieved.

I, of course, heard of all these developments only as they were announced to the citizens of the NEA. I was completely cut out of any talks or decision-making, the Alliance Council fearful that “Lord Lamplight” would try to seize the reins of power. The feeling of unease I had toward the leadership that seemed to be forcefully ignoring me grew every day. I began to consider my options, make plans, and share them with Sage and Violet. Then, one day, I was summoned to speak before the Alliance Council one last time.

“Wasteland Doctor,” Regulator Boon addressed me as I stood before the council in closed session (something that seemed to be more and more the norm), “It is in thanks for the good you’ve done for our settlements and the Wasteland, whatever your motives might have been, that we’ve summoned you here to give you advance notice of our intentions. In three days’ time, we will announce what we’ve learned from Clear Rivers to all of the North Equestrian Alliance.”

So, they were going to spread what only these twelve ponies (a Pink named Party Foul having joined as Stable 85’s delegate) knew to everypony in Vanhoover and Stalliongrad. With that information, distrust was also sure to grow. They wanted to not only keep me away from power themselves, but also ensure that nopony else would help me achieve it. I might have been madder had I actually had dreams of power or been the calculating tyrant they thought I was, but instead I was just acutely annoyed. There was some anger that after all I’d done, I would never be trusted in the settlements I’d helped, but most of that was past. Truth be told, I’d expected this, although I hadn’t expected to be told in advance.

“I see,” I said in monotone.

“It was a difficult decision,” Weathervane said.

“I’m sure it was,” I replied as I stared down the horseshoe of faces, some staring defiantly back, others looking regretful.

“The lodgings you’ve purchased in the Strip, Burnside, and Capital City will, of course, be forfeit, as will the caps that the Regulators have been holding for you,” Boon said as she shuffled through the papers in front of her.

“So … I can leave, then?” I asked, unsure of their intentions with this last move, since it seemed to directly contradict their earlier decision to keep me close.

“Yes, in fact, it will probably be better for you if you do,” Major Scepter said.

“Good,” I said, “Then I guess we’re in agreement. For what it’s worth, I wish you the best and urge you to maintain the North Equestrian Alliance as a beacon of hope in the Wasteland, a light against the darkness of raiders, slavers, and all ne’er-do-wells. Don’t let the light die out.”

With those last words for them to consider and hopefully remember, I stalked out of the council chambers, and nopony stopped me.

***

“Are you sure you want to do this?” Sage asked me not for the first time, and probably not for the last, “You can still come with us. You can still come with me.”

“No, I’ve made up my mind,” I told her as I fiddled with the terminal in front of me, “If I joined you in Manehattan, it wouldn’t last. You’ve heard the NEA radio broadcasts. Everypony now knows who I used to be, and there aren’t many with fond memories of Lord Lamplight that you’d want to associate with. And with so many of the old NLC who also now know who I was heading south, it’s only a matter of time before the south Equestrian Wasteland knows as well.”

Sage looked troubled, which was to be expected as we talked about our parting. I was tempted to go with her anyway, go to Manehattan and take the risk, as I stared at her. I was surrounded by maneframes, seated in an access point where terminals were linked up to them, while she stood with her forelegs draped over the hatch I’d crawled through to get here. Even in the harsh clinical light behind her and the green glow from the terminals in here, she still looked beautiful to me. I wanted to go with her, but I couldn’t. She had a better chance of avoiding association with Lord Lamplight if I wasn’t around.

“I could go with you,” she suggested, “It’s not like I haven’t been able to fulfill my duties as DJ Pon3 before.”

“Manehattan needs you. The whole Equestrian Wasteland needs you,” I said, trying to kill the urge in my own heart to keep her with me.

“And what about you? The Wasteland doesn’t need you?” Sage asked sagely.

“Maybe my work is done, or maybe it’s not. In any case, the Wasteland doesn’t want my help right now,” I said, “I’ll wander, east at first, until I manage to find a place where word of the NLC hasn’t reached or Lord Lamplight is forgotten. You’ll be able to follow me as I wander, through the cameras on the SPP towers. If this “MASEBS” that Violet mentioned is all it’s cracked up to be, you should be able to see through all of them. You won’t lose me.”

“I wish we could stay together,” Sage said sadly.

“So do I,” I said, before giving her a kiss and holding her, “We won’t be apart forever. When Lord Lamplight is forgotten or you’ve found somepony to take your place in Manehattan, we’ll be together again.”

“Promise?” she asked.

“I promise.”

“Hey, if you lovebirds are finished in there, I think everything’s set out here,” Violet Night’s voice called from beyond the wall of maneframes.

I let go of Sage, and she backed out as I disconnected my PipBuck from the terminal. I had to blink several times as I emerged in order to get used to the bright lights after so long in gloom with no light except terminal monitors and blinking diodes. I stared up at the towering column of maneframes once I was out. It stretched to the ceiling, and I remembered the unease I’d felt when I’d had to access it from higher up. At the end of spokes jutting from the maneframes, the clusters of memory orbs seemed to sparkle and blink as they reflected the lights on the column.

We were in the Strategic Arcane Solutions building, standing in the shadow of the maneframes (if the abundant fluorescent lights would allow them to cast shadows) that had once held Operation Flankorage. I hoped Shining Armor would forgive me for eliminating the simulation that he’s worked so hard to create, but it was still preserved, in a way, in my memories.

Violet Night, for some reason, knew the spell for creating memory orbs, and those attached to the maneframe had been rewritten. No longer did they contain the memories of soldiers who’d fought at Flankorage, but my own memories ever since I’d awoken in Stable 85. Of course, nearly a year of memories (336 days to be precise), was far too much for even the abundant number of memory orbs here to store, so I’d had to cut things down considerably, making sure only the important bits were incorporated. The story of my life as Doc, all contained within a maneframe.

The Steel Rangers had abandoned this place shortly after I’d opened its vault for them, and they’d stripped it of its equipment. They had left behind everything related to the simulation, however, probably fearing that removing parts of it could destroy the simulation. There was the pod and the outfit I’d had to wear, as well as most of the terminals in the base. Over the last couple weeks, we’d turned the Flankorage simulation into the story of my life, in the hope that somepony would see it someday. If they did, we would probably never know, since we’d be long gone from Flankorage. Hopefully it would prove useful to somepony to know and experience what had really happened.

***

“I feel a bit foolish doing this,” I said to myself as I stared in an old mirror set up in one of the rooms of the SAS facility, “Especially since this is exactly what Lord Lamplight did in his last memory. Hopefully this isn’t seen by my future self, though, and I certainly don’t intend it to be. Anyway, if you’re seeing this, then you’ve either just experienced my first year out of the Stable, or you pried this memory orb off the simulation maneframe. If it’s the latter, I beg you to return it to its place and go through the simulation, but if it’s the latter, I want to thank you.”

“What you just experienced is my life as Doc. I hope that I was able to stitch it together in a way that makes sense without including erroneous events or omitting important details, but in a way, what I’ve included and excluded can tell you something about me too. Hopefully the narration dispersed throughout isn’t too jarring, but I think it helps to know my thoughts at the time, something a memory orb can’t truly capture.”

“If this was found by the Alliance Council, I pray that you don’t destroy this simulation, but keep it around so that others can experience my life as well. Simulation: I should have a better name since it’s non-interactive, but the time is up for that. Once I’m done talking to myself and Violet extracts this memory, I’ll be on my way. Sage and Violet will go to Manehattan, and I’ll wander the Wasteland. Anyway, if you’re not on the Council, it might be best to keep this a secret from them, but please share it and what you learned with others.”

“I don’t ask this only to exonerate my own name. Everything here is my memories, and they’ve not been tampered with. It’s up to you to decide in the end if I was Lord Lamplight still or had been reborn as Doc. No, I also ask this so that the past doesn’t become forgotten. So much of Equestria’s past was wiped out by the megaspells and time. Don’t let more of it slip away, too.”

“That’s what I have to leave you with: thanks for experiencing my story, and a prayer that you will keep it alive in memory. Never forget what happened in the north Equestrian Wasteland 153 years after the megaspells annihilated Equestria. I pray that the world I lived in will seem alien to you by the time you watch this, that raiding and slaving will have been wiped out. I pray for a brighter future for us all.”

“Now, that is the end of this story. The time has come for the Wasteland Doctor to move on, to hang up his coat and leave the future of the Wasteland in other hooves.”

I removed the Yellow doctor’s coat that had been through so much with me. It was faded, reinforced, torn, and scorched. With great ceremony (although feeling a little bit silly), I hung it over the back of a chair. Staring at myself in the mirror, in my Stable 85 jumpsuit, I smiled and breathed a deep breath.

“Violet!” I called, “I’m ready!”

[Max Level Reached]
New Quest: The Future – What does it hold?