11 - Memories
Chapter Eleven: Memories
“What a lovely village you have chosen to stage your little resistance. It looks absolutely delicious!"
…Owch.
Really. Just… ouch. Every bone in my body felt like it had been broken and put back together with wonderglue. And for all I know, that is exactly what happened; all I really remembered before regaining consciousness was a loud explosion before everything just went… dark. I had no idea how long I was out, and it had been a dreamless sleep. Or at least I didn’t remember dreaming, but that’s hardly anything unique or special.
I gave a small groan as I felt the dirt beneath my battered body… and I noticed several other things too. For one, I could feel that dirt mixing in with my coat, so somepony had clearly taken my barding from me. But even if I was laying in the dirt, my head had at least been propped up against one of my saddlebags; the bag admittedly wasn’t the comfiest pillow, but at least it was better than a rock. I opened my eyes a crack, flinching them shut again as they were assaulted by the light of a nearby campfire.
But was I really going to let a little bit of light stop me? Buck up, Scrap Heap, and open your damned eyes…
I began to force them slowly open, diverting my gaze away from the fire and up into the dark and cloudy sky. Still, it wasn’t completely pitch black out here, and from looking around I figured it was still early morning. So, maybe I’d only been out a short time? It sure didn’t feel like it though, with the way my muscles were screaming at me to just lay there and do nothing. But to hell with that, I had hopefully just escaped a village of brainwashed and crazy cultists! I had to know what happened since then!
And my PipBuck was gone…
I rubbed my bare forehoof gently, gritting my teeth as my pained limbs began to wake up with the rest of me. A dwindling campfire sat to my left, and together we were sitting in the middle of a barren landscape between two sets of mountain ranges either side. There was a noticeable nip in the air, and it probably would have been a whole lot colder had the fire not been there. On the other side of the fire was Cobalt, dozing soundly to himself while Stripe was looking off into the distance with her rifle between her hooves.
I guess it was her turn for watch, then.
But where exactly were we? I mean, we were running from Our Town last I checked. And there didn’t seem to be any other ponies in sight.
Turning my head with a creak of my neck, I saw my PipBuck sat next to the bag my head was rested against. My horn lit up as I brought the device over, latching it back onto my hoof where it belonged and booting it up. The screen flashed to life, and Stripe glanced over to me as the Stable Colt winked at me. My E.F.S. returned to my vision, only two green bars being displayed on it.
“You are awake,” Stripe noted, her voice sounding relieved. “How do you feel?”
How did I feel? Well, I had plenty of colourful words to describe just that. But honestly, what was the point…?
“Crap,” I answered honestly. “Ugh, what happened?”
“You blew up,” Stripe replied rather bluntly.
“Right…” I deadpanned, bringing up my PipBuck’s map and checking our position. We were directly west of Our Town, dead centre of the passage leading out of the mountainous region and back into the northern plains of Equestria.
“You have been unconscious for almost a full day,” Stripe continued to explain, and oh boy that was longer than I thought. I guess I must have been hit pretty bad, huh? “As we slipped away from the pony village one of the fools slipped a grenade through alongside you.”
“Oh, so that was the bang…” Yeah, I can see why I hurt so much. “How bad was it?”
“Your barding was torn apart, though I have endeavoured to repair it as much as I could,” Stripe stated as she gestured towards a pile of what could have been my leather armour but seemed… like it had seen better days. “I must apologise, I am not sure I did a good job.”
I suppressed a groan. “It’s fine, I’m more experienced with repairing my own gear.”
Stripe flushed, rubbing the back of her head sheepishly. “Yes, well… The shrapnel dug deep into your hide, and your bones had suffered many breaks. Removing the pieces of metal was… difficult, and it took several healing potions to save you from the everafter.”
“How many potions?”
“We have only a single bottle left,” Stripe replied.
Oh, great.
“From our own supply,” Stripe amended quickly. “We gained two more from the saddlebag you took from Sentry. But we should endeavour to resupply soon.”
“Well, I don’t know of many towns up this way,” I pointed out. “Maybe we could scavenge a few. There’s got to be some old abandoned buildings between here and the stable.”
I tried to sit up, only for a huge fucking jolt of pain to shoot through my body! I could do little more than let out a shout before Stripe was suddenly next to me and setting me back down onto the ground.
“I would not move for a few more hours,” Stripe warned, her tone severe. “You did not see your wounds. All the blood… The healing potions have done much, but you must rest.”
“Yeah, I got it. Staying still…”
Stripe sighed. “You are very lucky, Scrap Heap. Cobalt was able to extract the shrapnel with his magic. Had it just been me… I don’t know what I would have done. I am no doctor, nor am I trained in the herbal remedies others of my kind prefer.”
Despite everything, I couldn’t help but give a small chuckle. “You’re not very much like other zebra, are you?”
“Have you met other zebra to make such a comparison?” she asked with a raised eyebrow. “But you are not entirely incorrect.”
“What gives with that, Stripe?”
Stripe didn’t answer for a moment, diverting her gaze and glaring directly into the fire. She remained like this for a good minute or two, as if contemplating whether or not I should be told anything. But she finally turned her gaze back to me and sat down on her haunches tiredly.
“I have not known many other zebra, in fact aside from the Remnant the only other zebra I have met are my own family,” Stripe began, and I gave her my full attention. “My parents… and my elder brother. According to them before our family were Equestrian we descended from the Zencori Tribe. Nomads and storytellers, entertainers and historians both.
“So you’re, uh, Zencori then?”
She looked down on me with a small smile. “I am Equestrian. My family settled down alongside ponies generations ago, forgoing their nomadic ways long before the war. Maybe they continued their stories, but we would become more pony as time passed us by. But we are still zebra, and the stories my family told had been passed down since ancient times.”
“Well, you told me your family were pretty nomadic after the stable went bust.”
She laughed. “Yes, funny how the world comes full circle.”
“So why are you so different?”
“The others were always fascinated by their own stories, tales of zebra kind,” Stripe said with a soft hum. “Tales of evil stars, the cursed Starkatteri and the monstrous nature of Princess Luna, known to them as Nightmare Moon.”
“Stars? You mentioned something about that when we first met. Something about foolish people.”
“Yes. I always had my doubts about the stories I was told as a child; if ‘Nightmare Moon’ was so evil and powerful then how did she perish so easily with everything else? Why are the Starkatteri condemned for the actions of their ancestors? So many questions, so few answers to any of them. Perhaps Princess Luna was to be a tyrant, but she was but a pony. Perhaps the Starkatteri continued to be at odds with zebra kind, but how could they not when facing such persecution?”
“And I’m guessing your parents and brother didn’t agree with you?”
“They believed in the stories so completely,” Stripe confirmed with a hint of sadness in her voice. “We knew not the martial arts of the old Empire. Nor did my mother know many of old brews many other zebras knew, and neither did I learn them myself, though perhaps that was a mistake on my part. But when the Legate promised them all of that and more, the destruction of an allegedly cursed star city, they fell into line like good little soldiers.”
“And joined the Remnant,” I concluded, remembering what she had told me previously about her family. “I can see why you’d not be a big fan of your own kind.”
“Zebra kind I have no quarrel with,” Stripe corrected me. “Just those who cannot let go of the past to the extent that they become monsters who’d destroy the future.”
Well, and I thought my family had drama.
“Sounds rough.”
“Indeed.” Stripe gave a long sigh. “Though sometimes I do wish I knew more of my kind, that I could learn more about zebra culture. It can’t be all fearing ancient star demons. There have to be stories beyond that, stories I could tell and not groan at and question every second. If such stories exist, then maybe I could act like the Zencori my family used to be.”
“Or maybe you should just make your own stories,” I suggested with a painful shrug. “But as a fellow Equestrian, you gonna tell me your real name yet?”
She gave me an unamused look. “You are a friend, Scrap Heap. But there are limits to that.”
“Just as there are limits to how much sleep a pony can get while listening to crap about stars and family drama,” Cobalt muttered from the other side of the campfire, groaning as he sat up with an annoyed expression. “Well, who needs sleep anyway?”
“Hey, you can get in on this chat if you want,” I jabbed over at him. “Any family drama you wish to share?”
“None whatsoever,” Cobalt refuted. “My parents were upstanding members of the Twilight Society, thank you very much.”
“Aw, there go my dreams of being a group of pure angst,” I joked with as much of a laugh I dared let off without hurting myself. “Not even a little bit of drama?”
“None,” Cobalt repeated between gritted teeth. “And you’re chatty for somepony who blew up.”
“I got better,” I remarked back. “Hurts like fuck though.”
“Maybe you shouldn’t talk so much,” Cobalt snidely stated. “You need rest. We might need to move quickly when the sun is up fully.”
“Why?”
“Well, we messed up that entire village pretty good,” Cobalt pointed out. “When we were dragging you away from the scene, half the place had succumbed to the flames. Who knows how many died, and the further we got the more ponies we could see just bolting from the place.”
“Though it remains to be seen how well they can operate in Equestria with their marks holding their inner selves prisoner,” Stripe noted. “Perhaps some will find others who can free them.”
“Or they become a band of equality spewing raiders,” Cobalt added. “They’ve been brainwashed for two hundred years, something like that doesn’t lead to a healthy mental state.”
That was… a worrying though. “What about Starlight Glimmer?”
Cobalt shook his head. “No idea. Though Stripe only knocked her out, and she was away from the initial flames. It wouldn’t surprise me if that crazy ghoul survived yesterday intact. And with her magic, well, I don’t want to have her catch up to us. We only stayed here yesterday because you were dying.”
“Yeah, speaking of dying…” Now that I thought about it, I think it was time for some actual answers from our lords and masters at the Twilight Society. He didn’t want to? Tough. “Stable 84. What. Is. Inside?”
Cobalt stared at me for a moment, before diverting his gaze. “We’ve been over this, it needs to-”
“Bullshit!” I spat, and I really was sick of his evasiveness. “I almost died for this job! And I don’t even know why you people are so desperate to get inside the stable! What are you hiding from us, Cobalt?”
“I… uh…” Cobalt looked to Stripe as if for some help, but dear Celestia wasn’t he barking up the wrong tree…
“Your shortcut did take us to a village of murderous cultists, little pony,” Stripe pointed out. “Starlight Glimmer could have easily enslaved us with that mark and turned us into one them.”
“It’s not like I meant for any of that!” Cobalt protested.
“Perhaps,” Stripe continued. “But I too want to know why it is we’re out here. I am assisting a friend and helping those who need it. Scrap Heap is looking for salvage. And you… Why are you here?”
Cobalt looked between the both of us helplessly, conflict clear in his face. But neither of us were going to show any signs of budging. He still could have said no, staying silent about the whole thing. But I think he was having second thoughts himself after the whole Our Town thing, we just had to apply the pressure…
“Fine,” he finally said, slumping as he relented. “Fine, damn you. I guess I do owe you an explanation after all we’ve been through the last four days since Tenpony.”
Finally! Whatever the Twilight Society was hiding, he was about to spill the beans! This was… actually quite exciting as it was nerve-wracking. Would it be a secret megaspell from the war? A secret contingency that could propel the Twilight Society to dominance?
Wait, why was excited about this!? I’ve had enough terror over the past week, thank you!
Stupid adorable ghouls with their stupid PipBucks and jobs…
“We don’t actually know,” he stated.
…
Wait, what?
“Are you for real?” I deadpanned, and I think my eye was twitching a little.
“Well, we kind of know…” he amended, rubbing the back of his neck. “We know that Stable 84 was involved in some top-secret experiments overseen by Twilight Sparkle and the Ministry of Arcane Sciences. My job is to get in there and recover any data from the stable’s mainframe we can use to track down the facility where the actual experiments took place.”
“Well, I’d kind of figured there was something MAS-related you wanted, that’s nothing new…” I said with failing patience. “I mean, is that really all you know?”
“You cannot truly be so blind as to your own goals,” Stripe said with a frown.
“Of course not!” Cobalt refuted. “We don’t know what the goals of these experiments actually were. But we can speculate given what, or rather who, they were running these experiments in conjuncture with. And who is actually inside that stable.”
Now we were getting somewhere. “And who is that then? And why are they so important?”
“Because they’re changelings,” Cobalt announced, receiving blank looks from both of us. “Really? Stripe, didn’t you say your tribe are storytellers?”
“My parents only ever talked about demon stars,” she deadpanned in response.
“Right… Well, changelings are… shapeshifters,” he explained hesitantly. “Insect-like equines who can change their appearance to a pony, zebra or anything else. Before the war, they were enemies of Equestria. But for some reason, they clearly decided to let bygones be bygones.”
“You don’t know why?” Stripe questioned.
“It wasn’t in our data,” he replied. “It was all pretty hush-hush. But these changelings had incredibly unique magical properties and were working on something with the MAS. Whatever it is, it’s got to be pretty experimental and equally as powerful.”
Well… I wasn’t expecting that. Shapeshifters? I’d never heard of a species like that… Well, I guess that was the point of being a ‘changeling’. But this stable was supposed to be full of the things, and they were working on some wartime project with Twilight Sparkle that’s been hidden and buried for two hundred years. Ancient conspiracies, anypony?
Ugh, there went any chance of the rest of the job going smoothly.
“Well… that’s certainly something,” I deadpanned. “How does a pony go from collecting scrap to chasing after a hidden shapeshifting race in the space of a week?”
“Ask the Wasteland,” Cobalt replied as he started to dig through his saddlebags, rooting around inside it looking for something specific. “It has a habit for throwing you a curveball.”
“Curveball? This is something for would-be heroes like Security and the Stable Dweller!” And I wasn’t a hero. I came into this for the caps, no matter what Stripe said. “What happens if these changelings are still hanging around?”
“You always knew the dwellers might still be in the stable,” Cobalt rebuffed. “That was the risk. It’s no different now.”
No different he says. Ponies don’t shapeshift!
“…So what’s the plan? Knock on the door and see if any changeling is home?” I asked with only a small amount of sarcasm. “If they aren’t, we strip the place of salvage and you get your data? If they are, we run like fuck?”
“I’m getting that data, one way or another,” Cobalt responded, before finding what he was looking for and taking it from the bag. “If you want to know exactly what it is we may run into, you should take a look at this.”
In his hooves, he held out a small fragile looking orb, and if I wasn’t mistaken it looked like there was some kind of swirling energy inside the thing. He got up to his hooves and rounded the fire, coming up to me and placing the orb down into the dirt.
“And… what is that, exactly?”
“It’s called a memory orb,” Cobalt explained, sitting back down again. “A person’s memory can be placed into the orb and visited by any unicorn at a later date.”
“…I can see another pony’s memories?”
“In a nutshell. Though not exactly a pony, in this case,” he responded, gesturing towards the orb. “Go on, reach out to it with your magic. It’s not like you’re going anywhere for a few hours anyway.”
I looked towards the orb on the ground, studying it before giving Stripe and inquisitive look. But she just gave me a shrug and decided to take that moment to return to her watch.
Changelings. Memory orbs. Cutie mark cults. This week was just getting weirder and weirder…
Fuck it.
I activated my magic and picked the orb up, bringing it up to my face and giving it a closer look. I had no idea how to activate the thing; did I just look into it really closely?
Maybe if I-
…What the hell am I feeling right now?
Everything was really weird, something a mix between a dream and reality. I could clearly feel my body, every breath I was taking… but I wasn’t doing it, and it wasn’t my body. What’s more…
Oh dear Celestia I knew something was missing. I’m in the body of a mare!
And the mare was moving, taking long regal strides down a dark corridor covered in weird organic-looking growths. Was that chitin? Whatever it was, it was mixed in with the stone walls, floor and ceiling. And now that I studied the feeling of the body even more… This was not a pony. There was a mane and tail, but no fur. This body felt… colder than what I was used to, and I could feel two weird appendages fluttering on my back. Wings?
And then a creature, something a few heads smaller than the body I inhabited, appeared in the corridor ahead of me.
Oh, so that’s a changeling? Freaky.
“My Queen,” the changeling greeted with a bow of his head. “The pony representatives are by the stable entrance, and they wish to speak with you.”
“I am aware,” the body I was in said, her voice almost like an echo with a definite queenly quality to it. “Take me to them.”
The changeling bowed again, before turning around and cantering off further down the corridor. My current body followed after him, and she quickly emerged from the corridor into a large cavernous room made up of the same material as the corridor.
Except for one metal wall that held a control panel for the large cogged door sitting in its centre, the number ‘84’ displayed proudly for all to see.
This was Stable 84.
And there were two ponies standing by the closed entrance, deep in discussion. One was an orange pegasus with a purple mane in a black business suit. The other was a lavender-coated unicorn with a blue mane with a pink highlight striking through it, her lavender eyes turning towards my host as she walked into the chamber. She wore a dull grey suit with a golden six-pointed star brooch on her collar.
“Ministry Mare Twilight Sparkle,” my host purred in an almost predatory manner, and there was no friendliness in her voice. If I still had my own spine, I’m pretty sure it’d have chills running down it. “And… Miss Scootaloo of Stable-Tec, am I correct?”
“Yeah, you are,” Scootaloo replied, not hiding her own disdain. “We’ve met once, actually. I was one of Cadance’s flower fillies back at the wedding, remember that?”
“Which is not the topic of today’s discussion,” Twilight Sparkle swiftly interrupted before anything could escalate. “Queen Chrysalis, Stable 84 is almost complete and ready for your personal inspection.”
“So I see,” Chrysalis mused as she examined the large door to the fallout shelter. “And this pony contraption will provide us with a safe location should your Princess Luna fail in her duties to protect Equestria?”
“More like when…” Scootaloo muttered, causing Twilight to bite her lip and pretend like she didn’t hear the comment.
The unicorn nodded. “Stable 84 is fully capable of blocking out all of the radiation the hive would not. The MAS has even upgraded a few systems in cooperation with Stable-Tec. It’s theoretically fully functional right now, we just need to add a few amenities here and there.”
“The MAS pushed to have this stable fast-tracked, we had to delay the development of Stable 90 for this. And that one’s advanced systems have been giving us a headache as it is,” Scootaloo told Chrysalis. “Well, at least we have another stable for more than just ponies.”
Queen Chrysalis hummed. “Very well. Show me this stable, and hope I am impressed with your work.”
“You will be,” Twilight said confidently. “But first, there’s something else.”
“Oh? And what might that be?”
Twilight looked towards Scootaloo expectantly, who just stared back for a minute before giving a huff. The pegasus then reached into a bag and extracted from it a PipBuck. And an eerily familiar Pipbuck 3000 Mk IV at that…
“This is a PipBuck,” Scootaloo explained. “It has health updates. Maps. Objectives. Friend and foe trackers. It’s a really useful and really expensive piece of kit, so don’t smash it or anything. Not that it’d be easy to, these things are designed to take a beating.”
I felt magic channel into the Changeling Queen’s horn, and she took the PipBuck from Scootaloo and gave it a cursory look over. Then she undid the latch and slipped the device onto her hoof. The moment it was secured the booting sequence began, and soon enough the device shifted to the status screen.
“We’ve already prepped it just for you,” Scootaloo stated.
Sure enough, right there on the status screen, the name ‘Chrysalis’ was displayed on the bottom.
This was my PipBuck. Or rather, the PipBuck that Ditzy Doo had provided me when she’d given me this job. It had belonged of the Queen of the Changelings!?
“Hm, it will do,” Chrysalis replied simply, before taking her eyes off the device and looking back towards the door. “Now, I wish to see the stable.”
Twilight nodded, and without another word, she headed straight for the control panel and pulled the switch down. Clearly, the password had yet to be added.
Alarms began to blare around the chamber, echoing far up into the hive. Red lights blinked as machinery behind the door began to whir, and then with a deafening metallic screech, the door was pulled back into the entrance before it rolled off to the side.
“Right this way,” Scootaloo deadpanned, trotting into the open entrance.
But while she did so, and Chrysalis attempted to follow, Twilight stopped the Queen with a hoof.
“We have given you a stable for your subjects, as promised,” Twilight said in hushed tones, looking Chrysalis dead in the eyes with a cold and determined expression. “Your drones are wasted working just infiltration. Will you reconsider working with the Ministry of Arcane Sciences?”
“Ah, yes. I have glanced over your proposed project,” Chrysalis replied, tilting her head as she studied the unicorn. “I assume you have already had work on the facility undertaken?”
“Your magic could do wonders for the war effort,” Twilight stressed. “It could save lives.”
“Pony lives,” Chrysalis sneered. “But you have done as I demanded. If everything is as I like it, then I shall consider your proposal.”
“You two coming or what?” Scootaloo shouted back at the pair.
Twilight glanced at the pegasus, before looking back up at Chrysalis. “We will talk more of this after the tour.”
Twilight Sparkle turned and entered the stable, Chrysalis remaining still for a moment as she watched the unicorn walk away.
And then she moved to follow.
I emerged from the orb with a sharp gasp, feeling sweet relief as I felt my own pony and very much male body return.
That just felt so wrong…
And there was Cobalt, looking at me expectantly. Stripe was still sitting diligently with her rifle, though did shoot a single glance of concern my way.
“So?” Cobalt asked. “How was it?”
I took in several deep breaths, thinking over what I had seen. It had been so real… The Ministry Mare had been right there. As had the stable. How was I meant to even process and experience like that? Feeling everything that Chrysalis had felt, and yet not knowing any of her thoughts? A stranger and intruder in another’s body…
Weird.
“So that’s a changeling, huh?” I said to the other unicorn. “I see what you mean about insect ponies.”
“And as you can see, Queen Chrysalis and Twilight Sparkle were talking about a project that could save pony lives. And according to records at Tenpony Tower, we know that Chrysalis accepted the deal and had been working on something with the Ministry Mare.”
“Which is why the Twilight Society wants it.”
“Exactly,” he confirmed. “And I need to know what it is.”
“And the Twilight Society would just lock it away to be poked and prodded every now and then?”
“Maybe. I hope not. Though for me I guess it depends on what we find. But we can only know for sure when we reach Stable 84. And when we do then this little misadventure can be over, and you can get your caps and go back to wherever it is you call home.”
Well, I had come this far…
“If I need to take it easy for the next few hours, pass me my barding,” I asked of the stallion, who looked mildly concerned. “I may as well get it a little more patched up before we head out.”
“So, you’re not backing out?”
I sighed. “Look, I took this job because it was my ticket to a comfy home and life away from the Wasteland. I’ve come this far, and I need to see it through. Besides, we’re almost at the stable as it is, and then it’s done. What’s a few more days?”
Cobalt paused a moment, but he then nodded before going to retrieve my barding.
He could keep his data. Once we were at Stable 84, it would no longer be my concern…
Footnote: Level 10
New Perk: Educated - You gain two more skill points every time you advance in level.
Changelings in a changeling fic? What blasphemy is this!? 
Well, if any of you were wondering which tribe Stripe descends from, it is Zencori. Maybe she and Sekashi can meet up and Stripe can have an aneurysm at her 'funny' stories. Eh, maybe not. 
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And we have our look into Stable 84. Nice work Tom. I like the bit of history for Stripe. Nice to see a Zebra moving away from the typical stereotype. Though I’m curious how Chryssies pipbuck got outside the Stable. And nice reference to Stable 90.
I'm starting to think that ALL the Fallout Equestria fics are connected to each other in some form or another.
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I mean... that's how most if not all are designed. Not necessarily between ALL side fics, but usually with Kkat's at the least. But more often than not it's with what is often considered the 'core canon'. That being the original, Project Horizons, Pike Eyes, Murky Number Seven and Heroes.
huh. 11 chapters in and no companion has shot Scrapper (though she used a flash grenade on him so meh). this is certainly one improvement for his life over the other Wasteland Heroes.
I am loving Stripe, even if I wish she finally give him her actual name. She doesn't have time for all that star nonsense. I can only imagine what the MAS wanted to do with changeling magic. I wonder if the changelings allied with Equestria because they didn't want the Zebras to win, out of desperation, or because Chrysalis had some scheme in mind. Given that she's is still in charge, I'm leaning more toward the latter two options.
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