Fallout Equestria : Black And White

by Philweasel

Chapter 1.16 - Children at Play

Vision was already fading.

Dust gasped pathetically as his breathing became shallow and the taste of blood bubbled up from his throat, already aware that his lungs were filling with blood. He tried to reach for a healing potion but his body was broken, the shattered spine only closing the deal on the sorry state of the rest of his body.

He was dying.

One hit. Star Swirl hadn’t been kidding about Chigaru’s freakish strength. He only hoped Fluttershy had made it.

That was very noble of him, worrying about her. Considering he had just been kicked through a wall it seemed chivalry was still alive and well. Unfortunately the heroic narrative had stopped there, with no convenient tree or bush to break his fall, only hard earth. Impressively enough the suit still seemed relatively intact and was actually beginning to repair itself, breaking down his supply of scrap metal to reinforce it’s damaged structure. It had likely saved him from being killed instantly, though that was small comfort...

And then something stabbed into his leg, Dust immediately feeling the familiar warm glow of an intravenous healing potion spreading through him. After a moment or two it was followed by a dose of Med-X and the familiar and horrible sensation of a couple of doses of hydra, bones regrowing and snapping together with all the unpleasantness it would suggest. And further... his body was twisted, manipulated by the suit around him, moving him into the right position for his bones to set correctly.

It took about a minute for Dust to be confident enough to try and move, checking out the area. He was in a less visited part of the gardens, nopony around at the moment. Even so he spoke softly, not wanting to alert any of the zebra to his presence, “You just healed me didn’t you? The AI inside this suit?”

“...”

“I know you’re there.”

As expected a little voice finally spoke up, nervous and sweet, as childlike as advertised, “I’m sorry... Zenai told me to stay quiet but then you put the suit on and I was really worried but Zenai had programmed me to let you but not talk but then you got kicked through a wall...”

“Calm down. It’s all right.” Dust smiled, the AI’s cute, innocent voice greatly improving what had been a pretty crappy day, “I would have died if you hadn’t helped. I’m sure she’ll forgive you for saving my life.”

A crudely animated picture of an embarrassed looking pink pony appeared at the top left of the view screen, “Aw... it was no problem...”

“I don’t even know your name.”

The picture perked up instantly, ears twitching as she declared it proudly in a sing song tone, “Hiya. I am designated Puppy OS 2.5, it’s a pleasure to serve you!”

Dust chuckled, “That sounded pre-recorded.” He tapped a control in his hoof plate, a list of his supplies feeding into his hud. It looked like he was almost out of hydra, but his supplies of Med-X, healing potions and psycho were still looking good, “I’m just going to call you Puppy ok?”

“That’s perfectly ok!” The AI announced cheerfully, “Um... what do I call you?”

“Dust Kicker. I’m a friend of Zenai.” He looked around for exits, preferably one that wouldn’t lead him towards more folks trying to kill him, “Can you locate her for me? You’re bound to her pipbuck right?”

“Okidoki! Give me a moment please, connecting now!”

Dust did as he was told and waited patiently, considering this new turn of events. Personally he had no problem with it, as despite popular belief very few AI actually sought the downfall of pony kind, and most of them were actually trying to preserve it in their own insane way. And insane was understandable, every single one of those AI’s having seen the world burn first hand, witnessed the calculated suicide of their masters.

Puppy on the other hand was possibly the first fully aware post war AI, fighting against the loss of the technology used to create them in the first place and the general distrust from the wasteland at large. The Applejack Rangers were known for their technology fetish though, figures they would be the first to break through that barrier. That made her exactly how Zenai had described, a child. Hopefully he would be able to maintain that innocence.

He froze as a red dot appeared on his eyes forward sparkle, Puppy’s warning redundant, “Mr Dust, enemy incoming!”

The bushes rustled ahead. Dust braced himself, his tail tightening on his triggers...

Oteka came up in a blur of speed, struck his legs out from under him and batted him to the side with the pole of her spear, pinning him to the ground with his guns pointing at the ground.

Dust took a moment to feel suitably embarrassed before moving on to more practical things, “Ok, so you got me.” Dust looked up at the conflicted, emotional looking zebra, daring her to make a move, “How did you find me?”

“Lost contact with Chigaru, Caesar tell me to find Ambassador Fluttershy.” She looked down at his impassive faceplate, forcing her spear down a little further, “Find you in Enclave armor, dead soldiers. What am I to think?”

“That maybe you should do your job and find Chigaru.”

She spoke in a pained growl, “He can care of self. You however...” She lifted her head, a deep torment in her eyes, “One of your friends has tried to kill Caesar. This... cannot be forgiven.”

Dust gritted his teeth, astounded at how everyone could fall for this... amateur deception. He threw himself onto his side, flinging her away to roll agilely across the grass. He jumped back onto his feet as she recovered, backing away to make space between them, “If we were going to kill Caesar we wouldn’t have sent Silver Scribe to do it.”

Oteka spat on the ground, trying to circle closer, “She’s an alicorn.”

“She’s an idiot, with no combat training to speak of.”

“You think I not aware?” Oteka shouted the words, back hoof clearing out a furrow to kick away from. She was breathing heavily, clearly angry with both Dust... and herself, “I may not be smartest, but not stupid. But your friend tried to kill Caesar, and griffon and zebra succeeded in killing father. Caesar will not forgive this.”

Dust looked her in the eye, his gaze challenging, “Your friend Chigaru, he just tried to kill Fluttershy. That one of Caesar’s orders?”

“This is impossible. Caesar has not ordered such a thing.”

Dust couldn’t help snarking at her surety, “Yeah, because Chigaru is so trustworthy.”

Oteka shook her head, undaunted, “Chigaru is ghost warrior of world past. Leaders of zebra empire could not risk ones of such power go alone. Chigaru has... programming. He cannot disobey an order, nor betray his master.” She stared him straight on, “So what you say is impossible.”

“Well I just saw him stamping on Fluttershy’s throat. Hell, he’s the most likely culprit for engineering this little farce, trying to drive us into war!”

She repeated her words, stern and certain, “What you see cannot happen.”

Dust opened his eyes wide, unbelieving at how stubborn she could be. It was just one more thing that had shook his opinion of the mare lately, “I respect loyalty Oteka, but averting your eyes from blatant crimes is neglectful braminshit.”

She glared dangerously, her voice raising to a very uncharacteristic shout “And what crimes are these?!”

So Caesar had told her about their little encounter a few nights ago, he figured as much “You know what. I saw you collect that filly.”

Oteka looked away, her expression a mix of anger and regret. Finally she settled on anger, eyes turning coldly upon Dust Kicker, “You arrogant... ‘bata'chec’ little pony. You champion pony like Princess Luna, Red Eye, Twilight Sparkle, now lecture us about morals? After war end, we spent hundred years under rule of pirates of your military, our gods replaced by yours! You provoke war, you make zebra like Remicon, full of anger and hate! Caesar is kind, gentle. He rules justly, like zebra should!”

Dust wondered how long Oteka had been feeding his darker hobbies, how blinkered she could be when it came to her lord. But he now knew better than to touch on that issue any further, “Listen, I’m sorry, and I really don’t care. But I’m certain Chigaru’s up to no good Oteka. He’s likely the one who tipped me off that night, the one who planted that bomb. Do you really trust me over him?”

“It doesn’t matter what I think.” Oteka looked doubtful for the first time, averting her eyes and sighing, “Chigaru can not be caged, contained. He immortal, impossible to kill. Tales told of him vaporised with balefire and still coming back. And if he’s not on our side, he on somezebra else’s.”

“You’re allowing yourself to be blackmailed by a psychopath trying to drive you into a war you can’t win.”

“Empires rise and fall based on the loyalty of that psychopath.” Oteka shook her head, “I do not know if we can win fight with NCR, but abandon Chigaru and he join Star Fall, kill us all.”

Dust... couldn’t believe he was hearing this, “He can get away with anything... because he’s an efficient killer?”

“This is wasteland Dust Kicker.” Oteka glared darkly, the shadows seeming to gather around her, “Some say Chigaru is wasteland, its spirit. It cannot be killed, cannot even be fought, cannot be trusted... yet to turn your back on it is to invite destruction. I learn to accept, Caesar accept. This is way.”

This was... infuriating. Part of Dust wanted to have another go at Chigaru right now, rely on his talent for destruction to put that creature into the ground. He wanted to reply that he was just another zebra... pony... whatever, but knew that wasn’t true. The amount of punishment he unleashed on him back there would have killed a Canterlot ghoul, broke down the shields of an alicorn. Chigaru had regenerated in seconds. Dust was sure he must have a weakness, but he didn’t know what it was yet. For now... Oteka was right, in her own insane little world, “So where does that leave us?”

“Dust Kicker... you are under arrest in the name of Caesar.” Oteka drew her spear, levelling it point first at Dust in a firm hoof grip, “Lay down your weapons.”

Dust hesitated for but a moment before bracing himself, face plate flipping down as he flicked his weapons into combat positions. He readied his SATS, a scrolling message from Puppy indicating she had readied his drug injectors.

Oteka’s eyes turned cold and she kicked way with terrifying speed, her spear seeming to grow about a foot in length to spark off his visor. Dust cursed and tried to engage her with his eyes forward sparkle but she was already above him, sending him spinning with a hard slash. He thumped into the ground on his back and she landed atop him, driving his throat into the dirt with the haft of her spear and drawing her submachine gun to point straight at the eye slit of his armour. He already guessed that she had armour piercing ammo in there.

He really needed to get some more close combat training.

She didn’t fire.

Dust grimaced inside his armour, taking advantage of her hesitation to speak, “This is all a load of shit Oteka. You know that. And I can’t surrender either. I’m not going to abandon the others, let myself be pulled into some wasteland justice court.”

She gritted her teeth, pistol whipping him in the face with an angry grunt. Even through the helmet it hurt, Dust spitting away blood as his head was smacked against the steel of his helmet. She paused in doubt over what to do next and he reared up to grab her weapon, wrapping his hooves around her and forcing the barrel into the air. They struggled momentarily, Oteka finally dropping her submachine gun and rolling off him. Dust rolled onto his hooves and braced himself, Oteka angrily discarding her spear and rushing him with her bare hooves.

He could have shot her easily. He didn’t.

Rather a stupid idea, as for the second time this week Dust found himself facing somepony far more experienced in close combat than him. True Oteka wasn’t much younger than him and was bulky and heavily muscled, still she made up with skill what she lacked in speed and agility. Again and again he was struck, her blows raining down upon him...

And she didn’t stand a chance.

Her hooves rebounded off Dust’s metal plating, bruising Dust slightly but leaving her legs bleeding and battered from the impact with the heavy steel. It didn’t even slow him down, Dust advancing through her blows and striking her with servo assisted strikes of his own, slamming her into the ground with a broken nose and a loose tooth for her trouble. She leapt at him but he had already tired of that acrobatic spinny shit from Ace Gold, tackling her mid jump and slamming her into a wall. She kicked him away and attacked again but she was slowing now, Dust catching her with a right hook that sent spittle flying and threw her crashing into the mud.

Still she continued her attack, charging through the pain and knocking Dust to the ground, leaving the two struggling briefly. She slammed his head into the ground a couple of times and his vision span, growling and headbutting her hard. She screamed and blood splattered his vision, Dust throwing her to the side and kicking her away with a blow that almost certainly broke a rib.

He got back on his hooves, breathing heavily. He wasn’t up to this close combat shit any more, that was proving increasingly obvious. Oteka once again put him to shame as she rose up only a second after he did, only a little unsteady on her hooves despite the beating she had taken. He growled at her, hating this one sided bullshit, “Oteka, why won’t you stay down!? Think I like hurting you?”

She glared through blood stained fur, her face a wreck and her body held up by little more than willpower, “You’re just not hitting me hard enough!”

Dust sighed, realising that this was what he had to do. He charged her with everything he had, ducking her clumsy jab and driving his hoof into her jaw with a powerful jumping thrust. She grunted in brief pain, flew backwards, hit the wall and fell to the ground motionless. She didn’t stir again.

“I... didn’t like that. Why did she drop her weapons? She must have known she would lose without them.”

Dust sighed at the AI's words, rather glad for Puppy’s gentle innocence. He hadn’t liked having to do it either, “Honor is a funny thing. She couldn’t just stand aside.”

“But... we got past her anyway. And she got really badly hurt. And... isn’t it more embarrassing to lose a fight, than to avoid one you can’t win?”

Dust chuckled, thinking those were all very good points, “Sorry Puppy, you’re asking the wrong person. I think we’re both going to have to accept there’s some things we will never understand. Now come on, we need to find Zenai.”

“Yes sir uncle sir!"

_______________________________________________________

This fanfiction is based on Fallout Equestria by Kkat, it is highly recommended that you read that first for context. Reading Fallout Equestria: Pink Eyes by Mimezinga will help understanding, but isn’t required.

Many of the characters and much of the setting are not mine but are on loan from the very awesome Kkat, or are taken from My Little Pony - Friendship Is Magic by Hasbro. This story makes no pretentions at being canon with either, and is merely a ‘what-if’ set in the same world.

If you enjoy Fallout Equestria Side Stories, you will want to check the Fallout Equestria Side Stories post on Equestria Daily and the Fallout Equestria Side Stories thread on Ponychan.

Comments

[Philweasel]

Warning, I've just moved house, and have as yet not managed to aquire a stable internet connection. This chapter is posted from a crappy old laptop which loads fimfiction at one word an hour.

Hopefully I will have it working tomorrow, but this is dependent on me not being a techological disaster

[Kexisoc]

If an insidious pony/zebra had the capability to compromise the SPP, it stands to grass they would have the resources to sway Chigaru from his 'programming'. Hmm, I've only three theories of the conspirator's intentions at this point, though they are all in certainty false.

Like-minded intentions like Chigaru, to rage war just for the sake of warring; bitter [metaphorical] ghosts wanting to see the downfall of either Equestria or the Zebras for old sins of the past; or individuals assuming the only way to avert a civil war within the NCR was to unite its factions against a convenient common enemy.

It's nice that Oteka is at least admitting the possibility of Chigaru's betrayal, and I couldn't expect her disposition to sway any farther than that. Funny how the Fallout mechanics could turn your enemies to your side with a simple speech check. Still, thanks to the way you heavily implied she threw the fight to let him pass (her injuries convenient evidence to anything she will report) does paint the picture he got through to Oteka, to the point she sought a loophole in her honor to let him past her.

Assuming that Chigaru's history of survival is all true and decapitation by hellhound ain't gonna cut it, I can only assume that jamming a flaming shishkebab into his cranium and keeping it in there could incapacitate him indefinitely. That is assuming his ghoulish body still relies on his brain to function and not his soul. Then...soul jar him inside an apple tree!

And yay, Dust is alive! I guess as soon as he thought to himself, 'This was all going to end badly.' he himself went though a tonne of preparations during Fluttershy's narrative. Good hindsight of his, or is it foresight?

So. With this being an intermission, I'm hoping this is a good time to discuss. I think it's safe to say you made a tremendous tribute to the side-fic FoE: Pink Eyes. I must inquire if this means the events of that side-fic is officially canon in your 'verse. I'm extrapolating that perhaps one of the characters who once encountered the filly-ghoul was inspired to base an AI program with her personality. OR...it's all just happenstance.

You mentioned previously a dozen tales had happened between the end of the official fic and this story. I do wonder if you do intend to include the events of other side-fics as canon. Project Horizons it appears seems to have no mention at all, at least the actions of that protagonist, understandable, even though I did like it.

Anywho, best of luck getting your connection stabilized.

[Philweasel]

2209974
As I said, Horizons doesn't get a mention simply because... I haven't read it. (it all sounds a little too grimdark for me really). Murky Number Seven is likely to be my next read. As mentioned I don't make things canon without incorporating them into the story somehow, which means I would have to work out what all those guys are girls are doing now and quite what effect their actions had on the world (unless the author finally gives in to his own natural tendencies and has them all die in a horrible gang-rape incident).

And yes Psychoshy is cool, and I do have quite a few pictures of her. Her backstory however doesn't really work. As mentioned Fluttershy had multiple children and was married and divorced publicly enough for Dust to have heard about it. Plus... having a surviving child works against my goals of making her as miserable as I possibly can

You'll have to content yourself with Fluttershy herself. She's psycho enough for the best of them