Fallout: Equestria – The Hogwarts Chronicles

by Fanficwriter1994

Chapter 9: War of the Wastes Part 1

I yawned as I awoke, after what may be the best I had slept in weeks.

“Good morning sleepy head.” I heard Lyra, and felt her nuzzling me. I just leaned into it, the sensation was still so strange but I couldn’t really resist her. It was one of my favorite new experiences, no matter how long I had been receiving this by this point.

“Good morning, mom.” I muttered, yawning yet again as I blinked a few times to try and wake up a bit faster.

“You slept a whole lot better than yesterday, had a nice dream?” Asked Bon-Bon with some amusement as blearily tried to recall what I had dreamed but… There was only the beginnings of my normal nightmare…

“I think the ghost of princess Luna visited me?” I muttered and felt Lyra stiffen at my side.

“Princess Luna? Rose she died 200 years ago, how would she come to you?” Asked Bon-Bon, sounding somewhat concerned as I stood up, which the two also did, and shook myself.

“She said she’s only a spirit, but she stopped the nightmare I was having and then… right there was this black Ghoul looking filly in my head, she said it was some sort of necromancy? She banished it though.” I stated, remembering this odd… thing.

“That isn’t good, we should ask your headmaster, maybe she has an idea.” Stated Lyra and I nodded. Though before that, well… Did I ever mention that being groomed is nice? Having a body full of fur makes morning heads into morning bodies, and since I didn’t grow up a girl I don’t really have the experience on how to deal with that.

Luckily, I liked it when they brush me, it was a morning ritual that I just enjoy so much. I suspect others would think the same of coffee, but I don’t drink that stuff, I don’t like the taste. Maybe it’s a filly thing, maybe it’s silly, heh, but it’s too bitter for my tastes. Also, last time I did drink a full mug in an effort to stay awake to avoid the nightmare, I blacked out and woke up two days later.

On top of the Ministry of Arcane Sciences Hub with a Spritebot under control of Scribe Hailing. Telling me I needed to get off the roof.

I also, apparently, somehow stole Paladin Danse’s armor in a caffeine induced, hyper-active attack. I had also done the following:

1. Rewired the main reactor to somehow produce literal sunshine and rainbows.
2. Herded a bunch of Feral Ghouls into the building who now act like Earth cattle.
3. Brought a Enclave Cloud Ship down full of confused and scared Pegasi.
4. Destroyed the Sparkle World Raiders, apparently they were a Raider coalition in an old theme park or something.
5. Made a bunch of robots dance to Michael Jackson’s “Thriller”. Including Spritebots and Sentry Bots, neither of which should be anatomically capable of that and nobody knows how to stop them.
6. Finally, I stole 60 Cakes out of the cafeteria and I don’t know where they went. That’s as many as six tens!

So yeah, needless to say that I was officially prohibited from ever again touching Lyra’s personal stash of high-concentration coffee powder, ever again. And I still don’t know what I did that they call the “Great Flash of Maxson” but their Elder was apparently very cross with me about the whole ordeal. I think it involved photographs, at least I saw some of the initiates looking at some?

Anyway, that quick tangent aside, not like it matters much what I did while hyped up to the gills on Caffeine anyway, or that I had been prohibited from flying around the hub unless I was being pursued by enemy Vertibucks or something, apparently those were a type of VTOL aircraft from this world.

I won’t lie, it took me a minute to understand what that meant, Vertical Takeoff or Landing aircraft, that is what the acronym means, but regardless, I wasn’t allowed to fly there anymore. And even in the above exception I wasn’t allowed to fly anywhere near the South-side 20th floor central window at 9 PM to 4 AM. I really need to figure out what I did there. And apologize for whatever it was.

Anyway, we made our way after the somewhat mandatory filly grooming to the Great Hall, we didn’t live in a house of our own, mainly because most of the Stable 111 refugees were still too many for what had been built up so far, but they were getting there. And besides, Hogwarts had enough empty, unused classrooms to accommodate the full 2500 that went into the Stable, comfortably, so that was something, right?

Anyway, getting to the Great Hall meant passing by a number of windows and… “Mom, what is with that green thunderstorm?” I asked, staring at the outside where the shield was visibly flaring against the weather. That didn’t look normal at all.

“That, Miss Evans, would be a Radstorm.” Spoke up another voice and, turning around, I saw Free Life had come out of another Hallway.

“Radstorm? What, does that mean that is a radiation storm?” Asked Lyra, sounding nervous about the idea.

“Aye, half the Balefire Bombs targeting Ponston’s military industrial complex hit far in the South-West of the state, the area was so over saturated with the radiation that it soaked into the soil and now, every now and again, the fumes get mixed up with the occasional thunderstorm resulting in, well, this. We’re lucky we have cover in this school. Rad Away rations always get kind of close in those things.” She explained, shaking her head as she did.

“So, why didn’t we see any of these before?” I asked, cocking my head to the side which made her chuckle.

“They don’t tend to get this far up North, and you guys haven’t spent that much time down south. Ah, by the way, I was told to inform you not to leave the premises, the barrier is being kept closed for the time being so it would be rather difficult to get in.” Explained Free before leaving the three of us to our own devices. I did notice that she had a wand on her.

“Well, we weren’t planning to leave any time soon after all. Let’s get going.” Stated Bon-Bon and I with that we set off again. I did notice that I was walking between them and… it made me smile a bit. I felt happy, just being with them. Maybe this would be how I’d have felt had my parents survived back then, though it also showed how much I missed out on thanks to Voldemort.

As we entered the Great Hall, which during our stay had been a bit remodeled in so far as that the tables and benches had been adjusted to be comfortable for ponies and Anthropomorphic ponies alike. It helped a lot to be sure. More over, with the school year not yet starting and most of the students who could staying on Earth with their families, the tables had been largely removed for a single large table where we all could eat.

As professor Dumbledore had said, the House divide was for the school, why keep it during summer vacation? Admittedly, we were staying at the school during Summer Vacation. But still, it was a nice gesture. “Hey Daphne, I didn’t know you were staying here.” I greeted one of the friendlier members of House Slytherin, Daphne Greengrass, as we got to the table and sat down.

Being a Pureblood witch Daphne was, obviously, an obligate quadruped and was also a Pegasus on top of that. We had gotten to talking during shared shifts watching the gates for intruders. She did smile at me, I was pretty sure she found me cute in the way you did a puppy.

“My parents are on a business trip uproad, so I can’t very well go with them given what skin color I would have.” Explained the blue Pegasus with a green and red mane and tail.

“Makes sense to me. What do you think will they do when school starts again? I… kind of vaporized our DADA teacher, with an exploding Philosopher’s Stone.” I asked, flinching a bit at the mention of vaporizing a teacher. I was pretty sure I was the first student to kill a teacher before exam results come out. I was, like, 90% sure some student went a bit mad after getting a T, which means Troll, on their exam results so… yeah.

“Get a new one. I heard from the older students that nobody has held the position for a full year since before last year’s graduates entered their first year so…” She explained and I blinked.

“Well that’s not ominous at all.” I muttered, shaking my head at the sheer absurdity of a teacher’s position having a turn-up rate like that.

“You’d be surprised.” Spoke up Percy Weasley, he was the only one of his brothers, including Rainy, to stay at Hogwarts for the moment. He was a Prefect or so he reasoned. “I can confirm that I haven’t had a single teacher of that class for a full year. The year before you come we had two because professor Aberhart had to go on Maternity Leave halfway through the schoolyear.” Explained Percy and my eyes wandered over to the professors who were, well, foaling.

“So Foaling leave is something that is practiced on Earth too? I swear I remember back when everypony believed Twilight Sparkle to be foaling when she, miss Honor Student, took sick leave for two months.” Stated Lyra and I remembered the name, Twilight Sparkle was the mare in charge of the MAS back in the day.

“Well, hopefully we get a better one this year than Professor Quirrel. I’m pretty sure “Possessed by Voldemort” is the lowest any teacher has gotten.” I commented, ignoring the flinches of those in earshot of my comment. I’ve been dealing with it for over a month now, my smashing his host’s face in so I kind of lost fear of Voldemort.

Hell, who knows? Maybe he turned into a pony like the ghosts and is currently scrambling around the Wasteland, trying to figure out how to Muggle. “Why are you snickering?” Asked Lyra, confused at my apparent mirth.

“Oh, nothing, I just imagined what would be if Voldemort got turned into a pony and is no desperately scrambling to learn how to fight like this. I mean, what are the chances that he knows how to fire a gun? Or do it with hooves?” I asked, and suddenly the others laughed too.

“I’m meant to be on the other side but… yeah, good point. I can’t imagine my parents doing well based on what I heard about the outside world of this side.” Agreed Daphne, shaking her head.

Naturally that was all speculation, whatever he had become, what were the chances he got a pony body?

~~~~~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~~~~~

“Fucking gun, where are rounds for this thing?” Asked Tom Riddle as she gritted her teeth, trying to find ammunition.

She had ran out of bullets after three of these aggressive equines, meaning she had only five bullets in the magazine fed rifle she had acquired. Sadly she was neither familiar with the weapon’s model, much less it’s caliber. And her education in Muggle weapons maintenance was limited to say the least.

She wasn’t drafted until the tail end of the war after all, and dropped out not long after. And now she was regretting it. With her favorite curse crippled, Fiendfyre being weird, and the sheer ferocity of the locals she had little choice other than keeping a much more primitive weapon on her until she found something to shoot with.

Namely a spear she took off a corpse.

“How pitiful, for one to hold the gift we hold yet so weak.” Spoke a voice and the wraith-turned-filly gritted her teeth as she turned on the blue mare that appeared from literal thin air. She had concluded that these creatures come in three varieties, the green ones with Legilimency, the purple Apparition experts, and these stealth blue ones.

“Hold your tongue creature, I’ve slain many like you already!” Snarled Tom as she brandished the spear angrily but this only made the creature laugh harder.

“You believe you can take on our unity with such a pitiful weapon? You killed us only because of the bullets of that gun, you have no power beyond that.” Declared the creature. It was getting on his nerves. “But very well, our goddess is a gracious goddess, we shall grant you a gift if only for thy tenacity.” These words, well, now Tom Riddle was beyond confused as the mare turned.

“Follow us, thy lack of understanding of thine form betrays thy origin. We shall bring you to ones who can teach you and make thee worthy of being kin.” Stated the Mare before walking ahead of him.

Tom Riddle didn’t know what in the hell this was about, but she was an oportunist by nature, and she had figured out that being here had, somehow, helped her regain her cunning which she never realized to have lost in the first place.

Seriously, in hindsight she had realized that killing a large portion of the population for disagreeing may have been a bad idea. Naturally she had never gotten beyond elementary school and was raised in an orphanage, but that was hardly an excuse.

All that being said, she followed the creature, she had no other alternative really and at least for now, it appeared to be friendly. “I assume you know what the term for this form is, do you? I didn’t take it voluntarily.” She stated, if she had her way she would’ve been human, male, and in the glory that had been her before her fall, and not… this.

“We are Alicorns, the greatest form of ponies in Equestria. Our mission as Unity is noble as under our goddess we seek to grant this power to all unicorns in Equestria, to grant them the gift granted to us by the goddess. A gift once only held by the princesses who ruled Equestria before the last day when the Megaspells hit.” Explained the mare and Tom frowned, that was quite a…

//Wait, do I sound like that when I preach? Oh god I do. Why do I realize this sort of thing now of all times? Damn that Potter, probably his blood.// Thought the revenant filly darkly.

“Thy birth was a surprise to us, Necromantic Alicorn.” Spoke up her guide at that and Tom faltered a moment. She knew. “Yes, we have observed thy progress from the start, the three you met first were a test. We have never withnessed a Ghoul rebuilding a body out of the bones of lesser ponies and nothing but the radiation, such feats are not normally possible.” Stated the Alicorn and and Tom decided not to mention that at least part of it was likely Potter’s-

“We also know of thy use of another’s blood, likely what led to thy form. Our observers have watched an almost identical Alicorn filly wander with a small herd around. Unlike thyself, that filly was acting like a small child, acting as if the death of lesser creatures meant something. Thus we chose thee.” Explained the mare then and Tom had to put together what that meant.

Harry Potter had turned into a Alicorn like she herself did. Harry Potter also didn’t take well to killing, which objectively made sense, the boy was 11 years old. And quite sheltered though even Tom would’ve admitted to likely hesitating if she had killed at that age. She hadn’t seen the truth of the world yet at that age, after all. And naturally, Potter helping these creatures, it fit.

“Great, so I’m stuck as an imperfect… I guess a Homunculus is the best analogue. A undead one.” Tom Riddle was not happy. Not happy at all. Sure, she had the blood of Potter and maybe that would negate the pesky protection, but she was stuck as an imperfect copy of that brat. And to add insult to injury, this may explain the more introspective behavior she had been experiencing.

“It appears so, our goddess has no experience of this sort as the Balefire Bombs are fairly recent.” Stated the Mare and Riddle scowled, not helpful in her opinion, not helpful at all. Or reassuring for that matter.

As they continued to trot along the devastated streets a nothing seemed to attack them, likely because there was a huge ass horse in the lead. But this changed when they come to a relatively rubble-free road in the middle of the street which gave a nice view of the West and East ends of the city. And then a bright flash of green light was seen in the distance to the West.

“What was tha-” Tom had just said that when a scream echoed from the mare and turning around she saw her clutching her head in pain.

“N- no! Mother! NO! This cannot- Her voice! Her voice is gone!” Screamed the mare and Tom took an involunatary step back. It took her a few seconds to comprehend the inane rambling of the creature, but it wasn’t too difficult to figure out. The “Goddess” the creature served had been destroyed by whatever that was. And that couldn’t mean anything good.

“Get a grip you! You wanted to lead me somewhere, do so and I will help you!” Demanded Tom as the blue mare stared at her, then nodded.

Tom Riddle didn’t know what was going to happen, but if she wanted to regain power, she may need to play the hero to this creature. She needed a powerbase after all and a guide. Even if said guide was going insane.

~~~~~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~~~~~

Twilight Sparkle felt herself get loose from the amalgam of minds known as “The Goddess”, the insane amalgam of pony minds primarily led by whatever remained of Trixie.

However, it was under her own power, just after realizing what was going on, Trixie’s mind had kicked her out, her mind and her soul, telling her to safe herself. Then went silent when the Balefirebomb took her life at long last.

Twilight had sought refuge in one of the Alicorns, but the mind of said Alicorn was occupied and she was only able to take over long enough to hear Pinkie’s last words, then had to leave. But, she found something. Another Alicorn, this one with damaged magic, a damaged connection and no mind.

“Alright, gotta get used to this new size. And body. And why again were all of the Alicorns so dark in color anyway? Sweet Celestia I need to focus. Okay, where can I find a place to stay and heal… Right, that shielded castle, right? Maybe they let me in, they have six Alicorns.” Muttered Twilight.

Not for the first time wondering what world she had created.

She just hoped that she would have a chance to repent.

~~~~~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~~~~~

The bright flash from the West startled a lot of us.

It had been during lunch time, after most of us castle-stayers had done some pseudo-lessons with our guests, the best thing we could do in this situation if we didn’t want to visit Earth. What was more shocking was what one of our newest visitors said.

“A Balefire Bomb! Someone set of a Megaspell!?” Exclaimed Elder Artoria Maxson as she stared out at the flash of green light that was visible all the way here. She had, along with a small delegation of Rangers and Scribes, come to Hogwarts to negotiate with us. This also meant we had now information what that flash was, but not the context.

“Please stay calm! The detonation must’ve occurred quite a way away from us so therei s no threat to the Castle even without our wards!” Called Professor Dumbledore over the clamor of voices that erupted, but it was enough to silence them.

“I don’t like how this is looking, I apologize but I must return to Ponevac and prepare in case of an emergency. Danse, I station you and your man here for the time being, be ready for anything understood?” Stated Maxson and Danse nodded, saluting before she left. Not even waiting for a reply or rebuttal from the headmaster.

“What threat?” I asked, into the silence that followed and Danse’s face darkened.

“An all out assault by the Enclave or worse.” Stated the Steel Ranger before beginning to bark orders at his man who quickly ran to do as he told them to.

I wasn’t liking this all.

~~~~~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~~~~~

Kellog ground his teeth as he glared at the huge shield surrounding this place.

“For fuck’s sake, why did I have to be assigned to this, in the middle of a Rad Storm in this area, while they turtle up?” He asked angrily before taking another Rad-Away potion to keep up with the radiation outside the shield.

“Why do I feel like, I’m in a shitty as buck situation?” He asked with a growl, not for the first time wishing his kind was Rad immune like a Ghoul or Alicorn. But no, he was a Changeling and all he could feed on was love, not Necromantic magical residue. In the air. As plentiful as that shit was.

“You know what? I go looking for the random ass disturbance in Downtown Ponston. Not like that can be any more dangerous than this shit.” He muttered, shaking his head as he flew off again.

~~~~~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~~~~~

Up in the clouds, on the Cloudship [Righteous Fury]…

“Sir, we have ascertained the large enemy location to be beneath us. Orders?” Asked one of the bridge officers as Cloudy Skies, the ship’s captain, looked down on the tactical display.

“Fire all cannons.” She ordered, not even bothering to descend below the clouds. Moments later, as a consequence of the fact that Hogwarts had a magic repelling shield up, all of the Plasma shots bounced off, sending the Cloudship into ruin as it was struck.

~~~~~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~~~~~

Red Eye stared down at his wine glass.

Or rather the shattered remains of it on his table.

“Well, I don’t like this omen.” He muttered, standing up to go and mobilize his troops.

War was coming.

Author's Note:

Level-Up!

Speech: +17 (87)

New Enemy Obtained! [Rose-Alter]!

Comments

[Kannabones]

Finally, I stole 60 Cakes out of the cafeteria and I don’t know where they went. That’s as many as six tens!

And that? Is just terrible. (Lex Luthor eat your heart out.)