Fallout: Equestria - False Dawn

by Requiem Mori

Prologue: Broken Memories

Fallout: Equestria - False Dawn

Prologue: Broken Memories

“I will save you, Captain. Even from yourself.” The wind lashed around me as I face him in battle. Rain poured from the heavens in a weeping curtain. A fitting deluge for what I had done. For what I had yet to do. I faced him across the top of a barren cliff, jagged rocks jutting from the earth like daggers far below us. A simple fall, and it would all end.

“Nevermore! How could you?” The pain in his eyes shocked me, the anger in his voice frightened me. I was no match for him. I knew this. I had seen the fury, the anger, the hurt in the way he had fought. Like a demon, a primal force of nature. Others had fallen to him, countless others. I may be a decent combatant, but this would be like spitting in Celestia’s eye... valiant, perhaps, but ultimately futile and fatal.

Still I stood before him, blades drawn in preparation. My voice remained low and level, as it always did, hiding the emotions in my heart. “I do what I must, Captain. As I have always done.” I still did not know if I hid them from him, or from myself. Nevermore... a name hated, cursed, reviled, feared. Even on a crew of outcasts and misfits, I was alone. Always alone. An outcast amongst outcasts, yet I was satisfied with my lot.... or at least I was accepting of it. Now I could realize that it was me who broke the bonds, who refused their company, who drove away everypony close to me. I had built a wall of isolation around myself, sealing myself in with the pain that was tearing me apart even now. Steeling my heart, I did what I always did. My duty. I closed on my Captain, blades whirling. I closed on my death.

I looked up at him, my body broken, but not my will. I cannot apologize, not even now. To apologize would be to say I was wrong... and despite how everything had turned out, I could not do that. That would cheapen everything that mattered. My Captain, his crew... everything that was now precious to me. Give me your hatred, Captain. Give me your scorn. End my life. I have failed to stop you. I have failed to save you. It was inevitable... I could not win our fight, but what was done to you... it was unforgivable. He stood over me, rage boiling within him. “Do it... Captain. Spend your rage on me.”

I fully expected to die that day... but it was not to be. He spared my life. I could see the rage, the pain, the betrayal. I understood the enormity of my crime, and that only my life would be seen as penance. Yet... he spared me. His kindness was the ultimate cruelty... now I dwell with this pain on a life that is not my own to take any more. It is his. And until he claims it, I cannot end it by my acts or omissions.

Amidst the bodies, the blood, the pain, the sun rises as it always done. Its unforgiving light revealing my sins with its harsh gaze. Stark, revealing, unforgiving, consume me, brutal dawn. He looks down at me, offering a hoof. “Let’s go home.” My injuries mean nothing next to the pain in my soul at those words. Home.

~~~~~~~~~~

I’m trapped. I can’t move at all, surrounded by a dark and terrifying void. Hello? Can anyone hear me? Even my voice is lost to the silence... was this my penance? Was this eternity. Had I finally paid enough? My ears strain as I start to hear something... a voice. I come to recognize it... it was my voice, not as it was now, but rather how it was then. “Nevermore... Nevermore... have you not learned your lesson yet? Your pain is not over, it never ends. You learned that lesson, once, that all the world is pain. That there is nothing good in it any more, and that there never was.”

No... you are wrong, there was good. A single, flickering light against the darkness... “But it was snuffed out, was it not, Nevermore? All your pain, all your sorrow... to destroy the one thing that you tried to protect.” Shut up, shut up, shut up! I do not want to talk to you. Go away! “How petulant, you child. Perhaps if you were not so foalish, you would not be here now.”

An image appears before me in the gloom, and I recognize her. Nevermore. Her long and flowing mane drifted past her face, the dark red color stark against her dark coat. A familiar hat rested on her head, the elegant top hat set at a jaunty angle. She peered at me with familiar eyes, their red hue cold and sinister. “You have fallen far, Nevermore... you try to escape your pain again... embrace it.” Escape it? How would I escape it? It has been a part of me for so long already, that I cannot imagine being without it now. She gave me a smile, one devoid of any warmth or feeling. I know that smile well, as it is my own. “Yet you fight, you struggle... a losing battle... you feel it, do you not?” She looks up, and my gaze follows along. “A sword, hung by a thread... your release, and your doom.”

I watch that sword for what feels like an eternity... what would happen once it fell? Would it free me from my torment, or merely add another chapter to it? “You know the answer, Nevermore. You will never be free.” I will be free... one day... but until that day, I will suffer, and through suffering, atone. I smile at myself, the same smile she had given me earlier. You may want to look down. A gaping wound opens in her chest, blood pouring freely. I feel a sympathetic pain in mine. Her countenance doesn’t falter, doesn’t move at all. “As I am, so shall you be...”

The burning in my chest is almost overwhelming, but I grit my teeth defiantly. This pain is nothing... nothing at all. I cough, a wad of sticky black blood and phlegm splats on the floor as my breath comes in a wheezing, sucking noise. Well... that’s unfortunate... I close my eyes again, wishing everything to go away. I am... so... tired...

~~~~~~~~~~

The gloomy murk surrounds me, the shroud on the Equestria that I had once known. I cough again, actually feeling it this time, looking around the blasted wasteland. Laying amidst a pile of broken and forlorn skeletons, I try to pull myself up to my hooves. It’s a slow and painful journey, complicated by... Looking down, I see the gaping hole in my chest where a raider’s round had punched through my chest with a lucky pot shot. Bloody raiders... My wings twitch, protesting the strain they suffered getting me here... and the crash after they finally gave out. I just want to... rest... Maybe I’ll just... lie down for a bit... The world fades to darkness as my legs buckle again... only barely feeling the thump as my body hits the ground.

Author's Note:

My foray into the world of Fallout: Equestria, the journey of a broken mare through the blasted wastelands. Feel free to come along for the ride... comments always welcome!

Comments

[Requiem Mori]

Thank you for the comment. She's in a bit of shock right now, which is why its a bit jumpy as she fades in and out of consciousness. Hopefully things get clearer in future chapters.

[TinkerChromewire]

This story gets my approval. Go forth and make your story known!

[Requiem Mori]

2315555

Hopefully, all in due time... though your story's better.

[Alchemik]

I may be a decent combatant, but this would be like spitting in Celestia’s eye... valiant, perhaps, but ultimately futile and fatal.

You (basically) open with one of the best pieces of prose I've seen in a while and set up the tale of what looks like an immortal doomed to wander the wastes by her own loyalties.

You have my attention. This looks great!

[Requiem Mori]

10963798
Aw, thank you! I hope you have fun reading it!