Chapter 1
Falling Down
A My Little Pony Fan-fiction, based in the Fallout: Equestria universe created by Kkat (thanks!).
By CloudCover.
-Series of audio files recovered from the Stable 76 Maneframe. Believed to date from the seventh year of Luna’s reign, the very last days of the war.-
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The calls of seabirds are discernible over the sounds of waves.The first voice is that of a mare with a Ponyville accent, seemingly well into middle age.
“Helloo! This thing on?”
A sigh accompanies a Manehattanite buck’s response.
“Really, Seafoam? You knew the damn thing’s running, but you still chose to begin our memory to the world with a bad cliché. Ugh. How did I fall for such a shallow filly?”
“You’re not one to talk, Mr. Flash, he of the floppy cap and tousled hair. I’m not the one who seems determined to fulfill every single popular conception of paparazzi at the same time-“
“Hey, that’s part of the fun! Even the Ministries get nervous around the press.”
“And don’t I get to hear about it. Please stop stalking Fluttershy; that poor thing has enough on her plate already, you hear?”
“She’s a year older than ya, and a Ministry Mare! There’s no need to treat her like one of your precious dolphins, sweetie.”
The mare’s voice drops ominously...
“...Sweetie?”
The exchange is followed by a series of muffled thumps and yelps, then rapidly receding wingbeats. After a short pause, the mare continues.
“Well, hi there, I suppose. This is for you, kids, or whoever finds it if we never get round to having any. Looks like we might not have time now.”
“Anyway, my name is Seafoam. I work as a technician here at the Manehattan branch of the MoP Sealife preserve. They call it the Manehattan Sanctuary, but we’re barely in sight of the city; they need to keep the channel clear for the cargo ships. And the Luna, that... thing is obscenely large.”
“That beautiful idiot was Flash, Flash Bulb, as he likes to introduce himself. He’s my fiancée, does freelance photography with a free side order of stalking in the Big Apple. I always was a sucker for a nice pair of wings.”
“I’m only recording this because he made me. I’ve never been one to care much about the future, except where dolphins are concerned, but he’s always worrying. About me, about his work, about the war, about Equestria. He even tried to get me into one of those Stables. No way. I’m not living in a box for the rest of my life, and pegasi and Stables don’t mix. I couldn’t just leave him outside.”
“To try and get back on track, Flashie insists we try and leave something behind, just in case. This was meant to be mine personally, but he butted in, as usual.”
“I’ll try to record my thoughts over the next few weeks, if only to get him to (the mare drops into an exaggerated Manehattan accent) ‘fugged abaht it’.”
“This is Seafoam, out.”
The first file comes to a close.
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“‘Seafoam out’? I’m starting to think ya have military aspirations, sweetie...”
“I thought that was how it’s done. Anyway, I’m a government employee, technically. It’s almost certainly protocol.”
“Protocol, eh? You didn’t seem to care about protocol when we talked about that Celestia-bucked shark you were looking after?”
“Don’t let Aquamarine hear about that! Besides, he isn’t dangerous if you just handle him right.”
“That thing nearly took my ear off! It was this close! Without my dashing good looks, what would I do with my life?“
“Get a real job?”
“I do hate you. Just a little.”
The remainder of the recording is comprised of indistinct mumbling.
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The mare begins to speak again, but the sea is no longer audible.
“It’s just Seafoam this time, I thought I’d have a bit of a whine. These boxes have to be good for something, and it’s not like they can snark back, unlike someone we’ve met.”
“I’m getting dirty looks from some of the others. One of the flux generators broke down, and I’m meant to have had fixed it yesterday. There aren’t any parts of course, won’t be for another week or two- we’re a low, low priority in Equestria nowadays, but try explaining that to the ‘experts’. They think I don’t care about the animals as much as them, just because I grew up inland, because I don’t have the experience.”
“It’s not fun, spending a childhood a hundred miles from the sea, when you have a pair of dolphins for a cutie mark, right there on your flank. But they assume I’m just not trying hard enough. Aquamarine’s the worst, with her comments about my ‘lack of connection’. I do care, dammit!”
The recording ends.
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The Manehatten buck begins to speak.
“Aw-right! That should work just fine-”
At this point, the recording nearly dissolves into static. The frantic cries of various sea animals and assorted ponies can be heard.
The recording ends.
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The sound of a mare sobbing plays over utter silence.
“It’s all right sweetie, I’m still here. We’re still here.”
“It’s all over, isn’t it? I don’t know what to do...”
Several minutes pass.
“I don’t know how this could have been allowed to happen. I don’t even know why I’m still talking into this. I’d like to help, but faced with... everything that happened, it feels too big for anypony to do a thing about.”
“It’s been two hours since the megaspell went off. There was no missile, no warning. We can’t reach anyone in authority. I just hope it’s the radios that got fried, not the rest of Equestria. Goddesses! How can I be making a joke, even an awful pun, at a time like this? Anypony with a Stable pass has left already. The others want to make the trip to Hoofington, me and Flash’ll probably go with them. We can’t stay here, not with the radiation.”
“This is still Seafoam, out”
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The sounds of a busy camp are interspersed with occasional cries of pain and loss.
“Flash is gone. I told him to go, and he went. Just like that.”
“We finally got news, from a pegasus courier, of all things. She claimed everywhere had been hit. Canterlot, Fillydelphia, the lot. I’m thankful Ponyville is too small to be on that list. Or maybe the zebras were too wary of hitting that damn spy’s house.”
“Flash’s folks live in Cloudsdale. Cloudsdale was plenty big enough. Now it’s gone. He wanted to go; I could see it in his eyes. He had to try and find them. Would he have stayed, if I asked him to?”
A pause.
“Snap out of it, Seafoam. He will come back. He can make it. Need to focus.”
“Hoofington is gone as well, so we’re staying put now. Won’t be any better anywhere else. We have some veterinary supplies from the Sanctuary, and we’re going to try and help, no matter how big the problem. A group made it from the outskirts, and they were looking pretty bad. One mare especially. She just collapsed as soon as they arrived. Internal injuries. Makes me wish I knew anything about medicine.”
“Especially looking at her filly.”
“She’s not even old enough for her cutie mark. And the mare’s dying. I can see it in their faces, the ones trying to save her.”
“The filly’s asleep now. I told her everything will be fine, and she told me her name. Stripe Stomper (The mare sighs). I guess I’m not the only one lying through her teeth, or someone has very patriotic parents. She’s an earth pony, pastel pink, darker than me, with a reddish mane. Poor thing.”
“I’m Seafoam and I’m still talking, the day after the world ended”
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“An hour. That’s how long it took before we ran out of supplies, before we couldn’t help any more ponies. There were droves of them, dying on their hooves. I can’t take any more of this. Getting shut up in a hole seems oddly appealing somehow.”
“Stripe’s mother died. Filly hasn’t woken up, but I don’t know what to do. The others are just leaving her to me. Like I’m good with kids! I can’t do this!
Some of the survivors are saying that the pegasi have just left, gone into hiding above the clouds. Please, let them be wrong.”
“Please.”
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“A couple of soldier bucks just turned up. They brought a little radiation medicine, and a working radio. It looks like we really have been abandoned by our feathered friends. They’ve closed the cloud curtain and recalled everypony on the surface. I should want Flash to stay up there, to not get involved anymore. I’m starting to think there can’t be anything worth saving.”
“But really, I do want him to come back, if only because I don’t want to be alone. It’s hard to think he might be up there, safe. That he values himself over me. I hate this side of myself, but I still want him to return. It would almost be better if something had happened to him, that he wouldn’t have just let me die down here. I can barely believe I just thought that, let alone said it. I’m just so lonely. Nopony is talking anymore. Nothing left to say. They don’t want to remember what we had before, or what’s in store.”
“The soldiers said there was a hospital not so far from here. Better than nothing, I suppose, and-“
The mare gasps.
“Stripe? Stripe! Where are you?”
The sounds of running.
“Stripe!”
The mare’s voice becomes increasingly frantic.
“Stripe!”
The repeated shouts are now barely audible over the sound of panting.
The next voice is that of a filly, shrill and piercing.
“Liar pony! Bad pony!”
“Stripe, please...”
“Mummy’s gone! Gone! Liar pony!”
“I...I...”
It is clear that the sounds of crying are coming from more than one throat.
It takes some time for the dialogue to resume, shakily.
“I’m so, so sorry. I am a bad pony, Stripe. I promise, I won’t lie to you again.”
The filly’s voice is sullen.
“Don’t trust liar pony.”
“Cross my heart and hope to fly?”
“ And?”
“Stick a cupcake in my eye. I’ll tell the truth.”
The filly sniffs, speaking in a small voice.
“Okay then. No more being bad?”
“No more.”
“If something bad happened, Mummy told me what to do. You should help, liar pony?”
“My name’s Seafoam, little pony. Come on, we should go back now, let me give you a lift...”
“NO! Mummy said to go the hole!”
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The sounds of the camp are gone, replaced by that of two sets of hooves on tarmac.
“Somehow, I have a chance again. I’ve been given a shot at life by a filly with every reason to hate me. I was so close to giving up. Really, I already had. But now I have a purpose, a quest.”
“Stripe has a Stable pass. It’s still broadcasting. Stable 76. The hole. I’m going to take her there, get her inside. Maybe they’ll let me in too. Maybe Flash will come back, find me somehow. But for once, I’m not the most important thing in my life. I feel I owe Stripe, and saving her is what’s important. “
“Liar pony, why are you talking to yourself?”
“It’s just my diary, Stripe. I tell it what’s happened and feel a bit better.”
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“It really is amazing. I think Stripe might actually have forgiven me. Oblivious to the devastation around us, she chatters about her friends, she gushes about how she wants to go to the moon like Maripony, she whines about her legs aching. I hope that she’s just too young to be really aware of what’s going on. Maybe she can come out of this unscathed. With her by my side, I feel disconnected from the horror. She just seems more real than everything else.”
“We’ve left the others behind. We had to hurry. It’s been nearly seven hours since the Stable broadcast began. I’m amazed they haven’t shut the door yet.”
“Go faster, liar pony!”
“Hmm. Maybe not all forgiven. Well, she is making me carry her.”
“This is Seafoam, on a mission.”
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“And again, it boils down to an hour. That’s how long they can give me, my time to decide.”
“We arrived at the Stable in time. Stripe is inside, which is what was truly important. At least to myself, I’m ‘liar pony’ no longer.”
“Now, its time to make my choice. Do I go inside, live my life in that hole in the ground. The concrete coffin. They’ll happily let me in, so few ponies made it to safety. I’ll have a life, of sorts. Perhaps I’ll even find something to live for.”
“But if I go in, I can never leave. I’ll have put the strongest door in Equestria between me and Flash. Stripe helped me put him out of my mind, but this is final. For all I know, he could be scouring the countryside right now. Countryside? The wasteland, more like. If he is looking for me, I would take away any chance of him finding me. He might wander until the radiation gets him.”
“Or he could have abandoned me, like the rest of the the pegasi. He could be forced to stay up there by the others. He could be dead already. I’d die waiting, all for hope. Am I really so vain that I think he would pick me over his family, over his whole race?”
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“Half an hour. I’m going to stay. I have to. If I go in that door, Flash would haunt me for the rest of my life. The look he gave me as he flew off would never leave my head. I won’t abandon him, even if he had to abandon me.”
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“I’m going to stay.”
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“The Stable door shut, and I was inside. Loyalty led me to desertion. Loyalty made me turn my back on the sun and the wind, and live in the concrete coffin. Loyalty saved my life, and made me feel good about it.”
“I was going to stay, but then I saw a pegasus. One pegasus did come back down, one refused to abandon us. That pegasus was the one who convinced me that the right thing to do was to live, and that no-one was coming.”
“No, that pegasus wasn’t Flash. It was Rainbow Dash.”
“I’ll never know why a Ministry Mare asked me to hide her from the sky, why she needed to get to Canterlot, why she talked to me as we hid in the Stable tunnel, but I’m glad she did. I’m glad she told me there was no hope for Equestria now. I’m glad she told where my loyalties should truly lie. It made everything so much clearer. My loyalty, even then, was only to myself. I thought that I could live if Flash found me. Really, the best we could hope for would be to die together. I can’t live in a cloud. If he found me, he would stay with me. Down here, in the poison.”
“In the Stable, my Stable now, there are ponies who I could help. One especially. And by going to a place where Flash can never find me, I make sure he gives up looking. I give him the best chance at life.”
“Dash left, and I entered the Stable. It nearly broke me all over again, but I did it.”
The file remains on for a prolonged period of crying.
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-Attached to the main audio files, but recorded directly at a terminal. Dated two years after Stable 76’s door closed-
The voice is that of a mare with a Ponyville accent, seemingly well into middle age.
“If anyone ever finds this, I expect I didn’t give much closure.”
“I’m... not happy, perhaps. I don’t think I’ll ever really feel joy again, but I am content. At peace in this little world. By teaching, I can spread the music and magic of the sea in ways I never could as a technician. I want these foals to know the love I had for the waves. Maybe one day, they might even see them.”
“When I made that first recording, I was happy and carefree. When I made the last, I was a crying wreck. Despite that, I think I’m a better pony now. Everything I had had to be taken away before I realised how much I did have, and how little I cared for it. I really only cared about myself, and I hope that’s changed.”
“I’ve changed in the eyes of one filly, who finally told me her real name. Selene. She never really liked Stripe Stomper.”
“She doesn’t call me ‘liar pony’ anymore, either.”
“You may have seen this coming, but she calls me ‘Mum’.”