Fallout Equestria: Distant Lands

by Crawver

Chapter 2: The Outcast

Chapter 2: The outcast

Faster! Go faster, Deadhead!

Even with my head start I had barely gotten any distance between me and my fellow Claritians. The Elder hadn’t even pulled his blade out of my mother before ordering a team to chase after me. He wanted me alive. That couldn’t be good. I could imagine him peeling my skin from my body, torturing me for hours, even days before killing me and—Oh for gods sakes, don’t think about what he could do. Just don’t think about what he would do. Just focus on running. Yes, good idea, focus on running.

A bullet struck the ground inches away from where my hoof was. And focus on dodging bullets too. Don’t think about Footlock. Don’t think about mother. Just think about running, dodging, and losing my chasers.

I had never really left the borders on the tribe before. I was the repairpony. Why would I? I wasn’t appointed scout or warrior. I was a pacifist. No, that wasn’t quite true, but I had never needed to shoot at anything really. I mean I shot myself nearly as many times as I have anything else. Shot myself once; shot 3 other things in my life, all of them being radhogs or that one radigator. I can’t exactly boast I’m a terror of the wasteland.

Nor could I claim I’m the most athletic. I’ve never run as fast, or as far as this, and I was already starting to lag, my breath getting ragged, the burning building up in my legs. I glanced behind me. I could still see a couple of the tents in the village burning, which allowed me to make out the silhouettes of my pursuers. I couldn’t tell which ponies they were however. I was just grateful that Boulders definitely wasn’t amongst them. I could still remember seeing that raider being cut in two.

Still, a quick death like that would be preferable to having my hooves cut off individually and-- ’Deadhead, stop being a fucking twat and run!’ for once I couldn’t agree more with the voice, and focussed on just running. I couldn’t exactly see far, but it didn’t matter. Anywhere away from the ponies shooting at me would be an improvement.

I heard a bullet whizz past my head. I could have sworn the Elder told them to fucking take me alive. Stop fucking shooting at me! I moved my head back and grasped the revolver between my teeth. Fuck, this would be easier if I could actually use my magic, but now wasn’t the time to try. It was so dark that I could barely see the ground, and I can’t say I was too keen on stumbling through the darkness looking for my pride and joy, while a group of ponies I may have once called friends tried to string me up for nothing more than having a picture on my ass. I whiplashed my neck around and pulled the trigger. I really did not want to kill, or even hurt those chasing me, but I really wanted them to stop chasing me anyway. After two cracks from my revolver, I realised I wouldn’t be able to reload until I at least got enough space between me and them to be able to stop. I had to lose them, and soon. 4 Bullets left.

Even in this dark, I could make out the shape of what appeared to be a building. I charged towards it, a few more “pfft pfft” of bullets passing nearby my head again. I was certain that if it wasn’t so dark, I’d have a number of holes in me already. Something I hoped to avoid.

No sooner had I reached the building than I dived through the nearest entrance and scrambled for any sort of concealing cover. I barely even registered the filth and gore that met me. It was a strange building that had tables and chairs attached quite firmly to the ground which…wasn’t…quite ground. It was this cold, strange material that was made of so many smaller similar segments. Having lived entirely with dirt beneath my feet, and occasionally rock, it was unusual to say the least. As the first pony burst through the opening, I ducked under a table. It was nearly pitch black in here, and with my darker coat and mane I doubted they would find me. I hoped not…

“Spread out, he must be in here!” One of them shouted out, whose voice I didn’t recognise.

“He might have just run straight through it and is leaving us for dust.” That voice I did recognise. It was a pony called Winter Dew. Can’t say I ever particularly liked her, but still, didn’t want to shoot her or anything.

“Stay here then, we’ll go on ahead. If we can’t find him by tomorrow night, we’ll say a radigator ate him.” With that, the unknown pony and about half the others left and ran off ahead, leaving me with Winter Dew and what I imagined was about 4 other ponies.

Well, that was a step forward. I had a time I needed to lose them by, as well as losing half of them already. I thought about reloading my revolver. Wait, why would I need to reload my revolver? I wasn’t going to shoot them, was I?

One of them stepped next to the table I was hidden under, and I pushed myself closer against the wall, holding my breath. If I could slip out without them spotting me, I would be home and dry. Home…there was something I was never going to see again. I had never wanted to see the rough mattress I slept on every night more than before. I wanted to be home in my tent, knowing the ponies around me meant me no harm, instead of now, where they were hunting me like a dog.

“Raiders have really taken their toll in here” One of the ponies shouted out. The place reeked. I shuddered to imagine what it would have looked like in the light. I was grateful none of the ponies hunting me were particularly skilled at hunting. I was certain that luck was on my side here. All they needed to do was to work out to start looking under the--

“Start looking under the tables, he may be hiding in the shadows.” Fuck. You just had to think it, didn’t you? I looked around. There was no way I could get under the chairs, was there? Maybe back when I was a colt, but no way now…I still tried. I could hear my pursuers shuffling from table to table.

It wouldn’t be long until they found me. I pressed hard against the gap, trying desperately to slip through. I just couldn’t do it. The great griffon fuck me in the ass with his claws! They are going to find me! There was no way around it, I may have to shoot one of them but…I couldn’t, I just couldn’t. A pony was checking the table next to me. I held my breath, revolver in my mouth. I tensed as hooves came into sight. I shut my eyes.

A shot rang out. I snapped my eyes open to see if I fired, but I was pretty sure that wasn’t the sound my gun made. Come to think, it sounded pretty far away.

“They must have found him. Come on, sooner we have him tied up, the sooner we can go back to the tribe.” I continued to hold my breath. There was no way my luck was this good. Even so, they were starting to charge out of the ex-raiders hideout.

After a few minutes, and being sure they were gone, I finally broke down crying. I was so emotionally drained. I had lost everything I had ever held dear. All I had left was what I held on my belt, saddlebags and the revolver I had just dropped. The images of the chewed up colt, the bullet blowing out most of Footlocks’ brains, my mother being bucked so hard her muzzle shattered and being impaled flooded to me.

I couldn’t find the will to even get what parts of me wedged under the seat free now that the adrenaline had finally given out. All I could do was collapse and fall into a dark, restless sleep.

*** *** ***

I was awoken by the sound of crashing in some other part of the building. I felt like dirt, but I could tell I was helpless where I was. Chances are it was just an animal that stumbled in here, and I didn’t want to be caught by a hungry razorboar or bloatsprite. With some difficulty I pulled myself free of the chair, and groggily got to my hooves. I reached down and picked up my revolver.

I breathed in through my nose, and regretted it instantly. I was met with the foulest smell I could have imagined. I began to retch. I got out from under the table and saw grotesque destruction beyond anything I could have ever imagined. Disembowelled and limbless corpses were nailed to the walls, and surprisingly creative profanity was painted, in what I imagined was blood, across every surface I could see.

It turned out I had become rather lucky about which table I hid under. Most of them had bags of assorted body parts or endless amounts of pony filth. Meat was lying on a number of the tables, bite marks clearly evident. Although I hoped that it was rotten radhog meat, I think I knew better. It was all too much.

I rushed outside, throwing up what little food I had left in me. ‘Bye bye, carrot cakes.’ the voice in my head said. I had forgotten to bring them with me, but out of everything I had lost, a few sweet treats were fairly down my list of worries. Once I was done spewing my guts out, I looked up and saw the wasteland for what it was for the first time ever.

It was quite a shocking sight now in the stark daylight. All around me was an endless nothing, bar a few mountains in the distance. I was so far away now that I couldn’t even see where the tribe was. A part of me, a very large part, wanted to run back home. It didn’t matter what fate I had in store for me, it was a fate I knew. Out here was…nothing.

The few traders I have talked to over the years had led me to believe there were a few great civilisations of ponies, but all I could see was dirt, dust, and this strange line of black rock that ran next to the building. I also noticed this strange metal thing lying on the rock line. Whatever it was, it looked rusted. Extremely rusted. I trotted up towards it, examining carefully. It was mostly hollow on the inside, with enough space to fit a few ponies in. Why would anypony need something like this? I would probably understand more if I knew what ‘this’ was.

Suddenly a loud crash of metal rang out from inside the building again. I looked for my revolver. I must have dropped it again while I was sick. I quickly rushed to where my pile of semi-digested food lay, and was grateful that my gun was next to it, and not in it. I picked it up in my teeth and edged through the door of the building.

I held my breath, trying to not smell the vileness, and did my best to avoid looking at the worst parts of the gory scene. I really didn’t want to vomit again. I’ve done that enough in the past two days. Sounds were coming from a room connected to the back of this one. As I edged to the opening, I could hear the muttering of a pony. It was Winter Dew. She sounded…manic. Not manic like the raiders, who just didn’t seem to even see the world that they lived in, but manic as if she was fighting for her life against something that wasn’t even there.

“…Yes. Yesyesyesyes. He did this, all his fault! The raiders, leading us to the monsters, it was all done by him! Must have planned it months ago, maybe more! He must have an agreement with them both and they allowed him past and…killed the others. But I don’t need them, nooooo, I have myself. I just need a new weapon. The Elder wants him, so I shall bring him to the Elder, yes! I…”

I peered around the side of the doorframe. The earth pony was rummaging through every shelf looking for something. I couldn’t see anypony else with her, and she must have been talking for hours given how hoarse her voice was. She was badly wounded and bleeding, but it didn’t seem to faze her.

I jumped into the doorway and tried to tell her not to move, but with a gun in my mouth it came out as an unintelligible mess again. Damn it, in the last two days I have regretted being unable to use magic reliably more than I have the rest of my life. She turned to me, her eyes wide and bloodshot. She took one look at me and my cutie mark, before grasping the nearest knife with her mouth and she began charging at me.

I hadn’t killed a pony yet, and I really didn’t want start now, not her. Not one of my fellow tribals. She lunged for my throat, slashing wildly in the air. I jumped back, trying my best to avoid the rusty, serrated edge. Without letting go of the revolver in my mouth, I tried to reason with her, but I was unable to make anything other than muffled grunts. Something in her eyes though told me that nothing I said would have convinced her to stop though.

She continued to swing and lunge at me. Her knife scratching and scraping along the walls and chairs near her, fury and hatred burning in her eyes. I still couldn’t shoot her. Not even with my life depending on it. It wasn’t right; she had all reason to hate me. I had caused the death of so many of her friends. I had to try and talk to her, but I couldn’t leave myself defenceless.

I would have to risk using my magic to hold the gun. I threw myself back, opening my mouth and letting the gun fly up. I grasped it my magic and began to try and talk her out of killing me.

“Winter, stop, I didn’t mean this to happen, I am sorry, please I…” Crack. Crack. Crack. Crack. Click click click click click…

I dropped the gun. It landed on the floor the same time she did. I knew my magic was unreliable. I knew it, and yet by trying to save both our lives, I had ended hers. Three of the shots lodged themselves into the floor, causing it to shatter where they impacted. The last one had embedded itself in her spine. Memories of my youth flooded back.

*** *** ***

“Come on Deadset, you can do it!” The young lilac unicorn yelled to me. I stared at the revolver in front of me. It was old and rusted, I would have been surprised if it could have even fired.

“Why do you even hang out with that dork? He’s only a few months off getting his destiny and he can’t even use his magic!” The brown earth colt laughed. There was a crowd of young fillies and colts watching me.

I had been dared that I couldn’t shoot down three tin cans from 10 meters with a fully loaded revolver. Looking at the state of the revolver, I doubted even the greatest sharpshooter of the wasteland could manage it, let alone the useless unicorn of some god forsaken tribe. I bent over and picked up the revolver between my teeth. I slid my tongue onto the trigger and could taste the rusted metal, and instantly spat it out.

“Fucking useless you are, Deadset!” an older, beige buck in the crowd yelled out at me. I glared at the gun. You don’t like me, and I don’t like you, but we have a job to do, so let’s get it over with so I can throw you onto the scrapheap.

I once again picked it up in my mouth and started to fire. It was so rusted that the sound it made was more of a dull clunk that a loud crack it was meant to be. Clunk. Clunk. Clunk. Every single shot missed the cans. By how much, I couldn’t tell. Another brown buck in the crowd shouted out;

“Use your magic you waste of a unicorn!” One of the fillies started laughing at something she just thought of, whispering it to her friend next to her. Together they started chanting.

“Deadhead the uselesscorn! Deadhead the uselesscorn!” It wasn’t long before the entire crowd had joined in on the chant. All but the lilac unicorn. I fired another two shots, trying my best to ignore the jeers. When both of them missed, I thought ‘Fuck it, they want me to use magic, then I’ll use magic’.

I concentrated, wrapping the gun between my teeth in a sheath of dark blue light. I slowly levitated the gun out of my mouth, spitting out the residue rust it left behind. The crowd still continued their chant, to my ire. Couldn’t blame them though, my grip was pretty shaky, and the gun was swaying quite a bit. Why did I care? I was going to miss either way, so on the unlikely event that I actually hit something; maybe it would shut them up. I closed my eyes and pulled the trigger.

Pain instantly rushed up my leg. I screamed out in agony. I had no idea what part of my leg I shot, but all I knew was it fucking hurt. I fell over, not wanting to look at my leg. The crowd instantly ran away, pretending as if they had nothing to do with what happened. Well, apart from the lilac unicorn, who rushed to my side.

“Hold still Deadset, you shot yourself.” In between my screams of pain, I managed to breathe something along the lines of ‘tell me something I don’t know’, and as much as I would have liked to have held still, the immense pain coursing through my body made that pretty hard.

“I might be able to help you, but this will probably hurt a bit.” Her horn started to glow as she wrapped my leg up in her magic. Suddenly, it felt like every bone was being grinded to dust. I started to go into fits of agony, begging for death to the very gods. I flailed madly, but Footlock kept a cool concentration, focussing on my leg and holding it still.

I happened to glance at my leg, and I was right. She actually had grinded the bones to dust! My skin lay limp and hoofless inside her magic field. The sight made me want to vomit, but when the next phase started, I was forced over the edge.

I could feel the dust reforming in my leg and returning to their natural, bony state. I couldn’t describe how it felt even if I wanted to, but it felt so wrong. So disgustingly, sickeningly wrong.

When it ended, she released my leg from her magical grip and I threw myself onto my back, still crying in pain, nostrils burning from the acrid smell of my vomit. I really didn’t want to look at my leg after what she did.

“You shot yourself in your hoof, it shattered really badly. I only was given the destiny of medical a few weeks ago, but I had read about a spell that could fix broken bones. I tried my best…but…” I stared at my hoof. It had long cracks running along and through it.

She told me it was only visual, that it was just as strong as any of the other hooves, but it didn’t feel like it. The whimpers in her voice told me she didn’t believe it either. She helped me up as she supported my weight. Together we trotted towards the medical tent to see what else could be done.

I was apparently lucky, that if she hadn’t done what she did, I would be down one hoof, and potentially dead.

Never did get rid of the nickname ‘Deadhead the uselesscorn’ though.

*** *** ***

I was brought back to the here and now by the earth pony I thought I killed suddenly starting to scream. Smash my bollocks in with a sledgehammer, it made me jump in fright.

“I can’t…what…help!” She was screaming, but her body lay limp. I quickly dropped to her eye level.

“I am sorry. I am so, so sorry. You were attacking me, and I was trying to talk to you, and it was an accident, and…” Her face turned from fear to anger at my words.

“You! You did this to me!? Slaughtering our tribe wasn’t enough!?” I suddenly remembered. The bullet went in her spine. I could vaguely remember Footlock once talking about a thing called para…paralysis or something. I don’t know, I’m not a medicalpony. All I knew was that she could only move her head because of my shitty magic.

Last time it only cost me a cracked hoof. This time it trapped a pony in their own body. I couldn’t leave her here, but I couldn’t drag her back to the tribe. It was too far, I was not a strong pony, and I didn’t want to die myself. I felt defeated; there was nothing I could do. It was then the pony on the floor spoke again.

“Kill me.” Wait what? No, no way, I haven’t killed a pony, and I’m not going to start now, especially when it’s a defenceless cripple.

“No, I can’t do that. I can’t kill a pony…” She flared up in anger again.

“You already killed me; my body just hasn’t got the message yet…” She was right. I couldn’t take her with me, and if I left her, she would starve, or worse, a hungry wild animal or raider would find her. I couldn’t think of a worse death.

Solemnly, I bent over and picked up my revolver, took out a handful of bullets from the pocket on my belt, and began loading shots into it. I realised that this was the first time I had ever fully emptied a revolvers cylinder since that day I shot myself. It always seemed my worst luck came with the 6th bullet. Her ears twitched slightly as she heard me reloading.

“No, not with the gun.” Oh no, oh fuck no. Gods’ make me swallow barbed wire, pull it out of my ass and floss me to death NO. She can’t want me to; she can’t expect me to…

She sensed my unease.

“You may not be a Claritian, but I still am.” Tears were rolling down her eyes as she spoke. “I wish to die by our customs.” I glanced at the knife by her limp body.

“But…I never gave an animal a clean death with it, there’s no way I could for you…” Her voice was breaking now as she spoke.

“I don’t care, do it, Deadset, please, so that I may be with the gods now.” My whole body shook as I holstered my now fully loaded gun, and bent down to pick up the rusty knife between my teeth. I rose above her, tears now starting to fall down my cheeks too.

She started to mutter under her voice a prayer, and as she did that I began to think that life isn’t fair. This pony didn’t deserve this. I had destroyed her life, and now I was going to end it, and in such a brutal manner. I waited for her to finish before I got down on my knees, tilted my head to the side, and plunged the knife into her neck.

She let out her finals screams of pain as I twisted the blade. The screams were replaced with a gurgling noise that I knew will haunt my dreams for the rest of my life. Blood poured out of the hole in her neck, and from out of her mouth.

I backed away, watching in horror as there was nothing more I could do. It took nearly a minute before the gurgling stopped. All that was left was the occasional twitch of her head.

What have I done?

*** *** ***

I sat outside up against the wall of the building, my head in my hooves. I pressed hard against them, feeling the cracks along the left one. Winters’ blood clung to my coat around my muzzle. I would have washed it off if the kitchen had running water. It didn’t.

Her words were ringing through my head, that monsters had killed the other ones. My world came crashing down around me. The wasteland was now actively making me destroy everything I held dear. I led those ponies here; it was because of me they ran into whatever it was, and then forced me to kill Winter in cold blood.

I stomped against the dirt. I had to do some good for my tribe, even if they didn’t want me. There had to be something I could do. I made a mental note that I was going to find those monsters and kill them. I also had to help Winter with one last thing.

I slowly got back up and walked a little away from the building. I then began to dig a hole with my bare hooves. It may not be much, but if she wanted to be with the gods, I was going to do my best to make sure she was.

When I was finished, the clouded sky was starting to grow dark again. I could imagine the survivors back at the village, still burying those that died in the attack. I knew that Footlock would take prime place with her gave. Her father would make sure of that. I walked back into the building, standing next to Winter.

I had taken out the knife already, but it currently just lay on the floor. I could remember something else she said. ‘You may not be a Claritian, but I still am.’. Did I really not consider myself a Claritian anymore? No, even as an outcast, even while cursed, I was one of them. As a mark of respect, I picked the blade off the floor, and fastened it to my belt. I still hoped deep down I wouldn’t need to use it again.

I dug my head underneath her body, lifting her onto my back. It wasn’t perfect, but it was better than being dragged or levitated by me. When I got to the hole, I slowly tilted forward, letting her slide down my back and roll into the hole. I then filled it up with dirt. Once finished, I gave a prayer to the great phoenix that she should be taken under her wing.

When I had finished, I turned and walked back into the building. The main area was still a filthy, wretched raider’s pit, but the kitchen was left relatively unscathed, and would do for the night.

As I slept, in my dreams I could see every pony of the tribes’ heads on pikes, with raiders laughing and eating the decapitated corpses. The screams and death-throws of all those I saw die ringing out through the burning landscape. I saw Footlocks’ head, and the horrifying gurgle rang in my ears. Suddenly a mirror appeared before me, and in my reflection I stood, clad in raider armour, covered in the blood of all those I loved. I too was chewing on a corpse. Suddenly all the heads chanted in unison;

“You did this! You did this! You did this!”

*** *** ***

“I didn’t mean to!” I awoke screaming. It took me a few seconds to realise that it was just a dream. But it wasn’t, was it? I had caused the deaths of tens, if not hundreds of ponies. Clarity may never recover from what I did.

I looked down at myself. At some point in the night, I had wet myself. Just great. I was hoping to have gotten further before I needed a wash, but being covered in raider and pony blood, as well as piss, kind of made it a necessity.

I walked out of the kitchen through the back entrance and faced the building. My stomach rumbled. I hadn’t eaten in over a day, and what I had eaten before currently lay on the ground. I decided that after washing myself I should look for food. I took out one of my canteens of water, poured a small amount onto my hoof and began to wash off the stains of the worst two days of my life.

As I did this, I noticed a poster on the wall. Displayed on it was a proud looking blue pony with a rainbow coloured mane. It was wearing some strange black barding that ended in a vicious looking sting, and wings protruding from the side.

Wait, wings? That can’t be right? Ponies don’t have wings, do they? I’ve never seen one with wings before; I knew that much…no, it had to be a part of the barding, like the tail. Bloatflies, phoenixes and griffons could fly, and nothing else that I knew of. Definitely not ponies. But still, those wings matched the colour of its coat, not the barding.

‘What about angels?’ spoke the voice in my head. I…guessed it could be an angel of either the goddess of the day or night. Probably night, given the menacing black barding it wore. Why a picture of a night-angel was on the wall of this building, I didn’t know, but it’s not like it mattered. The words that were around the poster long since faded.

While I was musing to myself, I had finished washing. I still had a little water left in my canteen. I was damn thirsty as well as hungry, so downed the rest of it. As much as I wanted to open my second canteen, I chose not to. I had no idea when I would next find a source of water, so best save what I had.

I walked back into the kitchen of the building and started searching around for food. Earlier, when I thought missing my snack cakes was a small importance, I didn’t think it any more. I would have done anything for one now. I would have done anything for some uncooked radhog meat too though, but still, preferred carrot cakes.

As I searched, I noticed an image of a light brown earth pony with a speech bubble attached. He was saying ‘pony Joes always insist on the highest of standards of cleanliness. Always wash hooves before preparing food.’ Why would anypony waste good water to simply wash their hooves? Water was rare. If I hadn’t been able to repair something that the Elder called ‘a water purifier’ a few years back, the tribe would have died of thirst long ago. As it was, we collected rainwater and poured it though the machine. What came out always tasted of dirt, but I was told that I did well and that I saved the village. But even so, clean water was scarce, so a pony washing only their hooves seemed insanity.

I continued to search until I found a locked cabinet and a strange metal box next to it as well. How the fuck was I meant to get into these? Urgh, the wasteland hated me. I lifted up the box with my hooves, and then I noticed some strange paper thing, sort of resembling a small book, fall down from behind it. I put the box down, and flattened the paper on the floor and started to read ‘Locksmiths today’.

When I finished reading I felt a little angry. It had told me how I needed to open it, but it never explained what a ‘bobby pin’ was. Helpful. I had a screwdriver on my belt, so that was sorted, but without the second thing, what I hoped would be my breakfast lay out of my reach. I stomped the ground in frustration.

A light, cracking noise filled the room. I looked down on the floor, and there lay at the base of the cabinet, parts of small metal clips that I’ve seen before. I was a repairpony; I always had a few of these handy. Were these bobby pins? I went through the instructions the paper thing had given me. The metal clips would be able to do just that. Perfect!

I opened the pocket on my belt and fished out a clip. With my tongue I pushed against it and made it into the shape the sort-of-book recommended. I then got out the screwdriver from my belt and held it at the other end of my mouth. The book had said ‘this is far more difficult for earth ponies’, so I knew I had my work cut out for me, but still, had to try.

After a few attempts, I managed to poke the pin into the hole on the lock. With great difficulty I put the end of the screwdriver into the hole as well and twisted. I nearly twisted what the book-thing said would be enough before the pin broke. Dammit! Still, it did say this would be hard for non-magic users. I fished out another pin and tried again.

This time, I twisted the pin in the lock slightly first, before twisting with the screwdriver. To my surprise, the lock gave off a little ‘click’, and I withdrew my pin and screwdriver. Not bad for a first-timer. As I opened the door to the cabinet, I was more than happy to see my prize was a number of boxes of old food. Unfortunately no carrot cakes, so I settled with snacking on something called ‘sugar apple bombs’, putting the other boxes of food into my saddlebags. While I enjoyed them greatly, and it made my hunger go away, it did taste a little too sweet for me, and the strange white powder made my teeth itch a little. But beggars can’t be choosers, and I was grateful for what I had.

Next I turned my attention to the metal box. It too had a lock, similar to the cabinet on it. I wasn’t sure what to expect inside this one, as it didn’t really look like it was built to hold food. Curiosity got the better of me anyway, and I fished out yet another bobby pin and had a crack at it.

Things didn’t go well with this one. I quickly lost 3 bobby pins to it, and was down to my last. I gave a little prayer to the gods before trying one last time. Success, the lock gave a small click. Fuck, after the click, I accidentally still twisted, causing the pin to snap. I hoped whatever this box held was worth it. I placed the screwdriver back on the belt before opening the lid of the box.

There, at the bottom, was a small black…thing. I was starting to hate how I never knew the names of anything I found, especially when it was mechanical. I brought the thing to my eye level. On the side of it was written ‘S-B; For when you’re in a tight spot’. The bottom of it looked like it attaches to something, but what that something was, I couldn’t begin to guess. I couldn’t even imagine what the thing did.

Great, I lost my last pins for a great big fat load of nothing. I tossed it into my saddlebags and was about to move on when I noticed a small glint at the bottom. I tipped the box over and out slid 4 bobby pins. Now that just made my head hurt. Why would somepony put bobby pins in something that required bobby pins to get into? Surely to get into it they’d need those bobby pins that were inside and, argh, my brain was starting to ache. Still, don’t look a gift horse in the mouth. I put the bobby pins in the pocket on my belt, and decided it was time to move on from this place. I had spent longer than I had wanted here, and it was time to go monster hunting for Clarity.

*** *** ***

I was a terrible monster hunter.

As I neared where they were, I had found the bodies of a few of the other ponies. They had been completely shredded. Whatever did this to them was strong, and had very sharp claws. I decided that it would be better if I could kill them before they could see me then. ‘Are you mad Deadhead? Are you trying to get yourself killed?’

“Shut up!” I hissed under my breath. This was important, I had to set right some wrongs, and if I had to risk my life doing it, so be it. The monsters appeared to have come from a sort of deep rocky alcove. Gulping, I crouched, treading lightly.

I had barely taken ten steps when the ground started to rumble. Instinctively, I leapt out the way, expecting some behemoth to come charging out of nowhere and trample me to death. Instead, some strange furred creature burst out from where I was standing. I was grateful I jumped. The monster stood about twice, if not three times my height. It stood on its’ hind legs, and its’ long forelegs ended in frighteningly long claws. I already knew what they could do. It looked at me with its’ wicked eyes before speaking;

“Pony want to play?”

I turned and ran. May the great buffalo stomp on my spine with its hooves of destruction! The monster blocked me from the exit, and this alcove had no other obvious exits. I dashed as hard as my legs could take me. I swung my head around wildly, looking for any safe spot, but all I could see were huge machines painted a faded yellow.

I could feel the ground shake a number of times, as more and more monsters emerged to join in on the chase. These things were fast, and I couldn’t help but feel that they were toying with me. They were only a few meters behind me, and closing in. I had to try something.

I made a sudden swerve towards one of the machines. This one had a large arm that rose up towards the sky, and ended with a hook. As I was running towards it, I was mentally analysing what mechanisms I could see. The hook was connected to a long cable that ran down the length of the arm, and wrapped around a drum at the base, which had a lever attached.

If I was right, this would work, and would buy me a precious few seconds. I leapt up onto the machine, kicking the leaver as I ran. I was grateful when I heard a loud clang as it shifted position. I would soon find out if I did the right thing. I began to climb up the machines arm. I heard one of the monsters yell to the others;

“Stupid pony thinks we can’t climb! Pony is trapped. Game over, pony!” Actually, my gambit also revolved around them being able to climb up this. I continued to climb up, glancing back to see they were as well. Faster than I had hoped…I was slowed down by the climb, they barely seemed affected.

I locked my sight back on the hook at the end of the arm. I was pretty high up now. Nearing the end. I could feel the breath of the monster behind me. I gulped. Now or never.

I leapt over the end of the arm, hooves wrapping themselves around the hook. My heart skipped a beat. My hunch was right, and the lever was set to lock before I kicked it. The hook, with my added weight, began to draw more cable as it lowered me down.

One of the monsters had leapt after me, but plummeted down and fell on its’ back. If the fall didn’t kill it, the pool of sharp gems sure did. I looked up to see the other monsters all at the end of the arm, looking down at me. I was right, they’d have to climb all the way down, giving me extra time and…what is that one doing?

I saw one of them lean over the edge of the arm, claws outstretched. No, please don’t. Please, please don’t! It did. It slashed the cable with its claws, and I found myself plummeting from what wasn’t a fatal height, but more than high enough to break bones. A death sentence here if ever I saw any. I glanced at the corpse of the monster at the edge of the gem pool and took another gulp. I leapt off from the hook, and soared through the air. My heart skipped another beat as I landed on the softer monster, instead of the hard dirt, or more painful gems.

The hook however smashed into the ground with full force. The crater it created let off a large cloud of dust. That’ll help. I jumped off the monsters corpse and ran in another random direction. No sooner had I broken free of the dust cloud though, I head one of the monster yell again.

“There is stupid pony. Get it!” I think playtime was over now as they all let out a great howl and started to climb down the arm as fast as they could. Although my risk paid off, I knew I was running on borrowed time.

The ground started rumbling again. Not underneath me this time, but at my sides. Well, if that’s where they were coming up from, like fuck was I going to change course. Ahead I saw a cave. Maybe I could run in there and hide? Suddenly the penny dropped. They were herding me. I wanted to turn away, to do something unexpected, but from quick glances around while running, I could see that would end up me being torn to pieces.

There must have been about 20 of these beasts chasing me now. Well, I guess this is going to be the end for me. I just hope the phoenix has room under her wing for one more. When I entered the mouth of the cave, the monsters seemed to slow down. I didn’t care why though, I just continued to run.

That is until I tripped over the corpse of what must have been another one of their victims. It wasn’t a pony I recognised. Fuck! If this is how I’m going to die, I’m not going down without a fight. I pulled out my revolver. The monsters were standing at the mouth of the cave now, and they appeared to be sauntering over to me, as if they didn’t have a care in the world.

“Stupid pony thinks tiny gun can hurt us. Stupid pony will die like the others.” ‘Fuck you!’ I screamed in my head. Crack. Miss. Crack. Miss. The monster continued to stroll towards me at a pedestrian pace. Crack. Hit, but dammit, it barely left a scratch. What were these things made of? Crack. Miss. Crack. Another pathetic hit. I closed my eyes, giving a prayer to the Draconequus. May his chaotic ways bring blessing to this shot. Crack.

*** *** ***

The shot had struck the roof of the cave. It seemed hopeless. I was dead. Suddenly, a cracking noise echoed though the shallow cave. The monsters stopped, looking up above them. They turned and dashed out of the cave. All but one, who was crushed under the falling rubble. The rocks kept falling until all light from the outside was cut off.

Just my luck. I just swapped a hopefully quick death by sharp claws, for a long death by dark cave and starvation. It was then I noticed the cave was not as dark as it should have been. I looked at the pony corpse that was my companion, and noticed that it was giving off a strange green light.

On further inspection, I saw that it was a small metal tube clamped around his wrist that was doing this. I blinked for a second, before I remembered what exactly it was. It was a…um…pipbuck. Yeah, that was it. I could remember when a trader had arrived at my village one time with one of them. I was fascinated by it, and he showed me a lot of how it worked. He said it could sort your gear, bring up a map of where you’ve been, and even tell you where your enemies are hiding. Now that I saw one that didn’t have a living owner, I had to have it.

I brought out every tool I had, hoping one would do the job. Thankfully one did. As I unfastened the metal from the dead pony’s leg, I slid it off with great care. I still couldn’t believe that the gods would give me such a gift. I looked up, shining the light at the newly made rock wall, complete with monster blood oozing from the bottom. Too bad they give it to me when I was going to die.

Unusually enough, this didn’t actually dampen my spirits much. I had just got something I had wanted from the moment I saw it, and now I did. Deep down, since I knew this thing could do so much, I actually believed it would show me a way out. I slid my own leg in, opting to use my left, cracked-hoof-leg. I need to balance out that leg’s appearance somehow after all. Fastening it tight, I couldn’t help but feel as giddy as a foal drinking it’s first sunrise sasparilla, a very rare treat at the village. I started to look through all the options the pipbuck gave me. I noticed the previous owner had made a recording.

“Ahahaha, alive after being shot in the head. Man, I have some good luck. The guy who fixed me up claimed I was taking something to Neigas, even gave me his pipbuck, but, fuck that man, I’m the luckiest son of a bitch in the whole goddesses’ damned wasteland. Whoever took it off me can keep it, like fuck am I going to die twice for it. Not for a few measly caps when I can hit the jackpot. I’m going to head on down there to the strip myself, win big at the casinos. First need the caps to gamble though. Some quarry worker offered me a few hundred to clear out some critters in the quarry for him. As long as it isn’t hellhounds, I’ll be fine. Yep, things are looking up for me.”

The recording cut off there. I couldn’t help but pity the pony. He was so sure in his luck that he died for it. I also guessed this Neigas place was one of the big pony civilisations. Well, if I was going to build a life now, I guess there is as just a good a place as any. I went to where the pipbuck said ‘inventory’ to check if it had adjusted to me. It had, but there was one thing which seemed rather ominous to me. Under my equipped weapon, my revolver, it said something most unnerving.

“Deadset’s misfortune”.

Footnote: Level up
New perk: Travel Light-- While wearing light or no barding, you run 10% faster.
Quest Perk: Blessing of the Draconequus--The god of luck and chance has smiled upon you. Every 6th shot from the gun ‘Deadset’s misfortune’ has the chance to cause an unforeseen set of events. Outcome is affected by luck stat. Be warned, the Draconequus is a fickle god, and his gift can just as easily be a curse.

Comments

[Sigur024]

really enjoying this so far

If you ever need a pre-reader, just ask

[Crawver]

100049

Thanks for the advice, I've made the edits, and have got a few people to check the grammar now. I do hope it's better.

[Crawver]

100558
Thanks, I just hope I can keep it being worth the watch

[gapaot]

135062
Well, I hope so! In return I'll try to write more detailed comments)

[Crawver]

134595
Well, I was hoping people would enjoy it.

I do have a couple already, but more never hurt I guess. I do only want those who have fully read at least the original FoE, and ideally are far better at spelling and grammar than I am, considering it is main main flaw (dam dyslexia, we meet again). If you can do that though, send me an email at [e-mail], and I'll be happy to send you the drafts.

[Sigur024]

135080

cool, I'll do that now