Is it… Zombies?

Uh… not very likely.

Not likely, but possible?

Chapter 13: Neighton

I took us another day to reach the small missile factory outside of Neighton. There was no denying this place gave me the creeps. Something about it told me that regular ponies hadn’t set foot here for a long time… maybe too long a time. However, my clients were paying for me to check this place out…

Well, not actually paying, but it wasn’t like I was really in this shit for the caps. Besides, there was always plenty of gear around when we went adventuring and it was sure to bring in plenty of caps to pay us for the ammo and effort we were using to do this.

Only a few feet into the yard my EFS flashed three red blips.

Ok, I told myself. Ok, so you’re about to see ghoul ponies. These ponies are not sentient, thinking ponies. They are beasts. Put them down like beasts.

I leapt over the ledge of the hill and took aim at the first thing I saw that was moving.

Bang Bang!

My pistol tore one ghoul pony’s head apart. I smiled and hit S.A.T.S. and took aim again. This was natural. This was battle, and maybe a lot a bit of vengeance. I placed a headshot and both of the remaining ghouls and released the spell.

Bang!

Bang!

Dead. Dead.

I moved forward, looking over my kills, and I saw several shapes moving forward into the main yard of the building. My EFS showed far more red blips out here. I told John to take to the air, and he nodded, readying Cloudchaser and Flitter before taking off. I felt a cool rush of air blow my mane off my forehead for a moment, and sprinted into battle.

Bang! Bang Bang!

Punch in the face: Broken skull. Reload and shoot again!

Bang!

For every ghoul that I could find, I created another body, and spilled more blood. This was different now though. I wanted to hurt these creatures more than I’d ever wanted to kill somepony, even the dyno doomponies hadn’t pissed me off this much. Oh sure, terminal that was my brain was busy pointing out I was this mad at ghouls because of unresolved mother issues, but the war-pony in me didn’t give a damn!

“FUCK YOU MOTHER FUCKERS!” I screamed, getting the attention of as many as possible.

Of it’s own accord, my pipbuck picked up a radio station I’d never seen before. After all, I’d never touched the radio since it had talked to me about Littlepip’s orgasms. It wasn’t a tune I’d ever heard before, or that I would likely ever hear again. However, something in the music stirred in me, and it was as if a part of me awoke and took over my entire body. At that moment the music swept through me and despite any and all forms of logic, I began singing.

Here at this once-great factory (La la la la la) Outside Neighton, and buried deep
Ghouls are out here and they’re just so unappealing!
Any stable pony should cross their hooves before entering!

The ghouls have a hint of bloodlust and maybe just a dash of genocide.
As I wipe them all away right before your very la la la la, eyes!

Reloading the chambers, come on!
Oh you terrible, abominations of ponies!
Come on! Oh you’re terrible imitations of real ponies!

I had the attention of the entire yard now, shooting and singing wildly. Not that I cared much.

All your victims range from mothers and fouls,
Slaughtering them helplessly, causing such depravity!
I’m revenge incarnate, I’m here to destroy you
Scream all you want, there’s nothing you can do
But die and crumble as my bullets all go through
Horrible abominations of ponies!

I could vaguely hear John yelling at me to shut up as I punched another ghoul’s face in until I heard bones snap.

And, not to mention,
The horrible smell and the drooling you all do now,
As I stand before you
Well, get over it, because I don’t give a shit.

Well only minutes ago, after we showed up,
I bet you thought, you’d get a nice game
But then the bullets went bang! Yes, the bullets go bang!

As I said this, I emptied my clip into one ghoul, and reloaded quickly, still singing.

Between your skull and your brain
And now you’re writhing in pain!
And it’s a game of a different kind!

Reloading the chambers, come on!
Oh you terrible, abominations of ponies!
Come on! Oh you’re terrible imitations of real ponies!

There are just,
Skulls, death, all blood and gore and no chance to hurt anypony no more!
Pipbuck says red, my conscious says dead, as I put a bullet through your head.

Skulls, death, all blood and gore and no chance to hurt anypony no more!
Pipbuck says red, my conscious says dead, as I put a bullet through your head.

Come on! Oh you’re terrible imitations of real ponies!
Come on! Oh you’re terrible imitations of real ponies!

I could hear John screaming at me and could feel how little I cared about what ghoul bastard fucker heard me.

Skulls, death, all blood and gore and no chance to hurt anypony no more!
Pipbuck says red, my conscious says dead, as I put a bullet through your head.

Skulls, death, all blood and gore and no chance to hurt anypony no more!
Pipbuck says red, my conscious says dead, as I put a bullet through your head.

My song ended softly and I suddenly felt very awkward about having broken into a song I had not planned and certainly never heard before. I could vaguely make out John, hovering in the air and quickly picking ghoul ponies off without fear, since he was so far out of reach.

There weren’t many ghouls left in the yard now, and hunting them down was simple enough. John landed in front of me and did a quick sweep of the yard before he spoke again.

“And just what in the hay was that?” he demanded.

“The power of music?” I suggested lamely.

“Whatever it was, it was SO AWESOME,” he said, smiling brightly, before adding. “But don’t ever do it again. Seriously, it’s enough trouble keeping you alive without you egging on ghoul ponies.”

I nodded and did a slow scan of the yard. There were several ghoul bodies, and I noticed several I hadn’t killed. They were crushed by creature that was easily much, much taller than they were. Whatever it was killed through blunt force, and a huge amount. Any well-placed blow with that much force could kill a pony, and ghouls were already rotting from the inside out.

I did a quick mental scan of my terminal for any creatures capable of such force and got a few results, but nothing I would be able to confirm without more data. Deciding we really had not more choice, I opened the door to the factory. Before I could look around an intercom sparked to life just to my left.

“Hey there clean-coats, you may want to stop quarreling and run. Take the staircase up to the east!”

“Why would I… FUCKING SHIT!”

I’d not even finished asking when something attacked me out of the blackness. I’d never seen anything like it before and I wasn’t truly seeing it now, not with all the darkness around me.

Always check EFS! I thought at myself angrily. Always, always check EFS!

Sure enough, my pipbuck flashed several red dots surrounding us. At least I knew what had driven the ghoul ponies out of the factory now. Whatever this thing was attacking us, it was none too keen on pony-shaped lifeforms. At least I knew I was on the right track to figuring out what had killed the ghouls.

I used S.A.T.S. but still couldn’t clearly see the creature and the pipbuck displayed a 0% chance to hit.

“OH FUCK YOU!” I shouted at it. “YOU CLEARLY CAN TELL IT’S HERE AND A THREAT!”

I kicked out wildly, and actually felt my hoof connect with the creature, but I had no time to see if I’d stymied it. I ran up the staircase the voice on the intercom had boasted about, and hammered on the door.

“Open up!” said John, a little more frantic than I was. “Open up! Open up! Open up open up open up!”

The door was flung wide and we dashed inside, firing wildly over our shoulders as we landed past whoever, or whatever had let us inside the saferoom. I still didn’t really believe that they were still alive, but just in case, I thanked Celestia and Luna that we were safe.

“Thank you!” gasped John. “My name’s John Trotson, captain of the Pegasai Enclave, and this is my friend, Detective Sherclop Pones!”

I raised and quizzical eyebrow at the addition of the word “detective.” I’d never said it, but there wasn’t time to ask about it right now.

“Name’s Chester. Man you are ugly.”

We turned to see a light blue colored pony with red eyes and a labcoat staring at us through a dimly lit hall.

“Well, as you’re such as handsome pony,” I said, breathing easier. “Why don’t you tell us why you saved us.”

“Don’t take it personally,” he growled at us in an unnaturally grainy voice. “All you clean-coats are ugly to us.”

“Clean-coats?”

“It’s a term ghoul ponies use for those of us who haven’t been effected radiation,” said John, hinting that I should play along.

Sadly, I wasn’t in the mood.

“You’re not a ghoul pony…”

I knew it wasn’t a smart thing to say to our savior, but I’m not known for my charisma.

“Shove it, clean-coat!” he said. “Your tricks won’t work on me. If I had my choice, I’d have left you to the demons, but Jason and the others took a vote that you could be trusted. Why, I’ll never know…”

“Now now,” said a voice from the stairwell. “Do not be so hard on our guests, Chester.”

I turned and pulled out my revolver out of instinct. In front of me was a glowing ghoul pony. Two fractions of my mind fought each other furiously. On one hoof, this was a ghoul pony, and I’d just fought a legion of them outside.

The little pony in my brain was furiously shouting that this ghoul was not attacking me, and was in fact calling me a guest.

The trigger-happy side of me got ready to fire while the little pony shouted at me.

“Sherclop!” said John harshly, lowing my gun with his wing. “Don’t! He’s not like the others.”

I nodded, lowing the gun, but keeping it ready to use at a split-second’s need. I knew, regardless of my anger, that John was right.

“I am sorry about this Sherclop Pones,” said the glowing ghoul pony. “I understand why you are so distrustful of me and my kind. You haven’t had a good experience with us.”

His voice was soft, and kind unlike the others. Nevertheless I wasn’t relaxed.

“I’ve had plenty of experience with ghouls!” I growled. “Just ask the lot outside!”

“With feral ghouls yes. I know all about what happened to your father and sister… You too, if truth be told. Honestly, I wouldn’t have wished that fate upon your mother… She’s a good pony.”

That did it. That wiped my mind terminal and I saw red. Forget the revolver! I didn’t need that toy!

I charged and swung hard, only to feel something yank on my tail and plop me flat on my stomach. I looked back and saw John, his face stern.

“You don’t get to talk about her that way!” I barked. “You don’t deserve to!”

“Sherclop’s a bit out of line,” said John. “But I have to admit, that’s baiting him a bit, don’t you think?”

The glowing ghoul pony looked at us, with slight confusion on his face.

“Sherclop?” said a new voice, slightly grainy and used, but curious. “Is that you?”

I turned to the voice, my mind telling me it belonged to a mare instead of the stallion. In front of me was a mare I’d seen only one picture of. Even if I didn’t have a perfect memory, I would’ve known her from that photo.

She hadn’t been a ghoul then, but there wasn’t any mistaking her. She still had a chocolate-colored mane that matched my own. She still had my light-grey eyes, and Myclop’s pure white coat, though it was now dirty and used from the radiation.

“M-mom?!”

My mind went blank again. Surely I was imagining this. My mind was projecting a fantasy I wanted to see. I’d somehow take just one drop of the memory potion and it was affecting my brain, or it’d broken and seeped in through my coat.

“Oh Sherclop! It is you!” said the ghoul-mare, giving me a very squishy and unpleasant hug. “I… I cannot believe it! Look at you, all grown up!”

“M-Mom?!”

My stupid mouth was apparently stuck on repeat. I wanted to ask so many different things.

Is that really you? How did you survive? I love you! I missed you!

The list went on and on but all I could do was stare.

“Such a handsome stallion!” she said, cooing over me in her grainy voice. “I knew you always would be. What about your sister and father? Are they here too? Oh, I have so many questions to ask you!”

I broke down, and hugged her back, regardless of how squishy a ghoul pony she was.

“I love you mom.”

Note: Level up!

Perk:
Gunslinger – Your abuse of S.A.T.S. and pistols had improved your accuracy with pistols by 20% when using the targeting spell with one-handed guns.