Fallout Equestria: Deductions in New Pegas!

by Hugo Reed

Chapter 16: Embracing Reality

No, because I know who did it!

Pinkie, how could you possibly know?

How could I possibly not know?

Chapter 16: Embracing Reality

I walked into the cell, and saw Plum Pudding sitting across from me. It wasn’t until I sat down and eyed her wearily that I was given to wonder how I could possibly know this mare’s name… I certainly hadn’t met her before, had I?

I supposed Lestride must’ve mentioned it and I had simply filled in my brain-terminal without knowing… Except I didn’t have a brain-terminal in this place, because terminals don’t exist… I searched my brain for what the proper replacement for terminal was and came up empty. This frightened me, but I kept my cool as best I could and spoke to the mare.

“Miss Pudding, my name is Sherclop Pones. I am a consulting detective of some international repute.”

“Yes Mr. Pones,” she said, eyeing me hungrily. “Everyone knows who you are!”

“I am given to understand you’ve been receiving letters from a distant pen-pal turned lover, turned suitor… Am I correct?”

“Yes Mr. Pones… That’s a fairly decent summery.”

Something occurred to me.

“How do I know that?” I asked Trotson quietly.

“Whatever do you mean?” Trotson asked. “Lestride told us last night!”

Had he? I supposed it was possible, but I couldn’t actually recall such a thing happening.

I turned my attention to Plum Pudding who was still staring at me. I allowed my eyes to trace her face, analyzing carefully. I saw that her pupils were dilated, and could see that her heart rate was increasing. She was aroused, at least mildly. Stupid ponies…

“Apologizes Miss Pudding,” I said, shaking myself. “Now, I understand that you have a not inconsiderable fortune that is to be granted to you upon the day of your marriage?”

How did I know this? Surely I would’ve remember something of this conversation if it had come from Lestride.

“Yes Mr. Pones.”

“And had you ever informed your suitor of this information?”

“But of course not. Such things color intentions, do they not?”

“They do,” said Trotson, trying to be kind to the distraught mare.

“However, despite little real change in your relationship with the stallion, he simply stopped writing?”

Did my knowledge here have something to do with the wasteland? Was that possible? Thoughts about reality began spinning through my mind at a speed that even a pegasus couldn’t have followed.

“Yes Mr. Pones. Being concerned about such a thing I contacted the authorities and they stated that he hadn’t ever existed. Is it possible I am dating a ghost?”

Dating a ghost…

Miss Pudding wasn’t the only one dating a ghost… although my situation was different. This world wasn’t real… I could tell… Things were off… Just slightly and where there were gaps in logic and missing pieces, my mind didn’t have any answer for me. This was false, helped along by the knowledge that I knew the answer to this case…

In fact, I’d read it.

“Your father has been sending you fake letters in order to secure his hold over your fortune.”

“What?” asked Miss Pudding in shock… fake shock my mind invented for the purpose of this world, but shock none the less.

“And it’s all the better that he did,” I said, growing long-winded. “I mean, after all who is truly going to love you?”

“PONES!” shouted Trotson, aghast at my actions.

“Trotson,” I said, smiling. “Tell me, were this world real, wouldn’t you stop me?”

“Don’t do it!”

“But I’ve done nothing yet. You are reading my mind because you are in my mind!”

I drew my revolver and pointed it right at Plum Pudding.

“PONES!”

Bang!

This, of course, is the trick of such worlds the mind can create. You have to break them. You have to do something so outrageous that the brain is forced to admit that the world is not a real one. It’s just a matter of whether or not I would be able to accept whatever I’d seen in the wasteland that caused this dream world to appear.

Sure enough, the world around me began to shimmer and pass away as my body remained solid. I noticed that my mind was remaining clearer, and clean, despite the fact that I should be feeling dulled due to the changeling blood that had coated me. Then, what my mind had been too slow to put together came flooding into me in droves. Changeling blood didn’t dull the senses, but it was a power of their queen, Chrysalis.

I remembered reading about how she’d once tricked the prince and princess of the crystal empire with it. I turned over to mother and John, and what my mind had been refusing to let me see became clear.

Whatever the female form before me was, it wasn’t my mother. My mother was a dead body on the ground in front of John. It was clear from a moment’s glance that she’d been dead for a great long time. I turned to the creature that had taken the guise of my mother and saw a large changeling before me. The first thing that struck me was that this was in fact a she.

Next, that she was severally wobbly, as if she’d suddenly lost a huge amount of energy all in one go. I went in on a bit of a guess and addressed her.

“Chrysalis?”

“I am Queen Chrysalis,” she spat, still too weak to move very much.

I reached out and placed a hoof on her neck, pressing firmly.

“You pretended to be my mother to hide out with these ghouls… You tricked me and stole the affection of one of the only ponies left I could call family.”

“Poor Sherclop Pones!” she said, laughing. “I took mommy away from him! What are you waiting for? You want her memories? You want to know how she died screaming about her family?”

“Shut the hell up!” hissed John, shooting her through the hoof.

She barely even paused.

“I told her you were coming, you know? Oh it was glorious! It was all, ‘My baby boy’ this and ‘don’t hurt him’ that. She was such a crybaby! Just like a poor little filly… Just like her son!”

I forced myself to remain calm, react rationally. I realized, due to my short time through my namesake’s history that I’d been acting with too much emotion on my journey through the wasteland. I’d let my feelings cloud my judgment and get both myself and John hurt far too often. I would keep myself under better control now. I swore it.

“Chrysalis of the changelings,” I said solidly. “You have murdered innocents, betrayed loving families and attempted the overtaking of a peaceful community. You’re too dangerous to leave alive.”

I reached up high and brought my forehooves down on her face as she was laughing manically. I stomped again and again until I could be sure the mush beneath me wouldn’t get up again. John shook himself slightly.

“Sherclop…” he said softly. “I’m so sorry.”

“You haven’t done anything wrong,” I said gently, and I meant it. “You were looking out for me, and you were right. Help me bury her please. She deserves better than rotting here.”

John nodded and helped me carry my real mother’s body outside and dig a small grave for her. It took a little while, but I knew she deserved it. She’d been a loving mother, right up to her end… I only wished I could’ve seen her for real… However, wishing wasn’t going to fix what had happened to her.

“I love you, mom.”

With that simple eulogy, we head back inside and up the stairway to tell Jason about what had happened. I let John do the talking, allowing my brain terminal to start back up properly. I found that in a strange way, I was able to think… clearer. It was as if my thinking had become more robotic, even registering emotions with a logical acceptance. I still felt emotions, but I didn’t have you let my heart rule my head.

John came trotting over a moment later, telling that Jason had invited us to see their ascension to their great journey. I nodded and we followed the group down into the basement. I soon realized their journey would require riding the rockets to a place in the sky. This also explained why there were no normal ponies making this trip: the radiation would kill them almost instantly.

This forced my mind onto Chester. Up until now, his involvement had seemed relatively harmless. If he wanted to live his life among ghouls, he was welcome to, however now there was an issue. He wasn’t going with them on this trip and it would crush him to think he’d just been left behind without a place to go. I turned to John.

“We’ve got to straighten Chester out. It’s wrong to let him believe he’ll be alone once they leave.”

“How? You want to tell him he’s not really a ghoul, because we already tried that once and that just made him mad.”

I went over to the computer that Chester was hastily entering information in on. I noted that his settings for the flight were slightly off and I had enough practice with terminals to correct the misstep. However, it was quickly clear to me that Chester was a far more skilled technician then I was. It was probably a part of his cutie mark and I would’ve checked if it wasn’t covered by the lab coat.

“Chester.”

“Clean-coat… Listen you two did us a big one by cleaning this place out… So, if I can ever help you out, just say the word.”

“I will remember that, but I’m not here to talk about favors. I need you to realize what you really are.”

“Shut up with that!” Chester hissed. “I’m a ghoul pony! I accepted that long ago!”

“Well you’re not!” I responded firmly. “Why do you think Jason isn’t letting you go on the journey?”

“He needs someone to launch the rockets!”

“Then why not me? I’m a skilled scientist… Certainly enough to start a pre-set launch sequence.”

Chester looked very uncomfortable for a long moment and finally screamed, slamming his hooves down on the terminal.

“He lied to me!” shouted Chester. “That bastard let me think… for years… Fine. If he’s journey’s so important to him, let’s see how they like it when I launch them all to the damn moon!”

“Hey!” John shouted. “That isn’t the right way to go about this! You should use it to help yourself!”

“Oh yeah?!” he snapped. “And where exactly do you think they need a broken, out of touch guy like me?!”

“The NCE prison and Dodge Junction for a start,” I said. “The prisons systems are in desperate need of repair and Dodge Junction’s just begging for a few defenses beyond that fence. I’m willing to bet there’s plenty of places that could use you. You’re a skilled pony, Chester… Don’t give up just because this isn’t what you thought.”

Chester eyed me for a very long time. For a moment, I thought he might swing at me. However, he sighed, and nodded a few times.

“I’ll head out to the prison after this… If what you said is true… If you’re not just pulling one over on me… I guess I’ll owe you again.”

“I’m still not doing this so you’ll owe me,” I said. “I’m doing it because it’s wrong to leave you behind if I can help. I was told once there was a time when ponies helped each other out in the wasteland. I want to see that happen again. Maybe some type of harmony could return… even in this shithole.”

Chester didn’t talk to me anymore, but returned to his terminal. I was beyond exhausted, and felt like I hadn’t slept in a week, at least. Too tired to even watch the launch, I went over to a corner and lay down on my side, waiting to drift off to sleep.

However determined I was to pass out the racket around me was making it impossible. Even I couldn’t sleep through the pounding all around, not to mention the beeps and boops of Chester’s terminal. My mind chose that moment to bring up the memory potion I’d taken from the would-be bandit a while back.

Carefully, I levitated it out of my bag and examined it. I hadn’t taken any sense I’d watched Big Mac’s death. However, that had ended up being helpful and there was no doubt I’d enjoyed seeing the history.

“Alright then, what do you have for me?” I asked, taking a long sip from the bottle.

Note: Level up!

Perk:
Wasteland Approved – Stable ponies are tenderhooves. You’re a wastelander and have gained a +3 DT because of your battle experience.