Fallout Equestria: Souls

by JustMoth

Act 1 - Part 1 : Ready...

Fallout Equestria: Souls

Act 1 - Part 1 : Ready…

Waste Land Survival Lesson 23:
“You’ll never forget something you learned the hard way.”

Over the course of my life I’ve learned many lessons on how to survive in this forsaken wasteland, and as a result I have lived long enough to learn several more. At this point I’ve gathered enough to make a list as long as a snake’s tail. There’s general rule of hoof things like “Never trust a gambler from Dise” (and trust me on that, I’m from Dise), to the more common sense things like “don't feed the yao guai”. I actually did consolidate the thirty best lessons that I’ve learned into a written list. I would give the list out to any interested pony I meet during my travels. Although, the only pony that seemed interested in the list so far was a pleasant pegasus mare that I once met, though I’m not sure how well they would apply to a ghoul.

I’ve learned most of these lessons while traveling around Equestria and the surrounding areas during my career as a merchant. My long travels had brought me from burnt out cities where life still hung on within the ruins, to new settlements trying to start over after the world ended 100 years ago. At each place I would make a modest living selling what wares I had in my saddle bags. I thank my luck that I was born an earth pony, giving me the strength to carry more than any unicorn or pegasus, but it was still barely enough at times. I’ve heard rumors of a race of two headed cows being found to the north, it’s said that they would gladly carry enormous weights for anypony, but it sounds too good (and weird) to be true.

Yet trading the meager items that I carried around wasn’t the main reason I would travel so far and wide, it wouldn’t be worth it, my real source of caps came from trading information. At each city, town, or village I went to I would make a list of what resources the local ponies had and what ones they needed. I would then cross-reference those lists with the ones from other locations and instruct the locals as to where they could trade what they had for what they needed. I would then make a list of what settlements I have networked together so I could check up on them when I was back that way again. You may have gathered that I like lists, and yeah, it’s kinda my special talent.

During all that travel I must have faced every danger, horror, and threat that resulted from the bombs falling a century ago. Creature threats like mutated animals or monster from before the war. Pony horrors like raiders and zombies. Environmental dangers like magical radiation and exposure to the elements (and not the harmony variety). Yet through gunplay, negotiation, preparedness, a fast gallop, or just blind luck I managed to live though them all and learn a lesson each time.

Now I just learned the hard way the most important lesson of all. Waste Land Survival Lesson 31: “Dying sucks!”

~~~***~~~

Aaaah! What in the seven layers of Tartarus!?

One moment I’m trotting through the eastern Equesterian desert, sticking close to a natural rock wall to get the most of the rapidly disappearing noon shade, and the next moment it feels like I’m being violently ripped out of my body. The time I was stung by a giant rad-scorpion and had all four legs broken by its pincers tickled compared to whatever that was.

The pain’s gone now… along with my old back leg pain… and my back leg! AND ALL OF ME!!

WHAT!?!

What’s going on? I’m here but I can’t see myself, and I can see quite a lot! Oh this is too weird! It’s like I can see in all directions at once, from all sides, this is too much… I can’t even close my eyes… I DON’T HAVE EYES!!

I have to calm down. I’ve survived weirder things that this. Well not weirder, but close…

I can see everything within roughly a large circle area, but with no fixed point of view, like I’m everywhere in the circle at once. Beyond the circle things in my perception start to blur more and more into indistinct colors as they get farther away.

Hmm. Maybe this is what one of those memory orbs are like. What if I somehow triggered one in the desert and the pain I felt was connecting into it. I’ve seen a unicorn have a very bad reaction trying to activate damaged memory orbs, lots of screaming and vomiting. Great, I probably threw up on myself…

No, three problems with that theory:

1. Only unicorns can use memory orbs and they have to actively activate them. It’s possible that somepony made one that an earth pony could use, but it’s very improbable that it would be lying around the desert and could be activated by accident.

2. Memory orbs are from somepony’s memory, so it’s reasonable to expect them to be from one perspective, not from all points at once. Though, I can’t know that for sure since I’ve never experienced one (unless I am now).

3. Memory orbs are from at least 100 years in the past, yet going by the position of the sun it seems to be still early morning in the same desert, just a different location. I know that a desert may not change much over 100 years and aside for those two ponies this looks like any bit of desert anywhere in Equestria.

Perhaps I was drugged and this is just a hallucination. Maybe I was tagged with a dart laced with Moondust and Party-time Mint-als, or stung by some cross between a cazadorable and a Rad.. wait…

There’s two ponies here!

Between the pain and new perception view I didn’t notice them at first.

Hey, can you tell me what’s going on?

They didn’t seem to hear me… oh, I don’t have a mouth…

HELP!!!!!

Screaming with my mind didn’t get their attention either. At least I still have a mind, even though I don’t think I have a brain. Although, losing my mind would explain a lot of what’s going on.

The two of them seemed to be arguing with each other.

“But I founf it and I wanna keeph it!” the bright yellow earth pony whined through the odd red pistol she held in her moth. She wore an old canvas duster coat, and from the parts it didn’t cover I could see the tell-tale blue and yellow of a Stable jumpsuit under it. It may have been the way her strong jaw contrasted with her slim form, or the fact that her duster was several sizes too larger, but there’s just something about her that looked… wrong. I can’t put my hoof on it… I DON’T HAVE HOOVES!

Ok, I have to stop freaking out about being currently incorporeal…

“Fine, you can keep it!” the mare’s dark olive companion said in a frustrated tone. “Just put it away for now. If you keep waving it around like that without any gun safety training, you’ll wind up getting somepony killed!” The unicorn stallion was dressed in the multi-pouched barding that’s common among merchants and wasteland traders, and even wore one of those caps with goggles that were popular for a time among traders. Between the expensive looking style of his dark brown mane, his tight posture, and the fact that he wasn’t using his goggles against the desert glare, he came across as some pony trying a little too hard to look like a trader.

He was at least wasteland savvy to know about gun safety, the way the mare was holding that gun was more a danger to everypony but her target. Waste Land Survival Lesson…

I suddenly noticed that the mare was facing east, and off in the blurry distance I could roughly make out a natural stone wall that looked just like the one I was walking beside. If she already fired that gun in that direction, it would mean…

She killed me… and I’m a ghost…

The stupid mare managed to hit by accident the only other pony in the entire desert! It’s a one in a million shot, but it’s the only thing that makes sense.

I’m dead?

After all that I learned about survival, after all the close calls and daring escapes, I get taken out by accident by somepony fresh out of a stable?! She isn’t even aware that she killed me!

If the goddesses really are controlling everything, and given recent events I’ll need to reevaluate my stance on the supernatural, then they must really love irony. Or cruel jokes.

I’M DEAD!?

I have to keep calm. Focus. Make a list of what I know so far…

1. I was most likely killed by some mare that shot me by accident.

2. I am now some kind of ghost, which explains my new non-corporeal world view. I guess stories about ghost being glowing transparent blue ponies or floating sheets were wrong.

3. I am now in the presences of my killer but there is no way to interact with her. I’m not really angry at her, it was an honest yet terrible mistake, but I would at least like an apology for snuffing out my life.
Perhaps this is the universe’s way of explaining what happened to me before I move on to whatever’s next, or I’ll have to haunt this spot forever…

Or maybe not.

The mare grudgingly put the gun away in a front leg pocket of her duster and her and the stallion started walking again. As they walked my circle of perception moved with them.

I was following them… I was haunting them?!

Try as I might, I couldn’t stop being dragged along with them. Was this what happened every time somepony kills somepony else, the murdered pony’s spirit follows them around? Would that mean raiders might have a whole community of ghosts silently traveling them? If this mare kills somepony else would I be able to talk to that spirit? Not that I would wish her to kill again, but the company could be nice depending on how long I’m stuck like this. Will I have to follow her until she dies? Or maybe it’s one of those things where I’ll be released after she atones for my death? That may be tricky since she doesn’t even know she killed me! Maybe there’s some kind of delay in reaching the afterlife and I just have to tag along until a spot opens up in the queue.

ARRG! There are too many questions!

I need to keep calm and maybe an explanation will present itself soon enough. I mean, there must be some reason why I’m tethered to these two, I’ll just wait and see what happens…

~~~***~~~

Argh, I’m SO bored!

These two have barely said anything for hours! They just keep walking silently, so all that there is to do is what the scenery go by. It’s like the slowest pony drawn carriage ride ever.

The scenery isn’t all that interesting either. This isn’t one of those majestic deserts with the sweeping sand dunes or grand craggy vistas like in southern Caledonia. No, this is one of those dull dry lake bed deserts where there’s nothing but flat cracked earth for as far as you can see in all directions, and I was now seeing it in all directions! Only thing to break up the monotony of the view are the occasional vertical rock outcroppings, one of which is now my final resting place… Well I guess I can now say I have equestria’s biggest tombstone. I just need somepony to go out and carve my name on it, maybe add a pithy rhyming epitaph.

Since I was bored with the view, I decided to get a better look at my new traveling companions, particularly the mare. Not in that way though! At almost a third my age she’s far too young for me. Also, the whole being dead thing would make a relationship difficult.

Near as I could tell she’s around nineteen or twenty, but her puffy white mane and tail could be making her look older than she really is. She had a homely square face, hardly ugly by wasteland standards, but far from what I would call beautiful. Her bold yellow coat is what really makes her stand out though. You rarely see ponies with colors that vibrant these days, most likely because they make easier targets. She started to stumble a little as she walked and from her unfocused eyes and her partly open mouth it looks like she may be getting heat stroke. That’s not surprising since she is wearing two layers of clothes in the desert. In the middle of the day no less.

The stallion on the other hoof didn’t seem to notice that the mare was close to passing out. He was too lost in thought to notice much of anything, mumbling a word or two every now and then. He should at least be stallion enough to give her his hat in this kind of heat!

He’s got an average build for a unicorn but looked much healthier and better groomed than your average wasteland resident. Considering that his hair isn’t even mussed, I’d bet that he was just a few days out from some cushy city life. The only city anywhere near here though is Camelton, and he doesn’t look like the type of merchant that would deal with the Yune-Yun Clan. Not desperate or crazy enough.

Hmm, he’s a little closer to my age than his companion, early thirties I would guess, but still a couple decades off. Maybe after the wasteland toughens him up a bit he could pass for handsome, but for now he just looked like some rich pony playing dress-up.

With not much to go on, I’d say that these two just happened to meet and decided to travel together. The age difference is too large for them to be siblings and too small for father and daughter. Also the fact that he’s a unicorn and she isn’t, but the mother could have been a unicorn, and genetic throwbacks do happen occasionally. His clear indifference to her suffering also rules out that they are a couple, unless they have been married way too long. She could be his slave or servant given his well off air, but the short argument over the gun didn’t give the impression of servitude.

Since neither has mentioned their names, I need to come up with something to call them. For now call the stallion City-Colt and the mare…

“Hey, Second Hoof.” the mare finally spoke up.

Ok, I guess that works too for his name... Although, a trader that just happened to be named Second Hoof? If that is his real name, then either his parent had good foresight into his profession or they hoped that he would go into clock repair.

“What is it?” Hoof replied, coming out of his musing.

I guess it would have been too convenient for him to mention her name too and save me the trouble?

“My head really hurts…” she said rubbing her forehead with her front left hoof. As the cuff of her duster fell back I could see that she indeed had a Pip-Buck on her left leg, confirming that she was from a stable. Being born in a stable also, I felt a slight kinship towards her, but then my parents left the stable shortly after I was born so I don’t actually know what stable life was like. I just hope her stable was in better shape than 123.

“You’re still dehydrated, drink some more water.” The stallion said as he magically lifted a small bottle of water out of his saddle bag and floated it over to her, unscrewing the cap along the way.

The mare looked at the bottle floating in a blue-gray glow with confusion for a moment, then gave an odd smile and said “thank you” before taking it in her mouth and gulping it down.

Second Hoof took a long look at the mare then sighed. “You don’t look too good.”

“I get that a lot…” she replied with a sad smirk after finishing the water. Then the look suddenly changed back to confusion. “I think… at least I get the feeling I did.”

“No, I mean you’re not looking well. We need to get you out of this heat.” The stallion said rolling his eyes.

Well better late than never. I guess Second is a decent enough stallion to care when a filly is about to pass out from exhaustion. Just a little slow on picking it up.

He was right about the heat. Even with the cloud cover, which was thinner here than most of Equestria, the hot afternoon sun was beating down on them. It’s weird, even without skin I’m still aware of just how hot it is, yet it’s not like I’m feeling it directly. I’m aware of the temperature, but there’s no discomfort or burning associated with it. I guess it’s just another of those weird ghost senses I’m discovering, like how I can hear without ears.

No, I’m not going to freak out about having no ears… much.

After another half hour of walking the two of them managed to find a small cave. Personally, I would have first checked for rad-scorpions or giant yao guai, but these two casually walked in like they owned the place. It’s like they’re just asking for the wasteland to kill them!

The mare flopped down on to the cool cave floor and rolled around on it a little, still not taking off her duster. “Ahh, that’s much better” she sighed. “Can I have another water?”

“Ok, but after this we need to ration them.” Second said, his horn glowing blue-gray as he floating the small bottle over to the yellow mare.

“Come to me water fairy!” The mare said dreamily as she plucked the bottle out of the air with her hooves.
Hoof rolled his eyes at the mare’s silliness “So, get back any of your memories yet?”

Ah, conversation! Now I may find out who these ponies are, what they are doing out in this desert, and maybe even why I’m stuck to them!

“Nope.” The mare sighed.

Or not…

“Still the same as before.” She continued. “first thing I can remember is finding myself in that cave with this message…” she waved her hoof with the Pip-Buck “Nearly killed by rats getting out of the cave, then nearly killed by the desert once out, and then you found me.”

A pony with amnesia? That’s kind of… cliché.

“Can I see the message that you left for yourself?” Second Hoof asked reaching a hoof out to her.

The mare pulled her Pip-Bucked leg close to her. “No. Sorry, it’s sort of personal.”

The stallion put his hoof back down. “Fair enough.” He said with a shrug. “You should try to get some sleep, we’ll head out again once it starts getting dark.”

The mare yawned, stretched out all four legs, and arched her back while she lay on her side. She then curled her legs up into her duster and rested her head on the cool stone cave floor. I once met a pony who had one of the last pet cats in Equestria, and it slept just like that. “Hey Second, why did you save me?” she asked with her eyes closed.

“Because everypony in this world needs saving.” He replied back with a smile.

“That’s nice of you.” The mare replied, her voice already thick with sleep. “Good night Second Hoof.”

“Good night Rock Flower.” He said with a smirk, and then noticed that she was already asleep.
Rock Flower! I finally have her name! I can’t say that’s what I’d have picked for her, but if that’s her name, that’s her name. I once knew a stallion with the unfortunate name of…

“Everypony in this world needs saving…” Second mumbled to himself, breaking off my name discovery revelry. “And you, my little stable pony, will be the one to save them all.”

Ok… That’s kinda weird…

~~~***~~~

I do appreciate Flower’s (her first name is unbecoming of a mare) ability to fall asleep right away. It goes with one of my lesser survival lessons: Sleep when you can wherever you can, since you don’t know when you’ll get another chance. Yet this could be a onetime thing due to her dehydration and sunstroke. Or she could be just lazy. I don’t know her that well yet.

What I cannot appreciate is Second Hoof breaking another one of my lesser survival lessons: Never fall asleep while on guard duty! No more than an hour after standing guard at the cave entrance was he fast asleep and snoring on his feet. They’re just asking to be eaten by a giant mutant desert monkey-pony. Yes, they do exist, I’ve seen one!

The hours of just waiting as they slept were the worst. As it turns out, ghosts don’t sleep. So I was stuck there with just an endless amount of unknowns to ponder. So, of course, I made a list in my mind.

1. Was this normal, or for some reason was I cursed to follow these two?
2. What happens if they split up? Will I follow them both or just Flower since she killed me?
3. What happens to me if they die? Will I be free or haunt their dead bodies?
4. Is there any way for me to make contact with the living? Maybe all those stories about adventures hearing voices in their heads are actually spirits of the ponies they killed.
6. Am I immortal like a ghoul now? Or can ghosts age and die (again)?
7. What happened to number 5?! Oh, I just miscounted, too nervous.
5. Could ghosts go feral like ghouls and become zombie goasts?

That last one really unnerved me. What if after years of following these two I lost my mind? Considering how boring they have been so far it’s rather possible. Or what if without a brain to hold it in, my mind just drifts away on the desert wind?

That was kind of poetic and terrifying…

Maybe it was already happening. How could I tell if part of my mind was already gone? I should have made a list of my mind so I could keep track! What if I already did but that part is already gone?!

Ahh! I was going to drive myself crazy trying to figure out if I was going crazy!

There must be some way to tell if I was losing my equinity, or even myself.

Well, the events in my life make me who I am, so as long as I have my past I still have myself. That makes sense right? Yet it sounds like Flower lost her past but she’s still herself, so maybe you don’t even need a past to be yourself. Then again, she’s not a ghost facing an existential crisis of determining if her mind is drifting off into the ether.

So, what’s something I’m sure I remember…? Oh I know!

…oooOOOooo...

“18 boxes of detergent.”

“18 boxes of detergent… Check.”

“3 leaf blowers.”

“3 leaf blowers… Check.”

“A henwey.”

“About 2 kilos… Check.”

“1 smart ass colt that ruins my jokes.”

Glancing up from my clip board, I saw Mr. Fulvous Ingot looking straight at me with an annoyed expression on his face. I guess he figured I hadn’t heard that one before.

“Check?” he asked expectantly.

“1 smart ass colt that ruins your jokes… Check.” I replied with a sigh.

Doing inventory with Mr. Ingot was the most tedious and mind numbing work in all of Dise, so I can’t blame him for trying to sneak in a joke now and then, I just wish he had better material. The job is even more pointless since Mr. Ingot kept meticulous records of every sale, so inventory ALWAYS matches up to exactly what was listed in his books. Yet I’m in no position to complain, I asked for this job in particular out of all the others available in Dise. Considering all the work involved in restarting a whole city, that was a lot of other jobs to choose from.

My parents think that I took this job because I was too ashamed to work in their nightclub/restaurant “The Winking Mare”, but that wasn’t it at all. Mr. Ingot thinks that I took this job so I can spy for my parents and undercut his prices, which is also not true. What I tell everyone is that I really want to be a merchant when I’m older and so I’m starting to work toward that goal, which is not true either. I have no interest in spending my life in a shop selling the same things to the same ponies every day. I want to someday go out and see the world beyond Dise, even if it is a wasteland, and I doubt that being a merchant is the way to do that.

No, the real reason that I volunteered for this tedious and boring job…

“Hey dad! Do you have a steam gauge assembly?”

Just walked in!

Peachy Keen, the prettiest filly in all of Dise. Vibrant magenta coat, wavy orange mane, brilliant violet eyes, and her cazadorable cutie mark even made the horrifying insect look cute. Sure, she was a few years older than me, but then I was often told that I was very smart for my age. Well, “too smart” is how most ponies put it, but close enough!
Wait! She asked an inventory related question, this was my chance!

Flipping through the pages in the clipboard I searched for the listing of steam gauge assemblies.

Found it!

“Just one in stock.” Mr. Ingot said a moment before I could. See what I mean by this is a pointless job? He’s got the whole inventory memorized!

“Can I have it?” Peachy said with a smile, batting her beautiful eyelashes. If it was up to me I would have given her the whole store for that look.

“Sure…” Mr. Ingot started.

Peachy let out an adorable squee of delight. “Total sweetness! Thanks da…”

“For right amount of bits, chips, or equal value in trade.” He finished and her smile fell.

“Aww dad, you know I’m saving my bits!” The magenta filly pouted. “Please can I just have it? It’s my birthday next week after all!”

“You already got your birthday present in advance three months ago. Did you think that I forgot that?” From the frustrated grimace that briefly flashed across Peachy’s face, that may have actually been her plan.

Peachy tried pouting again “Mom would have given it to me…”. Oh, that was a low blow. Ms. Keen died two years ago helping to defend Dise from raiders, the memory must be still painful for…

“HA! Your memory must be getting tainted from nostalgia.” Mr. Ingot laughed and then continued with a big grin. “The Commander was the cheapest hardass I’ve ever met.”

Peachy puffed her cheeks out in frustration. She’s so cute! She then turned around and started walking out of the store room, her silky orange tail swishing back and forth…

Wait! She’s leaving and I haven’t even said anything to her yet!

“Uhh… Have a nice day Peachy!” Ugh. Real original.

She turned her head back and looked at me like she didn’t even know I was there before. “Oh, the new stock-colt.” She said indifferently and walked out.

She doesn’t even know my name…

Hold on a second, she said that her birthday is next week! If I could somehow get her that steam gauge assembly for her birthday, she’ll be sure to notice me! Only problem is that I’m not getting paid before then and I have nothing of value to my name. The odds of Mr. Ingot just giving me the steam gauge assembly in advance of my pay were about the same as me bumping into…

“15 hula mares.”

Yeah, exactly... Oh! I quickly picked up the pencil from the rope around my neck and found the listing of the plastic figures. “15 hula mares… check.”

This job is still so pointless! I’m willing to bet that…

Ah! I just had a wonderful Idea!

“Hey Mr. Ingot, why do you need to take inventory so often?” I tried my best to make it sound like an innocent question and not pointing out the futility of it.

“In case any of it ever goes missing. I need to be careful for thieves…” He then shot me a sidelong glance “…or spies.”

I pressed on as if I hadn’t noticed. “Are we also checking to see if there’s any stock that’s more than you should have?”

“A surplus?” He replied with a laugh. “Not possible, I know every item that goes in and out of here, and I never forget an item.”

Ok, here goes… “I bet I could find a surplus.” I tried to make it sound like an innocent boast and not a slant at his skills.

“Oh really?” The brown stallion raised a bushy black eyebrow. “And what are you willing to bet on that?”

“If I find one item of surplus I get to keep it. If I don’t, then you don’t have to pay me for the weekend.” Come on, take the bait…

“Ha! Deal kid. Come in bright and early tomorrow.” I could see him already ringing up the bits he’ll save in the back of his head.

YES! The odds of actually finding a surplus item were slim, and I was taking a gamble here, but heck, this was Dise!

~~~

All right! It took all weekend of mind numbing counting and checking but I finally found an item of inventory not on the list.

At some point Mr. Ingot mixed up that he had twenty-eight balls (of the blue and yellow toy variety) with having twenty eight-balls (of the pool variety), while he actually had twenty-one eight-balls. True to his word, and much to his chagrin, he let me keep the surplus eight-ball with the promise that his gaff never got out.

It wasn’t exactly the prize I was hoping for, but it was a start.

I then moved on to the next stage of my idea, surreptitiously going to everypony I could in Dise and finding out what they might need and might have to offer. With that information I set about making a list of the most promising chain of events and then set out to put it in action.

My first, and most obvious, stop was the local pool hall. As I walked in I overheard the owner of the hall talking with another mare. I stopped just short of the door to listen.

“So, the little blank flank came asking you questions too?”

“Yeah, from what I heard he’s been poking around all of Dise. It’s kind of weird, wonder what he’s up to.”

I had the sinking suspicion that they were talking about me. I guess my inquiries were not as surreptitious as I hoped.

“Well what do you expect…” The owner said with a snicker. “Half his family is… off.” I rolled my eyes. Yup, they were talking about me.

The other mare let out a laugh. “Yeah, and he’s definitely… a little off!”

“And proud of it!” I said with a big grin as I confidently trotted over to the bar where owner and the other mare were having drinks. “Could I interest you in possibly purchasing… this?” I took out the eight-ball from my saddle bag with a flourish and presented it to the owner, balanced on my hoof like it was a rare treasure.

The owner looked at it then she gave a little smirk. “Kind of young to be coming in here and offering me your balls, try back in a few years.” This odd reply brought about a fit of giggles from her friend, who gave the unicorn playful slap and muttered that she was terrible.

I didn’t have a few years to wait though, so I tried switching from showmanship to simple pleading. “Come on, could I at least trade it for one of those broken pool cues you keep behind this bar?”

The mare raised an eyebrow for a moment, I don’t think that she knew I took such a thorough stock of her resources, but then it was replaced with a wide grin. “So, you’re offering your balls in exchange for nice long shaft? Didn’t know your stable door swung that way.” This brought about such a burst of laughter from her friend that she nearly spilt her drink.

“I only have the one ball.” I admitted sheepishly, which triggered even more laughter from the mares.

After finally composing herself, the owner wiped a tear from her eye with the back of her hoof. “Oh, since you’re such a good laugh, you got a deal.” She then levitated out from behind the counter a pool cue with the tip broken off to a jagged point and took the eight-ball out of my hoof.

“Thanks!” I said stuffing the broken cue as much into my saddle bag as I could before galloping out.

Just as I was leaving I heard the owner say “And… he’s off!” before her and the other mare burst out laughing again. I guess some ponies are easily amused.

Once I got outside of the pool hall I took out my list and set it on the ground, holding it in place with a hoof. I then took out a red marker that I brought with me and checked off the box beside the picture of a broken cue. Second stage done, here’s hoping that the rest goes just as well.

My next stop was the ruined back alleys on the east side of Dise. The streets were home to basically anypony that wanted to be safe in the city but didn’t actually contribute to any of the work to rebuild it. After asking a friendly hobo for directions I found my next target, Foalson.

If Peachy Keen was the prettiest filly in Dise, Foalson was the coolest colt. He was only a couple years older than me but he already had his own gang, of which he was the only member. His parents were raiders that were killed in the same attack that took Peachy’s mom (nopony should bring their foals with them into a war). There wasn’t anypony that wanted to look after a raider’s colt, but nopony had the heart to kick him out of the city either, so he just grew up on the back streets.

I found the young unicorn practicing his telekinesis with a length of chain that he always had with him. I don’t think he’d ever actually fought anypony with it, considering his current awkward attempts to swing it around like a lasso or crack it like a whip were more likely to hit him than a potential opponent.

“Looking good there Foalson!” I tried really hard to sound impressed.

“What do you want twerp?” He said as he continued to spin the chain in the air. He then nonchalantly brushed a hoof through his spikey green mane, which was dyed with wide red stripes (or maybe it was red, dyed with thin green stripes). He was trying to pass off like his practice was nothing, though I suspect he was actually wiping the sweat of the exertion from his forehead.

“As cool as your chain is, I’ve got something even cooler for you…” I reached into my saddle bag and pulled the broken cue out with my mouth.

“A broken pool stick?” Foalson observed flatly.

I tossed the stick from my mouth into the air near him and he caught it with his magic, dropping the chain. I pretended not to notice that he couldn’t levitate two things at once.

“Don’t think of it as a pool stick, think of it as a versatile improvised weapon!” I started into my spiel. “You could swing it like a club, brandish it like a rapier, block like a staff, and even hurl it like a spear! Also, it gives you greater reach and range than most any weapon your opponent might have.”

Foalson condensed his magical grip on to a section near the base of the stick and gave it a few experimental swings and thrusts. It was clear even to him that he had much better control over it than he did with his chain. “Hmm, not bad. Maybe I could even fix a bit of scrap metal at the tip and give it a real nasty point. My old sire always did prefer a spear. Though, it didn’t do the fool much good against a gatling battle saddle.” After a few more swings he looked at me. “What’s the catch?”

“No catch, straight up trade, the stick for your chain.”

Foalson though for a moment, casually scratching his flank with the round end of the cue. I almost expected it to make pinking sounds as it passed over the bars of his prison window cutie mark.

“Throw in a couple passes for your mom’s show and you got a deal.” He said with a grin. He might not have had a Stable style education like I did, but he wasn’t stupid. He knew that if somepony comes to you with a deal in Dise, you’re the one with the upper hoof since they want something from you.

“Hmm. That may be tricky to get, but I’ll give it my best shot.” Truth be told, getting him passes would be easy, my parents always have several to give away as promotions. It won’t do him any good though, since he wouldn’t pass the magical age check at the door.

“Good enough.” And with that he tossed the chain at me (dropping the cue at the same time). I quickly side stepped and opened my saddle bag, allowing the chain to drop into it with a swish.

After leaving the alley I took out my list again and put a red check next to the picture of the chain. Looking down the rest of the list I smiled to myself. Just a half dozen more trades like this and I’ll have something worth enough to trade Mr. Ingot for the steam gauge assembly. Then I could give it to Peachy for her birthday!

I could already picture her making that cute little squee sound and then going “Total sweetness!”

With a happy sigh I headed off to the water plant.

~~~

“What do you mean you won’t trade me the micro-cell?!” I blurted out as my plan hit a major roadblock.

“I’m sorry, it’s a fine length of chain, and I certainly can use it…” The service technician said as he mopped his face with a rag in the steamy hall. “But one of the control panels blew last night and I need that micro-cell for the repairs. I could offer you something else in trade though, I’ve got a spare small size flywheel, or three meters of bidirectional wire, there’s also…”

As he listed off miscellaneous parts I slumped down onto the cold metal grating. None of the things he was listing off were any use to me. I would have to go back and rework my entire list and find new ponies to trade up whatever he gave me towards the… My ears suddenly shot up, catching something I almost missed.

“What was the last thing that you just said?” I asked standing straight up.

“What? I said a steam gauge assembly. I have a spare in the old back utility closet, it’s kind of beat up but I think that…”

“I’ll take it!” I shouted eagerly.

Within a few minutes I was happily running out of the water plant with my prize in tow. I only stopped briefly to put big red check mark in the box at the bottom of my list, right next to the picture of the steam gauge assembly, before I was running off again. It may not have been exactly to plan, but my idea worked!

I was running so fast that I almost missed that I ran past Peachy Keen walking in the other direction. Without even stopping to turn around I quickly ran backwards to catch up with the pretty earth pony.

“Hi… *huff* Peachy… *puff* Keen!” I gasped trying to catch my breath.

Peachy looked down at me confused for a moment, then a look of realization hit her. “Oh, you’re the new stock-colt.” Well at least she knows my face if not my name.

Finally catching my breath I smiled at her. “I have a birthday present for you.”

“Oh?” she replied curiously.

I took the steam gauge assembly out of my bag and set it down by her hooves. Her pretty violet eyes went wide and she made that happy squee sound like I knew she would.

“Total sweetness!” she exclaimed just like I knew she would.

Then she did something that I had no idea she would. She leaned forwards and gave me a little kiss on the forehead. I was lucky there was no wind at all at that moment; since I think the smallest gust could have knocked me right over.

“This is just perfect! My colt-friend is going to love it!”

Colt-friend?

The warm feeling I had all over me disappeared as if I was thrown into a pool of ice water.

“Colt-friend?” I managed to stammer out.

“Uh-huh, he’s the super coolest colt ever! But don’t tell my dad, he would totally freak.”

“Who… who is it?” I asked, half knowing the answer already.

“You probably don’t know him, he’s a light gray unicorn that lives on the east side, carries a big chain…”

“Pool cue.” Corrected, still in shock.

“What?” Peachy said puzzled.

“Foalson traded in his chain for a pool cue.” I mumbled, trying to process what just happened. “More versatile.” I added, recalling my own sales pitch less than an hour ago. No way was he getting those passes now.

“Oh, you do know him?” The filly said with a surprised smile. “Well, he wanted this for a project he’s working on. He says it’s going to be awesome! I should get this to him right away.”

She galloped off with the steam gauge assembly, but after a moment stopped and called back to me. “Oh, and congratulations on getting your cutie mark, it really suits you!”

As she raced off to the east side, what she said slowly sunk in. Cutie mark? I don’t have my…

Looking over my shoulder at my flank I saw that now emblazoned on it was a large square box with a big red check mark in it, just like the one at the bottom of my list.

Well how about that.

To celebrate the event I made a list in my head of what I achieved today:

1. Got a week’s worth of dull work finished in a weekend.
2. Made Mr. Ingot eat crow over the infallibility of his inventory.
3. Helped out three ponies through good trades (even if one is now my nemesis).
4. Got Peachy her birthday present (even if she wasn’t really the one who wanted it).
5. Peachy kissed me.
6. PEACHY KISSED ME!!
7. Got my cutie mark.
8. Learned the hard way to first find out if the filly you like already has a colt-friend.

A little bad mixed in with the good there, but all in all I’d say that this day turned out pretty darn good. Or, as Peachy would say…

Total sweetness!!

…oooOOOooo...

Ah, that sure was a good day. I wouldn’t have a day that good again for quite some time. Eventually the eighth point on the list I made back then would evolve into number seventeen on my survival list, so even as a colt I was already learning to survive.

But then I’m dead now, so take that list for what it’s worth I guess.

Oh, it’s gotten colder… and dark! I must have lost track of time while reminiscing. Maybe reliving the past is as close to dreaming that ghosts get. At least I’m not as worried now that my mind isn’t going away any time soon. There’s still so much of my situation that I need to figure out though.

Eh, Second is still snoring while on guard duty. I would make a pun about “my Hoof being asleep”, but I wouldn’t want to claim him as mine (I’m only haunting him) and there’s nopony around to laugh at it anyway.

Well get some sleep while you can, I’ll take this shift. But if you sleep till dawn, I’m going to try my hardest to possess you until you wake up!

------
This fan-fic is just part of a larger story...
-Hear another side of the larger narrative with Fallout Equestria: Sounds
-See the bigger picture, take a look at Fallout Equestria: Sights.
-Follow the progress of all three tales at the Sights Sounds Souls Tumblr (and ask Colt questions).

Author note:
Thanks for reading the first part of a third of this insane project! This is a ridiculously ambitious undertaking (3 stories, 3 acts, 3 mediums), which I hardly have the skill to pull off, but I hope at least some of you will enjoy it.

Huge thanks to all my editors!
My Souls editors Nyerguds and Hidden_Fortune, without whom this fic would be 20% lamer.
My Sights editor Julep, who keeps all the pictures nice and derp free!
My Sounds editor No One, whose constant encouragement is what got this insanity off the ground to begin with (and for making FoE: Heroes the best Fallout Equestria side fic ever)!

And super thanks to Kkat for making this wild wasteland we all play in!

Comments

[Deathpony]

good very good again

[Tutis75]

Another great part into the project, I gotta admit I really like how we got a lot more detail into the entire project just from this chapter. Really helped explain a lot more about the previous two parts. It was amazingly written, and I can't wait to see what else is coming from all three mediums! Good luck!

[kibecrou]

Ok, so confirmed female, double clothing in the desert (to hide the mutation? certainly not to avoid the heat. Then again I know little to nothing of desert survival beyond "Take/Drink lots of water" and "Travel at dusk/dawn"...), and has possibly retained her personality (she changed the given name, which her "previous regeneration" did not like). Also possible she wanted to give herself a new name as she was starting over completely.

I like her new name.

[Nyerguds]

Moth, it seems all links messed up in the conversion from GDocs. You might want to fix that

(on that note, that should be "whose constant encouragement" after No One)

[JustMoth]

1118467 Thanks, again!
1118698 Well even if a picture is worth a thousand words, 7,000 words can tell more of a story.
1120026 Yay for speculation! Shows that the story is interesting enough for people to think about.
1121178 Fixed it (I think), thanks!

[Nyerguds]

1123389
You didn't fix my second remark:
> who’s constant encouragement
Should be "whose", otherwise it means "who is"

[edit]

And if I really turn up the nitpicking (which I should; you'll most likely be copying that part to the end of EVERY chapter), there's a double space in "My Souls editors"

[JustMoth]

1123568 fixed

[Roan]

I'm loving this. All of it.

[Otterjoy]

I'm so glad I caught that Half Life: Full Life Consequences reference. It made the whole chapter amazing when I read that. Very good job not making it too surreal with the ghost guy.