Fallout Equestria: Prepper

by Kippershy

Old World Pleasures

Fallout Equestria: Prepper

By Kippershy

Old World Pleasures

With my story now finished, I pulled Fluffy over to my face and pressed my nose against his, gently rubbing with a smile. “And that’s how we saved you my precious little baby, didn’t we?”

Fluffy squeaked one of his usual little noises at me, something I had always assumed was his way of telling me he loved me too, and no matter whether that was quite the truth or not, he remained my faithful pet. He had never hurt me, never tried running away, and was always happy to be with me. I couldn’t ask any more of him. Truly the best pet ever!
Placing Fluffy back on the ground, he scurried over to the bedding we had made for him before settling down for sleep.

By this time, my audience, all aside from the cute mare and the young colt, had dispersed, off to browse what other items we had for sale. Closing my eyes, I focused on the room, using my magic to hear all of the voices that would flow through my mind.

~I just can’t believe these prices. Everything is just so much cheaper than I find in other places.~
~This one is pretty good, but… do I really need it? Hmmmm.~
~Ooh, snack cakes! My favourite!~
~I wonder if there’s...~

All of these thoughts, all of the compliments, the happy ponies. It brought a smile to my face. There was no dissatisfaction, just happiness.

~I could’ve sworn they went this way.~

Hearing that, I felt my face stiffen involuntarily as I tried to figure out what they meant by that. It didn’t sound like something one of our patrons would have thought to themselves, and that unsettled me. Spinning over to my partner, I used my telepathy to speak to her.

~Opal darling, I just heard something unusual. Somepony thought about ‘I could’ve sworn they went this way’. Would you mind checking outside for me? Do make sure to use your powers, of course. I don’t want to draw extra attention if my gut feeling is right.~

With a nod in response, she swiftly excused herself from her post behind the counter and trotted outside through the backdoor, making sure to cloak herself moments prior. Walking over to the customers who were waiting to pay for their items, I slipped behind the counter and greeted them again with another smile. “I’m sorry that my partner had to leave, how can I help you?”

“Well, I’d like to buy a lot of your stock of canned food, but even with as fair as your prices are, I can’t afford to only deal in caps. Are you willing to barter a mixture of goods and caps in exchange?”

Raising an eyebrow, I shot him another smile. “Depends on what you’re bargaining with. Canned food is something of a treasure, as I’m sure you’re well aware. If you’re interested in trading goods for goods, you’ll need to have something of notable value in exchange. Though, I suppose if you want a suggestion on what I’m interested in, I’m always interested in fresh blueberries, and heavy duty spark batteries. The kind used in those old wagons.”

“Blueberries huh? Haven’t seen those in a long time now. Mind if I ask why you’re interested in them specifically?”

Blushing a little, I couldn’t help but smile like a filly as I thought about the answer. “Opal, my partner. Their colour reminds me of her, and they have a couple of absolutely fantastic purposes. They make a wonderful dye, and she can cook the most wonderful pies out of them.” Just thinking about the last time she made us a blueberry pie caused me to let out a little sigh of contentment, gazing off into the distance as my mind pictured it so vividly.

Breaking me back to the real world with a cough, my eyes snapped back onto the stallion as he spoke. “Okay, so if I find any, I’ll make sure to bring them here. Might even make an effort to go find some for you, in that case.”

With glee filling my face, I spoke with excitement at the thought. “It would be very much appreciated!”

“Now, as for the heavy duty spark batteries, I actually do have one. Not only do I have one, but it was actually recharged at one of the previous settlements I was at. What do you say, would that be enough for what I’ve got here?”

Looking at the cans of food, there was a lot of it piled up, and some of it was cans of food I personally favoured too. Biting my lip, I gave consideration to how much value the spark battery would hold to me. I didn’t want to be unfair, the spark battery, if at full charge, would provide an exceptional amount of usefulness in allowing for larger scavenging runs. Still, it was a lot of food, and this merchant would undoubtedly be able to make his profit from it even with an extra charge.

Opening my eyes slowly and looking into the expression on the stallions face, I began my end of the haggle. “Okay, I’ll sell you all of this food, but the battery alone isn’t enough. How about an added seventy caps to incentivise the deal?”

~Seventy huh? Not bad. Lets see how low she’ll go.~

“Seventy?” The merchant responded. “Surely the battery alone is worth a lot more than you seem to think? These are very rarely fully charged. Most are completely unusable even.”

“I get that,” I countered firmly, without giving ground. “But the spark battery is something I’m more interested in, rather than find essential. Food is an essential. Besides, I know you’ll be selling it to other ponies, ponies in places that I can’t so freely go to in order to trade.”

~Damn. Tough haggle. Not ideal.~

Looking at the slight nod that the stallion gave, it was clear he understood my reasoning. Pushing forward, I continued my offer. “So, I have food that you want, food that you can make a profit on where I can’t, and I now know that you can recharge batteries – so how about we bargain harder. Seventy caps and your fully charged spark battery, and I’ll trade you an old, empty spark battery and the food you’re after.”

For a moment the trader pondered my offer, before making a face that could only be described as thoughtful. “How about fifty caps? A little bit of a discount can’t hurt, can it?”

“Seventy caps.” I responded firmly. “No more, no less. My prices are fair and I won’t go lower than this. However, if you get my spark battery recharged for next time you come by, I’m sure I’d have need to swap them back out. Consider that as an ongoing discount.” Putting on a sweeter voice than before, I leaned in a little closer. “I’m sure that you aren’t paying the price of a brand new spark battery to get that charged, so you’d be getting the value out of that. Surely that’s something to you?”

~Damn, this bitch has me good. Guess I’ll just accept her offer. It ain’t a loss after all.~

Stepping back, I gave my patron a very stern look. “Excuse me?”

Even from where I stood, I could almost feel his heart rate raise as high as my eyebrows had. Stepping forward again, I craned my neck forward, close enough to whisper into his ear. “What did I say about stealing earlier? That I would know if anypony even thought about it. Are you aware that us green alicorns can read minds? I try not to be invasive, but I heard that, and I don’t like being called such names. If you can say sorry, we’ll both forget about it, won’t we?”

In a hurried spluttering of words, the stallion apologised. “Y-yes. I’m sorry.”

Pulling back and smiling as if nothing had just happened, I shook his hoof. “Seventy caps and a fully charged spark battery for the food you’ve selected and my old spark battery it is. Give me just one minute to go collect the old spark battery and we’ll seal the deal.”

As if on cue, Opal returned from her scouting, shaking her head as she trotted on over to us. “I saw one lone pony, nothing to be worried about, my little paranoid Preppy.”

Pushing her away with a playful smile, I swished my tail in pretend annoyance. “Oh you’re evil, calling me names like that! Seriously though, I need to go get something. Would you mind counting seventy caps from that trader I was just talking to? Thank you!” With that, I made my way off out back, towards the old wagon. Almost forgetting, I made sure to yell back as I strode away. “Oh, and make sure to test that the spark battery he’s giving us. He promised it at full charge!”

Going past the public shop area, I made my way through our backup storage area and over to the loading bay where we kept the wagon. Using my magic, I made swift work out of disconnecting the battery and floating it over next to me as I trotted on back.

As soon as I came close to the public area of our shop, a sweet symphony filled my ears. It was the sound of my biggest pride and joy outside of Opal, Fluffy, or the shop itself; my very own vintage calliope, playing that cheerful tune.

Placing the old spark battery on the counter, I didn’t stick around to double check the deal. Opal was plenty competent enough by herself, and my heart simply couldn’t resist being wrangled by the old organ. Quickly making my way over to it, I gave in fully and burst into song and dance as I approached.

“Some stallions take a beautiful mare, and hide her away from the rest of the world. I want to be the one to walk in the sun, oh mares, they just wanna have fun – oh mares just want to have fun!”

As the music continued to play, the oldest member of the group; a stallion of considerable age, smiled at me before introducing himself. “The name’s Augustus, and before you say; I know it’s an odd name.”

“Not at all!” I blurted, quickly trying to ensure my patron’s guard felt comfortable. “You’re amongst good company here, as I’ve said to others, I don’t judge anypony for being different.” With that, I bowed my head in respect.

Augustus smiled at me with an earnest look in his eyes, the wrinkles crackling across his face. “Well, pleased to meet somepony who keeps an open mind. It’s refreshing. Well, back to what I was going to say; you’ve got quite the magnificent marvel here, don’t you? I haven’t heard a calliope since I was a little colt. I never thought I would hear the sound again, and yet here I am, absolutely amazed. Where did you get it?”

Before I could even begin to respond, I felt the gentle wrap of young hooves on my right foreleg, dragging my attention to the side. “Story! Tell us the story! Please?”

I couldn’t help but let out a chuckle. “What? Another story? I swear, I’d make more caps out of selling these stories to all of you than I am out of trying to sell you goods!”

Of course that wasn’t true, but the looks on their faces was priceless. Augustus let out a smirk while the young colt looked astonished, right on cue for the music to stop. “Where did the music go?”

“It needs old world bits to make music. Have you got two caps? I’ll give you an old world bit to put in the machine if you do.”

“Here ya go, for the young’un.” Augustus muttered as he floated two caps to me. With every passing second and the way he interacted with the others, I begun to wonder if perhaps he was the grandfather of the young colt. He definitely showed a kind, compassionate manner towards him.

Passing an old world bit to the young colt I had stowed away on a nearby shelf, he swiftly ran to the machine and placed it into the slot, letting it fall into the mechanism. Within seconds, the tune began again, blasting out its wonderfully sweet sound.

As had become customary for me, I sat down and began to recall the story of how the prized possession had become mine.

--- --- ---

Flying through the sky with the newly repaired skywagon in tow was an… interesting experience, to say the least. Carrying a full load of saddlebags had been awkward in some ways but certainly feasible. While I couldn’t climb at the same rate, I also didn’t have to worry about my centre of gravity. This however? This was so very different. It didn’t matter how much weight was being carried by the wagon, but the fact that I had to wear a harness and account for the wagon was… surreal.

“Come on, stop groaning about it. It was your choice to bring it after all, Prepper!” Opal reminded me, flying just ahead.

“Yeah, but you’ve never had to fly one of these things!” I rebuked, only feeling slightly annoyed at her for teasing me. “It isn’t easy!”

With a smirk across her face, Opal ran her hoof up my neck and off from my chin as she flew next to me. “And there I thought you were plenty accustomed to handling such wide loads!”

Stopping in my tracks was my first instinct, quickly followed by panicking as the wagon began to slip from under me. It was now obvious that either by design or by degradation over time, this particular wagon needed to be moving at all times. Flapping my wings as hard as I could, I tried to avoid facing the fact she had me flustered.

We would have words, her and I… as soon as we were somewhere more suitable.

*** *** ***

Looking up at the sign that hung over the entrance, the words were far too faded to actually read. The remnants of letters spelt out ‘Pin P s ave ng Ca ni l’, though whatever that could’ve been was beyond a mystery to us both. Surprisingly however, the bright pink paint looked almost as fresh as if it had only been applied yesterday, despite the years causing everything else to decay.

All around us were faces of happy ponies, some painted onto the walls and banners, others sewn into flags, and many more included on statues and statuettes; even little plush toy ponies beamed with smiles that felt like they could stretch for a mile.

The atmosphere here was… odd. I couldn’t help but feel that there was something watching us, but each time I used my power to check, I found nothing. There was no thoughts other than Opal’s and my own. There was none of the typical gargling and hissing that a feral ghoul would ‘think’ in, nor any smell in the air that suggested some creature that would have made this area its hunting grounds – and yet, with every corner we rounded, I couldn’t shake that something, or someone, was watching me. With no warning, a single word rang quietly; forever.

Spinning around, I tried to find where the voice had come from, but still found nothing. In that moment I felt my whole body shiver as if a bolt of lightning had just hit me, though there was no pain.
Opal turned to look at me, a worried look in her eye as she assessed me. “Are you okay?”

“I...” I mumbled. Then something happened. I didn’t know what happened, but something happened, and the world felt different. The fear that something was watching us no longer felt heavy and overbearing. Instead, as I looked around, it was almost as if I could hear the giggling of happy little colts and fillies, all around me. The rational part of my mind reasoned I should be scared, that this wasn’t normal and that I should be alert, but in my heart, I felt a sense of satisfaction and jubilation that had never been matched before in my life.

“Preppy… Prepper, please, are you okay?” Opal solemnly asked, her worry being completely out of place for our surroundings.

A smile slowly grew across my face as my eyes closed. “I understand now. This is Pinkie Pie’s Travelling Carnival! A place of true joy and bliss! One of the happiest places in ALL of Equestria!”
My eyes shot wide open with that, I had no idea what had caused me to say those words, but as quickly as the surprise had taken me, it washed away with even more joy filling my heart. I felt like a little filly, care free and starry eyed as I looked all around. My mind projected images of children of all ages (including the adults who were children at heart) having the time of their lives all around me.

Wrapping her forehooves across my face, Opal looked at me with a sense of fear in her eyes, her voice almost trembling. “Uh… Prepper? W-what do you mean? What’s a Pinkie Pie’s Travelling Carnival? Why are you so happy all of a sudden?”

“Can’t you see them?” I asked, completely confused with her lack of reaction.

“See… who? Or what? Prepper, what do you see?”

Breaking away from her grasp, I spun around on the spot, hooves spread out to all of the happy ponies who laughed and smiled, who ate their candy, and danced as they moved. The cheer was clear for anypony to see, leaving me confused as to why she was behaving the way she was. “Don’t you see them?” I asked. “The happy ponies! They’re all so full of joy! This truly is the happiest place in all of Equestria!”

‘The happy...’ Opal mouthed, her eyes now beginning to become wet from the tears. “Prepper… there are no ponies. I mean… there’s a couple of skeletons here and there, but that’s all. There’s no ponies here, Prepper.”

No ponies? I gazed into her eyes for a moment, focusing into them, only on them, and dove deep into the abyss of her pupils. Closing my eyes and pulling my horn to hers, I could feel her breath faintly blowing into mine. Trying to focus on what was real and what wasn’t, I felt my heart drop as I no longer saw the happy ponies.

“I… but… they…” I muttered, completely lost with the situation. “But… I saw them!”

“Please tell me you’re not going mad, Prepper. Please. I don’t want to lose you. We’ve already lost too much. I can’t lose you too. Please.”

How was I meant to respond to something like that? But as I tried to figure out what to say, my ears perked to a sound in the distance. Twisting my head in the direction of the noise, I knew I had to find it.

“Come with me.” I instructed, uncertain of why.

“What? Prepper! I think we should leave, this is scaring me.” Opal protested, though even with the levels of determination in her voice, my will was stronger.

“No. I must find this.” I didn’t know what it was, but something was pulling me off further into the carnival. As I approached the sound of the indistinguishable noise, the sense of comfort in my heart grew stronger with every step closer. I had no choice, I had to find it. I simply had to.

Going through the alleyways made of tents and wagons, the noise was getting more intense, and yet no louder. Opal only seemed to be confused, though her muttering was drowned out by my concentration. Though I couldn’t see them any more, I could still sense the smiling, joyful ponies. As I rounded yet another corner, I finally saw it; the object that drew me closer.

“There it is!” I exclaimed.

Opal’s voice fell flat, unimpressed with my find, though at least now her worry and fear turned to confusion. “It’s… a wagon.”

“Nop’.” I responded, yet again feeling like the words that left my mouth weren’t even mine. “It’s muh pride an’ joy, the sweetest thing I ever did ‘ear.”

As soon as I said that, even I paused. That… that wasn’t me who said that, and yet, it was my mouth, my tongue, my voice… no mimicry, no tricks, the words came from my body, and yet they weren’t mine.

Before I could question anything more, a new vision appeared in front of the wagon. An old, proud looking pony, though this vision was clearly something unreal; for even I could tell that it was only there faintly. The ethereal vision gestured for me to come closer, and looking over to Opal for approval, it was clear that she couldn’t see the figure at all. Putting on a smile, I figured the best outcome would be to trust my gut, and my gut said to have faith.

Approaching the figure as it instructed, it then pulled a curtain from the wagon, revealing its prize. A… mechanism of sorts. Tubes with holes in them, and there was a sheet of paper with holes as well. Whatever this was, I had never seen one before, and yet I knew this was the source of true joy.

“Pr-” Opal began, but my ears cut her voice out of my mind.

The ghostly figure pointed to a nearby cabin, and upon its wordless command, I walked on over and opened the door. In front of me sat a skeleton upon a comfortable chair. Something about the skeleton looked at peace, and I didn’t want to disturb it – but as I continued to gaze, I noticed the key hanging from a chain around its neck. Looking back to the ghost for guidance, it gave me a simple nod. Was this… was this meant to be a sign to take the key?

The wrinkles around the ghosts eyes and the crease on the edge of its lips spoke wordlessly as it nodded to me, and with the most humble care, I gently lifted the key and its chain from the skeleton. At that point, my eye was drawn to the spark battery sitting on the desk he sat at, and took that too, somehow understanding that it was necessary.

Closing the door and trotting back to the machine, I could see Opal’s mouth moving, but her words simply couldn’t reach me. It didn’t matter though, my body knew what I had to do. Moving to the rear of the wagon, where the side of the machine sat, I placed the key into a poorly concealed slot and gave it a twist, opening a compartment. Three old world bits sat in a pile that had been collected on the door, while a symbol of a spark battery stared at me directly. Placing the battery into the slot and collecting the coins, I closed the door, locked it back up and returned to Opal’s side.

Opal, having given up trying to talk to me while in my daze, now looked at me in defeat. Leaning closer to her, I placed one hoof under her chin and looked her in the eyes before floating a pre-war bit in front of us.

“Place it in the machine.” I whispered, still not certain as to what would happen, I simply knew it had to be done. How, I couldn’t say, it just was. She was reluctant at first, but upon my insistence, she soon accepted my request. As we both watched as the inner mechanisms begun to spring back to life after two centuries of disuse, I felt a growing sense of anticipation fill my soul. The first two seconds were quiet, and then the music played.

[song: Girls Just Want To Have Fun (Bioshock Infinite cover)]

Hearing the organ’s notes, the smile on my face grew wider than it had been even after my recent tryst with Opal. The sensation that the world had just changed for the better was overwhelming as the tears filled my eyes. Everything was lighter, happier, and the feeling that something in me was simply… complete, was undeniable.

Clapping my hooves together, I couldn’t hold back my joy. Even looking over to Opal, her face was filled with as much joy as I felt… until I saw her jaw drop and eyes widen. Looking back to the machine, the vision of the earth pony who had guided me before was standing next to it, beaming with pride as he wiped away an invisible tear. As quickly as he’d come, he waved to us both, disappearing as he did.

“W-where… where did he come from? Where did he go?” Opal asked, afraid.

“He’s found peace.” I murmured, still not having a clue how I knew these things I was saying, and yet being entirely confident in what I knew. “And now its our duty to continue bringing joy with this. To cherish it, to take care of it, to share it.”

For a moment we both sat there, listening to the music in awe before it finished, the machine powering down with grace and beauty. Just as I turned to face Opal, she pushed her wing into my face, causing me to hit the floor out of surprise. Standing over me, she raised an eyebrow as she looked down.

“You’re the one carrying it back to the wagon, and pulling the wagon back.”

Comments

[Kippershy]

>Prepper is almost finished
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

[platogkrone]

“W-where… where did he come from? Where did he go?” Opal asked, afraid.

dwE,pwue 8wcmpwo8YPASC<H8 HCEhpcwWPÅC S“W-where… where did he come from? Where did he go?” Opal asked, afraid.`?

[Kippershy]

10322979
I assume you meant to put a link in there or something and it went wrong?
Though if you're trying to do what I think you are... I have to say right now; it was VERY hard for me not to continue with Prepper randomly blurting "Where did you come from Cotton Eye Joe? "
Don't click me ;)

[platogkrone]

10323697
I have to admit, I'm kind of proud of that comment.

[Backlash91]

I loved it. More please ^^

[NPLackabrain]

Kip I coomed

[SabreTheRedMane]

Will there be updates?

[Kippershy]

10811989
I'll be honest; I want to update, it's one last chapter, but I've lost my inspiration and connection with pony. I'd love to finish the one last chapter and be able to call it complete, so I'm not giving up yet, but I'd need to find my spark again.
What's worrying is I've just heard some news that FimFic may go down for good very soon because apparently their Patreon is at high risk of getting killed, so we'll see.
Doesn't help that I've also been chasing after someone and I'm very one track minded, but I'll try my best.

[SabreTheRedMane]

10815681

so I'm not giving up yet

I believe in you, Kip.

FimFic may go down

FimFic moved to Subscribestar. There's a button at the bottom right.

[PonyofEntropy]

We will wait for you!

[platogkrone]

10323780
And I don't even remember why.

[Nismo Rose]

Love the story hope it gets an update soon!