Fallout Equestria: Shattered Armour

by willm111

Chapter 5 Hooves of steel, head of Swiss cheese

Chapter 5: Hooves of steel, head of Swiss cheese

“So... why are we doing this?” Bronze Arrow asked. The sun reflected off his cutie mark almost blinding me as I glared at him. How could being shiny be a talent? I could definitely do better.

“Because today, I’m going to get my cutie mark! This spell will definitely work.,” I huffed as I kicked open the gate leading to an open field filled with nothing but knee length grass and, near the center of the field, a large grey boulder.

“Right, but why are we here?” asked the Cheeky sod.

“You got anything better to do? I need somepony here in case I burn out my horn or pass out or something. This is a whole new spell! There’s no telling what will happen!” And everypony said I was too reckless!

We had reached the large boulder now. From a distance, it had seemed unremarkable, but up close somepony had engraved the word ‘Tom’ on the flattest surface. Weird.

“Well when you put it like that, I think I’ll hide behind that rock until you’re done,” Arrow muttered nervously.

“Wouldn’t do you any good; that’s the target. Just stay about ten meters away, preferably where I can see you. that should be safe enough.” Arrow nodded and moved away from the rock.

I stood in front of the rock, grinding my hooves into the grass and marvelling at how I could barely feel it through the shoes.

I checked to make sure that Arrow was out of the way, and then fired up my horn. I started pressing together layer after layer of magic into the shoes on my rear hooves. The shoes started to hum making my tail twitch and shake, I could even see a small glow coming from behind.
I looked back to where Arrow stood, now frozen in terror, gave him a nod, then bucked the rock as hard as I could.

BOOM!

I felt the energy in my horse shoes explode outward. this was followed by feeling my face plough into the grass as the spell pushed back. I slid forward a couple of meters on my belly, and then rolled onto my back to see Arrow running towards me, waving a hoof and shouting.

“Look, look! It worked! There it goes, there it go... oh dear.” I looked to where he was pointing to see the boulder tumbling through the air high above the ground, across the field, over the fence, and straight into the wall of a large red barn, smashing it into splinters. Several angry ponies started swarming around the outside.

“Discord’s balls; we are gonna get in so much trouble.” Arrow moaned. “C’mon if we cut through the Everfree forest, we might lose them; or get eaten by Timberwolves if we’re really lucky.”

I sighed. “You go, stick to the road. They’re going to figure out it was me eventually, so I might as well come clean now.” I started trotting towards the barn.

“But how could they know it was you?” Arrow shouted.

“Because my horseshoes are embedded in the rock!” I shouted back.

So away I went, limping slightly from the scratches the shoe clips had left in my rear hooves, to get what was coming to me.

I didn’t even notice the horse shoe surrounded by a red magic glow on my flank until somepony pointed it out.

<---------------------------------------------------->

...

What?

...

No, that didn’t happen after the incident with Rusty Nails.

...

I guess it was kind of a flashback? I was talking to the workers, then everything went black; then I was caught up in a memory of getting my cutie mark.

...

Stranger things have happened.

...

Like Arrow’s curse, yes. Discord’s balls. That was a popular one when we were foals. According to legend, he has three of them. None of them are the same size or shape, and only two of them are in the same place.

...

Yes, we had legends about that, but nopony knows how we got them.

...

Right! The story… so, yeah; I was speaking to the workers, then I blacked out and woke up later...

<---------------------------------------------------->

“Here, drink one of these healing potions,” Said a mare’s voice; it’s exactly the sort of thing you want to hear when you’re lying on the ground too battered to move. Everything ached; my eyes were so swollen by bruises that it was a strain to open them.

“Don’t waste a potion on his stupid ass. Just hold him still, I found a permanent marker.” Exactly the sort of thing you don’t want to hear Scarlet say when you’re immobilized.

I groaned and started struggling to my hooves. Everything felt sore, but nothing seemed to be broken. I forced my eyes open to see Scarlet and the unicorn mare that had been at the reception counter. The unicorn mare was looking at me with concern as she levitated a healing potion back into a saddle bag at her hooves. Scarlet just glared at me.

“Enjoy your improvised massage did you? All those hooves, it must be so relaxing. WHAT THE BLOODY HELL DID YOU DO?!” She screamed in my face. I stared blearily at her, pondering that question myself. What did I do? The right thing, surely?

Scarlet started pacing back and forth talking angrily. “There I was, just waiting for you to finish rubbing shoulders with fancy dick, when a wave of ponies just barges through, and makes off with everything not nailed down! It was like they were possessed! What did he want to talk to you about away?”

I tried to speak, but choked on my first few words. No part of me had escaped a beating. Finally, I managed to squeeze out the story of what had happened.

“What I don’t get,” I turned to face the unicorn mare; up close I could see she was a very dull grey colour with a hammer for a cutie mark, “Why are you still here? Why didn’t you run like the others?” I asked.

“I wasn’t strung out on drugs like the others; he needed somepony sane to manage the till. How are you a male Alicorn?” Her voice was dull and flat, just like her mane and coat.

“Magic.” It still hurt to talk, and I didn’t want to waste words on somepony who willingly worked for Rusty Nail.

“Okay. Thanks for getting rid of Nail; this job was getting boring. I’d give you a reward, but the others took everything.” Huh... I didn’t know what to make of that.

“It’s fine. Scarlet, did you get the supplies we needed?” She hadn’t stopped glaring at me, and did so for a moment more before answering.

“Yeah, I did. Healing potions, ammo, food, Radaway; all the essentials and some extra as well. Lucky I did since you went and lost your stuff.” I lost my stuff?

I LOST MY STUFF!

I hadn’t realised since I was paying more attention to the pain, but my saddle bags were feeling unusually light. I levitated the bags in front of my face; it was completely empty. They had picked me clean; not even crumbs were left. They had even taken the machete out of its sheathe.

“Discord’s balls.” I muttered quietly. “Scarlet, I’m sorry. I just wanted to help those ponies.”

She rolled her eyes. “Help them to our stuff you mean.” I knew then that I would never live this down.

“So, what are you going to do now?” the dull mare asked. Good question. Our plan had been to get some supplies, then look for a job. We had succeeded in getting supplies. Now, where could we get a job?

“Do you know where the nearest town is?” I asked the dull mare.

“New Appleloosa.” Scarlet snapped. “They would have work but you might not get the warmest reception as an Alicorn. You can still do your disguise thing right?” Now what was that about? The dull mare didn’t bat an eyelid while Scarlet looked... Impatient? It didn’t matter we had a direction now.

“New Appleloosa sounds nice. I went to Appleloosa once, nice tourist dive.” Goddesses, that was a long time ago. it would be ten, no, two hundred and ten years ago now. Unbelievable.

“Well, if it’s all the same to you, I’ll be heading off to Junction town now. I have family there. I wish there was some way I could repay you. Those ponies took everything that wasn’t nailed down except for my tools.” The dull mare said.

Tools.

Nails.

And a certain very old new spell.

Maybe it was just the concussion from being trampled, but I suddenly had a really great idea.

“Actually...” I coughed. “If you can find some decent steel, there may be something you could do for me.”

<---------------------------------------------------->

How much do you ponies know about horse shoes?

...

Right, but did you know they were among the first tools designed by pony smiths.

...

Well, it was a big deal at the time. They could protect your hooves when walking, they could make an ordinary kick shatter stone, they turned each hoof into a hammer, you could even throw them at a peg in the ground for a foal’s game.

Frankly, I was surprised more ponies in the wasteland don’t use them.

...

Those clip-on shoes don’t really count as horse shoes, and they’re not that common or useful as old fashioned horse shoes; they can be pulled off easily.

Anyway, the point I wanted to make is that horse shoes can symbolise a lot of things; like my cutie mark. My special talent isn’t horse shoe magic, no it’s...

...

What?

...

What do you mean they can’t stay on? They’re horse shoes! You need a claw hammer to get them off!

..?

Wait, you really don’t know how they attached horse shoes do you?

...

HAHAHAHAHA! You really don’t know! Oh what a buck of hicks!

..!

I’m just kidding! I’m just kidding! Look, I’ll show you how they’re held on.

!!!

See?

!!!

That’s pretty much how Scarlet reacted when I told the dull mare what I wanted. She said...

<---------------------------------------------------->

“He fights robots with tears in his eyes, he spares raiders, he contemplates the mysteries of the stars on the can, and now he nails bits of metal to his own flesh. People of the wasteland, I give you BROKEN THORN! IDIOT OF THE YEAR!” Scarlet followed up with a surprisingly noisy round of applause for one person.

I growled, trying to keep my anger in check. She had been absolutely insufferable since we had left the Ironshod factory. It had taken an hour for the dull mare to make the shoes and nails, but only minutes to attach them. I was amazed at how painless it was.

...

Well, if it had hurt, there would have been no point to it. It just felt kind of strange, like the shoes and nails were a part of me, but numb; with no sense of touch.

In any case, it worked for now. I needed to put them to the real test. Time to make Scarlet eat her words.

“I got my cutie mark by making a new spell, you know.” I looked around and spotted a large boulder by the side of the path. It was no Tom, but it would do. “I made a spell that could make a strike with a hoof have many times its normal force.” I turned off the path and trotted towards the rock.

“In theory, you could charge your hoof with the energy, but it doesn’t work. There’s already too much magic in living things. But a piece of metal close to you, like... oh, say, a horse shoe, can be charged with little effort.” I stopped facing the rock. “However, the modern clip on shoes can’t handle the feedback from the spell. They go flying off. But shoes that are nailed on...”

I went over the spell in my mind. I channelled the energy from my horn through my entire body, through the nails and into the shoes on my rear legs. It came like a flood; I had so much power to work with and the shoes drank it up like a desert meeting the sea. They started to glow with a bright white light.

“Well, let’s see what happens.” I said casually. I braced my front hooves on the ground and applebucked the rock as hard as I could.

CRACKTHOOOM!!!!

The top half exploded outwards, breaking into shards that sprayed out like a shotgun blast, peppering the ground behind it. Some bits must have flow fifty meters.

“That was… unexpected. I thought the rock would go flying.” I said as I surveyed the damage. Still, that should shut Scarlet up. I turned to face her, only to see she had drawn her gun.

“Okay, that was pretty impressive. How did you know that guy was there?” What the buck?

I turned back to face the rock and saw, through the clearing dust, a pony, groaning on his back on the other side of the shattered rock. I walked around to get a better look at him, and threw up my shield for good measure. Poor guy must have been hiding behind the rock; it was a miracle the blast didn’t take his head off. He was a unicorn stallion, with a green mane and a grey coat. He was old; how old I’m not sure. He could have been a badly aged forty years, or a well-aged sixty. He was decked out in a thick duster covering a suit of security armour, with a couple heavy duty saddlebags hanging on his rear, a shotgun, an assault rifle and a sniper rifle slung across his back.
The strangest things, however, were the Pipbucks. He had two of them, one on each foreleg. I recognised them from Stable-Tec’s adverts.

“Are you okay?” I asked. He opened one eye and glared at me.

“Sure, fine, just peachy. No exploding rock is going to get the better of me.” He rolled over onto his belly and slowly stood up.

“What’s your name?” I asked. Two Pipbucks; why would anypony need two? What could they do exactly? I couldn’t quite remember.

“Give me a minute, my ears are still ringing. I can’t hear a word you’re saying.” What.

“But... you answered me before!” Was this guy senile?

“Ah I heard that. And I answered because some damn fool always asks, ‘Are you okay?’ I got blown up, would you be okay?” Considering I survived the balefire apocalypse, yes, but he didn’t need to know that.

“You fucker. Dump the guns now!” Scarlet screamed while aiming her gun at his head. While we had been talking, she had come around the other side of the rock, trapping the unicorn between the two of us. Very tactical, but why was she angry?

“The last time I ‘dropped’ something on the request of a griffin, a good a time was had by all. The time before, however...” The space above him blurred, and suddenly the sniper rifle on his back was pressed against the shield, pointing at my face, while the shotgun pointed at Scarlet. Both were held in a pale grey magic glow coming from the unicorn’s horn.

“Now, I’d like you to explain the reason for all this hostility.” His voice was cool and level, not a hint of fear. Whoever this pony was, he was definitely an experienced fighter.

“Don’t play dumb, you wrinkled piece of shit! I recognised you! You were shooting at us at the Pony Joe’s!” He was? Wait...

EFS. Eyes-forward-sparkle. A tracking spell that allowed you to track other living things. A standard feature for Pipbucks. He had a Pipbuck and a sniper rifle; things were starting to fall into place.

“So, that whole shooting through the walls thing. I can’t imagine it works so well with cover this thick.” I jerked my head towards the boulder while cursing my own stupidity. An ambush; why else would a pony hide behind a rock near a deserted path?

“It seems we may have gotten off on the wrong hoof.” His face and voice didn’t change at all; did this guy have ice in his blood?

“Drop the fucking guns, fucker!!!” Scarlet, on the other hoof, looked like she was panicking. I needed to cool the situation.

“You tried to kill us; why? What did we do to you?” Okay, not very cool, but I did want to know.

He turned his head to look me right in the eyes, trying to stare me down, and then he sighed and answered. “A Talon merc and a male Alicorn working together; it’s not hard to figure out. Redeye is back, isn’t he?”

<---------------------------------------------------->

...

Oh, no! He’s most definitely dead. You heard it from DJ PON3, yes? But this was right after the battle of the Cathedral and the day of Sunshine and Rainbows. At the time, Redeye being dead seemed too good to be true. There were a lot of rumours that he was alive and in hiding at the time. Rusty Nail and Tumbler had both jumped to the same conclusion.

...

Buck, I’m getting ahead of myself. Tumbler was the name of the unicorn that attacked us. It didn’t take much to convince him we didn’t work for Redeye. It took a lot longer convince Scarlet to not shoot him in the face; but when I did, a new opportunity arose...

<---------------------------------------------------->

“I picked that Stable clean myself years ago.” Tumbler said as we settled down in the shadow of small cliff. ”There’s nothing left but those crazy robots. They malfunctioned and started to...”

“I know what they did.” I interrupted, while trying to forget what I knew.

“So, where can we find another water talisman?” Scarlet snapped. She was still angry that we didn’t try to strangle Tumbler with his own tail as promised, even though he said sorry first.

“Stable 16. Went there five years ago but couldn’t get far. The living quarters are neck deep in radioactive water. But now we have an Alicorn.” Simple enough, I suppose, but I wasn’t too keen on deliberately exposing myself to dangerous radiation, Alicorn or not.

“THERE IS NO WE!!!!!” Scarlet interrupted my contemplation with loudest scream I’d heard from her yet.

“Excuse me?” Tumbler seemed nonplussed as he lit his horn and delicately levitated out bottle of Sparkle cola with condensation forming on it from his saddlebags.

Damn. When did I last have a cold drink? Wait! How did he keep the bottles cold in this heat?

“Let’s get one thing straight! Me and Thorn are a team! You are a useful idiot with a debt to pay! You lead us to the talisman, we go our separate ways. That’s it! Clear?” What was her problem? She had been testy ever since I accepted Tumbler’s offer of parley.

“That should be Thorn and I.” Tumbler said. Grammar tyrant! Maybe this was a bad idea.

“We should get moving; the Stable’s just a few hours north.” Tumbler levitated the empty bottle back into his saddle bag, stood up, and headed back towards the path.

I moved to follow him, but Scarlet grabbed me by the mane and pulled my ear to her beak. “Do you really trust this guy? He tried to kill you!” She whispered frantically.

“Strictly speaking, no one can be completely trusted; however, I trust this guy enough to lead us to the loot without trying to backstab us.” I replied. That wasn’t the wasteland speaking, it was just something a friend taught me a long time ago.

“Then how much do you trust me?” Scarlet said. I couldn’t answer. True, I trusted her to not stab me in the back, but beyond that she had not been entirely reliable.

Anything I might have said then didn’t matter. When I didn’t reply right away, she snorted and released my mane. She stalked after Tumbler with her head hanging low.

Why couldn’t girls ever ask me easy questions? Like where are the bodies hidden? Or what’s the square root of two thousand seven hundred and forty five?

...

...Yes, thank you, you’re very helpful.

As we walked down the path, I talked with Tumbler, trying to get to know him. Also, because Scarlet was still sulking and wouldn’t use more than two words per answer.

“How do you make a living, Tumbler?”

“I’m a Stable diver.” He answered cheerfully. “I go into Stables and take out whatever’s useful. Pipbucks, water talismans, clothes, even the metal wall plates in a pinch. Resources like that are always in demand. Sometimes I work with others, but usually I do it alone.”

“Isn’t that dangerous? Scarlet told me the Stables turned into death traps!”

“Yes and no. The experiments Stable-Tec was running were, at a glance, harmless. But, after 200 years, the odds of something going wrong through stupidity, bad luck or oversight are just...” He sighed sadly. “There are some Stables that made it; they opened up and helped repopulated the wastes. Others are still locked up with ponies inside. Those are the ones I like to find. Ponies should live in the sun.” He smiled broadly and looked up at the cloudless blue sky; it was a real smile, born of joy; not just the usual grins me and Scarlet had exchanged for not dying.

I couldn’t help but smile myself. I grinned broadly; maybe this wasn’t so bad? The whole world can’t be sadness and death right?

Then Tumbler saw my smile and snapped back his default ‘don’t mess with me or I’ll shoot you’ look he had before we got moving. He started trotting faster along the path until we were no longer walking side by side.

“What a little bitch! Am I right?” Scarlet said with her usual tact. “Just ignore him until we get to the loot. Punk like him just isn’t a team player like us, right?”

“Perhaps.” I glanced down at her. “But at least he answers questions honestly.” She ignored me and trotted faster until the three of were moving as a widely spaced column, with me at the back eating their dust.

Woo. Go team.

After an hour or so of awkward silence, I noticed the land around us changing. Rolling dunes and rocks gave way to hills and fields covered in black and brown grass with the occasional scorched tree and shattered building.

“We’re here.” Tumbler turned off the path, started rummaging in his saddle bags, and pulled out a security helmet with the Stable-Tec logo on it. “The entrance is just this way.” He pulled the shotgun off his back and held it by his side.

“Watch out.” Scarlet whispered to me. “If he’s going to try anything, it will be in the Stable.” She pulled out her SMG and checked the clip. That bird was too paranoid.

“Now, if I remember correctly, it’s right...” Tumbler disappeared so suddenly I cast my shield spell in shock. “Here.” A muffled voice came from somewhere near the ground.

I moved forward shield still up and looked down. Tumbler was standing in a narrow trench in the ground. It was invisible unless you were right on top of it. I altered my shield to project an inch from my skin and hopped down into the trench.

Tumbler nodded my way and advanced forward. “This Stable has multiple routes to the door.” He rambled. “There should be a passage somewhere on our left. Not sure what experiment this stable was running, but about a century ago most of it got flooded with irradiated groundwater and the inhabitants had to leave in a hurry.”

Tumbler proved to be spot on. There was an opening to our left, and it looked more like an oversized rabbit burrow. I had lot trouble fitting through the opening. I only made it through because of Scarlet motivating me.

...

She... uh. Pecked me.

...

NO! You can’t have a go! Back off, you vulture!

…

Thankfully, the tunnel got wider the further in we went, and more tunnels joined up with ours. I asked Tumbler how far they reached, and he said the only other entrance he knew of was three kilometres away. At this point I was glad we had Tumbler along. As soon we entered, he switched on both of his Pipbuck’s lights.

And then we were there, the Stable door in front of us was open; the déjà-vu only added to my growing nerves.

“So, let me just clarify some things.” Tumbler continued to take the lead with his shotgun as we advanced into the stable. It wasn’t anything like the previous Stable. Everything was covered with rust and strange growths. There was no light except for Tumbler’s Pipbucks.

“Umhmm.” Tumbler replied.

“I go alone into the part of the Stable that’s filled with irradiated water. Yes?”

“Umhmm.”

“Irradiated water that would quickly and painfully kill a normal pony, but won’t kill me due the strange magic that makes up my body.”

“Umhmm.”

“To retrieved an incredibly valuable and delicate pre-war magic talisman.”

“Umhmm.”

“In the dark.”

“Umhmm.”

“And you don’t see anything wrong with this picture?”

Tumbler gave me a sly grin. “No. Because in my picture, you’re going to have one of these.” His horn lit up and pulled a Pipbuck out of his saddle bags.

“It’s a 2000 model; not quite as tough or comfy as the 3000s, but I updated all the software, so it should work well enough. Let me put it on for you.” He turned back to face me, levitating the Pipbuck between us.

“Hold it!” Scarlet screeched. She leapt right over my head and landed between me and Tumbler.

“How do we know this isn’t some kind of trick? There could be bomb in there! Or a magic virus! Or spiders!” She glared at Tumbler, her beak an inch from his nose.

“I have no reason to hurt you. It’s just an ordinary Pipbuck; I promise.” Tumbler said calmly.

“The fuck it is!” Scarlet bellowed. “You just want to get us apart so you can pick us off one by one! You tell him Thorn!”

“Spiders?” I blurted out. “Are you serious? By Celestia’s beard, just calm the buck down Scarlet! I’ll check it out.”

I picked up the Pipbuck with my own magic and levitated it close to my horn. I closed my eyes and started examining every inch of it with my mind.

It may interest you to know that living things contains some amount of magic. In fact, everything does! Rocks, trees, ponies; they all have greater or lesser amounts of magic. But this wasn’t that useful to me. Sensing magic that small takes a lot of concentration. Finding living things is easier, but it still takes a lot of effort.

In any case, I couldn’t tell if there was anything wrong with this Pipbuck. It was full of incredibly complex spells matrixes that dealt mostly with information. There was nothing that seemed directly harmful.

And there were definitely no spiders.

“It’s safe.” I said, eventually opening my eyes. Scarlet was trying to stare down Tumbler, but he was watching me, ignoring her completely.

“Good; Now we’ve got the general fear and paranoia out of the way.” Tumbler lit up his horn and grabbed the Pipbuck and started moving it towards my left leg.

Scarlet muttered something unintelligible under her breath. Between several fucks I heard something about a cherry bomb enema that made me smile a bit.

“Now get ready.” Tumbler said in his serious voice. “Once I strap this on you’re going to start seeing stuff. Numbers, letters; just ignore it and don’t do anything until I tell you to.”

The Pipbuck clicked as it wrapped around my leg. It felt snug, but neither hot nor cold. After a moment, green numbers and symbols started flashing across my eyes. I tried to follow them, but it gave me a headache so I just shut my eyes and waited.

“Okay; all done.” Tumbler muttered. “I turned off most of the features except for the map, the radio, and the light. Trying to learn E.F.S and S.A.T.S now would just be a distraction.”

I opened my eyes to find they were blissfully clear of lights. I looked down at my left leg to see the machine now attached to it. Now that it was this close to me, I could actually feel the spells inside it working. It was like having star constellation stuck to me.

“Wow; This thing is pretty amazing.” I chuckled. I had never been too interested in Stable-Tec; their whole attitude had been too defeatist for the guard. However, they knew their stuff. I’ll give them that.

“Let’s move; the sooner we get out of here and paid the better.” Scarlet roughly shouldered past me and Tumbler.

I went to follow her, but then Tumbler stopped me with a hoof on my shoulder. I turned to face him and he gave a little shake of his head with a small grin on his face. I was confused for a moment but then I realised what Scarlet had done. I turned back in time to see Scarlet vanish round the corner.

...

Oh you’ll figure it out eventually. Scarlet did.

“What are you two waiting for? I need the fucking light!!!” Scarlet bellowed.

“Do you need the map?” Tumbler shouted back.

<---------------------------------------------------->

So, after the civil war that followed that, exchange I was ushered down some steps by Tumbler into a corridor filled with chest high water, carrying nothing but the Pipbuck for light and a sealed box for the talisman. It was hard going; the Pipbuck didn’t illuminate much above the surface of the water, and I had to move slowly, checking the map regularly.

A daunting prospect, but at that stage I was just glad to get away from Scarlet. What was her problem? I could understand a certain amount of suspicion, but her hostile attitude towards Tumbler just made me feel like... like...

I don’t know. It just didn’t make sense to me; he was honest, and there was no reason for him to hurt us.

Thoughts like that chased each other around my head, but were gradually intruded on by another.

I felt great.

The water was freezing cold on my hide, but I felt warm, almost tingly inside. Was this the radiation? Scarlet said radiation didn’t hurt Alicorns, but she never said anything about this!

I dunked my head underwater. It was dark, but surprisingly clear. Nothing grew in it, I guessed. I realised I could finally do something I had needed to do for a while. I started scrubbing with my hooves, but switched to magic when my shoes began chaffing too hard. I kept moving forward, leaving behind a trail of darkened water as the dried blood, dust and other muck washed off.

Goddesses, that was a relief! And the water just felt so good! How was it doing that? But of course I had a way to find out!

I opened us my senses and was suddenly struck with the most profound feeling of @%$(%)#^%$>?:@$%*@#%.

...

No, of course it didn’t make any sense! Do you have any idea what rads are?

...

Well, I don’t exactly know myself. It would take somepony like Twilight Sparkle to put the right words around it, and even then it would be impossible to make sense of. I can only tell it to you as I understand it.

As I told you, everything contains magic; and that magic follows a pattern. Everything has a different pattern, from objects to ponies to spells. Some are simple, some are complex. All are different, but each individual one is structured in some way.

But this magic I felt wasn’t structured. It was just random parts moving endlessly; like a kaleidoscope of random energies. Pure chaos.

It made me sick to my stomach.

The next thing I remembered was opening my eyes underwater and choking on a lung full of liquid. I broke the surface, heaving and gasping. How was I not dead? That sort of magic should just kill everything.

I staggered along the corridor, heading for my goal, trying to put it from my mind but I couldn’t. I had to see it again.

I opened up my senses, slowly easing into feeling the flow of energy around me. It wasn’t so bad once I got used to it. Then I turned my senses on myself.

Now, as I said, I’m only explaining it as I understand it, but what I saw was impossible. Somehow my body took this terrible energy, and just made it into... me. My body was soaking it up like a sponge, making my magic and everything else stronger. It was like watching maggots and ashes turn into apples and water.

Gross, impossible, disturbing.

Me.

For the last few days, I had been working very hard not to ‘freak out’. My drill sergeant always warned it could happen. A new soldier, their first time on the battlefield... A lot of screaming and crying is to be expected.

I had managed to avoid most of that, but not anymore.

I screamed and thrust the water away from me telekinetically until I could hold it at bay as a wall of water surrounding me, but, more importantly, NOT touching me.

Whatthebuckwhatthebuckwhatthebuck!!!!! How do I stop this? Were the Princesses like this? What...

Light.

Were Alicorns some sort of weapon meant for the wasteland? They came from Maripony, where Twilight Sparkle had worked. Were they her fault? Was she an Alicorn somewhere? What if...

There was a light beyond the wall of water.

What if...

Light!

I snapped out of my inner rambling just in time see something that glowed with sickly green light burst through the wall of water towards me and ram into my shoulder.

As the magic holding the water back collapsed, I flailed with my steel shod hooves and managed to strike what felt like a head, tearing it away from me, along with part of my neck. Whatever this thing was, it had sharp teeth.

The water crashed into both of us, rolling me away from the creature, I hoped.

I broke the surface gasping for air. I looked around for the creature but only saw the glow vanish around a distant corner.

Celestia’s beard! What was that!? How bad did it hurt me? I turned my neck, trying to get a look at where it had bitten me, but couldn’t see it.

But I could feel it healing. Yet another exhibition in the freak show of my life.

Part of me wanted to curl up and cry again, but most of me was getting angry. That was good, I could use anger.

Now, where was this overgrown light bulb? I couldn’t see anything beyond the small circle of light generated by the Pipbuck.

I switched off the light and stood, still focusing on every sight and sound I could in the pitch black darkness. Nothing stirred; I felt nothing except the tingle of radiation and chill of the water.

Maybe it had backed off. I shouldn’t worry so much. I flicked the light back on.

An incredible screeching sound echoed down the corridor. It sounded like somepony had been cutting metal with a chainsaw, caught their hoof in it and then kept on sawing.

I flicked the light back on and spun trying to look every direction at once but couldn’t see anything, abruptly the screaming stopped and there was no sound but the sloshing of water.

Buck my life; I had no chance of spotting that thing before it closed with me. A shield would stop it but make it nearly impossible to move through the water. What should I do?

I heard a gentle sloshing sound in the distance; at least I hopped it was distant.

There was only one way to do this; I just really didn’t want to do it.

I opened up my senses and extended then in all directions, trying to ignore the (%$(@%$*&%$@&! of radiation beating on my senses, and looked for anything living.

I didn’t find anything living, but there was something: a large mass of @%(#*^$%*%@!!{ moving right towards me at the other end of the corridor.

I reached out, grabbed it in a levitation field, and pushed it as hard as I could towards the ceiling until I heard bones break, and then dragged it along the ceiling towards me.

I stopped it directly above me and held it there; finally, I could see what I was dealing with.
It was a pony, more or less. Scarlet had told me about ghouls, but she had never mentioned anything like this! It was a stallion, I think, but between losing a lot of skin and all of its hair, it was a bit hard to tell. It glowed a bright green; it was actually emitting radiation! That’s how I had found it, but why didn’t it feel like a living thing?

...

Correct. Ghouls are, technically speaking, not living creatures, but I didn’t know that at the time.

“What are you?” I murmured. Applying as much pressure I could to keep it from moving, I lowered the creature down from the ceiling until it was at eye level. It growled in response, and snapped its teeth trying to bite my nose. I saw, on its chest, one of its ribs sticking out through its skin, oozing some strange fluid.

“Tough sucker. What do you eat down here?” The creature curled its forelegs up in front of it, made a bubbling, hissing sound, and glared at me.

“Can you understand me?” Stupid question, Scarlet had told me once that ghouls who went feral were just animals.

“THHBBBTTTT!!!!” The ghoul stuck out its tongue and blew a raspberry at me! I was so shocked I almost dropped it. I had never heard an animal do that; have you?

...

But this was a ghoul! My amazement was only compounded when its broken rib started sliding back inside its chest. The radiation was healing it, just like me.

“Guess we have something in common.” The ghoul continued to glare at me, but now it looked silly rather than threatening.

“I need to get moving. Come along and make yourself useful.” I sloshed my way down the corridor with the ghoul floating behind, bubbling and hissing all the way.

...

Because I needed a better light source! Have you ever tried to extract a water talisman? Depending on how messed up the Stable is, it can be really hard. Thankfully, with Tumbler on the radio talking me through it, and the ghoul for extra light, I managed.

Needless to say, I was feeling pretty good as I trotted back to where I left Scarlet and Tumbler; but then something weird happened. I heard Scarlet and Tumbler arguing...

<---------------------------------------------------->

“So; he doesn’t know about her?” Tumbler’s voice echoed down the staircase. I almost didn’t hear it over the ghoul’s hissing. I stopped dead. Were they talking about me?

“He was the in Royal fucking Guard. How do you think he’d react? Dude’s enough of basket case already. Knowing...” I couldn’t hear what Scarlet said next over the ghoul letting out a loud growl.

“You hear that?” Tumbler said over the sound of pumping his shotgun. I dunked the ghoul under the water to silence it. Buck it all, it was just getting interesting.

“Yeah. Look, just don’t talk about it, or I’ll smash you’re face in, clear?” Scarlet growled back.

“Crystal clear, Shadow Feather.” Shadow Feather? Whatever it meant, it touched a nerve for Scarlet.

THANG! The sound of a pony being tackled into a metal wall was my cue to enter.

“Hey, guys; I’m back!” I shouted us the stairs. I began walking up them with the ghoul floating behind me.

I came upon Scarlet and Tumbler trying very hard to look like they hadn’t just been at each other’s throats. Despite their efforts, I could see Scarlet’s feathers were ruffled, and Tumbler’s security helmet had scratches on the face plate.

“Damn, boy; how many rads did you soak in down there? You’re glowing.” Boy? I’m pretty sure I was chronologically older than Tumbler.

“Oh, it’s not me; it’s this guy I found down there.” I levitated the hissing ghoul past me into their line of vision.

BLAM! BLAM! BLAM!

The shots from Scarlets and Tumbler’s shotguns tore the ghoul out of my magic grip hurtling him down the stairs back into the water.

“What did you do that for?” I screamed. They looked at me in shock.

“You had a feral ghoul behind you! A glowing one! Didn’t I tell you how dangerous they were?” Scarlet said as she holstered the double barrel.

“He wasn’t feral! At least not completely! I was using him as a nightlight!” I only realised how stupid my words were when they were out of my mouth.

“Son.” Tumbler said gravely. “Once a ghoul reaches that level of decline, they can only go down, not up. He would have torn your throat out the moment you let down your guard. Let it go.”

“But... he... raspberry.” I stuttered; what had I been thinking anyway? Could I really drag that ghoul around the wasteland with me? Tumbler just stared sadly at me, while Scarlet didn’t look at me at all.

“Stables can drive you nuts if you’re not used to it. Let’s get out of here, and back into the sun.” Tumbler turned away and started walking back towards the exit.

“Yeah! And to our payday! You got the talisman, right?” I gave her a nod. “FUCK yeah!!” She whooped, and then trotted after Tumbler.

“What was I doing?” I murmured. I trotted after them. Maybe the dark and small space was getting to me.

The last thing I heard as we left the stable was a distant bubbling noise that made me smile a little.

<---------------------------------------------------->

So... pet feral ghouls: good idea, or bad idea?

...

Sorry, didn’t smell... See! You back there. I don’t know what I was thinking; why I didn’t just kill the swimming ghoul, other than his use as a light source.

...

No; he was an animal. Tumbler was right; there is no helping a ghoul once they reach that stage. Except for a bullet.

There wasn’t much excitement after that. We left the Stable and discussed where we would sell the water talisman. Scarlet wanted to take it to Tenpony tower because she knew a guy who knew a guy, but Tumbler told us about a new settlement in the wastes, one desperately in need of resources but capable of paying a lot.

They called it Break Pit.

...

No. You wouldn't have heard of it.

Not after we visited.

Level up! Level 5

New Perk: Tough Hide – The brutal experiences of the Equestrian Wasteland have hardened you. You gain +2 to Damage Threshold and 10% resistance to poison.

Quest Perk: New Horse shoes – You have horse shoes nailed to your hooves. It is not clear what this will do to you, but for now you do gain 10% more damage with unarmed attacks.

New Spell: Broken Thorn’s Thunder hoof – Releases a massive shockwave of energy from your hooves when striking. Requires: Horse shoes.
You are no longer covered in blood and have absorbed a moderate amount of radiation.

Author's Note:

First up I'd like to thank my new editor Josephdalepony for taking over as editor. Thanks Joe, you've spared everyone the pain of my amateur grammar.

To everyone else please keep commenting, I'm still not sure what's good and what's bad so say what you think.

Happy belated new year.

Comments

[Valikdu]

Like Arrow’s curse, yes. Discord’s balls. That was a popular one when we were foals. According to legend, he has three of them. None of them are the same size or shape, and only two of them are in the same place.

And each of them is larger than the others.

When Chuck Norris found out, he cried in envy.