Fallout Equestria: Ghoulish Awakening

Chapter 2 - How am I alive?

I had just woken up from my 200 year "sleep" and already i had been thrown into the action, this would be the start of a very long and dangerous mission through the Equestrian Wasteland to discover the fate of my mentor, Twilight Sparkle. You see, you might have heard of the legends of the pony, Littlepip, who brought peace and order to the wasteland, this is no such story.

My head was still sore from my head hitting the ground, i was told i had a concussion, not a major one, but still enough that i had to be taken care of. The room was very run-down, the paint peeling off the walls. These past 200 years have obviously taken their toll on Equestria. I'd need to find a place to get a book, i'd obviously have to learn about it if i wanted to survive.

Somepony walked in when i was thinking, they decided to wait for me to wake up. It was the... Captain.

"Hey, could you please tell me what i am?" I asked, hoping that this stallion had the information i needed. "I don't recognize myself, am i who i used to be?" I inquired further. The stallion shifted uneasily. The look in his eyes told me that it wasn't going to be good news i was getting.

"You are...a ghoul." He stated simply, a ghoul, back then i had no idea what that was since i wasn't there to see the after-events of the mega-spells. "Ghouls are  a subspecies of ponies, a mutation if you will, when the megaspells hit, ponies who were just enough outside of the blast radius to not be killed, but changed into a ghoul, that must've been how you became one. You must have been near a megaspell." So, i was a mutation, no longer my real self anymore, would i still be counted as a pony? "The name's Captain Longshot by the way, at your service, i reckon y'all might wanna go 'n talk to Ms. Ditzy Doo at Absolutely Everything, she'd love to meet someone like herself." Longshot tipped his hat with his hoof, then got up and started to leave, he stood in the doorway then turned around to look at me, giving a small, encouraging smile.

After about an hour, i got out of the bed and was guided down towards the shop that Longshot had pointed me towards, i met some very unfriendly looks from ponies who passed by me, i wondered if this was just how ponies were nowadays, judgemental and cruel, always willing to put a bullet through your head if they got the chance, no better than the zebras, but then i realised. "It's because i'm different." I muttered.

"What?" Somepony asked, i looked up with a confused expression. It was the pony beside me, i forgot she was even there, if only for a moment. "I guess you noticed the townspeople and their negative attitude towards you." The mare had a very calming tone, i had noticed that we were in some sort of store, It was much bigger than any of the other "houses" i saw on my short journey here. There was some commotion outside as a bleeding pony was brought by the window of the store, the pony beside me left me in the store with another pony, she looked like a ghoul too, oh wait, this is Ditzy Doo? I recognize her, i'd recognize those wall-eyes anywhere. I spoke up as Ditzy greeted my with a small wave and a warm smile.

"Hello, i just got here, my name is Missy Starlight." Ditzy's eyes seemed to widen at that staement, leaving me confused as to why she was frantically scribbling something onto a sheet of paper. She finally finished and she showed me it: Hello, i know i've heard that name before, were you Twilight Sparkle's student? I nodded, she started jumping, but then controlled herself, it was an awkward situation i was in, i wanted to know the fates of my friends, friends from so long ago. I sighed, the gap left by that was filled by a book, i levitated it out of my mouth, the cover said: "Wasteland Survival Guide", it was written by none other than Ditzy herself. She started writing something else down, it said: First one for ever family's free. Says so on my sign outside. I face-hoofed.

After walking outside, i had the book in front of my face, reading so intently as i used to do, suddenly, i bumped into somepony, he had a rust-colored mane and wore a black hat. He looked very threatening with the two guns strapped to either side of him. Hitting my head on the ground probably wasn't going to do any good for my concussion.

"Awful sorry ma'am, y'all should watch whur yer goin'" He said reaching out his hoof to help me up, i hesitated for a moment, each encounter i've had with guns were people pointing/firing them at me, so my hesitance was understandable. He saw the fearful look in my eyes. "Don't worry, ah ain't gonna hurt ye." Somehow this was convincing enough for me to grab his hoof and he helped me onto mine. I picked the book up from off the ground it was a bit dusty.

"What's going on up there? I heard some sort of commotion, who was that?" I looked at him curiously, it must have been shameful for him, i saw as he lowered his head to the ground. He told me how he'd opened fire on what he thought was a raider, which turned out to just be a regular pony, a unicorn. After he had finished, i looked at him with confusion, how could he just open fire on a whim? Sure, the armor made her look like an enemy, but there's no need for such violence.

"What is wrong with you? Surely you didn't just find her and shoot her....did you?" He sighed.

"Not exactly, ah was defendin' a caravan makin' it's way outta town, she was makin' 'er way t'wars us, what wus ah s'posed to do?" He asked, seemingly exasperated. I gave him a sort of glare, just intense enough to convey that i was angry.

"You could have...i don't know... tried to communicate with her, instead of just shooting anything with a pulse. Is this how you usually do things?" I calmed down... a bit. "I'm Missy Starlight, just came into town today." The pegasus responded, telling me his name was Calamity, i snickered at the name. "Calamity as in, disaster?" He sighed and gave a nod. I started laughing very loudly, capturing the attention of everypony in the local vicinity. After about 2 minutes of constant laughing i got back up. I said goodbye to Calamity and i started exploring the town, it was a fairly run-down place, train cars were expertly stacked one on top of the other, i was admiring the hoofwork (hornwork?) when a gruff stallion from behind interrupted my train of thought:

"That there's some o' the finest work ah've done. It's not easy gettin' all o' them up there." The yellow unicorn stated in a gruff western accent, i guess that just goes for everyone in these parts, his mane short, it was a striped orange and beige pattern, the stallion looked like the type that would ram a dragon and win.

"I bet you're wonderin' how ah did it." He was right, this type of levitation is amazing, sure, i could do it, but for a unicorn, it seemed kind of amazing. "This right here's ma special talent, ah cin levitate objects fifty times mah own weight."

"Levitation is one of the most basic magics i know. But i guess when your special talent is magic itself, it all seems a bit trivial." I replied. Out of nowhere i saw a sprite-bot fly past, i made my excuses and went off after it. It had disappeared.

I turned back towards Crane and i offered my help for levitation, he grumbled something containing at least three curse words, i took that as my cue to leave, i sat up on top of one of the box-cars and started reading my book again. I didn't have any saddlebags so i would have to keep it in my mouth or in my levitation.

Longshot found me later, wrapped up in a ball, with the book over my muzzle, with a swift tap, i woke up. "Whuuiighh...." I blurted groggily, shaking sleep from my body. It was night now, Longshot was floating next to me, "Damn, i forgot he had wings." I flew with him back to Absolutely Everything where he inisisted i get some armor, with the solid argument that i had no money. At least not the money people wanted. All i had were bits, which according to Longshot, really wasn't worth a whole lot in singular. "Where do i get money from?" I asked him, he seemed like the knowledgeable type. No offense Ditzy!"Just find bottle caps laying around places, that's our economy."

"Bottlecaps, really I thought, it seemed like an odd currency, i only had enough coins on me to get some light armor, it had to be modified because of my wings being a different size than a normal pegasus. The armor seemes tough enough though, like it would stop a couple of bullets, should the time ever come for such a need. Longshot also gave me an old pistol, which he said  he'd train me to use, since i'd never really used a firearm before. It had been a traumatic day for me and i just wanted to get some sleep. I was allowed the same room i was in earlier, but this time, the unicorn that i mentioned earlier was there, she took a lot of damage, hard to believe one pony did that to another. Anyway, i curled up on one of the beds in the clinic and fell asleep.