Fallout: Equestria - Bits and Pieces

Read the story on Gdocs here - Chp. 3 - Beauty Brew

Diptrip was not what I was expecting. As I looked down at the small settlement, I felt nothing but disappointment. I was hoping to find a nice town where I could buy some food, but Diptrip looked like the inhabitants were wanting the same.

Three relatively large buildings were clustered in the middle, and they were surrounded by about a dozen or so small shacks. A tiny wooden wall surrounded the settlement. The wall looked like it could hardly keep out a radroach, let alone attacking raiders.

It would have to do, I told myself. I desperately needed food and ammo. My reserves running dangerously low. I could also do with somewhere soft to sleep- I’d be happy with a rotten old bed or a pile of mouldy hay.

As I walked up between the gates, I noticed two earth ponies looking at me with distrust in their eyes. They holstered to their sides were small pistols, possibly .32 calibers. Whatever they were, they looked like they couldn’t take down a bloatsprite.

They eyed me as I walked into town, but didn’t stop me from entering. The streets were practically empty, save for a few ponies who were moving quickly from one building to another. Was it always this empty?

I could see one of the large buildings ahead of me. A sign over the doorway read ‘General Goods’. I eyed my nearly empty bags. I would definitely need to stop there first.

I reached out to open the door, but it was opened from the other side first. A tall, light green earth pony mare stormed out in a rush, an angry look on her face. She seemed to be too busy being angry to notice there was someone in her way. We collided before I could move out of the way.

I quickly disengaged myself from the tangle of limbs we had become. “I’m sorry!” I exclaimed, helping her to her hooves. She dusted herself off and looked at me.

Now that I got a better look at her, I really noticed her looks. She was beautiful- something hard to come by in the wasteland. Her big purple eyes matched the green of her curly mane.

She looked at me angrily. “Watch it!” she chastised. Her features softened as she looked at me. “Hey, you’re not from around here. What’s your name?” she asked sweetly.

That was a drastic change of emotions. I blushed at her attention. “Uh, Gur, my name is Gur.”

“That’s such a nice name! I’m Beauty Brew, but you can just call me Beauty. So, what brings you to town?”

I was fleeing my old life and trying to forge my own path in the wasteland. “I just stopped by for some supplies.”

She looked me up and down, and I blushed at the attention. “You look like a fighter,” she commented. Beauty moved a bit closer. “Say... I could really use someone like you...”

My face was burning even hotter now. “Y-yeah?” I asked. “F-for what?”

“Well, you wander the wasteland, right? I’ve been wanting to travel. Maybe I could... come with you?”

I found myself nodding before even thinking about the question. “Great!” she said. “I’ll just go and get my gear. How about you meet me at the bar-” she pointed at another relatively large building a few yards away “- when you’re ready?”

I nodded again, a wide grin on my face. Beauty Brew winked and walked off, swaying her hips as she moved. I noticed that her cutie mark was two clusters of green grapes. I was looking there to see her cutie mark, honest!

I shook my head to clear it and stepped inside the general goods shop. It was small and cluttered, and a mustachioed stallion stood behind the counter. He smiled and started to call out a greeting, but stopped when he noticed me. He looked at me, distrustful, as I trotted up to the counter.

“Yer new in town.”

I nodded.

“Whaddya want?”

We traded for a bit. It had taken most of my bottlecaps, but I had replenished my supply of spark cells and bought some food and water. I didn’t know how long the spark cells would last, but I estimated the food would last me about a week.

I nodded thanks to the stallion and turned just as a pony burst through the door. “Missel, come quick!” the pony shouted before turning and running back out the door. The stallion , Missel, jumped over the counter and ran to the door.

I quickly followed, caught up in the panic of the situation. The two ponies made their way to the center of the town, which was clear of any buildings and seemed to be some sort of meeting area.

A pony that may have once been white or yellow was lying down on the ground on a bundle of old rags. His fur was matted with blood. Ponies were running to and fro with various medical items, but none seemed to know how to use them.

“Missel, Blast Door’s been attacked!”

Missel made his way up to the pony and gave him a once over. After a few moments of silence, he looked somberly to the ground. “I don’t think there’s anything we can do for him,” he said.

A mare in the crowd started crying as I went up to look at Blast Door. The ponies assembled around me watched me warily as I inspected him. He wasn’t that injured- something small had exploded near him, sending shrapnel into his side. The large amount of blood must have made them all think it was very serious. Didn’t they have anyone with medical training?

“Doesn’t this town have a doctor?” I asked.

“Got blown up a few days ago.”

Oh. Well, that would explain it.

I could easily pull all the shrapnel out of his side. The trick was to do it before he bled out. His internal organs were likely fine, and all in all it would be simple to patch him up.

“Does anyone have any healing potions?”

A few ponies in the crowd nodded and started fumbling in the bags they were carrying.

“I’ll need tweezers, too. Alcohol would be great, too.”

We had pulled Blast Door into the abandoned doctor’s house, where I had found everything I needed to patch him up. He was going to be fine, if a little scarred.

A mare was shaking my claw furiously, thanking me over and over for helping me save her husband. I tried to stop her but she kept ignoring my ‘you’re welcome’s and ‘it was the least I could do’s.

Missel, who I learned was the mayor as well as shopkeeper of the town, trotted up to us and put a hoof on the mare’s shoulder. “Okay, Glimmer, give the griffon some space. I’m sure he knows how much you appreciate what he’s done.”

The mare nodded, shook my claw for a few more moments, and then left with some more hastily shouted ‘thank you’s. The mayor turned to me. “You’ve done a mighty good deed for her family. I doubt they’ll be forgetting it any time soon.”

“What happened to him, anyway?” I asked, motioning towards the unconscious pony on the bed. The mayor looked down.

“Raiders. They’ve been attacking us relentlessly lately. I have no clue what’s gotten into them. If we don’t stop them soon, we’re going to be in major trouble.” He looked up at me. “Hey... you look like the wandering type. Whaddya say to going to their camp and putting an end to things?”

I was about to shake my head when the door opened and Beauty Brew stepped in, an angry look on her face. “There you are! I’ve been waiting for you for hours! I-”

She stopped when she noticed the patched up pony on the bed. “What happened to him?”

“Raiders got him. This young griffon here patched him up nice, though! We were even talking about him going to go take out the raiders once and for all!” the mayor answered.

“About that, I-”

Beauty smiled. “Oh, Gur! How heroic of you! A doctor and fighter?” She walked up to me. “The world could use more ponies- er, people, like you.”

I blushed. All my reservations against taking out the raiders disappeared. “Yeah, heh heh...”

“Oh, and of course I’ll go with you! We are adventuring buddies now, after all? Now, I’m not that good with guns, but...”

Beauty continued to talk, but I was too busy admiring the way her mane bounced up and down to notice. She had a really pretty mane, and I wondered how she styled it. Hair gel couldn’t be very common in the wasteland, could it?

“...So, when are we heading out?”

“Huh?” I asked, my musings interrupted. “Oh, maybe we should go tomorrow? I’ve, um , just crawled in from the wasteland, and, uh... yeah.”

“Owner of the inn died a few days back. You won’t have anyplace to sleep tonight,” the mayor commented. Beauty put her arm around my shoulders.

“He can stay with me! Now come on, Gur! Let’s hit the bar!”

It seemed like there were more ponies in the bar than there were buildings in the town! Ponies crowded around rotting, creaky old tables, drinking from dirty glasses and playing games with cards that had seen centuries of use. A few mares in the corner watched me with lusty eyes as I walked in, but I could tell from the fat coin purses they were wearing that I really didn’t want to speak with them.

Beauty led me up to the bar, where a little earth pony mare stood, wiping cups with her magic and a dirty cloth. “What’ll you have?” she asked us, giving us a winning smile. “‘Course, all we got’s whiskey, but I figured I’d give you the freedom of choice.”

We sat down on some bar stools that had seen better days. The bartender grabbed a bottle of whiskey and two glasses, pouring some and giving them to us. “Hear you’re the one who helped my uncle. Drinks are on the house!”

“He’s going to do more than save your uncle, Rose,” Beauty told the bartender, “Tomorrow we’re going to go take out those raiders once and for all.”

The bartender, Rose, jumped up in the air. “Really?! This is great news!” she exclaimed. “Hey everypony! The boy here’s gonna take care of our raider problem!”

Everyone stopped talking and turned to me. I blushed, not used to being the center of attention. Suddenly, everyone got out of their seats and crowded around me, all shouting encouraging words.

“You’re a real hero!”

“I wish my son was more like you!”

“It’s a good thing you’re doing this for us! If you didn’t, I don’t think we’d survive another year!”

That last one was less than encouraging, and only served to add pressure. To be honest, I didn’t think I could do it. I had already formulated an escape plan for when everything went wrong. But the ponies of this town were counting on me to solve their problem. Could I really abandon them at the first sign of trouble?

I wasn’t a fighter. I was just a griffon who liked books a little too much for his own good. But if the ponies of this town depended on me to survive, could I really turn them down? If I abandoned them to their fate, was I any better than the raiders?

With my decision made, I chose to enjoy what very well might be my last night on Equestria.

Much later, Beauty led me out of the bar. Night had fallen, and the stars were clearly visible. I smiled, remembering the day the sky had opened up for the first day in two hundred years.

Beauty looked back at me and noticed what I was staring at. “Beautiful, aren’t they? I never thought I would see them in my lifetime, yet here they are.”

I nodded. Things could change. The clouds had been parted, and the entire wasteland was slowly returning to a state of order. If something so drastic could change, why couldn’t I? I would never be a mercenary, I knew that, and I never wanted to be. But maybe, just maybe, I could change into someone better. I had left the Talons looking to make a life for myself, when I really should have thought about the lives of everyone else.

“So, what do we do now?” I asked Beauty. The gorgeous mare turned her head back to me with a small smile.

“Whatever we want,” she replied. As she walked away, she lifted her tail and- Oh. Oh!

Perk gained: Friendly Help - You’ve decided to be a good person, and your karma rewards you for it. You are more likely to acquire help from outside sources in dangerous situations.