Chunk the Ghoul

by 16BitHeros

Rating: teen
Tags: Crossover, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Human, Main 6, Original Character
Length: 4879

VR sims are tricky

Charles Morrison, or "Chunk" as the locals of DC refer to him as, is a ghoul. After he and his partner Martha Roberts visit Vault 112 on a scavenging trip Martha convinces Chunk that she can use the VR simulators present in the vault to send them both wherever they wanted. Longing to return to the days before the war, he eagerly hops into one of the few available simulators, unaware that Martha was attempting to send him into nothingness; Program F1m, an unfinished simulation that was supposed to be a void, but instead turned out to be a simulation for children.

Written after seeing an astonishing amount of Fallout ponies and HiE stories, but an apparent lack of the two mixed.

Added note: Every other chapter will probably be in a letter format piecing together a bit of the history behind both the simulation and Charles himself. If you don't want to read the letters (even when they're only about 200-300 words at max) just read the odd chapters. Sorry for any inconvenience, please enjoy.

Published 2012-03-06 07:24:01 UTC
Last updated 2012-03-10 07:21:56 UTC

Arrival

“God damn it, Martha, you backstabbing bitch. ‘Trust me’ you said. ‘I can send you anywhere’ you said. If you wanted me gone you could’ve just said so.”

When I finished spouting profanities the sound of my raspy voice still lingered. I still can’t stand my voice. Two-hundred years since those damned bombs dropped and I still hate my voice.

I remember before the war, when people called me Charles. I had a new dame every night and a fat wad of cash added to my account every day. I remember when I was Charles Morrison, the manager of RobCo manufacturing in D.C., but look at me now, I’m a fucking corpse. Martha was the only one who called me Charlie. I was just “Chunk” to the rest of those smooth skinned pricks.

It was supposed to be an easy job; go to Vault 112, strip it bare, and sell all that computer shit for a mountain of caps and a nice place in Rivet City, or maybe Tenpenny tower, seeing how some Vault kid cleared it out and gave it to us ghouls. That was how it was supposed to go, but no, Martha had to go on and on about how she could reprogram the VR Sims to anywhere she wanted. I was putty in her fucking hands after she said that. I had a chance to go back to before this whole mess, who the hell would pass that up? I trusted her, told her to send me back to before the war; I should have known she was full of shit.

Oh Chunk, so eager to get back to the past. I’m afraid we need to go our separate ways. Or rather, I need to go my own way. I’m afraid you won’t be going anywhere for a long time. Simulation F1m, an incomplete sim set for an endless loop. Left unfinished due to the effect it had on test subjects. I’m sure you’ll be fine Chunk. Have fun, will you. Oh, before I forget, the safety is off, so if you die in there, you’ll die out here.

After a while of plotting ways to kill Martha; Deathclaws, ferals, RadScorpions, even a complicated plan involving that nuke in megaton and a Yao guai, I looked up. The sky was clear and blue, so it meant that the bombs have dropped yet, but I know these sim things enough, this is probably some war zone or something. To make matters worse she said that the safeties were off so if I die here, I die out there too. D.C. is a hellhole, but it’s better than death.

Looking around more I got a better feel of my surroundings. Wherever I was it was green, real green, and colorful too. It definitely wasn’t Alaska, so that was good news.

I reached over my shoulder, hoping I was already equipped with a weapon, but had no such luck. Looking down, however, I saw that being unarmed was the least of my worries.

“Oh fantastic, now not only am I going to die, I’m going to die naked.”

Being a ghoul probably didn't raise my survival rate either. I think the Reds and the US would agree that a naked zombie wandering through the battlefield should be shot instead of talked to.

There wasn’t any gunfire, or sim bots running up to greet me, so I figured Martha sent me a few miles from the warzone. Of course, she said this sim wasn’t finished, so there might not be any sim bots. That’s just lovely; I was alone in a forest for the rest of my life with nothing but ferns to talk to.

There might not be any bots, but they had to have built in at least one town before scrapping this simulation, and it had to be equipped with at least one terminal. I had nothing but time on my hands, so I might have been able to learn to work a computer and get out. It wasn’t a promise, but it was better than sitting here waiting for the petunias to start asking me about my day.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After walking for about an hour I stopped. I had the strangest feeling something was watching me. I was unfortunately proven right after I heard something big breathing right on the back of my neck.

Turning around I was greeted by the ugliest looking thing I had seen since the last time I looked in a mirror. It looked like someone had managed to get a lion and a RadScorpion together alone in a room for a while. Whatever it was, it was pissed. I guess I went into its territory or something, but after smelling me it turned tail and ran. I guess being a lump of rotten meat finally paid off. I did take two things from my encounter with that RadLion thing; first: there were living things here, second: this probably wasn’t a warzone simulation.

I needed to find a weapon. That thing wasn’t up for dead meat, but who’s to say the next thing I run into isn’t? The only things around me were rocks and sticks though, so I guess I’d have to fashion something out of that, unless there’s a gun store within walking distance.

Finally with a few new cuts and a hell of a back ache I managed to make a crude club. It wasn’t much, but it was better than going in with nothing but my fists.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Still more walking was in my future, I figured that if I didn’t find a settlement by sundown I would wait until morning and look for some grub. I wonder what RadLion tastes like.

Hours passed by and still no town, so I found myself a nice tree to lie under. Martha may have trapped me here, but I had to admit, it wasn’t that bad. It was clean, it was calm, and if I found some bots I might have been able to get out, if I wanted to get out.

“Looks like your little plan backfired, eh bitch?”

I dozed off after that, and when I woke up I was greeted by the strangest pair of eyes I’d ever seen.

Fluttershy

After what I can assume was hours of deep dreamless sleeping I awoke with two big blue eyes staring at me. Whatever the thing was it seemed startled when I woke up. It probably thought I was out cold or dead, honestly with a face like mine either was a valid option. For about a minute we just sat there, staring at each other, not moving, not speaking not even blinking. I guess the creature was still registering that I was aware of its presence. Finally though the thing let out a high pitched whimper and quickly backed off curling up, and quivering slightly.

Getting a better look at this thing, I found myself looking at something like a small horse, a very strange small horse. It was a shade of yellow you couldn’t have found in the wastes, calming and bright. Its mane was a rather light shade of pink. It was a lot smaller than any horse I had ever seen, only about the size of a large dog. On it back were what looked to be feathered wings that appeared too small to support something that big, and on its rear end was the image of three little pink butterflies. It had to be the strangest looking animal I had ever seen.

“P-please, w-whatever you are, don’t hurt me.” The thing actually spoke, and sounded terrified.

“You can talk?” honestly I couldn’t think of anything better to say. In D.C. animals rarely go about their business when they notice you, let alone talk. The creature didn’t respond though, so I tried a different method, “Hey kid, I ain’t gonna hurt you.” Still no response, but the creature did seem to tremble less, “Alright kid, don’t talk to me, but know this: I ain’t leaving until you do.”

That seemed to do the trick, because after I said that the creature looked up and asked, rather cautiously, “W-what are you?”

Normally, when people ask me what I am they say something along the lines of “What the fuck are you zombie-boy?” or “You are one ugly motherfucker.” so this politeness took me off guard.

Unable to think of anything better to say, I quickly responded, “S’matter kid? Never seen a ghoul before?” I already knew the answer before I asked. This sim was pre-war, so it was pre-ghoul too.

“n-no, w-what’s a g-ghoul?” It, or rather she asked.

“Well kid, a ghoul is what happened to the ‘lucky’ ones of us that were outside when the commies started dropping bombs. We got blasted with radiation, and instead of dying, we turned into these things.”

“W-well Mr. Ghoul, I-”

“Hey kid,” I cut her off, “can it with that ‘Mr. Ghoul’ crap. The name’s Charles kid, but you can just call me Chunk, everyone else did.”

“Well then ‘Chunk’, I don’t know where you’re from, but I’ve never heard of the ‘commies’ or any bombs.” She seemed less scared now and more curious “where exactly are you from?”

“The U.S. of A, greatest country ever leveled, and as of late, the only country in existence.” I felt I said that a bit too optimistically.

“I can assure you sir, I’ve never heard of Youessofay, and I can guarantee that this country still exists.” She corrected.

“Well, that’s because I ain’t from here kid, and where I’m from the U.S. is the last country on earth.”

“Where exactly are you from then sir?” she asked, clearly puzzled by what I had said.

“Somewhere different kid, and that’s all you need to know.”

After that, I began explaining what I remembered about the war; China invading Alaska (I Had to stop and explain what China and Alaska were), The U.S. annexing Canada (had to explain that one too), and the VaultTec program, and finally the day the whole world got wiped clean in a big nuclear explosion. The whole time she seemed both intrigued and horrified at what I was saying, I think the worst reaction I got though was when I had to explain what happened to the wildlife after the explosion. What was left was easy enough for her to handle, what didn’t remain wasn’t. Every animal she asked about; birds, squirrels, mice, fish, just seemed to make her more and more terrified. When she asked about bunnies though, man she was a wreck. She stayed quiet for a long time after hearing that rabbits were extinct.

“Listen kid, I’m sorry about your rabbits, I really am, but you ain’t from where I’m from, they’re still here so I don’t see what the big deal is.” I probably could have said that nicer, but I couldn’t see another way to get her to talk.

“Don’t call me ‘kid’” She sounded a lot angrier that I thought she would, “my name is Fluttershy.”

“Well then, Fluttershy” I had to focus to keep from laughing at her name, “I’m sorry about your rabbits, but you don’t need to get snippy”

“They aren’t my rabbits, they were yours, and you just blew them up. You didn’t care about them, or the birds, or the fish. You just blew them all up.” Her voice was wavering and it sounded almost like she was either going to burst into tears or start screaming at me.

“We blew ourselves up too, you know, a lot of little politicians with big sticks finally started swinging, and the whole damn world got hit because of it.”

“Chunk…” she said, calm returning to her voice, “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to get mad at you.”

“It’s no trouble kid, people treat me bad all the time, I’ve been through a lot worse,” I said remembering the wasteland, “a lot worse.”

After that little spat Fluttershy offered to take me to her hometown, some little village called “Ponyville”. Realizing how hungry I was, I had no objection going with her. And as soon as we started in the direction of her home I was blinded by white. The whole place seemed so real I had almost forgotten that this was just a simulation.

[RE: LETTER TO ROBCO]

[RE: LETTER TO CEO OF ROBCO VIRTUAL REALITY SIMULATOR DIVISION, TOP SECRET, KEEP OUT]

I assure you that although simulation F1m is acting rather unusually, there is no reason to remove the simulation from public use. Extensive testing has proven that the simulation is completely safe, although the test subjects reported that there were no signs of intelligent life (most likely a simple spawning error, easily fixed with a little effort). It is my belief that simulation F1m will be a viable alternative to simulation TL-4 in the upcoming VaultTec program. Honestly that sim bugs me, that god awful tune never gets out of your head.
Rest assured that all your concerns have been noted, and will be addressed as soon as possible.

Micheal Edwards, Head of VR simulation division

Twilight

When I could finally see again it had appeared as though I was on a dirt road. There was a small cluster of buildings just beginning to appear over the horizon.

“What the hell was that?” I asked.

“What was what? Is there something wrong?” Fluttershy seemed to be unaware of any dramatic change in scenery.

“What?” I asked, “We were just in the middle of a forest. How long have we been walking?”

“What are you talking about? We’ve been walking for about an hour. You’ve been pretty quiet until now though, is something wrong?” she asked sounding worried.

“No travel time, eh? I could get used to that.” I thought and added, “No kid, nothing’s wrong.”

“Oh, that’s good.” She said, calm returning to her voice.

“Hey kid, this town we’re going to, it’s full of things like you right?” I asked.

“Well yes, why?”

“Well kid, after that warm welcome you gave me, don’t you think that it might not be the best idea just parading me around town?”

She stopped, “I hadn’t thought of that. I suppose it wouldn’t be very good to have all of Ponyville panicking.”

“So then kid, what do you plan to do about that?” I asked, honestly wondering what her next move would be.

“Well, I could always go get Twilight; she’d know what to do.”

“Alright then kid, go get your friend, I’ll wait here.”

Fluttershy ran off, and after about fifteen minutes she returned with what I assumed was this “Twilight” she had mentioned.

“Fluttershy, you aren’t making any sense. You found somepony new in the forest, but you can’t bring him into town? Why?” this newcomer asked.

“You’ll see Twilight. He’s just over here.”

“Alright Fluttershy, but this had better be worth it, honestly interrupting my work just so I can meet somepony? What makes this ‘Chunk’ so special? I can’t see why this couldn’t…” she froze; apparently she had just noticed me, “wait.”
Immediately she let out a high pitched scream grabbing Fluttershy and disappearing in a puff of pink smoke.

Another 10 minutes went by, and finally another flash of pink smoke signaled that they had both returned.

The new friend Fluttershy had told me of was another one of the little horse things, but this one was purple, and instead of wings it had a horn in the middle of its head. The picture on its ass was different too; it looked something like a firework right after it went off.

“Honestly Twilight, somepony looks different and you call him a monster, shame on you.” Fluttershy scolded.

“But he’s not pony,” she said looking back at me, “I’ve never even heard of a ghoul or Youessofay.”

“Twilight don’t be like that. He’s nice, just say hello.”

“Alright,” she sighed.

Approaching me she wore a look of fear mixed with the slightest hint of disgust. Not a look I’m not used to, but a rather offensive one none the less.

Sticking out a hoof in a sort of handshake like gesture she said “Hello Chunk, my name it Twilight Sparkle, I’m pleased to meet you.”

She seemed to force the word “pleased”, but I overlooked that and merely said “nice to meet you, kid.” I had tried reaching for her hoof, but she retracted it as soon as I moved my arm.

She continued, “Fluttershy has informed me that my initial reaction was rather harsh and that I should apologize. So please know, I am sorry for any misunderstandings and would be glad to get to know you better as a friend.”

Ignoring her clearly forced apology I looked back at Fluttershy and asked, “Hey kid, does she always talk like this, or is this just how she greets new people?”

“Don’t mind Twilight, she’s just nervous. Nopony here has ever seen or even heard of a ghoul, and meeting somepony new can be kind of frightening.”

“Alright then,” I said turning my focus back to Twilight, “You want to know me better kid? What do you want to know?”

“What a ghoul actually is would help.” She answered.

“Okay then, that should be easy enough. Ghouls are humans who took on a ton of radiation in a real short amount of time. Most humans that got stuck outside died when the bombs fell, but something in our genes turned us into these things.”

“So you were at one point a ‘human’, but after exposure to radiation you mutated into this? When exactly did this happen?” she asked, any hints of fear being replaced by curiosity.

“Oh, I don’t know, two-hundred years ago maybe? I lost count after a while.”

“Two-hundred years?” she said, bewildered.

“Yeah, ironic ain’t it? I look like a corpse, but I live a hell of a lot longer than a normal human.”

“I suppose, but are there any adverse affects? Is being a ghoul bad in any way?” she asked.

“You mean besides being judged by every human, and horse I come across?”

“Yes,” she said, quickly adding, “sorry about that.”

“Well some ghouls, like yours truly, are still human enough, but others,” I said remembering the ferals, “are basically just zombies.”

“Well you aren’t going to turn into one of the zombie ghouls are you?” worry returning to her voice.

“Twilight, I’m ashamed of you,” Fluttershy chimed in, “Chunk here wouldn’t hurt a fly. Would you?”

“I wouldn’t go that far kid, I’ve done a lot of things, and most of the time they don’t end with as many people as they start with.”

Fluttershy and Twilight both seemed more wary after that, their kindness turned more artificial and they seemed less likely to turn their backs on me.

Eventually Twilight broke the silence and asked, “So Chunk, seeing as you’re going to be here a while, is there anything you need?”

I thought about it for a while and finally said, “I could use some grub and some new duds if that’s not too much trouble.”

“Oh, that’ll be no trouble at all; I’m sure my friend Pinkie could get you something to eat.”

“And Rarity could make you some new clothes.” Fluttershy added.

“Alright then, lead the way.”

Again I was blinded by white as both of my new acquaintances’ voices faded into quite.

Pinkie Pie

Once again I regained my vision, and once again I was in a new location. This place looked like the center of a small town. It was completely deserted, the only living things around that I could see were Twilight and Fluttershy.

“This place looks dead. Where is everybody?” I asked.

“Sorry about that again,” Twilight said, “I didn’t expect everypony to react so… poorly.”

“No trouble kid, no trouble at all. I’m not much of a people person anyways.”

“That doesn’t mean they needed to call you all those names.” Fluttershy said.

“Names? What names exactly did they call me?”

“Oh, the most awful names” Fluttershy chirped, “‘zombie’, ‘monster’ and ‘demon’. I’m so sorry for what they said.”

“That’s it? ‘Zombie’? Kid, that’s nothing. Certainly nothing you need to apologize about.”

“Oh, well I’m sorry I apologized.”

Ignoring the obvious irony in her statement I added, “You promised me food, remember?”

“Well, Sugarcube Corner is right over there,” twilight said, gesturing to what looked like a massive gingerbread house, “but are you sure you want to stay here? I can’t see why, after the welcome we gave you.”

“Listen kid, I’m starving. We can sort out the town’s reaction after I’ve had something to eat.”

After entering the gingerbread house, another new pony appeared. This one was pink, and had no horn or wings, but did, however, have the most absurd hair I had ever seen. It almost looked like cotton candy. Her little mark was an image of three balloons.

“Hey Twilight!” yelled this new pink pony.

“Hi Pinkie, we were just about to get our new friend Chunk something to eat.”

“That’s nice! I love making new friends and I’d be happy to meet this ‘Chunk’. But you should be more careful Twilight. Everypony is saying that there are zombies out there, you could get eaten!”

I probably shouldn’t have, but I then chimed in, “I know kid! Terrifying isn’t it? Zombies running around eating everyone like that.”

I really shouldn’t have done that, because she let out the most horrible ear splitting scream I’d ever heard. I’d met raiders that were getting ripped apart my super mutants quieter than her.

“TWILIGHT LOOK OUT! THE ZOMBIE’S RIGHT BEHIND YOU!” she screamed.

“Pinkie, Chunk isn’t a zombie! He just wants something to eat!” Twilight shouted back.

“Yeah, like our brains!” Pinkie said loudly.

“Trust me kid, if I wanted to eat brains for dinner you’d be the safest person in town.” That was mean. I knew it was mean, but I didn’t care, I hate being called a flesh eating zombie. Zombie’s okay, but being accused of eating people isn’t.

“Hey!” she said realizing what I meant, “that’s not nice!”

“Nice doesn’t do much where I’m from.”

“Both of you need to stop this!” Fluttershy said, much louder than I had ever heard her before, “Pinkie, Chunk isn’t going to eat you,” she said turning to me, “And Chunk you should apologize.”

“Alright Fluttershy, sorry Chunk”

“Likewise kid.”

She began to laugh, “It was pretty funny though, what you said. No brains in my head! I’m as hollow as a log!” she laughed hysterically now, and I couldn’t help but laugh along.

“I guess you’re right. It was pretty good.” I said, finally remembering how good it felt to laugh.

“So Chunk,” she said when the laughter had subsided, “do you like cupcakes?”

“I don’t remember kid; honestly Fancy Lads get a little stale after two-hundred years.”

“Well I don’t know what that means, but I do know that you’ll love cupcakes after you try one of these!” she held out a hoof with a picture perfect, albeit small, cupcake in it.

“Ah, what the hell?” I said grabbing it. It had to be the best thing I’d ever tasted, but Salisbury steak and mirelurk cakes aren’t much of a competition to begin with.

“So, do you like it?” she said, clearly eager for my response.

“Kid I’ll be honest, that had to be one of the best things I have ever tasted.”

Her eyes lit up. “Oh I just knew you’d love it! I didn’t know if you’d like it or not, but I knew you’d love it!”

“You ain’t half bad kid, but one thing.”

“Yes?” she said sounding worried.

“I’m a big guy, one little cupcake isn’t going to fill me up. Any chance I could get a few more?”

“Oh, of course!” she beamed.

A few seconds later I had a plate full of cupcakes in front of me, and Pinkie was going on and on about something I couldn’t really follow. “And then there’s my friend Rainbow Dash, she’s a Pegasus…”, “But then she went whoosh! And saved Rarity…”, “then there’s my friend Pinkie Pie, she’s pink, oh wait, I’m Pinkie Pie!”, “And I was all ‘oatmeal? Are you crazy?’”. Honestly I was more focused on my food then her. Eventually though she ended her story and began speaking directly to me.

“Hey Chunk, you’re new in town right?”

“Yes.”

“Well, I was thinking, whenever somepony new moves into town I throw a party for them, and it doesn’t seem fair that you shouldn’t get one too, so what do you say, want a party? Normally I throw surprise parties, but I don’t know if you like surprise parties, and if you don’t like surprise parties it doesn’t seem nice to throw you one, and parties are supposed to be fun, but you can’t have fun if you don’t like that kind of party.”

God, it was endless, she probably would have kept on talking if I didn’t interrupt, “Sure kid, you can throw me a little party, but on two conditions.”

“Okay and those are?” she asked.

“First of all, shut up.”

“Oh, that’ll be easy!” She said using a zipping motion on her lips.

“Second of all, I want some new clothes first.”

“I just know Rarity would be glad to make you something!” she said.

“Well then kid, if you’re so sure take me to meet this ‘Rarity’”

Scratch what I said earlier. I hate not having any travel time. I’m glad nothing in the wasteland is white, because if I get out of here I’m going to make it my one goal to never see that awful color again.

Chalres Morrison Personal Inbox. Unread (1)

To: Charles Morrison

Hey Charles, I heard you got rejected by Vault-Tec, man tough luck. I hate to add insult to injury, but I just wanted to tell you that I got in! Vault 87, can you believe it? I don't even have to relocate! Me and the Mrs. have already taken the tour and I must say it is amazing! Again, I’m really sorry about your rejection, but that doesn’t mean you’re doomed, just try not to get hit by a nuke and I’m sure you’ll be fine. Try not to get blown up, or mutated, I want to recognize you when I get out. Maybe we can enjoy a nice drink together like old times, eh?

It’s a shame really, my sister submitted for a spot and she and my nephew couldn’t get in. All I can do now is hope they make it on the list somehow, but I don't think that's going to happen.

Best of luck to you, Leonard Philips

[LETTER TO ROBCO]

[E-MAIL TO CEO OF ROBCO VIRTUAL REALITY SIMULATOR DIVISION, TOP SECRET, KEEP OUT]

It has come to my attention that simulation F1m has been acting rather strangely as of late. It appears that the AI present in the program is advancing without our aid. Not only did the primary system manage to isolate a virus that corrupted almost 50% of the processing memory, but it also seemed to take over all responsibilities of the corrupted half. Advancements like this in a VR program were unheard of until now. I suggest immediate removal of program F1m from public use until either we stop the progression or the program fizzles itself out. Telling you to delete the program would be a crime to science, so just report that it was terminated due to adverse effects it has upon users.

On a related note, the DR-p diagnostic synthesizer seems to have a rather odd pattern of appearance. Unlike the synthesizers in other simulations which scan every thirty minutes on the dot, this one appears to show up at random roughly three times an hour. Although DR-p systems are primarily “mail-men” for the simulation, telling specific systems the status of other systems, this rather odd pattern should probably be looked into in the event that this random scan oddity escalates into an actual problem.

It also appears that the background AI generate many duplicates of themselves to fill in voids in programming loops that the rapid expansion creates.

Though none of these bugs and abnormalities are necessarily malignant, I feel that the longer we ignore these problems the worse off we may be.
Thank you for allowing me to voice my concerns,
Sincerely Rodger Malcolm, Head of Marketing

Letter form Vault-Tec to CHARLES MORRISON

Dear Safety-Conscious Citizen -
We are writing to inform you that you were not selected for inclusion in your chosen Vault-Tec facility. Your deposit has been retained, and your application added to a waiting list for your preferred Vault. In the interest of your security in the event of a minor nuclear event, please consider relocating to one of these areas, where Vault-Tec facilities are available without a waiting list:

for a full list of Vault-Tec facilities with available accommodations, in exciting locales such as Oklahoma and newly-annexed Canada, contact your local Vault-Tec representative!
Vault-Tec wishes you and your family the best of luck in the uncertain future. Best regards;
Vault-Tec
Public Relations Dept
Washington, DC