Chapter One: The Ruins of the Crystal Empire
Chapter One: The Ruins of the Crystal Empire
Walls, crystal walls, green crystal walls. Day in, day out, this was what I usually saw at my house. Truth be told, the pink cloud was actually quite merciful on the Crystal structure of the Crystal Empire. As I looked over to my long since broken clock, I couldn’t help but notice the bit of light pouring in from my window. I rolled off my bed and got to my hooves, yawned a little, and stretched my hooves. Sadly, this light had a pinkish color to it. I took a look outside, only to be blinded by a haze of pinkish light. I grunted, quickly shutting my eyes and turning away. After shaking my head, I turned my attention to the door leading out of my room and into the hallway. I blew my slightly shiny mane out of my eyes and grabbed my hoof made radiation suit. I didn’t need it considering I’ve been surviving for 200+ years in the pink cloud, but it helps me feel a little more at peace knowing I made it. Besides, you can never be safe.
Overall, it was really quite simple. First, a trench coat hoofed down to me by my dad. I slipped it on with ease, and looked to the next step. A hooded coat to put over the trench coat was next. I did my best to slip it on but the sleeves of the trench coat rolled all the way up to my shoulders. I did my best to shake them back down, which worked surprisingly well. I pulled over the hood, and looked to the next step of my hoof made suit. It was a gas mask that had no chance of keeping out the pink cloud. I didn’t care, for it was my dad’s. I chuckled a little, feeling thankful that I wasn’t wearing anything on the day of the apocalypse. Other ponies, like my parents, weren’t so lucky. I’ll save that story for later.
I stuck out my tongue in slight anger of my stupidity for pulling over the hood before putting on the mask. I leaned my head back, letting the hood fall around the back of my neck. I sat, pulling over the gas mask. I tilted my head forwards as I pulled over the hood of the coat. One last thing to put on was my iron gauntlets. The iron protected my hooves from harm or, more specifically, bites from feral ghouls. Underneath the iron was leather, which sealed the bottom parts of my sleeves and, effectively, making it air-tight in that area. I slipped both the fore and back pair on. I was nearly ready for the day.
The final addition to my inventory would be an Ironshod Firearms-18 .44 HE Revolver (HE stands for High Explosive), and my dad’s .308 caliber sniper rifle. I know what you’re probably thinking, “how could a ghoul colt like him possibly be able to handle the recoil in those firearms?” Let me tell you, when you’re alone for 200 years and you’re stuck in a city full of feral ghouls, you have nothing better to do than work on your aim. These two weapons completed my inventory for the day, and I was ready to set out for good. All the other ghouls had turned feral or moved away, its high time I’ve done the same. But first, I’ll need more ammo for my two firearms. To do this I’d need to stop by one of many Ironshod Firearms factories within Equestria. Lucky for me, we had one right around the corner. I wrapped my battle saddle around my chest and slung my saddle bags around my neck as I trotted towards the door.
I opened the door to my house leading to outside. I took one last look back before shutting it. I descended the steps into the streets. Already, my breathing was magnified by the gas mask. I stuck to small, short breaths to keep my stealth up. I looked up into the grey sky, which had a few breaks in it, to send out a prayer to the goddesses. Yes, I know they died in the pink cloud, but something just tells me that they became all the more powerful. So powerful that we can’t even see them. They’ve left their mortal bodies behind to ascend past godhood, and into I don’t know what. Ascended so high that ponies like me can’t even fathom how powerful they’ve gotten. They work in mysterious ways, that’s for sure. And the ministry mares, they ascended too. Now, they’re all up there collaborating on what to do for Equestria. Who knows? Maybe I’ll be around when they descend back into mortal forms. I smiled a little, letting a tear or two role down my cheek. I wasn’t happy for their deaths, and it’s not right to mope, but what if it turns out I’m right? The sounds of growling snapped me back to reality.
“Oh, damn. Today was supposed to be a good day!” I exclaimed as I looked at the feral ghouls that had surrounded me.
I got into a position to face the ghouls and levitated out my .44 HE Revolver. I kept my sniper rifle in my battle saddle for safe keeping. The second one charged me was the second I went into action mode. I aimed the revolver at the ghoul’s head, and fired. See, here’s the fun part about the .44 HE Revolver: you can make your bullets explode inside your target. In the case of the feral ghoul, I didn’t need to. His head turned to a red mist of bone and brain. Now, there were four left. I ducked and tripped the next one charging at me. From there, I fired three rounds into his chest. I clicked the button on the revolver that made the bullets explode. They did just that, sending bits and pieces of the ghoul everywhere. However, in the process of neutralizing that ghoul made me turn my back on the other three. This worried me a little. I looked back, seeing that one was upon me. When it got in range, I bucked as hard as I could. This was enough to send the ghoul onto its back, but not enough to kill it.
“I don’t have time for this. You guys are a waste of ammunition.” I glared as I galloped past the three.
I leaped onto the roof of a destroyed sky bandit and leaped off of it from there. Another thing I had on my side was speed. This allowed me to outrun the feral ghouls. I greased my landing, adding momentum to my gallop. At this pace, I’d be at the factory in no time!
Well, I don’t really know where to start. Actually, scratch that, I do. First thing’s first, I’m a crystal pony. That’s right, the subspecies of pony that have EXTRA shiny coats, manes, and tails. Well, I was shiny until the Last Day when everything went to hell. Another thing you should know is that I’m a ghoul. This means that I died of the pink cloud at age 15 exactly 200 years ago. Yes indeed, I’m a ghoul trapped in a 15 year old colt’s body. One more thing before we embark on our journey to seek purity in the Equestrian wasteland: I’m a sniper and a damn good one too. Luckily for me, I have little to no reputation in the wastes so I have no one after my head at the moment. Now, without any more delays, I’m going to tell you the story of my life and explain everything there is to know about it and my misadventures. Also, my name is Castle Quartz, son of Rose Quartz and Castle. Why isn’t my name Castle junior? I couldn’t tell you. Oh! My cutie mark is essentially my name: a Quartz Castle with two towers with blue flags protruding from the tops. Now on with the story or whatever you’d like to call it.
