Dynamite Project

by Ante_up

Rating: teen
Tags: Gore, Original Character, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Other, Tragedy, Adventure, Crossover
Length: 3277

RhythmDynamite is a ghoul from original Equestria, and being enslaved for the first time in 350 years is a new experience.

RhythmDynamite is a ghoul from original Equestria, and being enslaved for the first time in 350 years is a new experience. How will he survive the camp? How far will he go to get his freedom?

Published 2014-06-30 20:00:04 UTC
Last updated 2014-07-05 03:53:18 UTC

Chapter 1 - Free Labor

War. War never changes. It turns things, such as ponies, animals, even our lifestyle, into a twisted, torn, pulled-in-half form of itself. When the bombs dropped, A switch was pulled, and everypony was running. I wouldn't have ever survived the first 10 years of the fallout if it hadn't been for the fact that I could only die one way. Yes, my little ponies, I, Dynamite, am a ghoul. A green, blue manned ghoul. But eventually, things started to happen. Ponies were born fucked-up in the head and decided that they would become a raider, bandit, gang member, or a slaver. Time moved on, 150 years of time to be exact, and I had been all around Equestria. Save for Canterlot, I knew at least one person from where your going to. And eventually, Equestria started to pick itself back up. Not in a good way though, oh no, in a bad way. Ponies were killed. Many ponies. But, nevertheless, I kept helping when no one would. And finally, my help wasn't needed. While I still offered it to other ponies in need, Equestria found the best source of material to use, and it was in abundance! everywhere you went, it was there.

And what, you might find yourself asking, is the material that drives all of this goddess-damned wasteland to new heights?
Slaves. Ponies. that's what.

Now, I, me, and myself had never planned on becoming part of this collective mass of free labor. But, a few years ago I quit. Stopped helping, started hating. Stopped saving, started killing. All because I felt like there was nothing in Equestria worth saving. I thought everything that was once good was now evil, and what little remained died long ago.
I got caught. I was captured. I was in flank when they got me. Got a few drinks, got a girl. Bad move. She drugged me, then sold me to a slaver. Or at least, that's probably what happened. I might have had a few more drinks than I had originally let on, and the whole night is sort-of a blur. Now that I really think about it, it's more likely that I just walked into a slaver camp wasted than it is that I actually got a girl to drug me. Nonetheless, my little ponies, it's right a around here that my story really started...

Waking up, I tried to sit up, like a pony normally should be able to in the morning, but no. I tried to get up, only to be stopped by a slab of metal above me. I looked at the scared faces around me, the ponies around me with guns, the scars on faces, the cold stares and the pleading faces. I had seen this before, in a memory orb I had brought to my house from a long-dead medical pony. I was property now. Expendable. I guess this was payback for all the help that I stopped giving. I fell asleep again, and when I woke up, It was because of a bucket full of most-likely radiated water. I stared up at the slaver, with him looking back at me, daring me to say something stupid. "No hot water today?" He picked the right pony to challenge. A thud hit my head and I was down on the ground. Another slaver stood over me with a hammer, threatening me with it and cursing to himself. I looked at the slaver and just submitted. There was no point in fighting, my skills in that area were next to zero. Something I would definitely have to work on.

The walls of the slave quarters were huge, gray, and particularly boring. "Doesn't look like they really try to raise morale around here" I muttered, more than a few of the guards eyeballing me as I was pushed into the area. And, as I realized, a few slaves had already started looking us over, probably making bets with cigarettes on who was going to break first. I was pushed into a separate room with the others, and immediately scanned the room. I saw another ghoul and sat down next to him. We nodded to each other respectfully; I found out early that all ghouls were on the same team. Then, a unicorn buck came in and proceeded to address us.

"Hello! My name is Master, and I welcome you to Stonebreak Mountain, were we believe everypony's expendable to a point."
"Here you will live out the next few years in slave-hood, extracting gems from the mountains around us, or doing other jobs, such as morale-boosting."
"I will give you two, no, three choices."
"Choice number 1: Kill yourself. Pretty simple, you should get it." He pointed towards a gallows, and then turned back to us and said, "Anyone who wants to end this early can now." Nopony moved for a while, several just stared and gasped. But then, slowly, about 1/5 of the ponies walked out towards the gallows. But it didn't seem like "Master" would let them end it early. He nodded his head, and a line of slavers blocked everyone from getting towards it. He turned to the standing ponies and said, "Right. Since those few decided that our hard-earned caps are worthless, take the mares to the breeding booths, and send the stallions to the butcher. Oh, and send that one to my... personal quarters." He grinned evilly at one of the mares, and I looked over at her and saw the shocked and pleading expression on her face.
He looked back at the rest of us and said,
" Choice number 2: Work at the mountain. If you do that, when we make 50 times the profit of what we paid for you, then we will let you go."
"Choice number 3: Fight Club." He did his evil grin again, and I really wanted to smack that look off his rich-ass face. He looked at every pony who could probably fight, questioning whether the pony will join. "There is a 1v1 fight-to-the-death tournament that lasts a week. Live through it and you can go. There is also a 1v1 match tournament, win that and you become a guard here. Then, There is a 2v2 fight-to-the-death tournament. That lasts a month, win that without losing your partner and you two can go."
"So there you have it, folks. if you look to your right, you see a 2. Go to that and you take the mining choice. To your left, you see a 3. Walk through that door, and join the club." He did that evil grin. Did I mention I hate that grin?

Footnote: Level up.
New Perk: Drunken Style -- due to past experiences, you are now 20% more aware than when you are regularly drunk.

Author's Note

this is a MLP story based loosely off of Fallout Equestria, a story by kkat.
Thanks for writing the original story, kkat.

Here's the extra editors - Thanks for helping

Starstruck_Symphony

Currently looking for helpers to edit and expand the story.
Also looking for people to help me write a prologue to the story, how Rhythm got where he is, yada yada yada.

UNIMPORTANT NOTE:
I sent this over to EQD, only to be rejected because of length, and also WHERE it was originally posted. I guess Pastebin isn't a reliable website for stories.

Anyways, if you want to see the original post, here it is -
http://pastebin.com/qe7qZ8h8

Chapter 2 - Welcome to the club

"So there you have it, folks. if you look to your right, you see a 2. Go to that and you take the mining choice. To your left, you see a 3. Walk through that door, and join the club." He did that evil grin. Did I mention I hate that grin?

I sighed to myself. I had never been a pony to do manual labor, it wasn't my thing. Then again, nopony going through door 2 looked very enthusiastic about the situation. I got up and started walking over to the more popular of the choices, only to be stopped by a pair of guards who didn't look like they had any intention to move out of the way. I tried to sidestep them as to not draw any more unwanted attention to them, but instead of getting away safely I was pushed to the ground and dragged into to a corner.

Two guards stood above me. Guard number 1 looked at me with a sympathetic frown, while guard 2 looked at me with a look that was forged out of pure anger and spite. "Master requests for more ponies to join the Fight Club." His expression changed from spite to a evil smirk, one that reminded me of a certain pony that I had just met. I looked over at door 3, and I did notice a small amount of ponies walking through that door. I looked back at my captors with a expression I hate wearing. Fear. "I cant fight!" I screamed, which gave guard 2 all the right reasons to beat me right there, which he did.

Curling up on the floor to protect myself from the blows, guard 1 looked over to guard 2 and said "I'll take care of this, you go get somepony else to fight." guard 2 grunted and walked away, but not before giving me another kick to the face. I looked over to where guard 2 was beating a very pretty mare, and if I wasn't decaying on the outside and in a slaver camp, I possibly would have fancied her, but I was decaying, and I was a slave who was currently being dragged over to the door marked with a 3. "Let me tell you something. Don't pick the match tournament. I went through it, there is no submission, its all to the death. Chose the partner or 1v1 to the death tournaments. Less ponies, less chances to die, and you get guaranteed freedom. I was thrown inside the door with the 3 with my mind reeling. Why was this strange stallion helping me? I got up, noticing the mare I just saw walking beside me with her head down. I would have to ask questions later, probably to get beat up and have no answers.

Once I was inside, I attracted quite a few gasps from other slaves, accompanied with worried looks. "What, never seen a beat-up ghoul before?" The fact that I spoke made a few of the slaves move away very quickly, but I noticed some of the more mature ponies in the room stayed where they were, apparently, wherever some of these ponies came from, ghouls weren't a common sight.

Apparently, when I spoke, it wasn't gone unnoticed, as a bullet hit right off the ground next to me, I got a extremely scared look on my face, and that seemed to be enough for the guards above to get a laugh and shut me up. Suddenly, a door opened, and a orange-yellow stallion stepped out. He looked down at the small collection of us down here and frowned, and a few seconds later, he addressed us.

"Hello. My name is unimportant, and I was the previous match tournament winner. Apparently, being the director of the next Fight Club tournament is mandatory for the previous winner, lucky me. I was a slave to, so I am one of the few here that will show you any kind of respect. That got a few laughs out of slavers, but it didn't seem like they were laughing with him. Well, lets get this show on the road, shall we? The rules of Fight Club are simple. Rule One - no fighting unless its in a regulated duel or the ring. I know, it's weird, but that's the rule. Rule Two - listen to the guards, do whatever they say, or die. Rule Three - In the ring, its always to the death. No matter what your told at any point, if your opponent isn't dead at the end of a fight, the fights not over. So, that's it. Good luck to all of you, my assistant will tell you which doors lead where and so on. I'm leaving to go get drunk."

A large stallion galloped up to the railings and shouted out to all of us "All right! Door 1 goes to the 1v1 fight to the death tourney!" More doors? Great. "Door 2 goes to the 1v1 match tourney!" "Door 3 goes to the 2v2 tourney!" "Make your pick, most of you will die anyway." While door 2 seemed very inviting, I remembered what I was told. I walked up to door 3. Somepony else would go through this door without a already picked partner, right?

Footnote: Level up.
New Perk: Doors, doors, and more doors! -- you've made quite a few big decisions recently. Decision making is 25% faster under pressure.

Author's Note

this is a MLP story based loosely off of Fallout Equestria, a story by kkat.
Thanks for writing the original story, kkat.

Chapter 3 - Hi, my name is...

Hello reader, I am moving over to deviant art because I plan on writing non-pony submissions in the future and like everything in one place.

http://theproviant.deviantart.com/ - Thats the link. go to it.

A large stallion galloped up to the railings and shouted out to all of us, "right! Door 1 goes to the 1v1 fight to the death tourney!" More doors? Great. "Door 2 goes to the 1v1 match tourney!" "Door 3 goes to the 2v2 tourney!" "Make your pick, most of you will die anyway."

While door 2 seemed very inviting, I remembered what I was told. I walked up to door 3. Somepony else would go through this door without a already picked partner, right? I walked in the room, where about 7 other competitors were gathered. A 8th tried to come in, but was stopped by the guards. "Go to another door. this room has reached its max." I was right on time. "My foal is in there!" The stallion tried to push his way in, "I'm all he has!" but, screaming wouldn't save him. The click of a gun sent his hooves straight up. "You're foal will die alone then." and a BANG went off as the gun shot sent the father sprawling across the floor, dead. "Take him to the butcher." And 2 guards picked up the body and carried him away.

The guard, now finished with his confrontation, looked at the colt and pointed his gun at him. "Anyone who wishes to take him as a partner may do so now." I looked around the room. Nopony seemed willing to take the foal on, and another click of the gun set me off. I wanted to find someone who could actually help me survive this and get away, but no, im about to save a crying colt. "I will take him." The guard wheeled around to face me. It didn't seem like he actually expected anypony to save him. "Well, congratulations, your life has been saved by a monster. Have fun with whatever awaits you in the future."

The guard stalked off, and the colt started to stop crying a little, but when he looked up and saw me, started bawling again. I guess he didn't actually expect a monster to save him. I heard a very loud "ahem" and looked up at "unimportant". "Now that that's all over and done with, the rest of you need to find your partners. I'll leave you to that, you have 10 minutes. Begin." I walked over to the colt and sat down next to him. "You don't need to be scared of me, I did just save your life." He wasn't crying anymore, his tears seemed to have ran out. He looked up at me with eyes that told me he was lost in the sea of emotions.

"Hi, my name is Rhythm, and don't worry, ill get us out of here, somehow...." "Why'd you do it mister?" I looked down at him. First thing he says, and its a question I didn't have a answer to. "I don't know." "Oh." he started looking at me, squishing his face together, finally asking the question that I had been waiting for. "What happened to you?" An easy question, I repeated it like I had thousands of times before. "Too much balefire radiation caused this to happen to me" the colt nodded his head, but I could tell he still didn't understand.

I looked at him and asked the lingering question. " Can you fight?" "Basic hoof-to-hoof combat. My father... he trailed off, and then continued to cry, but this time, he cried into me. Definitely a awkward experience. I was never one that was good with kids, never wanted any of my own, and now I was going to have to fight along side one with brand-new emotional problems. Great.

"Ghoul!" I looked up to see, what-da-ya-know, Mr.Unimportant himself, waving over to me to go over to him with the barrel of an SMG. I got up and walked over to him as he ushered me into a room. He put the gun down, and looked at me. "If your wondering why I called you in here, its not because you did anything wrong, well, not anything to make me have to kill you, but..." "It'll take more than an SMG to kill a ghoul." ":Yes, well, I will just ignore that one, next time I wont be so benevolent about your interruptions." "I called you in here because whenever we get a new set of ponies to join the club im allowed to help one group. I have decided to help you, because I admire your bravery, or possible stupidity."

"I like how you saved the colt. his father did not deserve to die, but I am in no position to make that call out-loud." I just stared at him in stunned shock, the mere fact that he will be helping my and the foal, I just realized I never got his name! That's a little embarrassing. "What kind of help will we be receiving?" I barley got that out, still in a trance. We may win after all! "Combat help. I will teach you how to fight, and you will receive combat spells. "

"Wow, that's actually pretty nice." We both wheeled around to see the colt looking at us. "Umm.. " He looked at me with a look that said really? After a while, he turned to a dress me directly. "Goldheart" so that was his name, seemed cool. "Oh... okay, well um, Goldheart, maybe you should go back to the other room... or something?" "Why? Does this not concern me to?" He had a point. Unimportant looked at both of us and said "Well, i'll wake you up myself to get you both into training. Please exit the room."

When we both left, I heard a sigh of relief coming from inside the room, but I didn't know why. What did he have to be relived about? He could kill us within a second if he wanted to. I suddenly thought that winning your freedom and becoming a guard wasn't the best thing that could happen. But then again, I thought about Goldheart's father and realized there are worse things in life.

Author's Note

this is a MLP story based loosely off of Fallout Equestria, a story by kkat.
Thanks for writing the original story, kkat.