Prologue
Once upon a time in the magical land of Equestria...
I guess it all started with that first time I lit the metaphorical match. Now I was always the one to be at the scene of the accident but the blame could never be put on my shoulders so I was left with a whole bunch of ponies knowing I was trouble but not being able to do anything about it. It was a normal day for the wasteland, the ever present cloud cover creating a slight overcast on the grey and brown rocky landscape that stretched for miles around our break site, broken only by the few spare hills and flat-topped mountains of Hoofington far off into the distance to the west.
The only person besides my mother in the trading caravan that we worked for that didn’t dislike me was my friend. My best and only friend looked exactly like me, mane tousled and falling in front of his right eye, hiding the crimson iris behind a lock of hair. The one difference between us was our color. Where parts of his mane and eyes were a bright crimson, I had an electric blue coloring. We both however have the same dark grey coat and black mane color.
After talking to my best friend for awhile, he eventually talked me into setting up a small package of this clay-like material on one of the uninhabited wagons in the train. It seemed pretty innocent at the time, with the package hooked up to a few wires and a remote signal to make it look like the bombs I read about while on particularly long walks. It was the perfect prank to pull on one of the guards as they made their routine inspections of the wagons before departure.
My friend and I laughed as we trotted back up the hill to where I usually sat while we stayed here in camp. The hill indented at the top, making a small bowl that we liked to lie in and talk without ponies giving me stares. Without really thinking I levitated the fake detonator that I had made using spare parts that I had stolen from a wagon just full of cool sciencey gadgets out of my saddlebags and clicked the button. To my utter surprise, and my friend's delight, a loud explosion split the air and I whirled around to see the wagon go up in a large fireball. And boy, the fireball was glorious. Orange and red flames expanded out in a billowing cloud of fiery destruction. My friend and I glanced at each other and grinned at the conflagration. I was so caught up in the fireball that I didn’t notice the other ponies from the caravan work their way up the hill and see me grinning like a maniac holding the incriminating detonator in my red magic. It didn’t take long for them to drag me to the caravan leader with their very true claims of me purposely blowing up the still unknown cargo.
Three things did not make sense in the story told to our caravan leader. First of all RED magic? It wasn’t possible because my magic was a bright blue like my eyes. That leads to the second thing wrong with their story, my eyes. They claimed when I glanced at them after the fireball disappeared, my eyes were a bright crimson like my friend, which is totally ridiculous seeing as you can’t just spontaneously change eye color unless you had a cosmetic spell which a young colt like me wouldn’t ever have access to. The third things that made this story fiction, and the only reason I was able to stay despite blowing up a covered wagon filled with very expensive, very explosive materials, was that I apparently had a cutie mark on my previously blank flank. The cutie mark they claimed they saw was a chasm etched into my flank with blue flames that matched my regular eyes erupting out of dark depths. But that was ridiculous because when they put me in front of Trader Joe ,the caravan leader, to get me thrown out; my eyes were normal, the magic around the detonator was blue and I was still a blank flank.
So when my mother died from an untimely raider bullet to the head, the caravan leader had to toss me into the wasteland as soon as he could and leave me to die with his final words being, “Sorry kid.” You know, instead of being heartbroken and sad my because my mother died, or angry at Trader Joe and his band, I just smiled with a red glint in my electric blue eyes and set off in a random direction away from the caravan with nothing to my name but the old detonator from way back when. Nice to meet you wasteland, my name is Cataclysm. And I am going to have some fun.
Footnote: Stats
S = 4
P = 8
E = 3
C = 4
I = 7
A = 8
L = 6
Chapter 1: New Beginnings
Welcome to paradise
Today officially sucked. Not only had my mother, the only parent I had for years after my father left me and Mom in the middle of the night, died, but I was also getting kicked out of the caravan due to my ‘unpredictable behavior’. “Unpredictable my ass,” I muttered as I kicked a small pebble along the seemingly dead grass. Everything looked dead in the wasteland. Even the rocks looked dead if that was even possible.
“Well, Cataclysm. It probably wouldn’t have hurt if you hadn’t looked into that chemistry book you found.” The voice in my blindsight sneered. I blew my mane out of my eyes making a mental note to cut it at some point. Without the bright blue lock of hair blocking my vision, I could see the owner of the offending voice.
“Shut up, Peace.” I seethed at my red and black-maned twin beside me. “You got us here in the first place.” One too many times I listened to this demon of a pony beside me. I stopped for a second and slowly started tapping a hoof against my chin. Actually, he was more like a fey than a demon, a tad bit more trustworthy but still a tricky bastard. Catching myself, I shook my head slightly before plodding along the small but well-used trail I had found a few hours back. Why do I do this? I stop everything and start analyzing one particular thing for no reason. Just yesterday I was staring at a wagon wheel wondering what kind of wood would be the best for said wheel and where the caravan could look to find it. Such thinking was only okay if you were in a safe location with others who were preferably not scheming against you. Phasing out like that could get me into some serious troub-
Thunk!
“Hmm. Dirt, dead grass, the occasional live plant. Say, doesn’t this look familiar Cataclysm?” Peace snarked. I huffed as I pulled my hoof out of a small hole in the path. All the wasteland looked the same to me but did take note of what he was saying. Actual dead grass was a rarity as plants have regrown in the two hundred years since the war, even if they did look half dead all the time. The only places that still had dry grass were either still irradiated or were corrupted by taint. Due to the absence of both giant bugs shooting needles at me and the magical rainbow-hued solution itself, it was probably just a radiation storm that had gone through not long ago. While rare in most parts of Equestria, these storms were fairly common in the north-western parts of Equestria and were extremely common and severe near the ruins of Cloudsdale, whose cloud factories had been irradiated and running for as long as anyone could remember.
I looked down briefly, a deep frown spreading across my face. The grass was of the thick and short variety. Perfect emergency food if it wasn’t dead. The only problem was that it was bone dry. Like the grass had been dead for much longer than I thought. A gentle breeze caressed my cheek, blowing just hard enough to rustle my mane out from in front of my eye and giving me a direct line of sight to a large clot of clouds in the cloud wall. The clouds were rolling into and over each other in a green mass that almost seemed alive. Wait. Green?
“Goddesses Dammit,” I growled. Green clouds meant that a radiation storm was brewing. I quickly rescanned the area. Nope, no shelter. “Shit.”
Two hours later and my bad day had officially gotten worse. “Shit, Fuck.”
“Nigerian Human?”
Um, what? “Damn it Peace.” I breathed annoyedly. “We talked about this.”
“So?” Peace returned. “I am my own person and fit to make whatever jokes I please, whether they belong to this dimension and time or not.” I could only sigh for the millionth time.
“And speaking of dimensions, in about fifteen meters on our z-axis, I think I see a hole.
I raised an eyebrow but continued plodding along. Sure enough, there was a hole, a hole just deep enough to wait out a rad storm and not suffer major radiation poisoning. I wouldn’t feel too well afterward though.
“Dug-out ex Machina my corporeal friend.” Peace said as we crawled into the cramped dirt cave. I couldn’t even turn my head around to give him a proper quip.
Footnote: Not even enough xp to level up... sad
New Companion! Of sorts… Peace!
S = ?
P = ?
E = ?
C = ?
I = ?
A = ?
L = ?
Error: Unable to find character stats
Author's Note
Well, took some thought, and I finally rewrote chapter 1. Now it's shorter and more character focused instead of a maelstrom of intro info.
Also, a positive like to dislike ration?! I didn't expect that! Thanks!
Sincerely,
Evakyl Nibelilt
Leaning back in my chair. I stare at the blinking cursor on my desktop. A feeling of pride wells within me as I gaze upon the first chapter of my handiwork. The power of inspiration still pulsing through my veins, I quickly make a new document and begin typing up a storm, my fingers flying faster than an Orochi with a speed boost. (bad for honor joke is bad) A good guy with a questionable and mysterious partner. A dangerous sprint through a forest. A run in with slavers who capture the main character...
Who is in Pseudo-Power armour...
Of my creation...
...
Goddesses dammit
Why do I miss things like this?
Oh well, guess I'll just go fix this in the 1st chapter
AAAANNND I forgot I published that.
Oh hey! 130 views. That's pretty good.
Hmm. 2 favourites. yes, yes. Thank you for favouriting.
Hmm. No comments? that's a little disheartening
oh...
That...
That's a very large plot hole. Hmm.
Yeah...
You know...
Maybe it would be easier to just rewrite all of it from scratch... I guess.
Well, expect the new chapters soon Internet cuz' here they come!
...
Eventually
