Fallout Equestria: Desperados

Fallout Equestria: Desperados

New Tricks, Part 1

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"The concept of talismans was not foreign to me, but how ponies made them and how they were used was.

Harp gave me a rudimentary explanation about them which started with their history. Though talismans were not unknown in Equestria, such as the Elements of Harmony and the Crystal Heart, they required certain magical triggers to use. The talisman that can be found in arcano tech was based on Zebra ritual magic which originally used gemstones as a focus and required a magical source to cast the spell imprinted inside.

Ponies managed to copy the method, refine it, and the military managed to find uses for it in the war. This led to the use of talismans for more daily life needed and jumpstarting the arcano tech industry in Equestria." ~ Azure Dice

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"It Works!" Longslide yelled as he burst into the reception room holding up a spark talisman. "With this, the tractor engine will be in full working condition. I'm a bit afraid to ask how you even did it, Miss Harp."

"Trust me, I'm even shocked that I managed to do it," I proclaimed in embarrassment as I sat at the Gunrunners reception desk.

I was working at the receptionist desk for the Gunrunner’s so that Longslide could focus on upgrading the Smuggler when the topic of the talismans came up. I had mentioned that my mother had me learn the basics of talisman construction since I couldn't learn traditional unicorn magic like my siblings.

Wanting to see, Longslide passed me several of the spark talismans he had collected that couldn't work in the tractor engine. It took me a few hours, and I burnt out four of the talismans, but I managed to copy the working talisman then got Longslide to test it. At the time, I did not think he'd do it right away.

Holding up a spark talisman that I had not broken while supplying it with a very small amount of magic, I could feel the spark spell inside flicker. "You see,” I mentioned, “talismans are just spells copied into gems. When supplied with magic, the spell is activated. Zebras use rituals to make theirs, unicorns simply cast the spell inside, and for everypony else-"

"Use arcano tech to make talisman. Yes, I'm aware of that, but you didn't use any of that," Longslide interrupted.

I nodded. "Well, I don't produce magic out of nowhere. Instead, I draw it in from the world around me. I can also sense it if I concentrate. For the spark talisman, all I had to do was remember the spell construction from the talisman you needed and copy it inside the other talisman."

I looked down at the four burnt out and cracked talismans. "Well, it's not that simple. I do have to carefully remove the spell already in the talisman before putting the new one in. Gemstone compatibility is also important along with not rushing the imprinting of the spell."

The hippogriff smiled. "You're just full of surprises, Miss Harp. I'm honestly in awe."

Longslide scratched his beak. An idea had clearly formed in his mind.

"Say, Miss Harp, if we could get our claws on the right gemstones, could you make talismans for energy weapons?" he checked.

I was taken aback by his question, but when I thought about it, it did make sense. "Maybe…" I answered awkwardly.

I passed him one of the burnt-out talismans as I said, "It's possible, but I'll need to see a talisman with an intact spell in it first. Also, the spark spells in these talismans are very simple… well, simple in terms of how making a carbon filament light bulb is to making a tungsten filament light bulb."

He cocked an eyebrow.

"I'll need some practice and a lot more gems, if you have them. After that, it’s all about gemstone quality," I explained.

Longslide nodded. "I got a few you can practice with. Just let me know when you're willing to give it a shot. I'll lend out one of our energy pistols we have in storage."

He left, then returned after several minutes with a rusty lock box filled with gems. "We like to collect these just in case we have to make a deal with a dragon. A few of them are talismans, but we don't know what they do. Father didn't want to spend the caps finding out."

Looking through the gemstones, I did find three talismans, but even I couldn't figure out what they did until I gave them a test.

"Thanks, but shouldn't I take this elsewhere?" I asked.

Longslide looked at the front door and shrugged. "We haven't been getting any new business for a long while now. I doubt anypony would even know what you're doing as long as you don't tell them. Just keep doing the reception work. I'll make sure you're paid a little extra for this. I'll definitely pay you for that spark talisman, not to mention if you can help us make energy weapons."

"Alright. It will, at least, give me something to do," I figured.

With a wave, Longslide left. I got to work.

Alone in the reception room, I started thinking that a robot would be better suited for this job. All the Gunrunners need to do is make sure nopony could tamper with it. They'd have a receptionist that can work all day and night.

"Order," I called out.

My drone's propellers spun to life. Hovering up and over to me.

"Yes, Madam?" Order asked in its mister helper voice.

"Order, could you keep an eye on the front for me? Let me know if anypony comes in," I instruct.

He bobbed and beeped as he replied, "Of course, Madam."

Taking a long look at Order, I began to wonder if I could copy any of the talismans inside him like the levitation spell, since walking everywhere was starting to wear down my hooves. Though, from what I knew about Orthrus talismans, they're not built for general use. Any spell from them would need significant modifications to be used in anything other than another drone.

I gave up on the dream of a hoverboard as I focused on the three mysterious talismans.

Two were like the spark talisman with their simple shape and spell construction but the third was a bit more complicated. Not by much, however. All three gemstones were shaped in a way that were clearly modeled to be inserted into a larger arcano device. From all the scratches on them, they were likely commonly changed out depending on power or spell needed. The gemstones were also far from pure. Likely, they were mass-produced for the common pony to use.

I figured that I should, at least, test the talismans with a very low bit of magic, in order to see what they did.

The first was a reddish carnelian gemstone. The spell inside responded to the magic I sent in it. Slowly I pushed in more magic. I was careful to not burn it out or risk it exploding. After a minute of concentration, a little flame formed above the gemstone. It flickered and danced.

"Nice! It's a flame talisman," I realized proudly.

The flame jumped from the desk and onto a small stack of papers.

"Fuck! It's a flame talisman!" I yelled as I frantically put the small fire out with my hoof.

Taking a moment to catch my breath while possessing what had just happened, I then grabbed an old coffee mug and put the next talisman inside.

This time I had a lapis lazuli talisman. I conducted the same test on it that I did with the carnelian. As I poured magic into it, I brought it to the same amount of magic as I did before, but nothing happened. I decided not to increase the power input this time but rather just keep at it for a minute or two in order to see if anything changed. I strangely started to feel cooler.

Reaching out and picking up the mug, I found it cold to the touch. This revealed the talisman to contain a cooling spell.

Last was a fire opal talisman. I suspected it to involve fire, so I took out the cooling talisman and put in the new one.

I performed the same experiment, and again, nothing seemed to happen at first. No heat or cooling came off the mug. It was a slightly more complex talisman, so I upped the magic a little then waited for another minute.

Eventually part of the mug exploded. This caused me to duck down.

Slowly I got up. I saw that the mug was shattered. I reached out and touched the part that still stood… and nothing. It was still cold?

Looking around, I found the mug shard that broke off. I went to scoop it up.

"Fuck!" I cursed as the mug fragment burnt my hoof. Because of that, I let it fall back to the floor.

"Madam, are you alright?" Order asked.

I sighed and shook my brunt hoof as I answered, "Yes, I'm fine. I just found out that I got a microwave talisman, Celestia darn it!"

I used a broom and dustpan to clean up the fragment. After that, I returned to the reception desk.

Placing the three talismans on the desk in front of me, I began writing notes as I felt the magic spells inside. Though my vague descriptions were hard for even me to understand. I tried to describe lines of magic or some echo of emotion which had me writhing in circles as well as my attempts to simply copy the spell onto the other talismans which didn’t yield much understanding either. But it was necessary for me to write it all down to eventually copy the spell down properly and consistently.

"Madam, the door is opening." Order informed me.

Looking up, I saw Cloudy Sunrise step through the door. She was in a gray and tan patchwork dress with a basket on her back.

“Hey, Cloudy. I thought you’d still be sleeping. You were working late last night,” I reminded my marefriend.

She gave a long yawn as she trotted over. “Neighbors were being loud. I’ll just take a nap later.”

Placing the basket on an unused part of the reception desk, she gave me a playful grin as her eyebrows wiggled. “But you can always come back with me and make some noise ourselves.”

I blushed.

I was still not used to having a pony coming on so strongly to me. I also motion, with my hoof, for her to come closer. When she leaned in, we kissed.

“M… maybe, but I promised I would give Longslide the time he needs to work on the Smuggler. Right now I’m seeing if I can make a new talisman, so I may be a while.”

Cloudy fluttered up and sat on the edge of the desk, thus showing plenty of leg as well as her cutie-mark that was a heart-shaped cloud in front of a sun. After that, she picked up one of the gems. In this case, it was a rough green one that reflected dully in her eyes.

“You can make new talismans? How?” she asked in wonder.

I shrugged as I answered, “It’s a mirage pony thing, just like how a pegasus can walk on and control clouds. I’ve managed to augment a spark talisman, but actually placing a new spell in one is proving to be more difficult.”

She put the gem back down then leaned in to get a closer look at the other talismans. After a while, she said, “Amazing! You could be rich if you can make a new water talisman. It would solve this whole drought problem that’s going on.”

Shaking my head, I held up one of the burnt-out talismans as I said, “I wish that it was that easy, but with the gems I have, I could maybe make one that could produce a gallon a day, and that’s being positive.”

“That would at least solve my own water problem,” Cloudy said as she used one of her wings to fan herself off and her other to fan me. This put a smile on my face.

She let her loose dress slip a little. This showed off her shoulder as she looked at me a bit too seductively while she said, “So ... you are planning on joining me at the Ruffled Feathers tonight? I was thinking we can put on another show together.”

I didn’t know that I could blush more than I already had, but I was. “Wh… what! N… no way! That was just a one-time thing.”

Cloudy leaned in even more and gave me another, more passionate, kiss. “Well, you can always give me a private show. I don’t mind having you all to myself.” She kissed me again. “But you are showing up tonight, right?”

I nodded before we kissed one more time.

She slowly straightened herself out on the deck. She still showed some more leg and put a playful grin on her face. “Alright, I really wanted to see you in that dress again. There's something about a mare in fishnets that just excites me… Stallions in them too…” She looked at me with a serious glance. “Don’t tell anypony I just said that!”

I chuckled. “I won’t tell anypony that you get excited over stallions in fishnet stockings.”

A cute frown formed on her face. “I’m serious! The last thing I need is for the customers to start coming in fishnets all the time.”

Nodding, I said, “Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.”

This time Cloudy chuckled, “I haven’t heard that since I was a little foal.”

She pointed at the basket with her wing. “Well, your dress is in the basket. I had it washed after what had happened to it, though one piece of clothing you had on was never recovered, so I replaced it.”

I cocked an eyebrow. “What piece?”

A long and annoyed sigh came from my marefriend before she said, “The panties. They never fail to vanish if any one of us takes it off. It’s why most of the mares in the brothel don’t wear any. It’s just just cost effective that way.

I reached over to open the basket. Inside, I found the new panties on top under the blanket. They looked hardly more than a thin cloth held together with strings and studs.

“I… I can't wear this!” I gasped.

Again, Cloudy chuckled before saying, “Don’t worry! that’s just for you to show me privately. There’s another one in the basket that you should be more comfortable with.”

I looked. I'd found a small, but not as small as before, red panties.

“Well, this is not as bad.” I huffed.

“You will get used to it, but just don’t get too used to it,” she said with an emphasis.

I nodded in agreement, then said, “Star said something similar.”

“She was probably thinking about Rusty. The mare is getting a bit wide in the barral, so she's likely pregnant again.” Cloudy rolled her eyes. “We're all betting it’s the general store owner's foal again. He sees her a bit too often.”

Getting off my desk, Cloudy straightened out her patchwork dress. “Don’t tell anypony I said this, but Heavy Hoof should just kick his wife to the curb and marry Rusty. It’s not like those two brats of his are even his.”

“Just wondering,” I spoke up, a bit nervous about what I was going to ask. “Did you ever work in the brothel?”

She froze for a moment. Her wings rufled out. “Ahh… well… there was this one time. It was with a mare, you see, and I was still hard on caps.”

Cloudy took a moment to take a deep breath as she shook her head. “No. It’s best not to lie to you. It was when I first got started at the tavern. Though Star did help by looking after me, she didn’t stop me when I let myself get swept away in the job. One thing led to another, and I rented a room with several stallions.”

She paused for several seconds before continuing. “It… was more than I could handle. I felt sick with myself after that. Worse, they didn’t pay me my caps and called me a whore.”

Her wings straightened out. She rolled her eyes. “Well, I still got my caps. Star made sure of that, and then some, so I’m no longer in desperate need of caps.”

“Still, that sounds horrible,” I lamented, trying to comfort her.

Cloudy just shrugged. “It wasn’t that bad. Just more than I was ready for at the time. What really messed me up was the pregnancy scare I had after.”

I gasped. Cloudy continued. “Turns out it was just because of how malnourished I was at the time. I had also forgotten that I stopped cycling because of it. I freaked out because I thought I had gotten pregnant, but after a few months of nothing happening, I finally calmed down. I said some mean things to Star at the time. She just took it, all the while still supporting me.”

Again Cloudy paused, then sighed. “Haven't been in the brothel since. Don’t need to go through that again. As for you, trust me, if you get swept up in the moment like I had, I will step in and stop it. You're mine and mine alone. You hear that?”

I think I turned into a teapot for a moment with how hot my face felt.

She trotted back to me with a warm smile on her face. She kissed me on the cheek. “Now let's not talk about bad memories and focus on making good ones. What do you say?”

I pulled her into another kiss, not letting go until I was satisfied.

“I’ll come over as soon as I’m done here. Maybe I’ll show you that piece of string you call panties.” I said playfully

Cloudy left with a grin and a wink, leaving me with the dancer outfit and the overly revealing underwear.

Looking at the pantie, I was unsure what I was even doing. It had been barely a week since I worked at a strip club and I had already made a marefriend who I had sort of promised to put on sexy underwear for and possibly make guns for griffons. I know, back home, I’d be kept as far away from this... well at least on the working end of it.

Home.

Maybe I should just stick around here and just start a new life. All I need to do is play nice and avoid becoming some ponies tool. I’d need to make enough caps to not worry about hard times. By Tartarus, I know I can be a better mayor than Espresso, though I’d need to learn all about the politics and factions of this wasteland first. At the very least, I wouldn't be as petty and short-sighted.

Anyways, if I left, then that means I’d have to leave Cloudy. I only just started our relationship. I doubt I’d find another mare like her so easily again. Her smile, her fluff, her curves, her smell, and her…

I put the panties back in the basket, now feeling overly excited. I needed to focus on something else. I turned my attention back to the gemstones.

My full attention.

I certainly didn’t think about Cloudy and I together.

Or what I wanted to do with her later.

The gemstone burst into flames on top of a plate it was on, then cracked before fizzling out.

“Alright, cool down. I’m not some virgin going in for my first time,” I reminded myself while giving myself a slight slap on the cheeks. “Well, not with mares,” I chuckled to myself.

Finally cooled down, I regained focus, but Cloudy still crept in the back of my mind. Still, I managed to have a gemstone activate a spell, so I just needed to recreate it at a less intense level.

I tested making a few more flame talismans on the gemstones. Forming the spell in my mind, I imprinted it with raw magic inside the gemstone then filled it with enough magic to have the spell stick. Strangely it was more effective when thinking about Cloudy, so I speculated that my emotion also had an effect, making me regret not taking an advanced course on talisman creation.

After nearly wasting half the gems, it worked. I had a small tiger’s-eye producing a small flame. It was not much. The flame was barely there, and the gemstone was too rough to be easily placed inside any tech, but I had made actual magic!

While still fresh in my mind, I took a fairly nice looking red jasper gemstone and applied the same spell imprint onto it. The red gemstone took in the spell a bit easier than the tiger's-eye, though I still felt it stressed under the magic being placed in it. It was probably the quality of the stone since none of the gemstones I was given were all that high quality. Also, neither were they cut into a better shape.

After a long moment of concentration, I let the gemstone go. It slowly passed a current of magic through it. There was a flicker, a spark, then it appeared; a small flame. It was far bigger than the tiger's-eye, but considerably smaller than that of the flame talisman I had copied the spell from.

Attached to the right device, this new talisman could be used for a small stove, a strong lighter, or maybe used for a lantern.

“Fuck YA!” I cheered loudly as I pumped my hoof in the air.

I was far from making a proper spell talisman, but this was a good and proper start. Once I had a good hoof hold on this, I could possibly repair or replace the spell talismans for my pipbuck. Maybe I could even make new spells.

While on a high due to my recent success, I decided to recreate the cooling talisman, but I skipped the microwave talisman since it was hard to tell if it worked and it was probably dangerous without some sort of shielding from it. It took me a few more tries, but I eventually managed to recreate the cooling talisman, if in a far lesser form.

“Madam, the door is opening.” Order announced again.

The pony mare that stepped in was bundled up far more than necessary. Her face was covered with a large hat and dark glasses. Her clothes looked far nicer than most of what I had seen out here in New Appaloosa, so it was safe to assume she was at least somewhat wealthy.

“Hello, Miss. Welcome to the Gunrunners. How may I help you?” I asked in the most chipper way I can muster.

The mare slowly trotted over and spoke with a muffled voice that made me feel uneasy. “Hello, Miss. Have you seen Star Charter?”

Real uneasy.

“I think she's currently helping out at the school. Are you a friend of hers?” I asked in a far less chipper tone.

“Yes, you can say that,” the mare confirmed as she removed her hat and glasses.

A long golden mane spilled to the side of a blue face which had two green eyes that looked at me with a predatory gaze.

“I’ve heard you’ve been enjoying yourself, Princess.” Victoria's words sounded like venom to my ears. Her grin was that of a pony I was ill-equipped to deal with.

As if by instinct, I reached for my father's gun in my jacket's inner pocket, but found myself paralyzed.

The world around me seemed to melt as I sat frozen, staring in Victoria's eyes. I tried to move, tried to speak, tried to scream, but I was frozen. As she stared at me, I could feel hooves and claws grabbing me all over, tearing at me and trying to pull me down. I could not stop it. Something sharp was poking me in the side and digging in. I could even feel a rope around my neck. It slowly tightening, cutting off my air.

Victoria slowly closed her eyes. As a result, it all stopped.

Free, I gasped for air as I frantically looked around. I noticed that nothing was around. I was untouched.

“That was for leaving me without a proper instrumental backup, Princess.” Victoria spat with a spiteful tone.

Unclipping her cloak that covered her, she tossed it onto a nearby chair then found another to sit on. The mare was in a filly-like short dress that complemented her features. Her makeup was flawlessly done, making her look far more elegant and gorgeous than any pony I had ever seen around here.

I fucking hated her for looking better than my Cloudy.

She clapped her hooves together. This snapped my gaze back to her face, but I managed to avoid eye contact this time. “Now, Princess, I know you have the thing for the mares, but please stay focused.”

I wanted to gag. “What do you want, and why do you want to see Star? Did she break one of your minions?”

Victoria laughed for a moment covering her mouth with her fenlock like a noble mare would. “By the goddesses, no. I’m just here to meet an old friend. That's all. Anyways, if she did break one of mine, all the better. All so much better.”

She leaned back and let her body relax. She dropped the air of elegance, thus giving off a feeling of a monster at rest. In her relaxed pose, I could see her cutie-mark. It was simply a green eye but red where the white should be.

Rolling her head to look at me, her looseness only made me tense up. In response, she chuckled. “Oh, relax, Princess. Nah ain’t goin' ta' bite ya.” She opened her mouth and revealed two larger than normal sharp fangs inside. “Not yet, that is.”

“What’s your game?” I snapped at her.

She rolled her eyes. “Me game? That’s none o' yer business. Nah unless ye wants it ta' be.” Her head snapped back up straight. “I’ve been thinkin', wit' all th' low crew ponies I’ve been pickin', I could use somepony o' real quality ta' help me expand me influence.”

“Like what? As your spokes pony?” I scoffed.

Victor smiled. “Aye, that’s exactly it. I can see it in ye,”

She slowly sat up straight and returned to a more elegant posture. “Where I had to teach myself to act the proper lady, rolling my arrs and such, it’s what’s natural to you. It runs through your blood.” Her words were slightly over-pronounced as she spoke.

“And if I say fuck off you monster?” I asked with a growl.

She again chuckled. “Oh, I can be very convincing. Be it by words, or by terror.”

Getting out of her seat, Victoria strutted her way to me. Order hovered down to get in her way.

“Order, not the time. Back away!” I commanded my drone, and it complied.

“And so smart.” She said as she eyed my drone, blowing it a kiss.

At my desk, Victoria leaned in closer than I ever wanted her to me. “You’re too much of a precious and valuable gem to just ignore. Some ponies are slowly starting to realize this about you. It would be a shame if I just let you go so easily.”

I looked away to avoid eye contact. “I’m not going to join you. Not after what your lackeys did to my family.”

“That was a real shame. Carving Doll was always quick to the kill. She never had the head for administration. That’s why I left her my apprentice as her first mate.” As she spoke, I could feel her breath on my ear.

“Black Spot?” I said the name of the pony that had dogged my friend all over the island and had taken me hostage before I ended up here.

Victoria growled like a beast then grabbed me. She pulled me snout to snout with her. “Black Spot? That retarded shit? He farrgin' ruined everythin'. I jus' know it! He had ye, 'n all he needed t' do was rape ye 'n throw ya inta th' brig fer safe keepin'. I could 'ave had th' blood o' Princess Platinum all t' meself, but he had t' be obsessed wit' that unnecessary mare. Bitch was naught special, so why her? wha' whent wrong wit' his farrgin' brain?!”

I froze. Not because I had made eye contact, but because she was scaring the absolute shit out of me.

“But th' goddesses smile on me, like a reward fer all th' good I do. Aye, ye’re here, right in me hooves,” She cooed calmly and coldly.

I watched as she opened her mouth, showing me her wet maw, then her tong. Still frozen in fear, I continued to watch as her tongue reached out and then… licked my eye.

There was a moment of absolute silence as I sat frozen. Victoria was looking at me like I was prey.

“Coming through!” Slowtrot bellowed as he burst through the door, sporting a black eye and what looked like several bite marks. “I KNOW I’M LATE FOR WORK! I’LL MAKE IT UP LATER!” he promised with a shout as he quickly galloped past us and into the compound.

A snarl came from Victoria. She slowly got off the desk. “The goddesses are showering me with so much fortune lately,” she said coldly before looking back at me. “I’m a patient mare, Princess, so I’m not going to take you right now. Ho no! I’ll give you the choice. You can come to me and become mine yourself, or I will take the blood of Platinum by force.”

Putting back on her cloak, hat, and glasses, she trotted to the door before looking back. “Just so you know, I want you, but I don’t need you. I can just have one of my corps brigadiers knock a foal or two out of you before selling you off. It’s the blood that I truly want, but it’s up to you how I get it.”

Victoria stepped out, slamming the door behind her which left me shaking.

I was on the brink of tears. It took a moment to calm myself down.

“Say, Harp,” Longslide poked his head in, “was that Slowtrot? He looked roughed up. Mind if you check to see if he’s alright? The bullet press is not all that dangerous, but it can still take a claw off if you let it.”

I nodded and got out of the seat.

“Thanks. If things are alright, just come back and tell me how the talismans are coming.” Longslid trotted in. His head was buried in a ragged looking book.

I was glad to leave the reception desk. After what just happened, I needed some air.

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Skill Unlocked!

(Talisman Crafting)

Harp can now craft simple spells into gemstones and crystals.

Talisman Spells obtained

- Spark - Makes a spark of electricity

-Flame - Makes a flame

-Frost - Cools down an area

-Microwave - sends out a microwave to heat up molecules through vibration. (Can be extremely dangerous.)

New Item Obtained!

(Sexy panties)

Harp receives a +1 to charisma whenever she is wearing this. If it is visible, it opens seduction dialogue options. (Not that Harp will have them on in front of any pony but Cloudy!)