Fallout: Equestria - A Good Teacher

A headache flared up and I stood up. I had probably been lying like this, upside down, for too long. The bed was slanted to one side, or rather, one half of it was just lying on the floor, unable to support the weight of the ponies sleeping on it.

“I’m getting up already, yes, yes, now...” I muttered, rubbing my swollen eyes. “Guys?”

The room was empty. Neither Venik, nor Blast, nor those idiot friends, nor even that green idiot were around. Best friends!...

I looked around properly, went around all the rooms, and found no trace of my things, namely the bag with cartridges and money, and my big gun was also gone. My heart made one strong beat and was silent for a second, then started beating again. Am I now... alone? Have I been betrayed? Of course, who needs a pile of bones like me.

"You're more useful dead, for now," the words of a half-forgotten fight appeared in my mind. Come on... I killed her! Why won't she just die and finally leave me alone?

Junk. I killed Junk. Took her place, took her friends, her love, her life? If so, then why be surprised if these friends left me, if they were never my friends.

I looked out the window. The streets of Ponyville were quiet. A lone pony trudged along the road, and I could see the skull tattoo on his face. The urge to ask him if he had seen my friends froze on my lips. Great. My friends…

I sat down on the floor and rubbed my face with my feet. It felt like I was somewhere inside, just refusing to come out, refusing to make decisions or do anything at all.

I could feel my submachine gun with my chest. I pulled it out with magic, detached the magazine, felt the cartridge on the top with my hoof, put the magazine back in. The guy with the skull face disappeared from sight. Did I want to fight? Maybe just die? To die beautifully. To feel important at the moment of death. Aaaaah, no, no, stop it all. What's wrong with me.

"Why don't you just die? You're annoying me."

No, leave me alone. You can't get me from there. This is my life now. Sit still and maybe I'll let you see my kids. That's it. If anything else matters, it's my children. No, not my students, my own, real children. Unlike Trash, I haven't been shot through the belly, that's for sure, and I'm going to have a family. While friends can abandon me, betray me, family is much more serious. Family is forever. I found myself thinking about Velvet Remedy. Was that all a fantasy? Was my whole life a fantasy? I knew that the only thing that mattered was the here and now. The dirty streets of Ponyville. The stinking ditch with corpses. The ever-scurrying lizards, the hunters who wanted to try their luck with them and send their carcasses to the kitchen. I had at least thirty rounds of ammunition, although I was starting to doubt what I needed them for.

A mission... oh, right, I had a mission! I had to fulfill the master's will! That was all that mattered, besides my own life.

Kill the big boss of Ponyville. Alone and without a proper weapon, you're kidding. Do I look like a super pony? Maybe I'll charm.. him.. with my body.. ahahaha... I smoothed my mane (?) with a hoof. The short sticks that were supposed to be my mane did not feel anything that fits the concept of "Beautiful". Let's face it, I have a bad day. The sounds of drunken party from yesterday were still in my ears. No wonder my friends left without me... where could they have gone? To hang out at a bar? To look for prey on the train tracks? Back to Stable Forty-Five? Could I even count on success in the chase? Would they leave the task unfinished?

I didn't even notice how I went out into the street. My heavy legs were dragging themselves along the road somewhere. Some stranger called out to me.

"Hey, baby, want to have some fun?"

"Darling, just leave me alone..." I shook my head trying to clear the blackness before my eyes. Even thinking about romantic company made me feel sick, I'll definitely throw up if I keep thinking about that, and I wouldn't want to part with last night's dinner, considering that I have exactly zero money right now.

Steel clouds hung over the plain of the wasteland as usual. Dead houses sometimes showed someone's silhouettes. Many of the houses were tall, unlike this small hut... and although time had not spared it, this building, unlike all the others, looked well-kept. I was greeted by a sign in an incomprehensible language when I entered.

The grey-heared mare looked up from her book and greeted me. I started looking around to see what goods were there, but all I found were books.

"What are you looking for?"

"Hey, you're not selling anything, are you?"

"Actually, I’m selling these books."

What? Whose idea was it to sell books? They're useless! I mean, you have to read them, it's booooring!... I looked at the brown mare with distrust, followed her grey hair, braided into a braid.

"Seriously? What about, well, weapons?"

"The word is the best weapon."

"Huh? Are you sure about that?" I showed my gun, "I have no doubt that my boy will be a more serious argument than these words of yours."

"Oh, you're wrong, girl. With a word, the Almighty created our entire universe!"

W-what?

At first I had questions, but now I just felt downright funny. Or was this All-Powerful really so well-read that... what kind of magic could do that? I wouldn't mind learning how to, well, create universes.

"And how exactly did she do it?"

“Well, you can read it yourself,” the mare handed me the book. “But read it here, because you definitely don’t have enough money for this book.”

I figured, since I'm in no rush, maybe I should give it a try? After all, this old mare... wait a minute! It was surprising to see anyone old here. I mean, live fast and live beautifully, die young!.. isn't that our motto? Anyone who's in deep trouble, like me. No matter...

I immersed myself in reading for a couple of hours. The story in which a certain KKet told where each mountain should be, where each river should flow, and what the winds should do – looked interesting, but, wait a minute!!!

"Hey, wait a minute, please," I said. "Aren't Celestia and Luna our goddesses? This book says strange things."

"What impudence! Celestia and Luna are just shadows of our world, just like you and me."

Everything inside me was in a frenzy, but I didn't have the strength to argue, so I continued reading. There was something about millennia of chaos, and... Oh! Oh! There she is, Celestia! But... the story seemed unfinished, there was nothing about war...

"Where did KKat go? If she's as "Almighty" as you say, what's the problem with, I don't know, doing something useful for us?"

"You ask a lot of irrelevant questions. KKet decides what to do and what not to do, she is not your little sister so you can tell her what to do! She is our true creator and ruler!"

Give me a break... I don't know about you, but I don't really like being someone's property. What if... what if I learned to, in these words, create universes? Then no one could tell me what to do, if it were my own world. If only I could learn to... live in my own world, and not in someone else's, made-up one.

I tapped my forehead with my hoof, as if trying to wake up, but the dark room with the books and the strange white-haired mare was still there. She looked at me strangely.

"What?"

“I want to learn. I want to create my own world,” I said quietly.

"Look, you can't just..."

"No, I can,"I muttered angrily. "Look here - do you see my cutie mark? My special talent. A friend once told me that I don’t have my own world. Or that I lost it. So what you’re telling me is actually the answer to all my questions. Look closely at my mark. Everything that’s happening here, in this wasteland, this whole nightmare, it’s all completely and utterly wrong! But look here. Right at this Sun and the stream, do you see these green hills? Here, I want a world like this. Will you help me? Or will I do everything myself. It may be more difficult, but this world of your KKat has taught me something, I don’t care about these difficulties of yours, I will overstand them all. Will you teach me or not?!

She smiled from the semi-darkness.

"Lesson one. The world never determines what it will be like. You determine what this world will be like for you. Whether to consider yourself pathetic, whether to fight for life, whether to die, it all depends on you, if you consider yourself a victim, you will be a victim."

"And if I now fire thirty bullets into your chest, what will you, idiot, determine there?"

"Lesson two, don't break the rules. What is hateful to you, don`t do to others"

"Give me a break, I didn't ask you to lecture me, just show me how to create a good world!"

"I already said, it all depends on you."

Discontent was grinding inside me. Now I really did point the submachine gun at her, intending to shoot, to check how she was going to influence the world, but the earth pony only smiled silently.

A cold wind blew around me from all sides. I stood with my eyes wide open, and then squinted from the bright light. These were clouds… the most ordinary ones. But something had changed. There was no small hut, no strange gray mare. Only me, standing in the same position, aiming a submachine gun into the air.

There was a photograph lying on the ground. But not such a colourless, time-worn one. This one was new, bright. Familiar faces appeared against the beautiful blue sky: Blast, Venik, Velvet Remedy... that grey mare with a contented grin.. And me! That's my face! But... so happy, with a beautiful mane... Is that a milkshake in my magic?

We all looked unusually happy in this photo, without a drop of fear or fatigue on our faces... as if this photo was a real window into a completely different world!...

"Hey, why are your eyes wide open, fool? I'm asking, do you want to earn some money?"

"Wa-ha-a!" I blinked. "There was a building here! Where is it?"

“There was no building here... Oh... forget it...” the pony had already started to turn around.

"No, wait! Yes, maybe I want to, but what should I do?"

"Cleaning up Brahmin shit. I pay at the end of each day, plus food and lodging, and for each ton you get one portion of dash as a gift.

Author's afterword:
The teacher immediately agreed as soon as she heard the word "dash". Neither her friends nor that crazy mission to kill the local boss mattered anymore. All Mary could think about now was that strange gray mare! Was she right? Was my world really the way it is just because I was used to seeing it that way?

She didn't know if it was all a coincidence or not, if she made up the story with Velvet just to justify her heroism or banditry, none of it mattered anymore.

"The author (i.e. me) doesn't know whether Mary was actually originally a Junk and made up all her adventures related to Stable 2, or maybe the Teacher made up that she was always a raider when she met Junk's friends. I don't know.

I don't know, just like I didn't know 80% of the events in the book until I wrote them."

Mary knew one thing for sure - she was on the threshold of a new world, her world. Now it was up to her alone how this world will look like.

Note: New level!

Bonus: Worldmaker – it seems you finally understood who is the boss here! Studying was not in vain, it's time to create your own world!

End!