Fallout Equestria: Luck

By Gun Shot

Chapter 6: Dreams

"I don't paint dreams or nightmares, I paint my own reality."

I climbed the steps, slowly, with each step up imagery of the explosion flashed through my head once more. Emerald was gone, he and Smoke were nothing more than paste. The mental image brought tears to my eyes as I finally began to realize what had happened. My hoof hit the cracked asphalt that trailed like a dusty grey river through the forest of towers, and an ear-splittingly loud horn blared. Suddenly, all of the explosions stopped.

The silence was unsettling, the only sound being my sobs and heavy breathing. I didn’t think on it too much though, other things were on my mind. I stood there at the top of the stairs, my vision blurred with tears, through the blur I saw a green pony approaching. EMERALD, I thought, a smile on my face. I tried to run to him, but my body had had enough, I collapsed to the ground seeing nothing but a voidous black. The memories began to fill the void, clashing together. The visions I saw were borderline horrors, for what I knew then, at least.

Flashes of light exploding around me as I ran through a flaming barn towards the still body near identical to mine. The floor beneath me acting as a treadmill, moving to keep me away no matter how fast i ran. Then the floor stopped and I reached my twin, I turned her still form to face me and recoiled. She had no face, she had become a charred skeleton. The skeletal remains clattered as they stood, a raspy hiss emanating from its non-existent throat. I tried to step back, but the floor was against me again, moving to keep me close to the hideous creature that had once been my sister. Flu lunged at me, pinning me to the ground. She snarled like a rabid dog. I saw then the fire in her eyes, the literal fire. I whimpered as she pulled her face next to mine, a black smile forever on her burnt skull. Then the skeleton stepped back, stood for a moment, its flaming eyes growing brighter, then she exploded. The blast sent me flying and crashing through the wooden walls of the barn.

I skidded to a stop on the cracked concrete the barn had been replaced with a massive tower. Through the shattered window i had flown through I could see the skeleton reforming, its skull fully engulfed in flames much like those that held the bones together. The creature began to move closer, it didn’t move its legs it didn’t need to, the skeleton was floating. As it emerged from the hole it sprouted wings, made from various bones that flew in, grabbed by the flames. This thing was no longer my sister. Flapping its bone wings slowly, unnecessarily, the creature approached, it’s burning gaze locked on me. It spread its wings to their fullest extent and the tower behind exploded in a shatter of fire and glass.

The ground shook as the mountainous building began to tilt. A crash high above as buildings collided, glass raining down. The deafening sound of rebar, concrete, and glass snapped and broke within the tower. A pony-sized chunk of concrete crashed into the ground next to me, knocking me out of my stupor. I broke into a full gallop as tower bits fell around me. I risked a glance over my shoulder just in time to see the top half of the tower turn the skeleton into a bone pancake. I slowed to a trot then a walk. Then gravity took effect, dragging the ruin down again, poised to collapse upon me yet again. I sprinted down the street, looking for some door to dive into, but they were all boarded up. The sound of glass shattering against the ground behind me was ear splitting, urging me to run faster.

My leg filled with a piercing pain that caused me to collapse on the ground, tumbling. I tried to get up but couldn’t, I tried to crawl but I couldn’t move. It was as if my hooves and body had melded to the ground. I looked up to see my final sight, the building collapsed upon me. Shards of glass flew in the air as a window shattered on my back. The inside of the building wasn’t what I’d expected, instead of a building it was an open spread of ruined land and clear sky. I looked to the sky and saw the stars twinkling for the first time in days, a sight I had grown up with. For a moment everything felt normal, like everything was fine. I looked to my left and saw Emerald, to my right was the shadow of a pony that wasn’t there. Emerald and I looked back to the sky, where a star began glowing brighter and brighter. It’s purple sheen tainting the land. I looked to Emerald but he was gone, only a pile of bones took his place.

I woke to laughter, happy laughter. As my eyes adjusted I could see a group of ponies gathered around a metal cylinder with a flame held within. As I blinked the sleep out of my eyes I began to recognise the place, the camp I had just been in. I recognised a mare off to the side of the group, she sat in silence staring at a small rock on the ground. Her strawberry coat turned to a sad salmon color in the dim light, and her green eyes bore the redness of having been crying. I got up and limped towards her, completely forgetting to question how I had gotten back there. I sat next to the isolated mare, “you ok?” I asked. She jumped with a squeak, clearly not expecting me, but then, why would she? “OH! You’re awake..” she sighed, her startled expression relaxing, she wore a smile, clearly fake.

I looked into her eyes as she held back tears, not wanting anypony to see her cry. I nodded, “don’t remember sleeping though,” I decided to follow her misdirection. “Radiant found you and brought you down when the horns were sounded, said he didn’t recognize you from the enemy team,” she looked me over, “you aren’t dressed like one, but not like one of us either”. With that I looked to the fire, they were some dressed in patchwork barding made of various clothing items and metal scrap. Others were dressed only halfway or not at all as they prepared for bed.

“Yeahhh… I’m… not exactly from here,” I replied, tentatively. She nodded, “ya don’t say… well, welcome to Ember Gate, this little encampment is one of the homes of the Boomers.” she let out a pained chuckle, “guess you’re one of us now”. I hesitated, did I want to join a group of explosive wielding ponies in a constant warzone? “Sure, why not, I had nothing to lose after all”. She sighed sadly, “go find Cherry, she runs the wardrobe nowadays”. My distraction had clearly run its course, the tears were beginning to form again in the poor mare’s eyes. I decided it may be best to go find Cherry rather than push my luck with her.

Finding Cherry hadn’t been hard, she was the only red mare around. “You Cherry?” I asked, approaching her. “That’s Cherry Bomb to you.” she snapped, “what’ya want?” She was almost as bitter as an unripe cherry, maybe that’s where she got the name? “I was told you could get me suited up?” She rolled her eyes, “Jewel sent you, didn’t she?” I nodded, assuming that Jewel was the mare from before. Cherry let out a long exasperated sigh, “fine, you can have that,” she pointed to a pile of leather, “it used to belong to a cowardly wimp, so it’ll fit you perfectly”. I looked at the pile, poking at it, she rolled her eyes and started to walk off. “H-HEY WAIT A MINUTE!” I called, just realizing what she had said. She laughed, but didn’t stop walking until she plopped onto a sleeping bag on the other side of the Gate.

I looked back at the pile of leather, hoping it was faux. Regardless, I would need protection if I wanted to avenge Emerald. For about fifteen minutes of Cherry Bomb and a few others laughing at me later, I managed to figure out how to put on the gear. It was a mess of straps holding together scraps of padding and clothes, Painted on the flank was a blue sideways oval. I saw Jewel glance at me then immediately look away. The ponies started to head to bed, one by one abandoning the fire. And retreating to their sleeping places. I joined them, only i wasn’t given a bag, I slept on the cold ground near the flame to keep warm. I had dreamed only the same dream as I had before, and it ended the same way.

I woke with a start, the long void tunnels to either side of me blared and echoed with the sound of a horn. Looking around me I saw that the other ponies had already begun to get into their barding. I hadn’t bothered taking mine off before as it was hard to put on. Happy, playful murmurs from the Boomers as they prepared and placed bets on who’d score more hits. The camp had been empty in moments, in a perfectly organized wave everything was gone aside from the barrel and the sleeping bags. I was left standing in the dark, alone. Or so I thought, stepping from the shadows was Jewel.

“Aren’t you going to go along with the rest?” she asked, “go blow up some Raiders or something?” She didn’t seem too keen on the idea herself, “aren’t you?” I asked. Without hesitation she replied, “somepony has to stay behind to defend the camp everyday”. I nodded understanding now, “guess i better be off then,” I started off the way the others had gone. “Hey,” she called out after me, “don’t forget your gun”. I whipped around just in time to see the weapon crash into my face. “OH- Sorry, sorry, sorry. I’m sooo sorry,” Jewel ran over apologetically as I rubbed my head. Red trickled down my face from where some part of the weapon cut skin. She rummaged through a bag on her side and pulled out a small bandage,slapping it onto my forehead before I could protest. “There, all better,” I saw her smile, a small smile, a real smile. The smile quickly faded as she shoed me back to the door, “sorry.. Best get going.” I looked back on my way up the stairs, I couldn’t see her anymore but I was sure she was back by the barrel, then I ascended back to the surface.

Author's Note

credit of Fo:E goes to kkat, it was one of the most inspiring stories i ever read, most of my OCs live in the world they created
and hasbro obviously owns mlp