Fallout Equestria: Toxic Sludge

by Zeprto678

Rating: mature
Tags: Profanity, Gore, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Dark, Death, Alternate Universe, Narcotics, Original Character, Science Fiction, Adventure, Violence, Crossover, Fallout
Length: 8548

A human-turned-pony ends up in the Fallout Equestria AU, and now has to survive in the Equestrian Wasteland.

A human-turned-pony ends up in the Equestrian Wasteland, and is now traveling around, trying to survive with the help of their friends and allies that they meet along the way.

Inspired by Kkat's "Fallout: Equestria" and Somber's "Fallout: Equestria - Project Horizons".

Published 2023-06-26 14:40:00 UTC
Last updated 2023-06-26 14:40:00 UTC

Chapter 1: Unknown Place

“Aaaaaaahhhh!!!” screamed a female voice.

The scream was coming from an open portal in the ceiling of a room. It was getting louder and louder as the person was approaching the end. After a few seconds, they came out of the other side of the portal and smashed into an old, wooden table, breaking it into pieces. As for the portal, it disappeared.

“Ow! Dammit, that hurt!” shouted the mysterious being. It had hurt slightly from impacting the table and the floor. “Fucking hell! What the fuck did I smash through?...A table?! How did I end up falling onto a fucking table?! Shit!”

The mysterious being, while complaining, got up from the wreckage of the table with wobbly legs, and started brushing herself off.

“What the…? Why do my hands feel different, and why am I wearing shades indoors?” she asked, confused.

The mysterious being brought her hands in front of her face, and was surprised as their hands weren't hands anymore, they were hooves.

“Hooves? Why would I have…?” questioned the mysterious being.

She then looked herself over.

The mysterious being was surprised that she was a green-colored pony. She sighed. “Of course,” she said.

The green mare didn't look worried at all. Instead, she held an expression that was a mixture between calm and fascination.

“There is no way that I'm drunk from a few sips to be hallucinating that I became Sludge herself. Especially since I crashed through a table and felt it,” said the green mare. Then, Sludge grinned. “This is kind of cool, I guess. One moment I was human and hanging out with my friends at rehearsal, the next thing I know, I ended up going through some random portal and coming out as a pony.”

Back when the green mare was in her dimension, Sludge was the backup guitarist of a punk rock band. After a long rehearsal in the drummer's garage, the band had decided to take a break. She had gone to the kitchen to get the whole band some drinks. While the green mare was in the kitchen, Sludge only had a few sips of alcohol before a portal appeared and sucked her through. Next thing she knew, she fell through the portal and into that room. As for knowing about MLP, Sludge had only watched the show a little since her little brother, Kyle, would hog the tv whenever a new episode would air.

The green mare looked at her front right leg as she moved it around. Sludge then walked a few steps before the green mare tripped over her own hooves and hit the floor with a thud.

“Ugh, on second thought, I guess I should practice trotting,” said the green mare. Sludge then picked herself up. “Besides, it’s trotting. How hard can it be?”

Less than an Hour Later

It turned out to be a little bit hard. Once the green mare had her trotting down, next came galloping and picking stuff up. While Sludge could easily pick things up somehow, the galloping part wasn't easy. It took a lot of tries, plus falling to the floor and dusting herself off, for the green mare to be able to gallop perfectly.

She was relieved. “Now that I've finally stopped falling, I can finally go check out the rest of the place outside of this room,” said Sludge.

While she was practicing her trotting and galloping, the green mare had examined the room she was in. The room was designed for someone or some pony to live in since there was a radio, a bed, stove, refrigerator, microwave, etc, but the room was also run down as parts of the walls were rusted, and there was dirt, grime, and stains in different areas of the room itself, the bed was missing its mattress, the refrigerator and oven were rusted and very dirty, and were missing their doors. On the walls were some posters too, but they were either partly torn or there was dirt covering them, making it hard to read them. There was even some kind of door and a window that viewed some sort of hallway outside the room.

Sludge grabbed one of the table legs and headed for the door, which opened by sliding upwards. “This Equestria seems to be technologically advanced. Hope the locals are friendly, or else I'll have to beat them up,” she said, chuckling. “I hope.”

After trotting out of the room, Sludge ended up in a lit-up hallway that was a little bit run down too.

The green mare winced a little. “Eesh. I feel bad for whoever still lives here,” she said. “This place looks like it’s falling apart.”

Sludge looked at both the left and right hallways before deciding to go right.

A Few Minutes Later

During the time that the green mare was traveling through the hallways, after checking through each of the rooms, she had found some saddlebags, and even though they couldn’t fit around Sludge’s body, the green mare can just use them to store stuff temporarily. Right now, she had just trotted into a room that was filled with old papers strewn about, somewhat rusted filing cabinets, a computer, and other stuff too.

“This is probably the room where they keep the important information. I should find out where I am first,” said the green mare.

So, Sludge then first checked the filing cabinets.

She groaned. “You've got to be fucking kidding me,” complained the green mare.

Some filing cabinets doors couldn't open since they were rusted shut. Some of the papers were too damaged, while the others were too faded to read.

Sludge sighed. “Maybe I'll have better luck with the computer?” thought the green mare.

She headed for the computer to see if it would still work and as soon as Sludge went over to it, the green mare saw something else

“Huh?” said Sludge.

There was some sort of weird device laying right next to the keyboard.

“What’s this?” she asked, confused.

The green mare picked it up and turned it around in her hooves. It seemed to be some sort of weird, electronic legband device with a screen, buttons, and dials on it.

“Cool. Whatever this thing is, it must be very important,” said Sludge. “I’d better test it out first just in case it’s a trap or not.” It did seem quite suspicious to her that something like that was left by itself in an empty room with no one, not even a pony, around.

After the green mare placed the device onto the table, she had to gallop at a far enough distance back and forth a few times just in-case the thing was set to explode when it turned on. That, and some of the buttons didn’t do anything.

“Okay. It has to be this button,” said the green mare, impatient.

Once Sludge pressed the last button, she galloped away one more time. Luckily for the green mare, the object only turned on, but also didn’t explode as it was booting up. Once it was done and nothing else happened, she approached it once more. Seeing that it really was safe, the mare happily attached the contraption to her leg.

The green mare nodded, impressed. “Pretty cool. Can’t wait to see what its functions are, but I’ll have to do that later. Right now, I have to–” she started before being interrupted.

In the hallway came the sound of something walking, and it seemed like it was getting closer to the room.

Sludge scowled. “Shit. Someone’s coming,” thought the green mare. “I don’t know if me not being the only one here is either good or bad, but I’ll need somewhere to hide before whoever that is reaches the room.” She quickly looked around the room before her eyes landed on the perfect place to hide. “Perfect.”

The green mare galloped over to the hiding spot and quickly hid there. Eventually, the sound stopped in front of the room door, which opened up. Whoever was making the sound passed by Sludge’s hiding spot, seemingly unaware of her presence. She peeked out see the back of some stallion.

“So it was a pony, and from their horn, they’re a unicorn. From what I remember from that stupid show that my brother watches, they’re able to use magic, which is bad for me, an Earth Pony,” thought the green mare.

The moment she saw her table leg weapon, Sludge had an idea. The green mare looked again and saw that the unicorn was distracted with the computer, which seemed to be not only working, but he was also hacking into it.

Sludge then came out of her hiding place, which was the inside of a closet, and headed towards the unsuspecting unicorn, quickly but quietly. “Even if unicorns can use magic, Earth Ponies are stronger. If I can take this pony by surprise, I can knock them out before they can even blink,” thought the green mare. She was lying low in order to avoid being seen in the screen’s reflective surface.

Once Sludge was close enough, the green mare got up. Then, she brought the table leg back, ready to swing.

He smiled. “Yes,” cheered the unicorn.

The reason the stallion said that was because he was able to hack into the system. Too bad that joy was about to be short lived.

“Hey,” greeted the green mare.

As soon as the unicorn heard that, he quickly turned around, surprised.

THWACK!!!

Sludge had then swung the table leg down upside the pony’s jaw, hard. As a result, the stallion fell to the floor, unconscious.

She sighed, and then the green mare threw the table leg to the floor. “Phew. I have a feeling that he’s going to feel that in the morning,” said Sludge. “Now, I’d better see if he has any weapons on him, and then tie him up so he won’t be a threat once he wakes up.”

She went and checked the unicorn’s saddlebags.

The green mare was surprised at what she found. “What the hell?” said Sludge.

Inside of the stallion’s saddlebags were some weird-looking food, bottled drinks, some junk, medical-looking stuff, a figurine of a pink pony, a pistol, some bottle caps, and ammo.

She decided to take the pistol and the ammo and placed them into her own saddlebags. “Good thing I was able to knock him out. Even if there was a chance that he was a nice pony, he would’ve had me at gunpoint,” said Sludge. “I can’t take that chance.”

The green mare then left the room to go find something to tie him up with so that way, when the unicorn wakes up, the stallion won’t be able to try anything against her.

New Perks:

Tough Body: Not even falling and crashing could leave a bruise on the body. +5 endurance when taking damage.

Brave Soul: Even being in an unknown place or surrounded by monsters, the spirit will remain unwavering.

Calm Mind: Keeps mind calm in tense, and even dangerous situations. Gives dialogue options to defuse situations. The more dangerous the situation,

Strong Swing: +10% damage when fighting enemies in Melee or with Melee weapons.

Skill Note:

Gained Saddlebags (Can’t fit)

Gained PipBuck (Unknown Model)

Gained Revolver and Ammo

Footnote: Level Up

Author's Note

I adopted Sludge from someone on Discord. They have an account called mack.dogg on Instagram.

Sludge was 19 when she was human, while the pony body is in its 20s.

Sludge isn't a fan of the show. She's more into shows like SvtFoE, The Owl House, etc., and anime like Pokémon, One Piece, Toriko, etc.

The reason she has a Pony OC despite not being a fan is that her brother is the one who designed Sludge but gave it to his older sister. He based Sludge on her since he had inspiration to draw a pony version of his own sister. She only accepted it since there was no harm in keeping a drawing that was made by her own little brother.

The Psychopath proofread this chapter.

Comments are welcome. :heart:

Chapter 2: Funberry Zapplestream

Sludge was on the computer, reading the information on it.

She hummed. “Hm, lucky for me, even if the only thing on here are the messages, there is some important information within them by whoever this computer is used by,” said the green mare.

In the messages from the owner of the computer, ‘Lock Switch’, to other ponies who seem to also live in the place, and vice-versa, it talks about the status of the facility.

Sludge crossed her hooves, looking serious. “Now I know exactly where I ended up thanks to that portal. I seemed to have been transported into some facility called ‘Stable 100’,” observed the green mare.

She started to feel frustrated at the information, but at least Sludge knew partly where she was.

The green mare groaned. “Fuck. This thing doesn’t let me know where this place is located,” said Sludge. “Besides, even if I get out of here, I wouldn’t know where the nearest town, city, or whatever is located.” She then looked up at the ceiling. “I’d need a trustworthy guide.”

“Then, how about I be your guide?” asked a male voice.

The green mare grabbed the revolver and pointed it at the pretty stallion that was on the floor, smiling while tied up with torn-up bed sheets. After checking the rooms, Sludge was able to find some worn out bed sheets, tore them up, and had used them to tie up his forelegs and hind legs separately, and then together, tightly, and even wrapped up the horn too in order to prevent him from using magic.

“You’re quite lucky I didn’t swing too hard or else I would have ended up dislocating your jaw,” she informed.

If she had made the effort, the green mare would’ve either literally broken, smashed part of, or disconnected the unicorn’s jaw completely. After all, she was pretty strong, which is why the green mare was able to hold back. The pretty stallion winced as he moved his jaw around a little. “Yeah, lucky me. All I have is a sore jaw, and I’ve been tied up by a beautiful mare,” said the unicorn, flirting.

The green mare looked at him with a straight face, unaffected. “Sorry, but I’m only interested in mares,” she said, in a blunt and serious tone.

The pretty stallion looked sad. “Aww. I thought my flirting would've worked on you,” he said, disappointed. The unicorn was only sad for a few seconds before he started smiling. “Anyway, my name is Funberry Zapplestream. What’s yours?”

The pretty stallion was only being friendly because seeing as how his flirting won’t work on Sludge, Funberry wanted to try and become friends with the green mare. She was silent as Sludge contemplated whether to tell her name to him. After a few seconds, the green mare decided on an answer.

“Sludge,” she said, simply.

The pretty stallion’s eyes had some curiosity in them. “No last name?” questioned Funberry, curious.

“Nope. Just Sludge,” said Sludge.

Seeing as how that was the only answer he was going to get from the green mare, Funberry gave off a friendly chuckle. “Well, it's nice to meet you, Sludge,” said the pretty stallion.

She was surprised. “He's either being sincere or an idiot…or both. Better keep an eye on him for now,” thought the green mare. Sludge decided to change the subject. “Let's backtrack to what you originally said before, about you being my guide. What did you mean by that?”

He winced from the pain in his jaw before continuing. “Well, after I woke up from being hit in the face with a table leg, I heard what you said about needing a guide. I was planning on leaving this place anyway after I looted it, but all I found before I met you was junk,” explained Funberry. “So I was wondering if you wanted a guide since we’ll both be leaving this place? I can teach you about some of the things that I know. After all, it wouldn't be good for anypony if you were to end up lost.”

The green mare thought about it, and knew that the pretty stallion was right. It was either trust him, and hoped Funberry will be useful to her, or travel through the land without a guide.

Sludge sighed loudly. “How do I know that I can trust you?” asked the green mare.

“Because I haven’t escaped yet? I mean, I could’ve just teleported out of these sheets, grabbed my stuff, and gotten away before you could even catch up to me,” the pretty stallion informed. “Unless you have a magic nullifier ring, I can still use my magic even while my horn is covered up. Well, except I can't use telekinesis, levitate things, do magic blasts, or even use certain spells.”

She looked at his face, seeing that Funberry was being completely honest. “Looks like he’s pretty honest, I guess, which pretty much works in my favor since I know that I can trust him,” thought Sludge. The green mare then sighed. “Fine, I'll trust you for now, but-” She then pointed the gun at the pretty stallion’s head. “-The moment you betray my trust, you're dead. Got that?”

Funberry nodded, still smiling.

“Then, you can teleport yourself out of that stuff I'd you can,” the green mare informed.

After hearing Sludge say that, his horn started to emit a light green-colored aura. Then, in a flash of light, the pretty stallion instantly teleported out of his bindings, leaving the torn-up bed sheets to fall onto the floor, and reappearing next to Funberry's hooves. After that, the pretty stallion started to stretch out his legs, trying to bring feeling back into them.

Once Funberry was done, he started to do weird motions with his hooves. “Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye. I Pinkie Promise that I won’t betray your trust,” said the pretty stallion.

She was confused once again when she saw him do that. “What was that?” asked Sludge.

Funberry started putting on his saddlebags. “That was a Pinkie Promise. My very long kind of Great Aunt Pinkie Pie created this special promise that she makes to her friends and other creatures, and it can be used by other ponies to make promises to their own friends too,” explained the pretty stallion. “If a Pinkie Promise is ever broken, then the pony who breaks it will lose their friend.”

Before the green mare could say anything, a voice that came out of thin air interrupted her.

“Forever~!” shouted a ghostly voice. It sounded female and was even coming from the same room where they were.

The voice coming out of thin air had shocked the both of them.

Sludge jumped out of the chair that she was sitting on, and started looking around, trying to see where the voice came from. “What was that?!” exclaimed the green mare, surprised.

As for Funberry, he got out of his shock. “I think somehow, my very Great Aunt Pinkie haunts me from the grave whenever I explain to someone about a Pinkie Promise,” explained the pretty stallion.

She went from shocked to confused. “How…?” asked Sludge.

He shrugged his shoulders. “I really have no idea, but I did hear from my mother that she was known to do impossible and crazy stuff back when she was alive. I guess contacting ponies from the afterlife does sound like something impossible that she can do after all,” said Funberry.

It was the only theory that the pretty stallion pretty much had. As for the green mare, she decided not to question it, seeing as it sounds headache-inducing enough.

“O-kay? I guess I’ll go with that theory,” said the green mare.

He decided to change the subject and ask Sludge about something that Funberry found curious. “By the way, you do know that that’s supposed to be held in your mouth in order to aim and shoot, right?” asked the pretty stallion.

She was silent. The green mare stared at him for a few seconds. “...What?” asked Sludge.

The pretty stallion nodded before pointing a hoof at the weapon in the green mare’s hoof. “Yeah. I don’t know where in Equestria you’re from where you shoot using your hooves, but in other places, we shoot using our mouths,” Funberry informed. “I don’t know if you’ll be able to hit anything if you shoot like that.”

She then stared at the weapon for a few seconds before staring back at him. “As soon as I find a sink, I am washing this thing and my hooves as well,” said the green mare. “Thanks for letting me know, but I think I’ll be fine if I shoot with my hooves instead of my mouth. Besides, you did have your mouth on this before me.”

The pretty stallion only shrugged a little while nodding. “I understand why you would feel that way,” said Funberry. “If you don’t want to use it, you can give it back to me, you know?”

Sludge put the gun into her saddlebags before throwing them onto her back.

“Yeah, I know, but I’ll be borrowing it temporarily. Just until I can get my hooves on another weapon so I can defend myself,” the green mare informed. She looked at him curiously. “Do you know any magic spells or something to defend yourself in case you’re in a fight?”

Funberry nodded. “I only know two spells, which are to create magic blasts, and the shield spell,” answered the pretty stallion. “I should’ve learned a few more attack and defense spells before I had left home. Then, I would’ve been ready for a fight.” He sighed. “Dad was right. I’m pretty much useless in a fight if I don’t know any other spell.”

The green mare gave off an impressed smile. “To be honest, those actually sound like pretty cool spells for you to know. Can’t wait to see you use them one day,” said Sludge. She then headed for the door.

The pretty stallion was surprised to hear that. He quickly trotted after the green mare.

“Hold on. You don’t think it’s dumb for me to not know any other spells for battle?” asked Funberry.

His question stopped her in the green mare’s tracks before Sludge could even trot into the hallway.

She looked at him with a raised eyebrow, confused. “No. Why would I?” asked the green mare. “Besides, I have the feeling that you have some special skills other than knowing only a few magic spells.” Sludge then had a scowl on her face. “Anyone who thinks that it’s dumb for you to only know two battle spells or whatever should be ashamed of themselves.”

The pretty stallion was silent for a few seconds before smiling. “...Thanks,” he said.

The green mare smiled. “No problem,” she said. “Now, let’s get out of this place. Can you lead the way to the exit?”

Funberry nodded with a smile. “Sure,” he said.

The two started heading down the hallway, their futures unknown to the both of them.

Sludge:

New Perks:

Uninterested Mare: +10% damage towards stallions, and charm from stallions has no effect.

Loyal Words: Saying and doing things that show loyalty towards your comrades and non-hostiles will increase friendship.

Skill Note: Gained Traveling Companion (Funberry Zapplestrean)

Funberry Zapplestream:

Perks:

Computer Odds: A random chance of successfully hacking a computer.

Mindful Compass: A mental compass that points one where they’re needed to go.

Heart of Laughter: Extra dialogue options obtained when meeting a friendly new face.

Flirtful Stallion: +10% damage towards the opposite sex and +15 Charisma when talking with mares.

Skill Note: Gained Traveling Companion (Sludge).

Author's Note

What? I panicked when I was trying to think up a name for him. So, I mashed up four random words together and got his name.

Funberry Zapplestream is the descendant of one of Pinkie Pie's older sisters, Limestone Pie. Also, Pinkie Pie haunting from the grave whenever a Pinkie Promise is explained was added for laughs.

Funberry Zapplestream was drawn by ayveestars.

The Psychopath proofread this chapter.

Comments are welcome. :heart:

Chapter 3: Supplies and Conversation

Sludge and Funberry were currently trotting in a cave.

She was impressed. “I still can’t believe that the entrance to that Stable was located in a cave. I mean, I can understand why no one in their right mind would ever think to look for the entrance in a cave,” said the green mare in a mixture of disbelief and amazement. “But still, I have to say that it’s a pretty amazing idea.”

After they had left the Stable, they ended up in a cave, and it took them a while to even make it near its entrance.

The pretty stallion nodded, impressed as well. “Yeah, there are tons of Stables spread throughout different places in Equestria and each of them have hidden entrances, making it hard for anypony to find them,” he explained.

Sludge looked around, an eyebrow raised. “Then what’s with the dead bodies?” she asked,confused.

Around them were the dead bodies of ponies wearing leather armor parts with spikes.

“Oh, those are just some raiders I had to fight against in order to get here to the stable,” said Funberry, a nonchalant tone in his voice. “They were really hard to take care of when my only weapon was a pistol.” The tone of the pretty stallion’s voice was of annoyance as he complained.

The green mare was impressed. Funberry was able to defeat all of these ponies with just one gun and the only spells that he knows.

She saw some of the raiders' weapons. “Then why not take some of their weapons and whatever supplies they have with you? I mean, they’re not using them anymore, are they?” suggested Sludge.

As soon as the green mare had said that, the pretty stallion stopped in his tracks, realizing that she was right. The unicorn had never actually thought of taking their stuff as he was more interested in getting to the stable and surviving.

Funberry hummed. “Hmm. I guess we can see if they have anything important on them and bring it with us,” said the pretty stallion. He winced from the pain in his jaw. “Ugh. And see if one of them has a healing potion while I’m at it.”

The two then started searching through all of the dead raiders’ stuff. Sludge had gone and checked the dead body of a unicorn stallion that was a few feet away from her. The green mare only suggested they do this because she knew that they’ll need more weapons, plus the ammo, once the revolver becomes useless.

“Ugh. This one’s useless to me,” thought Sludge.

The dead raider had a shotgun and shotgun ammo on them, plus some of the same weird medical supplies that Funberry had in his saddlebags, including some that the pretty stallion didn’t have. Unfortunately, the shotgun was something that she couldn't use. The green mare decided to just take the medical stuff and pack it away into her saddlebags.

“Score,” Funberry said in relief.

Sludge heard him say that and turned around to see that, floating in the pretty stallion’s magic, was a bottle filled with some sort of liquid.

She grinned. “You seem excited to see that stuff,” said the green mare.

He looked back at her, grinning. “Of course I am. This stuff will heal my jaw in an instant,” said Funberry. “Now I won’t have to suffer from aching jaw pain from when you clocked me in the face with that table leg.”

Sludge only chuckled. Then, she watched as the pretty stallion removed the top from the bottle, and started drinking it. As soon as Funberry was finished, he tossed the bottle to the side, causing it to shatter against the cave wall on impact. The pretty stallion started moving his jaw around without wincing in pain.

He sighed. “Much better,” muttered Funberry, relieved.

The pretty stallion did not want to start a journey with an aching jaw that wound up bothering him every day until the two of them had eventually made it to a town with a medic. Funberry would rather deal with the pain now than later. He then continued to look through the dead raider’s stuff.

“So it was some kind of potion that heals injuries. That explains what these ones are,” thought the green mare. She looked down at the medical supplies as among them were some healing potions. “Even after I fell through that table, I still feel fine, so I don’t need to use one right now. These will be useful for when someone ends up injured later in the future.”

After Sludge pocketed the medical supplies into her saddlebags, she moved on to the other raiders.

Few Minutes Later

So far, they had ended up with a few medical supplies, some weird-looking food of different brands, bottled drinks, some guns, grenades, ammo, lots of bottle caps that were evenly split between the both of them, and even some weapons. After packing up the stuff, except for the weapons that they would have a hard time carrying around, the two were now continuing on their way out of the cave.

The green mare had chosen a baseball bat, a dagger, half of the grenades, a revolver, and a ‘Needler Pistol’ as the pretty stallion had called it thanks to the information from the PipBuck. “So, after we leave this cave, where are we heading to?” she asked.

Funberry had chosen a double barrel shotgun, the other half of the grenades, and an automatic rifle. He had also gotten his pistol back from Sludge since she had a new weapon to replace it. “From what I’ve heard, there’s a Stable near Neighagra Falls. We’ll have to travel past Hoofington to get there,” informed the pretty stallion. “I’ve got the location marked on my PipBuck.”

Now the green mare had questions that needed answering. “Okay, first of all, how long would it take for us to travel from here to the Stable on f-hoof, and if there are other ways to travel?” asked Sludge.

He hummed before shrugging. “I don’t know. Probably a few days on hoof,” guessed Funberry.

She was shocked to hear that. “A few days?!” thought the green mare.

“And as for other modes of transportation, I heard that back then, there used to be trains running around, but from the way the world is right now, I think they stopped working,” continued the pretty stallion.

Sludge wasn’t planning to give up on the idea. “But what if there are some working right now? Could we use them to travel much faster than on hoof?” she asked.

He thought about it before nodding. “Yeah, we could, but finding a working one and getting it to work could be a bit hard to do,” answered Funberry.

“If a train’s the only way for us to travel quicker to whatever place you said we have to go, then finding a working train is very important. Are there any places near or a bit far from us that have train stations?” asked the green mare.

The pretty stallion had to stop in order to start fiddling with the device around his left hoof while looking at the screen. “Manehattan, Fillydelphia, Hoofington, and Hollow Shades,” answered Funberry.

“Towns and cities with horse puns in the name. Greeeeat,” thought Sludge, upset. “And which ones are the closest to our current location?”

He checked the screen of his device again. Then, the pretty stallion frowned for some reason. “Manehattan,” said Funberry apathetically.

She noticed that the pretty stallion seemed unhappy once he had mentioned Manehattan.

“Is something wrong?” asked the green mare. “I have a feeling that it’s about ‘Manehattan’.”

Funberry quickly changed his frown into a smile and looked perky. “Nope! Everything’s fine here!” lied the pretty stallion. “So, let’s go to Manehattan to find ourselves a train!” He then started trotting away.

Funberry’s fake cheer did not fool Sludge one bit. She saw that while his smile said, ‘Let’s go to Manehattan’, the pretty stallion’s eyes were full of fear that were saying ‘I do not want to go to Manehattan’. There was only one thing for the green mare to do.

Sludge shook her head. “Nah. Maybe while we’re on the way, we could go and see if Hoofington has a working train instead?” offered the green mare, trotting after him. “After that, we can ride the train all the way if they take us to those waterfalls. How’s that sound?”

That shocked the pretty stallion so much that he ended up stopping in place. Funberry knew that he needed to answer Sludge quickly as the two of them were almost near the cave’s entrance.

“Uh…Sounds good,” said the pretty stallion. That made him feel relieved on the inside. Funberry trotted after her in order to keep up. “Hoofington it is, then.”

Sludge smiled. “Great. And now my second question. What is a PipBuck?” asked the green mare, curious.

That made the pretty stallion confused. “A PipBuck is a device that I’ve been using to check the map. It’s also what you’re wearing around your left hoof,” he informed.

“Oh, so that’s what this thing on my hoof is? I found it in the room where we first met,” she explained. “I didn’t know what it was, but I decided to put it on anyway. Well, after I checked to see if it was trapped first.”

Funberry was shocked again. Sludge had not only found the only PipBuck in the entire Stable, but she had also put it on despite not knowing anything about it. The pretty stallion snapped out of his shock, and then he told the green mare about the many functions of the PipBuck.

Few Minutes Later

Thanks to the explanation, Sludge now knew how to use the little machine. They trotted out of the cave, and the moment they did, the green mare became shocked. The land had been charred. Ruins of buildings and debris from the past dotted the landscape like they had been growing from the land itself. The ground was bare and sterile, but brown grass still grew about haphazardly in very small patches. The trees, or what was left of them, looked like used matchsticks: They possessed no leaves, their bark seemed brittle and sensitive, and most had already toppled over, exposing their shrunken and disheveled roots. As for the sky, it was covered in a roiling sea of clouds tinged a pale green. She had spotted a green lightning bolt traveling between two of the vaporous bodies, making her hope that no rain would fall from those horrific giants.

“What the hell? This is what the land of Equestria looks like outside of the cave?” thought Sludge. “Looks like something must’ve happened to turn it this way. I don’t know what, but it must’ve been terrible.” The green mare looked at Funberry, smirking. “You ready? It’s going to be one long adventure to Hoofington.”

The pretty stallion nodded, smirking right back. “Yeah. I am,” he said, confident.

“Then lead the way,” she said.

“I shall,” he said.

The two started heading in the direction of Hoofington.

Sludge:

New Perks:

Ally’s Feelings: Unique dialogue options appear when chatting with an ally and they’re hiding something. The closer the bond, the more they’ll open up.

Skill Note:

Gained Guns, Ammo, Melee Weapons, Health Potions, Medical Supplies, and Food.

Lost Revolver and Revolver Ammo.

Footnote: Level Up

Funberry:

New Perks:

Hidden Past: An unexplainable part of the past is kept secret. Until the bonds are close, the information will remain hidden. A certain amount of trust will unlock some information.

Skill Note:

Gained Guns, Ammo, and Melee Weapons

Regained Revolver and Ammo

Footnote: Level Up

Author's Note

They had chosen weapons that they believed would be useful for them:

Sludge had chosen the baseball bat to replace the table leg that she left behind, the spiked ponyshoes for when she had to fight hoof-to-hoof, and as for the Needler Pistol, she thought that it might come in handy one day in the future. The grenades because Funberry recommended that she takes some with her just in case.

As for Funberry, the shotgun was for when he's up against his opponents at close range, the automatic rifle fires much faster (he knows from experience of being shot at), and the grenades are for when there are ponies throwing grenades right at him. After all, it's only fair that he should be throwing grenades right back at them too. :raritywink:

Even though Sludge doesn't want to walk, or "trot", for days to another city or town as a pony, she's willing to do it. The reason is that she doesn't want to force Funberry to go to Manehattan if he doesn't want to go to there. Also, the reason why Funberry doesn't want to go to Manehattan will be revealed on a future chapter.

The Psychopath proofread this chapter. They're also the one who made the description of the Wasteland too.

Comments are welcome. :heart:

Chapter 4: The Wasteland

BANG! BANG! BANG!

There was the sound of gunshots ringing in the air.

“Buck, buck, buck, buck, buck!” shouted a male voice.

“Dammit! These things are hard to kill!” shouted a female voice.

“Just keep shooting at them, Sludge! Only two of them left!” shouted a male voice.

The voices belonged to both Sludge and Funberry. The two of them were currently shooting at some monstrous-looking, bulky, bipedal dog creatures with sharp teeth and claws known as ‘Hellhounds’. While they were on their way to Hoofington, the dog creatures had come out from underground and started attacking the green mare and the pretty stallion. After a shootout, a few of them were on the ground, dead, while two others were still moving around, alive.

BANG!!!

One of the Hellhounds had gotten shot at close range by Funberry’s shotgun and died instantly.

“Yes!” he cheered.

As for Sludge, she was having a hard time against the dog creatures. These things were tough, seeing as how the green mare shot them multiple times before they even died. Also, Sludge hasn’t mastered ‘shooting guns with hooves’ yet. So, there have been a few hits and some misses.

“If only they could stay still in place long enough for me to shoot them,” she thought.

As soon as the green mare thought that, she realized something, but it was a long shot.

“Funberry, I was wondering. Is it possible for you to use your telekinesis or whatever to hold them in place in order to make it easier to shoot them?” asked Sludge.

The gunshots coming from the pretty stallion’s gun had stopped.

“Never tried it with larger creatures like Hellhounds before, but I’ll give it a try,” he said. Funberry’s horn glowed with magic. “Cover me if it doesn’t work.”

She nodded in response. Then, the next thing that happened, the dog creature was held in place by the pretty stallion’s magic. With them now being held in place, that made it easier for the two of them to shoot the Hellhound.

BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!

The bullets were shot into the dog creature multiple times. After a while, seeing as they’ve shot it enough times, the pretty stallion released his magic from around the Hellhound. The dog creature fell to the ground, dead.

“Thank Celestia. We were able to survive,” said Funberry, relieved.

“Yeah,” agreed the green mare, panting. Sludge turned to look at him angrily. “You just had to test out the grenades, didn’t you?”

He put up his hooves in defense, scared. “I’m sorry, but how was I supposed to know that the explosions would attract them?! I’m no psychic!” argued the pretty stallion.

It was Funberry’s fault that they were being attacked in the first place. It had only been a few hours since they left the Stable, when all of a sudden, the pretty stallion had decided to practice his aim by throwing the grenades around with magic while they were trotting. It seemed that the explosions had attracted some Hellhounds that were digging underground. “Next time, be more careful. We’re lucky no more Hellhounds showed up after all that noise we made fighting the other ones,” she advised.

The pretty stallion nodded, agreeing. “Got it,” said Funberry.

Sludge sighed. The green mare looked down at the dead dog creatures. “Hmm…” she thought. “Ah, what the hell. Might as well try it.”

The green mare approached one of the dead Hellhounds and got out the dagger.

He looked at her confused. “What are you doing, Sludge? They’re already dead,” said the pretty stallion.

She didn’t answer Funberry. Instead, Sludge used her other hoof to grab onto one of its claws while holding the blade of the dagger at the side of the nail. Then, the green mare started sawing the blade back and forth at the nail.

“Just collecting its claws. It might be useful later one day,” she explained. Since it’ll take a while to collect all of the claws from the dog creature, Sludge decided to make some small talk. “So Funberry, I’m curious about something about you.”

The pretty stallion smiled. “Is it about how I got this pretty?” he asked.

The green mare stopped just so she could roll her eyes before continuing to saw away. “No,” said Sludge, an uninterested tone in her voice.

Funberry pouted playfully. “Aww. Too bad,” said the pretty stallion. Then, he smiled. “Fine. Ask away.”

“If you don’t mind me asking, what made you want to travel around this wasteland? I mean, are you looking for something or some…pony?” asked the green mare.

That surprised the pretty stallion. “Oh,” said Funberry.

“You don’t have to answer it if you don’t want to. I was just trying to make some small talk,” informed Sludge. “I mean, we did just first meet a few hours ago after all. You probably don’t trust me enough to talk about it yet.”

She knows that he won't tell the green mare since they barely know each other.

He gave off a small shrug. “Ehh, I guess it's fine if I tell you. You do need to know why I'm going to be making so many stops in different, dangerous places while guiding you,” said the pretty stallion. “There’s a chance that she might also be able to help me with my goal. If not, then that’s fine.”

That surprised Sludge that Funberry was willing to tell the green mare, so she gave the pretty stallion her attention while continuing to saw away at the nail at the same time.

He cleared his throat. “I left my home, which I won't be telling you yet as I don't trust you enough, in order to find information about my long line of great Great Aunt Pinkie Pie. Once I have collected all of the information, I plan to bring it back to my family to show them all the mystery of what happened to her,” explained Funberry.

Sludge was kind of impressed. It sounded like a great goal for him to try and accomplish. “Wow. So what kind of information are you looking for about her?” she asked.

“What happened to her during the war, and if she hid out somewhere safe, like one of those Stables? And if she did hide out at a Stable, I need to find out which one she hid in, and then see who her current, living descendants are there,” explained the pretty stallion. “To do that, I’m going around checking out some of the Stables, including the Ministry of Morale and her home in Ponyville.”

The green mare hummed as she sawed away at another nail. “That’s very interesting, Funberry,” said Sludge. Then, she looked confused. “What are the Ministries?”

The green mare knows what ministries are, but she doesn’t know what the ministries in Equestria do. Funberry became shocked himself as Sludge didn’t know anything about the Ministries.

The pretty stallion snapped out of his shock. “She probably grew up without knowing about what Equestria was really like back then. I guess it’ll be fun talking about multiple great Great Aunt Pinkie Pie,” thought Funberry. “Well, a long time ago, during my really Great Aunt Pinkie’s time, she and her friends were the ones who wielded the ‘Elements of Harmony’, six magical artifacts that used the power of the six mares’ friendship as a weapon against those who threatened Equestria, even the world.”

He stopped as his throat felt a little dry. So, the pretty stallion reached in and grabbed one of the drinks from his saddlebags. After removing the bottle cap and placing it into the saddlebag, Funberry drank some of it.

The pretty stallion sighed in relief. “Now, as for the Ministries, my really Great Aunt Pinkie Pie and her five friends were in charge of their own Ministries. There was Twilight Sparkle’s Ministry of Arcane Sciences, Applejack’s Ministry of Wartime Technology, Fluttershy’s Ministry of Peace, Rainbow Dash’s Ministry of Awesome, Rarity’s Ministry of Image, and my really Great Aunt Pinkie Pie’s Ministry of Morale,” he explained. “From what I was told by my mom, the Ministry of Morale’s job was to travel around and cheer up ponies, so my really Great Aunt Pinkie Pie did it by having parties, which really worked and cheered up tons of ponies.”

The green mare as she sawed away at the next nail. “That’s very interesting to hear about your ancestor, Funberry. She sounds like a great mare,” said Sludge.

Funberry nodded, smiling, and finished the rest of his drink. “She sure was, and still is,” said the unicorn.

There was something the green mare wanted to know as she might as well help Funberry achieve his goal while also trying to find a way back home. After all, Sludge knew that if she wasn’t around, eventually the pretty stallion would wind up dead somehow.

“How many Stables are there anyway?” asked the green mare, curious.

Funberry thought about it for a while before shrugging. “I don’t know. I guess…more than fifty or one-hundred?” he guessed. “All I know is that there were a lot of stables built throughout Equestria back in the day, and that is my best guess, I guess.”

She was flabbergasted, and had to stop sawing. “Fifty or one-hundred?! That’ll take years to get through all of them!” shouted the green mare.

The unicorn nodded. “I feel the same exact way as you do, Sludge-” Funberry then looked determined. “-but I’m willing to travel all over Equestria just to solve the mystery. I have to do this, for my family,” he said, adamant.

Sludge was silent for a while before sighing, and continued to saw through the nail until the green mare cut it through completely. She then started on the next one.

“How many Stables did you go through?” asked the green mare.

“Before I met you? One,” answered the pretty stallion.

Sludge hummed again. “I see, and how long have you been traveling from your home to the Stable?” she asked.

“About a few hours,” answered Funberry

The green mare was once again impressed. “I’m actually both surprised and impressed that you were able to live this long traveling through this land within a few hours, and you even killed all of those raiders. All without getting a single scratch on you,” she said.

He looked prideful. “Well, defeating those raiders was a bit hard, but thanks to those spells I had I knew I was able to outsmart them and survive,” boasted the pretty stallion.

Something popped into Sludge’s head as the green mare realized something, and she needed it answered. “I’m curious about something else,” said Sludge. “Your ancestor was friends with the ones who had their own Ministries, right?”

Funberry nodded. “Yup. They were the best of friends, even while they focused on their jobs and their own Ministries,” he answered.

“So, if Pinkie Pie was such great friends with these other five mares, then wouldn’t their Ministries also hold information about her too, right? If so, then shouldn’t we-” She finished sawing through the third nail. “-also be visiting the other Ministries too, not just the Ministry of Morale?” asked the green mare.

The pretty stallion thought about it for a while before realizing that Sludge was right.

He started smiling. “If we add the other Ministries to our list of stops, then we’ll have more than enough information from all of the places we’ve visited to piece together everything and find out where my ancestor ended up,” said Funberry, excited. “When my siblings find out that I visited all of the Ministries, and not just the Ministry of Morale, they’re going to be so jealous.”

“Exactly. Once I finish with declawing these things, then we can leave,” she said. The green mare only had seven more claws left to go.

The pretty stallion only nodded excitedly in response. Sludge then started her work on the last seven claws while he watched.

Few Minutes Later

The green mare had finished cutting off the other seven claws and placed them into her saddlebags along with the dagger. Sludge shook out her hooves to remove the weird feeling after gripping and sawing the claws off for some time. Once the feeling was gone, the green mare was ready to continue on to Hoofington.

Funberry looked like he was thinking about something. “You know, if we were to alternate between galloping and trotting, and took only a few breaks, we might be able to make it to Hoofington before night,” the pretty stallion informed. “It’ll be hard for the both of us to defend ourselves at night if we’re attacked by creatures other than the Hellhounds. We could even be attacked by Raiders if our guards are down.”

Sludge nodded in agreement as she wanted to reach the town or city by nightfall and started galloping towards Hoofington.

Sludge:

New Perks:

Evasive Shots: +10 agility and evasion when dealing with multiple hostiles at once.

Intuitive Gut: A feeling that surfaces when finding materials that can be used to make new weapons.

Skill Note:

Gained Hellhound Claws (10)

Footnote: Level Up

Funberry:

New Perks:

Evasive Shots: +10 agility and evasion when dealing with multiple hostiles at once.

Discord’s Wheel of Chaos: -10 Luck; Accidentally causing chaos wherever you go without meaning to.

Footnote: Level Up

Author's Note

Funberry has a habit of causing chaos without meaning to.

She'll need those claws to construct a weapon in the future.

The Psychopath proofread this chapter.

Comments are welcome. :heart: