Fallout Equestria: Unending Dawn

“That, Loli, Is a Manticore.”

The ghoul introduced himself as Broken Glass, and not too late after that he and Loli started out, With Loli trying her best to ignore the corpses on the ground and the endless mass of clouds above her, At least it's pleasantly brighter out here than it was earlier. “Hey, do you want your pencil back…?” Glass asked, glancing over to the raider’s head with a pencil in it.

“Nope. I am totally ignoring the fact there are any signs of a fight nearby, so if there is a pencil nearby, it would be covered in what I’m trying to ignore, so despite how I love them so, It should stay.”  Loli said, looking up to Glass from under her now messy and tangled blue mane.

The daytime in the wasteland proved a much better time to observe the geography. They were on the top of a vast muddy hill with no sign of life around them (except the Manticore which seemed to be making its way away apparently not noticing the pair of unicorns). The farthest she could see was very light fog blocking any visual sight outside the radius of a few miles. Supposedly the town was north, down the hill across the wet wasteland.

“Well you’re not gonna get by for long like that…And what happened to you gushing over my missing eye being cool?” Glass replied as he looted the corpses, finding a small amount of food along with the pistols and machete, Gently levitating the food into his right saddlebag.

“Your missing eye isn't fresh. The carnage here is- oh shit, I’ve acknowledged it… But anyways, I can handle not-fresh gore because in my stable I was friends with a pony who drew stuff like that constantly. But she never painted anything… that could be described as recent, if it makes sense.”

“It doesn't, and honestly I don't really care to know. Now help me loot. Maybe we can see if there’s any armor on these guys that can be salvaged and not too gross for you to wear, maybe some bottle caps.” Glass smirked as he picked up the severed horn from the unicorn, putting it in his left saddlebag, hoping to perhaps trade it for something worthwhile.

“Bottle caps?”

“Yeah, the currency around here, ridiculous right? Now, do you want to have the machete or am I pawning this off as soon as possible? ‘Cause I still don't trust you enough to handle a pistol.” He placed the pistols into his left saddlebag and held up the bloodied blade; it would be something, at least, for the inexperienced Loli to wield without being able to fuck up too badly.

“That is the stupidest thing I have ever heard…And isn’t it wrong to steal from the dead…?” Loli sighed, looking to where Glass had put the severed horn and wincing.

“Look, now I've never been in a stable, but from what I’ve heard they recycle everything. So, to be technical, your pipbuck-Am I right on the name or did I hear about it wrong- belonged to some dead pony before you, as well as everything you own.” Glass sighed; muttering “Typical Stable Pony” under his breath as Loli looked to the weapon in question, mulling it over.

“Good point, but I’m not responsible if I cut some of your mane by accident.” Loli sighed, putting the thing in her saddlebags so it was easily accessible.  “And I’m not gonna wear whatever they’re wearing; It’s covered in blood and from how the one pony smelt, shit.”

“Fine then, suit yourself, but when you get hurt I am going to laugh at you for not taking what you could get.” Glass muttered, putting the small amount of food into the saddlebag that didn’t have the machete in it.  He started to walk, his ax dragging behind him lazily. Loli followed after him, doing a half-trot to keep up with his walk.

• - - - - == == - - - - -

“So, why are you so short? Are you a foal or something?” Glass finally asked, hoping to get Loli’s annoying humming to stop. She’d been doing that since they started walking.

“I’m a stunted mare, thank you.” Loli said, narrowing her eyes slightly at Glass, tongue in cheek in un-amused fashion after breaking from her humming. “There was a food-shortage when I was smaller, and so we had to survive on what we had left over. As a result, lots of ponies from my generation are stunted, but I am pretty sure I am the most stunted.” She sighed as she thought of home; it wasn’t the best, or the nicest place, but she missed it. It smelled better than this place, and there would be no way anyone could go as long without a bath as Glass seemed to in her opinion. “Why are you so stenchy?”She asked, hoping to press a button in payback.

“What? I’m not…” Glass lowered his head to sniff himself, before looking off. “Ok, I’m not that smelly. Granted, I am covered in blood, and blood doesn’t smell good, so if I weren’t covered in it then I wouldn’t smell.” He rolled his eye, before Loli sopped and stared into the distance.

“Glass, There’s a thingy up ahead.” She said, looking up at him curiously. “It doesn’t look like a pony… I think it’s floating, actually. And it’s red.” She said.

“That’s a Bloatsprite. Good eating, if I do say so.” Glass smirked, waiting for Loli to catch up before going back on his way. “You stand back while I deal with it, they like to sting little stable ponies like you.” Loli frowned at the thought of it, shuttering with dread.

“Thank god it’s not close then…” She murmured, keeping close to Glass, growing bored of the dullness around her already.

Time passed and eventually Glass gave the cue to stay, and watching her E.F.S, Loli sat, looking up eventually to watch Glass deal with the thing, looking quickly down to her radar, only spying the Bloatsprite a moment before it disappeared, followed by a call from Glass. She got up and trotted over, looking at the strange creature, about to lean down and look closer until she noticed her radiation detector clicking. Backing up she looked at it and shook her head, keeping behind Glass. “It’s in the yellow; that is not so-called ‘good eating’.” She said, making a disgusted face as Glass started to cut some meat off of the corpse, levitating the meat close to Loli’s saddlebags. “Ah, nuh-huh, that’s not going in my bag. You carry that yourself.” She said, hopping back and shaking her head. “It will make me super freakin’ sick.”

“Typical stable pony,” Glass groaned quietly, putting the meat in his right saddlebag to cook later. “And I happen to eat these all the time. I even went a whole year eating just these guys and I’m fine.”

“You’re a Ghoul.”

“Ssh, I’m still alive aren’t I?” Glass rolled his eyes and sighed, going back on his way, Loli following after, keeping a closer eye on her radiation detector.

“Yeah but you’re missing half your face.”

“That was a shotgun, not radiation. Radiation just made most of my hide hairless and rotting, most notably.” Glass’s mangled ears flicked back with his growing agitation with Loli, though the little mare’s ears were flicked back for a different reason entirely; she thought she heard something behind her. Glancing back quickly she dismissed the thought, though she couldn’t shake the feeling.

• - - - - == == - - - - -

“Glaaaaaaaaaaassssss, I don’t want to walk anymore. My hooves hurt and so do my legs. Will you please carry me?” Loli whined, trying to keep up with the taller pony.

“No. I’d only carry you if you were utterly drunk with no hopes of sobering up anytime soon, or if you broke your leg” he replied, looking down at the tired unicorn.

“What’s drunk?” Loli asked, causing glass to face-hoof and make a little whine of exasperation himself, muttering something before answering.

“You’ll know when you experience it.”

• - - - - == == - - - - -

“Here we are, New Appleoosa.”  Glass said, looking at the tiny excuse for a town, Loli gazing at the houses curiously. “I’ll wait here whi-“

“Nope, you’re going in with me.” Loli said, frowning up at Glass foalishly.

“What? No,”

“Nope, I’m not gonna let you stay out here. What if I get attacked?”

“You won’t.”

“It could happen. Out of nowhere, boom, Slavers. What would I do then? So, you’re coming with me. You even have the bottlecaps.” Loli raised her eyebrows and nudged him softly, causing him to groan quietly.

“Well I’m not going to buy you anything,”

“I don’t care, I could see about exchanging my services for goods.” Loli said, levitating a paintbrush out of her bag and checking its tip. “I paint really, really well. Even the ponies who didn’t like me a lot even admitted that I painted well.” She smirked; she thought back to when she had overheard some of her less-friendly peers talking about one of her contributions to the wallpapering.

“Fine, “Glass sighed as he started to the town, Loli following after with almost a skip in her step. “What happened you being tired?”

“I got over it a little. Not totally, but a little.” Loli replied as they stepped into town, looking around quietly. From what she assumed, it was probably night time, and there weren’t many ponies around. “…Where’s everypony?” she asked glass, looking to the buildings, then to the parts of what looked like a train.

“Probably asleep…? Well, Derp- Er, Ditzy, is probably awake in her shop, if she’s even still here…” he answered, shrugging as he walked down to a larger building. “I’m not sure, I haven’t been here in a long time.” He found her door and opened it quietly, peeking in and nodding at the hairless Pegasus who was organizing her wares. “Yeah, she’s here. Hey, Ditzy,” he said, going in, leaving the door open for Loli. There was no vocal response from the Pegasus, but she did come over with a happy gleam in her eyes, and a smile. Glass didn’t comment on her lack of words, just nodding back and moving as Loli came in.

“Err…Hello- I’m guessing from what Glass said, you’re Ditzy? Nice to meet you,” Loli greeted, half smiling at her and coming closer. “I’m Loli Splotch, and, um, from what Glass said, I guess I need to trade for some armor.” Loli glanced back to the door and noted that he had vanished, How can such a large pony sneak out so silently? She wondered, strongly hoping he would return, she set down her bag and levitated some paint and her brush. “I paint, so would you be open to a trade of some sort?” she asked, looking Ditzy in the eye cheerfully. Ditzy nodded happily, before looking up in thought. “…Do you have anything in mind for me to paint?” Loli asked, arching a brow at Ditzy. Again a nod, but no vocal response. “….Would you mind telling me what you’d like?” she asked, tilting her head softly at Ditzy until the Pegasus shrugged, opening her mouth to reveal a mouth devoid of a tongue.

“Oooooooooh…” Loli said, looking at the small remains of the tongue that wasn’t cut out with great interest. “Do you know how to write?” she asked, levitating a pencil out of her bag. Ditzy nodded hesitantly as Loli offered the pencil to her, taking the pencil and walking to the counter, moving some paper close and writing (with much effort) something on it, dropping the pencil and taking the paper to Loli.

“Somewhat. Can you make me a sign that says I can’t talk?” it read, though the words were messy and if Loli didn’t have experience reading bad mouth-writing, she probably would have taken longer to understand.

“Oh, sure, I can do that. Do you have something I can use- like paper, or some wood- to write on?” Loli asked, noticing her eyes sliding to the mare’s featherless wings and stopping it, returning her eyes to Ditzy’s face.

Once again Ditzy ran off, writing another messy note and returning. “Yes I have some wood boards, I’ll go get them.” It read, though Ditzy laid it on the floor and trotted behind the counter, rustling around before grabbing a small piece of wood and returning to Loli, laying it down too.

“Alright, I’ll get to work on it.” Loli chimed, sitting down and pulling out all of her paints, picking out a pale yellow- she thought it was similar to Ditzy’s eyes- and begun to get to work.

• - - - - == == - - - - -

Loli smiled with pride at the little sign she’d made. It was simplistic in her mind, but she’d put more on it if she were asked. “Ditzy, how is this? Should I paint more onto it?” she asked, levitating the sign to the Pegasus ghoul.

Ditzy looked at it and grinned, grabbing the pencil and writing “It’s perfect! I like it how it is,” on some paper.

“Where should I put this? It’s almost dry now, and unless scratched it won’t smear. “Loli asked, before Ditzy trotted to the door, nodding at a spot where the sign would be seen.

“Yes, I do deliveries!”

“No hooves, nasty stingers?  No service.”

“Ask me about special orders!  I won’t answer, but I’ll get right on it!” it read, and Loli smiled softly. It could be easily seen from a distance even in the dim light, but she looked back to Ditzy quickly.

“So, do you know of any place Glass and I can sleep at? Is there any way I could see about us sleeping here for tonight?” she asked, looking at Ditzy curiously

Ditzy looked up in thought again before trotting back to write another note, bringing it back to Loli. “Well, you could spend the night here, but only if I get paid. Maybe another sign could be painted? This time, bigger, and it should say ‘Absolutely Everything’. I have the wood on the roof; I can go get it now.” Loli nodded and went back inside, moving her paints, levitating several with her as she went back outside, looking up to see Ditzy pulling a larger piece of wood down- it had been laying there for storage, probably- and lowering it down to Loli, eventually just dropping the end of it down.  After moving it just a little, Loli got to work once more on the sign just after Glass entered the building levitating cooked meat and strange fruit alongside him.

• - - - - == == - - - - -

Finishing up with a smile, Loli separated the paint from her brush and forced it back into the tube with her magic as she went inside. “Ditzy, I’ve finished.” She said, going inside to meet the ghoul Pegasus. Quickly Ditzy went to look at the sign, and with a nod she started to the room where she would allow Glass and Loli to rest in.

“Oh, wait, one second,” Loli said, nudging Glass and getting a snore from him. She frowned and poked his ear nub with the tip of her hoof and he woke up, glaring at Loli.

“Sorry, painting takes too long.” The rather tired ghoul complained.

“I’ve worked a deal with Ditzy; In exchange for a sign, we can spend the night in a spare room she has.”Loli said, smiling as she looked to her things, pushing them into the saddlebags of hers that were on the floor and levitating that whole thing onto her back. “Come on,” She said, turning to follow Ditzy into the room.

Glass in turn got up and followed Loli, nodding a thanks at Ditzy as he went to the corner of the small room,  laid down and curled up to sleep. Loli did the same in an adjacent corner, taking a small amount of food out of her saddlebags and eating it to stave off hunger pangs, re-shutting it and putting it back so what she didn’t eat, she’d have for later. She then dozed off, curling up in her sleep, thankful to not have to be walking any more that night.

Footnote: Level up

Lolipop Splotch: LVL 3. Cherchez La Filly: +10% damage to the same sex and unique dialogue options with certain female characters. Barter and speech is also increased +5 any pony-oid creature.

Artistic Touch (Quest Perk): +15% art creation speed (of any kind) at no quality reduction due to Glass' "persuasion".

Broken Glass. LVL 3. I'd Like To Axe A Question: All ax type weapons (except ax pole arms) can now be thrown at 75% normal thrown weapon velocity and distance. Also makes levitating and holding axes become more natural reducing the weight by 25%.