Fallout Equestria: Shrugging It

by Heartshine

Rating: teen
Tags: Gore, Original Character, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Adventure, Sex, Dark, Alternate Universe
Length: 5499

The (mis)adventures of a group of ponies as they fight to survive in the wasteland around Baltimare, 30 years prior to the events of Fallout Equestria

A filly Heartmender. A unicorn ghoul. A zebra doctor. An ex-ganger. A pre-war Alicorn. And a crazed robot with an issue with cots. This group of travelers meets up through the strangest of circumstances, and soon learns to rely on each other for survival in the wastes around Baltimare. Heartshine didn't know what she was getting herself into, but sometimes the best thing to do is shrug, and continue on.

Author’s notes:  This story is going to end up following the (mis)adventures of the PnP group that I’m part of.  Super special thanks to Kkat for writing Fallout Equestria and providing this super awesome universe for us to play in!  Also, special thanks to the boys of Group Shrug who said it was alright if I expanded the story of our misadventures, our GM Keanno for putting up with our BS, and Hidden Fortune, Tricky Spirit, and Wirepony for offering suggestions and editing advice!  They get all the cookies.  Or just go read Hidden Fortune’s story, Treasure Hunting.  She’d probably like that more than cookies.

Normal disclaimers: I don’t own Fallout, which sad cause Fallout 4 would be out by now if I did, nor do I own FoE.  

Published 2013-04-03 11:00:01 UTC
Last updated 2013-04-03 11:00:01 UTC

Chapter 1

Fallout Equestria: Shrugging It

Chapter 1

Side A: The Fall of Haven

Haven, 50 kilometers outside of Baltimare: 30 Years Prior to the Day of Sunshine and Rainbows

From the ground, the small settlement of Haven wasn’t much to look at. Nestled in between the crumbling buildings of what had once been the Ministry of Morale’s regional hub in Quaneighco, the small settlement had sprung up following the final hours of the great war around the hub’s small chapel. Through the grace of Luna or just plain, old fashioned dumb luck, Quaneighco managed to avoid the death by fire that had swept through the rest of Equestria. However, time is seldom kind to anypony or anything, and it’s influence combined with the lack of proper maintenance were slowly breaking down the once grand building that was the regional hub.

As she glided on small thermals a good distance above the ground, Heartshine looked down on the green fields that surrounded her home. Those fields had been Haven’s saving grace. The hub possessed several greenhouses which, originally, were used as part of an agricultural studies program. The buildings were spared the radioactive fallout from Baltimare, and through careful planning and tending to the soil in the area, Haven had carefully tended to the seeds that were left behind by the agricultural studies department, and grew to be a shining gem of green in the wastes surrounding the greater Baltimare area.

The small, light green pegasus filly brushed a few strands of red and blue mane out of her eyes and circled back toward the town. Many of the buildings had been demolished long before Heartshine’s mother came to live in Haven, giving their substance to great barricades that guarded the settlement. Multi-hued ponies of all colours and sizes stood watch around the settlement, guns and eyes wary for any threats that might roll in out of the wastes. A few of them waved as she flew over their positions, and Heartshine returned their waves with a smile and wave of her own.

While the well guarded walls were a grand thing, all the elevated gun posts in the world couldn’t compare to a pegasus’ ability to fly. But, having only been in Equestria for 11 summers, Heartshine’s ability to fly still left a few things to be desired.

‘Which is why mom doesn’t want me flying much higher than the old skyscraper,’ Heartshine thought to herself as she softly landed into a trot near the main thoroughfare of Haven. A few traders and farmers had their booths set up, and Heartshine craned her neck to look at the day’s take of apples, carrots, and alfalfa.

“See anything up there, little one?” The soft tenor voice of Lyre Apple, one of the earth ponies who tended to the small grove of apple trees, asked.

Heartshine shook her head. “Nothing that the guard ponies can’t see, Mr. Apple. Hopefully the merchants won’t be late! I heard a rumour that they might be carrying some cherry seeds! I do hope they are.”

Lyre put a hoof to his chest and feigned pain. “Heartshine! You wound me! Are my delicious apples not enough?” He asked, dramatically sweeping a hoof to his forehead.

Heartshine giggled softly. She would have known if she’d actually offended him; having a heartmender’s empathic sensitivity would have seen to that, but she also knew Lyre liked to give her a hard time. “Your apples are more than enough for me, Lyre,” she said, putting a small hoof on his foreleg. “But I heard a rumour that Mrs. Mandrake Root was going to have another foal, and for some reason that meant she wanted cherries?” Heartshine scrunched up her nose. “Though I don’t know what having a baby would have to do with a need for cherries.”

Lyre chuckled softly and patted the filly on the head. “You’ll know when you’re older.” He said. “Now I’m off to buck some apples. Tell that mother of yours we should have some fresh ones in this afternoon.”

“I will, Mr. Apple.”

Heartshine heard Lyre softly say ‘fillies, so naive,’ under his breath, and giggled to herself. The truth was, she knew far more about foaling and seasons and the like than many fillies from the pre-war era would have known. She just knew that adults felt inherently awkward about explaining the birds and the bees to young fillies and colts, and preferred to view the young ponies as innocent and naive. So that was what Heartshine let the adults of Haven see in her. Innocence and naivete.

Despite that outward appearance, the truth was that Heartshine was much more world wise than she liked to let on. Listening to the stories told by wandering travellers who wandered into the temple saw to that. Finding an old copy of Dapple Grey’s Anatomy and a few harlequestrian romance novels filled in any gaps that listening to adult conversations may have left out. Discovering that her special talent of heartmending tended to open the ponies around her up in ways she’d never imagined, Heartshine had learned a great deal about the harsh and bitter nature of the world around Haven.

It was shortly thereafter that Heartshine discovered the journals of Winter Willow, the first royal heartmender and, strangely enough, a candidate in Celestia’s search for the Element of Kindness. Those journals had been tucked away in a filing cabinet inside the hub. Hidden among the practical lessons of heartmending and wordy discourses on the science of psychology, the long dead heartmender had written “out of suffering emerged the strongest souls; the most massive characters are often seared with scars.” Her mother’s own life was a testament to that. So was Heartshine’s, if she’d let herself admit it.

As a heartmender, she quickly became a beacon of light for the small community of Haven. Some ponies had long attempted to learn the relatively novel science of psychology through books, but none could match Heartshine’s innate special talent for helping heal wounds of the heart, mind, and in some cases, soul. Heartshine was more than willing to heal as she could, but only Willow Wind, the priestess of the Church of Luna that Haven had been founded on, truly knew what toll those healings took on Heartshine herself.

Heartshine poured over the ancient journals, trying to figure out her talent. The long dead heartmender had been fantastically introspective when it came to her talent, and the filly drank in Winter Willow’s thoughts and feelings like a foal in the desert. Heartshine learned a great deal about her talent, as well as the early history of a place once known as Heartmender Hall. It confused and pained her to learn that it had taken centuries for ponies to consider heartmending to be a talent that equalled that of medicine.

Heartmenders were more often found in pegasi and earth ponies, as opposed to unicorns. In her own writings, Winter Willow supposed this to be true because the ability to understand the emotions of others required an understanding of the inner magic that existed within all ponies. As a pegasus herself, Winter Willow hypothesised that Pegasus heartmenders tended to be gifted with an extremely strong empathic sensitivity: one intimately woven into the pegasi’s magical flight abilities. The same sensory neurons that allowed pegasi to feel the winds allowed pegasus heartmenders to sense the moods of those around them.

The talent was one that could bring about great joy and great pain. Being able to sense the emotions of others could help the heartmender weave their words in such a way as to heal the emotional sufferings of other ponies. But on the other hoof, being able to feel the pain of another could be an agonizing experience, especially if that other’s pain wasn’t going to stop any time soon. There were limits to the amount of emotional burdens a heartmender could take on before all the emotional or physical pain started manifesting itself physically within heartmenders. Emotional backlash, as Winter Willow had referred to it in one of her later journals, was a constant danger for heartmenders who tried to heal too much at one time.

The young filly had learned that the hard way when, during a particularly grueling session with an old ghoul, Heartshine felt a sharp pain in her side. The more she ignored it, the more intense it became, before the ghoul commented that she appeared to be bleeding. It was at that moment that Heartshine realised that the warnings Winter Willow had made about pain manifesting physically hadn’t been old mare’s tales, and her words about being seared with scars had been somewhat literal. A pony’s body could only take so much before it reached the point where either emotional pain had to go, or physical injury occurred. So Heartshine learned to let go of the hurts of others. But that wound to her side wasn’t the last time that her talent physically injured her.

‘No,’ Heartshine thought, watching Lyre amble down the main dirt path in Haven toward his fields. ‘It definitely wasn’t the last. But every hurt I’ve had from healing others has been more than worth it.’

“You’ve got that far and away look about you again, young’in,” a strong alto voice called.

Heartshine turned and smiled at Willow Wind. “Just have a lot to think about, my Lady,” she replied politely, bowing slightly.

The dusk grey unicorn priestess nodded. Her saddlebags were filled with apples and other food from a day’s trading. She gave the filly a serene look. “Just remember, Luna works in mysterious ways, little one. I know that your talent is an awfully heavy burden for someone as young as yourself to bear, especially in these trying times,” she said, sweeping a hoof about Haven. “But take heart. You have been touched by Luna, my child. Remember that while the elements of Honesty, Generosity, and Magic belonged to the Sun, so too did Laughter, Loyalty, and Kindness belong to the Moon.”

Heartshine sat on her flanks and thought a moment. “Why did Luna possess those three Elements of Harmony, Priestess?” She asked. “Laughter and Loyalty I can understand. Luna was steadfast in her promises to the faithful and to Equestria before she died, and merriment and lovemaking,” she blushed deeply, realising she’d slipped in her cover of naivete. “I’m sorry priestess, um, those things happen at night. But why Kindness? Was Celestia not a kind and benevolent ruler?”

Heartshine felt Willow Wind’s dark purple eyes bore into her. “What drives you to heal, Heartshine?”

The filly frowned, using a wing to brush part of her bangs out of her cerulean eyes. “I guess... I... hmm.” She wrinkled her nose. “Well, it’s what my cutie mark tells me to do. But, even more than that, it’s what I feel I need to do. It’s painful to see ponies around me, even those I don’t know, hurting.”

“Is that need rational?” The priestess asked.

Rational? What did that have to do with it? “I suppose not?” Heartshine admitted, sounding uncertain. “It’s... I feel like I need to.” She replied, stepping to the side of the path as ponies continued to walk around the conversing pair. She pulled at the small golden chain she wore about her neck which bore the crescent moon of Luna and fiddled with it. How did somepony explain what a heartmender felt to a non-heartmender?

“So you feel it, as opposed to think it?”

“Yes?”

The priestess nodded sagely. “And that right there is why Luna has always been associated with the element of Kindness. While some would argue that it would have made sense for Celestia, the older sister, to possess more Elements of Harmony than her younger sister, what else do we associate with the moon?”

Heartshine bit her lip as she thought back to the priestess’ sermons. “Well... things we hide? Emotions? Um... a...” she blushed. “A mare’s seasons?”

The priestess chuckled slightly at the filly’s last response. “Go back to the second one.”

“Emotions?”

Willow nodded. “And based on my first question to you about your ability to heal other ponies...?”

Heartshine’s eyes lit up. “Oh! The moon is emotional! Luna was an emotional Goddess, even if she tried to hide that fact from others.”

Willow Wind nodded. “In fact-” The priestess was cut off by a sudden screeching noise and a loud explosion.

Heartshine leapt into the air, looking around for the source of the explosion. Such events weren’t commonplace around Haven, but when they happened...

“Oh no...” she said, looking out at the smoking ruin of one of the debris wall’s guard positions. She looked away quickly, her eyes burned with the image of black smoke... and the bloody smears where two guard ponies once had been.

A light blue field caught her and yanked her to the ground.

“Home. Now.” Willow Wind ordered, releasing the small filly.

Heartshine didn’t need to be told twice, and bolted down the main thoroughfare toward the Temple of Luna. Gunfire erupted from the walls, sending the sounds of chattering small arms and big booms from larger weapons. Fierce whines announced the presence of missiles before the loud cacophony of explosions rent its way through the small settlement.

Missiles! What raiding party had missiles?

Heartshine darted around fleeing ponies, trying desperately to block out the massed waves of fear, panic, dread, and pain that assaulted her emotional senses.

“Please stop... please Luna, make it stop!” She begged, crying as ran into the temple itself.

Cerulean Sunburst had been the temple’s librarian, and Heartshine flew into the dark blue forelegs of her mother.

Magic glowed from the unicorn’s cracked horn, sputtering as the mare dropped a hymnal a pony had left behind in the chapel’s pews.

“Heartshine, honey? Look at me.”

The young filly did as she was told, shaking with fear in her mother’s embrace.

“Go to your room and grab your saddlebags. We’re leaving.” Cerulean said, releasing her daughter and running toward the rooms where the two of them lived. Heartshine followed quickly, darting up to her small bunk and grabbing her saddlebags with her teeth.

When she turned, her mother held a small dress in her magic.

“Put this on, honey.” She said, slipping the dress over Heartshine’s head. “It isn’t armour, but it’s better than nothing at all.”

The mare managed an anxious smile as the filly fluffed her wings through the wingslits in the back, then turned to unlock a chest that the filly had never seen opened before. Heartshine stared in awe as her mother removed the massive lock and lifted the lid with her magic.

Heartshine watched as the dark blue mare lifted a long, boxy rifle-like object out of the box. On it’s side was written ‘the Buster Gun.’ An odd attachment was placed on top of the rifle. Heartshine could only assume it was a rifle, as it bore similarity to those used by the guards who were fighting to defend the town. Her mother gently flicked a switch with her magic, and the weapon let out a soft hum.

“Put on your saddle bags.” Cerulean said firmly. Her voice remained even, despite the sounds of gunfire about the town. Sounds that appeared to be getting closer. The Buster Gun floated by her side as the mare lifted a heavy looking set of leather barding onto her back, and expertly snapped the buckles with her magic.

Heartshine’s heart pounded as she did so. She could feel her mother’s anxiety, but found herself envying how well she hid it. That envy allowed her to focus, despite the sharp pangs of pain she was feeling every few moments. The filly did her best not to cry, knowing each of those feelings of pain might be - and probably was - the death of one of the ponies she knew.

“I hoped I’d never have to give these to you, love, but Luna rarely gives us what we want. Only what we need.” Cerulean said as she passed a small, boxy pistol to the filly.

Heartshine had been trained to use the small 9mm pistols that all of the adults carried, but this pistol was different. It didn’t appear to have any bullets, and it was shaped like a box with small opening on one end.

“This is a magical beam pistol. It shoots like the small guns you were trained on.” Cerulean explained calmly, dropping a few strange looking objects into Heartshine’s saddlebags. “These are the spark cells you’ll need to reload.”

The mare latched the pistol to a leather holster on the side of Heartshine’s saddle bags, before lifting a long tube and several black, egg-like things toward the filly. The eggs went into her saddle bag, the three of them labelled HE were notably heavier.

“This is a grenade rifle. I know you’ve never used it, but it’ll make a big boom. Just don’t shoot it off anywhere near ponies you like. Namely me.”

Heartshine gulped as she slipped the grenade rifle’s strap around her neck and shifted the long barrel uncomfortably on her back. Cerulean started putting a few of her most precious possessions in her saddlebags, and Heartshine felt the mood change in the room. They were leaving. Heartshine took a deep breath. Home was no longer safe, and there was nothing she could do to fix it. The filly busied herself by grabbing a few snacks from her own personal stash, as well as a few bottles of water. She never had much to begin with, but what she had could be the difference between life and death on the outside.

Cerulean looked through the attachment as she levitated the Buster Gun in her magic in front of her. “I hope I haven’t lost my edge,” the mare whispered anxiously.

Heartshine cocked her head to the side as her mother pulled on her own saddle bags. A small ring levitated out of the bags and locked around the unicorn’s left foreleg. Another Pipbuck floated out of her saddlebags.

“I need a leg, love,” Cerulean said gently. Heartshine held out her right foreleg. The mare gave her daughter a confused look before shrugging and attaching the device.

Heartshine gasped in surprise as the Pipbuck activated; the Eyes Forward Sparkle flashing into the corner of her vision. Heartshine waved a hoof in front of her eyes, trying to figure out where the direction and vital information was coming from. It was unlike anything she’d ever seen, and strangely, a small pony, much like herself smiled at her, she was fully healthy. There also appeared to be a compass, and... a blue line?

The sound of an explosion focussed her attentions toward the sanctuary of the chapel. Turning, a lone red mark flashed in her E.F.S.

“Mom...”

BA-KEW! A massive bolt of bright pink energy blasted over the filly’s head, dissolving part of the bedroom wall. The noise stunned the filly, causing her to rub her ears. The scent of ozone filled the air as Heartshine dared a look through the hole. She couldn’t see anything, but a quick glance at the E.F.S. told her that the red mark was gone.

KER-CHUNK. The large crystal drum ejected from the Buster Gun as Cerulean Starburst reloaded.

“Can’t do that too often,” the mare mused, using her magic to pop another drum into the beam rifle.

Heartshine trotted over to her mother, nuzzling her head against her mother’s shoulder. The steel armour was cool to the touch, but the love radiating from her mother was enough to take some of the chill away.

“Honey, we need to go,” Cerulean said sternly.

Heartshine nodded. She winced as she felt another pang of pain.. Ponies were still being hurt. ‘Maybe Mom could make it stop?’ she thought.

Cerulean darted out of their small room, holding the Buster Gun in front of her. Heartshine wasn’t sure what her mother was seeing through the weapon’s targeting optics, but as she figured out the E.F.S., she could see how optics and a way to see where one’s enemy was would be a devastating combination.

The chapel was empty. Explosions and gunfire still echoed into the sanctuary, as did screams of pain, fear, and shouts of anger. Shouts that seemed to be directed Dust was settling as Heartshine poked her nose into the room. The buster gun had managed to burn a hole in the bedroom wall, two pews and...

…and 4 hooves in steel shoes.

The filly backed slowly out of the room, making a slight ‘meep’ noise as her flanks bumped into her mother’s legs. The unicorn put a hoof on the pegasus’ small back, steadying her.

Heartshine closed her eyes and focussed on the calm and love radiating from her mother. She didn’t know how her mother managed to be a bastion of peace in the chaos, pain, and fear of the battle going on in the town, but she welcomed the sensation nevertheless. Cerulean was always like that. Heartshine knew there was fear underneath her mother’s calm, but the unicorn hid it well.

Cerulean glanced toward the statue of Luna as she looked about the sanctuary. “Heartshine, head toward the back, somepony was bound to have-DOWN!” The mare shouted as a steel helmet looked into the chapel through the broken stained glass windows.

She tackled Heartshine as large calibre bullets sprayed into the chapel through the stained glass windows. The filly’s ears lay back, trying to block out the loud, chattering retort of the heavy machine gun that strafed the room. As the gun stopped firing, Heartshine could just barely hear the tinkling of broken glass.

“Get them!”

Loud stomps on the stairs announced the presence of the raiders. Cerulean flipped a switch on the Buster Gun, and fired. This time, a thin beam of red energy lanced from the rifle’s barrel toward the stairs.

“They have MEWs!” A stallion screamed, sounding strangely distorted.

Another burst of gunfire tore holes in the pews, sending Heartshine and Cerulean scattering. The filly darted to the altar, hiding behind the black granite statue of Luna. She grabbed at the small golden crescent moon on the necklace around her neck, and prayed silently as she heard the Buster Gun fire again and again. Chunks of granite splintered as the attackers returned fire, and Heartshine’s forehooves curled to her chest as she felt a new aching wave of pain: this one coming from her mother.

The filly dove out from under her cover to glance around the chapel. The unicorn mare was still standing, a long gash opened along the side of her neck, just above her armour. Blood oozed out of the graze, but she appeared to be otherwise unhurt. Ahead of her lay a pile of pink ash.

“Mom!” Heartshine cried, starting to move toward the mare. A wave of the hoof stopped her.

“Stay there!” Cerulean shouted, ejecting yet another spent gem drum and pulling a replacement out of her bags.

A loud staccato of metal hoofsteps thundered into the chapel. Pews flew in every direction as a steel-clad monster crashed through the room: straight into Cerulean Sunburst.

The unicorn mare crashed through a pew as the steel monster rammed into her. She lost her telekinetic grip on the Buster Gun as she rolled to her hooves, clearly winded. The steel monster shook it’s oddly pony shaped head and turned towards the mare.

Heartshine drew her beam pistol and fired a shot straight at the monster’s head. The shot missed, but it clearly caught the monster’s attention. As the steel clad fiend turned toward her, Heartshine saw that it had two massive rifles strapped to a metal saddle on it’s back. The monster turned to face her, taking a single thudding step forward before being bucked hard by Cerulean’s surprise attack. The mare’s buck struck the monster near it’s midsection, knocking it off balance.

With a resounding crash, the metal beast went down, but quickly rolled to it’s hooves as Cerulean grabbed the Buster Gun. As the monster started to turn toward the both of them, Heartshine sensed an unnerving amount of calm come from her mother.

The mare’s eyes met the filly’s, and Heartshine saw a look that she’d never seen before. Even as the monster got to its hooves, her mother mouthed the words ‘I love you,’ before aiming the buster gun toward the rear of the chapel.

“Fly, Heartshine! I’ll find you somewhere!” She cried, firing. The massive blast of pink energy tore a hole through the statue of Luna, the back wall, and out into the sky. Heartshine only hesitated for a moment before taking to the sky. The monster stopped, it’s metal face plate tracking her as she bolted skyward.

The filly moved as quickly as her wings could carry her. Tears filled her vision as she soared through the massive hole in the chapel before darting down to the streets below. She heard several loud reports from what could only be the monster’s rifles, followed by silence.

Gunfire chattered around her, forcing her to drop to the ground and sprint before launching herself over Haven’s rear wall. A steel monster started at her sudden appearance, and fired a burst of fire in her direction. Heartshine barrel rolled to the left, dodging the fire. She felt nothing but contempt and malice coming from the steel monster that she was quickly leaving behind with her superior speed. The creature fired a few more sustained bursts in Heartshine’s direction before shaking its head and trotting back toward Haven.

Heartshine’s heart pounded in her chest as she chanced a glance back toward the town. Mom? Where was Mom? Sobbing, the filly flew toward the ruins of Baltimare, leaving behind the smoking settlement that was quickly being overrun by metal monstrosities...
______________________________________________________________________________

Side B: The Fear of Others
Near the town of Saddle, 20 Kilometers from the Baltimare Ruins

Latex Dazzle made her way through the rocky terrain of the blasted wasteland outside of the town of Saddle. She made certain to avoid brushing against the rocks. Years ago, her coat would have handled the casual brush against the sharp outcroppings, but in the 200 years since her ghoulification, she’d found that her coat and the flesh beneath to be far, far less resistant to damage.

Before the war, Latex Dazzle was often complimented on how pretty she was. Now, with the curse of being a ghoul, beauty wasn’t a trait she often ascribed to herself. The patchy multicoloured pieces of latex melded into her hide to replace damaged or missing skin only served to set her apart, even from other ghouls. In her own mind, the one shred of beauty that remained were her eyes. The soft blue iris hadn’t been stricken with the milky, cataract-like sheen that many ghouls possessed.

Even after the long years since the balefire detonations that struck near Canterlot, Latex still didn’t quite understand how she managed to survive. All she could remember was hearing the air raid sirens and diving into the vat of liquid latex that she used to use in her shop.

The unicorn mare examined a rock, nodded, and set it in her saddle bags. Always good to have something to scare off predators... or other ponies.

Throughout the years, Latex found herself wanting to avoid other ponies more and more. She’d never been an overly social mare. ‘Before,’ she’d always found herself spending more time making raincoats and sundry items out of rubber and latex in her shop as opposed to being social and making friends. Now, as the wasteland became more and more wild over the years, she found herself actively avoiding anything that could pass for society. And several groups of ponies that most definitely did not pass for society as well.

By all accounts, she should have gone feral years ago. But somehow, some way, she managed to keep herself sane.

‘I don’t know how. My brain is probably half latex by now. I wonder if that makes the transmission of neuronal action potentials difficult? Latex isn’t all that porous a material...’ she thought, trotting slowly through the wastes.

In truth, through the years, she’d attempted to find a way to heal the magical affliction that had turned her into a ghoul. Initially, she wanted to just make all ghouls pretty again. She spent years in a cave with several feral ghouls attempting to find ways to bond latex with their remaining tissues in a way that mimicked skin. Her experiments were... not successful.

She shuddered as she thought of the feral she’d tried to give a layer of latex that resembled a living pony’s coat. That poor thing didn’t live long. Luckily.

A harsh laughing caught her attention. The mare stopped, training her ears toward the laughter that seemed to be, inexplicably, coming from everywhere at once. Another burst of laughter echoed about her. Slavers? Raiders?

Latex felt hot breath on her neck and yipped, bolting in a direction, any direction, away from the stranger. That made no sense! Nothing was out here! What would mess with a poor ghoul like her?

She continued to run, darting between rocks as quickly as she could. Dust kicked up behind her as she made her way toward the open. Normally Latex would have avoided the open. Staying close to cover and out of sight of others was the way she’d survived. But there was no way she wanted to find out what breathed on her!

The mare acted on instinct as she began to gallop across the plains. Beneath her hooves, she felt a slight rumbling sensation, then cried out in surprise as a trap door yawned opened beneath her.

Down. Down. Down she tumbled into darkness. Fetching up against the wall, she soon found herself rolling down a steep incline that appear to be levelling-

OOF! The floor she landed on after a short drop felt solid, if a bit dusty. Latex Dazzle shook herself as she looked around. In the darkness, she could see nothing. If she’d been still alive, her heart would have been pounding in her chest. She took several deep, completely superfluous breaths to calm herself. Ok. Trap doors leading to caves. Probably not the best place to be, but at least some monster wasn’t after her. She hoped.

Straining, she cast a small light spell.

The growling that greeted her light spell caused her to immediately regret her action. The familiar growl of a feral ghoul met her ears. Out of the darkness emerged a badly decayed ghoul. It’s skin appeared to have flaked off, and it had very little muscle mass left on its wasted body. It looked at her with a confused expression before it approached. It continued to growl.

As the feral came closer, Latex Dazzle rolled her eyes and booped it on the nose. “Stop that!” she said, scolding the ghoul. The ghoul growled back at her. A series of growls joined it.

Latex rolled her eyes. “Oh, be nice,” she said, her horn glowing blue as she cast a latex spell on the ghoul’s mouth. The ghoul fell backwards, trying to get the rapidly drying sticky substance off it’s face.

Latex’s annoyance immediately turned to concern. “Don’t hurt yourself!” she said, reaching out to the confused ghoul. The ghoul backed away, ripping away chunks of its face as it tried to remove the hardening latex glob.

Latex sighed. “I can’t fight you, but at least I can stop you from moving!”

She cast another spell, and bound the ghoul’s hind hooves to the floor with latex. The sticky substance hardened quickly, stopping the ghoul. The ghoul ignored it’s face to chew at the sticky substance that now bound its hooves.

Latex Dazzle shook her head. “Too easy,” she said, binding the ghoul’s forehooves to the dusty cave floor as well. “Now let’s see if I can’t help you look a little more like your old self!”

Gently, she covered the ghoul’s open skin with a layer of latex. It was a fast process: Latex had years of experience performing the operation to reskin ghouls. The ghoul looked on surprised as the new skin of latex covered its body. The unicorn smiled as she dyed the ghoul’s new skin a hot pink.

“Much better!” she said, smiling at the ghoul. The ghoul sounded like it tried to growl at her. “No, no! Bad ghoulie! No cookie!” she said, shaking a hoof chiddingly at it.

A chorus of growls reminded her that she wasn’t alone. The unicorn sighed. “Alright,” she said, sounding determined. “Who’s next?” she asked, widening the field of her light magic. This was going to be a long night...
______________________________________________________________________________
New Campaign Started
2 Players added:
Latex Dazzle - Female Unicorn Ghoul.
- Level One - Hey, you gotta start somewhere!
Heartshine - Female Pegasus Filly
- Level One- Hey, you gotta start somewhere!