My New Life in Fallout: Equestria
(Disclaimer: Forgot to mention it last time, but I also do not own Harry Potter. No profit made at all.)
Chapter 3: No Doubt About It, I Am in Fallout: Equestria
I stared into the mirror for quite a while, twisting my head and neck around and staring into my new eyes. Eventually, I looked away and headed back out the door. I wanted to check out the rest of the first floor and then look in the kitchen to find some food and water. I am getting hungry and thirsty but can go a little while longer before it becomes an issue. Same with using the toilet. The next door was already open and, crossing the threshold, what looked like an office was revealed. Bookcases stuffed full with books and what looked like scrolls along the walls. A desk and chair with a weird looking computer and piles of paper on it centered in the room. Everything was covered in dust and looked undisturbed before I entered. Nobody had been here for a very long time…. like the rest of the house wasn't a big enough clue. Being an office, I decided to check out the desk for any possible info on where I was. Getting closer I noticed a picture frame laying face down near the computer. I looked at it for a minute, took as deep a breath as I dared in that dusty room before slowly breathing out. I lifted a hoof up and slowly reached over till I was touching the top part. I took another slow breath in and out, fixed my eyes on the nearby computer and told myself that I was going to pick the frame up and set it back upright. Slowly, I lifted my hoof up and then back, and slowly the frame followed.
I might not have mentioned it earlier, but I had a hard time opening the back door into the house at first. The doorhandle was a twist and pull knob and have I mentioned how I have hooves now, not hands with fingers. As anyone who has watched My Little Pony knows, all the ponies can pick stuff up with their hooves. Obviously, they can pick up a variety of large to very small items and do a variety of tasks with those items. They can pull doors and windows open or closed, hang onto ropes, hammer nails, decorate small cupcakes. They can bake, cook, sew, write, play cards and board games, fight with weapons, and thousands of other things. Sure, the unicorns mainly used their magic but not all the time. The pegusi had their wings that they could also use. But the earth ponies only had their hooves, and they were just as capable as the unicorns and pegusi in manipulating objects and doing fine-tune tasks. My problem was that I had no idea how they did all that, not truly anyways. Brony fans all over have pretty much agreed that it is magic they are using, just invisible to the eye and probably instinctive to ponies from birth. Only I hadn't been a pony until a few hours ago. Until a few hours ago I had hands and fingers, not hooves. So, I ended up getting a crash course into how ponies used their hooves to grasp things and manipulate them.
Don't overthink about what, most importantly how, you are doing something. Just tell yourself what you are going to do and do it. You know how you can adjust your grip on items, how tight or loose you hold something and most importantly you can feel what you are touching? Well, the same thing is possible with hooves. A type of magic is being used and they are acting like invisible fingers. I could very faintly feel that magic shaping itself into something like fingers and grasping the items I wanted to move at the point of contact between my hoof and the item. The trick is to not let that feeling go until you actually want to let go of the item, otherwise your grip will slip. Eventually I managed to grasp the knob, twist it, and pull the door open and closed. I even managed to use the small lock on the door. Now I was trying to grasp and move a flat item, and I couldn't help but gasp when I saw the photo it was protecting. It was an obviously old photo with a mass amount of yellowing around the edges, but the occupants of the photo were still clear to see. It was a family of ponies, My Little Pony ponies, most definitely. A tan unicorn stallion with short (crimson?) red mane and tail with blue eyes (cobalt maybe), with some sort of gray-colored Cutie Mark. I couldn't really see what it was with how he was standing, same with the mare. They had Cutie Marks! The mare was a rose-pink earth pony with a curly (blush?) pink and white mane and tail with fern-green eyes. Her Cutie Mark was a red and purple something. A tan-colored colt, around the Cutie Mark Crusaders age, had a crimson and white mane and tail with green eyes the same color as the mare. No Cutie Mark on him at the time of this photo. Finally, there was a blush-pink unicorn infant (or would toddler be more appropriate?) with the same-colored mane, tail, and eyes as the stallion. They were all standing in front of a white 2-story house with a front porch, a blue door and a charcoal gray roof. The front yard had green grass, red rose bushes planted next to the house and a stone pathway leading from the porch. They were all smiling and looked happy.
I stared at the photo for a while and yes, I do know I have been doing a lot of that today but come on. This whole situation is one crazy thing or revelation after another. I think I am due more than a little slack here right now. Anyways, after a while I shook my head and took another look around the room and then back at the door. I remembered how rundown the backyard, the house, the rooms, and the neighborhood houses had been. I remembered that the front door had been a dirty blue. I remembered how this whole time I hadn't seen, or even heard, a single living person, animal or insect. I looked back at the photo, and I couldn't help but feel a sick feeling in my gut forming and getting bigger the more I went over everything I had observed today. I am obviously in the My Little Pony universe, so why have I not seen other ponies? Why haven't I seen any of the other races or even animals? Why did this house and its contents look like it has been abandoned for a very long time? Why is the whole neighborhood the same way? Is everything everywhere else also like this? What happened to make it this way? All these questions, worries and more, and I had no answers at this moment in time. I turned my attention back to the desk, specifically to the piles of papers only to pause once again.
Everything is covered in dust and moving the photo frame had already made it harder to breath. Moving anything else would just make it worse. Obviously, I had to clean first and going back to what I remembered of the Harry Potter spells, I had just the one. Scourgify, pronounced SKUR-ji-fy, cleans objects. In this case, it would clean dust and dirt. Only I had one problem. How was I going to use Scourgify when I needed my Lumos spell to see? Well, crap! Looking around again I focused on a small desk lamp that was nearly hidden behind a stack of papers. I grabbed it and looked it over. No cord attachment, the lightbulb was intact, and a button was visible in the front. Pressing it nearly caused me to drop it in surprise when a light actually appeared. SCORE! Carefully putting it down, I turned the light source at my horn tip off. To protect the papers and computer on the desk, I started to practice Scourgify on the dust that had settled on the chair and floor. Once I got a good feel for the magic and was getting consistent results, I focused on the desk and papers. Slowly, the desk, computer and papers were cleaned and a worry that had been at the back of my mind was put to rest. I could read some of the contents of the papers, some of which looked like newspapers. A closer look revealed that the words were not in English, but I could still read it. Why? No clue but I wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth. I paused at that thought and realized that technically I could be considered the gift horse in this scenario. Shaking my head, I added that why question to my ever-growing list? Along with why the lamp worked if it hadn't been used for a long time? Shouldn't the batteries be dead?
I focused my attention back onto the newspapers. Just like the photo, the papers were yellowed with age and disrepair. It made it really difficult to read. Only unlike the photo, which was mostly protected in its frame, the newspapers were much worse. They were yellowed all over, some places worse than others and looked brittle. Honestly, I was afraid to touch them in case they crumbled into pieces. Thinking things over, I once again turned to the Harry Potter spells for help. Two spells seemed like they might work for this. First was Reverte, ree-VUHR-tay, which is supposed to return objects to their original positions or states. The second was Reparo, reh-PAH-roh, the more well known of the two spells and should seamlessly repair broken and damaged items. Turning to the nearest pile of papers, I carefully pulled the first two on top away from the pile. I used Reverte on one, only for it to return to the pile, which made me jump. I tried again, only this time I didn't remove it from the pile. Looking it over, it seemed slightly less yellow and not as fragile looking. Going back to the other one, I tried Reparo. This one was a lot better in making the paper look less damaged from age. I cast the spell a second time, which made the paper look brand new. Reading through it revealed that it was an electric bill statement from a 'Thunderbird Electric Company'. It was addressed to an Inspector Gadget at 116 Cherrywood Lane, Canterlot View Village. Canterlot View!? I am definitely in Equestria and close to Canterlot. Alright, location narrowed down! Inspector Gadget!? Snickering to myself, I wondered if this Inspector Gadget was anything like the Inspector Gadget from my home world. Smiling to myself, I turned my attention to repairing the newspapers. Carefully sitting myself into the chair, I pulled the top newspaper (Canterlot View News Tribune it claimed) to me after using Reparo on it. My lingering smile dropped, and I could feel the blood leaving my face when I read the title…. IS WAR WITH ZEBRAS FINALLY COMING TO A CLOSE?
I carefully read through the newspaper, trying to make sense of the title and praying it wasn't what I thought it was. Being a self-proclaimed Brony, I had read many enjoyable and interesting fanfictions of the My Little Pony variety. Recently I had just finished an alternate universe-slash-slight crossover fanfic called Fallout: Equestria. A story starting 200 years after a war between Equestria and the Zebras resulted in a magically nuclear wasteland filled with raiders, slavers, mutated monsters, and many other dangers and horrors. A very nicely written story (in my opinion) with an engaging plot and unique characters, but boy oh boy, it was not a place I wanted to be at. Even if it had left me with more than a few questions at the end. Like what happened to Rainbow Dash? Where was Princess Cadance and Shining Armor? What about Queen Chrysalis and the Changelings? Sombra and the Crystal Empire? Discord? Why was Twilight Sparkle still a unicorn? How many of the original MLP events were altered or never happened for the timeline to be completely diverted to support the Fallout: Equestria timeline instead? These were only a few of my questions and no answers. Sadly, my slow read through the newspaper revealed many, many very concerning words and names. Ministry of Arcane Sciences. Stable-Tec. Ministry of Morale. FunFarm. Party Time Mint-als. Ministry of Wartime Technology. Steel Rangers. Shadowbolts. Ministry of Peace. There was even a mention of a Shattered Hoof Re-Education Facility. Slowly placing the newspaper back down on the desk, my sick feeling had grown into nausea. I had no choice but to face facts. No doubt about it, I am in Fallout: Equestria. Well, FUCK!
I stayed in the chair until my nausea had mostly settled. Looking at the other newspapers, letters and papers, I decided to go through the rest of them tomorrow. Getting out of the chair, I grabbed the lamp and walked back into the bathroom, casting multiple Scourgify and Reparo as I went. Once done with the bathroom and being extra cautious with my new tail, I made my way into the kitchen, checking cabinets and drawers. Once located, I grabbed a cup, a spoon, a can opener, and a regular-sized can of …. apparently fire-roasted corn. Needless to say, everything was hit with Scourgify and/or Reparo more than once. Taking precautions, I set the cup into the sink before trying a new spell. I was thirsty but no way was I going to drink anything coming out of the faucets here. If it wasn't dirty from sitting in the pipes for Celestia knows how long, then it was probably radioactive. Lucky for me, I had a Harry Potter spell that would allow me to create a jet of clean, drinkable water. Aguamenti, AH-gwah-MEN-tee, took a few tries to get right, especially in the aiming department. Opening the can and focusing only on the corn, I cast a Reverte, hoping it would help. Not really sure, but the color did look better so it must have helped. I than forced myself to eat the whole can of corn despite still feeling sick to my stomach. Done with my bodily needs, I made my way back over to the living room and its couch, casting multiple Scourgify and Reparo on the way. Laying down on the newly repaired and cleaned couch, I turned the lamp off and tried my best to fall asleep despite the thoughts and worries going through my mind. Surprisingly, it wasn't that hard, but I contribute that to my spell casting. Scourgify and Reparo had become very tiring to cast towards the end and forcing the last few spells on the couch had caused me to breakout into a sweat. A limitless magic-casting unicorn I was not. Also, I was new at it, so my spell casting endurance wasn't up to snuff yet. Honestly, I was surprised I had managed to cast so many spells before getting tired. As my eyes closed and I started to slip off into sleep, I had one last thought. A hope really that when I woke up, I would be at home on my couch.