Fallout Equestria: Rolling Bones
Chapter 2-2: A Lucky Watcher

Dise, the city that never sleeps. The casinos stayed open twenty four hours a day, ready to serve up sin and debauchery to anypony with enough caps. And if you’re broke, well, there’s always some way to work off a debt.

I still find it odd how some clothes could make a pony look more seductive than walking around naked like the rest of us.

As we walked down the boulevard, I found myself eyeing the buildings we passed. Missing walls and collapsed floors were the norm, but the empty, shadowed windows were what gave me the creeps. Half of the structures were so unsound that nopony was willing to go above the first floor. The rest were put to use by whichever gang owned the block.

When my eyes did come down to ground level, a scowl quickly replaced the frown. Ponies leaned against walls with vacant looks of ecstasy on their faces and empty syringes of Med-X scattered at their hooves. Others sprinted out of alleys, Dash inhalers cast aside in their haste. Drug addicts! I forced myself to keep my eyes forward, reminding myself that it was for Aloe and to put a smile on for her.

As we entered the main square, we were immediately surrounded by all kinds and colors of ponies. Well dressed business ponies milled amongst ponies who clearly hadn’t bathed... ever. Prostitutes pulled ponies down alleys for nothing more than a hoof full of caps. Drug dealers dispensed their wares just outside the doors of the casinos. It took effort to keep my teeth from grinding. The only thing not happening in the streets of Dise was gambling. Anypony caught running a game outside a casino wouldn’t live long enough to spend his ill gotten gains.

“So where to first little filly?” I asked in an attempt to distract myself.

“Hey! I’m older than you and I’m not a filly!” she pouted.

“You’ll always be my little filly,” I said, with the biggest stupid grin I could muster.

“I want to go to The Moon,” chimed Hurdles.

“Ew, The Moon is so... gross.”

“I don’t know if you noticed sis, but they’re all gross.”

“Fine then, TO THE MOON!” she shouted, regaining her earlier excitement.

I don’t like casinos. At first I didn’t like them because of my mother. She’d worked at a casino, though I don’t remember which. The casino was where she first injured her wing. The stallion responsible wasn’t so lucky; apparently, damaging casino ‘property’ was frowned upon. The casino was also where she lost most of her wages and picked up her drug addiction. Where everypony else saw flashing lights, excitement, and the chance to strike it rich; I only saw drug addled prostitutes, drunken fools, and ponies throwing their lives away.

It was more than that, though. The lights, the alcohol, the escorts. It’s all a lie. A fancy costume draped over a rotting corpse. They promise the chance to start again, but nopony leaves with more than they brought. For the few who win it’s worse; a pony who wins thinks they can do it again. So they come back, only this time they aren’t so lucky. That loss doesn’t change anything, they won once, and if it happened once it can happen again. So they come back again, and again, until the casino has taken every last cap in their pockets.

Yet there I was, all because a silly filly wanted to get drunk and burn some caps. What I do for my friends.

We stepped through the wooden outer doors of The Moon and into a spacious atrium. Not three pony lengths ahead were another series of much heavier doors painted black except for, what I assumed to be, the phases of the moon painted in an almost incandescent white. Two large unicorns in suits stood on either side of the only door with a full circle.

“Any weapons must be left at the door,” droned the maroon guard. “They will be returned to you when you leave.”

I looked to the two ponies at my left and shrugged. Hurdles stepped forward first, “We don’t have any.”

Standing between them, he let a detection spell wash over him. Satisfied, they allowed him inside. Aloe was next and nearly pranced through the door after the spell finished. I sighed in final resignation and followed last, shivering as the magic passed over me. The door opened and I stepped into The Moon.

Blessed Luna.

It was like stepping onto the moon. Black paint covered the walls and ceiling. The only real lighting was from the lamps hanging directly above the game tables, casting beams of illumination over the games and nothing else. The rest was provided by either the flashing lights of slot machines, or the strings of small lights that hung from the walls and ceiling. The floor was carpeted in a translucent grey that almost seemed to glow in the meager light. The effect was one that didn’t detract from a pony’s ability to see, while still making the entire building appear pitch black.

A waitress walked by with a tray of drinks balanced on her back. Hurdles reached out with a hoof and scooped one up, drinking it in one go. Aloe levitated one as well, though she only sipped at the potent liquid.

I didn’t drink. Even if I did, I knew that somepony had to stay sober, and it obviously wasn’t going to be Hurdles.

“Come on, Lucky, let’s go dancing!” Aloe shouted over the noise.

Before I could say anything, my hoof rose off the floor in a light blue haze. Aloe began dragging me down one of the aisles between rows of slot machines. We trotted past ponies jamming chips into the slots and pulling levers. Lights flashed whether they won or not, rewarding them for their trouble as it took their money. And they were smiling!

We barged through a set of swinging doors and into a headache production center. My already pained ears folded hard against my skull to save themselves from the music blaring out of the pony sized speakers above the stage. A DJ stood under them, spinning turntables and jamming out to the music in her headphones. Aloe turned to face me with a grin that threatened to split her face in two.

“Uhm.. I think I’ll get something to drink... at the bar...” I screamed over the music, pointing at the bar to my left.

Aloe’s gaze followed my hoof; she pouted for a moment. Her lips moved, but I couldn’t make out what she said. I guessed that it was a plea of some kind and shook my head before stepping back. Dancing wasn’t my thing.

She recovered with gusto and grab Hurdles’ leg to drag him to the wooden dance floor that took up most of the room. I watched for a few moments as he stumbled after the yellow mare and allowed myself a small grin; at least they would have a good time tonight.

I made my way to the bar along the side wall and pulled myself up into one of the stools. Ordering a regular apple cider, I turned to watch the dance floor. Hurdles and Aloe were just joining in the press of bodies moving erratically to the ‘music’.

“Well, hello, fly boy. Don’t get too many pegasi around here.”

I grunted in reply to the stranger and kept watching Hurdles try to dance with Aloe. It was almost amusing. If it had been any later in the night I might have thought it was just the alcohol, but as it was, Hurdles probably just couldn’t dance to save his life.

“Those two your friends?” I continued my tactic of ignoring the mare, hoping she would take the hint. “Well they seem to know what to do when you come to The Moon. So, why aren’t you out there having fun with them?”

I finally turned to the mare who was talking at me, intent on telling her off in the cleverest way I could think of. “I...” I froze, unable to process the amount of hot, glowing, pink sitting beside me.

Her eyes widened as they came back up from staring at my haunches, “A blank flank? Oh dear, I understand. Come with Candy, I know just how to make you forget your troubles.” With a hoof wrapped around my neck she dragged me away from the bar and through a side door before I could so much as yelp in shock.

The music disappeared as the sound proof door swung closed. Now, if only somepony would stop ringing that infernal bell.

We were standing in a room filled with a variety of different tables that all shared the same green felt covering. ‘Candy’ quickly pulled me over to the nearest table, depositing me directly across from a pony wearing an odd green brim on his brow.

“This colt needs some fun. Give him a hundred chips on my tab will ya, Turner.” She turned back to me as the dealer placed a pile of colored clay chips on the table in front of me. “You’re here to have fun, hon. So, have some fun.”

I looked down at the stack of pink chips now sitting in front of me, then back at Candy. I paused, letting my eyes reprocess the pink. Coming up with a snarky way to get rid of her, my response never made it out; apparently I am a sucker for pouty lips. I sighed, at least it wasn’t my money.

I turned my attention to the table in front of me. Most of the table seemed to be covered in a chart of numbers. Listed from one to thirty six, each number was on a red or black dot. Besides those, there were boxes labeled ‘Odds’, ‘Evens’, 1 - 12’, ‘25 - 36’, and zero and double zero. On the far left side of the table was a fancy looking wheel and axle. I had no idea what to do. A quick glance at the other ponies sitting around me didn’t offer any help.

Separating the stack into ten piles, I pushed them randomly on to different boxes without really paying much attention. The last ten chips I placed on seven. Stupid, I know, but you have to play your numbers, right? The dealer, Candy, and the other ponies all looked at me like I was an idiot. Honestly, I felt like one. I had never gambled before in my life, and I didn’t understand this game at all.

The dealer reached towards the wheel at the left side of the table. The dark brown wood was polished to a shine under the spotlight hanging over head. The axle stuck a good two hooves into the air with four short fretts tipped with brass knobs at the top. Black and red squares were painted around the wide base with large numbers printed on them. Two squares, however, were green, one with a zero and the other with two zeros. The dealer’s hoof hit one of the four spokes, sending the wheel spinning. With the wheel spinning the dealer pressed a button. A flurry of activity erupted from the other ponies at the table as a white ball began to spin and bounce counter to the wheel. Piles of chips were pushed all over the board as the players began to place their bets, and I realized my mistake.

The ball sped around the wheel with every eye locked on it. The wheel slowed, the ball began to descend from the top rim as it lost momentum. It hit the first space and bounced once, twice, thrice, and stopped. The wheel slowed. Seven.

“Hey, look at you,” Candy said, patting my withers. “You must be lucky.”

“Yes, I am.”

She looked at me dumbly, not getting the joke.

The dealer collected all the losing bets before pushing a small pile of chips towards me. “Your winnings, sir.”

I looked at the stacks and then back at the dealer, “Really? But that’s… that’s a lot.”

“Yes, sir.”

“The odds on single numbers are thirty-five to one, hon.”

“That’s three hundred sixty chips? I just won three hundred sixty chips?” I took a breath to steady myself before reaching for my chips.

A pink hoof stopped me, “Minus my cut. It was my seed money after all.”

All told I came away from a single spin of roulette with a hundred free chips.

I immediately stepped away from the table. I’m not the smartest pony, but even I know not to press my luck. If I did the same thing again I could be out of chips on a single spin. As I backed away, a pink hoof wrapped around my neck and Candy began dragging me through the crowd of ponies to the another table despite my protests. She was stronger than she looked.

The first place Candy brought me was a blackjack table. Candy let me watch a few rounds play before shoving me up to the table and forcing me to take a seat. She stood a pace back, her muzzle hovering next to my ear as she draped herself over my back and rested her head on my wither.

No stranger to the affections of other ponies, I still had to focus elsewhere to keep my body from responding to her close presence, especially when she started petting my wings.

I placed five chips on the table in front of me and the dealer began passing out the cards. One faced down and one faced up. The Queen of Spades and, I tilted the card up with my wing, the Ace of Spades.

“Twenty one!” Candy said, flipping the card over with her magic.

“Winner winner, pumpkin dinner,” the dealer said, not nearly as excited.

The cards favored me, heavily. I didn’t win every round, but I won enough. After reaching a thousand chips I began to get nervous. Two rather large earth ponies were paying a little too much attention to me as I collected winnings after winnings. I decided I’d had enough blackjack for the day.

Collecting my winnings, I started to turn away. Candy stopped me and nodded toward the dealer. I shrugged in confusion and she let out an exasperated sigh. Grabbing about fifty caps worth of chips in her magic, she dropped passed them to the dealer.

As was the theme for the evening, Candy began shoving me to the next table before I could so much as attempt to protest. She escorted me, bodily, to the next table: craps.

Candy tried to explain the rules for the dice game, but I more or less ignored her. When she decided that I understood enough to play she pushed me up to the bowl of a table and resumed her own position, her moist breath playing on my cheek.

The dealer pushed the dice toward me, and I picked them up. My hoof tingled where it touched the glossy red cubes. I don’t think I could ever explain it properly. It was like a finding something I had lost a long time ago. I rubbed them between my hooves feeling their texture and pips on my frogs.

Every eye was focused on me, and putting a hundred chips on Pass, I tossed the dice.

Eleven. Win.

Seven. Win.

Ten. Ten. Win.

Four. Seven. Loss.

Seven. Win. Roll after roll the dice fell. Roll after roll I won. I lost some sure, but not nearly as much as I won.

I was about to roll the dice again when Candy nipped my ear. I jerked away and glared at her. She wore the stupidest grin on her face and pointed down toward my flank.

I looked down.

A vice tightened its grip on my head. I lapped at the cotton sensation in my mouth and rolled over.

WHAM!

I gripped my face, whining pathetically. Damn floors need to learn to be softer. I tried, and failed, to open my eyes. Why did my head hurt so much? Reaching up to the bed I started blindly trying to pull myself back in.

WHAM!

I cursed and flailed at the weight on my chest. Somepony landed on top of me knocking the wind from my lungs. Legs wrapped themselves around me and a head nuzzle against my cheek.

“Mmmmm, I don’t think I can go again so soon, hon.”

‘Oh, that’s nice, can you get off of... wait what?’

I jumped to my hooves, throwing the other pony to the floor. That was a terrible idea. The world spun, all the blood fleeing my head. I tilted to the right, my hooves struggling to stay under me. Left begame up, up became down, and everything else was backward until I hit a wall. Dust and dirt fell from the ceiling making me sneeze. Using the wall as support, I steadied myself, and brought one hoof to shade my eyes as I tried to open them again.

Cringing against the burning light, it took me a few tries to keep my eyes open. Just like the rest of the casino, the walls were painted black; even the windows were painted over, though daylight was trying to push its way through cracks in the paint. The carpet under me might have been clean, but the bits of fluff that came up at each step left my hooves feeling dirty. Paint flakes rubbed into my side from the wall as I tried to gain my balance.

With a groan I reached up a wing to remove the vice pressing against the sides of my head, only to rub at my naked temple.

“Wh-what happened last night?” My mouth felt dryer than the desert.

“Hmmmm, that hurts my pride, hon.”

That insufferable pink mare was laying on the floor where I’d deposited her, wrapping the bed sheets around herself. She was a complete mess. And pink, so very pink it hurt. I rubbed my eyes and blinked. Pink mane, pink tail, pink coat, and a barely visible pink lollipop Cutie Mark. When I finally tore my eyes away everything in the room took on a greenish tint.

I tried to focus on what I could remember. Bar, roulette, blackjack, craps, Cutie Mark... Cutie Mark! I twisted around much too fast and my vision swam, but there it was. I had my Cutie Mark! My rump hit the floor.

Two red dice! DICE! It was official, the world hated me. I glared at the image on my flank. Seven white pips stared back, mocking me. This had to be a joke. I scrubbed at them with my wings.

“ARG!” Oh, my head!

Dragging myself back across the floor, I poked Candy in the stomach. She grunted. I poked her again, harder. She mumbled something and swatted at my hoof. I snorted in frustration. When I put my muzzle to her ear. She giggled a little.

“WAKE UP!”

She shot up gripping her ear in a hoof, and I grabbed my entire head as the pounding returned in force. I was oh for three on smart choices and the day was only getting started. Great. Once the pounding began to subside, I looked up to see her glaring at me through bloodshot eyes.

“Damn it, Lucky, what?”

“What happened last night? The last thing I remember is getting my Cutie Mark.”

She looked at me dumbly. “Really?”

When I nodded a smile began to creep across her lips. As it spread she began to shake. A hoof went to her lips to stifle a laugh. That only lasted a second before she fell over in a fit of laughter despite the pain it caused both of us.

I just watched as she slowly brought herself under control wiping tears from her eyes.

“That bad?”

I tried to hide behind my hooves as she regaled me with my drunken adventures from the night before. Apparently, after seeing my Cutie Mark, I decide it would be a good idea to start drinking to celebrate. After that I decided that everypony needed to know, so I got on stage and once up there, instead of saying my peace, I started to entertain the crowd with a song... and dance. Hurdles managed to drag me off before I started my encore. The next few hours consisted of gambling, drinking and...

“I did not!”

“Oh yes, yes you did. Right there, in front of everypony. A big wet drunken kiss, lasted a good minute, I timed it. Had it been any other stallion you would’ve been nothing but a smear on the carpet. Then I dragged you up here and well, you really know how to show a mare a good time.” She winked.

“How much did I drink?”

“Two whiskies.”

“Two bottles of whisky!”

“No, two shots. Sorry, hon, but you're a bonafide light weight.”

“Oh Goddesses.” I wrapped my legs around my stomach as a wave of nausea washed over me. “I need to go home.”

“Are you sure, hon?” Her hoof smoothed my mane. “We could pick up where we left off last night.”

I pushed her hoof away and stood. The dizziness almost dropped me again, but I managed to stay up. “No. I-I need to go.”

I looked around the room and spotted my saddlebags sitting on the floor at the hoof of the bed. Unsteadily, I made my way over and started to strap them on. ‘Okay, find Aloe and Hurdles and, if necessary, drag them out. Then to home and bed.’ My stomach rumbled, ‘Okay, food first, bed second.’

“Before you go, can I ask one question?”

I sighed and leaned against the door frame. “What?”

“What’s so important about that doll?”

I touched the figurine still hanging around my neck. “It was a gift, from somepony I lost a long time ago.”

With that, I stepped into the hallway, leaving the pink unicorn to do whatever she was going to do. Like everything else in this Godess forsaken place, the walls were black and the floor was white with strings of lights hanging loosely from the ceiling.

I looked left. I looked right. Tartarus take this place.

I turned to the right and began trotting.

I turned around, retracing my steps until I found the stairs down. The steps led to the bar and dance floor from the night before, now with significantly fewer ponies and more sedated music playing. Apparently they didn’t maintain a constant level of activity.

“Lucky?”

I faced the soft voice, a smile spreading on my lips. “Aloe, oh good. Are you ready to leave?” The small yellow unicorn nodded, the large red pony next to her barely seemed to be able to stand. “Come on you two, it’s time to go home.”

The doors gave way to the still populated lobby. Everything seemed to be the same as when we arrived. Night and day had no meaning in the darkness of The Moon. The bells and lights of the slot machines still rang and flashed the same as they had the night before. The casinos never slept.

The three of us stopped at the change counter. Rather, I stepped up to the change counter, Aloe and Hurdles stayed a few paces back. Iron bars separated me from the unicorn on the other side. I passed my bag of chips through the slot and waited for her to count out my caps.

“Are those two with you?” she asked, pointing to my friends.

I glanced back for a moment, “Yes, is that a problem?”

Without another word she slid a slip of paper to me.

Holding it up I scanned the bill.

“They spent HOW MUCH?!” I yelled much too loudly, causing both my friends and myself to cringe.

The cashier nodded. I looked at it, then at my ‘friends’ and ended on the bag of chips which was already out of reach. I sighed in resignation, knowing that I couldn’t just leave them to pay their own way. At least they enjoyed themselves.

“Is that enough?” I asked.

She emptied the bag into some kind of sorting and counting machine. It took a little bit of time for it to finish and spit out a receipt. The cashier scanned the slip of paper, looked at the bill, then bent down and pulled out a small bag. She pushed this new bag under the bars to me. I looked into the small sack and chuckled lightly. One hundred caps. Irony. I dropped the bag of caps into my saddle bags.

The trip back was slow and painful. The light from the sky didn’t help my hangover at all. Fortunately, none of us seemed to be up to talking, too busy regretting our choices. I don’t know how much they remembered about last night, but I was sure that I didn’t want to remember any of what I had been told. I can’t imagine they were any better off. When we finally got to the compound the guards let us in without word or question, though not without a little snickering and some outright laughter.

Once inside we each went our separate ways. None of us wanted to have to think about the night we had just had. I don’t know where they went, but I went straight to the mess tent. I took as much food and water as they would let me, which was not nearly enough. After that I went to my tent, threw my saddlebags on the floor, flipped my still knocked over bed upright, and flopped down on the mattress to try and sleep away the rest of my hangover.

That worked about as well as could be expected. When I finally gave up I sat on the edge of my bed holding my head in my hooves. I happened to look up to see something odd on the ground next to my saddlebags. Curiosity got the better of me, I half stepped, half fell, over to look at it. It seemed like an odd piece of armour at first, a shin guard maybe. I picked it up in my hooves and turned it over. The other side housed a glass plate, three orange buttons, and a dial.

“Lucky! I’m surprised you’re awake!”

I cringed back from the loud voice stabbing into my brain. Gray stood at the entrance to my tent wearing a smile that split her face in two. Her smile turned from mirth to pity as she walked over and pulled me into a hug.

“Oh, you poor stallion, you,” she whispered softly. “Still got a little hangover?”

“Uh hu.”

“That’s what you get for celebrating without me.” She gasped. “And getting your Cutie Mark and not even telling me.” She chided and pulled back, holding me at legs length, “Oh, my little Lucky, all grown up. It seems like just yesterday you were knee high to a Molerat.” I stared at the ground as my cheeks reddened. I could talk to any other mare just fine, but whenever Gray was around my brain seemed to seize up. “What’s that? Is that a... Lucky, where did you get that?” she asked, pointing at the shin guard.

“I-I’m not sure,” I stuttered still feeling like a foal. “It was in my bags. I must‘ve picked it up sometime last night, but I don’t remember.”

“Do you even know what that is?” I shook my head, turning it over in my hooves. “It’s a Pipbuck. I’ve only ever seen one before.”

“So, what is it?”

“I’m not sure... She never told me, a computer of some kind. Are you going to put it on?”

“I guess.” I shrugged.

Putting the screen half on top of my left leg I held it down with my muzzle and pushed the bottom half up with my other hoof. The two halves came together with a definitive ‘Click’. It hissed slightly as it tightened onto my leg.

That’s where things got weird. I gasped as I felt a hundred little pin pricks pierce my skin. A cold sensation, not unlike an I.V. drip, ran up my leg and through the rest of my body. It hit my eyes and everything went dark. When It came back my vision was filled with amber bars and lines. Words started to type out across my vision.

Congratulations on receiving your Pipbuck 3000 series by Stable-Tec. For any inquiries about the functions for your new Pipbuck please reference your owner's manual.

I started to hyperventilate and Nurse Gray took my head in her hooves. “Lucky? Lucky are you okay?” She held my head, forcing me to look into her eyes. “Calm down, Lucky, deep breaths.” I closed my eyes and took a few calming breaths. My heart rate slowly dropped back to normal and I opened my eyes again. The images still floated in my vision, and I reached out my hoof to swipe them away to no avail. Just at the bottom center of my sight was a compass, to the left of that a long cluster of bars that read GH, and to the right a similar cluster that read SP. I blinked to try and clear my vision. When my eyes were closed it all went away, but it came right back as I reopened them. I looked up at the mare holding my head and ‘Nurse Gray’ popped up just above the compass. She smiled at me. “Lucky?”

I managed a weak smile before I slumped forward.

*************************
Footnote:
Prologue Progress: 100%

Level 1 Achieved

Character Info:
Name: Lucky Sevens
Race: Pegasus
Abilities:
1. Cloud Manipulation: Pegasi are all born with the ability walk on and manipulate ‘cloud stuff’.
2. Flight: Pegasi with two working wings who are unencumbered are able to fly at the same speed at which they walk.

General Description: Your fur is the same green color as a gaming table. Your mane and tail are mostly white with red stripes running through them. You aren’t as tough as some ponies, but you make up for it by being more likeable.

Stable-Tec Vig-O-Matic resutls:
S: 5
P: 5
E: 4
C: 6
I: 5
A: 5
L: 10

Tagged Skills:
Survival, Speech, Medicine

Cutie Mark: Pair of red casino dice showing four and three pips

Traits:
Jack of All /Master of None: Aren’t you something? You can do anything you put your mind to with ease. (Each skill point you spend adds two points to a skill). Your ability to advance seems to level off after a while (Once a skill reaches 60 you will gain one for one). And the further you advance the harder things become (After a skill reaches 80 each skill point you spend on it only adds .5 to the skill). Even as you struggle to get better you know you are reaching for a glass ceiling (No skill can be raised above 95).

D.A.R.E.: Personal experiences and a family history have taught you to hate drugs. You are more susceptible to addiction and can even become addicted to things like healing potions and Rad-X. Because of this you would rather suffer through broken bones than take any drugs (hope you like scars). On the flip side your body lacks any resistance to these chemicals so when you do take them their effects are 20% more potent and last 20% longer.

Special Equipment:
1. Ministry Mare Statuette: Rainbow Dash: You have an Awesome Rainbow Dash Ministry Mare Doll. You don’t know what it actually does, but you definitely feel 20% cooler just carrying it around.

2. PipBuck 3k series: Congratulations on your brand new PipBuck. Now if only you knew how to use it.

Author's Notes:

Special thanks to my editors and pre-readers: Doomande and Amenthyst Wind