Fate Manipulation in PH

[[[ CONTEXT, THE DEALER IN THIS SCENE IS ECHO, NOT THE ONE WITH THE FATE POWERS ]]]



He sighed and shook his head with a sad little smile. “That was a good night. I actually felt like I had friends for the first time ever. There were games and rides and kids running around and... it just felt like the war wasn’t happening. Everyone was having a wonderful time...” He shook his head again as he lowered it. “Then Twist saw that damned fortune teller...”

“Fortune teller?” I asked with a frown.

“An old zebra had a tent. Strange old guy. Had tattoos all over his face. His tent had bizarre, leering masks and creepy herbs and specimens in bottles. The kind of zebra that would have been snapped up by the M.o.M. had he been around a few years later. Maybe he was. Asked us if we wanted to know our fate.” He snorted and shook his head. “Of course... we did.”

He sighed and looked mournfully at me. “He said we’d all die ignoble deaths on the muddy battlefield within a year.”

I winced. “Ouch.”

“Needless to say, none of us liked that. But then the old codger asked us if we wanted to change our fate. He said there was a way for all of us to be heroes. The greatest heroes in the whole war, so long as we were true to each other. So long as we never... ever... broke fellowship with each other.” He hissed slowly through his teeth. “What can I say? Friendship... fame... heroism...”

“The catch?” I asked with a sympathetic smile.

He shook his head and looked at me. “The first to break the fellowship would die... and they would receive the most merciful death at that. The rest of us would wish we’d been the first to break, if we were not true to each other.”

“And you accepted.” How could they not?

“We did. Partly out of pride and partly out of a wish to laugh at the zebra’s predictions. But then he got out this book. This... this horrible, black book. And suddenly it wasn’t so funny. He called on the stars to change our fates, and curse us if one was false to the others. There was a hum and... green spiraling things... things an earth pony can’t really explain.” He shook his head. “When the light show ended, the zebra was gone. The tent was completely bare save for a few empty crates.”

He sighed once more and then gave a little smile. “What was funny was... it worked. The next day, we were all assigned to a special combined task force. Experimental... three pony kinds working as a special squad. And it was... amazing,” he finished with a wistful look. “We were amazing. We... we did things that nopony thought was possible. Things we didn’t think possible. And there was fame and glory. Most of us never talked about that night, but I thought about it. We were going to be friends. Loyal and true forever and ever...

“Then Stonewing fell in battle and we wondered... oh never out loud... but there were looks. Questions. Had he been untrue? Had he broken the fellowship?” He sighed as he dropped his head. “We didn’t know that he was being held in a hospital in critical condition. Some paperwork error. And then...” He raised his eyes to mine. “Then Big Macintosh said he’d had enough. He said he’d met a mare and it was time to settle down. He’d figured he’d done his share for Equestria, and didn’t believe in zebra curses. He wanted to raise a family. Said family was the most important thing of all. He’d stay for one last critical mission... protecting Princess Celestia at a peace summit. He figured that once the meeting was done, there wouldn’t be need for Marauders.”

“Then he died,” I said quietly.

“Oh, not just a death!” Dealer snapped, “A hero’s death. Princess Luna turned it into a rallying cry... another escalation in the war. A sign we had to fight harder -- do better -- to defeat our foes. The next day, Psalm disappears. A few weeks later Doof rapes Twist. A month later Applesnack gets reassigned to babysit zebras. A few months after that, Jetstream snaps. Then Vanity walks away. Twist takes the enemy as her lover. And me... I was left all alone. Picked up by Goldenblood out of... I don’t know... pity, I suppose.”

I thought of that moment out on Star Point. Before I’d found out about Gardens and taint and... everything. Had my fate been changed there? Had I been supposed to die with a bullet through my head beside Marigold’s bones? Cursed to become the thing I was now? It was a chilling thought.

“I’m sorry. I just... don’t know what to say. Stars and zebra curses... Sekashi said the stars were powerful, fickle, and dangerous. But I don’t know if they can actually do things like that,” I muttered, looking at the stars on the beams overhead.

“I can’t imagine they do. Every colt and filly wished on stars back when you could see them. I did,” he said softly, hanging his head a little. He looked so glum that I wished I could give him a hug.

Instead, I did the next best thing. “So... tell me more about the adventures of Smiling Jack.” A small smile curled in the corner of his mouth.

Fallout Equestria: Project Horizons: Chapter 53 "Upgrades"
https://www.fimfiction.net/story/208056/53/fallout-equestria-project-horizons/chapter-53-upgrades