Fallout: Equestria, Taming The Outside World

Chapters

Prologue
The Broken Rule, Leaving The Tribe
Monsters In Hayditch, Moving Forward
New Town, New Friends
Old Friends, Old Problems
On The Road
Intro

Prologue

The Equestrian Wasteland, a paradise of murder and rape. The once peaceful race of Ponies in Equestria, have become ruthless, bloodthirsty murderers. Here is the wasteland, there are no hero’s, and there is no hope. There is only death and destruction.

After the bombs began falling, the Pegasi sealed up the clouds in an attempt to preserve their society in the sky. But some did not want to stay, some refused to stay up there, many Pegasi began to leave. They were branded as traitors and known as Dashites, after the element of harmony, Rainbow Dash.

Each Pegasi had everything they could need in the clouds, a perfect society as the superiors saw it. But even then it wasn't enough, for some, they thought it was unfair that the earth ponies had to suffer below them while they were safe in the clouds.

And then on the grounds of the wasteland you have a small settlement of tribal ponies, somewhat shielded from the rest of the horrors the wasteland throws out. The Shrouded Clan, a xenophobic tribe who’s only goal was keeping itself alive and shielded.

Set up deep in the McIntosh Hills, this tribe could stay away from the rest of the wasteland, and even grow enough of their own crops to survive. They chose not to take part in the petty squabbles happening in the world around them. It would seem they were not unlike the Pegasi.

Each tribal pony was trained in the art of stealth and assassination, should the need ever arise to fight. Hoof-to-Hoof combat and bladed weapon training was mandatory for all ponies to learn. The stallions would travel from the camps in search of herbs they needed, while the mares would cook and grow. But the tribe never left the McIntosh Hills, it was forbidden by the elders to even contact the outside world. For they believed it would taint their society.

But one young earth pony stallion didn't think it would last forever, he didn't believe they should stay. He never believed in the xenophobic ways, believing that eventually they would run out of food and the tribe would starve, that they would need to contact outside traders eventually. He wanted to leave the tribe. He wanted to explore the wasteland as his right of passage. And finally get his cutie mark.

He had pleaded with the elders time and time again to let him leave the tribe and explore the wasteland, but he knew the only way he would be able to leave the tribe would be to break one of the Master Laws and never return.

The Master Laws were made by the Elders are a guideline to keep the tribe in check. They were as followed:

Rule 1: Never contact the outside world.

Rule 2: Never leave the tribal land for any reason.

Rule 3: Never kill another of the tribe.

Rule 4: Never bring anything tainted into the tribe.

Rule 5: Always obey the elders, for their word is the law.

Many of these rules were almost the same, the stallion hated them. He knew he could break any of them with ease; his training surpassed many of the others, even giving him the rank of elite even though he was young. But he couldn’t bring himself to break any of them, he was afraid to lose his tribe, his friends and family. His mother and father would never look at him the same should he tell them he was even thinking about breaking a law.

They all believed the laws so blindly, they all followed the elders in perfect sync. It almost made the young stallion sick, he knew he was different. He knew he should just follow the traditions, work until he gained his right of passage, marry a mare of the elders choosing, have a few foals and work until he passed.

But he hated the thought of following where everyone else had already been. To him, he may as well not even have a brain, since free thought was almost not allowed anyway.

Unbeknownst to the Elders, this stallion had already been conversing with a few of the traveling merchants that came close to the hills; he would sneak out of the tribe and talk with them. Though he knew this would surely get him severely punished if anypony found out. But he kept it a secret, he couldn't buy anything, but he loved to look at the strange things they had, blades with moving parts, hooves made of brass or glowing with a strange blue crackling energy.

How he wanted to invite the caravan’s in for the Elders to meet, to show them that the wasteland wasn't so bad. But he was afraid how the tribe would react, not only to strange caravans but to him as well. For if he anyone found out he had even talked to them, he would be thought to be a traitor, and punished, or worse. Thrown from the tribe, but then again, the stallion couldn't help but think maybe it was better to be thrown from the tribe. Maybe if, when they banished him, he could find evidence of the wasteland not being bad and that they needed to let the tribe explore for better chances of survival they would let him back in the tribe. Though even that was unlikely…

And yet, at the same time, there was a Pegasus at that very moment, fighting for her escape from the clouds, trying to get away from her own xenophobic form of tribe. For she wanted to explore the wasteland as well, she didn't believe it was fair that the earth ponies suffered below while the Pegasi were safe in the clouds. She believed she could make a difference with her training and intellect, maybe change the whole wasteland.

And as the Pegasus mare pierced through the clouds and plummeted towards the earth, she could swear she saw a stallion staring up at her from the hills…

Author's Note

The Prologue, tell me what you think.

The Broken Rule, Leaving The Tribe

I stared to the sky, seemingly seeing something the other ponies were not. I wasn’t even sure my pony eyes were seeing, the wind seemed to pick up and rain began to streak my eyes.

I squinted hard into the dark clouds above; it had started raining so suddenly, out of nowhere! But then again, we did need it.

There was a bright green spot coming from the clouds and a flash of lighting shoot by it. What was going on up there?

More lighting, three more bolts, the last seemed to hit the dot and it began falling closer and closer to the earth.

It was… a pony! I yelled for someone to get the Elders, there was a pony falling from the sky!

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I don’t remember entirely what happened, but I do remember a pair of scorched wings, a bright green body, and a pair of terrified ruby eyes staring into mine. And lastly, I remember the ground no longer being at my hooves and an agonizing pain shooting through my body.

“Hold him steady!” The voice sounded close and was speaking in the native tongue as a pair of hooves held me down. I thrashed and tried my best not to scream.

My hoof connected with somepony and they left the ground, I pushed off the table and hit the floor in full gallop.

I heard voices screaming behind me, but they were fading with my speed.

Mud splashed from my hooves into my coat, pain shot through my body with each step. But I needed to get there, I had to know what happened, and if what I saw was right. Did somepony really fall from the sky?

My hooves skidded across the wet ground until I came to a halt in front of the small crater. There it laid… covered in mud and injuries

My hooves shook and threatened to buckle as I neared the bright green body, I was right, it was a pony. But one unlike I’d ever seen before, she was a mare alright, but she had wings, bright green that matched her coat, and a tattered purple mane.

I placed a hoof upon her, not even sure if she was real…

Her eyes fluttered open and she lashed at me with a wing! My training kicked in an instant and I blocked and pinned her. And that’s when I got a good look at her wing; it was slightly charred, along with a few spots of her body.

“H-help…” she murmured, struggling to keep her eyes open. Something in her eyes, something desperate, made me want to help her.

I bit down on her mane and hoisted her onto my back. She was surprisingly lightweight, I galloped towards The Healer, if anyone could help this pony it was her.

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“Hold!” I hear an older pony’s voice and my hooves stopped in place. One of the Elders… Was talking to me…

He pointed a hoof to her, “Outsider, leave outside” My eye twitched at the heartless remark. My hooves ached to keep running, but to deliberately disobey an Elder… that was hard even for me.

With a quick glance at the pony upon my back I made my choice.

“Outsider, needs help” With those words two of the elite guards stepped up.

The Elder’s voice was much more forceful now, “Outsider. Leave Outside!” My eye twitched again and I turned to take here away.

“Outsider” I whispered on the verge of tears, “I help!” With three swift bucks I made both the elites and elder sleep.

“Apologies” I muttered, to the elder and the pony on my back, and then I continued my short gallop to the healer.

Most ponies would be inside; it would take some time before they realized anypony was missing.

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The healer stared, seemingly unsurprised and motioned to the blanket. I helped her make medicine to heal the ponies broken wings, her eyes would flutter open now and again but then go back shut.

“Is she going to be ok?” I spoke using more words than with the elder. Only because I needed to, the elders were ponies of few words, as was I. The healer however, didn’t speak at all, we knew she could understand our native tongue, but she would not speak back, she simply nodded.

The healing potions were already working, her wings were healing and her fur and feathers were growing back from where they had been scorched.

The healer pointed to the winged pony then to the sky, meaning that she came from there. Then she pointed at the pony again, then me and pointed west. Which I knew as well as anyone, was the forbidden land. The only path to the west leads out of the village, for exiles that have to leave the tribe. She knew as well as I did that after what I have done. I would have to leave the tribe, should they not choose try to execute me instead for attacking an elder. I would have to leave as soon as the winged pony got better. I could no longer stay, as soon as the winged pony was ready to move we would travel.

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I gathered my things, the few that I had. My healing herbs, all my food rations, my tribal clothing and lastly, my necklace.

I stared at it for a long time, such a simple thing. But it was the symbol of my place in the tribe. We all made them as foals, each special to ourselves. Mine was three types of mane weaved together, my mothers and fathers braided with my own, attached to a small bone charm I had whittled.

I sighed deeply and stuffed it into my saddlebag; there was no reason in wearing it. After today I would no longer be a part of the tribe, I didn’t even think of how many mother and father would react. They would disown me no doubt; deny that I was their child.

Tears began to form in my eyes, but I had no time to cry, only time to move now.

I heard hoof steps outside my tent, even in the rain I could hear quite well, and a flash of lighting confirmed my suspicious.

I stepped back further into the shadows and tightened my foreleg muscles.

“Don’t attack me; it’s the mare you saved, the one who came from the clouds”

I tentatively stepped from the darkness and looked her in the eyes; she scraped at the dirt beneath her hoof sheepishly.

“I uh… thanks for saving me… the uh, healing mare told me that you’re going to have to leave now… I feel terrible about it and uh, if uh… I need someone who knows the land so… if you wanna, you know, be my guide I’d be greatly appreciative, and I can protect you”

She twitched her head towards some weird looking long metal things attached to her sides. I didn’t speak, part of me hated her for crashing here, and part of me was excited to finally be leaving my tribe for the wasteland, even if it was under such grave circumstances.

“Do you speak?” she stared at me, as I threw my saddlebags on.

I pointed to her legs and then wings and looked at her expectantly.

“It’ll take you some time to be able to fly again, but I should be fine with some time and rest… Which way?”

I pushed past her out my tent and pointed west.

It was a long sorrow filled walk through the village, only a few ponies saw us. All had looks of hate and betrayal on their faces, the healer was the only one who smiled at me. After all, she was the only one of us who wasn’t born in the tribe. She was a zebra, the only one here. Rumors were that she had come to the village badly injured, and one of the oldest elder ponies helped her, but only because her medical skills far surpassed our own.

I passed the border of the village, officially leaving the tribe… I looked back at everything I was leaving behind, all for this one, strange winged pony. Then with a turn of my head, I broke into full gallop, leaving my village behind forever, going straight into the unknown, unforgiving wasteland.

Footnote: Level Up.
New Perk: Hunter - In combat you deal 75% more critical damage against animals and mutated animals.

Monsters In Hayditch, Moving Forward

I knew my way out of the village, but this is the farthest I’d been outside of it, I didn’t know where to go from here. I barely had any idea where I was now!

The walk was long and desolate, the air was humid and muggy, neither of us spoke a word, I was angered at her; it was because of her I had to leave, go somewhere I had no idea about.

“My name is Raining Waterfall, what’s yours?”

I ignored her, all my regrets and fears were flooding to me at once, but I stopped to take a deep breath and calmed down.

The winged pony seemed to sense my anger and spoke softly: “You didn’t have to come with me you know; you didn’t even have to help me, I coulda went my own way and been out of your mane”

I stopped in my tracks and turned to face her and began screaming in my native tongue.

“You crashed into tribe, you tainted hallowed ground, do you know what my tribe does to outsiders?!”

I was surprised by how many words I was using, as I said, normally my speaking was kept to a minimum.

My anger was getting to me, even though it wasn’t her fault. She stayed silent and stared at me; I had forgotten she didn’t know my language.

I struggled to find words she understood “Outsiders… Not welcome in tribe… cast into river, after death”

She looked just a little surprised, though that wasn’t to be unexpected; I had heard from the caravans that the outside wasteland was even more brutal than that. I was hoping they were wrong.

We walked for a long way, not speaking to one another, only stopping every so often to dodge a radscorpion or two.

“Village near, rest?” I finally spoke softly. The words sounded… unusual, coming from me. I could hear the tribal accent still within my voice, even though it wasn’t my language.

She looked at a green glowing thing on her fore hoof “There’s a small settlement to the north, called Hayditch. Should be ponies that are fairly friendly there”

“Fairly?” I didn’t understand the concept of ‘fairly’ friendly.

She hit a few buttons and then it went dark. “The town has been unresponsive to the trade caravans that tried to go there, it coulda have been overrun by raiders, or they could have moved on, perhaps they all killed each other”

That I did not like, but it was our only option so we moved north.

I eyed the metal pieces on her sides disdainfully, they looked quite heavy, and my training taught speed and stealth. You couldn’t move fast with something like that. “Weapons?”

“Yes, it’s called a battle saddle, I take it you’ve never seen one? It’s my weapon, don’t touch”

I raised my hooves and took a few jabs in the air then thumped my chest proudly “My weapons, you don’t touch” She smirked.

We walked for a while more; she occasionally stretched her wings out with a wince. Finally she must have gotten the courage to talk to me more.

“You speak in a language very similar to Zebra, so how is it you know my language?”

I stopped and smiled without humor. “Taught to understand outside language, other tribe and not, in case of war. Taught to read and write to”

She nodded slowly, “So you can understand my language, but you can’t speak it that well?” I gave her a single nod back, refusing to comment more.

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The town sure looked deserted as we neared it; there was nopony in site, friendly or otherwise.

“Keep your eyes open” She pointed ahead and I nodded.

I crouched and moved, looking at buildings and smelling the stench of blood in the air. It was quiet, very quiet… until…

I saw a colt take off towards us at high speeds and the winged mare immediately pointed the metal tubes down at him.

“Hold!” I screamed at her, jumping in the path of her battle saddle.

The foal fell to the ground sobbing at my hooves.

“THEY’RE GONNA GET ME!!!” he shrieked.

“They?” the mare said from behind me.

He turned to look behind him and screamed in absolute terror, quickly followed by my companions very graphic cursing and loud booming noises.

“Fucking shit eating Luna-damned assholes!” I saw fire erupt from her weapon and the creature explode in a pile of gore.

I was stunned by the site before me, not just when it exploded, but how quick it happened, how deafening the sound was, and lastly what the creature was!

Then I saw more, at least ten or fifteen of them, they were rotting and ghastly, but they were definitely ponies or former ponies… or…

My thoughts were cut short with more deafening bangs. She was killing them one by one, but they seemed to keep coming!

The booms stopped and I heard a clicking followed by even more cursing.

“Cover me!”

I looked up, pushed the still sobbing colt behind me and charged.

I didn’t understand what she meant by covering her, but she had stopped killing so it was my turn.

My skills were based on evasion and quick powerful attacks, armed with only my hooves or a blade. But I didn’t have a blade.

My movements were silent, my hoof-jabs quick and accurate, one by one, at least seven of those… horrible creatures fell to the ground.

I heard a voice scream to get down and I dropped like a stone as the mare began killing again.

Blood and brains peppered my coat. The sounds stopped and my ears rang, but they were all dead.

The foal was sniffling and trying to stop crying. He looked to be the only one who had survived, as now I saw pieces of other ponies lying near the houses, half eaten by the looks.

I vomited hard and fell to the ground, my vision obscured by blood.

“What the fuck were those things?!” She panted and kicked some of the bodies.

“Plehh” I spit the nastiness out as she was looking over the ones I had taken down.

“They look like they’re already dead… but they’re breathing…” She aimed down at them as I shook my head hard… The elders never told us about these horrors…

“I do not know, they are past death, but alive” I pointed to one of the ones I had taken down. “Paralyzed, you kill” She stared at me for a moment, then stomped the heads in on each of the paralyzed ones.

“Little one, I am sorry” The colt didn’t speak, he wasn’t even crying anymore. Just staring at the ground…

“I’m too tired to cry… and now I have nowhere to live…” He looked up at me with big eyes.

I winced, I knew we couldn’t take this little one with us, but we couldn’t leave him here either.

“Do you know of any relatives anywhere else?” My companion spoke up.

The colt thought for a brief moment, “My aunt lives in Neighberry, but that’s a long way from here, I wouldn’t make it”

I looked to my companion, “Neighberry?”

"Raining looked down at the contraption on her foreleg, and held it up to me once she found the town. She quickly pointed out the town for me and I saw it wasn't to far away, but as I looked up at the sky i saw it was starting to get dark.

"We're here, Neighberry is over here. Roughly a four hour walk. To get there we'd have to go into Ghastly Gorge. A bunch of ponies built a settlement over there, right beside the river. We wouldn't be able to make it there before nightfall though."

She turned to face me and looked right into my eye's. "We can't take him though. Even if we managed to make it there before nightfall we would have to be running most of the time and I don't think that he would even be able to stand up for a few minutes at the moment."

I opened my mouth to protest but she continued hoping to drive the point home.

"Even if you carried him. We would run into at least, at a minimum a few dangerous ponies or creatures and with you outta the fight carrying him it would be up to me to defend you as well as myself and I would probably run out of ammo for before we got there."

I opened my mouth to talk again, but she placed her hoof over my mouth and kept talking.

"Please, just listen to me." She lowered her hoof and stared into my eye's. "Please." She pleaded.

“Just leave him; he’ll be dead within a few weeks regardless of where we take him”

“You have debt” I growled at her. She glared at me and I shifted my stance.

Finally she sighed and shook her head sadly.

“I saw tracks a little ways back, probably a trade goes by here”

I knew of trains, I had heard going through the McIntosh Hills and had read books of such things. Big machine made up of many pieces of connected metal, moving on tracks at high speed.

“It’s only a short distance back the way we came, we can go there and wait if you want"

We agreed and the colt looked ecstatic to be leaving this place. I couldn’t blame him, not only did bad things happen, but there was really nothing left for him here.

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We galloped towards the train, the colt up on my back as I sped even faster than my winged companion. I could hear it coming before I even saw it, it was just pulling in as we came upon it.

“Where ya headed?” a stallion hung his head out the front, eyeing us.

“Neighberry, this colt has family there, Hayditch is dead”

The old stallion shook his head sadly and held out a hoof. “Twenty caps a head” my companion dug into her bags and then handed him a pile of little round metal pieces. The stallion motioned for us to climb on.

The train looked much the same inside as out. Rusted and faded, but they had cushioned, or rather slightly cushioned seats for all of us. And even a few beds.

Other ponies on the train paid no mind to us and soon the big metal beast was moving.

I had a grin as big as the colt’s, this day may have been hell to start, but I was getting to ride a train! Something I’d always wanted to do and that no other pony from my tribe would probably ever do!

As I grinned at my winged companion and then at the colt, for the first time in my life, I was happy to be out of the tribe!

Footnote: Level Up.

New Perk Added: Child At Heart - You have a unique childlike state that possibly comes from your naitivity. Oh also kids like you a lot more.

Author's Note

First town, First fight, he's a Pacifist?!
I know I'm not using names much, there is a reason for that.
Tell me what you think, if you see any errors. Please tell me.

New Town, New Friends

My winged companion and I forced small talk along the long train ride, but even small talk was difficult for my pony mind.

Everywhere the train sped by held newfound wonders, each more amazing than the last: Enormous buildings where hundreds of ponies lived, strange creatures and plants more amazing and terrifying than any I had seen before!

I pushed my gaze from the window and pulled the blanket over the sleeping foal.

“Most ponies would have abandoned him, or killed him for his stuff”

“But not us” I smiled slightly then pointed to her weapons again.

“Weapons?” I couldn’t help but ask.

She looked at me with a perplexed stare, “My battle saddle?” I just stared at it, trying to piece together in my mind how it worked.

She thought for a minute, as if unsure how to explain it to my simple tribal pony mind.

“It uses fire and explosives to push out spinning pieces of metal that go through whatever it hits” Ok, well that made a lot of sense, even to me.

“Here?” I pointed to the end of the barrel. She simply nodded to me and pulled something from her pouch.

“This is called a bullet, it’s the metal that it fires, and there are many different kinds of weapons like my battle saddle though. Some are not as big, some are bigger”

My eyes went wide, how could something be bigger than that? She smirked and began explaining everything she knew about firearms, from pistols and rifles, to energy weapons and explosives. While I’m just sitting there, my small pony mind trying to comprehend all that I was hearing.

“So… pieces of metal… and light that makes ponies ash?” My mind was spinning with the amazingness.

“How do you not know anything about guns?” She finally asked. Even though I was trying my best not to say many words, I found myself wanting to talk to this kind mare.

“In tribe, we not know outside weapons, could be taboo”

“So you’ve never fired a gun? Never even held one?” I shook my head as the train pulled to a stop.

A few other ponies got into the train with us, none with wings, and all with some kind of light armor on. They didn’t speak to us, but they did give my winged companion inappropriate stares, I wasn’t a smart pony, but I could definitely tell what they were thinking about her, and it made my fur itch.

“Look elsewhere” I didn’t even raise my eyes to them; I started to the floor with my fore-hooves pressed together.

“Easy” my companion planned a calming hoof on my back. “Don’t start any fights Tribal, there’s nothing wrong with some handsome stallions eyeing some beautiful mares” she flipped her mane.

Handsome stallions? I looked at the ponies before me, rotten teeth, chipped hooves, tattered fur, unkempt manes, ugh how in Discord’s name could she think that was handsome!?

“Beautiful mare deserve better” Wait a sec, did I just call her beautiful? For some reason my cheeks felt hot, and I diverted my gaze further to the floor.

`“Don’t worry sweetheart, she doesn’t look like she has high standards anyways… mm I’ve never had a Pegasus, and you look right for the picking to”

I was trained to keep calm, but I did not take kindly to someone insulting a lady. Then he reached a hoof towards me and I stood fast.

“Tribal, calm down…” why did she keep calling me tribal? No matter, I stepped into the stallion’s face and almost retched.

“You stink” I growled in his face.

It only took a second of reaction time, out of the corner of my eye I saw the flash of a blade and in one swift movement I was able to move the stallion in front into the path.

He screamed only for a brief moment and then was silenced by my hoof striking his throat!

The click behind me told me that she had armed her battle saddle and I moved beside her quick.

“Nice moves” she muttered, “Now here’s how this is gonna go down” The three stallions were right in front of her guns. There was nowhere for them to go and one was injured badly.

“You three are gonna sit down, not move, not speak, and we are gonna continue with our trip. When we get to where we’re going, you’re going to get out of this train and then you’re going to walk the other way. Do you understand?”

They nodded furiously and sat still, except for the one who was trying to bind his knife wound.

I dug into my bags and tossed him a small band of wraps. She gave me a sideways skeptical look.

"Blood Stains” She gave me a smirk and shook her head lightly.

The rest of the ride was in silence, my companion was surprisingly relaxed, but I could sense she was just waiting to kill them.

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The train finally pulled to a stop at another station. I kept the colt close to me as my companion pushed the other stallions out first. I could only imagine what the pony in the first car was thinking as he saw us!

We waiting patiently as the train chugged away, slowly picking up speed till it was out of sight.

“Now, you three are gonna strip whatever goods you have, and you get a ten second head start to run like there’s an Ursa Major on you”

They didn’t move, until a close shot at their hooves got them to strip all their equipment down and throw it to us.

“I’d move fast if I were you. Ten… nine…” She counted down calmly as they galloped in the opposite direction, was she really going to shoot them?

I waited in awe, as did the colt next to me. Watching her follow their movements with the end of her guns until she got to one…

*BLAM* BLAM* *BLAM*

The three stallions didn’t have a chance, they all dropped after a few more short steps…

The colt was smiling wide, my companion had a sadistic smirk on her lips, me however? I just stared; those ponies didn’t have a chance, why did she kill them like that?

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We continued our walk as if nothing had happened, the colt standing upon my back, looking at everything around us. It was a silent and un-eventful walk, other than the small radscorpion or bloatsprite. Big animals I could handle those I had seen before when I was on watch for the tribe. But killing defenseless ponies in cold blood?

“Why kill?” I forced myself to ask, almost afraid of the answer.

“'They were bad ponies, if I had let them go they would have followed us and killed us while we slept. I had to kill them or else they would of killed... Celestia knows how many other ponies, and us.

I started at her blankly, my reason slowly overpowering my anger.

Even with my small tribal pony mind, I could understand that. Sacrifice for the greater good…

“I know it’s hard to understand…” she started.

“No.” I cut her off swiftly. “When I was foal, big creature came to village, older pony distracted, knew she would die, the rest killed it, we feed on it”

She stared at me with a shocked/horrified look on her face. I couldn’t blame her, I knew it was wrong. If we had sent a warrior they could have gotten away and we could have killed the scorpions. But we had to send someone we could spare… I guess the elderly mare was replaceable…

The rest of the trip, we didn’t say one word, the colt snuggled up on my back and managed to fall asleep. How was he able to sleep upon a moving stallions back I will never know. But I was glad he was able to, he deserved as much rest as he could get.

I stopped short when I saw it, a giant blue orb around a slightly smaller city. Then I realized the dilemma we were in. We were above it!

I heard her cussing under her breath, “Luna damn it, I didn’t fucking pay attention to the map” she took a breath and turned to me. “Alright, that’s Neighberry down there, problem is, we’re up here with no climbing equipment. If I try to fly down chances are they’ll probably shoot me on sight. Any suggestions?”

I scanned below, there was no way we could jump, and flying was apparently out. We could try to walk around to the bottom but who know how long that could take?

“Slide?” I pointed to a big metal pipe that had been halved. She looked a bit skeptical.

“I think that’s a supply slide, ponies slide supplies down into the town when they can’t get down there themselves”
I smiled, told the colt to bite down on my mane and I jumped.

I heard her shouting behind me as I hit the slide and moved rapidly down it, using my hooves to slow my decent so I didn’t crash or fall out.

I shouted happily with the colt on my back. I had to admit, this was fun!

*DONK*

I hit that force field quicker than I expected, the colt laughed at me as I tapped on it sheepishly.

A pony on the other side stared at me blankly then waved his hoof, the force field opened and I slid inside onto the ground. Only to have lots of, I think, different guns, pointing at my head.

I gently scooped up the colt and held him in my hooves, then whispered in his ear. “Explain”

The colt perked up and talked rapidly, explaining what happened to Hayditch, what we did, the train ride, the slide, and finally his aunt’s name and why we were here.

Slowly they took their aim off us and led us into the town towards a small little building.

The biggest of the ponies escorting us spoke: “I’m sorry to hear what happened to Hayditch, I’m also sorry for the guns, we don’t normally have ponies jumping from the edge onto the supply slide… is that Pegasus with you?”

I nodded and he asked another question. “Is she Enclave?”

I cocked my head to the side and gave him a blank stare, I honestly had no idea what that even was.

“Does she have any kind of uniform? Energy weapons? Communication equipment?”

Again I gave him a blank stare. “What are you fresh outta the Stable?” Third blank stare seemed to anger him.

“Well we can’t let her in till we find out. Sorry”

This time my stare was angry. “She crashed from sky, injured, was chased, came with me, helped”

He looked away from me and lowered his voice but not enough so that I couldn't hear.

“Bring her in, check if she has the brand”

I looked around, was he talking to me?

♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦

We dropped the colt off and my Pegasus friend decided to buy some more of what she called ‘ammunition’ and left me to
wander and marvel at the enormous cottages and well-dressed ponies.

I noticed some were wearing similar outfits, I knew what uniforms were. But these I did not know, however I did know ranks, we had them in the tribe as well. So I was taking a guess that these ponies in uniform were some kind of soldiers perhaps?

I was so perplexed with everything, large cottages made of stone and metal, ponies trading little pieces of metal or supplies for other pieces of metal or supplies. I didn’t understand what they were doing, but I did spot something that drew my attention.

“Ave” I spoke to the Zebra sitting at a table, working on sharpening a knife. The word seemed to catch his attention and he grinned at me.

“Ave, true to Caesar?” he questioned. I shook my head and spoke in my native tongue, which was similar to his. “What tribe?”

He smiled and flashed his medallion, “Mendi, you?”

I pulled my own and held it in front of him. “I am of the Shrouded” That made him smile more.

“Good tribe, good ponies” he seemed to realize something and asked “Why did you leave?”

I felt a gut wrenching feeling, why did I leave? Just to help some pony I had never met? To explore unknown territory? Why did I leave the safety of my tribe?

“I… the tribe was safe but I wanted to help those who were not of the tribe, a winged one fell from the sky and the elders were not going to allow me to help her, but I did, and I left by my own will.”

He smiled sadly, “Admirable, but dangerous” Then he leaned in closer and spoke barely above a whisper, but still in native tongue. “Ponies around here don’t like the tribal or zebra, try to take advantage of us, be careful, trust none of them”

I nodded once and he passed me a very wicked looking blade.

“A gift between tribes” he said with another smile, helping me attach it to my fore hoof for fast access.

“Thank you” We bowed to one another slightly and I walked away.

♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦

It took me a while to find my winged friend. She was arguing with some ponies at a stand, I was guessing over what she traded maybe?

“No, no, no, no, no! Sixty caps is the deal!”

The stallion behind the counter slammed his hooves down next to the gear on the table, I recognized it as the things we had taken off the three bucks from before.

“Forty five caps and I’ll throw in a bottle of whiskey!” My companion smirked, apparently pleased.

“Deal!” He handed her a small jingling bag and then a bottle of amber colored liquid.

She walked to me, obviously pleased with herself and tilted her head back, draining half the bottle in the same motion.

“You… drink that?!” She stared at me for a moment before taking another swig.

“Of course, but I’m sure in your tribe you don’t have whiskey do you? Little goody goodies”

I frowned, “Used cleaning, or to numb” then with a fast jab I knocked the bottle from her hands, caught it within my own mouth and took a swallow.

She snatched it back with an angry look on her face then started walking away, “No strength” I muttered, “Can make better myself”

She stopped walking and stared at me, “You can make liquor?” I pointed my hoof to the bottle and nodded.

“Mine stronger, much” I couldn’t help but smile at that, I knew that some ponies continuously drank the sterilization liquid, it had some bad affects with the fighters coordination and made them quite rude, our healer told us it meant they were drunk.

“At some point I’m gonna have you make me some, but for now…” She drained the bottle in another big gulp and immediately started to sway.

She smiled at me, a smile that made my mane itch. “Well, now I am gonna go get fucked!” I knew what that word meant, so I decided to follow her to make sure she didn’t get into trouble.

Raining swayed into the nearest hotel. "Somepony's wanna fuck me silly?!" She called loudly, raising her tail high giving everypony in the room a full view of her lady parts. Most of the ponies turned away in disgust but a few ponies kept looking, with slight smiles on their faces.

I sighed and walked up behind Raining, placing a hoof on her flank. "Ohhh, that feel's good." She said suductively. I sighed again and pushed her hard so that she went skidding into the receptions desk. A loud 'thud' echoed thought out the room, and Raining struggled to stand.

I walked up to to the mare at the reception desk and kindly asked. "One night?"

She nodded and quickly retrieved a key from under the desk placing it towards me. "That will be twenty-five caps please."

I nodded and looked down to see Raining still struggling to stand. I reached into her saddle bag and pulled out a jingling bag. I placed it on the counter and the mare nodded before going back to reading a paper.

I turned around to see Raining had successfully stood up and was walking over to a clearly embarrassed stallion. "Come on, you know you want me." Raining said drooling slightly as she spoke.

The stallion stood up and quickly exited the building. Raining tried to run after him but fell after three steps. I sighed for the third time in about five minutes. I walked over and grabbed Raining's mane with my teeth before throwing her on my back and walking up the stairs towards the rooms.

I scanned the room numbers as I walked past. '34, 36, ah 38.' I took the key out of my saddlebag and opened the door.

Inside was a single bed, a desk and a cupboard with one room leading off into a bathroom. I walked over to the bed and dumped Raining off my back. I heard her trying to get my attention but I ignored her. I locked the door and walked into the bathroom.

When I came out, I saw that Raining was asleep and sighed for the forth time. No room on the bed. I walked over next to the bed and lied down on the floor. I tossed and turned for a bit not able to fall asleep. Finally I decided to get up and walk over to the desk.

I gathered up some paper and started writing.

Footnote: Level Up!
New Perk Added: Swift Learner, You learn from your experiences exceptionally quick for a simple tribal. 10% Experience for each level of this perk taken.

Author's Note

Third Chapter. Took a bit of time to get it going. Thank you to my friend Cooperdawg for proofreading and editing for me. Any idea's are welcome.

Old Friends, Old Problems

When she finally awoke I was up and had been writing for quite a while, I was better at writing the language than speaking it. I was unsure why, but that was how it was. My studies in speaking the language were incomplete, but the writing and reading were all very advanced.

“Hey, what are you doing over there?” Rain asked, rubbing her eyes with her hooves.

I handed a few sheets of paper that I had written, she looked down and scanned it with her eyes then looked up at me. I just pushed it to her with my hoof.

After a few minutes she finally looked up at my with a curious look. “You… you gave me a list, of things you can do and all?” She sounded surprised, maybe from some of the things I had wrote.

“So you’re name, is Blinking Shadow?” I nodded, “And you were…one of the fastest of your former tribe?” I grimaced but nodded again. “You specialize in unarmed combat and melee weapons, you can make healing potions from herbs and plants that you find, you don’t like killing? Wait a sec… you don’t like killing, or you refuse to kill?”

I thought for a moment and nodded once. She glared at me then rolled her eyes. “Great, first I get kicked out of the Enclave, fall into a xenophobic tribe of Zebra speaking ponies, get attacked by weird, rotting flesh eating ponies, and now I’m travelling with a blank stallion who is being all cryptic and doesn’t wanna kill anything!” She threw up her hooves and then fell to the ground holding her head.

I looked at her in alarm and moved to her side. “Sick?” She shook her head and then held it again.

“Hung over, it happens when you drink too much and pass out, ughhhh I don’t suppose you have anything for headaches in that bag?”

I plucked out a leaf from my things and held it to her mouth, she simply eyed it and sniffed.

“Chew” I said, finally she bit down and chewed slowly.

After she had finished chewing the herb her headache was dulled and she felt much better, so she decided to read the rest of my things.

“Your tribe was known as the Shrouded, you can write better than you can speak, you know several other tribe languages, along with some zebra” she let out a yawn that I couldn’t tell if it was real or sarcastic.

“You would like to continue to travel with me to explore the wasteland and hopefully bring something back to help your tribe?” She finally stopped and looked at me.

“What do you mean? I thought you were banished?” I motioned for her to turn the page and she did.

“Oh…” she said after reading it, “So your tribe, you don’t think they’ll last long on their own anymore, crops are low and attacks have been more frequent from other tribes?” I nodded grimly.

She hopped up and stretched out her wings slowly then retracted. “And how exactly do you plan on helping them? Get them to leave and trade?” I nodded again and spoke.

“Tribe knows how to grow food, know how to eat special plants and creatures, tribe skilled in combat, can do fighting work or farm work”

Rain smiled at me, but it was a sad smile. “I like you kid, I do, but I’m not looking for a marefriend, and you prolly just attract more trouble than me, sorry, but I’m out”

“I’m a stallion” I muttered as she began to walk off with her gear. So now I was alone again, and all at once I felt the crushing feeling once more of being away from my family and home.

I shook hard and packed up, if I was going to help them, I’d have to get out of here.

♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦

I pushed my way through the crowded bar and outside, the sky was dark but the rain never reached the town, it simply rolled off the massive blue dome.

My Zebra friend was walking up to me, “Ave” he spoke softly, as if he did not want some to hear us. Though several ponies were looking at us disdainfully and whispering.

“They do not like stripes here” he said, “I am leaving soon, traveling to sell merchandise” he motioned to the wagon he was pulling behind him. “Would you like to travel with me for a time? I could show you the way of things here, as you seem to be…naïve to the wasteland at the moment”

Much as I hate to admit it, I almost didn’t wanna go, I wanted to stay and explore this village. But I knew that if I did not leave with him that I may not get the chance to.

I turned back to him and nodded. He pointed a hoof to the clouds and then to us. “We leave when the rain stops” I nodded again and left at that.

“Why were you speaking with that stripe?” A large stallion with a blue mane spoke beside me.

I turned to him and he stared down at me menacingly, “Are you and that stripe planning something? I heard you two talking all Zebra to each other”

He poked at me with a hoof. “Don’t try nothing, we may not look like a lot, but we got plenty of guards here to snuff you out, pass that on to your stripe buddies” I was confused, there was only one Zebra that I had seen, did this large stallion consider me a threat?

Then he grinned at me, “But for a little payment I could forget I ever saw you and the stripe talking”

I couldn’t help but smile back, this pony was obviously trying to trick me. “I am poor” were the only words I needed to say. He stared me down but I didn’t break eye contact. Finally he spit at the ground and walked away grumbling.

For a long time I sat around and waited for the rain to stop, but it seemed never ending. My blade was fantastic, sharp, balanced and well made. I was practicing for a short time, but some looks of ponies made me stop and sit again.

“Hey whatcha doing?”

Much as I hate to say it, I did not see the young colt sneaking up on me. I smiled at him, “Observing” An older mare walked up on us. “Terribly sorry, he’s new here and likes to talk to everypony” she was polite if not a bit overdressed.

“Nana, this is the pony who saved me!” the colt jumped down and started jabbing his hoof in the air. “He was all punch, kick, and jab! He didn’t even need any weapons Nana, he took a bunch of them down with just his hooves, and didn’t get a scratch on him!”

I flushed a bit, although by how he said it, I sounded pretty incredible. “Really?” The older mare said, “Well thank you very much for saving him, it’s a shame what happened, ghouls right?” I cocked my head to the side.

“Rotting ponies, eating other ponies?” she said in an amused tone. I nodded, not really caring what they were called.

“Thanks much, I don’t have anything to give you, but if you ever need a place to stay, you’re welcome to come stay with us anytime” she pointed a hoof to a small cottage.

“Thank you, but I am leaving soon” I said, brushing the colt’s mane back with a hoof.

“So soon? But you only got here last night”

“Yes, searching somepony” I had hoped to leave it at that.

“Who might that be? How do you know they’re not here?” The colt wouldn’t give me a chance to speak.

“A traveling pony, older, bright mane, name of a bird?” I shrugged, not remembering all that much about the merchant I had talked with.

“You mean Cardinal?” my ears perked at the name and I nodded quickly. “Yes”

The older mare spoke, “He left town a while ago, he should be back soon though, he was just out to do some scouting before dawn… actually he should be back by now…” her face immediately took on a look of worry.

“If you’ll excuse me I need to go have a word with security” She hurried off quickly, the look of worry turning worse as the thunder struck.

“Little one, do you know the Zebra?” He turned and smiled at me, “Oh you mean Lani?” I scowled, ‘Lani’ did not sound like a Zebra name
.

“Oh sorry” he adopted a formal pose and spoke in a bad zebra accent. “Xolani” I smiled, that sounded better.

“Yes, can you take this?” I took out a sheet of paper from my bag and wrote a short note then handed it to him.

“Consider it done” he saluted before starting to run off.

“Little one? Which way did bird go?” He pointed vaguely north-east and then ran off.

“I seek… out?” I said to the mare in combat armor near the blue dome wall.

“Name, business and expected return please”

I cocked my head to the side for a moment then understood, “Blinking Shadow, tracking…” I looked up for a moment. “Before rain ends” she wrote it down with a pen and pad that was floating in the air, then a small piece of the dome disappeared enough to let me out, then came back when I was out.

The good thing I noticed, about this large… gorge… was that you could only go north or south. I headed north.

♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦

Any tracker will tell you, it’s much harder to track anything in the rain, thunder repeatedly sounded and lightning flashed, it was still dark though, even though it was approaching dawn, the gorge and the rain cut out most light.

I followed the faint tracks of pony, not exactly fresh but better than nothing. The steps got fresher as I went, and the thunder got louder.

A glint caught my eye, I recognized the item, it was a ‘shell casing’ as Rain had described it, what came out after most guns were fired.

I touched it with a hoof, it was still warm, which meant it wasn’t fired long ago, I moved forward and found more shells, some warmer than others.

More thunder, more rapid and close together. “Not thunder…” I finally realized as the flashes were in front of me instead of in the sky.

My hooves splashed through the mud and the rain whipped off my coat. “Cardinal!” I tried to yell over the rain to him, not at all sure if it was even him.

With the flash of lighting I saw it, a giant scorpion, only slightly smaller than ones in the hills.

Cardinal turned and fired rapidly at the arachnid with thundering blasts, but his shots simply flattened out against the armor of the beast.

“AH!” he shouted as the stinger found a spot in his armor and nicked his side. I saw blood and pushed forward hard.

“Fuck!” he screamed as the stinger came down, the poison not letting him move fast enough to get out of the way.

My speed was uncanny, blood and poison covered me as my blade removed the poison gland from the beast’s tail.

I landed swiftly on my rear hooves and dashed forward, blade in mouth. I narrowly dodged the pincers and drove the knife deep into its eye, the scorpion scurried around a bit but my hooves were locked around its head and my blade twisting into its eye and then brain. The beast finally fell flat and went still.

I wiped my face with a hoof and looked over. He was poisoned!

I rummaged through my bags and quickly pulled out a small drinking gourd. “Drink, help” I pushed the bottle to his lips and tipped it back slightly. The affects were immediate, his shakes stopped and his eyes came back into focus.

He coughed a few times and spit. “Ugh, what the fuck was that? Tasted like rotten ass!” I frowned at his vulgarism and tucked the gourd away.

“Heh, I guess I shouldn’t complain, it probably saved my life, hell I don’t even know of any anti-venom that counteracts that much poison. So thank you, been tracking that damn scorpion, finally cornered him, but I didn’t exactly have the right shells for the job, what did you use?”

I didn’t speak, a little irritated that he didn’t recognize me. “You used a knife!?” he exclaimed, finally seeing I had no other weapons.

“Wait a sec… well Celestia put a horn up my ass and burn me with sunshine, Blink!” He threw his fore-hooves around me in a tight embrace.

“What the hell? Since when do they let you leave the tribe?”

I looked away for a moment and spoke softly. “Never…”

Footnote: Level Up!
New Perk Added: Travel Light: When wearing light or no armor, you run 10% faster.

Author's Note

Sorry it took so long to put this up. But i also need a proof reader if anypony wants to help me it'd be greatly appreciated.

On The Road

Several shots and an excessive amount of bragging later Cardinal was still enough to talk to me and Xolani. Well, more so him than I, for I was to compelled to sharpen my blade, I knew that without regular sharpening and oiling, any blade will tarnish, especially after tearing through a radscorpion carapace.

“…Yes so these routes here are where you want to go, not the best of business, but a lot less danger than most roads, especially since you’re not going to hire any protection”

“No need” I finally perked up, looking over the edge of my blade. “We are stronger” I looked to Xolani who nodded primly then spoke.

“He is a warrior and he is my guard, we will take any road we see fit and triumph over any danger we encounter”

“Alright look, I know you tribal folk can fight, but he’s barely a stallion and you’re just an ex Zebra Remnant” Xolani winced just slightly, as if the label brought up a bad memory.

“We will be fine, do not worry for us” He said with a hint of annoyance in his voice. Cardinal stayed silent for a moment; finally he spoke with a sad voice.

“I’m not going to try to stop you, I know it won’t work, but I highly recommend staying on the route I provided, just follow the map and the road marks, don’t start any fights, find shelter before dark, stop at the other shops along the road or trade with other caravans if you need supplies” We thanked him and after gathering a few more supplies, we set off south into the canyon.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Regardless of what we had said about being tough, my Zebra friend decided to keep us to the safer routes that Cardinal had marked. There was almost no trouble, other than the occasional mutated animal or bloatsprite.

“How far to… next village?” I asked hesitantly.

“Town my friend, not a village, a village is what you and I come from, these are towns or settlements” Xonlani had been teaching me to speak better pony language and understand some of the things happening in the world around me.

“It’s a few miles up that way, but it’s getting close to dusk, we should camp” He had warned me that it was less safe at night because of the nocturnal animals and raiders.

We set up our sleeping bags and took shifts to watch during the night. Finally I decided to ask him.

“Before… in the big town… why did they call you ‘remnant’?”

Xolani stayed silent for a long moment. “I do not wish to talk about it” I frowned and pressed harder.

“We are friends, yes? You are to teach me about this land, yes?” He stayed silent even longer and finally sighed.

“Ex-Remnant, I am a descendant of the Fallen Caesar’s army, I was a craftsman, made weapons for our people, but I left. To help a pony, an outsider condemned by my tribe, the same as you. They do not take kindly to those who leave, I fear they are hunting me even now”

I knew of Caesar’s army, mainly passed down from old stories told through the tribe. They were masters of hoof-to-hoof combat; they were fierce opponents to ponies, specializing in stealth and assassinations. If they are hunting him, they would surely be hunting me as well.

“That would be an exceptional challenge” I smiled at the thought, to test my skills against a true master of hoof-to-hoof combat.

“Indeed” he said slowly. “One that I think you would not win” I sat down and stared at him, perhaps he was right, my fighting skill was formidable, but I should not underestimate an opponent I have never faced.

“I pray we never meet them, I don’t think I could stand against my own kin, even if I had the power” I understood, I could not fight my family either.

We made it through most of the simple stops with little trouble and were now heading towards a larger settlement which my companion had mentioned was under the earth.

“When we get inside, stay silent” I was used to that, even though he was teaching me how to speak normal, I did not have the merchant skills that he did.

“These ponies are odd, they may poke and prod at you, examine you, do not attack them unless you feel it is absolutely necessary, they are curious but not overall dangerous”

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

We went down a hole in the ground and deep into very long ‘tunnels’ he called them. I did not like this place; it was humid, quiet, and exceptionally freaky to be blunt.

I stood behind him, as I always did during these moments, he had warned me that some places may be taken over and used as bait to lure merchants and rob them.

“Xolani, good to see you made it; I had heard you were coming here. Do you have the items?” My zebra friend nodded and opened his bag slightly to show something inside.

The door opened and a tall skinny pony emerged, he wore a cape that covered his flanks down to his rear hooves. He stared at me suspiciously and stepped in close.

His eyes were a deep sapphire, his coat was oddly clean, but his scent… he smelled of blood…

He continued staring into my eyes, as if trying to test me, I stared pack, tensed, ready to strike. The last ponies that had smelled of blood were bad.

“You look tasty” The caped pony grinned, his teeth looked almost pointed. “I bet you have tasty blood to, you are a tribal, and you have pure blood don’t you? I can smell it. I would love to take a bite of you”

If he was looking for fear in my eyes, he saw none. I was calm, collected if not a slight bit annoyed.

“I would not suggest it” I stared him down hard, three ponies, the one in front of me, two in the doorway behind him, and then another guard we passed coming up. Four, four ponies, head-butt the one in front, stun, take his blade and go for the two in the doorway, left first, buck the right. Turn and throw knife into one coming up the tunnel. Four ponies dead, uncalculated amount to fight inside.

“I like you already!” He laughed and turned away, “Come on in”

I walked in behind Xolani and whispered softly in my native tongue “He is strange” He simply smiled at me.

It was slightly less dark inside the open area, many tables and things had been set up. Shelves covered in items and lots of pale, skinny ponies. The entire place reeked of a pungent stench of blood.

Nopony paid us any mind as walked through, Xolani spoke to the leader about the product, I heard something about they were running low on it and the ponies were starting to get restless and hungry. Was it some kind of food we were delivering?

I saw the pale pony (I’m guessing he was their leader) tear open a small clear bag with red liquid in it. Was it blood? Were we delivering medical supplies?

I almost threw up as I watched him drink the blood! I turned my head away and talked to one of the mares.

“He… is strange” She looked over at me and smiled warmly. “You don’t know of us do you?”

I shook my head and she smiled again. “Have you heard of vamponies? We drink the blood of others to survive, it is how we live, it is a hunger we cannot satiate” She ran her tongue up my cheek, sending shivers through me and making me jump back quickly. She smacked her lips a bit.

“Mmm, tasty, to bad I can’t take a bite of you”

“I would not suggest it to you either” I spoke calmly and gave her the same look I had given the leader. Despite my cold stare she spoke warmly and kindly.

“We’re only poking fun at you, we would never attack without reason” She placed a hoof over my shoulder and pulled me close, making me even more uncomfortable. “I’d love to put my mouth on something else though” she whispered in a sultry tone that made me question if it was some sort of hypnosis!

I pulled out of her grip swiftly and bowed slightly. “No thank you, I’m sorry” I wasn’t sure what I was apologizing for but it seemed right to.

“Awww come on sweety, you look ripe for the picking” She trotted around me slowly, flicking her tail back and forth and hitting me with whiffs of mare arousal. Now I understood a little more. “Haven’t you ever had a mare before?”

She stopped and looked down under me and then gave a little grown of disappointment. “Oh you’re a stallion! Oh… great, I hate the ones that only swing the other way” I cocked my head to the side and she tapped my head. “Don’t fret none, just know that I would give you the best time of your life should you change your mind” She left with a wink, leaving me standing there confused and a little stunned. All these ponies were strange!

After that little awkwardness I decided to resume my place beside Xolani. The leader pony counted out the caps in front of us and I did my best to keep up, math was one of the subjects that were harder for me to learn.

“Next month we’ll be back with more supplies, if there is anything else you need contact us before then, here is a map of our route should you need to send a courier to us” The leader smiled and thanked us, his teeth weren’t naturally pointed, but they were shaped to look like it, I wonder how he did that?

It was nighttime now and the rain was starting to drizzle. “There you are, die!” I saw the glint of the metal and the whirring of something. Instinct told me to hit the dirt and doing so may have saved my life as at least 30 small holes were torn into the wall where my head was.

I charged low and quick, closing the distance and kicking the gun that was starting to whir again.

The stallion froze as Xolani appeared behind him and pushed his rifle firmly against the stallions head.

“Why did you attack us?” Xolani asked as I examined the whirring machine in the dirt. It had six barrels instead of one, it wasn’t connected to a saddle but it had a long chain of ammo connected. How had he been carrying this massive weapon on his mouth? I could barely lift it!

The stallion spoke with severe malice in his voice, “Why the fuck do you think? You pieces of shit brainwashed my daughter! Now she’s one of you sick fucks!”

“We are not from down there” Xolani kept the rifle pushed against him. “We are just merchants, and everypony down there is there of their own free will. There is no brainwashing”

The stallion didn’t look convinced until he saw the wagon we were toting and that seemed to calm him a bit. “Then move, I’m going to kill them all”

“We cannot let you” I spoke this time. “Your daughter, brown mane, yellow eyes?” He nodded once and I nodded back. “She is there on her own free will, she wants to be there, if she didn’t she would leave. They are not keeping her”

He stared at me with tears in his eyes. “I know I just… I want her back…” he started crying softly and I pushed his face up to see mine. He had some kind of horn on him, but I paid no attention.

“Stallions do not cry, she has made her choice, do not try to change it. Go in there, talk, without weapons” He didn’t speak for several moments then began to walk towards the door, leaving his massive weapon aside.

“Good job, I’m glad we didn’t have to kill him, take that weapon and toss it into the wagon. He won’t be needing it anymore” I was perplexed but I didn’t argue as I heaved the large gun into our wagon, making it slump down slightly.

I waited for a few moments but the stallion did not return and we had to leave. Looking back, he still didn’t come out, perhaps he joined them.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Our next few stops were small settlements with no problems, they bought some food and water, some bought ammo but none bought that big gun.

He showed me that map when we made camp, we were almost back to the big town, only a couple places left to stop, one only a few miles away.

We continued our lessons, he was amazed at how quickly I adapted and learned what he taught me. There were still some things that were difficult to grasp, the concept of bottle caps being currency was one, or that how much different things were worth depending on condition or rarity. But I was slowly grasping it, slowly, but surely.

It had been a week and a half so far, very little trouble on the roads and we made our stops with ease. My Zebra companion had taught me the map and from what I could tell we were nearing our last few stops. But for now we had stopped to make camp.

“Xolani, would you tell me another story?” I quite liked hearing his stories and it passed the time. He smiled at me and began.

“In this story we have a young stallion, barely older than a colt but very clever. He saw that his ponies were in need of a new supplement of food and water, but there was none to be found. He traveled for a few weeks, searching when he finally found an old world water purifier, a talisman, very forbidden by his people for they despised things of that nature” I got comfy and watched the fire flicker as he continued.

“This stallion was far from brave, in fact he was quite cowardly, but as I said, he was clever, he could run and he could hide. Soon he came across more items, machines that could protect him and his ponies, chemicals that could grow seeds in any environment, he was delighted that he found more than he had hoped. After several more weeks he returned to his ponies, eyes full of glee. A robot by his side and fresh drinking water across his back, the ponies feared him, he had seen the outside and they suspected he was tainted by it. They attacked him, destroyed his machine and burned all the things he had brought with him. They imprisoned him for several days, he used this time to ponder, to think what he had risked his life for”

I couldn’t help but feel uneasy, it sounded like he was talking about me…

“The ponies talked to him, questioned him of what he had seen. But no matter his reasoning, they were convinced he was touched by evil. He was killed, his name was used as a lesson for those to never explore the outside world, because nothing good would ever come of it”

“But good did come of it!” I shouted, how could they do that? After all he did to help them, they didn’t give him a chance, they just killed him because he left!

“Yes it is rather silly is it not? They refused his help not because they believed he was evil, but because they were afraid of what he had seen. They knew if he told of the world outside that they would lose control” He smiled to himself, seemingly amused at his story.

“But… that’s just… stupid!” I used the word he had taught me when something was very foolish. “Why would they fear if he had come to help? Why would they keep control if it meant the death of their tribe!?” I stopped… he had a smile on his face but a cold look in his eyes.

“Yes, but why would they accept the help of one that was now an outsider?” Xolani’s eyes were hard on me, but his point came across clear. My tribe wouldn’t accept me, even if I did bring help. I would be killed as a traitor…

After several moments of silence he spoke again. “But that is just a story, stories are often told different as time is passed, perhaps they did accept? Perhaps if they had been different ponies they would have? Who knows these things hmm?”

I thought about what I had learned, what the outside world had taught me, sure some of it was bad. But not all, there were good ponies, willing to help even simple tribes of stupid ponies. If I went back, would they welcome me? Cast me back out? Attack me? I am only trying to help, maybe it would be best if I did not go back…

“But…” I started but he was no longer looking at me, in fact he was looking behind me, his eyes were focused but his gaze was uncertain, then his eyes locked on mine. He blinked once, then closed his eyes for a moment, opened them, then closed them again… I froze solid. He blinked once, the closed his eyes again, three more blinks. Blink, close, blink, blink, closed. I barely twitched my head in a nod and tensed hard.

I waited and then felt just a slight breath on the back of my main, barely could feel, but it was enough.

I bucked hard as I could straight back, a loud *crack* and *thud* could be heard. I whirled and slammed both hooves down into the dirt, but didn’t connect. Where was he?

I swept my hoof and watched the dust. There!

“AGH!” something pierced my left foreleg, blood spurted and I had my target. The blood made him easy to see and he was moving!

Two impacts bit into my side and I flipped backward on my good hoof, bringing my rear hooves into the one in front and searching out the others.

“Stay your hooves and your blade” A accented Zebra voice spoke somewhere beside me, the shimmer disappeared to be replaced by a slim Zebra with a rifle very similar to the one Xolani carried. Speaking of which…

He still had the calm and stoic look. He didn’t look frightened, nor worried in the least. He spoke in Zebra to them. “The pony does not need to die, he is a simple guard” The zebra with the rifle on my head snorted.

“His skills are that of Fallen Caesar, or based upon such. You are both coming with us” Damn it, this wasn’t good. I could use it but… it would hurt me. Xolani looked into my eyes and slid his hooves into his bag. They zebras were speaking to each other and didn’t notice or didn’t care. He pulled a small gray ball. I knew that item, I had made it. I was bleeding bad, we would have to make this fast.

The smoke spread fast, had the rifle not been silenced I would no longer have been able to hear. I twisted and smashed both fore hooves into his head and then kicked his rifle aside.

Two hooves punched into my stomach and send me sprawling back. Apparently I had underestimated this slim zebra. It could hit hard!

We were both blind in this smoke, I would have to-

*smack* a hoof connected with the side of my face and sent me into a daze. How had he seen me? The smoke was still just as thick!

The next attack was hard to dodge but I did it, bucking hard with my good hoof but failing to connect.

The smoke was starting to clear, I had to act fast. Where was that zebra? I thought, trying to see through the smoke. And how had he known where I was? Wait… my blood!

I saw the shimmer, and threw up my bad hoof, the zebra ducked to dodge and got a face full of blood. I bucked hard again, this time targeting the head, one hoof connected and I fell flat. I couldn’t balance well on one good hoof! But I didn’t have to, Xolani appeared as if out of nowhere and pressed his own rifle against my zebra attacker. Had he beaten the other?

I dug through my bags and downed two healing potions, enough to get my back on my hooves and clear my head. The other zebra was laying on the ground unconscious but alive.

“Pack our things Blink, we are leaving” With that he popped the zebra in the back of the head with a grim look.

Footnote: Level Up!

New Perk Added: Adrenaline Rush: You gain +1 to Strength when your health drops below 50%.

Quest Perk Added: Lay of the Land: Your time traveling as a caravan guard has helped you learn more of the land, you now know several locations without a map!

Author's Note

Finally got this chapter out, its a bit longer than the others and prolly has a good bit of mistakes since i'm lacking a proofreader, but all the same i hope you like it

Intro

Once upon a time, in the magical land of Equestria...

...there came an era when the ideals of friendship gave way to greed, selfishness, paranoia and a jealous reaping of dwindling space and natural resources. Lands took up arms against their neighbors. The end of the world occurred much as we had predicted -- the world was plunged into an abyss of balefire and dark magic. The details are trivial and pointless. The reasons, as always, purely our own. The world was nearly wiped clean of life. A great cleansing; a magical spark struck by pony hooves quickly raged out of control. Megaspells rained from the skies. Entire lands were swallowed in flames and fell beneath the boiling oceans. Ponykind was almost extinguished, their spirits becoming part of the ambient radiation that blanketed the lands. A quiet darkness fell across the world...