Chapter 3: Pitstop

“There is hope, it is through your friends.”

I didn’t know why Red Mist had decided to help me, given how cold he was outside the raiders’ hideout. He may have thrown me into fight with five angry bandits, but I managed to survive, treat the bullet wound, and find a limited source of food. I just needed to figure out how I was going to find Flippy Bit. Taking a look around me, I found myself curled up inside two blankets, the new one from the escape pod, and the ratty looking one from the bandits. Shivering, I retreated into the blankets to keep warm. The cold was getting worse.

“Are you awake?” came a voice from behind me, causing me to nearly jump into the air.

I turned to find Red Mist watching me cooly, while using an old, oily rag to wipe his sniper rifle. He was sitting at the entrance of our shelter, what used to be a prisoner transport vehicle. Without letting the blankets fall off me, I walked over to my saddlebags and fidgeted with them, looking for the box of cereal that I had taken from the first pony I met in the wasteland.

“I’ve found something interesting here yesterday, in the carriage where the guards probably were.” Red told me. “I only know a little about these things, since it takes a unicorn to use.”

I found the Sugar Wheat cereal box, and tipped the open end towards my open mouth. Sadly, nothing came out, and I crushed the cardboard box in between my hooves in my frustration. I walked over to Red, looking for the mysterious object.

“What did you find?” I asked him, trying to keep my eye from closing again. The light from my robot eye was also unstable, changing brightness idly.

Red brought out a small orb, very dark in color. “I don’t remember what it was called, but I know unicorns can use their magic to see into them.”

“You mean like a psychic?” I asked him skeptically.

“Like I said, I don’t know.”

I stared at the orb, wondering what to do. From what I remember, I wasn’t properly trained in magic. When I had tried to levitate a pistol on the airship, it ended shooting straight up into the jaw of Skycrack, who proceeded to try to fill me with bullets. I wouldn’t survive long if I got into a fight with Red; his swords could slice me to ribbons from this range.

“Perhaps it’s wouldn’t be a good idea to for me to try to activate this thing.” I said cautiously.

Red Mist only eyed for a moment before turning his head back to his sniper rifle. He gave the barrel a slow, deliberate wipe with the rag before looking back up at me. I swear I saw the smirk behind his stolid face. I could have died then and there, so I explained myself.

“My magic doesn’t seem to work well...I don’t have much control of it.” I explained.

Red Mist just kept silent. I didn’t think it activating the orb was worth risking the intense pain I felt back at the airship. I walked outside metal container, looking towards the campfire site for any food that Red might have missed the first time. I doubted that he would have missed any survival supplies.

I turned back around to find myself face to face with some sort of floating metal monstrosity. I yelped and jumped back, nailing a landing on my plot. Scrambling up to my hooves, I realized that I didn’t have any weapons on me, they were all in my saddlebags.

“It’s just a sprite-bot. It won’t attack you unless you attack it.” Red told me, narrowing his eyes at the floating ball of metal before looking back at his sniper rifle.

“Where did you get the oil for that anyways?” I asked.

“I have a jug of it from a while back, when I used to gut ponies and let the oil drip along with the blood.”

“Yeesh, no need to be that graphic.” came a mechanical voice. It wasn’t mine.

I looked around, there was not a single sentient being besides Red and I anywhere within my range of vision. I looked back at the sprite-bot.

“Yes, I was the one who said that. Hello.” The sprite-bot bobbed in the air a little.

“Are you sentient?” I asked, walking around the floating metal bot, getting a better look at its features.

“No.” The sprite-bot jerked in the air a little. “Well, yes b- This sprite-bot isn’t. I hacked it to speak to you.”

“Your controlling the sprite-bot from inside?” I asked. “I didn’t know ponies could be so small.”

The floating bot chuckled, it’s laughter sounding artificial and hollow. “No, no. I’m controlling it from elsewhere... I saw you looking for food inside that empty cereal box.”

“You were spying on me?” I asked, “Why? Who are you?”

“Call me Watcher.” The sprite-bot said. “Think of me as a friend, I’m not here to hurt you.”

“Then what are you here for?” I asked, eyeing the sprite-bot.

“To give a little advice. I think I can offer more than the raider over there.” Watcher said.

Red Mist brought his gaze up to Watcher. “Watch it metal ball. Or I’ll pop you like a balloon.”

“Please don’t.” Watcher turned back to me. “You're going to need some new weapons. More ammunition. Better barding. Most importantly, make some friends.”

“Friends?” I gave Watcher a confused look. “Red, we’re friends right?”

Red narrowed his eyes. “Fuck off.”

“The best.” I sighed. “What do I need friends for? Actually, can I even find friends in this forsaken dustbowl?”

“You’d be surprised,” Watcher responded. “However I suggest you scavenge a few places for some leftover stuff. I can tell you where.”

I got suspicious. “How do I know I can trust you? For all I know, it could be booby trapped and I could die as soon as I step through the door.”

Watcher audibly sighed, which was odd to hear from a metal floating robot. “If I had wanted to kill you, I would have done so already. You’d be nothing but pink ash.”

“You could still be leading me to my death.” I countered. “I mean Red Mist would have destroyed you as soon as you began to attack.”

“The place is an old supermarket; there will be food.”

As if on cue, my stomach rumbled just then. I was pretty hungry, probably from all the running I did the day before. Letting out an embarrassed chuckle, I turned my head away from my stomach and back towards Watcher.

“Hehe...I guess we’ll give the supermarket a shot,” I told Watcher.

~~~

I checked my Pipbuck, which was still strapped onto my foreleg. Apparently they could do more than just turn off my robot eye. The Pipbuck also had maps of the surrounding area under the data menu, and Watcher had sent me the location of the supermarket. Using the little compass included with the Pipbuck, Red Mist and I had made our way to the market

.

The supermarket looked like every other building I had seen in the wasteland. All of one of them, two if you count the one I had imagined. The supermarket seemed to be only barely standing, so worn that I could hear parts of the roof falling in as I walked closer to the large glass double doors.

“Check your Pipbuck,” Red Mist told me, “and check how many raider’s are in there.”

“How do I do that?” I asked.

Red Mist put a hoof to his forehead. “Don’t you know anything about that thing?” he asked.

“No,” I admitted, “but if you do, why didn’t you tell me anything?”

“I thought you knew,” he responded, “What’s more, I don’t know everything about it, just a few things.”

“How?”

Red Mist ignored my question. He pulled out a hunting rifle and loaded it before making his way through the double doors. I pulled my pistol out of my own saddlebags, then made sure the bullet cartridge was full. Hearing guns beginning to fire, I galloped through the entrance, and activated the aiming spell in my Pipbuck.

Another useful thing that Watcher had taught me about my Pipbuck. Using something called S.A.T.S. would help me aim and shoot at targets, letting me select which body part I wanted to hit.

Using this knowledge, I aimed and fired at a raider running to me with a bat. The bullet entered through his eye, and made it to the back of his head before exiting. The raider slumped to the floor.

The recoil of the hunting rifle hurt my mouth and neck, so I put the weapon back in my saddlebags and drew my pistol. Looking around, I took in the atmosphere of the rundown supermarket. While many shelves were still standing, there were plenty that had fallen over, leaning on other shelves. Pieces of the ceiling littered the floor. I found Red Mist taking cover behind one of the fallen shelves.

"ACHOO!" I greeted.

"What the fuck!?" Red shouted at me has a huge barrage of bullets began to hit the other side of the shelf.

“I’m sorry!” I shouted over the sound of heavy gunfire.

“You idiot!” he snarled, “Your simple cold will get us both killed!”

We threw ourselves out of the way as the bullets finally blasted through the multiple shelves and began to whiz past us. As we galloped through the aisles, Red Mist drew a metal apple out from his saddlebags.

“Where did you get that?” I yelled over the sound of the gun firing.

“Do you not recall the thieves we killed last night? Get your head out of the damn clouds!”

I honestly couldn’t remember Red mentioning any grenades. All I could do from then on was to race after Red and take cover just in time to hear the apple go off. Squeezing my eye shut, I felt blasts of hot air shooting around us at all sides. Debris rained down upon the two of us, showering us with old plaster and bits of wood.

Cautiously leaving the shelter of the store shelf, I stepped around the sections of ceiling that had fallen due to the explosion. The raider was now all over the room. His blood was splattered all over the room.

Suddenly, everything fell out of place. It was as though the world was torn away from me. I felt detached from the setting, as though it was surreal. I didn’t feel well at all, my entire vision tilted sideways and the floor rushed up to meet me. My flailing hoof slammed into the shelve as I desperately tried to hold something, but my arm wouldn’t respond to anything more.

There was suddenly a large pressure on my head, then a sharp pain to my stomach.

The feeling broke like glass. I was back at the store, sprawled out against the floor. Covered in sweat, short of breath, and in pain. Not a pleasant way to come to my senses, but at least I was out of the disorientation.

“Get the fuck up!” Red yelled right into my ear, before proceeding to kick me in the stomach.

I scrambled up to my hooves, ignoring the pain. “What do you think you are doing?” I looked at the earth pony who was flipping out on me. He had pulled me out of the trance.

“Keep searching for anything we might be able to use.” Red grumbled, obviously annoyed at my dizzy spell.

“What about over at storage? The raiders popped out from there, they might be hoarding something.” I pointed out.

Without so much as a nod to acknowledge my suggestion, Red began to move towards the storage room. I looked around me once more. Again, the disorientation hit me, but I managed to stay on my hooves. The entire store was in ruin, the walls cracked and paint peeling. Everything was thrown around, everything on the floor. It couldn’t have been built this way, there would have been no poi-

“Let’s go, Winks. Stop dragging your hooves!”

I’m sure what I was expecting to find inside the storage area, but it definitely wasn’t ponies.

As soon as Red and I stepped into the room, we were hit by the overwhelming smell of decay and death. Using a trick that I picked up from Watcher, I turned on my Pipbuck’s flashlight. A mountain of assorted decaying organs, limbs, and bloody strips of hide was piled into a corner. It shifted.

“Is there some sort of monster that feasts on ponies in there?” I jumped back and brought out my pistol, keeping it aimed at the middle of the pile.

A white muzzle popped out from underneath from all of the pony carnage. The rustling continued until the entire head of a blood stained pony appeared.

The white mare let out hoarse whisper. “Please...leave me alone. Don’t use me anymore…”

I rushed over to her side and began to dig the shaking pony out from all of the organic matter surrounding her. “Don’t worry.” I tried to reassure her. “We’ll get you out of here.”

“You’re digging on your own.” Red Mist alerted me.

The mare flopped down to the floor as soon as she was free. She was beaten heavily, her presumably white coat stained with blood and blackened with bruises. Every breath she took looked painfully difficult. Red Mist stared down at her. I sneezed.

“Excuse me.” I muttered.

“Shhh…” Red warned. “I can hear something moving towards us.”

He quickly stepped to the door, and put his ear against it. He closed his eyes and listened.

“Maybe … in the storage,” Red repeated what he heard, “...in there...gut them.”

He moved his ear away from the door, and whispered in my ear. “When I give the signal, open the door all the way, and get out of my sight.”

I nodded and walked over to the metal door. When Red let his hoof fall, I threw the door open, letting the raiders enter and trip over themselves. Red Mist locked on to the confused trio, and fired his hunting rifle three times.

The raiders never picked themselves off the ground.

“Don’t go out yet. There is still at least one left.” Red warned, then pointed at the white mare we had rescued. “Stay hidden. Winks, come with me.”

Red heaved one of the raider’s bodies outside. The raider was sprayed with dozens of bullets before hitting the ground. Somepony had an itchy trigger hoof on a machine gun, and had the visual advantage. Things were not looking up for us.

“What do we do? If we run out there, we’ll be torn to shreds!” I waved my hooves around to emphasize the seriousness of the situation.

“Are you daft?” Red hissed. “Remember where the bullets came from and that the door swings both ways.”

“So we’ll use it as cover?” I asked.

“No! The bullets would pierce through that like a hot knife through soft flesh. Just watch.”

Red bucked with the door hard, forcing it to swing out of the room. Bullets flew into the door, going straight through it uninterrupted. After a few seconds of deafening noise, the bullets stopped. THe machine gun clicked as it tried to fire an empty cartridge.

Red said nothing has he pulled out his hunting rifle and dashed outside. One bullet left the weapon and flew straight into the final raider’s skull.

“Done.”

~~~

“Do you have a place to go?” I asked the mare we had rescued inside of the supermarket.

The mare coughed before nodding. “Neigh Vegas. It’s about an hour’s walk west from here.”

According to Watcher, the “Society” was a large plantation built inside of a prison’s perimeters about a century ago. The prison itself was deteriorating, so ponies had gathered scraps from other ruined buildings and put it together best they could. A small town was built around it, protected by the walls of the prison. It was about a two hour’s walk north from Neigh Vegas.

“We’ll go with you.” I reassured the shaken and tired mare. “Right Red?”

“I don’t care as long as we head north at some point,” he replied, “I’ve got business to take care of.”

“Where do you need to go?” I asked.

“Does it matter to you?”

“Yes, I’m tagging along.”

“Then you’ll find out when we get there.”

Without another word, he started heading towards Neigh Vegas, leaving the bloodied mare and I behind.

As the mare had said, the city was an hours walk away. I could see the silhouette of the city looming over the barren and empty wastes. While the buildings rose high above any debris for miles around it, the entire city seemed to fit in with the setting perfectly. Neigh Vegas was surrounded by a high fence, rising at about twenty feet. The metal that composed it was scratched beyond a smooth surface. Every piece of it was dented in someway, having been thrown together from a hundred different sources. It was as though the fence itself could tell the story of the wasteland.

As we neared closer to the city, I noticed that the pony we had saved from the raiders had stumbled. I didn’t know when she began to suffer. But now I saw her struggling to keep moving, every breath obviously painful.

“Are you ok?” I asked without thinking. Of course she wasn’t, she had been beaten and used for Celestia knows how long.

“Yeah, I…” the mare breathed as though she had stones grinding her lungs.

Her coordination wavered a bit as she forced herself to keep going, before she finally dropped to the floor in exhaustion. She exhaled pathetically as her eyes began to close.

“No!” I rushed to her side. “Come on, stay with us!”

“Don’t worry, I’m just tired…” the mare coughed out. “I just need a nap…”

“Stay awake! Tell me, tell me your name!”

“A...A-” Her eyes closed.

“Red, help me get her on my back!”

~~~

Angel Beats. It was too beautiful a name for such a beaten and broken spirit. Ms. Beats was the Neigh Vegas’ prized singer, one of the main attractions that brought the city revenue. But I doubted she would be helping reap in any cash in her current state. The prized singer was now in a infirmary, being treated for physical ailments and trauma.

“I really do hope she recovers quickly,” I told Red, “She really has been through a lot.”

“All of the beatings and rape ended with an extra fifty caps in my pocket, so I am fine with it.” he replied.

At that point, Red had to sidestep quickly to his left to avoid getting bashed on the head by my falling metal limb. I was immediately smacked back by the butt of his hunting rifle, flipped over, and pinned onto the floor. The next thing I saw was Red holding a blade to my neck and looking me dead in the eye. I thrashed around trying to throw him off of me. He smacked his head into mine, causing me to howl in pain.

“What the fuck is wrong with you?” Red hissed at me, “Are you really so mentally deficient as to try to attack me?”

“What’s wrong with me?! What’s wrong with you, you callous bastard!” I shrieked at him, “I can’t believe you just justified rape through petty bottlecaps!”

“Listen, just calm your shit. These types of things happen all the time out there. We got her out of there, and returned her to safety.”

Taking in deep breaths, I calmed myself until I could no longer feel my heart beating. Red got off of me and helped me up. I looked down at the floor and frowned at it, feeling very odd about the subject.

“I’m sorry, I don’t know what came over me,” I said bitterly. “Lets move, we’ve got the local police watching us now.”

Red stared at me for a few moments with a stoic face before moving.

We moved quickly throughout the city, trying to keep the unsettling eyes of the police off of us. Neigh Vegas was definitely worth wandering around. It’s high rise buildings couldn’t be found for miles around. The neon lights in the city were everywhere, from the sign on a bar all the way up to the top of the tallest buildings.

The shops ranged from artillery to strip clubs. Despite my… being, I could see a dozen prostitutes gesturing to me from different locations. I looked nervously back at Red, who didn’t even take his eyes off the path.

“Are ponies really this lewd?” I asked him. It surprised me that they were actually willing to do such a thing.

“Most won’t give a second thought to taking them to their bed.” he responded. “Go if you want.”

“Maybe later. Lets keep moving.”

“Damn, and here I thought I could get you out of my mane for a little while.”

Choosing to ignore the comment, I kept trotting along the path heading straight for the supply shops. There were a large variety of weapons, ranging from mint condition laser pistols to worn down assault rifles.

Standing at the counter was a large stallion, himself holding a sub-machine gun. He smiled at his potential customers and waved his hoof around ecstatically.

“Welcome to Steelbuck Weaponry! Home to the largest variety of weapons in Neigh Vegas!” The stallion shook my hoof with glee. “What are you looking for?”

All I ever thought of using was my pistol, but I did still have a few laser pistols, a hunting rifle, and a small variety of ammo that didn’t fit. Also there was the barding I had on me. It worked great for laser pistols, but didn’t do anything for the multitude of bullets that would pierce right through it.

So I traded in what I didn’t need. Red came up and unpacked his own wares. It was much larger than my own.

“Where did you get all of this stuff?” I asked him.

“Looting the raiders and the containers back in the supermarket.” he answered, “It’s something everypony knows to do.”

I turned back to the store owner. “I need a solid piece of armor. What have you got?”

“Well if you want a full set, I have some tough leather armor for 300 caps.” He brought out a brown two piece set, along with a brown helmet.

“I’ll take it.” I counted three hundred caps, and hoofed them over.

“Thank you.” The shop owner looked over at Red. “And what about you? Do you want to replace that raider armor?”

“I’ll stick with it. Give me fifty .32 armor piercing rounds.” Red responded.

“Customized, eh? Well, since the one eyed one already bought a nice amount off of me, I’ll give you a discount. Two caps to the round, one hundred total.”

Red took the rounds, counted them, and then paid. He turned around and walked away, with me trailing close behind.

“Come back now, you hear?” the store owner shouted after us.

“Lucky you got that discount,” I told Red.

“I didn’t get a discount.” Red responded.

“But he said-”

“You got stiffed, I got normal price. I didn’t barter because bartering isn’t my thing. I usually just raid the store.”

About ten questions popped into my head. I asked the most obvious one.

“Raided? You mean just attack the store owner and steal the caps?”

“That’s what raiding means, yes.”

“Don’t raiders do that?”

“I am a raider.”

“What!?” I was shocked. “Weren’t you fighting raiders when you met me?”

“Doesn’t change anything.”

“But are you still going to kill innocent ponies to eat them and stuff?”

“I don’t plan on it.”

“ACHOO!” I sneezed, leaving

Red decided it was time to stop talking and quickly walked towards a ‘restaurant’.

Remembering that I was still somewhat peckish even after devouring half a box of cereal, I quickly trotted after him. While our loot in the supermarket was considerable, as proven by my raider companion, it turned out that the raiders within the compound had taken to eating regular food as well as ponies. And after everything I had been through. Greedy motherfuckers.

I kept up my aura of intense hatred for all things raider until I accidently bumped into Red’s tail. I gave a sheepish smile as he gave me a glare; I let go of the mindset.

“So what is this place?” I asked.

“Look for yourself. Find a table, I’m staying in the bar.” Red ordered me.

Deciding it was best to let Red be, I did as I was told. I found an empty metal table, and plopped down on the ancient cushion. The surface of the table was scratched, dented, and dirty beyond sanitary eating conditions.

However, before I could consider ordering anything, a bright red spot appeared on my table. I moved my head in closer in attempt of getting a better view, but it moved. It flew off the table, onto the floor, and kept moving. I stomped down on it with my hooves, but was disappointed when I didn’t catch it. I chased the red dot, curious to know where it was going.

I moved swiftly beneath tables and past ponies, zipping into an alleyway between two decrepit buildings. The red dot stopped. I looked up, searching for the source of the light. Floating a few feet above my head was a sprite bot.

“Never thought that would actually work,” Watcher commented in an amused voice, “I needed to get you away from the crowd. A sprite bot that isn’t playing music is suspicious within itself, let alone one in a city.”

“I didn’t know the wasteland could support the such a community.” I told Watcher, “Doesn’t that make them vulnerable?”

“Definitely. But ponies are social creatures and are much better off in groups than alone. Consider it a reason you need friends.”

“Well, if that’s all, I’m gonna go back to… eat.” Realization struck me. “Hey, you knew about the raiders, didn’t you?”

“Can’t say I didn’t.”

“Why would you lead us there? We nearly got killed!”

“But you saved this city’s prized singer. You saved a poor mare from being used for the rest of her undoubtedly short life, if she had stayed there. I doubt she’ll be able to sing for quite a while, or maybe stop altogether, but that’s still one more good pony walking the wastes.”

“You sent me in there to save her?”

“That I did.”

“Why?”

The sprite-bot bobbed a little in the air, as though surprised at my question. “The wasteland is filled with scum who wouldn’t lift a hoof to have saved her. Its nice to see some good ponies around. Those who are true to their virtue.”

“Virtue? What do you mean ‘their virtue’?”

“This wasn’t always a wasteland, you know.” Watcher spun around, as though to look at the horizon. “Equestria used to be a prosperous land, filled with well-intentioned ponies who weren’t trying to kill each other. It was a country of peace and harmony, ruled by two princesses--”

“Celestia and Luna…” I interrupted.

“Yes. The country was protected by a group of six friends, Equestria’s greatest heros. They had unbreakable bonds of friendship, which fueled their strength. Each one exemplified a single virtue more than the others. Laughter --”

“L-”

“Yes, laughter is a virtue,” Watcher spoke quickly. “Kindness, Loyalty, Honesty, Generosity--”

“Magic…” I had no idea where the information had come from.

Watcher coughed. “Uh, yes. How did you know?”

“I don’t know. It just popped up.” I put a hoof to my forehead. My consciousness felt as though it was swimming in ink.

“Those aren’t the only virtues, they were just a bit more important than most. If you find your virtue, then you won’t need anyone to tell you who you are, or what your place is.”

“You mean I have to find it myself?”

“Yes, ...um. What was it that you called yourself?”

I raised an eyebrow. “The only title I have is E-R3. But Red calls me ‘Winks’”. Why?”

Watcher didn’t respond. The sprite-bot only bobbed up and down in the air, but remained speechless. Further questioning did nothing.

I picked up a few small pieces of rubble in the alley. Taking a single stone in my hoof at a time, I tossed them one by one at the silent sprite-bot. “Hey Watcher. Watcher. Watcher.” The rocks bounced harmlessly off the sprite-bot with metallic clangs. The fifth rock was in mid-flight when the up-beat, polka music began to play again. As soon as the rock hit the machine, the music stopped. A small probe extended from the metal chassis.

“Identify yourself.” A new voice spoke.

“Um, achoo?” I tried.

Lasers began.

I took cover behind a large piece of building that had conveniently fallen a long time ago. Pulling out my hunting rifle, I fumbled with the clips as I loaded them in, so much that they all dropped to the floor. Desperately trying to pick them up, I noticed a blinking option on my Pipbuck.

“Enter SATS?”

Why the hell not?

The world slowed down, moving at a tiny fraction of it’s original pace. The lasers flying through the air were now visually followable. Through my cyber eye, I could see figures rapidly settling down to stable values, all percentages. There were about a dozen little bubbles originating from various parts of the sprite-bots body.

Watcher had told me about this. SATS stood for Stable-Tec Arcane Targeting Spell, and was meant to help me quickly and accurately aim and fire at targets. The figures must be the probability of a successful hit.

Switching for my pistol, I aimed for the laser pointers of the sprite-bot, planning to disarm it. The bullets flew into the air, much slower than they were supposed to. They entered the robot slowly, making a good show of the crippling metal and the breaking glass.

Time resumed its normal pace as the entire spritebot exploded, sending searing metal in all directions.

Shifting around the heap of now broken spritebot, I found nothing but a few odd looking batteries. supposedly the ammunition for the laser weapons inside of the floating bot.

Carrying my new loot, I made my way back to the table where I was originally sitting. Red had already left, so I ordered the first thing on the menu, and ate alone when it arrived.

It wasn’t until I had finished when I realized that Angel would have recovered her consciousness by now, according to the pony we left her with. I began to gallop away when I was stopped by the ground blowing up in front of me. I spun around and saw the source of the dancing dirt. The store owner was shaking his head at me while toying with the automatic shotgun in his hooves. I gave him a questioning glare.

“You forgot to pay.”

“Took you long enough.”

Red looked over from his spot on the floor and then closed his eyes.

“I ran into… a situation.” I offered, wiping to the sweat of my brow.

“Hmm?”

My ears perked up as I traced the voice back to Angel.

She was still laying on her bed, head and eyes turned up towards the ceiling, but at least she was conscious now. I carefully walked over to Angel, making sure that not to bump into the bed she was laying on. Considering what she had gone through, it was nice to see that she was recovering.

“Are you feeling better, Ms. Beats?” I asked.

“Tons. Thank you for getting me out of that horrid place, I really do appreciate it,” she responded.

“Not a problem Ms. Be-”

“Angel, call me Angel. The gate security told you, huh?”

“Well, it makes sense they would be happy to see their star entertainer.”

“...Right…”

Angel shuffled in her bed, pulling herself up to sitting position with some trouble. I started to move in order to help her settle, but she put up a hoof and continued.

“I have to get back up on my own hooves soon, I’m already scheduled for a show tonight.”

I stared in disbelief. “In your condition? They can’t do that!”

“No, it’s fine, I’ll manage. The show must go one, as they say.”

I looked at Angel worriedly. She ignored my empathy, and suddenly brightened up considerably.

“I’d like to thank you both for saving me, so feel free to stay at my home if you need to.”

“We-” I looked at Red, “I wouldn’t want to impose.” Red probably wouldn’t have cared.

“It’s not a problem at all. It’s pretty big, given my salary, and I’m the only one there, it could use some filling up. Mind you, if you attempt to try or take anything, I have a group of guards ready around the clock. Perks of singing for the entertainment of the wastes.”

“Bu-”

“I say you take the offer, Winks.” Red spoke up. “It’s probably the safest place to stay for now.”

“Also, I would like to invite you two to my show tonight at 8. I can get you two in for free, I’m sure my boss will understand,” Angel said.

“Winks, you go to it. I’m going to pick up the things back at the broken down carriage.”

“Alo-”

“Yes, alone. Don’t come with, you’ll only slow me down and attract trouble with that cold of yours.”

“Hey, it’s not my fault,” I replied.

Red picked himself up from the floor and headed for the exit.

“You’re leaving now?” I asked with disbelief.

“It’s a long ways from here, and i’ll have to be moving carefully,” Red replied. “I’m most likely going to have to move carefully, so I’m going to be back long after the show.”

Without another word, he trotted past me and out the door. i wasn’t sure what to do at that point. I definitely couldn’t leave the city, my head would be rolling in a matter of minutes. Hell, it still could, judging by the incident with Watcher. I had nothing to do for the next few hours.

“Come here, Winks.” Angel requested.

“My name isn’t Winks,” I told her.

“Then what is it?” she asked.

Though I was expecting it, the question still hit me hard. “I don’t actually know,” I responded.

I explained my situation to Angel, who sat there patiently through the whole story. I explained how I woke amongst metal and data, and how I broke out. I left out the part about how I got the cold. Running through the airship and escaping, touching down, and the raider compound. What I left out was my overly complicated existential crisis.

“Just call me E-R3,” I finished up. “That’s what the first pony who appeared called me.”

“Alright.” Angel looked down at the floor. “Now help me up, I have to go get ready for the show.”

With some difficulty, Angel stood on her four hooves. After notifying the doctor that she was leaving, Angel made her way towards her home. It was within a few minutes of the infirmary, and very close to the Vegas Beats Theater.

“I perform right over there.” Angel pointed down the street.

The Vegas Beats Theater towered over every other building in the city. Neon lettering was fixed to the top of the two connected buildings, its blinding bright lights beaming, as if to scream “VEGAS BEATS!” to the wastes. The buildings themselves were very noticeable. They did not follow the standard model of a rectangular base, but instead opted to form a sizable section of a cylinder, perhaps a third. Some of the curved glass panes on the buildings were broken, but mostly served to create a large, curved, orange mirror. It was undoubtedly selling itself to the wastes, to any and all that took noticed.

Keys jingled as Angel unsteadily unlocked her front door. Considering what I had seen on the way here, it was a reasonably large home. Even though an obvious effort was made to make the home look newer, the signs of age still bled through in the form of cracks in the wall, and the chipped tiles of the floor.

“Make yourself at home.” Angel gestured to a couch behind me as she left the living room.

As I turned around, I smacked right into one of the largest stallions I have ever seen and promptly fell to the ground. Desperately attempting to bring stand back up, two hooves grabbed my sides, and hoisted me upwards. I flailed in a panic before I was placed on my hooves, upright on the ground.

“Watch yourself, tin pony,” a guard said, before both of them left the house, closing the door behind them.

I nervously backed away from the door and settled down on the floor. Some shifting around in my saddlebags yielded the map that I had taken off of Flippy Bit’s father.

Laying the old map across the floor, I began to draw the path I had taken based on the relative locations of Neigh Vegas and the only lone standing supermarket in the area. Apparently “Lone Roads Supermarket” had a consumer target of travelers. It turned out that the “Society” ended up being several hours south of Vegas.

The number “1000” was still over the scribbled name “The Society”, circled in charcoal.

I had to look for Flippy Bit and his sister. Besides owing it to them for slaughtering their father, I also couldn’t stand the idea of the two of them being in...possession. Because of all of this, I decided I would get them out of the society. I just had to wait until tomorrow, when daybreak hit the wastes.

~~~

Red had decided to take his time last night, Angel had long finished her performance when he came through the door. The stallion was covered in saddlebags, somehow all perfectly balanced on his back.

Throughout the performance, all I could think about was Flippy Bit and his sister. I was too engulfed in guilt to enjoy the show. Surely the ones who had taken them away were slavers, but I couldn’t imagine them being called a “Society”. It most likely meant that they sold it to the place called the Society, for one thousand caps, as marked on the map. Red’s entrance snapped me out of my thoughts.

“We’re going to save these foals.” I told him, holding up a map.

Red set down the bags and looked at the map in my hooves.

“The Society won’t take kindly to losing their ‘possessions’. They’re going to want to make us pay.” Red alerted.

“Well, their father had left a huge bag of caps. He was going to spend buy them back. We can use those.” I suggested.

“He didn’t have enough firepower. The Society isn’t going to get a single one of these caps.”

“How are we going to get them out, then?”

“If they don’t listen, we fight.”

“Are you sure we will be able to take them? I mean, I’m not sure how big the society is, but they sound like a well funded bunch.”

“All they ever do is hide behind their guards, if we take them out, then we basically run the place.”

“Oh, is Red finally back?” Angel walked into the living room, face now clean of her performance make up. “What to you so long?”

“Turns out some slavers found the bags, took me a while to pick them off. They kept using the carriage as cover.” He replied.

I looked at the bags Red had placed on the floor. I noticed then that they were much larger than the when we had left the behind to explore the supermarket. I wondered what else Red had picked up from the slavers.

“Well, you two should probably wait until tomorrow.” Angel suggested. “Rest up and wait for the skies to brighten so you can actually see.”

Red quietly agreed by walking over to the old sofa and laying down before closing his eyes. So it was decided that we would go to the Society the next day.

Author's Note

Well that definitely took a while. Sorry about the delay, senior game is too hard. Joking aside, I will begin working on the next chapter right away. Hopefully it won't take nearly as long as this did.