Fallout Equestria: The Ranger of Seamane

Chapter One – Signs of Life

“Never trust someone, unless you can see the white of their bones”

Saint Clover was a safe place, well most of the time it was. Saint Clover, or the H.M.S. Clover the Clever, was an over two hundred year old beached cargo ship. After the surface had been burned away by the necromantic flame of Balefire bombs, there weren’t that many safe places left to live. However, the Saint Clover was one such place that ponies could live in without too much to worry about in the Seamane Ruins. The thick hull protected from most firearms, the vast cargo bay allowed for the construction of a town within it. The built in water purifiers allowed for safe clean water drink and bathe in allowing for a fair bit healthier living than most places in the world. Saint Clover was a rather popular trading hub, a neutral ground for scavengers out of the ruins of Seamen and caravans from the north and west to swap wears and get out of the wasteland.

Saint Clover was also a pretty good place to raise a family. With safe walls and good security it was hard for anypony to get lost or injured. Of course ponies still got hurt from time to time as it is a two hundred year old shipwreck, but, it was safer than living outside exposed to the elements or rogue ponies or others. Then there were the dunes that had long been held back thanks to grass planted centuries ago to try to tame the land into farmable, livable land. However, with the great amount of energy released in the closing hours of the Great War the grass and soil that had held back those dunes were annihilated. Now not only did the ponies in Seamane have to worry about the normal horrors of the waste they also had the dunes slowly covering up salvage that could potentially feed or heal somepony. So with that the ruins of Seamen were just like any other, a desperate struggle for each cap, for every scrap between scavengers, slavers, raiders, bandits, and all the other monstrosities pony and otherwise in the wasteland.

That was why I was glad to be living in Saint Clover, it was safe and nice compared to the wasteland.

It was still a bit before noon as I walked through the market deck of Saint Clover, the place was lively as ever. Scavengers selling what they had found in the ruins. Traveling merchants stocking up on supplies and merchandise. More than a couple of times saw some heavy weapons changing hands, which from what I understood was rare. Usually the trading of heavy weapons didn't happen due to ponies needed them for protection when scavenging or traveling. Today I was looking to see if any merchants had books that I could barter for. Dad had given me two hundred caps to spend and told me to get something I wanted, but, get it cheaper than what it should go for. Of course he also told me don't steal it, not that I would, to me it seemed that stealing from people you buy your food from was a monumentally stupid idea.

So I began casing the deck for what I was looking for and found my merchant. The merchant in question primarily sold clothes, scrap items, and various other things. He was an older stallion with a light purple coat and a fading blue mane, he wore a cap that looked kind of silly, but, looked fitting for him. Really seemed more like a hoarder trying to clean out his home than a serious merchant. But, I saw a small collection of books. I could make out a book about arcane sciences, wasteland survival, and a book on medicine. Of those three, the arcane sciences book was the one that interested me the most, however, if I could walk away with all three it would be quite a good day. I continued walked around for a while more, looking at some clothing, armor, a few guns, and a few nice pre war swords then I headed over to the older stallions stall.

The merchant was with another customer as I walked into their stall. I made my way around looking closer at what he had as he finished with the other customer. He had more than I expected, there was a lot of medical equipment, first aid and beyond. I also found a nice knife, it had a leg sheath, I also found another book, this one on how to use knifes and other weapons in hoof to hoof combat. So I picked up both up, and grabbed the three books I had spotted before. As I gathered all the items I was interested in the merchant walked up with a smile on his face, friendly, but, not too friendly. I might have misjudged him as being an easy pony to barter with.

“So it looks like ya found something of interest miss, is that all you looking for or are ya needing help?” The  merchant said in a rather happy and polite tone.

“Well I did find a few things of interest, and I was wondering how much you are asking for it all.” I replied giving a warm smile, or at least I hoped it was a warm smile.

“Alright, well let me add these all up for ya,” he replied cheerfully, apparently this was the most business he has gotten in a while. “Well ya got a good eye for these books, not many are interested in reading anymore, oh and this is a rather nice knife.” He finished as he drew the blade and checked to see its condition, after all, kind of hard to ask for any caps if what you're selling is a dull or broken knife.

“Well I need something to do, and we are kind of on our own anymore for getting an education. No schools to my knowledge exist anymore,” I snickered.

“Quite true Missy, well it all comes out to seventy caps, ya got them or not?” he asked as he put everything down on the counter.

I checked how many caps I had, I did the calculations on what the price from other merchants would have been for everything, and smiled. Dad would be proud, it was a great deal, and I put down the seventy caps. I just got what would be worth about two hundred fifty caps for under half the price.

“Here you go kind sir, and do expect more business from me next time I have the caps. You have a good selection, and much more reasonable prices than some of the others here.” I said with a smile, I was pleased by the prices and the service.

“Well I’m glad to hear it, nice to see a pony who respects those she trades with, and the price they offer their wares at,”  he chuckled.

I blushed a little, not on purpose, but, because in my experience most merchants were a bit rough. Then again, I before I never had all that many caps to toss around so why would they be nice to me?

“Well you best be checking back often, never know what curiosity I might have laying around, neither to I.” He said with a final chuckle, “Now ya have a good day miss.”

With that I headed out of the shop, one knife and three books more than planned, but, for considerably less than I worried about all of it costing me. So I floated my new goods into my saddle bag as well as the remaining bottle caps. With that I decided to stick around a little longer before heading deeper into the ship to see if I could find something to sell. After all, if I could find some more caps to buy a few healing potions and a new set of goggles I would be set for the next trip out into the wasteland. Whenever that was, it was up to Mom and Dad on when my next bit of survival training would be.

I wandered and headed deeper into the ship, passing quite a few of the common rooms and converted sleeping quarters. Deeper in I pasted the water systems, thankfully those were working properly and humming away as their magic purified the water. I continued deeper, knowing any place around here either something would belong to somepony or would be pretty well played out in terms of scavengable goods. So for several minutes more I kept walking, and it got quieter as the sounds of machinery fell away with the sounds of the ponies living in the ship. Finally I got deep enough that I could just hear the light howl of the wind outside, and hoof steps? Wait, stop, and listen, those weren’t echos of my own hoof steps, somepony else was down here, with me. Well maybe security to make certain nothing against the rules was happening. However, there was something about this that was making me feel nervous. Quickly I looked around and found a good spot to hide, and to be perfectly safe walked a few steps further forward, then silently crawled around into the hiding spot further back. That way my tracks would lead away from me instead of to me.

“Now lets see who else is down here...” I whispered to myself. Which I probably shouldn't have since well, it is silly to make any noise when trying not to make a sound to alert whoever else was here. But, hey, we all have our moments of not being a clever pony. Thankfully, it seemed that either my voice sounded much louder to me than it actually was, or the wind covered it up better than I thought it would as I saw a pale orange buck walk past. I noticed he had goggles, new ones, and a face mask. From the looks of it he traveled through the dunes to get here, and quite a ways too. And... what were those silver rings he had, they looked like they went over a ponies neck. Wait... a slaver? Oh no. Oh no no no no no! Scavenging mission aborted, time to get to Dad or Mom, it was no longer safe down here! Now just wait till he passes and then double back and-

“Come out, security asked me to come find you missy, apparently your mother is worried that you got lost” he called out, every word he from his lips sounding wrong. Then something fell, and hit me as I unintentionally moved back, then it hit the floor on one of the exposed metal areas, and he turned and saw me

“Ah, there you are, come out and lets get you to safety.” His grin... it said so many things I did not want to think about. So time to scratch the sneaking part, time to get to the running part.

With that I bolted out, and telekinetically grabbed some sand and flung it at him. As he moved to cover his eyes I then tugged his goggles off and pulled his other foreleg with my magic and watched him get a hoof full of sand in his eyes as he fell and I got a brand new pair of goggles. With that I was out of the room at a full gallop leaving him scrambling to clean out his eyes and get up. I could hear him cursing as I ran, my only goal to get to the point where I couldn't hear them.

After a few minutes of hurried running and bad choices on which way to go I was further into the uninhabited parts of the ship. I sat catching my breath when I heard a crash. I knew it had to be the slaver chasing after me as he bumped into a shopping cart somepony had abandoned down here many some time ago. I also knew he had managed to follow me through the cramped and maze like underbelly of the ship. Though I was quite certain he didn't know the layout of the lower decks as well as I did. So I started heading away as quietly as I could. Even if Mr. Slaver didn't know the place, no point on giving him a sound zero in on or trail to follow. I heard a more few curses coming from where the crash had came from, and a few steps towards where I had just been. This was as good of a time as any to get as far away from here as possible and find Dad or Mom. Unfortunately I either had to go up stairs which risked a lot of sound and a high profile, or to loop around and hope to sneak behind him and back out towards where the chase had started. Right now, less sound was optimal so sneaking around was my first choice.

As I crept around, I did find a few things lying around, a few bottle caps, and what looked like some scrap electronics. I used my telekinesis to grab them and put them in my saddle bags. At least it looks like the original plan of getting new goggles hadn’t completely failed, nor was scavenging the lower decks. Though, I probably should keep from getting too distracted by what is down here while trying to run away. I don't know how well Mr. Slaver knew his way around, though from the hoof steps I kept hearing he at least knew how to track, and that was not good for me. I also now knew that I really hate feeling like prey, it is terrifying. I also now had a lot more displeasure for slavers if they all were this good at tracking. I guessed he saw I was a blank flank at my age and figured nopony would bat an eye at me vanishing. For most of Saint Clover that might be true, but, my Mom, Dad, and my brother would miss me very much. They probably would also trek across the dunes to find me and kill every slaver that they came across while trying to get me back.

I heard him again, this time uncomfortable closer than he had been just a bit ago, only three halls or so away, thankfully he wasn't being very silent, so it was pretty easy to hear him. Then that got me to thinking, there were likely more slavers so he probably was trying to herd me into a trap. Well buck me, why didn't I think of that earlier? I needed to start going up levels, not down. Even with some of the bits and pieces I had found would fetch a good price from the city itself, it is not worth it. I needed to get out quickly, and quietly.

As I crept around, now much more on alert for more hoof steps, or shuffling, or even breathing, I was wishing I had one of those Stable-tec fore leg computers, Pipbucks I believe they were called. I had seen a few ponies with them before and they had explained what they were and the amazing technology that they were. The Eyes Forward Sparkle would be really handy now, but, those were rare and expensive. Ha, now if I could get into a Stable I might be able to get one. Too bad the only stable nearby was in a sand filled, ghoul infested subway tunnel near the balefire bomb crater in Seamane. That or the stripped bare stable that Dune City's founding population had come from. But, that was days north of the here, and probably had nothing but the walls left in it.

Getting wrapped up in my own thoughts was a bad habit of mine, right now a very bad habit to fall back into. This lead to me almost walking right into him. For my negligence I got to hear him mutter to himself “Red Eye will pay quite well for a unicorn, maybe I can finally get out of this crap business”. Red Eye? I thought I had heard that name from some of the other merchants, some sort of big name buyer of slaves or was it a big name slaver? Either way he supposedly was operating out of the ruins of Fillydelphia. That is a long ways away, and not many ponies traveled between the heartland and Seamane, beyond the few caravans that braved the badlands between Appleloosa and Colt. I also got to see his cutie mark, a lasso, how fitting for his occupation. As he began to pass the doorway I was hiding in I swung around and bucked him low. I know I hit my target with his cry of pain, the sound of him hitting against the hall's wall. So with Mr. Slaver bucked into a wall I ran, because I had just bucked a slaver in his most sensitive parts and he was already frustrated at my eluding of him, now, he was furious. His screams of pain were quickly being replaced with yelling filled with anger and contempt for me.

“Alright you little cunt, show yourself and I won't kill you. I will just put the collar on and fuck you, if you don't I am going to hunt you down rape you and then kill you!” He screamed as he started after me.

Nice offer, but, no deal, idiot. Question is, do I kill him? He is a slaver, trying to do his slaving in Saint Clover. Which, I believe was a capital offense and gets you shot on the spot by security. I had a knife, I should have put that on earlier since I did have a sheath for it, hell I could have used it a few moments ago after I bucked him I could have just stabbed it into his throat. Damn you hindsight, damn you and my brain for coming up with good plans after they could have been useful! Either way, time to bolt to security, let them handle it. His pain and frustration would cloud his judgement and that would mean his slave collars would still be in his saddle bags, that alone should get him put down. Plus he had mentioned putting a collar on me before using what remained of his stallionhood on me. I was also fairly certain that threatening assault, rape, and murder was not something taken lightly.

Now that I was running and not caring for stealth it didn't take long to get to where I wanted to go. I got to the right deck for a security post, and started running for it, I heard him, panting, how in the name of Celestia did he catch up to me that quickly? Save that thought for later, focus on not ramming into a wall. Oh... There was a wall, a wall welded into place, there was a lot of momentum still in me, and not much distance to the wall. Please don't knock me out, you are supposed to protect me not hurt me. I hit the wall, my face and whole front stung, and there was a loud bang as I smashed into the wall. My head hurt, my ears were practically ringing, maybe that was from the wall for me smacking face first into it. I needed to get up, before he caught up with me.

“There you are, you little cunt! You picked the wrong path in this maze, and now, I am going to gobble you all up!” he laughed maniacally and either what he said made no sense or my brain jumbled it up. Then he pulled out some sort of club with it in his mouth he moved to swing. I blocked with my left fore leg I heard a crack and felt an explosion of pain from my fore leg. Half of the club landed on my face, it broke, but, not just it so did my leg. Okay so, broken bones hurt. They hurt a lot, and now I knew exactly how much a broken leg hurt, and it was far more than I had ever thought it would hurt. I had gotten hurt before, badly in fact, but, this was my first broken bone and it completely out weighed the pain of every injury before.

I felt my eyes tear up in response to the pain. I could barely make out through the ringing in my ears and my blurred sight that he was smiling as he tossed the broken club away and reached into his saddlebags. I steeled myself for what I was about to do. I had to focus, I need to take him out, security was behind this wall and who knows how many minutes away, if they even bothered to check out the loud crash my impact of the wall had hopefully made. So I had to focus, focus just on the knife, I felt my magic wrap around the knife, undoing the lash that held it in its sheath in my saddlebag, then the flap of my saddlebag letting everything spill out. I quickly flipped it over and as I began to search for the spot I wanted to aim for. The spot in question was a major artery, close to the surface, easy to spot, always in the same place from pony to pony. I knew that shoving the knife into his throat would be enough to end his life and save mine, but, I would need to watch and guide my knife as I shoved it into this pony. I would have to watch myself kill another pony. I steeled myself for what I had to do and with gritting my teeth knowing what I had to do to survive and be free I shoved the knife forward forcing myself to watch so I didn't miss. The knife was very sharp, and very deadly, it slide easily into his neck, as time seemed to slow down I watched as my magically propelled knife buried deep into his throat, right between where his jaw was and his neck met his skull. The life in his eyes quickly faded as shock washed over his face and he limply collapsed over to my side.

I felt something pooling at my hooves, something wet and warm on me, I just laid there panting, my magic fell apart and the knife just sat there in the wound as his blood leaked out, staining his coat, and mine. I lay there for sometime, I don't know how long. I heard someone walk up through the fading ringing in my ears, they saw his body and galloped up. I saw her lips moving, wow, ponies looked weird when talking, why had I never noticed this before? I know I could hear her, but, I couldn't, something was blocking it, muffling everything, making it all fuzzy. I think I read about this once, it is called shock. It is something that ponies had happen to them when something traumatic happens, theorized to protect them from further injuring themselves. That... or I gave myself a concussion to end all concussions. Maybe both from the bits of feeling I was getting sporadically from my body. From the looks the mare gave me, she knew I wasn't there, and she left. I closed my eyes, some part of me crying out that is the opposite of what I should do, that I should fight to stay awake. The fight was too hard and I slipped into the darkness behind my closed eyes.

*                *                *

I heard the wind blowing, I felt the sand under my hooves, the warm air blowing my mane. I felt the sand hitting against my goggles. I was standing at the top of a dune, looking out at... somewhere. I couldn't make it out from here, my eyes didn't want to focus on it, and there was something bright and orange that way. The sky... the clouds weren't all there, they lingered in places in the sky, but, there was orange beyond them, and blues... and a great darkness in the other direction. Was that the moon? Sweet Celestia, what is going on, why is the sun and moon in the sky at the same time?! Better question, why were the clouds gone! What is going on? I felt something clamp around my neck, and a whisper “now you're mine”. I turned and saw a pony, no, a stallion with one red eye? “Your freedom is over, just as the skies are freed”. I saw others, what looked like everypony from Saint Clover all filing out of the ship, all with the same collar.

*                *                *

I woke up and I wasn't where I was before, I think this was one of the few clinics in Saint Clover. From the pony in the corner that I could see this might be the private one for security. I just laid there, my head hurt, my legs hurt, one more than the other, and there was still this nasty ringing in my ears. Somepony noticed I was awake and flashed a light in each of my eyes, said something about luck. Someone else saying smart, think someone else said I was a frigging idiot. Sounded like me. I felt a prick in my flank, and then I was out again.

I gasped, coughed, and then I looked around as I woke up. I was shaking, I wanted to run, not be in this room at the moment. I tried to get up and I felt a hoof on my shoulder, someone calling to calm down, relax, and breath. All of them were good suggestions, however, my body on the other hand wanted to run, vomit, and hyperventilate. Thankfully I only did the latter two. Well only somewhat thankfully on the vomiting, but, I was starting to calm down. Things felt like they were coming back to being sharper like they should be, instead of balls of techni colored fluff. I wanted to lay down on something fluffy, that would calm me down, and feel good on everything, since now everything hurt. Then I felt a hoof smack me across the face, that sent the world spinning and some how my hearing decided then to click back on.

“Calm down, Moonlight!” That was Dad.

“You're fine, security is here and they have been rounding up that stallion's friends.” That was Mom.

“Please stop moving Miss Moonlight, or we won't be able to reset your leg, again.” That would be a doctor, I would assume.

“Sis calm down, we are all here and safe, let them help you.” That would be my brother, Silver Sand.

“I... what... give me a few moments, things aren't quite clicking,” a voice replied to them, oh, that was me. Wow it took me that long to realize I was talking... Ow my head.

“Mr. Sands Mrs. Shores please, if you will wait outside, her concussion is making it hard for her to process what is going on. Her senses are overloaded from both pain and her body is still shaking off the effects of having gone into shock. As soon as she is well enough to walk I will let you know.” The doctor said, this seemed enough to get my family to leave.

“Sorry Dad, at least I got a good deal at the market first” I said sheepishly and tried to smile, though smiling is hard to do when you can't really feel your face.

“We will talk about that later, just get feeling better okay, Moonlight?” I could see him, his deep blue mane and tan coat walking out of the room with Mom and Silver ahead of him.

“Moonlight, please bite down on this, I can't in good conscious give you any more pain killers, if I do you probably will get addicted to them, or have a heart attack. Both of which I don't want and neither do you.” As he finished saying this I felt a rubber bar slid into my mouth, it bite down on it. “I am sorry.”

Sorry for what? He didn't send a slaver after me, he didn't weld that wall up. Then my left fore leg flared in pain again. Oh sweet merciful Celestia that hurt more than it did when I broke it! My vision almost completely went black, I shuddered and I felt my eyes water. He was working on fixing my broken leg, and he couldn't put me under or give me anything more for the pain. I think that is what he was sorry for, and I was still under the effect of the pain killers and it hurt that much. Maybe he was sorry that he was taking enjoyment out of getting to practice his field. I don't know I couldn't see much of anything through the blinding pain. Ground rule, no more broken bones, or more of no breaking the same bone after it is set until it heals.

“Can I pass out now?” I asked the good doctor, and seeing the look in his eyes, I knew he had sympathy for me right now.

“No, unfortunately the constable wants to talk to you first” The doctor said to me.

“The consta-what?” Was I this stupid normally or was this just a new word?

“Fancy word that the head of the watch likes to go by.” The doctor replied with a small roll of his eyes.

“Oh... um...  that is alright, I mean I am not terribly lucid at the moment so-” I said feeling a wave of nausea.

Then I heard a third voice chime in, a new voice, kind of had a sing song feel to it.

“Even better, less likely that you will lie, even if you use your words out of place instead.” That must be the 'constable', or maybe that was his name, Constable.

“Well then ask away.” I said as I whimsically swung my right fore leg to the side, glad that my left had been for the moment secured so I wouldn't move it.

“Well, alright then.” He said and then proceeded to ask questions about who was the slaver, when I noticed him following me, when I noticed what he was carrying. He took down what I recalled him saying. The whole time nodding, and only asking questions to clarify once he got me going on telling him what happened.

“Then I passed out and woke up here, I think here anyways. Uh... that's it” I finished duly, staring at the ceiling as I felt the doctor finish checking that the bone had set and jump started the healing process with a bit of magic.

“Very well, what you say fits with what others saw, heard, and we what found on him. Thank you for your cooperation. Your medical fees will be waved for your selfless sacrifice in the line of protecting the citizens of Saint Clover.” Constable said.

“Sacrifice sounds rather final... Uh, maybe a different word for the public statement?” I offered to Constable.

“Um, hm... Well yes, yes something less final, unless you rather ponies thinking you are dead.” I saw him smirk at me, huh, he has a good head on his shoulders. “Just a last bit of business, could you sign your statement, Miss Moonlight?”

“Right sure thing, horn signed is alright?” I asked Mr. Charming Constable.

“Quite, the doctor will sign as a witness to the testimony and you will be free to go, well once you can walk.” Smart aleck, but, enjoyable company, under better circumstances.

I wrapped my magic around the pen, and signed, a bit fancy thanks to reading old books on penmanship. I smiled as I finished it with a flourish and then relinquished my magic on the pen to the doctor.

“So I probably should leave before more of Mr. Slavers friends show up from out of town." I said with a frown, I didn't enjoy the idea of heading out with a broken leg. Well somewhat healed broken leg.

“Well that probably would be for the best, however, with the sand storm on it's way, you may want to wait.” Constable said. Great a sandstorm, but, that would make it equally hard to get in or out.

“Well, it is up to my parents then. Uh doctor, how long until my leg is fully healed, and how long till I can walk on it?” I said as I turned my head towards the doctor.

“You can walk on it now. Your bone will be weaker as it heals over the next week. I am giving you three healing potions, take one every other day starting tomorrow. You should be good to travel pretty quick after that. Just be careful it will easily break again until it is fully healed, even then, come have me check on it as soon as you get back.” He looked... optimistic, optimistic is good, right?

“I guess I should get used to walking on it then.” I said as the restraints were removed from my crippled leg. I started to roll onto my right side, and noticed that Constable was halfway out the door by then. Not even a goodbye. Well, not so pleasant company I guess, or maybe not so polite.

“Take it slowly and let us check your vitals, make certain I didn't miss anything.” The doctor said to me and I nodded in return to the him, and he helped me up and thus began an hour long physical that left me exhausted, well more exhausted than I was. Thankfully I was no worse for wear than a concussion, some bruises, and my broken leg. He also compiled a medical portfolio of me, and transferred it to a metal plate with a enchanted amethyst crystal embedded into it, said something about it keeping track of my medical information so if I ever get dragged into a clinic out cold, again, hopefully the clinic will have a computer able to read it and know exactly what is wrong with me. Very useful I thought, and accepted it gratefully. It was light, and the tiny metal beads that linked together with a rectangle bearing some simple information. The information in question was such things as name, birth date, and blood type stamped into the metal. It felt cool against my neck, and light enough to not constantly be on mind, but, enough to probably notice when gone.

“Well you seem pretty well off for somepony who just went through that. I hope I don't see you too much beyond check ups, Moonlight.” The doctor said with a smile, his mane resting softly to one side, I could see the base of it turning gray in places, outside of that it was a nice caramel color, his coat was also a nice orange color. I could see his cutie mark, a stethoscope. I smiled.

“Thank you, uh, what will happen to Mr. Slavers stuff?” I asked, knowing he probably didn't know the answer.

“Well the slave collars will taken apart and what of use will be put to use for the town, the rest, well I think all you are going to get is the face mask since your family travels.” He seemed a bit down at this, guess he didn't like talking about the dead terribly much.

“Thank you. Um... is it alright if I come back here if I get hurt again, umm doctor...” I asked him.

“Yes, and it is Patches. Maybe next time you will have a cutie mark, you are rather old not to have one.” Patches teased me.

I went flush, I am certain my gray coat started to turn pink or crimson, he simply grinned. Damn you genetics, my family was always late to getting their cutie marks, so far I am the latest bloomer that we know of. I had just turned twenty three and I still didn't have one!

“Sure, maybe next time you will have some candy for when I don't thrash about.” I stuck my tongue out at him, and he chuckled.

With that I walked, well limped, out of the clinic, and I was right, it was the one for security. I asked a guard if it was okay for me to come back here and get treated here. The guard smiled and told me that thanks to helping stop the slavers before anypony got taken I am completely welcome back up here. He also gave me a box of sugar bombs, while not candy, it was sweet and tasty, ignoring the fact it was two hundred years old like most food. It also was probably radioactive like everything else from the wasteland. As I moved to the lobby I saw my family, all three of them. Sitting there, looking tired, but, not worried, rather relaxed. I also saw Constable walking away and another guard walking up to me with my saddle bags.

“Your possessions ma'am, and a reward for helping in the capture of several slavers.” He said as he helped me with my saddle bags.

I noticed that they were bit heavier, which meant a lot of caps, that or they gave me something else. I would have to look later. I gave him a nod and a smile, then limped on towards my family.

“I'm sorry for giving all of you a scare, I thought that I might get a few more caps by going down there and finding some scrap that we could sell to the town. Particularly for keeping the purifiers and what not running.” I gave a sheepish smile towards them all. I got a warm smile from everypony.

Dad spoke first, “it's okay honey, you're alive and safe, and you didn't piss off the whole town.”

“Did I piss part of it off or just the slavers that got arrested?” I asked, what he said had worried me.

“Just the slavers, everypony else wants to throw a small party though that will wait for tomorrow night. You averted what would have likely been a long string of foalnappings in the Saint Clover.” He said with a wide smile, his pride was showing through clearly, Mom and Silver both reflected the same pride in me.

I sighed. I was relieved that I did some how ended up doing the right thing. As I looked down I looked and saw the doctor had taken the time to clean the blood out of my coat, then I thought about the goggles and face mask that I now possessed. Goods gotten from the death of another. It... felt wrong. But, wasn't that how everything worked now, we took from the dead to feed and protect ourselves? No think about that later, save it for one of those long quiet walks or long sleepless nights. Anything other time except for now. Right now I am supposed to be happy, my family is supposed to be happy. I forced a smile onto my face, it didn't want to stick so I ended up with just a slight one instead.

“So, what is the plan Dad. Go out now, or after the storm passes?” I asked Dad.

Dad just looked at me confused at the question. “What do you mean, do you think we need to leave?”

I just blinked then I shook my head, giving him my answer, and knowing it probably was for the best to stick around for at least another day. Tonight I had four books to read, and saddle bags to organize, putting what I would sell off tomorrow at the top. I had gotten a few nice things today. I also needed to count my now swollen caps bag, that was far more than the one hundred thirty caps that should still be in there.

I limped behind the rest of my family as they left the lobby and we headed for our residence that Mom and Dad had bought long ago at one of the few hotels on the ship. When we arrived we found extra security there, to make certain that I would stay safe. I guess rooting the slavers out by complete accident endeared me greatly to them. Not that I was complaining, now I could get a good nights sleep with knowing a lot more ears and eyes were looking out for me tonight than just my own. Though, that didn't help the creeping paranoia that still lingered in my head. The paranoia that at any moment somepony was going to snatch me up on our walk back. That by being so quiet and behind my family somepony could just slide on by and take me away.

*                *                *

I couldn't sleep, though, this night it was more of I had been out cold for most of the day. So, I read, I started with the hoof to hoof weapons training guide. It was interesting to see earth ponies and zebras fighting with just knifes, hoof held or mouth held. But, given how things happened earlier today, or was it yesterday by now, anyways, any pointers would help. There were some very good pointers on vital areas, for both lethal and non lethal takedowns. Though, I imagine now non-lethal takedowns were beyond pointless. Still, it was a good thing to keep in mind. I continued reading seeing the use of hoof blades as well as fighting styles for swords, including leg blades that extended out from their spot on a ponies fore leg. At the end it gave a basic guide to fighting using telekinesis with various weapons. All of them improvised. I guessed I would have to find another training guide focused for magic users.

The hoof to hoof fighting manual was in surprisingly good condition for being two hundred years old, though, somepony with loving care had restored the book a few times. I guessed over the years a few other ponies shared my love of books. I skimmed through the other books idly as I thought about what happened earlier, definitely yesterday by now. I know Saint Clover let anypony in who wasn't foaming at the mouth, or had a outstanding bounty on their head. Still, it was surprising that they never checked a ponies saddlebags. Hay, they didn't even take weapons or ammo away. Guess, they figure anyone starts to try something serious they will hear the shots from security and come galloping in to save the day. Yesterday kind of showed them to be wrong about that. I got the feeling that with how messed up I had gotten, that by the time they showed up, I would have been dead, or far worse if I hadn't dealt with him myself.

I shuddered remembering what he had threatened to do to me. I shuddered as I thought about what if I had gave up, I would have been his or their trick pony for weeks given how far Fillydelphia was. That was not a pleasant thought. I smiled warmly as I brought the knife in front of me that I had used to kill him. If not for my good eye and the merchants wide collection... Then I dropped the knife, it was still somewhat stained with his blood as it finally hit me. I had killed a pony with my own hooves. Well okay, with my own magic, part of my mind reminded me, shush logical brain now isn't the time for that. It was still my action that lead to his death. His blood had drained out of him as I watched his life fade from his eyes. A look of shock on his face. If he could have he probably would have had his mouth agape. I couldn't believe I could do that to another pony. But, I didn't have a choice, did I? He was going to do whatever he pleased with me once I passed out, and there was no guarantee that I would ever wake up based on his threats. Even if I did, I would be a slave, off to Fillydelphia at the hands of captors who hated me, who would abuse me. No, I shouldn't let this loom over me, he deserved it, like it or not it had to be done. The simple fact of the wasteland was you killed to save yourself. You looked after oneself over all others. I saved more than just my own life with ending his. Knocking him out wasn't an option that I had, I only had one shot to deal with him.

I knew my logic to be sound, and my reasons right. The action of killing him had been just. Still, killing another... it felt so wrong. It should I told myself, it should always feel wrong to kill another. Even killing in self defense as a last resort. I am right with this, or would my self preservation instincts kick in next time my life was in danger and I would kill again even if other options were present? I took a deep breath. This wasn't helping, I should have known better that this won't help. I needed to distract myself, something not about killing. My eyes landed upon the Big Book of Arcane Sciences, perfect I thought to myself, a good way to think about anything besides death. I opened it to the first page, and started to read the massive book. As I absorbed the information, did the sample work in it my mind I calmed down and I relaxed. I smiled, I think now I can get some sleep. I closed the book after an hour of studying it. Slide it and the rest of my goods back into my saddlebags and closed my eyes.

*                *                *

I heard the wind, it was comforting sound, a sound you almost always heard out here. A constant companion in the wasteland. I walked, the sand had given away to some of the solid ground in the ruins of Seamen. The wind guided me as I trotted down the main streets of the city, between old burned out skyscrapers, turned over carriages, and crashed skywagons. I saw the skeletons of the past, did nopony ever come back to bury them? Would it matter in a few decades when the dunes erased the city? I heard something rattle, like bone on bone. I looked to see the source, I didn't see anything that would explain it.

I kept walking, I kept hearing the rattling, getting closer, but, always stopping when I looked around for it. I felt something wet at my hooves, I looked down, and my coat was stained blood red from my usual gray. The red slowly crept up, staining my coat, I stepped back, it felt like my legs were on fire. I fell on my back in my panic, and I saw it, a skeleton pony, staring at me. It stomped down a hoof on my face. All was darkness.

*                *                *

I woke up with a start, my heart hammering, I lay in my bed breathing, and listening. Slowly my heart calmed and I heard the wind again. I also heard talking in the distance, it must be morning. I looked around my room to make certain I was alone, and I thankfully was. I didn't need anypony seeing me freaking out from a dream even if warranted from yesterday. I still felt it foalish of me to panic so badly from a dream. I mean yeah it was a bit odd, and suddenly ending, but, it was a dream, I was dealing with having blood on my hooves, having killed somepony. Yes it was traumatic, but, I need to get past this.

“Ugh... I need something to listen to so I can make my brain shut up.” I muttered aloud to the empty room. My eyes scanned the room and found an old radio, which, two hundred years ago would have been amazing, but, no radio stations still existed, at least out here in Seamane. According to Dad and Mom there were a few radio stations still in existence. I sighed and shook my head as I got up off of my bed and headed to the common room. As I opened my door I saw Mom and Silver at the table eating. They saw me and gave me a warm smile as I moved to join them.

Mom spoke first, “Were you able to get any sleep Moonlight?” I hear in her voice some notable concern, her eyes spoke that she hadn't slept all too well either.

I simply nodded at first, then I frowned. “It could have been better, but, considering how much I was out yesterday I am glad I got any." I said, and it seemed to make Mom relax a bit.

I looked at the table and thought for a few moments, as I did Silver slide a bowl of sugar bombs in front of me and a bottle of water. I looked up at him he smiled at me, and I returned a weak smile. “Thank you, Silver.”

He simply kept smiling and returned to his seat and resumed eating his own breakfast. I turned to my bowl and started to slowly eat. My brain feeling kind of shot now, guess things for now had run it's course. The ancient food some how still tasted good, though, figured probably pretty bad for me if it kept good for two hundred years, and it probably had two hundred times my yearly intake of preservatives in it. I cracked a smile and focused on eating, one step at a time Moonlight.

Normalcy, something we strive for in our lives. We want things to not deviate from what we know. Seeing me smiling and eating seemed enough for now, Mom and Silver looked more relaxed, and turned to eat their breakfast too. I knew what I was going to do today, sell things off, get a helmet, maybe some barding, hopefully a gun and some ammo. I really wanted some protection, my safe little world that I had constructed about Saint Clover was wrong, as such, I had to adapt. Adapting in this case was armor and weapons. I really had no idea on weapons, I had a bit of a idea on barding though. Come to think of it, I don't think I had ever seen a unicorn wear a helmet. Do they even make helmets for unicorns? Guess I would find out when I got to the marketplace in a little. I picked up my bowl as I finished off the bottle of water.

“I am going to head out to the market. I picked up a few things yesterday that I want to sell off, and I am going to look at getting a few things.” I said over my shoulder at Mom and Silver. I only heard a grunt of affirmation from Mom as I set things on the counter next to the old sink. “I will be back once I have everything.”

With that, I levitated my saddlebags onto my back and headed out the door. As I did, I saw two guards at my door nod to me, and one explained to me that he was to tail me when leaving my family's residence. I felt at ease with having someone looking over me, someone with a bit of power. I gave him a smile and thanked him. He thanked me, I blinked then remembered, I had stopped a possible slaver problem that could have taken anypony, even their families away from here. I felt silly for forgetting I wasn't the only one with other ponies in their lives who they cared about and the slavers had been a threat to them all.

I wasn't used to having a shadow, and after yesterday having one made me a bit jumpy. Every time I got spooked I apologized to him, it wasn't his fault that he was spooking me. It was a relief when we got to more crowded parts as we moved towards the marketplace. It easier to ignore somepony walking behind you when there are dozens of others walking all around you. I saw the merchant from yesterday and walked up to him, browsing his wares once more, hoping to find another good catch. However, it seemed he hadn't gotten anything terribly interesting, which wasn't surprising since it had been only a day. So I walked up to him, hoping to talk to and thank him.

“Why hello there Missy, I heard about what happened yesterday good to hear that knife of mine came in handy.” He said then gave me the biggest grin he could. His grin read like he was almost expecting something to have happen yesterday after I left his shop. “I probably should have mentioned it to someone, but, I had seen the guy who tried to get ya eyeing ya and following ya the whole time ya was here.”

“I... well, how could you have known he would try to do what he did.” I said with a shrug. At least I thought one couldn't discern somepony else's motives with just looking at them. I caught his look, maybe he could read minds and under his hat there was a unicorn horn.

“No, no magic, just good at reading people is all, have to be to be good at buying and selling.” He said and I stammered, was he seriously mind reading? I looked at him again and I swear there was no way his smile could get bigger.

“Well, thank you for the good deals at least, saved my life and helped calm me down after the fact.” I held out my left fore leg, seeing the brace I remembered I hadn't taken my healing potion yet and winced as he gently shook it.

“Well thank ya for being so polite, and coming back to check my wares. Here have a free healing potion, I think you are going to need more before the week is out.” He said with a wink.

I nodded and gratefully drank down the healing potion. I felt the pain start to go away immediately and over all felt better. I smiled, I felt better than I usually did. I wonder if maybe healing potions had some sort of inherent trait to make the recipient feel happy. I looked around his shop again before asking him.

“So, you wouldn't happen to have a helmet for a unicorn? Or maybe some barding with padding.” I asked him, still feeling the effects of the healing potion as it felt like my broken bone was mending and my bruises started to faded away.

“No, but, if ya got some stuff to sell I wouldn't mind looking over it, maybe give ya something to trade to a prospector who has what ya are looking for.” He answered, practically beaming.

         He seemed happy just for the chance to barter with me again, even if this time he would be giving me the caps. Strange, always thought merchants wanted all the caps. So I pulled out what I had managed to scavenge, including the face mask from the slaver, I didn't want to have that around. Bad memories, also, his blood had stained it badly. That would be a rather horrid reminder. After a few minutes he handed me about four hundred more caps, most of it from the face mask, the rest was from scrap metal, electronics, abandoned medical equipment, and various pre-war junk found while down below.

“Thank you, um, what is your name by the way? I feel I should know it since you have been rather generous to me.” I said with a blush coming over my face.

“They call me Shorthorn” he said and levitated his hat off of his head, to show a rather short horn almost impossible to see below his thinning mane.

“Knew it” I said flatly, holding back a smile. Then we both started laughing.

“Still no mind reading magic here though Moonlight, so ya can't learn it from me,” he said with a sly smile. “Now get going and find the stuff ya lookin' for before somepony else buys it before ya find it.”

"Thank you, Shorthorn." I said then nodded and headed out of his stall as I added the new bag of caps to my other one in my now very empty saddlebags.

I now had roughly nine hundred eighty caps, security had given me one hundred fifty caps per slaver as reward money. I felt I could probably get some decent armor, a good solid gun, a holster, and plenty of ammo. Hopefully a ammo belt as well. First was the guns, because probably would be the most expensive of all the equipment. Also the gray stallion running the place looked rather intimidating, as did the huge collection of guns around the place.

As I walked up the gray stallion running the stall walked up to me and greeted me cordially, this was going to take some getting used to. I mentioned that I was looking for a gun for protection, and he took me to a table full of pistols and started to ask about my experience with guns and knowledge of them. When I asked him why he was asking, he told me, “As a tailor would take measurements to fit a suit, I take measurements to fit the right gun to their new owner.”

I smiled, glad to see this was for my own benefit, not his just wallet's. Then again I think he knew how badly I wanted something more than a knife to protect myself with, and after yesterday probably was having a increase in sales. After a few minutes he had given me a simple semi automatic nine millimeter pistol. He threw in the holster for free, charged me ten caps for a belt covered in pouches, and fifty caps for ten spare magazines. He then went on to explain how to fire it by magic and by mouth, as well as how to aim with both, and gave me instructions for how to maintain the gun.

I ate up all the information, and I knew my hunger for knowledge had gotten around, but, it was funny to see somepony taking joy in bestowing his knowledge to me. He talked about weapon modifications, I asked if he had any in stock, he sadly told me he didn't have any at the moment. He mentioned different types of ammo, hollow point for flesh targets, +P for more penetration, Jacketed Hollow Point or JHP for short which was a hollow point round with a metal jacket on it so it retained most of the penetration power of a regular round and the horrific effects of a hollow point round. He mentioned surplus ammo, cheap stuff, hard on the gun, not that great of quality. He also taught me how to manually reload rounds. That was probably the most useful bit of information he gave me as it was useful for all of those who went out into the wasteland for long periods of time.

At the end of the better part of two hours I had a nice nine millimeter pistol, about two hundred rounds, plenty of pouches for magazines and ammo, a cleaners kit, and a lot more knowledge of guns than I had ever thought I would get. I also came out of it three hundred and fifty caps lighter. Every cap was worth it I felt. Already as I walked out of his stall with the gun in its holster on over my chest, my little metal medical card bumping into it gently with each step, I felt safer.

    Next up was finding myself some barding. So I went to a shop that had a various 'armors' displayed, most of it looked more like it was to hold your insides in when you got shot than actually seemed protect you. Then again, most of what really protected you cost more than getting your insides put back in it seemed. So it was a battle of what my caps could get me, and what I felt comfortable wearing... Some of the 'armor' was more of the type for distracting your enemies than protecting you. Thankfully it was busy, so I had a while to think and browse.

I asked one stallion what he would suggest for wearing in the wasteland, he looked as if he had spent some serious time out there, and judging from his outfit's need of repair probably was back to get repairs or a replacement. He suggested a few outfits to me, most of which were very practical and no frill. Perfect in my book, and, it gave me a more reasonable selection to look at.

As I stared at the selection some more, figuring what of the so called light armors I felt fit me best I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned and saw that a security mare had shown up to replace my shadow. She had a yellow mane and a light green coat. She smiled and offered a hoof at finding me some barding. With her help I had selected a rather light weight leather barding. I was happy to see it would cover me from neck to hoof in rather tight fitting but not terribly restrictive padding and offer a reasonable degree of protection. She then mentioned to me if I was serious about protecting myself that I should not be afraid to go for heavier armor.

“It may restrict movement,” she said, “but, the armor plates within can stop larger rounds and blasts.”

I nodded, “So what about helmets, for you know horn heads like us, certainly the military had unicorns who needed helmets during the war too.”

"Well for the most part helmets end before where our horns lay on our head, so they don't have to have a special slot or hole for our horns. The only time that isn't the case is when there is a face mask on them as well or they are for covering the entirety of one's head." She said. "But, there are a few that do cover the horn, mostly they are hard to come by due to rarity. However combat medic helmets had horn protection due to many combat medics were unicorns, and well without a horn it is harder to patch somepony up while getting shot at."

She paused for a moment as she thought something over.

"Ah, you should also get a proper respirator." She added as she finished her train of thought.

“Why a respirator?” I asked my guard, I didn't think I would really need one while in Saint Clover.

“Well, you know how bad those sand storms can get, and... well you may have to at some point leave Saint Clover and I think you rather not be caught without one.” She replied, looking slightly away from me. I followed her gaze to see it was directed at nothing in particular.

"Plus there are a lot of things in the air that are nasty to breath in. Not just smelling, but, bad for you as well. Radioactive partials, poisonous smoke, tear gas, and a number of other things. Since your family goes out from time to time as well, and you probably will eventually get bored living on this rust bucket, best to have something to protect yourself with. Think of it as barding for your lungs!" Her point was valid, but, still it felt like she was trying to hide something. Were there those who wanted me to leave? Or maybe they were thinking of having me joining security? She caught me looking at her with my eyebrow raised and eyes slightly pleading for an answer, she simply sighed.

“Listen, Moonlight, you did a wonderful thing for us. We at security appreciate what you did and what happened to you. However, there are some ponies with a fair bit of wealth and power who want you to go. Mainly due to they fear if we keep you around somepony will show up looking for revenge.” The look on her face told me she was here to inform me that I wouldn't get to stay on the ship past when my leg healed, if that. “It isn't that almost everypony is thanks you for killing those slavers before they could hurt anypony. However, now everypony is a bit more jumpy, and seeing you they feel will keep reminding everypony of what happened. They seem to think your leaving would help calm down the situation faster. Return life to normal.”

I actually could completely understand what she was saying, and that made it a lot worse. Because I couldn't argue. I had no room to. But, they had at least the good manners to let me know this early on, and let me get equipped.

    “Now your family will get to stay, you will be able to visit again in a few weeks once things begin to calm down. But, I wouldn't count on being able to move back in completely for probably two months. Best idea is head up to Dune City, take job here that will take you out there. At least you will earn some caps and be safe.”

Dune City was a trading hub on the road out to Colt and north to the Equestrian Heartland. Dune City was also very anti-slaver, which worked for me. As a trading hub I could send messages back home. I could even receive packages from Mom and Dad. It, however, was a few days out, which meant I needed to gather supplies for the trip. It wasn't going to be easy walking over those dunes. That part of the sea of dunes was the most ever changing thanks to the mountains around there funneled the wind so the dunes moved swiftly and almost no solid ground remained. I looked up at the security mare.

“So, guess it is a good thing I picked up a book on medicine and wasteland survival yesterday” I said with a slight chuckle towards her. It got a smile, a honest smile. I think that made this easier for both of us.

“I guess so, those of us up at security are going to prepare some provisions for your trip, so you best focus on healing up. I would also go talk to Doctor Patches about your leg. Make certain it is all healed before you have to go.” She handed me a canteen, it looked beaten, but, it had stamped on it 'May the Goddesses Protect Me' it was a commemorative Seamane canteen.

I teared up, and hugged it to my chest as I tried to hold back my tears “Thank you, I... I would like to finish up shopping then go to Dr. Patches.” I needed to finish what I came up here for, I needed to get this leg fixed faster than the doctor would care for. I had to get ready for this lonely trip.

*                *                *

After my bit of crying at the “Armory”, as the owner of the store called it, I had been given a bit of extra room. I had insisted on paying full price even when offered a discount, though, instead he had gone and made certain everything of mine was in peak condition before handing it over to me. I could see in many ponies eyes they hated that I was being exiled, they felt that I was a hero to them. But, at the same time they seemed to feel that it was what needed to be done. Once we were out of there and on our way up to Patches I felt a bit better, this time having the security mare next to me as we walked alone down the halls made me feel far more at ease. When we arrived at Patches there wasn't a line, I got a few friendly waves from the lobby, both from security and a few ponies there to report one thing or another to security.

My escort held the door open for me and I saw Patches was expecting me. Why did it feel like I was told I would be leaving a day after everypony else? Right, I probably was the last pony on the boat to know, I was, after all, out for about half a day. Patches looked happy to see me and exhausted, I think he might have had a few choice words for somepony who visited him a few minutes prior to my arrival.

“I am guessing you were informed about your exile then, Moonlight?” he said with a look of disdain for the word or for the ponies who had issued the order. I simply nodded. “Then you know that I am to mend your leg, unfortunately I still can't give you anything for the pain as risk of addition to Med-x would be disastrous for you and would be unconscionable for me to allow to happen.”

I gulped, he would be using magic to make my bone properly and quickly heal, and apparently it was going to hurt, a lot.

“Can I ask you for a favor?” I asked him.

He nodded.

“Can you write how to do your healing spells in case I need to use them on myself while I travel?” I asked and this surprised him a little. I think he was figuring I was going to ask for him to ignore the possibility of addiction for the sake of avoiding the pain.

“Yes I can, but, it will have to wait until after I mend your leg. You will probably need a while to recover, so, it will give me proper time to write down instructions for the first aid spells. I am not giving you anything beyond that what I would let an untrained pony doing.” His tone was one of finality on what I could get for spells. I nodded in agreement.

“Well lets get this over with” I said and climbed onto the cot that he had next to him.

He simply nodded and instructed me to open my mouth, he then floated in the rubber bar that I had bitten down on last time. When ponies describe pain, generally they have something to compare it to, some way of conveying how it felt. To be honest, I feel my vocabulary lacked what is needed to describe it exactly. At first it was just a general sore, like when I was standing on the leg. Then it felt just like when my leg had been broken by the slavers baseball bat. Then it started to feel like it was wound was crawling around my leg and rotating. I felt hot tears roll down my cheeks as I bit hard into the rubber bar. My eyes were clenched shut, whatever he was doing I didn't want to see it. I started to feel as if my leg was getting stretched out, new bone growing to outright replace the damaged. Then as quickly as the pain started it was over, I let out the bar and lay on my side gasping for breath.

“All done, you should get up and try to walk on it in a few minutes, or whenever you feel like getting up.” I saw his eyes filled with pity for me. I felt pity for whoever my first patient would be, then realized it probably was going to be myself. Celestia protect whoever it was that I first treated with that spell if wasn't me.

I laid there for a few minutes, the only sounds in the room being a low hum of the lights, the distant sound of the storm outside which had turned from a sand storm to a monsoon. The steps of security ponies outside of the clinic. I had to admit, beyond the pain and weird sensations that hadn't been so bad.

I slowly climbed onto the floor and tested standing up. Everything seemed to work just fine. As I walked around the clinic I felt the continuing bounce of my medical tag against my chest. I remembered the term dog tag after a while, was named after the likeness to the collar tags for a dog’s for identification. I turned and opened my saddlebags and pulled on the light weight leather barding. I then secured the knife on my left foreleg over where my bone had been broken, and the pistol in its holster against my chest. I slide the pouches on, memorized which one had what magazines loaded with what ammo. I practiced moving the slide with my magic, as well as my hoof. I think revolvers would be a bit easier to operate by mouth and hoof. Though, a revolver would probably be much harder to reload without magic than a magazine based pistol. I slide a magazine into the gun, racked a round, and put the safety back on and holstered it. I then loosely put on the canteen, the goggles and the helmet. It felt nice. It felt... comfortable, more so than I had expected given I was a unicorn and had to shove my horn into a metal cone in the helmet, as well as my smaller frame made it a bit hard to find proper sized barding for me.

I walked around for a while in the barding, testing how it moved around me, how my leg felt. I felt good, my armor felt at home, I felt safe. So I walked up to where Patches was sitting as he wrote. As I walked up I noticed that he had written a short novel for me, yay something new to read. I stood there waiting for him to finish for a few minutes, and when I saw it would be a while longer so I decided to talk to my escort.

“So, since I am going to have to head out of here, is there anything you can tell me about the wasteland for my trip to Dune City?” I knew a fair bit of the surrounding area thanks to Mom and Dad telling me stories about when they were prospectors. As well as a few excursions with them once I had been old enough for them to be comfortable on taking me out during the day. But, all that was either information on the close surroundings of Saint Clover or decades old information. Things change and information expires, I know that, so I needed to know what I could.

“Well, you already know where Dune City is, well relative to where we are. So, I guess first few things are, don't travel by any sort of road with structures near it, raiders, slavers, and bandits love to watch the roads for targets. And since you will need to go through a bit of the outskirts of Seamane you are going to probably go through more than your share of suburbs. These areas are full of raiders. So shoot anypony who looks crazy and is wearing spikes, or old tires. They will do the same to you, or worse.” She paused and waited for me to digest what she had said before moving on. I gave a simple nod when I was ready for more.

“Next is mines, you will hear these beep a few times before they go off. Best way of dealing with them is to look for their orange lights and avoid them. That is if you can't shoot them. Don't go getting any clever ideas of running up to them and pressing the disarm tab on them. Seen far too many ponies loose their legs or heads to that stunt.” She said with a face telling of seeing the aftermath of such foolish acts.

I nodded in understanding.

“Now, really you need to just worry about supplies, keep food and water on you at all times. If you have to drop stuff, drop food and water last. Without it you will die far faster than with all your horded guns, ammo, and armor. Also climb dunes as little as possible, they will drain your energy and take a long time to climb. If you can walk along the top of Dunes, it will give you a good vantage of your surroundings.” She said as she tapped her chin with a hoof.

So far it all was making sense, nothing too insane, no fields of invisible death, no pink clouds of death floating around.

“There is one silent killer though, radiation, if you taste blood in your mouth, you need to leave wherever you are as quickly as you can, that is the first sign of exposure. Limit it as much as you can, drink purified water whenever you can. Radaway will help so will Rad-X, though I would suspect you would want to go for Rad-X over Radaway due to Radaway tastes like rancid oranges.” We both smirked and gave a small laugh at that, we both knew how bad Radaway tasted. Then I gave a nod to continue.

“Now for navigation there are a few large towers, they are called MASEBS's towers they are some pre-war towers for some project that as far as any of us can tell never worked. The ones around here seem to be dead. Out north some pony's say that there is this DJ Pon3 uses them to broadcast his radio station to anyone who can hear him. But, guess it can't get to out here, either the mountains between New Appleloosa and Colt block the signal, or the signal needed to be boasted by the towers around here. In any case, they should be a good shelter provided you can open the front door. Not an easy feat mind you.” She said the tone of her voice saying she had probably given a tower a try herself at some point.

That was interesting, now I kind of wanted to pay one of these towers a visit and see if I could get it turned on. Better yet, see if somepony had posted a job to go do that. For fill my curiosity and fill my bag with caps. I noticed that Patches had joined us.

“That really covers what I know, the people at Dune City will be better informed. I just feel it would be best to not go deeper into Seamane, these ruins are not safe, not to mention the radioactive crater near the business district next to the military fort, and ministry row.” She held a hoof to her chin again then nodded, “yeah that is all I got for you.”

“Now then,” Patches said “I have my notes for you to study. Don't lose them, I won't make you a second copy.” He said with a smile. “I hope your trip sees you well, and that we will see you again in a while. Maybe we will be able to get your exile ended by the time you return. You be safe, Moonlight.”

The security mare nodded, “I hope we can, and I hope you stay safe.”

I nodded as well. “I hope that all of you stay safe, this place is my home, even if I am not welcome in it.” I smiled, “alright, I am going to head home, I think... I want to spend some time with my family.”

Both of them nodded, and Patches walked with us to the lobby. My escort followed me all the way to the door of my family's residence. She then took up watch on the right side of the doorway, giving my families residences two guards once more. As I moved into the common room I relaxed, everypony was here, and safe. I walked over to the unoccupied sofa and laid down on it, I closed my eyes for just a moment and fell asleep.

When I woke up, everything felt quieter, and there was a blanket over me. In front of me a note lay on the table. I didn't get up, I didn't need to after all as I simply levitated the note to me and read it. It was from dad, apparently he had wanted to talk to me when I got home, but, he respected my need to rest. He mentioned that he had an idea of what I was going through, he had written his first experience with killing somepony. In his case it had been shortly after he and grandfather had arrived in the area around Seamane. It had been a insane raider, a nest of them had decided to try out a rocket launcher on Dad and Grandpa, though apparently the insanity of raiders also made them crap shots. This had led to half of them being blown to bits when the raider fired at the window seal and took out a entire building. Then, Dad and Grandpa had found themselves in a fight. Though it wasn't much of one when you had rifles and they had knifes. He mentioned how he had never killed anything so up close and personal as I had, so he felt whatever I was going through was probably much more profound and deeply upsetting compared to his experience. He also felt sorry for me, he had hoped to shelter me and Silver from as many of the horrors of the wastelands for as long as he could.

He felt that he had failed us, or more specifically me, in that by me getting myself into trouble he was at fault. I felt my ears flatten against my head as I kept reading. I felt sorry for Dad, it wasn't his fault that this happened to me. I thought, did they even know about my upcoming exile? Goddesses they all are hurting from this, and it was about to get worse. I felt a tear roll down my cheek, I left them a letter, letting them know I was going to go for a walk, I would have a security guard with me. I got up, and realized, I hadn't taken off any of my things. I chuckled slightly, at the thought of Dad walking in seeing a armed and armored me fast asleep on the sofa. I sighed, I would really miss this place. I then headed out the door, maybe some time on the deck would help clear my head.

I was really glad I had the goggles and respirator, the air was hard to breath at best, and almost impossible to see when we first got out here. I felt the wind blowing my mane and tail, the sand scratching against the glass of my goggles and bouncing off the padding of my barding. The rain had stopped and the sand storm turned monsoon had turned back into a sand storm. I saw my escort taking shelter in the doorway we had exited to get on the top deck. But, it still felt nice out here, soothing, to have the wind blow over me, something so simple, was so calming for me. Then I heard a shot, barely heard it over the wind and sand. I looked at where my escort was, she had heard it too, I directed her to get back inside to get help. She nodded and disappeared through the door we had exited through. I crept forward in time to see two shadows run out of the ship, and one of them had something on their back. I heard an explosion, and saw a gout of smoke, I moved closer. Thankfully the ship still had quite a number of ways from the deck to the shore. It wasn't hard to sneak around when visibility was so poor and well, I don't think anypony could hear anything with the wind howling.

I saw them a bit better now, the one with something on their back had a security pony on her back, a silver collar was around the security stallions neck. In that moment I had decided what was going to happen, and who these ponies were. I moved closer, seeing if I could spot the detonator. To the right of the mare with the security stallion on her back was a dull sand colored unicorn mare with her orange magic was holding the detonator. I also noticed both were carrying a lot of grenades. All I needed to do would be get the stallion away from them, and then, pull a few pins. But, I needed to see the pins, this was going to be risky at best, and probably fatal to me.

I stalked them, trying to figure out a way to get the stallion away from them. My best idea was to yank his captors leg out from underneath her, if we were on a dune I would just pull the sand and swamp them. Unfortunately those were a little ways off, every moment I waited the greater the chance one of them would notice the my tailing them or security showing up and making the situation worse.

‘Do or die I guess.’ I thought to myself as I wrapped the prisoner in my magic, not lifting him, or lightening his weight, just enough so when I pulled this off I could yank him away before his two captors could understand what was happening. I took a deep breath, I attempted to pull every pin, I saw a few move off, the ones closer to me. Both of them stopped, I levitated my pistol out and lined up the shot for the detonator.

Bang.

The sound of my gun going off was almost deafening, I saw the detonator shatter, and I yanked the security stallion to me. I shoved him behind me and fired again, I grazed the pony who had been carrying him, I felt something whiz past me, I saw a gun, I couldn't tell who had it. Then I was on my back, my ears were ringing, and there was a lot of smoke. I think the grenades finally went off. I laid there as the ringing stopped, I saw the security buck, his collar still had a red light on it, he was also still out cold. I rolled over then walked over to him and examined the collar. It was a crude and simple device it prevented the wearer from tampering with it or anypony else through the use of locking its mechanics behind a panel. However, since they were not meant to stay on forever that meant there was a work around. A few moments of study and I found the deactivation button and pressed it with my magic. The collar popped off and the red light died. I smiled, it felt better to save another than myself. Saving ponies felt right, and made me feel like I finally was doing something worthwhile. Even if what I was doing stained my hooves with more blood. A selfless action felt better than a selfish action. I could get used to this. I turned to look at where the two slavers had been. I tasted bile at the sight of their bodies. Their corpses were split in two, blown apart by the grenades around their necks. Their organs and blood spilled all over the place like two horribly morbid pinatas. Okay so killing was still something not easy to get used to. At least when it is that gruesome.

The ringing in my ears faded finally, and I heard shouts of ponies coming from the gangway from Saint Clover. I had kept close to the security stallion and upon examination found that apparently the slavers had drugged him. They also apparently had found a way to escape and get some of their gear back. My escort found us first and I waved to her with a big grin on my face.

“I saved him, and blew those two up at the same time.” I pointed to the remains of the two slavers.

She blinked a few times taking the situation in. “Good work Moonlight, however you have to go, now. Something has happened and we are to arrest you.”

What... I... but... I just saved a member of security. Who the fuck is calling the shots around here?! Because I have a bullet for them. Then a bag landed next to me.

“Here is the supplies we were preparing for you. Get going, you need to be gone.” I could see tears forming in her eyes. “Thank you Moonlight, we won't forget you.” She helped me stand up, and put on the saddlebag. I galloped off into the night. Tears streaming down my cheeks.

Footnote: Level up.

New Perk Added:  Light Touch; You prefer wearing armor that lets you make the most use of your agility, due to this enemies have a harder time hitting you where it matters. You also have a slightly better chance to hit your enemy where it matters due to not having restrictive clothing in the way. You gain a +5% critical chance against enemies, enemies suffer -25% critical chance against you, while you are wearing light armor or no armor.

Skill Note: Science at 50, Medicine at 50