Fallout Equestria: The Ranger of Seamane

Chapter Two - Learning Curve

“I’m trying a new thing… thinking.  Seems to be all the rage among wandering Wasteland heroines these days.” -Blackjack FoE: Project Horizons, Chapter 35.

It was dark and by that I meant it was night time, and it was darker than I had thought it would be. It also was raining as I made my way down a street. I was thankful for the water resistant properties of leather and the helmet. Being cold and wet on top of being exhausted physically and mentally would have made things far harder than they already were. I had run as far as I could in the first couple of minutes fleeing Saint Clover. Now I was slowly walking the streets forcing myself to continue moving. I needed to find a place to get out of the rain and rest, as well as dry off as my mane and tail had no protection from the rain. From looking around I saw most of the buildings were not but burnt out husks, the ones that remained looked mostly residential at this point. My guess was this was part of the outlying suburbs of Seamane.

I poked through a few buildings to get out of the rain and dry off a bit, as well as to see if I could find anything of use or to sell when I got to Dune City. I was also hoping that I could find a place to lay down for the night. A place that I could block the entrances to. While it was nice to get out of the rain, most of the places only had three intact walls, which made warming up or staying safe rather hard to do. The first intact house I checked had far too much fire and now water damage for me to trust. The place smelled of mold and the walls showed of dry rot. Even if it was safe I probably would be sick or be sneezing like mad just from a stay here. So I pushed on checking any standing building to see if I could take shelter in it.

A few blocks later there was a intact house, no signs of damage beyond just time and a bit of charring to the outside. Pony construction was astoundingly resilient to time. The front door was locked, as was the back, the windows had been covered up with wooden planks. Well this house, if it was safe inside, would be a good place to stay, so back to the back door and lets try to pick that lock, I thought to myself. Before sliding out the screwdriver and pulling out a bobby pin I examined the lock, there wasn't much wear on it. I guessed in all this time nopony really attempted to open it. Or if they did they didn't try too hard, the lock was practically unscratched. I slide the bobby pin in and the screwdriver after it, I moved the bobby pin around, listening to how it moved. A few spots sounded about right and I had bobby pins to spare. So I started with the last spot I found, and gently twisted the lock with the screwdriver. Something caught, and I backed off. Even if I had spare bobby pins it was best not to waste them. I moved it around a little, tried again, and it felt like the bobby pin was about to break when I heard the click of the door unlocking. I gently removed my screwdriver and bobby pin.

With a deep breath I stood back and slowly twisted the doorknob, and it unlatched. Nothing exploded, nobody fell out. That was good start. I opened the door to find the inside of the house to be very dark. Of course it would be dark, all the windows were boarded up. I pulled out my flashlight, put on its harness, and then turned it on. I bought this flashlight and its harness years ago, figured it would be nice for exploring the less touched places of Saint Clover. The harness meant I didn't have to use my magic to either light my way or hold onto the flashlight. It is nice not to have to worry about losing my source of light due to a loss of focus. I drew my knife with my mouth and pulled out my pistol with my magic as I entered. I wanted to be careful with this, just in case a feral ghoul was sitting somewhere within. As I entered I closed the door behind me, and I locked it. I rather be stuck with what was in here than let goddesses knows what in.

The place smelled dusty, which was far better than what I feared. I could see motes of dust floating in the air as the cone of my flashlight cut through the darkness. I strained my ears to hear anything, but, all I heard was the rain and my breathing. I slowly crept around, even if my flashlight gave me away to anything in the house awake no need to be loud. Because, maybe it is some sort of sleeping nightmare that awaited for me instead. The inside of the house was rather well preserved, hay the refrigerator was actually humming slightly once my ears adjusted to hearing it. I hoped there would be some food in there. Though anything that had to be refrigerated by now was probably bad. But, maybe there would be some pure water, that would make this worthwhile on it's own. I moved from the kitchen through a doorway into the living room, still no bodies, no blood. Good signs though, there was a radio, though dead, fair number of books, no signs of radroaches or bloatsprites. One thing that took some getting used to though was the light was not attached to my head, but my chest, so I had to face where I wanted to look. This had the unfortunate side effect of if I snapped head to look somewhere else my eyes would have to adjust to the darkness, but, it was better than the complete darkness of this house. It was also better than relying on the dim light from my dark blue magic.

I continued to creep around the house, I checked the rest of the first floor. There were two bathrooms, and two bedrooms. One I believed was a guest room, the other was what once a second guest room, but instead was converted into a office with a cot in it. I noted to myself to investigate the office more once the second floor was cleared. Probably find something of value there, or at least something to read. I moved back to the living room where the stairs to the second floor lay. I had to sit down to aim the flashlight up the stairs. I was glad I did, there was a split open skull of a pony at the top. The wall behind it coated in long dried blood. I felt sorrow as I looked at the dead pony.  I climbed up the stairs part way and saw the shotgun in the skeletal hoofs of pony, the end had been too much for them. With a sigh I climbed the rest of the stairs and checked the gun, time had done a number on it. I slipped it out of her hooves and into my saddlebags. I knew it was a her from the small skeleton in her stomach cavity. I took a deep breath and forced myself to keep walking. I needed to look into the other rooms, I needed to not see that in my head. The end was brutal, the wasteland, our world was brutal. I had to get used to this, I should feel emotion from sites like that, but, I needed to be able to keep control. I noticed I was sitting, hyperventilating, and shaking. Very much not keeping control like I should.

“Come on Moonlight, keep it together until we secure the house, then find a bed and deal with this.” I whispered to myself, it sounded like I was yelling, but, I felt myself start to calm down a bit. “We can do this, it is alright to feel ill about this, just, focus.”

I took a deep breath and walked past her into another room, it was some sort of sitting room, there were magazines laying all over the place. I moved to the next room. It was the master bedroom, it was a mess, shotgun shells littered the floor, the gun case open, it had space for just one rifle. I saw a white box with pink butterflies on it, the universal marking for medical supplies. I walked up to it, as I opened it I saw it had some bandages and some lightweight painkillers. I swept them up into my saddlebags. I turned and looked at the shells. 'Waste not' rang in my head, I levitated the shells and put them in a pouch that was empty. I think they were twelve gauge shells which matched the shotgun I picked up. I checked the bathroom, nothing really of note. The plumbing was dead, no surprise. I moved back to the sitting room and picked through the materials strewn around it. Some good magazines, few comics. Most of it was pieces on the war, a lot of local magazines that had dissenting voices of the invasion of the Zebra lands.

That kind of surprised me, apparently the war was not as popular in Seamane. I picked through some magazines from abroad, a few from Canterlot which was focused on high society and Princess Luna. They kind of made me ill with the lack of content, how did the wealthy think they were superior to anypony when they read such garbage? There were a couple of magazines from Hoofington, all about rising over the destruction caused there. I had to admit, Hoofington looked amazing if not black and boxy. If anything from what was being said about reconstruction and all the resources pouring into it, place was practically a fortress. I saw a magazine from Manehatten, it looked rather nice, reminded me of what I had seen of prewar Seamane, but, far bigger. I did notice one thing in common with all the magazines not published out of Seamane, they all were pro-war. Hoofington taking the lead on anti-zebra articles, very much favoring industrial might and crushing the Striped Menace as they put it.

I began to read the magazines from Seamane. They were less dissenting than I had initially thought. Majority of the population was for the war after several high profile events. First was the slaughter of Littlehorn. Then the assassination attempt on Celestia herself as she met to try to get a peace treaty between Equestria and the Zebra Nation. Every time one of these events happened public opinion swelled against the Zebras within Seamane. However, oddly enough the owners of these magazines continued to to have articles decrying the war effort. However as time went on the amount of dissent decreased as the the owner of the magazine changed. It was not until they sat in the hands of some local powerful ponies did the changes stop, but, each magazine had at least one dissenting article about the war. Most of the time they were saying how they didn't need it. How it was costing them far too much to keep it the war effort going. About how Seamane didn't need the war and had on its own survived for a long time as just a trade center for the various agricultural communities around it. Now though it had food processing plants, factories, technology centers giving it an even greater amount of self sufficiency. It even had two universities that played Hoofball against one another. I also noticed on the topic of Hoofball that Seamane was one of few cities in Equestria that didn't have a professional Hoofball team.

Then I read an article that was rather horrifying.

“Zebra sympathizers sneak in canisters of nerve gas into Seamane and unleash it in Seamane University. They also attempted gassing of the Seamane's Ministry Walk, the subway system, and Fort Stonehoof. Thankfully before the plot managed to move to residential areas it was stopped by members of the Equestrian Skyguard.”

I stared in horror at this. How could anypony have stayed on the side of the Zebras in Seamane after that. Who would stay on the side who had attempted to murder the whole city. Who wouldn't want to put them down. I then looked at the date, I had the third event that changed the cities mind. It had polarized them completely. But, there was a lot of regret behind it. I could see it in the way the articles were written. It wasn't calling for the destruction of Zebra kind. It was calling for forcing them into a unconditional surrender. To force an end of the war so they prosecute those who committed war crimes, and crimes against nature. They wanted justice for their friends and family who died in their city.

My flashlight flickered and I pulled it out in my magic and shook it, it brightened back up. I turned and moved to go back down stairs. I saw her skeleton again, I took a deep breath to hold myself together. I gathered her up with her child in my telekinesis, I floated them to the master bedroom and covered their remains with the blanket. A small mercy to me and a bit of respect for them. I went back downstairs and laid down on the sofa I was feeling the exhaustion catching up to me again. I shut off the flashlight and let myself fall asleep. The place was solid, it was safe. It didn't take too long for the yawning to kick in, my eyes to finally grow too heavy to keep open. I drifted off into the bliss of sleep.

*                *                *

It was really dark, had I opened my eyes? I blinked. Yeah my eyes were open. Why was it so dark? Then I remembered where I was.

‘Right, house with completely boarded up windows, not my room in Saint Clover.’ I let out a sigh as I used my magic to switch my flashlight back on. Part of me braced to see the skeletal mare standing in front of me. For some reason even if you aren't afraid of the dark the mind still plays cruel tricks like that on you. Thankfully all that greeted me was the slow movement of the dust in the air. I lay there for a few minutes, collecting myself, knocking down the mental cobwebs that sleep had given me.

I noticed my knife laying on the sofa, my gun was on the floor next to me. I had forgotten to put them away before I fell asleep. I shook my head at myself. I was really glad nopony was with me. I fell asleep with a knife in my mouth and floating pistol next to me. I was really tired I guessed. Then again why wouldn't I be. I ran for quite a while through dunes away from Saint Clover, I walked through the rain afterwards for another two hours. I had pushed myself hard again, at least this time I didn't break a leg or get concussed. I picked up my gun and holstered it then I slide the knife back in its sheath.

Slowly I got off the sofa and re-checked the house, front and back were still locked, windows still shut. There was nothing but the hum of the refrigerator, the sound of rain, my breathing, and my heartbeat. So I moved to the guest bedroom, it was... unused. The mattress was actually still rather comfortable, I face hoofed, I should have slept in here, oh well, maybe if I need a place to crash again. Actually come to think of it that was a good idea. There should be a key around here and then I can use this as a place to stay. Quiet, secluded, nopony has really touched it in two centuries. Just has a skeleton in the closet, well bed. I picked over the guest room and it looked like it never really got used.

I slipped out and across the hall into the office. This room had seen a fair bit of use. I went to the desk first, it was rather cluttered. The clutter was more of somepony had been working on something and then just had never gotten around to cleaning it up. I saw half done sketches of what looked like a foals room, numbers and names of contractors, and price quotes. I neatly ordered the papers on one side of the desk as I finished reviewing them. From them I gathered they had wanted a foal, and were preparing to change the upstairs sitting room into a room for their foal. It looked like she had taken over for her husband when he had to leave. I still was looking for why he left. I felt no guilt in going through their things, they had long past, and, I actually had hoped that maybe I could find out what happened to him. Though it was just bones upstairs, I felt I had to do this to repay her for using her house in some fashion if possible.

After an hour of cleaning I had found a intact terminal with power, but, it was locked. Rather than waste time hacking it I continued to look through letters, bills, and blueprints to see if I could find something that could lead to the password. When I did it wasn't quite what I had expected it to be on, a notice of deployment.

“Specialist Meadows,

You are to report to Fort. Stonehoof to meet with your company for deployment. Your deployment shall be to the defense parameter of Hoofington. You are expected to report to Fort. Stonehoof immediately and check in with your Command Officer Colonel Shimmer Shield. If you fail to show up within twenty four (24) hours you will be arrested for desertion and face court martial.

-Brigadier General Rosebloom”

He was deployed. From what I could see it was a mere week before the end. I noticed a second notice of deployment from much earlier on was buried in the pile. It also had a copy of a written response stating his refusal to be deployed to Zebra soil on moral grounds. Apparently this had caused a rather bad pay reduction and posting to Seamane. From other letters from Meadow to his family, and to his wife, at the time fiance, he was glad for this. He did not want to fight the Zebras in their own land. Meadows strongly opposed the invasion of the Zebra homeland. I could see why now he eventually did get posted to Hoofington. From what I had read the place was under attack almost constantly, and he was on the front line, hay he saw the end of the world come to the fortress city that was Hoofington. I also knew now that there was no hope of recovering his remains as Hoofington was a very long ways away. I also knew that his remains would be impossible to tell apart from the likely thousands of other soldiers skeletons.

I finished going through the papers. Most of it was communication with either Meadows or Morning Sprout, his wife, to their family and friends. There were a few letters that from what I could tell were other members of the military. These ponies were like minded, a few who were from his old unit. Strange, nothing was really mentioned of his old unit other than they were glad to keep in touch of their CO. Dates were mentioned but never deployment zones, objectives, or anything to pin down what they had done. The only thing that was certain was something had happened to Meadows during his previous deployment. I saw another picture, he was being decorated for some serious combat apparently, Distinguished Service for Extraordinary Heroism, several marksmanship awards, two bronze stars, and a defense meritorious service. Apparently he had done some rather amazing things, but, at the same time, his stance on the war very much limited how far he had gotten.

I looked around the room again to make certain I hadn't missed anything. The room was practically spotless beyond the area immediately around the desk. The only thing left for me to work on was the drawers of the desk and the terminal itself. I turned to the terminal first, I had the password I figured, so I turned it on and tossed in “Meadows”, to my annoyance it failed. I then tried Morning Sprout, it failed too. I sighed, time to do this the old fashion way I guess. Over the course of probably an hour I fought with the damn terminal, but, I finally found the password, 'Rare Defiance'. The password must have meant something to them, something they hadn't been written down. Or maybe I was hacking into something way more complex than I thought. I saw the logo for the Ministry of Morale.

“Um... okay, so somepony here had a connection to the Ministry of Morale.” I said to the silent house.

I started to pick through the files, this was Morning Sprouts terminal. Apparently she worked for M.O.M. What she did for them was apparently more or less just being a measure of the populations feelings towards things. Some made sense, like Luna, Celestia, Zebras, war, and Fort Stonehoof. However, there were others that didn't make so much since like: party, balloons, smiles, cake, and candy. I guessed they wanted to cover all the bases? So, in this house lived a member of the Equestrian Army, who was involved in something that then made him buck the party line about invading the Zebra homeland. Then there was a member of the Ministry of Moral who was keeping tabs on the neighborhood. I mean I could see how they got together, well okay not really. I felt like either this was a weird coincidence or somepony was sent to keep an eye on the other.

I kept reading the files. Morning seemed to slowly be falling into what was called Wartime Stress Disorder. Seamane had been a assignment to help her get away from it, her marriage to Meadows had also helped. But, from what I was seeing terrorist attacks on the city and the projects she helped with to keep order were wearing her thin. I sat back, removing my hoofs from the terminal keys and stared at the photo of the two of them. So happy, standing in front of this house. I think they were given it as a wedding gift. They both looked so happy, maybe they both needed each other, maybe they had both seen things that would break a pony. But, in this photo all I saw was a smiling pale yellow unicorn with a light purple mane hugging his wife, she was smiling so happily. They for a while had bliss, but, the war ate everything eventually. This mare, she had worked as part of the Ministry of Moral, as a unicorn she probably handled interrogations, or at least knew memory spells. I felt sorry for her, her cutie mark was of a sprouting plant, not something that would work with M.O.M. then again, it was good cover.

I stared at the two in the photo for longer, Morning, she was upstairs all pale and bone, no longer a healthy sea foam coat with golden hair. I needed to bury her, she deserved more than a eternal sleep in a bed meant for her and her husband. Her husband who died so far away from her. I resumed going through the files on her terminal, having turned off my flashlight as the light from the terminal was enough for now. As I looked through more files, she had dedicated herself to preventing another mass attack like the nerve gas attack on Seamane. She would do what she could to prevent Zebra sympathizers from harming innocents. I admired her dedication, she had ended up being involved in more than one 'accident'. What was frightening is one encounter she bumped into Ministry of Awesome operatives when she was on her way to make an arrest. From what was put in here they had told her that she was to leave as well as her M.O.M. officers too, she had tried to pull rank on the fact that this was civilian operation and outside M.A.W.'s usual area of work. It ended when both sides stood down before they shot each other. A agreement was given that their memories of what happened would be handed over by the M.A.W. From what was listed as happening, apparently they had been hunting down a guerrilla force of Zebras who had sneaked behind lines and were planning on a attack. The supposed scale and duration of the attack was staggering. They were going to cause a riot in Seamane, and they were going to arm their allies within the city and use it to bottle up the military forces in the area so they could use nerve gas again. However according to the report the attempt to transport nerve gas out of Zebra lands had failed when M.A.W operatives had intercepted the orders. That was how the M.A.W. had come to be involved.

All I had to say was this was scary, there was a three way shadow war over Seamane. Zebras wanted to capture the city intact. The main government of Equestria wanted it to stay exactly how it was. And apparently, from a few other reports, there was a movement for independence in a move to be recognized as a neutral party in this war. From what was shown it was mostly very rich ponies with ties to the Canterlot elite who didn't take too kindly to Luna's method of ruling, or the tax burden they had from the war. Wow, so they wanted to break free of Luna's control, and have a neutral nation, they didn't want to be part of it at all. Some part of me told me that this was them trying to run from the mess they caused. If the Zebras had gotten Seamane they would have probably offered autonomy so long as they could move through without attack.

I finished going through the files on the terminal, the last one was another digital picture of Morning and Meadows. From the looks of it, it was out in what was the old farmlands, and from the look of their outfits it had been right after they got married. I shook my head as I felt tears welling up again. They were going to have a family, they were going to be able to both cite reasons to quit their jobs and live in peace. Then it all blew up, they got torn apart, and the world burned. I don't think Meadows knew he was going to be a father in a few months given the dating of the drawings and numbers for contractors. He had left when they were still trying, and I felt that she had managed to live a few months after the end before finally departing. I turned off the computer and closed my eyes. The after image of the screen with their wedding photo remained in my eyes as I sat in that chair crying. Crying in an empty house, a house that could had held so much joy.

I don't know how long it was I sat there, but, I finally stopped crying. I turned on my flashlight again and opened the desk. Most of it was quills, ink, and blank paper. I did find a safe hidden below the bottom drawer of the desk, it wasn't too hard to crack, I opened it and there were a lot of bits. I stared in amazement. Two hundred years ago it would have been the biggest score for a thief breaking into a home. Today, well, each bit was worth less than half a cap. The only thing of value to them was that nopony was making more of them. There was no use for gold anymore, no industry to form them into useful parts. They weren't backed by anything. Still though, they had uses, improvised explosives could use them easily, though, gold wasn't the hardest metal. None the less I took them, I would use them to help keep me going. I wasn't going to just waste the caps from them on lodgings. Though I had not a clue what I could push this wealth towards at the moment, I knew I would find something worth while to use them for.

I went to open the last drawer, it was locked. I went to work at it with my screwdriver and bobby pin. I lost three more bobby pins, this lock was a tough nut to crack, luckily the house had a good supply of bobby pins to work with. Once it was unlocked I slide the whole thing out and set it on top of the desk. I cracked open my canteen and drank. Then I heard my stomach growl at me. I hadn't eaten yet today. I had beaten the lock, why not celebrate a little. I pulled out some preserved food, I didn't read what was on the can, I just opened it and ate as I picked through the contents of the locked drawer in front of me. Thankfully I could use my hooves to move stuff while I levitated the can to my muzzle. Most of what was in here was work documents. Hard copies of what was on the terminal. A few spheres of some sort, and two keys. I tried both, neither fit the drawers lock. I guessed that was hidden elsewhere. I put the two other keys in my saddlebags, best to try these on the doors before I left. I set down my now empty can of... whatever that was, the taste had not been enjoyable, but, was better for me than sugar bombs. I rolled the spheres around seeing if I could figure out what they were, nothing changed as they rolled around. Sighing I reached out with my magic to grab them and stow them in my saddlebags. Maybe they would be worth something to some-

ooooooOOOOOOOOoooooo

-pony?

Uh... Wait... Where was I? Uh... can't I move. Oh Goddesses why can't I move?! I tried to blink and nothing happened. Then a sudden rush of sensations, touch, taste, sound, sight, smell, and body orientation. It was really bright, I almost stumbled, except I couldn't. My body was moving on its own. Horse apples! Did somepony get into the house and put an illusion on me? Mind control? My sight moved around on its own, oh Goddesses that was disorientating. Okay well I am stuck here, uh... well what is going on around me. Then I mentally gasped at the sight, since I couldn't physically. I was in old Seamane, before it all fell apart. The sky was blue without clouds... I saw the Sun, it was... breath taking, the rays of light warming me deeper than I ever imagined they would. I think I would have stared up at the sky all day if it hadn't been for my body continuing on. I saw many ponies going about their daily lives, happy. From the looks of it I was going through the heart of the city towards the ministries. There were so many ponies, skywagons carrying more, carriages as well, everything was so lively. It was frighteningly different.

If I had control of my body I would have been trying to ask the ponies around me what was going on. To be honest, not having control of my actions was scary as hell. Okay so since I have no control, and I seem to be in the past maybe this was a memory of somepony? What had caused this, I was picking up those spheres from the desk and putting them in my saddlebags. They hadn't reacted to my touch... So was it from my magic touching them? Well if that was the case then I was completely defenseless. By Luna, what if my body was trying to match the movements of this memory. Wait, no that was fine, locked house and sealed windows. I should be fine. Okay relax, less panic, and that wasn't hard to do thanks to my body wasn't panicking. Perfect place for this 'experiment' no matter how unintentional it was.

I heard a bell ring and I refocused my attention on my surroundings, I was entering a rather nice restaurant. That is why this mare was on hoof in this part of town, going to lunch. Okay, well if this was a memory orb that Morning kept I doubt it would be work related, or if it was not something terribly scarring. From her reports and letters she didn't seem the type to enjoy dealing with the horrific. As it so happened she had a reservation here, and her date had already shown up. The waiter guided Morning to her table were Meadows sat. Huh, maybe this was their first date? By the look in Meadows' eyes he was rather happy to see her. From the feelings I was getting so was Morning. This was clearly not their first date. This was, however, the first time I ever felt love. Well love outside of family, but, this was different. I felt guilty now, as well as I felt I had been cheated out of a experience of life. I was seeing a private memory of these two, and the first time I had ever felt the physical effects of love was like this. I wish I could just back out of this. I didn't want to intrude more.

Unfortunately apparently you can't force yourself out of a memory. I tried, I tried very hard to kill whatever connection I had to the sphere holding the memory. I think they are properly called Memory Orbs. With a mental sigh I gave up. Well lets try to just imagine this as a really good form of a book. Still, the sensations were a bit unnerving to me, having your body move with a will of it's own is not something comfortable to experience. I was getting a bit more used to feeling everything Morning did, at very least the food was good, the seats comfortable, and the music was quite pleasant. It was a relaxing time, the two were enjoying a rather nice lunch, hay I was enjoying the taste of fresh food, not the two hundred year old stuff I had eaten since I could remember. I mentally giggled, hay, if this memory doesn't have anything horrid in it I could use it as a mental vacation whenever I visited. Then I remembered the wasteland, yeah this memory was going to stay here, I couldn't risk losing such a precious thing.

I continued listening to the music, these two were mostly just staring at each other and enjoying their meal. I guess for them a date was more about being with each other in peace. Then again Morning's days would be filled with Ministry work, probably a lot of it she couldn't talk about. As for Meadows he was a military pony currently stationed at a military base far from any battlefield. So, one had secrets nopony should say outside of a particular building, the other was so boringly mundane that I tried to find out if you can sleep in a memory. By the way, no you can't sleep in a memory. After another hour Morning and Meadows got up, Meadows leaving payment and a tip on the table and they headed out.

ooooooOOOOOOOOoooooo

I was on my back, the chair I was in had tipped over, and I had landed and laid in a rather uncomfortable position. Given how sore I felt, time in memory was roughly that of outside of it. I needed to remember that. I looked, well tried to look around. The terminal's green glow was gone, and of course I hadn't had my flashlight on so, completely dark again. I used my magic to pop on my flashlight. Several memory orbs lay around me. I then noticed something that was rather annoying about memory orbs. None of them had labels.

I let out a sigh then muttered to myself. “I guess I will leave of them all here. I’ll look into the rest before I left the house in case there was something of more interest.”

I stood and stretched then walked to the kitchen. I wasn't going to touch the memory orbs until I checked the last thing of interest in the house.

I carefully opened the fridge, it had a bunch of water bottles in it, all full of water. Well, at least I wouldn't be having to worry about water for a while. I opened the freezer to find frozen fruit, as well as most of the contents having been frozen over. So, with a little work I had fresh food and water, though, not much. I checked what I had in my saddlebags, I should have enough food for the rest of the journey to Dune City, I had plenty of water. I closed the fridge and freezer, the fridge light winking out as the door closed leaving me with just the cone of light from my flashlight. Time to take care of those memory orbs and then head out.

Walking back into the office I looked at the memory orbs, the fact that I couldn't use magic on them bugged me. I double checked that my idea it was magic that triggered them first. I also wanted to satiate my curiosity of what was in them. What bugged me most was if I found more of them out in the wasteland I had to remember to use my hooves or mouth to move them. I proceeded to practice moving them with my hooves and mouth back into the drawer I got them from. After looking into them I knew they had just been memories of Morning and Meadows spending time together, all of it innocent. Which I was glad for. I really hated the idea of experiencing sex for the first time via a memory orb. More so experiencing sex by a Stallion onto a Mare as that would be all kinds of backwards. I slid the drawer closed, heard the soft click of it locking again. I listened for a few minutes, the quiet hum of the refrigerator barely audible in the office, no sound of some horrible monstrosity outside waiting to eat me. I heard a lack of rain and wind as well. I guessed now was a good time as any to head out.

I walked back out of the office heading to the back door. This place was a nice retreat from the wasteland. I knew this would probably be the last bit of civilization for the next few days as I headed to Dune City. No matter what direction I went, I would have to go through the dunes Dune City took its name from. I took a deep breath, and unlocked the back door. I swung open the door to look into the night, it was calm, a good time for a long walk. I walked out the door and closed it behind me, I pictured the lock and tried to turn it with my magic. I heard a click, I tried the door, it was locked again, nice. I surveyed the yard around me, it looked about how it was when I came in. I moved around the house to the road and began to walk down the sidewalk, heading out to the north east. I knew there was a good long country road that would take me practically right to Dune City, the only issue was how rough had the ground gotten, and how bad the path was covered in threats. I remembered what I was told, many old world roads had camps of raiders. I had not been given a good description of a raider, my guess was probably like a slaver but looked less civilized and for some reason sporting tires and spikes.

*                *                *

I spent the next hour walking. I saw the dunes off to the west, I couldn't really see any difference. The dunes almost looked like just a wall of sand off in the distance. To be honest, it was kind of boring, but, boredom was lethal in the wasteland. Letting down your guard invited attack, and a surprise attack probably meant my death. I was no wasteland survivor, I am just a filly a few hours, or day out of home, away from everything and everypony I knew. My walking slowed as that thought crossed my mind, I really was on my own out here. Nopony knew where I was, anypony out here didn't know who I was. I knew nopony out here... I closed my eyes as tears welled up and I felt them slip down my muzzle.

‘Come on Moonlight, at least move off the road so nopony walking up or down it will see you right off the bat.’ I opened my eyes, everything was blurred, I walked slowly on the dry ground. All I could hear was the slight crunch under hoof as I walked away from the road. I tripped on a rock and fell over. I just laid there, I let myself fall apart. I wasn't ready for this, I wasn't ready, I had seen too much too fast. I had stabbed a buck through the throat, I had blown two mares in half, I had seen the two century old corpse of a mare who had blown her brains out when the end of the world was too much for her to handle. I had seen her memory of her and her husband's date, so far removed from the horror of the wasteland, even far removed from life at Saint Clover. My breathing was shallow and quick, I started gasping, curled up on the ground. I was practically a ball, shaking and crying.

Eventually my tears stopped, but, it took a lot longer before I felt like getting up. When I did, it was darker. I thought it had been late at night when I left Morning Sprout's, however, I guessed it had been closer to evening then. Maybe I was lucky that nopony was awake, maybe nopony took this road. I rolled over and onto my hooves. I slowly stood up and began to walk again. My legs a bit more wobbly under me, but, they held. My sight wasn't blurry anymore, thankfully, so I walked quietly to the side of the road. It seemed a good idea, there was a ditch here, if needed I had a little bit of cover. The slow pace at least was easy on me. Not straining myself, my hooves enjoying walking on the softer dirt over the old cracked pavement. Another benefit was that my steps were much quieter, which with low visibility meant I was pretty safe for now. Come dawn though, that wasn't going to be so true.

The day of rest, I think it was a day at least, at Morning's place, had done my body good. While I was drained emotionally I was physically well rested. So for the long night I walked, I passed by a few ruins, sneaking quietly on the softer dirt keeping an eye out for any movement, but, never seeing any. I did see things that I had wished I had not. Things that I wished I could have forgotten. There were spikes in the ground as well as on the walls holding various body parts of ponies. I barely kept my meal down as I saw the vile displays of violence. I continued to press on not wanting to wait for whoever did this to find me and add me to their macabre gallery. As I continued down the road I noticed more and more of these displays at every ruin I passed. From barnes and little homes on the prairie to clusters of buildings that once served as refueling or spark battery swap stations. Even a police station was covered in such displays.

I tempted my stomach and fate by with exploring the police station. To my frustration I found that it had been stripped bare beyond the horrid decorations. Even so there were a few locks to pick that yielded a couple of caps and twenty two long rounds. Nothing spectacular nor worth the venture. As I left I told myself next time I would wear my respirator to try to keep out the horrid smell of those places. I figured these were signs of raider activity, though from the decomposition of the corpses I figured it had been quite a while since they were active here, a small blessing. Now at least I knew what to look for when watching for raider nests.

One thing I had read from the Wasteland Survival Guide was that one should look for raider nests. Not bases, just nests. As a Raider nest would be lightly defended but have a fair bit of loot and if you felt so inclined probably living captives. Raider bases on the other hoof generally held practically a horde of the crazed ponies. From what I understood there were two types of raiders. The Hoofington variety with yellow eyes and had a nasty tendency to chew on themselves as much as their next meal. Then there were the regular type who just were ponies without morals, still crazy or flat out evil. From what I understood Seamane had a bit of both, though, primarily the regular ones and not the frightening ones from Hoofington.

I continued to walk as the night wore on. I was never harassed by anything during the night. Seemed that the raiders had driven off anything that would have harassed me in their wake of carnage. Small gifts, even if it was from a monster, should be accepted. At least when it was a situation like this that granted me safety without cost besides vigilance. A small price to pay for safety I thought to myself.

Come dawn I should have noticed the ruins of a town in front of me had ponies moving around it. As it was I had walked into the town having not noticed anypony walking about. That changed when the wall next to me exploded with a plume of dust as a shot smashed into it. I jumped back, second shot hit the wall where I just was. I bucked the door that was next to me, it flew off of its hinges and smacked something inside, I jumped in after it. I heard a groan, and guessed the door hit somepony, no time to waste, I drew my knife then my pistol, holding the knife in my muzzle, and the pistol in my magic. The door shifted and I saw a pony pushing it off, he had spikes welded to plates of metal for barding. When he saw me he lunged, I shot. His body fell lifeless to my side, one round through his head, I gave him a quick once over, nothing of interest, just a kitchen knife. I slide towards the back hoping for a back door. As I crept into what was probably a kitchen, I saw that the back door was boarded over, great. I looked around, there were stairs in the other room, only option was up and jump to the alley behind I guessed. I wheeled around to see a bat coming into the kitchen, I froze, took a breath and waited for my shot.

“Gotcha!” The wielder of the bat yelled and charged me, I turned on my flashlight, he tripped blinded by the sudden light into his yellow eyes. I fired several shots, the first two grazed him, the third went deep into his chest. He didn't get up, I saw a few pouches on him, I yanked them off and shoved them into my own saddlebags. I heard more running up, I moved to the entrance of the kitchen, lining up for headshots as anypony came further in.

This is when I noticed I was in a cafe, I saw the macabre décor once more. Flayed bodies, internal organs, blood everywhere. I stifled down the urge to throw up as the smell hit me. If these weren't raiders, I don't want to know what they were. I saw a head pop around the corner, that grin it had was almost enough to make me back up, instead I shot, and it went wide. The raider charged me, this time with a double barreled shotgun.

‘Fuck.’

 I jumped to the side and back as I used my magic to launch my knife at her, she pulled the trigger as I did. I saw a flash from her gun, I felt pain break out all across my chest and barrel. She smacked into me, and I felt her bleeding on top of me, she didn't breathe. I coughed, then shoved her off and grabbed her gun. I checked the breach of the gun, one round left, but, lucky me, I had more. I reloaded the shotgun then grabbed my knife. I sheathed the knife and I grabbed my pistol with my magic. I ejected the magazine, three rounds were left in it, I floated out a fresh magazine and swapped it for the partially spent one. I realized, there was still a round in the chamber. Perfect, fourteen shots in the pistol, two shots in the shotgun. I heard a tink I saw a metal apple roll into sitting area. I moved to cover myself behind the wall separating the kitchen and the sitting area. A boom knocked down many pots and pans, two hitting me on the head. Thank Luna that there were helmets for unicorns or that would hurt more.

All I could hear was ringing, explosions indoors were far worse than outdoors I concluded. I continued laying there, guns up waiting for anypony to try and come around the corner. My patience won out as another spike armored pony walked through, I pulled both triggers, his head vanished in a red mist. As his body fell sideways I wiped the blood off of my goggles. The ringing was dying down, but, these gunshots near my ears were not helping at all. I popped the breech open again and pulled out the expended shells and slide in two new ones. I checked the pistol, ten rounds left, that was good enough for now. I grabbed him with my forelegs and dragged him to me.

The raiders armor was basically a bunch of metal plates with long metal spikes attached. He also had saddlebags, I quickly dumped them out. I saw a lot of inhalers, a fair number of healing potions, and syringes. I grabbed the syringes and healing potions, dumping out the other side as I did, grenades rolled out and my heart skipped a beat. Then I saw all of the grenades still had their pins and spoons. I slide them to me and shoved them into my saddlebags as well. I stood up and turned to the sitting area, there was smoke still lingering against the ceiling and the floor tiles were shattered. That grenade did a number on what was left in the room.

    "Alright, lets get moving." I said aloud as I turned around and pulled out three grenades then removed their pins. Then I telekinetically shoved the grenades against the boarded up door as I dived behind the other side of the kitchen divider. The explosion was deafening, dust fell from the ceiling, part of the ceiling itself even fell and crushed a few of the remaining tables. I popped up and saw the back wall was, well the area around the door was gone, the rest was barely holding. I ran out the back and into the alley as I heard some loud pops over the ringing of my ears. From the vibrations I felt in the ground and a rush of air the cafe had collapsed behind me as I ran down the alley.

I kept running, keeping the double barreled shotgun and pistol close and aimed ahead. As I was running the ringing died down and I could hear my heart beating hard and fast. The pain in my front had lessened, I gave a guess that the pellets from the shotgun hadn't penetrate, but they had stung badly. Getting shot was not fun, thankfully the armor helped more than I expected. Though it meant I probably should keep an eye out for more armor, as well as aim for the head of any pony with armor. Rather not waste rounds trying to penetrate armor on their body when their face was exposed. I rounded a corner and rushed out into a street, nopony shot at me, that was good. I slide to a stop and looked around very quickly and spotted a few more raiders. They hadn't seen me so I rushed to the other side of the street and began to quietly crawl forward. These raiders, they ran this town. They had guns and armor, as well as, I would assume, food and water so with reason they should have a stockpile somewhere. Probably where most of them were gathered.

Or maybe most of them were wandering around where I had stupidly walked into town.

I slipped into a house and went upstairs, nopony was home. I checked myself over for any lasting wounds. I had gotten lucky, nothing more than a nasty bruise, the armor itself was just scuffed. Whoever had made this armor was damn good. I zipped up the leather armor again and began to search the house for more than just others. Surprisingly there were ammo crates. The crates of ammo were also full, I refused not to take some of this, and decided, to Tartarus with this I would have metal saddlebags and I found some straps to make saddlebag straps between two ammo boxes and I lifted them up and put them on my back. I filled both of the ammo boxes as full as I could of the assorted ammo from the ammo crates in the room. Grinning now, I had a serious amount of ammo. If only I had a ranged gun for the rifle ammo in the crates.

“So now then, lets find a bunch of guns, and then some food and water. Mostly food.” I whispered to myself as I prepared to leave.

As I left the house I saw the raiders already milling about. Apparently they didn't have a long attention span. Both a blessing and a curse.

‘Sneaking now!’ I mentally whispered to myself and slide off into another alley. ‘Now if I were to set up shop for important stuff for survival where would it be? Well either the building at the center of the town, or, failing that, the biggest.’

I decided to the center, it was also away from the milling raiders. As I got closer to the center of the town my mane started to itch badly, I guessed I needed a bath. All this sand and dirt must be bugging it, that and the now dry air.

I crept forward, I saw more raiders milling about, some of them... well I can see why raiders were listed as worse than slavers. They had no decency, there were raiders bucking in the street, others cutting up corpses, some eating corpses. All three groups seemingly completely okay with doing each activity next to one another. Hay, the one getting bucked was eating a corpse at the same time, these ponies deserved a bullet to the brain.

‘Okay so food and water was very much out of the question, uh... lets find that armory and be on our way.’ I quickly moved, I did not want to be around that any longer.

It only took a few minutes to see the town hall, the biggest building in the city, and also the one in the center. Fitting, however its décor was very much not inviting. Twisted rusted metal all around it, cages suspended from the sides with skeletons. Everything was covered in dried blood, corpses, and entrails. Given the state of the town hall, I think they had been here for years. I gulped, there wasn't much cover between here and any entrance to the town hall, luck was with me as no raiders seemed to be around. I ran full speed tearing open a basement window before I reached it then dove through.

That had been a bad idea, by diving through I landed squarely in a room full of captives. All of them were chained down. Most of them looked close to death, their coats worn thin around their collars. I saw a few mares, they looked better, a few looked rounder than normal. I crawled off of the slaves none of them resisting, none of them complaining. Either they didn't have the energy or they had been so badly broken they didn't care. As I stood in the room, I saw no raiders, no pony down here beyond the captives. I hated this, I hated seeing the horrific side of ponies. I hated seeing how debased we could become, we had become. I hated that I didn't see a way for me to take out enough raiders to get a group this big out of town safely. However, I did know that at very least I could make some caps so I would have access to some mercenaries. Well at least I had something to do with my exile. I moved around the room quickly. No guns. Of course, why keep guns around the captives?

I headed for the stairs up. I drew my pistol and shotgun again having put them away to make it through the window. I looked at the shotgun for the first time with a critical eye. ‘This thing wasn't going to last much longer, damn.’

As I reached the top of stairs I found two raiders were standing guard facing away from me. I decided that stealth would be smart here. ‘What would be the best way to do this? I have a knife, I needed something else, my guns were far from silent...’

Then I realized it, they were both covered in spikes, very sharp spikes. I put away my guns and drew my knife, I held it in my mouth and dashed out between them. As I passed them I dug the knife into ones neck causing me to drag them down with me as my momentum carried me forward yanking them with me. The other I grabbed their head in my hind legs as I pivoted and fell with the first raider and smashed it into the spikes on her armor. The three of us fell as one, the two raiders unable to speak at very least. I stood, looked around quickly seeing no other ponies. I finished the job and made certain I slit their throats, I then stripped them of anything useful and kicked their bodies down the stairs, using my magic to move the blood down with them. My new loot was some ammo for the shotgun and pistol, as well as two slightly better double barreled shotguns and a far worse pistol. At worst I sell them at Dune City, at best they would be repair parts for my weapons. I shook my head and turned to the rest of the floor.

Half an hour later I had picked clean the first floor of the building, silently killing half a dozen more raider ponies. Apparently they sucked at hearing things, they also apparently were very much insane. Well I knew they were not right in the head due to the decorations. It was just I had heard them talking... to themselves as if there were many around them. Raiders were very different than slavers. They took captives for pleasure and food, the latter being more frightening. I also found why there wasn't a cache of weapons, each raider carried theirs, and generally carried a lot of ammo. I also noticed many had weapons that were barely functional, many just used sticks and knives. I paused, there had been a sniper pony, if I wanted to get anypony out of town they had to be taken care of. Top floor would probably be the place, there was some sort of tower on the top of this building.

I crept to one of the stairwells and I peaked in, there were no raiders. I climbed swiftly and quietly. The stairs thankfully went all the way to the third floor. I went to open the door to the third door and found it was locked. I actually hadn't expected this, I for some reason felt all the doors would be either open or broken open. I made short work of it though, it was thankfully a rather simple lock. I heard the click and I swung the door open slowly, this floor, or at least this room, was rather sparse and clean? Yeah it was pretty much untouched beyond time. I slipped in and closed the door as I did noticed on this side I could easily lock it and did so. "Don't leave doors open or unlocked that shouldn't be" I remembered from a book about infiltration.

I kept looking around, I really expected something, anything really, but, this floor was covered in dust, and shells. As I moved about the floor I saw blood pools near the windows, old and stained into the floor. I kept moving about, hoping to catch a raider up here, one with a rifle. The one who nearly took off my head when I blindly walked into the town. I didn't find them, but, I did find the way up to the tower, and I climbed. What I found was not quite what I had expected. There was a skeleton of a long dead pony, and a rifle with a scope. The rifle was worn and a bolt action, I checked it over, it took a five point five six millimeter rounds and I had plenty of those. I checked the barrel, it was surprisingly in good condition. I smiled and began to load it, it fit eight rounds, and that is when I noticed the can at the end of the barrel was actually a suppressor. Whoever this pony had been they had crafted a suppressor or found one. I smiled at my new tricked out rifle and thanked the skeleton believing they had been the one to take such good care of it. I would use this to clear the town as best as I could.

I stood using the edge of the tower to balance myself and the rifle in a strange standing pose. The standing pose was one that I had learned for when I didn't want or couldn't use my magic and needed to aim over cover. It also meant that the glow of my magic wouldn't give me away as I wouldn't be using it.

I aimed down the scope and began to search first and foremost for anypony with heavy weapons, then, anypony with rifles. I knew it wouldn't take long for them to start noticing that ponies within line of site of the town hall were dieing. I took a deep breath and shot the first raider, he had a rifle like mine, his blood splattered against the wall behind him as he fell over. I counted under my breath, ‘seven’. I inhaled and sited another pony, she had a rocket launcher, exhale, pull trigger, rack the next shot. She dropped dead, ‘six’. I rotated saw two ponies with knives carving up a body, I shot the one closer to cover, ‘five’. I quickly racked the next round and pulled the trigger, I missed, ‘four’. I fired again, he crumpled, ‘three’.

The second pair falling dead had garnered attention, but, so far away from the tower the muffled sound of my rifle didn't carry out to them it seemed. I pulled away from the scope and scanned around looking for other ponies moving towards either duo of downed raiders. The first group was still undiscovered, the other had a few raiders moving towards their bodies.

I returned to the scope and aimed for the three raiders moving towards the two butchers. I aimed for the one in the back of the group, exhaled and pulled the trigger, center of mass, easier to hit, less messy than the head, ‘two’. The other two took a few steps more, I aimed for the next pony, I pulled the trigger, ‘one’. She went down, her head ripped in half in a bloody mess. I grimaced and moved to the last raider who was stopped now looking as his two former companions, his side coated in blood from the mare. I fired, the shot hit his flank and he cried out in pain. I pulled back from the tower and levitated out more ammo, quickly reloading. I didn't hear any gunshots, which was a good start, I popped back up and aimed back down I saw more raiders gathering around the duo in the street as the one raider lay with a crippled leg screaming in pain as he bleed out.

I continued to scan for any pony with a rifle, I saw two within the gathering crowd. Oh what I would give for that rocket launcher. I racked a round, 'eight’, and sighted in the first raider I spotted with a rifle and fired, ‘seven’.The shot had missed, and hit another pony, grazing her, she pulled a knife and started to yell at the one I had been targeting. I aimed for the other pony with a rifle slung over her back, I aimed for the rifle itself, exhaled, and pulled the trigger, ‘six’. The round found its home smashing the bolt, jamming the gun forever. The mare who was carrying it fell over like she had been bucked, she got up and started yelling. I loaded two more rounds and moved off, the commotion would drag probably every raider to that street, now I could go grab that rocket launcher and have a little fun with blowing a good chunk of the raider population away. The wasteland needed a good cleansing of raiders after all.

I moved as quietly as I could, but, speed was more on mind as I hit the first floor. It was still vacant. ‘Yay, no worry about shooting my way out.’

I levitated the silenced rifle with me as I ran to where I had taken down the first two ponies in my sniping spree. Sniping was so much easier, the distance, the lack of hearing them as they died, feeling their blood on you. I preferred it, it also gave me a good opportunity to know whether or not I needed to take somepony out. I saw a few raiders moving towards the growing crowd, I heard a few gunshots. ‘Yep they are not sane and I was doing a service to the world with this.’

I got into the building that held the rocket launcher without any trouble. I quickly climbed the stairs and got to the clearing with it. It was still there, both ponies very much still dead. I levitated my rifle onto me, the strap around my neck, gun across my back. I quickly checked the rifle and put it on myself as well. I checked the rocket launcher, it was loaded, one rocket, I checked the mare for more, and I found five more.

“Plenty,” I grinned and put the spare rockets into the ammo boxes as well.

I effortlessly levitated the rocket launcher by my side. I sprinted out, moving to another building. I climbed the stairs to a broken second floor. A massive brawl had broken out. I grinned as I swung the rocket launcher towards them, I checked it and then fired.

I hadn't expected all the limbs I saw flying away, or the massive red mist, or the small crater in the ground. I quickly reloaded, many of the raiders kept fighting, a few were standing back up, many did not stand up. I fired again into the crowd, more dead, I loaded it again, I felt heat coming from the tube. I fired again, this finishing off the last bit of the crowd. As I did I noticed the end of the rocket launcher glowing a faint yellow the rest of the tube a dull red, I tossed it to the side as the barrel slagged under it's own weight.

‘Well, plans kept changing, so now to go free the prisoners and if I can, get them to Dune City. Even if we didn't have much food, the raiders still needed water.’

I rushed back to the town hall, down the stairs to where the captives were. I began picking locks, these were not hard either. I broke a few bobby pins, but, that was hardly an issue, there had been plenty in the manes of the raiders that I had pushed down here.

“So that is how they got their hair into such weird shapes.” I muttered to myself under my breath.

As I finished freeing the slaves I started addressing their wounds. Most of it was superficial thankfully, a few of them were badly beaten. I questioned my notes on first aid magic, I nodded and started with with the most major of injuries that prevented movement, or would slow us down. It wasn't hard, and this caused many former slaves to be in awe of me as I healed their injuries with my magic. I think none of them had ever expected somepony help them, or maybe it was the slow realization I was here to free them. It took a while to take care of them. During this time many began to mill about, testing their bounds. It was like the ghost of their shackles still wore on them and they were nervous to cross the threshold that they had been unable to for so long.

“Alright, everypony should be good to go. I think it would be best to leave as soon as possible.” I said to the not so captive crowd.

One looked at me, “Where are we going, we can't go, look at us!”

I took a deep breath, “We can't stay here, who knows how many raiders were out when I blasted them. Who knows how many more are around.”

They looked at each other, their worry slightly lessened as I explained to them what had happened. They were delighted to hear of my merciless slaughter. They then tried to convince me to stay, to protect them. I tried to convince them they would be far safer in Dune City. This went on for a few minutes. I asked them if they wanted to stay in a place that they had experienced such horrors inflicted upon them. That is when I heard a heavy thump at the top of the staircase. I slowly turned. There stood one very pissed off stallion at the head of the stairs. He was covered head to hoof in metal armor. Any space that faced out on his armor was covered in spikes, and were those clipboards under the metal? Well okay then. He yelled down at me, oh he was not a happy pony, he also probably was the leader of the raiders here.

“I see I got myself a new trick pony! I can't wait to break you in!” He shouted down at me.

He then proceeded to jumped down the stairs. I pushed all the captives back with a wave of magic and used some levitation to lighten myself as I jumped back with them. He smashed into the floor his spikes digging into the ground and pinning him there. I drew the shotgun and shoved it in his mouth.

“Here have a kiss my new master!” Click, his armor did him no good from inside of his mouth.

I drew it back, he didn't move, blood pooled out. I turned to the captives as I reloaded and cleaned the barrels off.

“So, unless you know how many raiders lived here, I suggest we leave before more show up.” The room was quiet, then they all nodded.

*                *                *

We had walked for four hours. With the town behind us just a spec now. I had scavenged weapons, saddlebags, a fair bit of ammo, and water. Which I spread out amongst everypony who would take them, or could carry them. I remembered this was very much not the path I was told to take to Dune City, I had been warned about those raiders. Now, I had probably cleared that town out. But, I rather not stay there for a few days as somepony went to Dune City for reinforcements for the newly freed town. I didn't want to try to stay up keeping an eye out for any raiders. I lead the group, as it got darker it and got a lot cooler, but, it wasn't that bad. I kept an eye on my... followers? They weren't friends, I had saved them and wasn't holding them against their will so not captives. Not slaves either, hay, if I ever dealt with slaves like that I hope that Celestia would strike me down with a lightning bolt.

I guided the group off the road for about half an hour. I called a halt to the walk, told them to lay down, rest, eat, and drink. They huddled together, I asked if a few would work with me for shifts to keep watch. Four agreed, I told the rest to just sleep we would keep eye out. It didn't take long for those not on watch to fall asleep. I took my watch looking out towards the road, laying on my stomach holding the rifle in my hooves. It took a lot of effort to keep awake after a long day. I looked down the scope and realized, I could see better, but, it was all greens. Apparently this had some sort of enchantment to help see in the dark.

“Awesome.” I whispered to myself and smiled as I began to think back on the day. It had been a good day.

Today I had acquired ammo as well as some guns, freed a bunch of ponies, killed a bunch of monsters. Yeah, all in all it was a pretty good day. I continued to lay there keeping my eyes focused on looking for any movement. I don't know how long I lay there, but, it looked like no raiders had followed us, or were moving up or down the road. I kept laying there unmoving, I heard the change of the watch behind me. I should lay down as well, but, no, I didn't want to leave this in somepony's else's hooves.

*            *            *

I blinked and saw it was early morning, I must have fallen asleep at some point. I felt something over me and turned me head to see that I had been moved to where most of the former captives had laid down together. A number of blankets had pulled over the huddled mass as well. As for myself I was separated from them and had a blanket of my own over me. The blanket on me was in surprisingly good condition it must have been their way of saying thank you by keeping me warm. I cracked a smile and returned to where I had been watching the road from before I fell asleep. I magically moved my rifle into my hooves again, keeping an eye out for threats. I wanted all of these captives to be well rested before we headed out again.

I laid there for a few more hours, one by one they woke up I gave them a nod and they moved about stretching, eating, getting ready for the rest of the trip. Once they had all gotten up and had eaten I had us move out. We walked as I ate and drank. My comforts took second to their safety and us moving. I had saved them, they were my responsibility. I worried less as the day went on, and was thankful for the cloud curtain keeping the what would have been a hotter day away. As it was though it was rather unseasonably warm. I had to keep the front of my leather armor unzipped down to the base of my chest just to be comfortable. It helped, but, I kept going, reminding everypony to keep drinking regularly even if they weren't feeling thirsty. I also kept drinking regularly as well. The other ponies didn't have any barding to speak of, which was in their favor. Not only would it had slowed them down it would have heated them up. Unfortunately for me the dark brown of my armor seemed to be making it hotter than I would have liked, but, to strip out of it meant stopping completely. Not like I could just float and push myself with telekinesis. I know that unicorns before the war could do such a thing, though very few. I also knew that I was not that powerful of a magic user yet. Maybe someday with more training, but, for now, best I could manage was to bolster my jumps and levitate a large number of objects.

It was a very long road, and a very long walk. I had us take breaks where and when we could, using the bits of healing magic I knew to heal tired joints. While my magic wasn't up to doing what a healing potion could, I could at least heal bruises, cuts, and bite wounds. The last one I found out about when a group of lizards attacked us. The lizards ran around on two legs and were about as tall as a pony. I had spotted a few lizards in the distance and had begun to shoot them, but, there were of course more around that noticed the death of their friends. They began running towards me when two of the ponies with rifles stepped up and started shooting with me. That made more come running as the other rifles didn't have suppressors. We had fell most of them before they got to us, the few who did I finished off with my knife and pistol. I got bit more than a few times, but, I was the only really one hurt. I could handle being the only one hurt, I was supposed to be their guard, their savior, their hero.

It was reaching dusk and we had spotted Dune City, it was a town of shacks and old wooden buildings surfing on top of a massive Dune. Off in the distance I could see one of the MASEBS towers and I also saw a ridge of hills as a crescent around Dune City. I guessed that is how the sand stayed calm enough for the town to exist, the hills and few mountains blocked the wind making them not move as much. I asked my followers if they wanted to camp here or to push on to Dune City. They were tired, and they wanted rest, food, and water. So we stopped and made camp. After the camp was set up one of the few bucks went about helping a mare set up fire with some wood we had happened across on today's walk. Then to my surprise they started to cook up the lizard meat. The smell I had to admit was fair bit more attractive to me than the two century old cereal I had been eating for the past few days. I moved to the fire and greeted the two cooking with a wave.

“Hey there Miss, want the first gecko steak?” The buck said to me as I sat down next to him opposite of the mare.

“Gecko steak?” I asked with a raised eyebrow then put two and two together. “Oh those lizards are called gecko's. Yes I wouldn't mind something beyond two century old cereal for a meal.”

He smiled and the mare passed him a stick with a steak impaled on it to him. He took it in his hooves and checked it  over then handed it to me. I bit into the steak and was amazed at the flavor and how juicy it was. I was reminded of the ripe tomatoes from the memory orbs.

“Wow, where did you learn to cook meat like this?” I asked the two.

“Well we learned it on our travels seeking fortune within Seamane.” The buck offered up, I raised a single eyebrow encouraging him to elaborate as I ate. “Well considering you saved our lives from those raiders, might as well give you a story while you eat.” He said as the mare began passing out steaks to the other ponies around the firepit. “We originally were from Manehattan, came out of Gutterville looking to strike it rich. Or at least get away from from the Steel Rangers who take any tech you find which was more advanced than a gun. Even then, sometimes they would, aggressively. Still though, we made enough to pay for applying for citizenship to Tenpony.”

I nodded as I kept eating looking between the two. ‘They must be a couple.’

“So we struck it out here, comparatively a mite safer than Manehattan, a lot better than Hoofington or Fillydelphia. And we didn't feel like going up to Van Hoover.” The mare said.

I bit into the gecko steak and remembered everypony else. “Hey everypony, the steak is great, dig in!” I called out to them.

At hearing my approval I got twin hugs and there were a lot more gecko steaks being made now. For a long while it was quiet as we sat there around the campfire eating. It worried me that nopony else had really talked besides the mare and buck who were cooking. Yeah the ponies who had volunteered to be guards talked a little, but, it just felt weird for it to be this quiet. I looked around and saw the relief and peace on many of the faces around me. It wasn't a bad quiet, it was a good quiet, a quiet of happy content. I smiled, they didn't have to say anything for me to see the genuine happiness around me.

“Hey, so, what are your plans for when we get to Dune City? Head off to Tenpony?” I asked the two cooks.

“Well, we were planning on setting up a place for everypony in Dune City. Make a place to lay their heads, to work, to learn. To uh, well help those who are expecting.” Answered the buck.

“Oh? Well that is rather kind of you.” I hadn't been expecting that as an answer, warmed my heart a little to see others doing good deeds.

“Yep, we talked it over, we aren't leaving until we feel everypony is taken care of. Even then, we might just stay around, we have a lot of friends around here after all.” Said the mare, I admired the two of them for what they were doing.

“What about you? You seem well a bit young to be out here all on your own.” Asked the buck.

“Well, I am just on my way to Dune City to stay there a while. I also am not that young.” I really didn't want to talk about what happened in Saint Clover, at least the part about me being exiled.

“How about this, you can stay with us. Fairly certain there are enough intact buildings that we can house everypony.” The mare said and smiled at me.

“That, that sounds like a good idea, I didn't know where I was going to stay or how I was going to pay for it.” I said a with sigh of relief.

“Well we expect you to work while living with us, and we expect to know each others names. Sunset Rainbow,” said the buck, “this here is my wife.”

“Violet Gust, and yes we are married, for what it is worth out here,” she said with a smile.

“Moonlight, and I wouldn't dream of not doing what I could to help out for you housing me. Honestly I am still a bit lost and new to all of this out here.” I gave the two a sheepish smile.

Then I felt a leg go around my shoulder. “You don't seem that lost out here seeing what you did to that town of raiders. And don't you, worry those two will keep us safe."

I turned to see a blue coated green maned mare sitting next to me.

“White Rose, and thank you for getting me out of that town. Been there far longer than I care to admit, nice not having to worry about well,” she dropped her voice to a whisper, “you saw what they were doing with us.”

For some reason as I looked at this mare, White Rose, I felt my face getting warmer. She was taller than me, her eyes were a entrancing magenta. I saw her lips move as she said something more that my brain didn't register. I couldn't stop looking at her, the small scar on her cheek, her elegant face, her longer muzzle, her long slender horn with a perfect spiral, those beautiful magenta eyes... What was coming over me?

“Honestly when you went back up those stairs I thought I had just seen another pony fall to the wastelands call.” She said as she looked down at me, “but, you came back down and saved us. You even killed the pony running the place just like that.” She made a motion with her right foreleg like it was a gun firing. “I have to thank you, I am happy to be out of there.”

“Hey, I just did what I thought was right, I mean really why wouldn't somepony do the same if the had the method to take care of those raiders?” I blurted.

“Of course somepony else would have done it if they had the power to do so. If any ever felt the compassion to wipe out a nest of raiders. Most of the time ponies with power rather make money with no effort. Also most who target raiders are just going to loot what the raiders had looted from others not to save ponies.” Rose looked angry, like she had seen it before, “anyways, thank you again, Moonlight.”

“So what are you thinking of doing when we get to Dune City, Rose?” I asked her. Oh goddesses why was I feeling like this?! This was feeling like how Morning Sprout felt when looking at Meadows... Was I feeling the same sort of attraction towards Rose? Based on what, I didn't really know her, she just was a attractive mare, wait I am being attracted to a mare...

“Well, probably the same as you if Sunset and Violet don't mind. Why, you interested in hanging out more?” She asked and before I could think I felt myself nod as my face redden more.

“I think I am alright with this arrangement.” Rose said in her silvery voice and then simply smiled. She then planted a kiss on my lips, “I know I could do with somepony I can count on to protect me.”

There was a big grin on her face, and I felt myself blushing more, my thoughts began to race as she continued on. My mind had stopped paying attention and was trying to register what I had just asked and what I was feeling. My face was by now a bright red, a strange color on my ashen coat. That had been the first time anypony kissed me, and it was a mare. While I had been in Saint Clover I had never really made many close friends. While there were other ponies my age I had focused on reading. Comics, textbooks, journals, anything really to learn, to imagine being out here saving ponies like a hero in some story, or a detective in a novel. However, it had never been something I had thought I would actually do. I was expecting to follow Mom and Dad's hoofsteps in becoming a merchant in Saint Clover. Now here I was, three days out, and I killed a town of raiders, three slavers, and saved a bunch of ponies. It was nothing like the stories had I read. All of those stories was about ponies fighting monsters or zebras, never other ponies. Plus in those stories the hero was a big tough mare, not a small one like me. I felt a tap on my horn. I blinked and looked up. As I went to ask why Rose tapped my horn I got another kiss.

This was kissing, not a peck on the lips, but, kissing and my body was acting on its own. It really liked kissing, and apparently really liked the fact it was a mare who was kissing me. I was really surprised by a lot of what was going on. First, somepony actually like me in this sense, at least I figured that was why Rose was kissing me. Second, that I was enjoying this, well no, not surprised I liked it, more of I had always thought I fancied stallions and not mares. Apparently I was rather wrong. Maybe I had just thought that was how it was supposed to be. So maybe I was a fillyfooler, I was okay with this, I mean be with those you loved, right? Maybe it was because I never had anypony around to make me feel like this before. I felt myself being guided away for some privacy. I felt Rose kiss me and then start to undress me, I didn't try to stop her. My head was lost in enjoying this. I broke the kiss to say one last thing.

“Okay, can we only do this if you really want to. Please don't think you owe me for saving you, it was the right thing to do, even if others wouldn't have done it. I don't want to paid like this for doing what I felt was right.” I still had my eyes closed as Rose's hoof brushed my ultramarine blue mane out of my eyes.

Rose whispered in my ear. “I understand, just understand that some ponies like to reward others for their help, some of us only have a certain skill sets. Others just really like their mare in shining armor for more than just saving them.” She said in a sultry voice before resuming our kiss and then started to do new things to me.

*                *                *

I woke up, I felt legs wrapped around me from behind me and I turned to look, it was Rose. In the brighter light of morning I examined her features more closely. She had deep marks on her from years of abuse. Her blue coat had healed mostly thanks to a healing potion I had given her as well as some regular medical treatment that was within my knowledge. Her short green mane was wild and unkempt, though, I imagined now that she was free it would look better once she had a chance to tend to it.

I looked around the rest of the camp. Most were still asleep, but, the ponies who had come to work with me as guards were all at post watching out for anypony coming towards us. I gingerly levitated the legs off of me, blushing slightly at remembering what we had done last night. I looked to where her cutie mark was, the symbol of a white rose was there. It was beautiful, and as I stared at it I felt butterflies in my stomach thinking about what I had asked for her to do. I shook my head and I moved to my pile of things.

Wow, I was carrying a lot. No matter, I would lighten my load at Dune City. It was only a few hours walk from here. I started to put on my leather barding when I saw it. I had to contain myself from crying out in joy of finally having gotten my cutie mark. At some point in my travels I had done whatever it was I couldn't do in Saint Clover. Whatever it was it was my special talent. I still couldn't believe it. I had... I can't believe it. I finally have my cutie mark! Thankfully it wasn't a depiction of a weapon of death or a action of killing. No, it was a... book? What. The. Hell. I stared dumbly at it, then got dressed as I shook my head. Okay so cutie marks were not as exciting as I had been told. Or maybe I would be more excited if I knew what the hay it meant. Having no context for when it appeared I had no idea what the stupid symbol meant. In all honesty to me I still didn't have a special talent. However, to anypony who saw it, they would respect me more just for simply having a cutie mark.

I sighed as finished getting on my barding, then went about fastening all the belts and buckles that would hold my equipment on me. I saw a new holster, it was for my double barreled shotgun. I smiled and strapped it on too. Then came the canteen, saddle bags, ammo boxes, and everything else. I realized just how much I was covered in equipment, how ridiculously well armed, armored, and prepared I looked compared to the others. I looked the part of a wasteland heroin, even if mentally I still felt I had yet to truly achieve that title. I stifled a giggle, then I walked up the hill that gave us a view of Dune City. Almost there.

I got a nudge from Sunset Rainbow as he sat down next to me. I turned my head towards him with a eyebrow raised.

    “So, have enough fun last night?” He said with a big grin on this face.

I face hoofed, great, was I going to be known as the heroine who bucked her way across the wasteland. I looked up at him.

“Why do I feel like this is going to stick with me for a long time.” I said looking up at him. The colors of dawn worked well with his off white coat. His yellow mane was rather thin and wispy as the wind blew it softly, I blushed and turned away. Seriously when did I suddenly start seeing attractive ponies around me like this?! Maybe Rose's special was the cause of it. Maybe she did something to me last night. I blushed thinking about what happened last night. I needed to not think about last night, or anything related to that very fun experience... Damn it mind. He saw my blush as I tried to look away and laughed.

“Don't worry, I'm just messing with you. You are a good mare, Moonlight, your heart is in the right place. Trust me, just listen to it if you ever wondering if what you are doing the right thing.” The smile on his face, he reminded me of Dad. I nodded as I accepted his advice.

“So, you and Violet were adventurers. So... since you are settling down for the time being, mind maybe teaching me a thing or two about surviving the wasteland?” I asked while looking back out to the north west at Dune City.

He put a hoof to his chin, scratching it softly as he thought. Violet walking up holding three sticks with gecko steaks skewered on them. She handed them to us and I ate happily. Even cooled the meat tasted pretty good. I ate quietly as the three of us looked out. I heard the stirring behind us as others started to wake up as the clouds brightened and resumed their normal gray colors as the dawn ended.

“I don't see why not. But, between setting up a place for everypony you saved and teaching you how to live off the land, it is going to be a bit busy.” He said with a smiled, I saw a leg around Violet, both of them were smiling happily at me.

“Well consider this, I will do what work I can around town and sell off what I don't need to help fund your project. In return I live with you two, and you two teach me what you can when you can about living in the wasteland.” I said with a note of finality letting them know I wouldn't take no for an answer.

“So you are going to settle down too? So shortly after starting your own adventure? There are other ponies out there that need your help, and nopony else is going to help them.” Violet said, it struck a chord with me, I could stay there and help them. But... even in these few days I had liked the sense of adventure. Well minus getting shot and having grenades explode indoors with me. I wonder if there was hearing protection that I could buy in Dune City...

“I may go out there again, I really feel like staying around until it is all set up, well besides quick trips out for jobs.” I said as I stretched out a bit.

With that I went back to finishing my breakfast. I heard more ponies climbing up the dune we sat on, joining me at looking at their soon to be new home. It didn't take too terribly much longer for everypony to get ready for the rest of the trip. There were many smiles on the faces around me, there was also snickering. I tried to tune out anything being said about last night. Part of me really hoped that nopony outside of this group would ever know what happened last night. Goddesses my face was red again thinking about it again. Okay, best thing to do was see if everypony was ready and head out. Think about the trip not hooves back there.

    "Gah! No stop thinking about it!" I stammered out in frustration mixed with embarrassment, it only caused more snickering about me.

I kept going in a circle of embarrassment, frustration, and trying to focus on the trip until we were all ready. When the time came we cleaned up our camp and started back to the road. This stretch was not that bad, and with being in sight of Dune City I doubted we had much to worry about. So the walk was done in high spirits and at a quicker pace. As we neared the parameter of the city I noticed some rather heavily armored and armed ponies start to walk up to us. I told everypony to let me handle this and to keep their guns lowered. I slung my rifle and walked a bit faster to put distance between me and the rest of the group.

“Howdy!” I shouted and waved a hoof as I magically took off my helmet. I hoped that this would be disarming enough to make the guards not think we were trying to invade. After all there was a good number of us.

“Welcome to Dune City Miss, I see you have a group with you. Mind telling us why you are coming up from Raiderville?” The closest and most armored guard asked. Hay, I couldn't see his coat under all that armor.

“Well, I was coming up from Saint Clover to here, got lost, took the wrong road and trotted right into Raiderville, got shot at, shot back, blew a lot of ponies up and freed the captured ponies.” I said as I smiled up at them.

There was a long and tense silence. I stood there then scraped my hoof on the road.

“So uh... could we come in, most of the ponies with me want to settle down, two of them want to start a place for the ponies we're bringing in.” I asked after a minute of the awkward silence, feeling a bit smaller now. Then again, I was actually physically smaller than the guards, and the way they were looking at me made me feel like I was shrinking.

The guards continued to just stare at me as if trying to discern if I was lying, crazy, or stupid. It was quiet for a few more minutes until Sunset and Violet came up and introduced themselves. That helped a lot. The guards knew them. They were surprised to hear about how I had saved them and what I had done to 'Raiderville'. The guards looked at me, then back at Sunset and Violet.

“That little mare, just a few days out of Saint Clover did that.” They regarded me with skepticism, interest and a little bit of fear. I think the fear was the fact that I was actually capable of what I said I did. The interest due to apparently I could do something about the raider problem.

“Well, I think you,” he pointed at me, “need to report to the mayor, and I think you may get some compensation for re-opening the fastest road between here and Saint Clover.”

I relaxed. ‘Okay, no hot death for me today, yet, at least.’

I tied my helmet to my saddlebags and motioned the rest of the group to come up. I turned to the guards as well as Sunset and Violet.

“Thank you, just tell me where to find the mayor and I will be on my way.” I turned to Sunset and Violet then levitated off my saddlebags and ammo boxes and put them on their backs. “Sell what you can, keep the caps and find a place to set up shop, just don't leave me without anything to read or eat.” I said with a smile and stood next to a guard.

“Alright Miss follow me, I think the mayor will like you.” The guard said and I followed him into Dune City.

Footnote: Level Up

New Perk Added! Rapid Reload: All weapons reload twenty five percent faster! Now that you know how to reload guns under stress you now reload faster so you can shoot more. Shooting more means a lot in the wasteland so remember to keep an eye on your ammo.

Skill Note: Guns at fifty.