Fallout Equestria: Internal Darkness

by ZeroMunis

Rating: mature
Tags: Crossover, Dark
Length: 6858

Littlepip and her group purged the world of radiation, and everything was better. For a while. A young buck awakens, and with only small flashbacks to tell him who he is, he must learn to survive the second coming of the wastes.

Two hundred years after Littlepip's death, her entire story has become nothing but mythology. As one group, the Church of Guardians, grew to preserve equality, and morality in the wastes, a stronger group of Raider Lords, Slavers, and other ponies profiting from the darkness grew to tear them down.

Another war broke out, and it didn't end well for the Church.

Fast forward another two hundred years, and the wastes have come back, only meaner then what Littlepip has endured. As a young buck wakes up from the brink of death, he finds he's lost himself. He can't remember who he was, what he did, anything. The only information he knows of himself comes in the form of small flashbacks as he dreams.

Now, he must learn to survive in the wastes, and discover who he really is.

Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2013-11-21 21:54:47 UTC

The One with Nothing

Fallout: Equestria

Internal Darkness

by ZeroMunis

Chapter One: The One with Nothing

“Memories define us, they make up who we are. To lose them is to be cast off into a world of darkness. With no memories as a guide, nothing to base yourself off of, what do you become? Are you the same person as before, or do you change on a fundamental level?”

My eyes fluttered awake, and the first thing to come to my mind was; “Where the hell am I?”

I looked around from this bed I was in. The walls were a blinding, clean, white.  The room was square, and in front of me sat a single Unicorn buck. His hide was a deep hazel, and his mane as black as the night. He was just sitting there, watching me. His mouth slowly curled into a grin, as he lifted a small box in his telekinesis. With a soft click he pressed a button on its side.

Manacles clasped over my hooves with a crash, as he stood up and trotted over towards my bed.  I struggled against the restraints, but I couldn’t move. As he drew closer, he started laughing.

“My god… I did it… HE’S ALIVE, HAHA! I FUCKING DID IT!” He screamed into the air, as he approached.

He peered down over me, his violet eyes taking in every detail as his grin became more and more gnarled.  He walked over to a side table beside the bed, and he picked something up in his magic.

“You… you’re not perfect. You HAVE to be PERFECT… have to be.”

I watched as he slowly slid a needle into my leg, injecting a murky green fluid into my veins. The room began to spin, colours flashed before my eyes. His speech became nothing but a disjointed murmur. The last thing I saw as I fell into a deep sleep was a bloody scalpel grasped in his telekinetic field.

***

I slowly drifted awake again. Right in front of me was an astonished mare, her coat a light green, and mane a dirty yellow. She sprinted off, and out of the room, slamming the door behind her.

Well… that happened.

I took some time to look around the room. The walls were dirty, and stained. Even the bed I was on was stained brown, and a bit of red, but I tried to ignore that.  There was a table on the right side of me, on it was a pitcher of water, and a glass. To the other side of me was an I.V, dripping an orange liquid from a see-through pouch.

A Light brown earth pony trotted in quickly with a clipboard. He was wearing a lab-coat, and his white mane was long and shaggy. He walked over to my bed, checked my I.V, and poured himself a glass of water. When he was finished, he looked me in the eyes, and spoke.

“You should be dead right now, kid. You drowned in the river, and the damage to your lungs was horrific. You passed away half an hour ago, and we were about to have you buried. How the fuck are you alive?”

I… I was speechless. What was I supposed to say to that? I had died, and now… I was somehow brought back? I tried to think, but, I couldn’t remember much. I remembered that stallion, the room, the needle, but, nothing else.

“What? Are you mute now? C’mon, say something, kid.” He looked at me expectantly.

I looked up at him, and managed to say “Uhh… what?” He sat down at the edge of my bed. He seemed pensive, like trying to figure out what to say.

“So, you really are alive. Well, around here they call me Doc. I patch up ponies, no matter what the problem, I always do my best, but you died. You died, and now you’re back, and we have no fucking clue how you managed that. So, would you care to explain?” He stood up again and looked down at me. “At least give me your name.”

“I… I can’t remember my name… and I don’t know how I’m alive if I drowned…” I looked down at the floor. I didn’t even know my name. I forgot everything about myself, who I was, what I did, it was all lost to me. My brain was all one big, hazy blur, and I couldn’t make sense of it.

“Huh… you didn’t suffer any head-trauma, so normally amnesia isn’t viable, but you died. I don’t know how that must’ve affected your brain. Anyways, I’m the head doctor here at Riverside General Hospital. Now, our services aren’t cheap, and you didn’t have anything valuable with you when you were found in the river.” He walked over to the edge of the room, near the door.

“We’ll figure something out later, for now, you just get some rest, kid. You need it.” With that, he stepped out, and I was left alone with my thoughts.

Okay… so, what do I look like?

I looked around again, but there weren't any mirrors. I knew I had a dark-grey coat, and that my mane was jet black. Also, I was a guy… that was pretty obvious. Other than that, I had no idea what I looked like. I didn't see any scars, or cuts, not even a bruise. I didn't even have a cutie-mark, so I guess I was pretty young.

I didn't know what time it was, there weren't any windows or clocks to show the time, but I was pretty tired, so I laid down, and slowly drifted off to sleep.

***

I woke up to the sound of the door creaking open. The mare from earlier walked in. She looked nervous, and stood at the door for a bit, just looking me over, before she walked in.

“So, you are alive, huh? Jeez, I was just about to haul you off to our cemetery when you moaned. I thought you were a zombie or something.” She trotted over to my bed, and sat down.  “Sorry. Anyways, I’m Lemon Lime, though most ‘round here just call me Lime. I’m a part-time nurse here, the other side of my job is as a salvager. I search the near-by ruins for useful stuff, and trade with caravans.”

I looked at her, and replied “Uh, hey… I can’t really remember my name…’’ her eyes were a murky green, and looked sad, like she’s seen a lot of bad stuff in her life.

Her eyes suddenly went large, and she gasped. “You can’t remember your name?” She became even more shocked after I whispered “Nope… I can’t remember anything.”

She jumped up off the bed, and stared me straight in the eyes. “We have to call you SOMETHING!” She grabbed at my side, and looked at my flank. “You don’t have a cutie-mark yet… and you can’t remember anything… so… what do we call you?”

She sat down beside my bed, and mumbled to herself quietly. “Well… we could… no, that wouldn’t… how ‘bout…. nope….”  As she mumbled incoherently, Doc slipped back into the room with a disappointed look on his face.

He walked over beside my bed, and gazed down at me shamefully. “Well, I did everything I could, but your care was just too expensive to ignore. You’ll either have to bring us our payment, or… or they’ll have you sold as a slave.” He slapped a strange collar on me.

“This is an explosive band, you walk off, and it blows your head off. You do anything they don’t like, and they’ll set it off.”

“What? Doc! How is he supposed to earn enough to pay off all those caps? He doesn’t even know his name!” Doc stared Lime down. “You of all people should know I didn’t want this. The committee demands that he pay off his debt.”

Lime trotted over beside me “I won’t let you do this! I won’t let this happen again, Doc! Too many times have the committee sent nice people into the hands of slavers!” Lime screamed her lungs out at Doc, and he just stood there, taking it.

“Lime… You want to help this kid out? Then pay his debt for him! Or, I don’t know, take him out salvaging so he can earn it himself! He needs five hundred caps. Just five hundred. You make two thousand a trip, so if it goes well, he should make enough himself to pay it all off, right?” Lime nodded. “Yeah, but it’s dangerous. He probably hasn’t even fired a gun before! What if we’re attacked by raiders? Huh?”

As the two bickered back and forth, I sat there and thought. I could go with Lime, even though it was dangerous, pay off my debt, and be free, or I could be sold to slavers. The choice was an obvious one to me.

“Umm, I want to go with Lime, and pay this off…” I said. The two stopped arguing, and stared at me. Lime walked over.

“Do you really wanna do this, kid? It’ll be dangerous.” I nodded. I had to do this. I wasn’t going to let myself be sold as a slave to anypony.

***

As I stepped out of the hospital, I finally got a chance to see what this town was like. The hospital itself was up on a hill, overlooking the town. The town below had two sides, east and west, with a river dividing them down the middle. The east side was all shops, and business, while the west side had homes, and farms.

Lime motioned for me to follow her to the east side. The hill was steep and it took a while to walk, but we eventually got to the bottom. At the base of the hill was a sign, it read “Welcome to Riverside!” I followed her through the small streets on the east side to a crashed ship at the side of the river. The holes had all been patched with sheet metal, and the entire thing was rusted. A sign hung over the front. It read “Ember’s Weapon emporium.”

As we walked in, a young red mare, with a yellow mane approached us. “Howdy, Lime! S’been a while since you walked on in, how ya been doin’?” Lime walked over, and embraced her.

“It’s been going fine! Salvage has been good. Now, today isn’t about me, we need to get this kid here suited up, he’s coming with me today salvaging to pay off a debt.” Ember looked past Lime, and at me.

“Oh, god. Ya got a debt to tha committee of tha hospital? Damn, them fuckers. Ya can’t be more then fifteen!” She trotted back into the middle of the store, and motioned all around here. “As ya kin see, we got a huge collection of tha best guns in tha wastes! Look around, boy! See what catches yer eye!”

I looked around the room. The walls were all rusty, like the hull. Shelves were on every wall, each showing off a different weapon. There was everything from a beat-up pistol to a huge minigun. I looked around, everything was either too big and heavy, or too damaged for me. Eventually, I found a small revolver. I could pick it up easily in my mouth, it wasn’t heavy, and it looked pretty well taken-care of.

The gun itself was a deep violet. The grip was jet black, and carved into the barrel was the name “Ultra Violet”. Down on the grip, the words “Every shot counts” was carved into it.

I walked to the counter with the revolver in my mouth, and set it down on the table. Ember and Lime gave me the strangest looks.

“Boy, what are ya doin’? Why’d ya pick the thing up wit yer mouth? Don’t ya Unicorns got magic for that?” Wait, Unicorn? I reached up with my hoof and touched my forehead. I had a horn, and that meant I could use magic right?

“Uh, you did know you were a Unicorn, right, kid?” Lime said. She walked over to me, and sighed. “You didn’t know you were a Unicorn. So, do you have any magic you can use, or do you not know how?”

I thought hard for a moment, concentrating on the revolver. I focused on it, imagining it being grabbed by my telekinetic field. After a minute, a slight glow began to surround it. Then it started to levitate. I learned pretty quickly how to use telekinesis. All you had to do was focus on something, and think about it moving. I moved the revolver around for a while, getting a hang of it. After a few minutes, I didn’t even need to focus on it, I just had to think about picking it up, and moving it, and it would.

“Well, looks like you can use telekinesis, that’s a good thing. Revolvers aren’t good for us earth ponies, it’s a bitch to reload without magic.” Lime looked toward Ember, who was now behind the counter, fetching some ammunition for it. “How much for the Revolver and, say, fifty shots, Ember?”

Ember concentrated for a moment, doing the math in her head. “Well, Lime. This gun is kinda special. Ah’ve never came across one like it. Tha ammo’s kinda hard te find as well, but, yer ma best friend. How about ah just lend er to ya? You pay for tha ammo, and a bit for tha gun, and then you bring it back. Sound good?” Lime thought for a bit, before agreeing. She handed over two hundred caps, and we took both Ultra Violet, and fifty .302 bullets with us.

***

“So, like this, Lime?” I stood there, looking down the sight of the gun at a bottle set up on a rock.

“That’s it! Now, push the trigger!” I pushed the trigger forwards with my magic.

CRAK!

The bottle flew off the rock. I hit it. Dead center.

“Woah! That’s pretty impressive for your first shot, kid! I don’t think it’ll be a problem to have you tag along.” After a few more shots, each one hitting dead center, Lime threw me over a saddlebag. Inside were four healing potion, the other forty .302 rounds, and some food and water.

We laid down for a while, resting at Lime’s makeshift camp for a while before we finally set out.

“Now, kid, there are some things you need to know about the world we live in.” Lime looked me over, and started to talk as we trotted down the trails.

“There are two types of people out here that you really need to look out for. Raiders, and Slavers. Raiders are ruthless, they live to kill, rape, and torture. Keep away from them if you can, as they won’t stop attacking until either you, or they, are dead.”

She stopped for a moment to take a drink from her canteen before she started up again.

“Now, no matter how bad Raiders are, Slavers are worse. Slavers are intelligent, and instead of torturing you, or worse, they’ll either kill you, or catch you. If they catch you, you’ll be sold, and that’s why they’re worse. The evils a slave goes through are worse than hell itself, so don’t let yourself get caught.”

I

took it all in. Slavers and Raiders. Both were horrible, and both I should avoid. Good to know.

***

After hours of walking, we finally reached our destination. It was a decrepit building no pony really knew much about. It was just up the road, and I was about to run up to it, when Lime grabbed me, and dove behind a rock.

“Son of a bitch. It’s a raider nest. There’s a sniper up there, and he fucking saw us. If we run, he’ll pick us off, if we stay, they’ll come for us. If we stay, we have a chance. So sit, and be careful.” Lime plopped down, and pulled out her huge rifle. She loaded a few bullets, the same Ultra Violet took, and peeked over the edge of the rock. With a loud crak, she dipped back down.

“I got one, two more are coming at least. If they come around the rock, you have to take them out with your revolver. Okay?” she questioned.

I nodded. I peeked around the rock, and saw the two running down the road. One had a small pistol in his mouth, the other a bat.  As they ran down the hill, I lined up a shot. Looking right down at the pistol holder’s leg. I pushed the trigger forwards.

The bullet shot out, and hit him in the knee. His leg crumpled beneath him, and he fell flat on his face. With a loud CRAK from Lime’s rifle, his head was gone, and the body laid there, lifeless.

I… I just killed a pony. Because of me, he was dead. I never thought about this before. Killing somepony, anything, you end it. With this gun, I could end the existence of anything. All I had to do, was point, and shoot.

My vision started to go funny as the tears welled up in my eyes. I killed somepony, ended everything he was, anything he could become. I was going to be sick.

“Hey! Get it together! I need you up for this! That guy, he’s probably killed tons of ponies! By killing him, we’re saving others! NOW GET UP, AND HELP M-”

CRAAAK!

With that, the sniper picked off Lime. The bullet shot through her head, and out the other side, right as I looked up at her.

Her body fell to the ground, her rifle beside her. She was gone. Dead, and it was my fault.  If I hadn’t have broken down like that, she would still be alive. I was so shocked I didn’t hear the other raider come up behind me. All I felt was a huge pain behind my head, and I lost consciousness.

***

I slowly awoke inside of a cell. The floor was cold concrete, and I seemed to be in a basement. I looked around, and saw the other cells. There were four cells other than mine, and each had three small foals in them. They curled in the back, crying. One of the cells had a dead body in it, and the other two foals trapped with it were staying as far away from it as possible. The air had the sickly smell of rotting flesh, and urine.

“Are you okay, mister?” I looked to the corner of my cage. There, huddled up was a small earth pony filly. She was a dirty, grimy white, and her mane a light pink, with bits of red mixed in. I had a feeling the red wasn’t part of her natural hair colour.

“Yeah, I’m fine. So, where are we, anyways?” At the sound of my voice, she stood up and walked over. She plopped down next to me, and started to cry.

“You’re not one of them…. You’re not one of them… your voice isn’t like theirs…” She threw herself on top of me, and gave me a hug. Her grip was strong, and all the air fluttered out of my lungs. I eventually was able to pry her off of me, as I gasped for air.

“Who’s them?” I asked. She looked up at me, terrified. I could tell something bad has been going on here, and from her looks, things were only going to get worse.

“The Slavers… sometimes, they pretend to be one of us, and get put in here. Then, they... they do bad things...” Realization flooded through my mind. The one with the bat knocked me out, and now I’m here. They’ve been raping these children, as they hold them here, before sending them off to whoever buys them.

A loud clanging came from the door on the other side of the filthy basement, as three armed slavers opened it, and walked in. One was a jet black earth pony, and on his side was a sledgehammer. His mane was extremely long, so he had it pushed up out of the way with something. One was a green Unicorn, and she carried a small machine-gun in her magic. The last was obviously the leader. He stood in the middle, and commanded the other two. He was a dark Blue Pegasus. He had a Sniper Rifle slung across his back. He stepped into the middle of the room, and looked over all of us, before he finally found me.

He had a Sniper Rifle.  He… he was the one that killed Lime.

“So, this is the kid. The one with the bomb collar, huh? Did we switch the signal yet?” He looked towards the green mare, and she nodded in response. He smiled, and turned back towards me.

“Good. You see kid, that collar of yours has been re-wired to this button here.” He pointed to sledgehammer guy, and he pulled out a small switch. “If you try anything shady, he’s gonna flick that switch. You know what happens if he does, right?” I nodded. It would blow my head off if he flicked it.

“Good! Finally! Someone knows their place around here! Now, Sledge, you keep an eye on the fucker.” With that, the Pegasus, and Unicorn walked back out the door, closing it behind him.

Sledge sat down on the floor, and after a few minutes of looking me over, he went to the door, and checked around. He sauntered back to the middle of the floor, and pulled a syringe out of his mane. He injected himself with the drug, and slowly fell asleep.

“Good, he’s asleep. He’s usually the one who beats us up for fun. The big meanie.” The filly walked over to the bars, and slipped through them without a problem. She looked back at me and winked. Only now did I get a good view of her figure. She had slipped through so easily because she was malnourished. I could see her ribs through her hide.

She walked over to the guard, and kicked him, before she started to rummage through his mane. She trotted back with a few things in her mouth. As she plopped down in the cage, I saw what she had brought. She placed five bobby pins from the guard’s mane, and the button to my bomb collar down in front of me.

She ripped the side out from the button, and cut a wire with her teeth. She pressed down on the button, and smiled as nothing happened.

“We can get out of here, right now, mister! You just need to pick the lock! I’d do it, but I don’t have any magic.” She nudged one of the pins forwards, and looked me in the eye. “What you have to do, is fit the pin in the lock. Tilt the pin to an angle, and force the lock to turn with your magic. When you feel resistance, stop, and try a different angle. The further you can turn without resistance, the closer you are to the correct spot.” She looked at me, pleadingly.  I slowly picked up one in my magic, and sighed.

“Okay, I guess I’ll try. We need to get out of here.” I slowly placed the first bobby pin in the lock to the cage. I turned the bobby pin to the left, and slowly began to turn the lock.

CRUNCH

Shit, there went the first of five. At least now I knew it wasn’t on the left. I picked up the second pin, and slid it into the lock. I turned it slightly to the right, and turned. The lock began to give me some leeway, and turned a bit, before I met resistance. I turned a bit more to the right, and it started to turn a bit more.

CRUNCH

Okay, I was starting to get closer. I inserted the third, and turned it to the right, a bit further than where I broke the last one. I turned, and it nearly turned fully, before the pin cracked. Two more.

I fitted the fourth one into the lock, turned far to the right, and turned slowly. Just as it was about to turn completely, it caught, and broke. I looked down at the last pin. Last shot. I placed the pin inside the lock. I slowly brought it right to where the last pin snapped, and pushed it a tad more to the right.

I started to turn the lock. Slowly, it turned more and more to the right, before stopping. I did it. I picked the lock, and now I had a chance. The cage door swung open, and I stepped out into the basement.

“You did it, mister!” The young filly sauntered out of the cage, and over to the unconscious guard. With a swift twist, she yanked the guard’s head back, and broke his neck. I sat there, stupefied. How did she know how to pick a lock, and snap a neck?

“How the hell did you do that?” I questioned. She turned around, and with a smile said “My daddy taught me. I miss him, a lot.” With that, she grabbed the Key-ring from Sledge, and walked over to the door. She unlocked it, and stepped out, into a hallway.

I tried to pick up Sledge’s hammer, it seemed like it might be useful, but I couldn’t budge the thing. I walked over to the door, and out into the hall.

The hall was a short one, with a staircase leading upwards to the right, and another door on the left. The door was open, so I walked in, looking for that filly.

She was sitting in the middle of the room, looking over the walls. It looked like this was their storage. Guns, medicine, ammo, food, it was all here. The young filly trotted to the corner of the room, and pulled out a small jumpsuit. She slipped it on, and walked back over to me.

Her jumpsuit was a dark blue, with black stripes on its legs. She wore it with pride, and the name “Pick-Pocket” was sewed into it with a lighter blue thread. From a small pocket in the side, she pulled out a small, silenced pistol. She loaded it, and placed it back into the pocket.

She looked at me and smiled. “We really should get out of here, you know. The Slavers will be back eventually, but hey, we have some time to look through this place. Find the good stuff.” With that, she began to rummage through everything.

I started to pick through things myself, and was content that I found Ultraviolet, and an extra fifty rounds for it. I also found some Healing Potions, bandages, and some small pills in a container labeled “Mint-als”. I was just about done, when I saw it.

Lime’s rifle.

It was propped up against the wall, just… sitting there. I walked over, and picked it up. It was a bit heavy, but manageable. It took the same rounds as Ultraviolet, .302’s. Carved into the wooden stock, were some words.

“I hope this makes up for what happened, Lime. She’ll be with us, always.”

I had no idea what they meant, and now I’d never know. I slowly to the door. As I shut off the lights, I looked back, and frowned. Even though it had only been a day, Lime tried to help, and ended up losing everything. I shut the door behind me as I left.

It was time to stop these Slavers. Once and for all.

***

Mister looked sad when he found the rifle. I guess it was important to him. We walked out of the storage room, and up the stairs.

Mister had that look in his eyes while we walked up the staircase. He had the same look daddy had. Angry, sad, and just a little bit crazy.

When we reached the top of the stairs, there were two guards standing in front of us. Before they could say a word, two shots from Mister’s gun took them down.  Both shots hit their heads, right between their eyes.

Mister meant business.

I pulled out my pistol, and checked to make sure I had reloaded it. I did, all twelve shots were there, so we pressed on. We found ourselves in the main hall after following another hallway. I jumped towards the doors, and was just about to run out, when I looked back.  Mister wasn’t headed outside, he was walking down another hallway, towards the next staircase.

“Hey! Mister! The exit is this way!” I yelled at him. I guess he didn’t hear me, he just kept walking upstairs. I ran upstairs after him. I couldn’t let him go alone.

At the top of the stairs, the Green one was there, with her machine gun. Mister dove behind a table, and Greenie behind a desk. Greenie started spraying at Mister with her gun. Mister’s table was being peppered by Greenie’s machine gun, and he couldn’t get up to fire a shot.

I slowly crouched down, and pulled my pistol out. A few quick shots, and Greenie fell down. Mister didn’t even thank me, he just broke down the door to the next room.

I jumped through the door after him, coming face to face with the Leader of these guys. He looked scared as he saw Mister standing there.

“Hey… you… you’re out…” he stammered. He started shaking as he reached for his desk drawer. With a bang, his hoof flew off. Mister shot his hoof off.

Leader guy fell to the floor, crying. “Son of a bitch! What the fuck are you, kid? You killed how many of us? Five? Six? Just… just make it quick, please… please…” Leader guy started babbling on about things he had done.

“I’m sorry for that girl I shot… that family I slaughtered… please… forgive me…” Mister looked down on him as he cried. Mister turned away as he spoke.

“What am I? I am Justice. You’ve hurt so many without remorse. Killed, sold, raped for a long time. It’s finally time you paid your dues.”

With that, Mister turned back around, and with one precise shot through the guy’s eye, killed him.

Mister was merciless. He walked slowly back downstairs with Leader-guy’s keys, and unlocked all the cages. The kids were scared, but he sent them to the storage closet to pick some supplies out before they hit the road.

Mister found himself a mission, I guess. Something to do with himself. As he strode out of the Slaver camp, he looked serious. Determined.

On his flank appeared a photo of a scale. On one side, a sun, the other, a moon.

Level up!

New Perk: Hands of Fate: When dealing damage to Slavers, Raiders, and The Legionnaires of Apoc, critical hits are 10% more likely, and deal an extra 10% damage.

Paying Debts

“Dreams are said to be a portal to one’s subconscious. A place where both your greatest hopes, and fears, can be realized.”

As I walked down the dimly lit hallways, I kept Ultraviolet at the ready. Something wasn’t right.

As I slipped down the next hallway of pure, blank, white walls, I heard a noise come from behind. With a sharp turn, a fired three rounds behind me.

Nothing was there.

I reloaded, and pressed on. I had to figure out what the hell was going on here.

After another few minutes of walking, I watched as the lights on the ceiling slowly winked out, one by one. As the hallways went pitch black, the noise came back.

It echoed down the halls. A small, scraping that grated on my ears. I couldn’t move anywhere, the hall was too dark, and so I sat there. I listened as it slowly approached, gun ready to shoot anything coming down the hallway, until it became obvious that it wasn’t coming from down the hallway.

A huge crash sounded right above my head, so I shot at it. With a loud plopping noise, something slipped off the ceiling, and onto the floor. The lights came back on right after, and I was horrified to see the face of Lime, laying there, staring at me, lifeless, one perfect shot, right between her eyes.

***

I woke up in a cold sweat.

I slowly climbed off the ground, and set to talking care of the small fire we had started earlier that night.  The flames licked at the small branches we has gathered from the dead forest nearby.

I looked out over the small kids sleeping. Twelve in all, plus Pocket, or at least that’s what she said her name was. That little girl had saved all of us, and I was glad. I didn’t go to get my freedom just to be captured again.

Still, the kids were safe, and it’d be only another few hours walk once dawn broke to get to Riverside. I guess we were lucky. I have no clue how I managed to take the slavers down, or get these kids out to here. I know Pocket helped to get them to trust me, but, I was able to get them organized.

Some of the kids told me they knew how to use a gun, their parents taught them, others didn’t. Those who couldn’t helped carry supplies. With a small army of five shooters, nothing had caused us much of a problem on the way here.

There was a small group of coyotes who got close, and nipped me, but we chased them off, and one bandage was enough to cover the wound well.

As the stars shone down on our small camp, I couldn’t help but realize the sadness in it all. These kids would live their lives as orphans, in the streets of an unfamiliar town. They had no control in their life, and a group of bastards tried to take away the chance for them to choose anything for themselves. I might have saved their freedom, but certainly not their lives. Being poor, living off the streets, it’d be horrible. The only real hope they have is if someone were to have taken them in.

By the look of the town, I didn’t think anyone would have the money to try and help the kids out.

Unfortunately, that was how this world worked. Very few would ever be able to lead a happy life, hell, I didn’t even remember who I was, and my first day or two was shit.

I slowly sunk back down onto the ground, closed my eyes, and fell asleep.

***

“Mister! Time to get up, we have to head out, right?”

I slowly pulled myself up, and dusted myself off. Most of the kids were either just getting up, or eating a small breakfast. Pocket walked over to the small eating area, and sat down before gorging on a box of old snack cakes.

I sat down, and opened a small box of super old cereal. It wasn’t bad, but I knew it couldn’t be good for me.

After another few minutes of eating, we hurried down the path towards Riverside, Pocket at my side. It took a few hours before the town finally came into view. As we walked down the banks, we received a lot of strange looks. From disbelief to joy, to sadness.

I looked towards the hospital, and saw three armed ponies walk down the hill, staring at me. They got to the bottom of the hill, and pulled out their guns.

“Oi, kid,” one called down to me, “we were to hunt you down, good for us, you plopped down right in front of us!” He pulled up his rifle, and fired.

The shot rammed home into one of the kids. Just like that, he was gone.

With a swift move, I aimed Ultraviolet, and fired. The bullet struck him in the leg, and he kneeled in pain. With another crack from behind me, his head was gone.

All the kids around me scattered, it was for the best. If they weren’t here, they wouldn’t be shot, and I wouldn’t have to feel bad for leaving them.

I dove behind a building, and peeked out behind them. A few shots came from my left as another of the guys fell. I shot my vision across to Pocket with her small pistol hiding in the shadow of a large crate. That girl was a stealthy monster.

I was about to fire at the last buck, who took cover behind a large rock at the base of the hill, when a large revving came from behind me. I turned to see Ember revving up that huge minigun that was in her store.

She turned to the rock, and screamed: “No ponah fuckin touches this kid, got it?”

The last buck of the trio screamed out his apologies, and ran out of Riverside. I guess a screaming pony with a minigun is more than enough to discourage most.

“Hey, kid,” Ember called over to me, waving her hoof, “nice ta see ya made it. Just, where’s Lime? She off payin yer debt, er sumthin?”

“Ember… Lime didn’t make it. That building was a slaver camp, and a sniper hit her…” I didn’t have the resolve to look her in the eye. It might have only been for a small while, but I truly missed Lime. Thrown into a crazy world where every day some new shit is thrown at you, she was one of the few that tried to make any real difference in the lives of others.

After a minute of it sinking in, Ember broke down. I trotted over to comfort her as she cried. After another few minutes, she stood back up, and held up her minigun.

“Kid,” she said, looking to the sky, “Lime died for ya, so ya bedder fuckin do something worthwhile with yer life.”

With that, she slowly strode back into her shop. With a lingering gaze, she stepped into her store, and slammed the door shut.

“Hey mister, who’s Lime?” Pocket questioned, as she ran up alongside me.

I couldn’t break now, I had to go the hospital, and confront them.

“No pony important, Pocket. Now come on, we have some ponies to talk to.”

***

Getting into the Hospital on the hill was the easy part.

Getting through the five or so bounty hunters in the fucking lobby wasn’t.

After a grueling fifteen minutes of exchanging fire, the last one finally fell, and we proceeded down the hall. I checked my ammo, and sure enough, I only had twelve shots left. If we ran into another group like that, I’d run out.

After a few more turns down some halls, to the astonished looks of some patients, Pocket and I found it. A single board room in the center of the building labeled “Committee Offices”.

With a swift jerk of her hoof, a tool popped out of a small wrist-band. She slipped it into the lock, and quickly unlocked the door.

Within a few minutes, the lock clicked open. With a shove, the door opened.

The room was basically bare, save a table, and the ten ponies seated around it. Also, the ten bodyguards standing around them.

All at once, they pulled up their rifles at us, and with a gruff order, told us to sit down.

The head chairpony stood up, and looked over us.

“Hey, listen here you whelp. We let you run off with that Lime girl, only for you to crawl back four days later. Looks like we are selling you off anyways, huh? Your debt wasn’t paid!” He sat back down in a huff.

I looked back at him, and slid a bag of caps across the table. I’ll tell you one thing, though, Slavers make a lot of money. I was just happy I found them, I was about to toss them away when Pocket stopped me.

The Chairpony started counting out caps, until he had taken half of the bag.

“Oh… you have the money. So, I guess you’re free.” He motioned forward, and one of the guards unlocked my collar with a small key.

“Now, get the fuck out of our hospital. You already scared the town by shooting at the bounty hunters we sent out, but what did you expect? You can’t just leave and get away with it now.” He sat back down, as two of the guards walked over to us.

Pocket and I stood up, and were escorted outside by the two thugs.

As we were dumped on our asses by the guards, they looked down at us.

“Sorry, kids, we have a job. Get lost.” With that, they walked back inside.

As Pocket and I looked out over the town, the sun was setting. It was nice, honestly, the sky was clear for once. The light shone down on the town.

That’s when the screaming began.