Fallout Equestria: "Best Laid Plans"

Chapter Three: Perseverance.

"Everything will be a-o-fucking-kay."

A whole bunch of roads and ruined structures rotting away or being used as nests. A bleak and dull grey with some brown and black debris scattered about. The occasional bit of grass sticking out of some crack in the road. This was Manehatten proper. A manticore roared somewhere in the distance. (once over)

Scorch looked to the thief with boredom in her eyes. “So. Wire. You didn’t seem very keen on talking to Doc.”

Wire seemed intent on ignoring her for some time, but eventually even he spoke up just to break the silence. “It’s ‘cause I know his type. They just want to fix you, even when there isn’t anything to fix.”

“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” she said in the deep, gruff voice of an older pony. “An old friend told me that.”

The pony reeked of grease and smoke. A cigarette hung from the side of his mouth. “You ever hear that saying before? Well I have, and it’s a load of horseapples. Just because it ain’t broke, doesn’t mean you can’t make it better. Now get, this ain’t a place for little fillies.”

“Is that how that goes? I always thought it was You can’t fix a broke horse pond.”

Wire retreated into himself, looking silly and lost in thought for a few moments, before hurrying over to a nearby run-down apartment building. Though looming and dark gray on the exterior, on the interior it was just as much in shambles and ruined as the rest of its cousins. After a little application of elbow-grease, the rusty hinges of the door yielded and the thief stepped back. Taking a bow, the thief presented it to Scorch as though it were a gift of some kind.

“Lady Scorch, tonight’s winner. After you.”

“Smartass.” Scorch stated with a sliver of a grin while looking at a skeleton that never made it out of the city. It was curled up towards the wall near the entrance. A ghostly guard protecting the building from intruders. “Seems like a nice neighborhood.” Wire dashed behind the counter but found no keys.

Disappointed the pair moved along the hallway. Each and every door was locked. The second floor was the same as the first, same locked doors.

The third floor looked exactly the same as the others. Just more doors colored in a faded red that had lasted for almost two centuries. Scorch tried the first door, then the second. With a discouraged sigh she called to the thief. “Any luck yet?”

“Nope. Just a bunch of junk and jammed doors" She could hear his disgruntled reply while tempting her luck at the third door, and still there was nothing. “Damn. Well, it looks like we’re sleepin’ in the hal-” The knob on the fourth door turned with a click. “Yes!”  Wire started to make his way from the other end of the hallway after hearing such a triumphant shout.

“I got dibs on the bed.” Scorch mentioned smugly as she pushed a door open. Only to find that the floor of the apartment above had collapsed. A large chunk of rubble blocked the entrance effectively sealing off the apartment. “Wasteland, you’re an asshole.”

Wire laughed at Scorch while she began undoing the straps of the flamer. It fell to the floor with a thud and revealed her dented-lighter cutiemark. Losing the flamer’s familiar weight on her back felt a little strange at first, but she adjusted. “Laugh it up. Looks like we camp here then. Think that Doc will be able to find us?”

The thief slumped flat on the floor, “I would be amazed if he found his way out of the store we left him in.”

“As long as I don’t have to haul his ass out of whatever fire he gets himself into I’ll be happy.” She turned toward the bag strapped to the flamer barrel and started rummaging trough her own belongings with a goal in mind. Dammit. I should have grabbed some of those books from that mare’s office. “Errr. You don’t a have book, or something paper do you? I need a fire, and that stuff can be great for gettin’ one started.”

The thief looked to her dumbfounded, but then he realised like so many before him that a fire would be great and began looking for alternative thing’s to light up. “Why not use some of this carpet?”

Scorch sighed at his ignorance and opened up a new bottle of whiskey. Taking a hefty drink to make this partnership more tolerable. The sour taste of well made apple-whiskey burned down her throat. Settling inside of her while offering both comfort and warmth. Giving her the patience to instruct, and teach.. “You want to breath in the smoke from that stuff? You gotta have somethin’. Papers, old clothes, anythin’?”

“Hmm, maybe.” Wire popped up the strap on his pack and rolled it off his back. Then he began rummaging through the pockets. “How about these paper sheets that Doc wanted me to start learning to write on.”

“It’ll work, give it here.” Scorch made short work of arranging most of the papers in a neat pile.

“Can you open something for me?” Wire rolled back to his bag, and opened a flap on the other side. Revealing a silver dented can. Scorch waved it over to her with a hoof, not even bothering to look much at it.

“Should have taken Doc’s food when I had the chance.” The thief placed his can on the ground next to her. Then he began pushing it towards her a little bit every few seconds.

“Alright, alright!” Scorch jerked up from the fire she had just started, grabbing an old combat knife from her bag and stabbing the top of the can. Using the toothed edge, she cut open the left portion of the can’s top. “I got it the first time. Sheesh.”

Wire quickly grabbed the can and let the amorphous slop fall into his open maw, not even bothering to chew or taste. Then he looked at the can, sniffing the edge as a dog waiting for second servings. “Nothing quite as good as... uh... something.”

He then held it in her direction.

“Thanks,” Scorch muttered, grabbing the can and making short work of the remaining contents. “I think it’s beets... or at least they used to be beets.”

Tossing the empty can away, Scorch opened the flap on her bag and pulled out the big can of paint, a pack of detergent and one of the extinguishers before declaring her intent. “Fire looks ready. Time to get to work.”

“What are you makin’ there?” Wire said from his pile in the middle of the hallway.

“A little somethin’ special, you’ll see.”  She dumped a quarter of the can in the apartment entrance.

“Perfect.” she grabbed a slightly bent can from deep in her bag and placed it in front of her and aimed the extinguisher nozzle at the can. She paused for a moment as she looked at Wire and said. “You might want to turn your head.”

“Will you just get on with it already!”

“If you wanna get this stuff in you face then fine by me, just warnin’ you.” She closed her eyes and turned her head. Using magic Scorch gripped the trigger on the extinguisher and blasted the bucket. She drained nearly half the canister into the bucket, or at least tried. What had not made it in the bucket coated the walls and floor in a thin layer of a snowy white chemical. “You okay there Wire?”

Wire fell to the floor hacking up a lung, apparently having taken a breath-ful of the residue. “Agh! What? Gah!”

“Hahaha!” Scorch just started laughing, ignoring Wire’s obvious pain. “I warned you didn’t I? That shit is nasty.”

With wheezing breath Wire crawled his way over to his pack, and began opening flaps till he found what he needed. An injector of Med-X went into his neck calming him. Then he took an inhaler of Dash out and took a hit. He then slumped to the floor, “Ah, much better. Ass...”

“It’s your own fault. I gave you fair warnin’. Maybe you should listen more, next time it might not be just a little spray.” Scorch chuckled slightly and ripped open the box of detergent and dumped the flakes of soap into the bucket of white chemical.

Wire perked his ears with interest, “What you doin’!?” He was shuffling his hooves quickly in place.

“Wouldn’t you like to know.” She shook the bucket, swirling its contents around until they had mixed enough, then dumped the entire thing into the bucket of paint. “It’s a secret.”

“I hate secrets!” He stomped his hooves loudly, “Tell me tell me tell me!”

“...No.” She picked up the combat knife and started to stir the now dark grey mixture. “But you can see later.”

He let out a loud yell, “Fine!” He began to pace around on the old carpet. “Is it later now?!”

“Yes, it is later.” Scorch let a smile creep across her face as she placed the bucket of grey, stuff, in the embers of the fire. “But not later enough.”

“Fuuuuuck!” He looked at his wrist, “Why is time so hard!?” He slumped into the floor.

The container of grey liquid started to boil in its bed of hot ash, Scorch began to stir again, a bit slower this time. “Time for the secret ingredient.”

Scorch rummaged in her bag for a moment before retrieving a bottle of a pearlescent mixture from her bag and screwing off the top. Cautiously, she tipped over the vial and let a generous amount of liquid pour from the bottle and into the bucket. She decided that it was enough and screwed the top back on and carefully placed the bottle back in her bag.

Scorch sat in silence and boredom for, who knew how long. Still slowly stirring the dye, keeping herself awake with the periodic swig of whisky. Just a little bit longer, should be almost, almost... Her head began to nod, sleep slowly taking over her body.

Two hooves slipped over her shoulders, “Surprise.” Was whispered in her ear.

The knife Scorch was using flew out of the paint can and spattered the walls with a sloppy line of dark grey paint before sinking deep in the assailant's shoulder. Using the knife as leverage, she shoved pony off her back and onto the floor before ripping out the knife and pinning the pony, knife pressed against their throat.

“Who the? What the fuck! I almost killed you!”

The thief grimaced. “You feelin’ funny too?”

“You fucking idiot!” She withdrew the now rust coloured knife from wire’s shoulder, and wiped the blade on the floor. “I stabbed you with a knife covered in all kinds of nasty stuff you fucking dipshit.” She Handed Wire one of her whiskey bottles. “Wash it with this.”

“I don’t want to take a bath.” He said grumpily.

“Do it. Unless you’d rather die of some infection.” She practically shoved the bottle in his face.

“Fine.” He took the bottle in his mouth and dribbled it all over himself. “What am I doing?”

“No. The cut you idiot! Fine, I’ll fuckin’ do it. You useless pony.” She snatched the bottle away from Wire and drained half to bottle over the deep gash in his shoulder, draining most of the gray liquid from the surface of the wound. “You have some sort of jacket or something?”

“I have my head scarf.” He looked confused, “Headband, scarf, face sweater, I dunno what it’s called.”

“Give me the scarf.” She ripped the dirty scarf of Wire’s head and dipped the whiskey bottle onto it. The fabric soaked the alcohol up greedily. “I have to wrap it and stop the bleeding. Hold still.” She wrapped the scarf tightly around his upper leg and back, pulling the scarf tight over the wound and repeating the trail until she ran out of scarf. “That’ll have to do until we find a real doctor.”

“I’m feeling sleepy now.” He almost melted into the floor.

“We have to hunt down Doc now don’t we? Fuckin’ brilliant and here I thought Doc was the only stupid pony.” She pulled the can of paint out of the fire and dropped it to the floor, a small splash of grey landing on the carpet. “Now I can finally sleep.”

“What is that anyway?” A groggy Wire asked her.

“A special dye.” Scorch picked the knife back up from where she had dropped it and wiped the blade on the carpet again. The blood had been wiped clean, but a thin layer of black paint had stained the blade. “To keep my coat from catching fire.”

“How did you... Make... why?” Wire muttered the words sleepily as he alternated between falling in sleep and waking himself. She ignored him.

“What are you doing in here?” A pony called at Scorch from his workbench. His coat was dark green, and he wore a large brown apron that struggled to fit around a thick belly. An unlit cigarette hung limply from the side of his mouth, and a dark five o’clock shadow covered the rest of his face. He had a short black mane that stood straight up from his head as if reaching for the single light bulb that was dangling from the ceiling.

“I am just wonderin’ about what you are doin’.” Scorch trotted up to the pony and placed her hooves on the workbench and saw the array of tools he had strewn about. A bucket filled with a softly smoking... something occupied the partially cleared center.

“Well aren’t you just a curious little filly.” The fat pony said with a chuckle before turning back to his workbench and started to stir the mixture in the bucket.

“It’s a little something special for- Don’t touch it!” The fat pony yelled as Scorch’s hoof drifted towards the bucket.

Scorch snatched her hoof back away from the bucket. “Oops.” She said with a sheepish grin.

The fat pony chuckled as he stirred the smoking mixture. “This stuff isn’t meant for ponies.” He explained in a deep. “See that bot over there?” He gestured vaguely with a hoof to corner opposite the workbench.

Scorch turned to where the pony had pointed and saw an old robot sitting with its many arms curled tightly over its bubble like body. She drew her hooves of the table and crept up to the weird robot. An innate curiosity was cancelling out any doubts or fears for it that she might have had. It stood just barely taller than her with several pneumatic arms folded neatly underneath three little balls hanging from a bubble-body.

“Somepony’s paying big caps to get that thing fixed up,” the fat pony said from his position at the workbench. “So I thought to give it a new coat if paint since he’s already paying so much for it.”

Scorch was barely aware that the pony was still talking, she was too mesmerized by the weird bubble-bot, which is what she decided to call it.

“Only this stuff is a little special.” The fat pony appeared at Scorchs side with the bucket sitting on the ground in front of him, a thick black goop oozing lazily around. “You see, with this special paint, you could cover that bot in gasoline and it stillwouldn’t catch fire. How is that for cool.”

Scorch’s opened her eyes slowly still trying to catch the last bits of sleep that had so rapidly abandoned her. Not bothering to get up she lay still for a few more minutes and then she let her eyes rest on the bucket lay on top of the ashes of their improvised fireplace. The dark grey liquid had cooled off. Time to get to work then.

She undid the zipper and buttons on her jacket and pulled it off her. Then she retrieved the knife from its sheath, and began dipping it into the almost black mixture. She pulled the knife from the bucket and used it to spread the mixture over her chest and forelegs. Damn, that’s cold!

Scorch spent what felt like hours carefully applying the dye with the knife and thoroughly mixing it in with her free hoof, taking particular care around her neck and face.

Well that should do it, and looks like I’m almost out of dye too. Lucky me. Scorch wiped off the knife on the carpet again. She took her time and stashed both the knife and the now empty bucket back in her bag before prodding the sleeping Wire. “Wake up, we need to get you to a doctor.”

He let out a wet cough. “I’m as fit as the day I was bo- Agh!” The thief had rolled onto his back to talk to Scorch and this action had clearly upset his sickly wound. A milk like substance now lingered on the floor, and Wire looked at it with curiosity.

“Oh Luna my shoulder. What happened?”

“You took a shit load of drugs, then you jumped me and I stabbed you.” Scorch told him as she put her forelegs though the sleeves of her jacket and redoing the many buttons and zippers. That cut of yours got some nasty stuff in it, and I don’t have any healin’ potions so we should probably try and find Romeo.”

“Out of the frying pan without a paddle.” He sighed looking mildly annoyed. Obviously not relishing the thought of having to go back for the doctor. “Can’t I just numb up and walk it off?”

“If you don’t want to get it fixed then I will leave you behind. Sick ponies are a liability, and that’s what you’ll be in a day. Or two.” This was supposed to be easy. Fucking friendship.

“Fine. Whatever.” He looked at his pack on the other side of the hall, and then to him still in a pile on the floor. “A little help then?”

“You’re still well enough to move, I’m not your babysitter.” That’s exactly what I am. The fuckin’ babysitter.

He mumbled and got to his hooves, wincing the whole time. He took a vial of Med-X out of his pack when he reached it, and injected himself. Relief washed across him, then he lugged his pack on. “So, where is he?” Not looking to pleased himself.

“You think I enjoy this?” She was letting the anger bleed into her voice. No, calm down. Getting angry won’t solve anything. “Just get moving. The sooner we find a doctor the better.” The only response she got was more mumbles and groans.

The pair moved sulkily through the apartment complex, their exit as uneventful and lifeless as their entrance. Waving goodbye to the eerie guard skeleton.

“Can you get us back to the super market then?” Scorch asked the dopey pony at her side once they had reached the street. The city was just grey building after grey building to her.

“You mean you can’t see our hoof prints in the dust on the road?” He looked at her half lidded. Scorch took another long drink from her bottle of whiskey. This was going to be an exeptionally long day.

“Just lead the way. I’m not in the mood.”

Scorch followed as the little pony sought out the apparently obvious hoof-prints from their journey last night. She quickly got in the habit of pushing him forward if he delayed. They kept at it in silence until the grocery was in sight.

“Here`s to hoping he stayed put.” They could both see new tracks. A pack of smaller hooves had invaded the dust of the store, and there was the distant crackling of a radio. DJ Pon-3 was speaking, and then shortly after he was replaced with Sapphire shores. Wire looked to her clearly confused. “Is that real, or in my head?”

“Nope, that’s real.”

A tin hit the floor with a clang and then replacing it was the sound of a filly running over the store floor. Scorch took another heavy drink from her bottle. Celestia save us.

While Scorch packed away the bottle Wire began coughing terribly so she pushed him forward. “You’re worse than I thought, you better see him now. Doc! Wire got hurt. Need a little help here.”

“Hurt?” Romeo yawned and approached them with as much seriousness as he had ever shown. Dressed in his medical coat but not wearing his barding. “You two left me.”

“And now we’re back. He’s sick and you are a doctor. We didn’t have to come back to you.”

“And why stop there? Youd leave me when it suits you, but not, him?” The doctor got close and looked to Wire who was busy sweating profusely and hanging his head low. Golden earrings with blue gems at the center began shimmering in his yellow magical glow. Romeo then nodded backwards into the shop. “Go see to the kids. Ill wrap this up nicely.”

“Kids? What kids?” We were gone for less than a day. What the hell has he been up to?

He looked at her as he magically laid Wire on one of the many rows of benches that were stuck to the floor. “You can ask them.” All the puss seemed to magically spill out of the wound, and then the thief moaned. Romeo proceeded to dry the wound with a disinfected rag cleaning it of any residue. “What did he get stabbed with?”

“A knife covered in stuff.”

“The same stuff you are painted in? You stink.” His horn glowed again and an intense yellow light wrapped itself around the wound. Closing it and Wire seemed instantly more at peace where he lay on the bench. He wasn’t coughing anymore, and his breathing was stable. “Let me guess. You decided to paint yourself with chemicals that are not meant for ponies. Then whenever you get wounded you can also get an infection at the same time. Was that the plan? You had to stab Wire to check if it were poisonous enough?”

“It’s a fire retardant. When you work around fire as I do you need a little extra protection. The little bastard jumped me while he was trippin’ out on Dash and Med-X. I stabbed him with the knife I was using to mix it.”

“And you needed to leave me behind to make your flame retardant?” The doctor tossed the rag he had used to wash Wire`s wound at her. He both sounded and looked ready to cry. “Or did this idiot suggest that you abandon me as some kind of cruel joke, and you just follow his suggestion blindly? What are you stupid?”

She threw rag back at Doc with her hoof. “I was tired of hearing you talk all the damn time. The dye had nothin’ to do with that. Damn chatterbox.”

Romeo picked up the rag again, but did not toss it back. Instead he looked to his patient. “So it’s my fault that Wire is lying there?”

“It doesn’t matter who’s fault it is, just get him fixed so we can get out of here.”

“So you can abandon me again.” Romeo wiped his eyes with his left leg and then he chuckled while hiding his expression. “Because I talk too much?”

“Just fix him.”

The doctor looked to the sleeping Wire. “I did that already, but he needs some more rest. Look, if you are just going to leave me and use me when its convenient for you. Then I will begin charging caps for healing, and the price for Wire’s healing is 160 caps.”

“Fuck no. He pays.” She said angrily and pointed a hoof at Wire. “Go through his pockets or something.”

“Well aren’t you an element of generosity.” Romeo said with dismissive anger in his voice while robbing Wire of every drug he had. “What am I supposed to do with you two? You are worse than the two foals I found since last we met. Rabbit, and Four Leaf. You can come out now and say hello.”

Two small ponies had been listening in on them. A black buck with brown hair hiding behind a more brave white filly with grey hair. They both alternated between looking at the doctor emptying Wire’s bags, and suspiciously eyeing Scorch. “You smell funny.”

“Well you look funny.” Scorch said to them in a joking tone. “My name’s Scorch.” She let a smile spread across her face and held out a hoof to the pair.

The two both grabbed her hoof at the same time. “We are Four Leaf and Rabbits Foot, and we escaped from the slavers by crawling like Radroaches while they were distracted.”

“Wow, you two must be really tough. I don’t think I could do that.”

“Thats cuz you are a big pony. Rabbit was so good at playing radroach that I got lost from her. I was lucky and found Dawn. She found Rabbit easy with her pipbuck.” Four leaf looked embarrassed back at Rabbit. Then they giggled like the kids they where. “I like her dress. It was so pretty, but she isn’t wearing it now because it would get dirty out there. Do you have a dress too miss Scorch?”

“Wait, so you mean Doc here was wearing a dress?” The smile grew wider and then Scorch leaned down to the pair of foals. “I wanna tell you two somethin’ secret.”

“Really?” They looked at her with eyes filled with stars and meteors of wonders. Scooting close to Scorch. “What kind of secret? Is it tasty?”

“Do you guys like fire?”

They paused. Clearly not what they had expected. “Fire? Like Woosh?” Leaf asked, and Rabbit looked at her with curiosity. “It’s warm and once I burnt my hoof on it.“

“Yeah, like this.” She pulled the dinged lighter and sparked it to life, letting the little flame light up their faces.

They giggled with happiness but respected the flames. “It’s beautiful.”

“Follow me, I’m gonna show you two somethin’ cool.” She giggled with excitement and guided the fillies forward. Their excitement soon matched hers. “This is going to be so awesome.”

“What are we going to do?” Their inquisitive minds began to question her. Clearly because she was not walking fast enough.

“We’re gonna have a little fun with fire.”

“Really? Are we making a bonfire?” Four leaf asked, but then Rabbit overtook his place with equal enthusiasm. “What are we roasting?”

“You’ll see.” She pulled out the nearly empty bottle of whiskey out of her bag and drained it. “Grab that rag and we can start.” She pointed to a dirty strip of cloth on a counter.

“Yay!” Four Leaf jumped upwards and pulled at it, but the strip was stuck. It took the two of them working together to rip out, and they stumbled backwards becoming temporary giggling mummies.

“You know what this is?” She handed an empty bottle to Leaf once they had returned to the task at hand.

“Its an empty smelly bottle.” He answered in return and then Rabbit pounced him. “Let me smell too! It’s adult juice. The slavers drink it all the time and it tastes like yuck.”

“Yep. You wanna know something special about it?” She reached back around to her bag and began to dig around again pulling out a tall bottle of clear liquid. “It makes for a real fun time.” Scorch twisted off the cap in a fluid motion and presented it to the pair. “Take that rag and stuff it in the top here.”

“Yush.” The busy little bees began stuffing with an overzealous enthusiasm. Both competing for the same stuffing of the rag, and then suddenly everything was inside the bottle. Rabbit presented the bottle to Scorch with fervor in her voice. “We did it! See Scorch we pushed it all into the top.”

“Good job, you could have done it a little better.” She bit onto the little sliver of rag still sticking out of the top and pulled it out. “Now this is important. Watch how I do it.” While making sure the little foals were watching, she slowly feed the rag down the neck of the bottle, so that the lengthy strip was dangling out.

“See?” She pulled the rag out and handed the bottle and rag to the little ponies. “Try it again, but do it as I showed you.”

“The adult juice stings in my eyes. Ma’am.” Four Leaf complained as the two worked together to copy Scorch. “Now what?” Rabbit asked while Four Leaf sniffled, he then began clenching his teeth hard and wiping his eyes. “I’m not crying. It was just very stingy.”

Scorch couldn’t help laughing at Four Leaf’s attempt at saving his own stallionhood. “Don’t worry. It makes me eyes hurt too.”

Leaf looked to Scorch, still sniffing his nose and with watery eyes. “Really? It makes you’re eyes sting too?”

Then he was drawn back down by Rabbit as she hugged him. “Best Friends.”

“Yeah, it still does sting a little...” She drifted for a moment, the smile fading off her face. Her eyes moving to the bottle standing in front of her. A wisp of a spark dancing around a tiny ball of magic on the tip of her horn.

“Ma’am?” They looked at her expectantly. Leaf approached her, looking up at the spark dancing at her horn. “I wish I was a Unicorn too. Isn’t it nice with magic? The princesses had magic.”

And look where it got them. “It’s, nice. Yeah, magic is nice.” The little ball of light winked out of existence, spark flickered for a moment then jumped off her horn and winked out of existence.

“Aaaw.” Four Leaf sighed and smiled up at Scorch while pulling her forehoof. “Make it again. Ma’am. Puhlease?”

Rabbit jumped on the other hoof, and began mimicking her best friend. “Just like the princesses.”

“I can try...” She closed her eyes and tried to summon the spark, willing it back into existence. Her mind began to narrow, Thoughts and breaths becoming ragged. Then it was gone. Her concentration broke, and her eyes flew open as she gasped for breath. Recalling how much she hated magic.

“I’m... I’m sorry. I couldn’t do it.”

“It`s okay ma’am. We know you tried. Not everypony can be a princess like Dawn.” After a small hug and a moment of apologetic silence, they presented her with the bottle they had made. “Yush. Lets do the secret stuff. Bonfire!”

“Alright, but you should be careful.” She picked up the bottle and held the lighter in her teeth. “This shtuff getsh dangeroush.”

The world was quiet around Blue Wire. A small shack was in front of him. Inside was a small cake on a table. He went to take a slice of the cake but a giant knife came down, and chopped his forehooves off. He fell to the ground screaming, blood was sloshing everywhere and pain rocketing through his body.The blood was pooling and getting bigger. Then began to take shape in front of him. He tried to run, but the stumps that used to be his hooves slowed him down. Suddenly, the shadows came down on top of him and began to slice his back open. The shadows began to form their own black pony beside the red one. Wire somehow knew they wanted to kill him as they grew closer.

Wire bolted from his nap panting heavily. What the fuck happened? He looked around, trying to get his bearings. Why am I in the fuckin supermarket? He saw Scorch across the room from him, playing with two foals with big smile on her face. Now I know I’m dreaming. He wanted to get up from the bench he was o, but pain shot up his back. “Hey, hey, hey, what?!”

“What do you mean what?” Scorch yelled back, silly grin still wide across her face.

“What happened?!” He was not happy. Was I drinkin? Did we have a party with kids? I must have been fucked up. He even had bandages wrapped around him. “Is anypony gonna fill me in on what happened?” He looked back at Scorch. Her fur was now coated in a deep grey. “How abou-” Okay, I know my vision isn’t bad. “What the hell happened to you?” The best he could remember last time he saw Scorch, she was a vibrant yellow.

“Remember that special surprise I was talkin’ about, well this is it.” She waved a hoof over her now dark grey chest. “Flame retardant dye. Like it?”

No. I don’t like it. “And those?” Pointing his hoof at the foals hiding behind Scorch.

“Their names are Four Leaf and Rabbit. Some runaways Lady Dawn found.” She said the last few words with a snicker.

“What we picked up more tagalongs? Where is she?” He said looking around for another hidden pony.

“Right behind you.” Scorch pointed directly at Doc. “That’s “Lady Dawn”.”

“Agh!” He stumbled back in surprise at seeing the crimson pony. “But we ditched you! I need a drink...” Wire looked to his flanks but his pack was gone. He took a quick glance around, it was on the floor beside him. All of the pockets had been turned open, and they used to hold all of his chems. “Who touched my pack?”

“Everything that is gone lies in a pile over there, and as I told Scorch. If you are going to abandon me and then come back when you get injured I would like to get paid. She refused to pay for you, and you are broke. So I plucked trough your stash, and now I am going to burn my share.”

He’s got you there doesn’t he? What to do, what to do? Lie of course. “Look I’ll owe you. Just don’t burn anything. I might be a thief, but I pay off my debts.” Just one in the chest, and one in the skull and you’ll owe nopony nothin. It would have been that simple. Thinking was proving difficult.

“I’ll hold you to that. Now it’s time to eat” Tin’s of oats were levitated in front of the doctor. One for each. The two foals were quick to appear now that food was served. “Thank you Dawn. We were getting hungry from all the fun with Scorch. She is a unicorn too, but she is not as good with magic as you.”

“Why are you here?” Wire picked at his share of the oats, asking nopony in particular yet the black colt looked up to him. “Hi, I am Four leaf, and that is Rabbit my best-est of friends. When pretending to be a rad-roach I got lost from her, and instead I found Dawn. She was wearing a pretty blue dress, and helped me find Rabbit again with her Pipbuck.”

Wire pointed his hoof at the Doctor while keeping his sour face on. “What? He ain’t a mare?”

“Because Dawn was wearing a pretty dress and all princesses wear dresses silly.” Four Leaf announced proudly. Romeo just looked at Wire’s hoof. Not bothering to correct either of them as he ate his share of oats.

“And you call me messed up.” Directing his attention to the doctor. The pain was becoming agonizing, and he needed a shot. Determined he walked towards the pile of drugs.

“You sure you want to do that?” Romeo looked to the thief. “What happened to the Wire that left Friendship with me?”

“I’ve got many talents.”Some would call it acting, I prefer thinking of it as much of an art as lock picking. He told himself as he looked at the obstacle between him and his chems. “Just need one to dull the pain.”

“How original.” the doctor snorted. Oozing with disappointment as he levitated a vial of Med-X to Wire. “There better not be a next time before tomorrow.”

Wire didn’t bother to store what he said in his memory, too ecstatic to have all his chems back. He pulled out a single Med-X and injected it. The medicine was quick to do it’s job and calming him down considerably. The world fell into place. I feel much better. Now, what the hell is goin on. He looked at the kids eating.

Might not come back to bite us in the flank. He took a look at the firemare playing with her lighter behind the children, Ass, I’ll owe her something later indeed. Then to Romeo, Well, turns out he likes to play dress up after all. I’ll be sure to put him in that dress when I leave him face down in a ditch.

He looked around the store for a moment, the store much darker than last time he was here, power might be going or something. Then there was a smell, not the chemical stench lingering off the blackened Scorch. There was something else and it was sweet smelling.

Maybe a box of food got smashed open? He wanted to know what it was, it was calling to him. But he dismissed it for the time being while grabbing a cigarette from the pile of chems. “I’m going outside for some fresh air.” Trotting away before the concerned doctor could get more so.

The wastelands blandness provided a marvellous escape from the colorful pony parade back in the store. He thought to himself as he tried to suck on an unlit cigarette. Should have asked for a light, fuck em all. Idiots the both of em. On top of that now I’ve got to be around foals.

I don’t like foals. He was enjoying the silence. Now with Doc back, and two more additions to the party there would be few instances of quiet time. What self respectin’ Earth pony is dazzled by basic unicorn magic? If I got paid for it, I’d show em how weak they are.

He had a bit of pride for his kind. Smart, intelligent, versatile. There was almost nothing an earth pony couldn’t fix with a liberal amount of time. It would make sense that those kids wouldn’t understand that, even if it were right under their muzzles. Snuck out of a slaver camp playing a game. Can’t do that with a horn sticking out of your face. Or wings cluttering your back.

Wire was lost in thought for longer than he thought. Snapped out of it by silence. The kind of silence that would worry a scared pony. He scanned the streets as best he could from his terrible vantage point. The wind whistling through the streets muffling hoof steps or quiet voices. The thief could normally hear some kind of birds chirping or maybe a rodent in a sewer grate, but they were all silent. Somepony or something was out there, roaming the streets.

Wire looked around, trying to find a ladder. he needed a better look at the crossroads that surrounded the shopping mart. A few minutes of looking payed off, a bent ladder would get him close to the roof.

The thief clamored to the edge of the roof while taking in the slight vista, it wasn’t much seeing as he was only two stories up at the most. But it was enough. He could already make out the distinct smell of other ponies in the breeze. They drew closer.

Far to the left of the parking lot he saw a shadow move. It was significantly smaller than a pony and much quicker. It was a dog. Out from behind a store came a second one. They had a strong scent, and were following it with determination. He might have dismissed it as nothing but there was a group of ponies brandishing firearms following in their wake.

Okay, three ponies and a mutt or two, not that serious. I can take that out in- Three more ponies appeared after the first bunch, these ones armed much better than first. He could make out one with twin machine guns, the other had rifles or shotguns, not significant at this moment. He needed to see if they headed to the parking lot or not. No need in killing folk that ain’t messed with me yet.

The dogs were clearly headed this way. He had to get back down and warn the rest of the idiots, mostly for the fact his launcher was still down there on his pack being the main reason. He began to make his way back to the ladder when his hoof went though the roof.

Fuck me with the moon! He tried to pull it out, only to have a nice pony sized hole open beneath him, dropping him onto the tops of storage shelves inside the store.

“That saved me about twelve whole seconds” He groaned while picking himself up from the debris, and then walked along towards the front of the store.

Wire made it to the front, standing on top of the tall shelves once used to store extra cans of food untill he could make out the rest of his party underneath him, he yelled down to them. “Hey!”

“What the hell are you doin’ up there?” Scorch yelled back at Wire.

“Long story. No time. Bad ponies headin’ our way.” He shouted down to Scorch while the doctor scrambled with the kids.

Scorch jumped to her hooves. “How many?” She called back, pulling a worn box of dull red shotgun shells from her bag. and began to carefully hoof load each shell into the upside down lever action shotgun duct taped to the side of her flamer.

“Six, two dogs too.” He had no idea how he was gonna get down.

“Dogs?” She swore quietly. “Doc, get Rabbit and Leaf in the back. And Wire. Catch.” She looked up at him on top of the shelves.

“Catch what?”

“Launcher.” She tossed Wire’s weapon up on top of the shelves with a little boost from her horn. “Take them by surprise. I’ll take care of the dogs.”

He nodded at her. Then he climbed the shelf with ammo for his launcher. Four shells, high explosive. And two normal shells in the stock. That should be enough. Well, I hope it’s enough. He laid down. Using the top of the shelf as cover. Taking glances at the front doors. He was ready to turn ponies into paste.

There was a lull before the storm. Wire looked down to Scorch. Tasting the dry emptiness of an unlit cigarette. “Can I have a light? Now?”

“Fine, but you owe me one.”

The lighter sparked to life and soon the cigarette was lit. Wire inhaled the calming smoke, not unlike the current situation. The dogs were sniffing and growling at the entrance of the grocery store. The slavers entered too, and soon he had the perfect shot.

Ka-thump! Two slaver-ponies met their deaths in an explosion of fire and death. Their dogs charged through the store. Claws scraping on the linoleum in a desperate search for a foothold. One managed to achieve footing, the other skidding into a counter with a yelp, but soon had its bearings again.

The first Dog neared Scorch with its mouth shut and foam streaming steadily from the sides. The shotgun roared. The dog ducked in an attempt at avoiding the shot, but Scorch tracked its dodge and shot again within seconds of the first. Two empty shells hit the ground.

The second dog managed to pounce before Scorch had time enough to target. She swung to the side avoiding a set of snapping jaws, and pulled out her blackened combat knife. The dog recovered from its narrow miss and pounced again. But Scorch was ready and drove the knife into its chest. Hearing a yelp as the dog hit ground. Blood poured steadily from its wound. The knife was soon buried deep into the dog’s neck. Instantly silencing it.

“The fuck?” The remaining slavers had taken retreated to the entrance. Content with shouting into the store. “Hey! Who are you ponies in there?”

“None of your business.” Scorch shouted right back. “Who the hell are you?”

“I’m the stallion that’s gonna break your neck unless you tell me what I want to know!” The pony outside screamed back.

“Come and say that to my face. Your dogs got me all worked up, I’m itching for a good fight.” She yelled back as she wiped the bloody knife off on her sleeve.

“Nopony fucks with my dogs! No pony! Do you have any idea what group of ponies you are fuckin with? You and your friend are dead.” Was their reply with air of arrogance and gang invincibility. “We where just lookin fer two escaped foals, but now you brought the fire. Nopony kills one of Barkers ponies and gets away with it. Nopony.”

“Go fetch your friends then.” She yelled back. She muttered something to herself  before turning to Wire. “Keep them out if they get ballsy, I’m gonna go fetch Doc and the kids. I think I got a plan.”

“Does it have to be lit up in a blaze of fire?” Romeo inquired. He looked at Scorch with a scepticism. No doubt questioning the brilliance of her plan or maybe he simply wanted to have the desk.

FWOSH! With a spark from her lighter the soaked desk was engulfed in flame, and then it became wrapped in Romeo’s magical grasp with a yellow hue. “I do not want to be picking lead out of my flank after this so keep it steady.”

Using the desk as a battering ram the doors of the store were pushed open, and the gang exited the shop to the sound of gunfire. Obviously the four slavers from before were using the buildings opposite of them as cover while waiting for backup. No such thing. “Toss it at the two over there!”

“You sure about this?”

She looked to Romeo, and yanked on the thick string hanging from the corner of her mouth, cocking the taped shotgun.

“Nope.”

The desk they had used as cover flew quickly towards a pair of slaver ponies trying to take cover inside a building. They where soon surrounded by a cloud of bellowing black smoke and then the shotgun barked, and a slaver’s head exploded in a rain of pellets.

BANG! Following the ruined desk Wire shelled the two slavers with an artillery round. Maiming one and killing the other on top of ruining the building even further.

Scorch let out a laugh.“Was that it? I was only getting started.” Scorch said, drawing a nearly empty bottle from her bag and downing the rest in one go. “This day is gettin’ kinda fun though what the hell are we gonna do with those two fillies? We can’t just leave them, not with slaverponies after them.”

“Well, then they tag along. Beats heading back to Friendship and then back out again.” Romeo replied.

“Cause what better idea than to take some runts on a trip into dangerous territory. You truly are a smart one doc.” Wire said from the rear of the pack, dragging his hooves.

“Just slavers,” Scorch shrugged, then added with a little grin. “Not that bad. I’ve seen worse.”

“I wasted six shells on them!” Wire was obviously not in the mood for anypony’s antics.

“Wow. You must be a pretty bad shot, then,” she countered, barely stifling a laugh. “I only used three, and mine’s just a little ol’ shotgun. Compared to your bomb flinging launcher, it’s a damn peashooter.”

Scorch stopped for a moment, letting a sly grin creep up her face.

“Maybe if you hadn’t been so distracted by Lady Dawn’s flanks, you’d have actually hit something.”

“Oh shut up.” He was practically mulching the butt of the cigarette at this point, increasing his consumption proportionally with the distance between them and the shop.

“The buck are you getting angry about? Wire. Get up here with me. Those perceptive eyes of yours were not for staring at my behind.” Romeo waved him forward.

“None of what she said is true; I don’t want you or your dainty little head gettin’ any ideas,” he applied a stern tone to the doctor.

“Stop lyin’ to yourself. You’ve been droolin’ over him, I mean, her back ever since we left the store.”

“It’s not that I believe her, I just wanted to talk is all,” Romeo answered Wire coldly while keeping his eyes on the foals before yelling out in concern. “Don’t stray too far now, Four Leaf. Rabbit. Make sure to keep in sight of us!”

Wire took a pacing glance to the foals, then an angry one at the smirking firemare, then back to the crimson pony beside him. “About?”

“Did you both really abandon me for being overly chatty?” Romeo asked the thief rather offhandedly while keeping his eyes trained on Rabbit and Leaf.

“No, it was cutting off my fucking hooves and trying to take away my fucking chems. The talking was just the fucking cherry on top.” Keeping his voice down, eyes slated on the doc.

“I only took your chems because I wanted to save you, and you still have your hooves.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Well, I thought... maybe if I dyed your hooves and gave you a nail job, you would be reminded of staying clean just by looking at them.”

Eyes still on the kids, he continued. “It’s a Ministry of Morale trick that I read about in a book.”

He was silent for a while as they walked. He mouthed a few words, talking to himself more than anypony else. Then he spoke, “And they’re all dead. Be happy you got them little foals here, or I would lay you out across the blacktop.”

“I somehow doubt you would be able to. Unicorn confidence remember? And I picked up some stuff while we were separated.” His earrings shone in the limited light they had been granted by the cloud cover. “Goddess knows I worry about those two there. It feels like I am using them for bait.” Romeo frowned. “Sounds like something I would do.”

“Ain’t my foals, ain’t my problem.” Wire lifted a hoof in the air limply.

“They are still my responsibility. They trust me, and then I hide behind telling myself that they will react to something threatening before they die, and I feel like the worst scum of all Equestria.”

“Eyup. Try not and get too attached. That way it wont hurt as much.”

“I can’t help it.” He pulled out a sugar bomb and then set about eating it while Wire let out a grunt of annoyed dismissal.

“And then they fucked.” Scorch snorted a laugh from behind the two ponies. “How many other names you got Lady Dawn?”

“You have no shame.” Romeo sighed as he pointed towards their goal. “The arrow isn't that far ahead. I want to try talking to these ghouls first.”

“Oh but doc, you got me in the killin’ mood. I’ve spilled blood. I need more! All must die!” The thief let out an ambitious laugh and grabbed at Romeo.“I can’t be stopped! The drugs have taken me! I’m a killin’ machine!”

“You already took a shot back at the shop. You keep this up and you’ll start suffering from addiction again.” He gave Wire a pleading look.

“You two are just so adorable!” The dark grey coated fire-mare said in a mock girly tone. “Wire can cover us. I’ll play the body guard, and then you convince them that leaving is more worth it than staying. Easy.”

“And who is gonna watch them?” A hoof pointed at the two kids having a tussle in the road.

“Just tell them to stay close to Daddy Wire while Mommy Dawn and big sister Scorch takes care of some business.” Scorch used a mocking tone from behind them. She had the perfect view like a moviegoer in a cinema. Wire let out a long drawn out sigh and started walking down the road again. Romeo on the other hand pulled out a brush from his saddlebags, and began brushing his mane. “Well. I better look the part then.”

“You don’t mean?” His voice trailed off a bit.

“I didn’t properly brush it this morning.” The brush began rippling trough his mane at a gentle pace. “What would you expect? Unless you think Ragged wasteland mess of a pony will persuade them any better? I don’t see why I should not use what I have to my advantage.”

“Yeah, I’m sure a well brushed mane will make all the difference.” He rolled his eyes.

“Not exactly the entire plan my poor addict.” He levitated out his prewar bonnet with a satisfied smile. “They might question the doctors motives but Lady Dawn? HA, they would never stand a chance.”

He looked at him with a slack jawed expression. “You’re kiddin right?”

Romeo’s horn glowed as a spell was cast. “I have to thank you for your support Wire. It isn’t often I find ponies who appreciate me for who I am and want me to be the best I can be.” His voice changed from the beginning until the end. A lithe and fragile effeminate tone of kindness. “I’ll just wave my magic little horn and make everything alright.”

“That’s uh, that’s creepy.” He was a bit unnerved.

“You are seriously fucking creepy Doc.”

“I’d change into the dress we found too, but id rather keep it tucked away and safe from the dirt.” This seemed to sadden the doctor as he tucked away the name tag with Romeo written on it. Then he proceeded to use his new-found voice to disturb the thief even more. “Woho. Yay, way to go Romeo. You copied my voice perfectly, and I don’t mind it the least.” Then he looked to Wire thoughtfully. ”

“Wha-” He did a double take. “What the hell are you babblin about?!”

“I guess you don’t recognise this voice. It’s okay she doesn’t mind. Her name was Fluttershy, and she was the ministry mare of peace before the bombs hit. I was just a little filly when I first delved into my fathers memory orbs, and her voice was.. But as you should be able to hear it sacrifices a lot of assertiveness and rather appeals to your inner pony for kindness.”

Then he sighed. “It is still just a magicked out voice. If i stopped thinking about mimicking her accurately as she presents herself I just get this nice sugary tone.”

“I don’t even know what to make of you.”

“What do you mean? I am a perfectly healthy, normal pony and you don’t need to make anything out of me.” He pulled out the perfume and sprinkled some on his neck. “So there, with my mane fixed, the bonnet, earrings and this voice. I think I can pull it off.”

“What, seduce them?”

“No, or well. Appeal to their inner ponies I would rather say.” He nibbled casually on a sugar-bomb. “You should try it sometime.”

“I prefer it when they never know I was there.”

“Duh, boring.” He bounced over to Wire’s side with a graceful sway. “You would never get to know anypony that way.”

“Yeah, cause gettin to know all ya’ll has been real swell.” His comment biting with sarcasm.

“Don’t I?”

“Enope. So just be a good kitty cat, and let me take care of these ghouls.”

“I’m not a kittie cat.”

“Meow.” The doctor laughed. “I’d call you Mr.Mittens.”

“Fuck you.”

They where near the shelter. A fairly large structure in a park for foals. The distant sound of feral ghouls piercing trough the air. Four Leaf looked up to Dawn. “Oh no. Zombie ponies. We should go far away.”

The doctor simply smiled back. “Go with Wire, stay with him. He is expert at playing Rad-roach. Here, you can borrow my brush and help make Rabbits mane pretty.”

The little foal closed his worried eyes and gave her a hug. “I don’t want to lose you. You are the nicest pony I have met since mommy.”

“Well, I need to be nice to some other ponies for just a tiny moment. Please. Go with Wire and be on your best behaviour. He likes silence.” He nudged the two foals towards the thief with a satisfied smile on his face.

“Yush! Like a pack of bloodwings.” Four Leaf tried to bounce like Romeo but almost fell flat on his face. “Once the slave caravan got attacked by one. It was very scary, but very silent too. Slavers got real scared, and then Rabbit threw a rock on the ground to scare them even more.” The pair seemed fairly proud at that achievement.

“And then?”

“We didn’t get discovered. Duuh.” Rabbit looked at Wire as if he had dismissed her claim of being awesome and she took offence.

Four Leaf offered his helping hoof to shed light at the matter. “Yea, but mostly because the bat under our cart pounced on them.”

Then Rabbit shot him deadly looks too. “Don’t use your fancy logic's to muddle the issue. I threw a rock and scared the dumb slaver’s. The bat was just super dumb too.”

“You never want to take on one of those things by yourselves. Drain you dry in less than a minute.”

“Really? They are no match for Maximus Rex the zebra savage. He would use his hooves on them. Like this, and then like that just like when he faced Korzac the manticore king.” Rabbit showed off some weird air hoof-strikes that made Four Leaf slink away, he had obviously tasted these hooves before.

He sent them both a half smile. “When he went into the Hydra’s lair he found that he couldn’t do everything with his hooves. He had to rely on his stealth more than his hoofstrikes.”

“Really? Do you have a magazine where he does that? Aw, can we read it later, please? Promise to be super silent and not bother you at all” Rabbit hunkered down next to Wire, with a near desperate thirst for whatever more he had.

Four leaf on the other hoof while supportive did not voice his enthusiasm. Wire gave the two foals a trying look. “If it’ll keep you two occupied while we wait you can.”

“Really? Pull it out then, i will be super occupied. More than 200% occupied.” Rabbit jumped up on Wire’s back. Easily opening up the flaps on his backpack.

“Hey! Hey!” He grabbed her by the scruff of the neck, “I’m carrying more than your weight in explosives, do not do that!”

“Aaw. I swear ah’m sorry. I just wanted to read the magazine.” She looked up at him, with the oddest mix of trying to fake guilt and being exited over a magazine she had never read.

“Patience.” He told her sternly.

“I was being patient.” She looked down when she had caught his gaze, but then Four leaf hugged her. “It’s okay if he is busy right now. We still have this.” He presented to her Romeo’s Brush. “You can be the pretty princess, and I can brush your mane.”

“Okay, you two can wait a few more minutes, lets climb the stairs to the roof of this place.” Pointing at a burned building. The two foals where quick on their feet but crept around in relative silence.

“What if the stair’s have caved in?” Rabbit questioned the thief curiously.

“We improvise, ain't too hard for ponies like us.”

“Like Rex? Will we be hoofstriking steps into the building?” She looked towards the building.

He let out a sigh, “Yeah, sure, why not.”

Wire just stayed silent, trying to avoid the foals persistence. After a few minutes of nothing but stair climbing and whining about said stair climbing, they made it to the door that gave roof access, only to find it locked. “Okay, one last thing, and you two can sit down.” He pulled out his tools and began fiddling with the lock.

“Agh!” The thief jumped as a brush went through his mane, the lock jamming shut. “Gah, fuck me.” He shot the colt a dirty look.

“Sorry, I was a bit too sneaky. So I sneak attacked you with the brush. Your mane is all tangled.” The two looked to Wire expectantly.

“Just go back around to corner, while I open this.”

“Sorry.” Their voices echoed each others, and then they walked away.

Wire took a small amount of C4 from his pack and put in on the lock. He pulled out the detonator cap and his remote and put it in the explosive and walked back beside the two children. “Cover your ears.”

“Covered.” The corner yelled back.

Wire pressed the button on the remote.

Beweep.

Bomf!

The door slammed out, and light from the cloud cover filtered in the dust that now filled the alcove. “Okay, come on you two.”

Wire scanned around, soon finding the shelter off in the distance. “Okay, it’s gonna take them longer to find their way through all that rubble over there, so we’ll be here a while.” He took his pack off his back and pulled the Launcher out of it’s resting place.

“The view is real creepy. A ghost playground. Did Rex ever fight ghosts?” Rabbit looked to Four Leaf. The black buck sighed. “Yea, he probably did at one time or another.” Rabbit nodded in agreement. “I’ve been to taller buildings before. Though even if the view was nice we sorta had to go back down before anypony found us out..”

“Uh huh,” Wire was barely listening. He was snapping the bipod on his launcher so that instead of directly shooting at the bunker, he could launch it in a big arc, like prewar artillery. He had seen it done in a book once, and it was considered highly effective. Nopony ever expects the bombs to be launched over buildings at them.

Four Leaf had snuck up on him and was clinging to the comb. Even with the added weight of his pounce, the comb got stuck midway. “Brushie?”

“What has gotten in your head that thinks I want to be brushed?” He asked him sternly.

“Your mane is tangled really badly. It needs brushing, and I wanted to see if i could sneak up on you.” He replied innocently. Still dangling from the brush. “Turns out I can, but now I’m stuck.” He heaved and used his powerful hind-legs on Wire’s cheeks, but all he did was drag the thief to the floor. “It’s not budging. Help.”

unity. “It’s stuck.”

“Stuck? What do you mean? Stuck.” He asked from a muffled pile under the kids.

“The brush isn’t going out.” The kids then began dragging him the other way. All they achieved was further tangle and twist his mane. “It isn’t working. Maybe, if we tried backwards and forwards. Maybe to the sides?” The two fillies tried again, and with their unified strength they proceeded to drag Wire with them.

“Ow ow ow ow ow!” He was cringing, the hair being pulled starting to hurt, “Stop!”

“Well. It’s not coming off.” The two ponies let go with a sad expression.

He let out a sigh. This is what I get for not washing my mane? “I don’t know what to do in this situation. Do ya’ll?” He asked them reluctantly.

“Burn the hair?” Rabbit suggested, but this made Four Leaf upset. “With the brush on top? I say we need to cut the hair.”

“I don’t have scissors. All I have is this knife.” Wire pulled said knife from his leg hostler, and then gave it a quick flick popping the blade out of the handle.

“Wait.” Four Leaf seemed to recall something and didn’t want Wire to start just yet. “Maybe we can just leave it there and wait for Dawn. She was really nice and did my hair. Look it is all nice now. I’m sure she has a magic spell to untangle it from the hair.”

“Ugh, I’d rather burn it off.”

Four Leaf looked to him with an angry expression. “Then you would ruin your mane, and Dawn would be upset.”

Rabbit looked to her friend with jealousy. “Well, I wanna see Wire burn his mane.”

“Why would he be upset? And you, you’ve been around Scorch too long.”

“Because she likes to brush manes. She was saving hers for a very long time, and wanted to get a really long one like the princesses, and if yours got burned. You would have no mane at all. I’m sure she would be very upset with that.” He looked down in grief, and then gave Wire his most pleading look. “Oh no. This is my fault. I put the brush in there. She will be upset at me. Please don’t burn your mane. Please.”

“Ugh, fine. I’ll never hear then end of it from him.” He rolled his eyes. Pastel wouldn’t want me to burn it off either.

Four Leaf hugged the thief and thanked him ten million times. “Can we read from the Rex magazine now?” Rabbit looked at the two with a bored expression. Clearly having lost out on watching Wire’s mane burn.

“Fine.” He let out. He rummaged through his pack, bits of scrap and explosive components falling out in his search. Then he pulled out a faded comic book, a bullet hole in the top left corner. “It’s a bit worse for wear.”

“By Celestias cunt!” Rabbit jumped up and down, looking at the magazine from different angles. “Luna rape me sideways, this is awesome!”

“Where in the hay did you learn to talk like that?” He asked surprised at the exuberance of the filly, as he tossed the mag to the ground between them.

“She copied it from the slavers, they say it when they are very happy.” Four Leaves let his friend dictate the pace. She only stopped looking intently at it to turn the page with a trembling hoof. “You can’t read silly.”

“Dawn is an idiot.” Rabbit replied, shifting the page again. “Mommy was being real nice to the slaver ponies, and helped them cook food. They still sold her, and she had to leave us behind and when I grow up. I will be the strongest pony, and I will have hoofstrike like Rex and. And.”

Leaf hugged Rabbit again and leaned on her in a half hug. “You don’t need to be Rex, I just want my best friend. But Rex is cool too, and when I grow up I will learn how to read. So I can read about him for you.”

“Look Rex is riding the giant grey thing.” and they turned the page again. “Yay, hoofstrike while riding the giant animal.” Then they turned another page, and another.

Don’t get attached. Don’t get attached. Don’t get attached. “You two don’t know how to read?”

“Well, duh. Mom tried, but she was kinda busy. In case you have lived under a rock. Slaves don't exactly get spare time except to sleep.” Rabbit squinted her eyes. “I know this word because it was in the other magazine. That is wack, and that is slam” Four Leaf nodded. “You are supposed to say it real loud, but we never got to do that.”

“What If I was to uh,” Don’t do it, it wont end well. You know it wont. “Well, uh read,” You can still back out, who cares if they hate you, “Read it to you two?” Idiot.

“Can you? Please read it for us.” Four Leaf begged, but Rabbit looked at him with anger. She did not say much except officially presenting the comic to him for reading.

“Okay, well this is Issue #45 of Rex the Zebra Savage. Rex and the Hydra’s lair.” He began to regale them in the tale the intrepid hero. They gathered around him. One on each side making him hold the book out to them. Adjusting the view to suit theirs, and not his demands. They laughed and cheered. For Rex was their hero, and to have somepony read for them was quite the event. Sadly, once he had gotten halfway they had fallen asleep on him. Whether it was the lack of hoof-strikes or lack of sleep from some other night Wire couldn’t tell.

Great job. Now they like you. Gonna be real nice when you leave em behind huh? He wouldn’t be able to take them with him, they would just end up dead, or back as slaves again. A life in Friendship wouldn’t be so bad, but they wouldn’t be liked. He knew it. Dirty little kids, given a little bit of hope in the wastes. The doctor is an asshole.

An unnaturally loud boom rippled trough the air. As if somepony had fired a cannon right next to his ears, and then several more followed with rapid succession. The kids scrambled on top of Wire like a pack of ant’s. Four Leaf hanging by that precious brush of his and Rabbit gripped the thief by the ears. They crashed like a wasteland monstrosity, and thumbed around until the loud boom shook them from their panicked state.

“You’ve got to be fuckin kiddin.” Wire turned his head, not paying attention to the scared kids, able to make out muzzle flashes in the distance.

Level Up:

“Brokeback Stallion”: “In combat, you do +10% extra damage against male opponents. Outside of combat, you'll have access to unique dialogue options when dealing with the same sex.”

“Soul of a Foal” 1 Rank Prerequisites: CHR 4: “It appears you have a severe case of Scootaloo, young miss. Sad to say, this will give you some unique dialogue with children along with a tendency to be childish. You’ll also think colts have cooties way into your thirties.”

“Uneasy alliance.” 1 Rank: Prerequisites: PER 8, AGI 5, Explosives 50: “I wouldn’t want to hurt my allies, but explosives don’t exactly discriminate between friend or foe.” Well, they do now! Or maybe it is just you being damn good at timing your attacks so that your allies are shielded from most of the blast while your enemies take most of the heat.. Acts of friendly fire with explosives cause 20% less damage.”

All credits for the setting go to Kkat, author of the original story Fallout Equestria published on Equestria Daily. Please support the sidefic authors that continue to explore her universe: FO:E sidefic author homebase Gdoc.

Story is coauthored by Volk, Redundant and Damhoof.

Big hugs to DamnfoolBronyauthor of "Kiss Equestria Goodbye."