Fallout Equestria: lost Remembrance

Chapters

The Blinding Snow
can't catch a break
Snow to Snow
Shoot out at the Cotton tavern

The Blinding Snow

Chapter1: the Blinding snow.

“Everypony has a past, good or bad. But, no matter what there is one thing that makes us the same. We all have a past. Good or bad, even if we want to forget it or find it.”

“Stalliongrad a city in the middle of the frozen wasteland of the north. Even after the battles, the strikes and the recent rediscovery of the city it still stands, it is a place where ponies fight the radioactivity, each other and the cold and where it stands a buck that has became legend. He wonders the town fighting to survive the cold and hunger. He goes from building to building firing on any raider he sees. He is known as the Ghost of the snow. the only time that anypony has seen him is at a bar or trading market. he buys bullets and some healing potions maybe a bottle of whiskey or two. He is said to have a metal right leg that he got from a group of Applejack‘s rangers coming up from the south. Nopony know who he his but, some say he is a Ghoul that hasn‘t turned yet. Others say that he is just trouble and will just kill anypony that comes near him without hesitation. Others have claimed to be saved by the Ghost when they were being attacked from bloodwings to Super mutants. Honestly, I think he is just a regular pony just trying to survive and helping as many ponies as possible but, there is one fact is that he is all alone. But, don’t think that is a weakness. That bit was for all of those shit head raiders. Oh, sorry I said a swear on the air but, come on, it was about raiders for Celestia’s sake. But, back to the Ghost, he is a crack shot and some say he has never missed when it counted. So, I am giving him a shout out, If you can hear this Ghost you are not alone you somepony that cares about you. Everypony give him a little friendship. Now, this is DJ-Pon3 broadcasting from Manehattion and remember my little ponies, give as much friendship as possible. Now, here is some Velvet Remedy.” *BANG* *BANG* BANG* *Click*

******

“In out.” I said breathing in the burning cold air. My cheek pressed against the wooden stock of the hunting rifle. My scope with its crosshair resting on the head of a pony. I took a deep breath. “In out, when it counts.” I closed my left eye and the image became clearer. The pony’s cutie mark of a pony skull with a knife going though it to the hilt. The blood covering the pony’s dark blue mane. The bullet casings littering the ground around him as his assault rifle made a wall of lead for the traveling caravan. One pony was on the ground bleeding to death from one of the guard’s shots. I ditched the air in my burning lungs Then, everything slowed to a crawl. In out, when it counts. Go for the shot and make it count. The recoil of my rifle hit against my shoulder as the bullet ran its way out of the barrel and into the head of the first raider. He fell. I breathed again and everything went to normal. I cycled the bolt with my right hoof and placed it back on the trigger. Two more shots. Two more raiders. I took a deep breath as the fighting stopped. I reloaded and placed my rifle to my side with the sling. I began to trot to the bodies. The snow and ice churching under my weight. My riot mask protecting my face from the biting wind a little. When I got to the bodies and began to search. An assault rifle in reasonable condition, one and a half mags, some Dash and about eighteen caps. I looked at the stunned guards and merchant who were hiding behind some old sky wagons filled with holes. I saw a guard pressing a rag to her right leg dripping with blood. It made my left leg rub up and down my right. The cold hard metal sending a cold chill to my spine. I opened my saddle bag. The glass bottle hit my muzzle and I bit into it. I took it out and threw into the snow near the wounded guard.

The wounded guard flared her horn and picked up the potion in a green aurora. I began to trot away with the assault rifle on my back, Hunting rifle to my right and .44 magnum to my left. The clank of metal against ice echoed through the snow covered street. “Thank you!” is what I heard as I turned around a building corner. I sighed just as when I went around I saw them looking to each other’s wounds. The caps clanking in my coat pocket as I made my down the street. My hoof prints being covered by the ever blowing snow. I made my way down to a metro station plaza with about five building surrounding it. I went to the building to the north east. I pushed against the door. It creaked open revealing nothing but, darkness. I turned on my light on my mask. The room was a lobby of a fancy hotel. The walls lined with propaganda posters. Like the Ministry of Morale poster that creeps me out. It is the image of a pink pony with her eyes as wide as the wasteland and as soulless. It says “Pinkie is watching you FOREVER!” it felt like the eyes followed you. I shivered from the thought of that.

I made my to a stair case everything still as dark as Luna’s plot hole. Damn, I hate stairs. I thought shaking my head. I began to climb up them. I closed my eyes as I heard a can being kicked to the side. I opened my eyes and continued. As I top closer to the top, it began to get lighter. I stopped at a door that wasn’t falling off its hinges I pushed it open. It revealed a ruined apartment with a stripped bed and ruined couch with a few cabinets. “Home sweet Home.” I said making my way to a window that is over looking the city. “Home…sweet… home.” I said sitting down right next to it. A city ruined not only by the Megaspells also by the snow and ice. A single city that is seeming that it is rising out of the snow and ice of the northern wasteland. The remnants of the battle of stalliongrad still circle the city, the trenches stretch as far as the eye could see which isn’t much as you can only see about a mile out of the city. Even during the Zebra occupation they kept the place pretty much in one piece. I sighed.

I looked at my rifle which I placed on my bed. The stock dented from two hundred years of abuse, the sight is ok and a five round magazine. I took off my mask and turned it around. The red eyes and air filters looking at me with a soulless face, the slash across it reminds me of a time in the wasteland… that I can’t seem to remember. An image of a mare popped into my mind. I shook my head and the image was gone and I forgot about it. I looked outside once more and saw what I could see is that the sun is going down about at the four o’clock position. I closed my eyes for a second and placed the mask back on. I gathered my assault rifle and revolver then, opened the door, only to get the cold darkness to greet me. I began to climb down the stairs to the basemen, the I turned on the night vision spell. I opened the door to a subway tunnel, more darkness and cold. As I walked toward the south end of the tunnel, some barrels with fire inside them began to light the way. I turned off the spell and continued down the tunnel with my revolver at the ready. As I got closer the sounds of laughter and hoof fighting came to my ears. I entered a station to see that it has been reused to make a bar and inn, more bar then inn. I took off my helmet along with my mask and placed them inside my bag. Sweat was dripping down my face from the intense heat coming from the barrels I sat down on a stool and tapped on the bar. “A bottle of whiskey please.” I said placing ten caps one the counter..

“Hey, Shell how are ya?” the bartender said flaring his horn placing a bottle of whiskey on the counter and taking the caps.

“What do you think skillet?” I said in a flat tone gathering the whiskey and heading to a table. I sat down and sighed.

“Hey, dipshit why in the hell are you sitting at my table?” a buck said behind me as I took a drink.

“Does it have your name on it?” I said taking another drink.

“No, but this bullet has yours. Now, does it Ghost?” he said pulling out a 10mm pistol.

“You must have the wrong pony because I’m not the Ghost.”

“Yes, you are and the NER will pay nicely for you.”

I took another drink. “Just so I want to know before I die how much?”

“1000 caps for you. You must of pissed them off or something.” the buck said with a grin. I looked at him a little more. He was brown with an orange mane, in his mouth was a silenced 10mm pistol. He was wearing worn out combat armor with some of the Kevlar blocks missing. I chuckled a little but, my face stayed flat. He raised an eyebrow. “What so funny? Did you see death or something?”

I sighed. “No, it is just after saving a caravan from a group of raiders I have to deal with your shit.” I said flaring my horn and shooting his right upper leg with my .44. Blood began to run down his leg making him drop his pistol from his mouth.

He fell screaming holding his leg. “You bastard.” he said as I holstered my pistol

I looked at him and sighed. “What’s your name?”

“Why in the hell should I tell you fucktard?” he said spitting on my trench coat.

“Because if you have any next of kin I want to apologize.” he went quiet as I said that. “But, if you leave now I won’t kill you. I won’t chase you. I will leave you alone. Got it? Good, now go.” I said. He nodded and began to limp himself out of the tavern. I sat down and sighed as I realized that everypony there was watching. Well, I wonder what I’m going to do next. I took a deep breath and finished the bottle and threw it in the trash. A chem addict looked back and forth as he approached the trash can. He retrieved the bottle and sold it for some mint-als. I sat back down at the table and took out a cigarette, then, lit it. After a long drag i tossed the cigarette and got up.

I began to walk down the tunnels toward the south end of the tunnels seeing if i can find something intresting. I flared my horn as the light for the tavern began to fade. From a distance I heard something moan but, I didn't consider it as something always moans in these tunnels. As I came to a metal door I stopped as a sucking and growling sound came from behind me. I turned to see two feral ghouls behind me eating at something. I couldn’t believe that I missed it but, my attention was grabbed by the thing that they were eating. It was a buck with a brown coat and orangeish mane. “Shit.” I froze as I realized that I said that out loud. The ghouls turned to me and did their form of a roar but, it got me to run. Fuck fuck fuck fuck FUCK! I thought as I ran down the tunnel the sound of sucking and growling grew louder as I ran. I turned my head behind me to see that there was more then two ghouls after me. There had to be at least twenty ghouls. I began to shot my .44 pistol wildly only killing a couple by pure luck. Celestia fuck me with her horn on a Tuesday. I thought. I began to panic as I ran down the tunnel the sound of the squishing flesh and rotting hoofs on the concrete almost made me sick but, I held on as the tunnel got brighter and the tracks were going up now. I saw a literal light at the end of the tunnel. But, just as I got it the ground around me began to crumble and I fell through the floor. I went into free fall for a good three seconds. Then, I slammed on a concrete floor. The impact made the air knocked out of me. My world began to go black along with a warm feeling on the back of my head. Fuck.

********

“Get up! Get up! Get up!” I heard a mare yell as an image appeared. Gun shots rang all around me. I climbed to my hoofs to see that I was in a factory. Five ponies around me were shooting at the entrance But, everything stopped and went to white. In the middle of the white stood a filly.

A grey unicorn filly. She was saying something but, no words came from her mouth. All I could understand was “Help”

********

“Hey, get off your ass.” a pony said kicking me in the side. My eyes shot open. I was laying on a soiled mattress that smelled of only Luna knows what. I looked at mare in raider armor and similar mane. She was a dirty white with a pink mane. “I will shot you in the fucking face if you don’t get off your ass and move it.” I didn’t say anything as I got up. A pain shot from the back of my head. When I got on all four hoofs I felt the back of my head and realize that I wasn’t wearing any of my armor. My head was poorly bandaged. I looked at the mare and she had a pistol in her mouth. “Move it.” she said the pistol muffling her voice. I began to walk in the direction she pushed me toward. As we began to move. Sounds of multiple ponies came closer and closer. We came to a metal door. It opened to a dark room and I heard the mare turn on her front hoofs and I felt the force of the apple buck forcing me into the room. Celestia damn it.

I got up and shook myself off. Now, where in the hell am I? I flared my horn only to get the surprise of five other ponies three of them with slave collars the other two were shackled to what seemed to a cage. The three that had the slave collars were two mares who had blood around their backsides and one buck who seemed to be beaten to an inch of his life. Fucking bastards. The room smelled horrible it smelled of shit and piss with some blood in the mixture. The light from my horn seemed to be the only light source in the entire room. The shackled were another buck and one… grey filly she was untouched, weird they always go after the fillies but, thank Celesta that they didn‘t this time. They all looked at me all of them expect for the filly had sorrow in their eyes. The filly had hope in hers. I couldn’t understand why but, for some reason I feel like I’ve seen her before. But, I can’t remember where. I sat down next to the buck with the slave collar on.

The buck looked at me and then back at the floor. “What’s going on?” I asked.

Without even looking at me he said with a grave tone. “We were all captured to fight to the death for their entertainment and our suffering. What do you think?"

I sighed. “How did you get captured?” I asked just trying to figure out

“We were attacked by a group of raiders that ambushed us after we found the filly over there.” he said pointing his hoof to the filly that looked like she was going to explode.

I raised my eyebrow. “Where did you find the filly?”

“In one of the apartment buildings looking for salvage. They ambushed us after we left the building.”

I looked at him one more time. “Why are you telling me this?” I asked as I looked at the clothing I had on. It is amazing what you can do with rags and a needle.

“Because we are all going to die in the arena so might as well tell Somepony my story before I get a sword up my ass.” He said with ad small dark chuckle. He looked up at me with a dark smirk. “I didn’t catch your name.”

I looked at his eyes. “Last Shell. How about you?”

“Desert fire.”

“Nice to meet ya.”

“You too.”

“Hey Fire, what’s up with the filly?”

He raised his eyebrow. “What do you mean?”

“I mean she looks like she is about to burst from excitement for some reason. Plus, what was she doing in the apartment building all alone?”

He scratched his head. “I don’t know, when we found her she said that she was looking for somepony. She said that she that it was a buck and a unicorn but, the odd thing is that she couldn’t remember the name. All she said besides the gender and race was that he needed her.” Fire was about to say more but, was interrupted by the door opening.

“Alright bitches, the first match is going to be tomorrow morning.” The raider looked at me with a wicked smile. Then, he pointed at me with his hoof. “You’re going up first, limpdick.” was all he said as the door closed.

Everypony including the filly looked at me. Shit.

********

A couple of hours later I think, I fell asleep…

The sounds of gunshots rang all around me with a group of ponies firing on the entrances. Casings littered the floor along with empty magazines and healing potions. Bodies lie on the ground with blood soaking into the concrete like a sponge. A mare was pushing me up and throwing me an marksmen carbine. I got in the scope. Raiders were pouring in like water in a sink. But, as I got off three rounds killing two raiders. It took to take down a stubborn one. Everything stopped. I could see bullets in mid-air still breaking the sound barrier. A red beam from a laser rifle stopped just before it hit the concrete counter that we were taking cover in. the image of intense fighting began to fad into white. When the entire image was gone and there was nothing but, white all that stood there was the same grey filly from the prison cell.

“Hello, Eagle shot.”

I froze at the name then, I glared at the filly. “How in the fucking hell do you know that name?”

“There is no time for explanations right now but, listen you need to survive the arena tomorrow.”

I just stood there glaring at her. “Your weapons and armor is in a locker inside the arena itself in the preparation cage for their fighters. One of them is going to use them. You know how to kill somepony in riot armor don’t you?”

I glared at her. “Yes, when you fire your gun aim for neck and joints. Mainly the knees and hoofs to cripple them.”

She smiled. “Good, at least you can hear me somewhat. Now, it is time for you to awake up or you are going to kicked in the ass.”

She began to fade.

“What is your name?”

She smiled. “Don’t worry I’m just a friend and we will see each other soon.” she said as she faded into nothing.

A friend. I sighed. I don’t have any friends maybe except for Desert fire but, the is yet to be seen.

********

“Hey, get your ass up.” A mare said with a pistol in her mouth. She was about to kick me but, I moved before she could make contact.

“What?” I said flatly as I got up from the dirty ass floor.

“Get moving or I will shot you in the fucking face.” she said cocking the pistol with her tongue. Thank Celestia that I don’t have to do that, that is nasty.

“Fine.” I said as I move toward the door I looked at the spot where the filly was and she was gone. What the hell? I looked at the raider that was herding me toward the arena. “Where’s the filly?” I asked.

The raider looked at me like I was crazy which is saying something. “What filly? Any filly we find is either raped or killed usually both.” was all she said. Eh, smart raider what a rarity that is. The rest of the trip was mostly silent besides the constant roar of ponies screaming for blood. Well, this is going to be interesting. I thought as the door to my left opened and out came a pony in my armor. I could tell that the raider was smiling under it. The raider said nothing as he opened the door to my right revealing an arena about the size of a medium size school yard. Bodies lay on the ground like tossed trash. I was pushed in the arena and the door closed behind me. I was in a small holding cell but, from behind the bars I could see the mares from the prison cell that I was in along with the other buck and Fire. On the other side I could see the five raiders, one in my armor along with a device on his leg.

“AAAALLLLLRRRRIGHT, mares and Genticolts this your announcer Red tongue letting you know what is going down in the arena. First, things first just to let any new comers know that this is a fight to the death. It is going to be five prisoners against five our fellow raiders. If all of one is side is killed the winning side if on the prisoner side are set free but, on the other hand the ones that will more and likely win, the raiders they can have their pick of any of the female prisoners or male if you’re into that thing. You can use any weapons that you have on you or that you pick up. Now, for the rules of fighting… there is none. It is fight to survive or sport so if you need to you can throw dirt into each other’s eyes we don’t give a shit. As long that we have our entertainment. Now, lets get this show under way!” Red tongue said just as my cage opened.

I looked on the ground looking for a weapon even a knife would do. Thank Celestia that I found a fallen 10mm pistol. The mares ran out, one got a bullet to the head right out of the gate. “AND THE RAIDERS DRAW FIRST BLOOD AND THEY WANT MORE!” the crowd roared

The other one found some cover behind a broken pillar bullets tearing pillar apart. The arena seemed to be made for giant ass hole in the ground and the pillars and slabs of concrete looks like it used to be part of a support structure. I dove behind a slab that was stuck in the ground. I took out the magazine in the pistol. Seven round in the magazine. Fuck. I slowly peaked over the slap only to get a chunk of concrete into the face. I sank down as the shooting continue. I looked left and right to see anything. I turned to my right to see that Fire had found an assault rifle with an extra mag. He was firing blindly. The shooting from the raiders slowed a little but, as I was about to look over a raider jumped on my left side with a machete and pistol in his magic aura. “I’M GOING TO SKIN YOU ALIVE!” Nope. I thought as he yelled that.

I aimed my pistol in his face. He was surprised at the fact that I found a gun. “Nope.” I said as I pulled the trigger. I winced as pain shot up my left leg. I could feel the warm blood trickling down my leg. The sword turned out to be spinning the air and stuck my leg. Damn it.

“OH! ONE OF THE PRISONERS HAS KILLED CRAZY CRACKER! THIS MAKES THE NUMBERS FOUR TO FOUR! BUT, CRACKER MANAGED TO WOUND THE PRISONER!” Just as he said that the other buck was shot in the chest and was bleeding out on the ground. “CHECK THAT FOUR TO THREE!” Will that guy just shut up! “AGAIN THE NUMBERS HAVE CHANGED!” Guess not. “IT IS FOUR TO TWO NOW.” I turned to my left now to that the mare was shot in the head. Damn, these guys are good shots and that is saying something for raiders.

“Do you got a plan? Because, I’m on my last magazine and I think I just wounded one but, there are three more including a sniper. He has Riot armor and a Marksmen carbine.”

I peaked again over the concrete and a bullet whizzed over my head I could feel the heat off the bullet. I ducked again behind the concrete. “FUCK!” I yelled. I began to look around for anything. I saw a hunting rifle sticking out of the mud of the floor. I turned to Fire. “Hey, Fire I got an idea but, you are not going to like it.”

“Well, the only ideas are bad ideas so this is the best we got! What do you have in mind?”

“I see a hunting rifle but, it is in the open. I can cast a shield of over me for a short time but, only for about thirty seconds. I need you to cover me it may cost you your remaining rounds but, take my pistol.” I tossed him my pistol and he grabbed it with his mouth. Nasty. “So we good?” he nodded.

“Just say when you are going.”

“Alright, just tell me when they are reloading.”

“NOW!” the moment he yelled that I galloped with my full might and cast my weak shield bullets began to ping off but, the sound of Fire’s rifle cut their fire for the moment. I reached the rifle to see that the scope was broken and I couldn’t see through it. I jumped to a pillar.

“OH, THERE WE GO! IT IS NOW THREE TO TWO THINGS ARE GETTING INTRESTING! BUT, CAN THEY BEAT HEADCRUSHER AND HIS RIFLE? LET SEE AND FIND OUT.”

When I got behind the pillar I managed to take off the busted sight. The magazine only had three rounds in it. I peaked around the corner to see that one of the raiders was charging Fire’s position with a sword in her mouth. Instinct kicked in and I cycled a round. The sights lined up as best as they could and I fired a round. The round entered the temple of the raider’s head. Her brains splattered across the concrete. “AGAIN! THE NUMBERS HAVE MANAGED TO EQUAL OUT! NOW ALL IS LEFT IS HEADCRUSHER AND BRASS. OH, BRASS IS CHARGING THE PRISONER WITH THE HUNTING RIFLE!” For once the announcer was helpful as I didn’t realize that the raider they called Brass. I aimed the rifle again but, before I could fire another shot was fired. I realized that it was from a pistol. Fire was behind his cover with the smoking pistol, another shot rang out and the pistol shot from his mouth. “ONCE AGAIN THE PRISONERS TAKE OUT A RAIDER AND FOR THE FIRST TIME IN A LONG TIME THE TABLES TO HAVE TURNED ON THE OUR HERO!” The announcer yelled. “WAIT WHAT IS GOING ON OUR HERO HEADCRUSHER IS CHARGING THE PRISONER WHO IS WITHOUT A WEAPON! SMART MOVE!”

It was the raider that had my armor and the Marksmen carbine. I took a deep breath and everything slowed. “In out, when it counts, make the shot by Luna, the bullet will strike true.” I said as I fired. The bullet struck the raider in the neck and didn’t every hit my armor. It nearly decapitated him. I made my way toward him cautiously to make sure that there were no other surprises. As I got closer I could see the device on the raider’s leg. It was a pip-buck. As I looked closer it detached as his pulse stopped.

“AND THERE WE HAVE IT FOR THE FIRST TIME THE PRISONERS MANAGE TO DEFY THE ODDS AND COME OUT ON TOP! MAY OUR FELLOW RAIDERS REST IN PEACE. PIECES THAT IS! NOW, SINCE THE PRISONERS HAVE WON THEY CAN LEAVE WHEN THEY PLEASE . THAT IS ALL FOLKS! NOW GET THE FUCK OUT OF MY ARENA!” the announcer yelled over the microphone.

I grabbed the pip-buck and looked at it. I shrugged and placed it on my I left foreleg. For a moment my vision blurred as the spell of the Eye-Forward Sparkle came into view in a flash of green. My health and compass was displayed on the bottom left side of my vision. The right came into view for my gun and how much ammo I have of the caliber and type. Damn, this thing is nice. I looked straight and realized that there was two triangles pointing at each other. I realized that it scans anything I see. I looked down at the Marksmen carbine that ‘Headcrusher’ used to own. It told me the name of it. ‘All-Equestrian’. I picked it up and slung it on my back along with my armor. I looked down at the pip-buck and went to data to see where I was. But, it showed that I had an unread note. I opened it and it read ’My name is Blinding snow and as I said we will meet each other real soon don’t worry.’

_____________________________________

Chapter end.

Analysis… compete.

Level up!

New perk! Instinct. Your perception is increased by 1 and when handling a rifle your critical hit chance is increased by 15%, you can fire more rapidly when in combat with a pistol and add five points to sneak. When outside of combat you have an increased chance of finding food and water. Maybe a Sparkle-cola here and there.

Special

S-4

P-6 +1

E-6

C-4

I-8

A-6

L-6

Well, there we have it, my first try at a Fallout: Equestria story. I hope that everybody likes it and if not, oh well. If you have any positive and helpful advice it would be much appreciated. I don’t have an editor or anything like that I’m just working on this myself, like I said any helpful advice would much appreciated. Now, to Chapter two: Can‘t catch a break.

can't catch a break

Chapter two: Can’t catch a break.

“Good afternoon everypony this is DJ-PON3 and I hope you all are doing well and not facing any deathclaws. The weather is a bit cloudy with a chance of death. So if I were any of you ponies I could keep my assault rifle close and loaded. Now, for our friend in Stalliongrad it appears that he was captured by a group of raiders called the Gladiators. The name says it all. When they capture anypony they make them fight each other to the death for their entertainment. On rare occasions it is a fight of prisoners against Raiders. If the prisoners win they get their freedom and any weapons and armor they can gather and immediately sent out into the frozen wastland of the north. Well, we all know what happens if they don’t win. It just so happens that our friend the Ghost has won the fight with the help of unknown earth pony. It looks like our Ghost has finally made a friend. Now le…(Static).

“This is the NER override broadcast. I repeat. This is the NER override broadcast. This is Sgt. Bass of the 1st battalion 3rd company artic division. The NER has raised its bounty on the pony named The Ghost of the snow to 1500 caps. On the charges of murder on a informant of the NER, the aiding of the enemies of the NER, The theft of riot armor that rightfully belongs to the veteran Rangers of the NER, and the theft of a Pip-buck 3000 from the NER. Capture is NOT recommended but, if there is any possibility that this pony is caught alive please do so. the amount will double to 3000 caps. If not, came with proof as in the head and weapons. Any companions is an additional 300 caps and any information leading to his capture is a 100 caps. This is message from the New Equestrian Republic. (Static).

“What the hell just happened? Oh… we are the air. Well, it looks like our friend the Ghost has got himself in trouble, talk about bad luck. But, I’m wondering if any of those charges are true? Maybe they are… or maybe they’re not. Maybe the NER is just trying to frame our friend, so they can get rid of him as they march toward Stalliongrad. But, what do I know. All I am is just a news pony that sees and hears almost everything. Now, here is some sweetie bell to clam everypony down.”

********

Blinding Snow? Is that what that filly’s name is? I looked outside in the white snow and ice. It never changes only gets colder. Some of the buildings are almost frozen themselves. I don’t get why the NER what’s this place all is it is just ice and maybe some weapons factories here and their but, anything major is either already stripped clean or is crawling with security robots, hell one is a robot factory that still makes robots. Nopony knows where the hell they get the raw materials but, it keeps going on. But, never mind on that. Why does the NER what this place and why the hell did they place such a huge bounty on me? I looked at Fire. He has been gathering food for a while in this apartment building. Most of it I think is already cleaned out. I kept watch on the small camp we have made in the fourth floor. The pip-buck has proven to be very useful. I could tell that is was about a quarter down on my health and I was starting to get hungry. It checked on my supplies. two healing potions, a few Med-X, some magical and non-magical bandages, Mint-als, some non-frozen water that I found in three of the Ministry of Peace medical boxes that are everywhere, and for my weapons… one hunting rifle, a round of .308, All-Equestrian and two magazines of 5.56mm. The swords are fine expect they are zebra officer swords that pretty much useless without the electrical crystal that powers the damn things. Not much but, it will have to do. A knocking on the door but, instead of me having to open it. It just fell from its hinges. The doorway revealed Fire wearing a coat that has been chewed on by mice, and carrying two sets of saddle bags. One of the four bags had anything in it.

“Nice look but, did you find anything good?” I said poking the fire with a stick.

“Thanks you like it?” he said strutting around. “ but, yes only a little, some packs, a hole covered coat for me and a little food. How are we doing on our resources?” he asked placing down the saddle packs and threw a set to me which I caught with my magic.

“Pretty much the same. I found a Ministry of Peace medical box and found a some stuff in it. One roll of magical and non-magical bandages, two healing potions, three syringes of Med-X, Two bottles of purified non-freezing water and one tin of Mint-als. Weapons a little worse.”

“How so?” he said pulling out one can of rice and beans, and one can of corn. Handing the corn to me.

I popped it open and sat it close to the fire because frozen corn is not all that good. “Well, including your assault rifle and All-Equestrian there is the 10mm pistol, my hunting rifle, the two swords and that’s about it. The ammo is almost not-existent. Five rounds of the 10mm, one round of .308, and forty-eight rounds of 5.56.”

“So what you’re saying were fucked until we get to the nearest retailer?” I nodded. “And something tells me that our money department is a big old fat zero?”

I picked up the can of corn with my magic and took out a spoon. I began to eat but, winced at the heat. “Ow, hot. But…you are right on the money. Did you find anything else while scaving?”

“Well, I did find an safe but, I couldn’t crac-” he looked around and only realizing that he is facing a steam cloud of my shape as I ran toward the safe. I was already at the safe two floors up when he caught up with me. “Couldn’t even wait for me to finish my sentence could you?” he said trying to catch his breath as I placed the one bobby pin I had on me into the keyhole.

“Nope.” I said as the tumblers fell into place. The safe opened to reveal a little good. Found another 10mm pistol but, in a little better condition, a healing potion, eleven rounds of 10mm, some pre-war bits, twenty caps and a little surprise a frag grenade. What in the hell was a civilian doing with a frag grenade? The apple shaped explosive was covered in dust and frost. I stowed it in my bags and began to go back to the camp.

Fire came up beside me as we went down the stairwell. “What was in the safe?” he asked taking a drink of water.

“Well, we got more ammo for the 10mm pistol, one more healing potion, some pre-war bits, and twenty caps.” I said keeping the grenade a secret. I still don’t trust him even two days after we left the arena. I need more time to see if he will try anything funny especially with the 1500 cap bounty on my head for no apparent reason. Or any that I can remember. We walked the rest of the way down to the room. I entered through now doorless doorway, the camp fire was still going but, just barely. I sat down and threw a chair leg into the fire. Alright, water check. Food check. Ammo check. Sleep that is to be determined. I looked at Fire as he sat down. He couldn’t tell through me mask but, I still don‘t trust him. I took a deep breath and laid down on a chair cushion as a pillow. I sighed. Just before I fell I asleep a thought ran through my mind. Why can’t I remember?

********

“One pony is all you are. You can’t be everywhere at once. You can save everypony. But, that doesn’t mean you can’t try and save as many as possible.” a green pony said sitting next to me. I was in a office. From what I could tell from the window it was late at night. “But, if anything I’m sorry.” the green mare got up and pulled out a rifle and chambered a round. “So, quit whining we got a job to do.”

“Fine, but I just want to get this over with.”

The mare stopped just in front of the door leading out of the building. Then, looked at me with the rifle pointed. “Quit your bitching and or I will take off your head. Do you think I like this job? Hell, no but, we need the caps.”

Just as we left the door the world once again turned to white. The filly returned in clear view. I looked back and forth then, at the filly. “WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON?!” I yelled making the filly rub her ear.

“you don’t have to yell, you know?” she said.

“Who are you?” I asked sitting down.

“Take off your mask.” she said sitting down across a table that magically appeared. A bottle of sparkle-cola on my end and she had a cup of tea. Really? “Yes, really now take off your mask so we can talk.”

I hesitated at the command. Why is my mask so important? “Why?”

“Because, since we’re in your mind, I don’t want you to talk as a somepony else.”

“Then, who am I then, if I take off my mask?” I asked.

“You will be you.” She looked down at a pip-buck. “Damn it. Not now I need more time.”

********

I woke up with a little sweat and looked at the fire. It was just embers and frost was covering the room. I got up and looked at my pip-buck. 0739. The sun was coming up through the grey clouds that have been watching the wasteland for as long as anypony dares to remember. I got up and placed my helmet back on before Fire woke up. As I placed the helmet I noticed something. I was crouched and on the top of my vision I can make out the red words Caution. It was blinking. I flared my horn and grabbed All-Equestrian. My Ammo count was 24/00. Just great, looks like I am going to save as much as I can. I stalked down the stairwell as quietly as possible to the lower floor.

“Alright, They should be here somewhere. Look everywhere then, we will go to the next floor. Remember We need him alive but, any friends are fair game. Got that?”

“Yes sir!” a group of about five ponies said in volley. Six including the leader who happens to be right in front of me a head of the stair well about twenty yards away. Shit. All of them were in heavy combat gear, and it seems that they all have seen action and carrying full auto assault rifles. I opened focused on his armor. he was wearing winterized reinforced combat armor while the rest were just regular combat armor. Shit, this is not good.

I crept up the stair to see that Fire was getting his gear ready for the day’s hike. He was about to say something but, the moment that he opened his mouth I closed it with my horn. “Don’t say a word there are mercs downstairs and they don’t seem like the talking type.” I whispered as quietly as possible.

His eyes opened and after I let go of his mouth he mouthed. “Why are they here?” all I did was pointed at me. He looked at me with a raised eyebrow. “Why?” he mouthed again. “Is it because of the bounty?”

I nodded. “Shit, we need to get out of here. Do you know how to teleport?” I shook my head. Damn it. “any ideas?”

We sat there for a moment and a thought came to mind. The grenade. “I have an idea but, your not going to like it.” I whispered as hard as possible.

He crack a grin. “Last time you said that it saved our asses. But, what do you have?”

I took out the grenade and began to toss it up into the air and catching it with my magic.

“Where the hell did you get that?” he said almost on the verge yelling.

“No time to explain but, for right now we have to ambush them as they are coming up the stairs. How much ammo do you have for your assault rifle?” I asked.

“About 24.”

“Then, make it 48 because you will need it more then I will.” I said handing him my mag from All-Equestrian.

“Thanks but, what will you use?” I smiled as I pulled the 10mm pistol. “I have around 25 rounds and I’m going to make them count. As we made it to the stair well I started to get a bad feeling. I turned to Fire. “Hey, does this building have more then, one stair well?”

“No, the others have been blocked off by rubble. I was checking when I found the safe and when you went ape shit over it.” I chuckled a little.

We got to the stair well and could hear them going through everything in sight. “Alright, he is not on this floor the next one is our next stop.” I could hear the hoof steps as he walked on the title floor. He stopped on the bottom step as I began to put tension on the pin. “We know that you are here Eagle Shot, now why don’t you give yourself up and we can leave this place. You and I both know that this place will collapsed in a couple days at the most. We don’t want to disappoint my boss. We would love to have you a live and also if your wondering if this is for the NER bounty. it’s not we just want to talk but, if you pull anything we will kill you and your friend. You’ve got two minutes or we are coming up there with force. Remember tick tock goes the clock.”

I looked at Fire as he got into his position with his assault rifle. I checked the 10mm pistol a full magazine with another full one with a round in the chamber. Shit. Why in the hell do they want me. Well, only one way to find out. “The only way that I’m coming down is if I’m in chains and pretty bloody. Now, come at us you limp dicks!”

“Who are you calling a limp dick?!” I heard one is grunts yell out. He let out a battle cry and began to charge up the stair like a manticore on Psycho. I mean really he was foaming at the mouth. Boy, he was angry. He came up shooting his zebra assault rifle at us. The rounds just hitting concrete. As he was charging me I used my magic to pull the 10mm pistol and fired twice. The first one hit his armor and he continued like he was just hit with a spitball all it did was make him angrier. The second shot hit him on the top corner of his head splattering his brains across the stair well.

“How misfortunate. Oh, well we can just get bear claw to send somepony to replace him. You got one minute and this is your last warning. Also, if you do want to fight your friend is welcome to our fallen’s armor and ammo.” Me and Fire looked at each other. He was right Fire had no armor and I’m protected somewhat. I checked his body and was shocked at what I found. Five full magazines full of 5.56mm ammo with 15 his rifle, 135 rounds! Shit, I know that these guys are well armed but, damn. These guys were expecting a gunfight. Shit. He had some RadAway and a healing potion and that’s it. Fuck.

I looked up at Fire and shoved the combat armor into his chest. “Put, this on and here is two more full mags. I’m taking the Zebra assault rifle.” I said as I put a fresh mag into the rifle. He nodded and began to put on the armor. I paused for a moment after I cycled the bolt. This is feels familiar somehow. I looked at the rifle. I imaged me taking it apart and back together like I’ve done it before. Why do I know this rifle so well?

I looked back up at Fire he was in the combat armor and mags in their pouches. He nodded silently as I got a hold of the grenade. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. “Time is up. Alright, bring him to me ALIVE! You can kill his friend, beat him, torture him, or rape him. I don’t give a shit I just want Eagle Shot!”

The sound of hooves hitting tile came in a wave. Fire began to fire his assault rifle with no mercy. Killing one of them I focused and everything paused. What the hell? A small sign appeared in my vision. It said: Welcome to S.A.T.S or Stable-Tec Assisted Targeting System. When in SATS you can now target and track your enemy(s) with the help of the Eye-Forward Sparkle. Your pip buck when in SATS automatically calculates the chances of hitting your target. Now, go out there and kick some ass! The sign vanished as I finished reading it. The fight was still frozen but, I could see every single one of the assholes that are trying to capture me and kill Fire. Four of them now thanks to Fire. My HUD says that I only have one grenade but, the chances of hitting the middle of them is 86% I cued the throw and I left SATS. The grenade left my magical aurora and hit the middle of them. Sending them flying. I heard one of them yell grenade but, it was too late. The explosion kill two of them and severed one of the live one’s legs making her scream as she bled out. The last one was just barely standing but, unable to fight as he fell unconscious.

I heard laughter as the fighting ended. It was over quick but, those are the deadliest battles. “Not, bad. It looks like your reputation proceeds you. I wish I could stay and chat but, I have to go and report my findings. You are welcome to any supplies that are on the bodies.”

Just as I heard his horn flare up I asked “Who are you? And why do you want me?”

“All in due time but, as for my name it is Black Jet.” After he said that he teleport to Celetstia knows where. But, it is time to get the hell out of here.

********

“Alright, since we are out of that hell hole and with as much shit that we can carry. Why in the hell did he call you Eagle Shot?”

“I don’t know. I don’t even know that name but, it sounds familiar.” After Jet disappeared we revived the surviving pony that attacked us. But, before we could get anything from him he swallowed pill. But, from his pack he was the second in command of the group. All I got from him for who were after us was a red star on his pack. I took the knife from his pack and cut out the red star. The bright side other then, being hunted down like a wild animal by two different factions. We gathered around twenty magazines of 5.56 from all of them. Along with a personal favorite a .44 magnum revolver. I nearly squealed with glee but, that will have to wait for later when NOPONY is within earshot. It only had four shots in it but, it was better then, nothing. We got three rifles that we could trade but, food and water is non-existent. Half a bottle of water and one box of mac and cheese. From my pip buck the nearest vender is about three days away and there is a blizzard coming in which only Luna knows how long it will last. Shit. We have been walking for about three hours in the freezing cold but, my trench coat keeps me warm and the only reason that Fire is still with me is the winterized combat armor. We left the swords at the hotel not worth it. I had All-Equestrian on my left side, the zebra assault rifle on my right, the hunting rifle with Fire, the .44 magnum on my left side and the 10mm on my fight. My packs filled with three suits of combat armor and according to my pip buck I’m one pound away from being over-encumbered. Fire carried the other three assault rifles including his.

“Hey, Shell we need to stop and rest my back is killing me. Plus, it is getting pretty cold.” he said.

“Well, for one it is always cold and second, I agree the snow is getting thicker and heavier. The blizzard is almost right on top of us. We need to get to some shelter.”

We looked around until Fire poked my shoulder. “How about there?” he said as he pointed to a store front.

Guess it is better then, nothing. We walked in with rifles at the ready. When we entered we saw something that I didn’t expect. Two ponies and Two ghouls sitting next to each other talking and trading. I realized that here was a wagon outside. I looked at one of the Ghouls. It was a mare with a grey coat and with a little bit of a blond mane, she had a small black board around her neck . Everypony had guns pointed to us as we had ours our first. Fire seemed like he didn’t know what to do. I put my rifle down and he did the same. The others did too.

The mare walked up to me and began to write something on the black board. “do you want to trade? It looks like you could use the food and water. We got ammo too but, not much.”

“I would love to trade I need to get rid of some this armor and can I ask you a few questions?”

She erased the board and began to write on it again. “Of course but, I just want to trade tonight, the questions can wait for the morning.”

_________________________________

Analysis… complete

Level up!

No new perks.

There we go the second chapter. For those that read this story. I’m going to tell I won’t be posting for a while as I don’t have wifi at my actual house. So, I don’t know long it is going to be when I post again.

Snow to Snow

Chapter 3: Snow to snow

“Hey, everypony this is DJ-PON3 and I’m broadcasting from Manehattion once again. Also, Littlepip say hi to everypony. That’s right she is still alive. Even, at the right all age of that is none of your business. No mare likes having her age told. But, still she says hi. Now, mares and gentlecolts lets see what news is happening at Stalliongrad. It appears a blizzard has settled into the area. It looks like it won’t go away for several days. Also, our friend the wonderful Ditzy Doo, that’s right everypony the author of the Wasteland Survival Guide is in Stalliongrad for some business and who knows she may just meet our friend the Ghost and sadly still there is a high bounty on his head. I have some friends in the NER and they tell me that some of those charges are bogus and the higher ups want to capture him for some reason even they don’t know.”

“Rumors around the NER are that the President wants to talk to the Ghost about something. Speaking of the NER due to the blizzard that has engulfed the city there march there has been delayed until farther notice. Also, in the south end of Stalliongrad there were reports of some serious fighting inside an apartment building. When the sounds of fighting were over, two ponies came out both appear male. One was wearing winterized combat armor and the other was wearing riot armor with the matching helmet but, here is the kicker the helmet has a slash across the face. There bags seemed to be over flowing with gear. The one with the combat armor was said to have at LEAST four assault rifles on him along with a hunting rifle. The other was said to have two pistols, a marksmen carbine, and Zebra assault rifle. When they left. The witness went inside to find that an entire firefight went down. It seemed like a small explosion happened between about four different ponies all but, one were killed in the blast as the last one committed suicide via cyanide pill. Is this the Ghost or some lucky bastard that just happened to have a grenade? Coincidence? I think not. That’s your news for the hour. Now, here is a favorite from my old pal, Velvet Remedy.”

********

When I woke up the next morning I check the time on my pip buck. 0800 on the dot. I was the first one up. There was still a small fire going from the one last night. I looked at the two ghouls sleeping next too each other. The grey one from what I learned last night was the wonderful Ditzy Doo, the author of the Wasteland Survival Guide. Why do I feel like I’m quoting somepony? I put a piece of shelf on the fire and it caught almost immediately. It felt warm for once. I looked at my pack. It was filled with water and food that Fire trade with Ditzy Doo. It cost us two sets of the combat armor but, we got about 125 caps in change. Note to self: let him do the trading. I almost don’t want to talk about the moment when I saw that she had a bottle of whisky. I about paid 30 caps for the damn thing but, Fire basically pimp slapped the back of my head. He got it for 10 caps. I’m never going to hear the end of that. The only ammo that Ditzy had was armor piercing in .308. We got about fifteen rounds at about 6 caps each. But, after I began to drink the whisky that night faded into mush. I had a mild headache. I yawned and got up. I walked to the Sparkle-cola machine inside. Surprisingly, it wasn’t pried open yet. I opened it and there were two Sparkle-colas.

I popped one opened and when I did, Fire popped up like a fucking rocket. “SPARKLE-COLA!!” he yelled making everypony jump up and making them draw their guns. His eyes went to opposite sides like one the pink pony from the propaganda posters. Scared the shit out of me and then he basically tackled me and he grabbed the cola and jugged it down all in one motion. He let a satisfied ah. I was still on the floor wondering what the hell just happened. One moment I was about to take a drink of cola and the next I’m on the ground wondering if I just got hit by a sky wagon.

One of the other ponies a green mare came to my side helped me get up. “Did anypony get the number of that sky wagon?” I said is dazed. I thought I saw mini bloodwings circling around my head. I got back up when I could see straight and I looked at my brown friend. He had a sheepish grin on his face as I looked at him. I raised an eyebrow. “Really?” he nodded without a word. I looked at the window and cleared some of the dust. It was pitch white outside. You probably couldn’t see your hoof right in front of your face. “Well, it looks like were stuck here for the moment.” I looked at Ditzy. “Hey, Ditzy can I ask you some questions?” I asked as I sat down next to the fire. The green mare sat next to me and the rest followed suit.

She wrote on her black board and show me: “Yes, what would you like to know? Other then that I would love to have a muffin. Do you have a muffin?”

“Sorry, I don’t have a muffin.” I said. She lowered her head like she was about to cry. “But, I will give you some if I find or get any.” She smiled as I said. Well, damn. Hook, line and sinker. “I only have three questions.” she erased her board getting ready to answer my questions. “Why do you use a black board to talk?” I asked. She responded by pointing to her tongue or at least what was left of it. “Let me guess. Raiders?” she nodded. “Alright, second question, why are you here? Every time I hear about you, you are always in New Appleloosa.”

She began to write on her board. She showed me and it read: “I’m here to make an additional chapter on the Wasteland Survival guide on how to survive in the north. Could you help me with it?”

I looked at her and thought for a second. “I would love too. It’s not like we can go anywhere anytime soon. But, can you answer my final question?” she nodded as she erased her board. The crackle in the fire made me look at it and then, I saw that everypony was looking at us. “Do you know what this is?” I asked as I levitated the patch of fabric with the red star on it.

She stared at it like she was seeing a Ghost then, she wrote on her board like it was the end of the world. She showed me again it read in all caps : “WHERE DID YOU GET THAT?!”

“I got it off a pony that was apart of a team that tried to capture me and kill my cola freak of a friend back inside of an apartment building. Why?”

She frantically erased and wrote. “That was the insignia of the North Communist Union that caused a civil war five years before the war with the Zebras! They were the reason that we depended on coal so much was to defeat them! It didn‘t last long but, still they killed a lot of innocent ponies. Celestia had everypony that was involved in the killings hunted down either to be killed, put into prison camps, or exiled!” she looked at me then, erased the board. She began to write again. She showed me again it read: “Why… Why do you have this?”

I looked at Fire and he nodded. “We got it off the body of a second in command pony in a team that was sent to capture me. The pony in charged, the way he talked was like he wanted me and Fire to kill his team. The way he spoke before he left he sounded satisfied.” I said getting a little confused in the process.

She erased and began to write again. “Why do they want you?” she wrote.

“I… don’t know. He said in all due time. It sounded like he wanted to see if could survive anymore or something but, I don’t know. All I know is that I got a gut feeling that we’re going to meet them real soon.”

The ghoul right next to her with what seemed to be wearing Night guard armor from before the war got up and cleared his throat. The other ponies plugged their ears making me and Fire look at each other with our eyebrows up. “DO YOU KNOW THIS COMMANDER‘S NAME?” says the Ghoul that left the Caps lock on, which left me and Fire rubbing our ears.

“Ow.” I said wondering if I gone deaf or not. “but, yes I know his name. He called himself Black Jet. Do you guys know who that is?”

The Ghouls thought for a second for a second with a worried looked on their faces then, they shook their heads. I looked at the two regular ponies including the mare sitting right next to me and they shook their head too. I sigh and then I thought popped into my head. “I’m sorry but, I didn’t catch your names.”

The buck smiled. “I’m Sliver Back and this is Live Wire.” he nodded toward the green mare. “I believe that you two already met.”

I raised my eyebrow. “What?” All I got for a response was the green mare blushing. My eyes widened. “What in the hell did I do last night?!” I looked at the green mare I could tell that her blushing matched her mane. I looked back at Sliver back for a second to get a good look at him. He was grey (of course) with strangely an orange mane. Odd it is.

“Two words my friend. Applejack Whiskey.” Fire said patting me on the back. I’m doomed for fucking eternity. I thought as I faced hoofed. I’m stuck here for several days? Shit.

I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned to see Ditzy with her board it read: “So, are you ready to answer some of my questions for the new chapter?”

I smiled a little. “Alright, I will answer some, just to pass the time.

********

Two days later.

Nothing really happened besides the several played out jokes of what happened the first night involving Applejack Whiskey. But, after the jokes I talked to Ditzy about how to survive in the frozen north. Hell, I told her everything about surviving. I told her about the gladiators, the raiders, how to find materials for a fire. How to enchant water not to freeze, and how it feels to get tackled by a Sparkle-Cola lover. That last part I just added in just to lighten the mood. But, back to the book. I told her what places to avoid and where to find shelter during a storm like this. Stuff like that.

I woke up two days later and the sound of the storm was gone. I looked at my pip buck again. 0800 on the dot. Again? I got up and cracked my neck. I tried to open the door but, the snow drift was too high. Damn it. I flared my horn and started to move the snow. The pip buck’s Geiger counter went off as I stepped outside with the cold wind hitting my face. It felt sharp and painful but, it felt good at the same time. I went back in and checked our gear as everypony woke up. When Fire woke up I was cleaning the Zebra assault rifle

“Morning. Is the storm over?” he said rubbing his eyes.

“Yes, it is.” I paused for a moment after I said that. “Hey, Fire I got ask you a question.”

He sat up and looked at me. “Shoot.”

“What are you going to do when we get to the market?” I said slapping the cover of the Zebra rifle.

“I’m thinking I’m going to quit the caravan guard business. The fight in the arena was the last straw but, I’m going to get my last pay check from those bastards at Cotton trail caravan company. I think they knew the dangers of that place and they didn’t tell us. They owe me the caps. You?” he said chambering a round into his assault rifle.

“I don’t know.” I said putting two more rounds of .44 magnum into the cylinder. “I’ll probably look into why the these ’communists’ want me so badly.” I paused. “And more and likely I will get myself into trouble. I’ll probably need somepony to help me kick some ass.”

He thought about it for a moment but, he replied “Alright, after I’m done with the caravan company, I’ll have nothing else better to do and all of my other friends were kill either during the ambush or in the arena.” he shrugged. “Plus, hell when I’m around you, I get more caps and better weapons. Now, lets quit lollygagging, I need to get paid and then, we can find out more about our friends with the red star.”

I took a deep breath and placed my helmet on. The pip buck’s HUD pretty much goes with the helmet‘s red stare. I stopped as we got to the door. Ditzy and who she called Lion were sitting together eating some oats, while Sliver back and Live wire still were asleep. I smiled a little and walked out. I could see that Ditzy was waving goodbye but, something tells me that I’ll see the Ghoul again.

After about an hour of walking through the snow we found a metro tunnel. I and Fire looked at each other. My Pipbuck’s HUD let up and said: You have discovered S. Applejack metro station! That’s nice. I pushed open the chain link door and we stepped in. I checked my rifle to see if it had a round in it. I saw that Fire was doing to the same. When the doors closed it went dark. “Damn, I can’t see shit. I can’t even see my hoof in front of my face.” We walked a little bit but, didn’t get far as Fire kept hitting every single trash can in the damn tunnel. I lit my horn but, the yellow light lit the tunnel dimly. Fire was rubbing his shin. “Couldn’t wait until I hit every trashcan?”

“Nope, but Fire are you sure that this is the way toward the town square?”

“Yeah… I think so.”

I turned to him taking off my helmet. “What do you mean you think so?”

“Hey, I’m sorry but, you’re the one with the map.”

“Don’t blame this on me, this thing only has markers from where I’ve been with it on my leg. According to it we have been three places. The arena and I think we won’t go there any time soon, that apartment building that we met our red friends and here.” I sighed and turned on the light. It was dimmer but, I don’t to experience magical burnout. “So, do you know where we go from here?”

“Yeah, we should just head north and follow the signs. One thing about pre-war ponies is they loved signs… and hoof grenades apparently they love hoof grenades.” I chuckled at that. “We got a long walk ahead so lets see what DJ-PON3 is saying.”

“Yeah, because unless you want to hear about me taking a shit then, the radio it is.”

I switched on the radio and it appears the end of a song with a nice country feel to it. “That was a rare piece made by Applejack herself. Apart from being the head of the Ministry of Wartime Technology, in her spare time she did some singing with a nice guitar. Here is some new for you folks near the Applejack metro.” When she said that Fire and me looked at each other. “There has been reports of strange noises near the west section of the metro, some ponies that have tried to investigate haven’t returned. Some say that a Stable is in there but, no pony knows. But, in the north section there has been reports of feral ghouls but, the reports are vague. Are the Ghouls spreading? Or is there something more to it? That is it for the hour and now a piece that I just received from a treasure hunter. I don’t want to set the world on fire. Oh, the irony.” the music began to echo through the tunnels. That moment the sounds of sucking and growling roared through the tunnel.

“Fuuuuuuuuuuuuck.” I moaned our as I realized what it was.

“Celestia, Damn it. You just had to turn on the radio didn't you."

“Well, sorry but, I like music when I'm down here."

The sounds of the Ghouls got closer as we continued to bicker. "Well, whatever we need to go and not the way we came, cus i don't want to freeze." The moment that Fire said that a Ghoul appeared and roared.

That moment we pretty much left clouds of our body shapes, figuratively and almost literally. As we began to run the sickening sound of rotting flesh hitting concrete hit my ears. I turned and saw that about twenty-five ghouls are chasing us and a couple of them are fucking glowing, which is making my pip buck’s Geiger counter go off. Shit. I turned around back pedaling firing the Zebra assault rifle emptying the mag. I slapped in a new one and repeated. I did it three times using seventy-two rounds of ammo which leaves me with only three more magazines including the one in my rifle. After all of that I only killed ten of the fuckers and wounded about another seven taking off their legs so they aren’t problem. I turned around again and began to run again. I turned to see that Fire was no longer at my side. “That fucker!” I yelled as I continued to run. Where the fuck is that yellow-bellied son of a bitch?! But, before I could think of more names, a hail of bullets pretty much made the Ghouls into mincemeat. The hostile signs were gone and all that stood was a single green dot. I heard hoofs step and saw the pony when he walked into the light. It was Fire with a fucking mini-gun. He had a smirk on his face.

“So, did you miss me?”

“Where did you go? You motherfucker!” I yelled almost throwing my helmet at him.

“Hey, hey don’t get pissy. I saw a dead pony that was eaten by the Ghouls with the gun and so when you began to fire, I took the chance and went for the gun. Two of the bastards went after me but, I killed them with the 10mm. It took me a few moments to get the thing working but, it’s almost falling apart.” he said throwing the mini-gun onto the metal ground.

I sighed with a little annoyance but, mostly with relief. If it wasn’t for him I would have probably ran out of ammo for the assault rifle, and had to go for the 10mm. I leaned against the wall expecting a concrete wall only to get a cold steel wall.

“Oh, shit.”

I closed my eyes and sighed. “Let me guess. A Stable?”

“Yup.”

“And you ran out of ammo for the mini-gun?”

“Yup.”

“And we are almost out of ammo for the assault rifles?”

“Yup.”

“Bring it on.” I said turning around revealing the huge door of stable 193. I looked at my pip buck and sighed once more. “Well, shit for now it looks like we won’t make to the square before nightfall with our little adventure with the glowing ghouls. But, w-” I looked at Fire as he opened the door. “Couldn’t even let me finish my sentence, could you?”

“Nope.” is all he said as the cog shaped door opened. I really did not like to hear the stories of what happened to these Stables. Usually, the social experiments thought up by Stable-tech went wrong or something else but, there rare cases that the Stable’s inhabitants were still unaware of the what is going on outside. But, this is not one of these cases. I reloaded my ZA rifle and lit my horn. The corridors were rusted and covered in gunk. This places was giving me a bad feeling. We really don’t need this right now but, who know what we’ll find or die trying.

We made our way the autum. When we got there, a smell hit me like a when Fire was in to full Sparkle-cola rampage mood. Even with my gas filter on the smell was horrible. I looked at Fire and he was on the verge of puking his lunch. I can’t imagine what he is going through right now. He quickly threw on a face mask with a filter on it. It looked like something you would use with spray paint. We made our way down to the autum ground floor and looked around. I looked down and noticed that the floor was freshly cleaned. That’s odd. I looked a little closer while Fire looked in one of the Sparkle-cola vending. Of course. The floor had a faint stain of blood being dragged toward the Utility Section. I raised an eyebrow while Fire came back with two Sparkle-colas. He tried to hand me one but, I shook my head.

“Just put it in my pack but, Fire I want you to look into the Utility section and see what this blood smear came from.” I said looking at the med bay. “I’m going to the med bay to look for some supplies so I can heal this a little more. I‘m starting to think it is getting infected.” I said showing Fire the slash wound from the sword in the arena.

“When did you get that?” he said pointing at my leg.

“Arena.”

“That’s not what I meant. I’m talking about that metal leg of yours.”

I thought about it for a moment and I couldn’t think of anything. “I don’t know but, this is not the time to discuss this. You check the utility section.”

“Alright.” he finished saying as he opened the door of Utility.

I opened the door to the med bay and saw a safe. I smiled a little and began to pick it with the one bobby pin I had. After almost breaking the bobby pin, I opened the safe and saw a little. Two healing potions, one Rad-X, RadAway, and some antibiotic gel. Nice. I began to go through the filing cabinets when Fire came running in with a look on his face of that he just saw a ghost. He locked the door. “I think I found out where that smell was coming from and I think our little friend is outside waiting for us to come out.”

Without saying a word I went to the window and saw what he was talking about. It was a Mr.Hoofy house robot with instead of the eyes was a screen on the circular body with a smiling pony face looking straight at me. Without warning it began to speak. “Please, come out. I don’t mean any harm, I just want…” it paused as it the voice glitches some then the voice returned to normal. “…to kill you.” Fire and me looked at each other. “If you don’t comply I will have to force you out like I did with the rest of the population that didn’t comply. You have three minutes or the door will open and I will come inside and soil the freshly cleaned Medical bay.”

I was confused on the last part then, I looked at the office. It was right, it didn’t have that fowl smell. It looked like it was just recently cleaned, just like the autum. I looked at the robot and its face turned to countdown clock and thirty seconds have already gone by. Well, shit. “Hey, Shell do you know how to hack terminals?”

I turned to see Fire at a desk Terminal. “No, but I’ll give it a shot. If that thing comes in while I’m still on the terminal. Fire on it until our ammo is dry or something.”

He nodded as I sat in the chair and plugged in the pip buck into the terminal. It went from the log in screen to a screen filled with symbols and words. I raised an eyebrow at this. I clicked one of the words. ASSAULT. Incorrect. 0 out of 7. Three chances left. Ok, this is kind of weird. I clicked another word and it read SURVIVE. Correct. Access Granted. The moment that the pip buck hacked the terminal the robot’s screen turned to a frowning pony. “Unauthorized access to medical terminal. Initiate protocol Beta four Alpha seven. Must destroy Zebra threat and purge all of those contaminated.” the robot then, began to use the saw to cut through the door.

“Hurry up and see if you can shut this fucking thing down!” he yelled taking the hunting rifle and filled it with armor piercing ammo.

“I’m trying!” I yelled back as I scrolled down the selections. I found a page that said: “Shut down Prototype Mr. Hoofy (ONLY USE IF MALFUCNTIONING OR THREAT OF ZEBRA OCCUPATION IN THE STABLE!)” I clicked it but, the robot still was cutting at the door. Shit.

“MUST KILL ALL CONTAMINANTS AND MAKE STABLE PURE FOR PONYKIND! ALL SHUTDOWN PROCEDERS ARE OFFLINE!” the robot yelled out.

Fire looked at me with the Hunting rifle in his hoofs. He was shaking. Normally, the Mr. Hoofy robot was about three feet in diameter. This thing was about twice this size and the doors didn’t make me feel any better as they were probability made for this damn thing. I began to go through the terminal to see if I can find anything. I clicked on all of the entries and they all went to my pip buck but, the last one caught my eye. I clicked on it and it was a entry made about three weeks ago. “Shit.”

“Please, don’t say that I already having a hard time just keeping the rifle up.”

“This shit started three weeks ago.” When he didn’t say a word. I began to read the entry.

“Today is a good day. The overmare has let me do the experiment and see if a medical robot should do all of the medical procedures for the next six months.”

“Alright, it has been about a week and the robot is doing great! But, it keeps giving me a weird look every time I look at it. every time I turn I see it in the corner of my eye. I having a bad feeling right now, I don‘t know why.”

“This is bad. For the last two weeks ponies have been missing and a fowl smell has been going through the Stable. Some ponies are starting to blame the robot but, some ponies think that the may have left. Some ponies have done this before to see what is going on up there. But, this has me worried the robot has been watching me and the overmare more closely. I need to look into the archives and see what the experiment was original made for. Since, I’m the brother of the overmare, I can get the access I need. I need to start being more careful around the robot. I feel that it’s listening to every word I say.”

“FUCK FUCK ,FUCK!!!!! I went into the archives two days ago and download all of the data I could onto my pip buck. I read it and I concluded is that after a month of being activated, the robot will malfunction and kill a few residents thinking that they are Zebra insurgents. It has been one and half months. I can’t tell the others since activating the robot was my idea I would be killed in my sleep. I need to find out a kill code just in case the one on the terminal doesn’t work.”

“Dear Celestia, may you have mercy on my soul. I prey to you that all of the residents of Stable 193 will be in paradise. I wish I didn’t activate the robot, I wish it didn’t kill my sister. I wish that it wasn’t killing every single pony inside the stable. I can still hear the screams and bloodshed. Each night it kills a few and cleans up the mess like it was getting it ready for a new resident. Now, it is out there killing the last of the residents. Some of them put up a fight firing their weapons but, it was no use the robot has a think layer of steel armor. Only armor piercing round will be able to damage it. But, I found three weaknesses. Aim for that Celestia damn screen, Aim for the thruster that it uses to move around, or use the kill code I found but, its tricky. Inside this desk is a holodisk with my voice for the kill code. For some reason it will only respond to my voice. I guess it has to do something with me being the one activating it.”

“Fuck, its at the door and it’s trying to get inside. I guess it has finished the rest off the rest or they fled. I hope they fled. For whom ever is reading this, if you can read this, you NEED to get rid of this thing before it gets out and starting killing everypony. If you kill the robot by shooting it then, It will cause self-destruct destroying the entire Stable and all who are inside. It was sort of a last resort for any Zebra invaders. But, if you use the kill code and deactivate it. Can you please go into my overmare’s office. Inside is something very special to me. I would like you to have it. It’s old but, it will do you good. Next to it is a Photo of my sister and me as fowls, if you find my body please put it in my hoofs. May Celestia have mercy on us all. If you fine a 10mm casing on the floor then, you know why. This is Doctor Bandage over and out, also happy Thanksgivings. ‘only the dead have seen the end of suffering‘- Bandage 9/26/42-11/25/86” the entry ended and I froze for a second. I opened the desk and their it was. A holodisk. I put the disk on the port of my pip buck and it was an audio file. I went to the window.

“Fire, Do not shoot the robot.” I said as calmly as possible.

He whipped his head facing me. “What! That thing will kill us, if we don’t shoot th-.”

“Yeah, I know but, if we destroy it with bullets then, it will initiate self-destruct destroying the entire Stable with us in it.” he didn’t say a thing. His silence was enough. “But, I have a way to end this thing once and for all.”

“What?”

“Well, lets see.” I said going to the file.

I took a deep breath and pressed the intercom and file at the same time. “This is Doctor Bandage of Stable 193. This tape is only used for when the Prototype Mr. Hoofy medical robot model 92Y-12 is threatening the Stable and the emergency shutdown doesn’t work. Mr. Hoofy!”

The robot stood at attention and yelled. “Yes, Sir!”

“Initiate protocol Omega eleven Delta seven Codename: Mercy, Passphrase: Only the dead have seen the end of suffering.”

The robot stood there for a second before it responded “Yes, Sir you may rest and so shall I. I will awake again when needed to purge the Zebra scum.” it said shutting down.

Me and Fire signed in relief and we collapsed on the floor. “Thank the love of Luna that is over.” Fire said with the biggest sigh he could. “I’m never going into a Stable even if you pay me a million caps.”

I smiled. “What about a million and one caps?”

He chuckled. “Maybe, just maybe”

After a minute of gaining back our sanity or what was there, I got up and unlocked the door. I walked out and realized that the door was almost breached. If I didn’t do what I did, when I did it we would of died. I looked at the machine and began to make my way to the Overmare’s office. When I found the office I opened it. On the desk was a picture frame. I took it with my magic. It was a blue mare with a sliver buck both were fowls by the time frame of the picture was taken. They were playing in the autum with what seemed to be their parents. I paused as I sat in the chair taking off my helmet. The smell was still there but, not as bad as the autum. I sat my helmet on the desk and opened the desk itself. Inside was .44 magnum revolver that was engraved. It had a note next to it. It read: Hey, sis this is Bandage just wanting to congratulate you on being elected overmare. I have been holding onto this for you for some time now but, I never got the chance to give it to you. I call this piece of work ’Thumper’ it is a stubbed nose .44 magnum revolver with a six round cylinder. It is already loaded with hollow points and there is three boxes of .44 with it. Just remember when in doubt make it thump. - Love, your big brother Bandage. P.S. Don’ shoot yourself in the leg or something. I have enough trouble with new trainees for the security section. I picked up the gun and took out my old .44 and replaced it with ’Thumper’ I placed other one in my pack and picked up the picture. I looked up and saw that Fire was their looking at me concerned.

“What’s up?”

“Since we got the time now and it seems by the clocks around this place it is about midnight. I’m just wondering why are looking at that picture?”

I paused for a second and looked back at the picture. “I’m going to do a favor for the pony that saved our asses.” he raised an eyebrow. “In the last entry that showed me the kill code it said that if I find the picture I should find his body and place the picture with him.”

“I get it. You don’t like leaving ponies with loose ends. So, do whatever you have to do and I will see if I can find a real bed to crash on for the night. Night.”

I sighed as I got up. I rubbed my face with my bare hoof. I looked down at my helmet. The face mask was staring right at me. I’ve always wondered where that slash came from but, I got more important matters to attend to. I left the helmet on the desk and went down to the Utility Section where the bodies where being stuffed into. When I walked in the smell almost knocked me out but, I kept going as I came to part where the bodies where. Surprisingly, they weren’t bloody and they looked like they all had an autopsy and were halfway embalmed. I looked at the picture and saw through the bodies. About five minutes into the search I found Doc Bandage. He had a piece of his head missing but, I could still recognize him from the picture. I placed the photo in his hoofs and smiled. May you rest in piece Stable 193. I thought as I went to a residential apartment and went to the bathroom. I took a deep breath as I took off my armor piece by piece and when it was in a neat pile I turned on the shower.

“Holy shit! What the hell happened to you!?” Somepony yelled making me jump.

“Ah, What the hell!?” I yelled. I looked in the direction of the voice and it was Fire in some pony’s pajamas.

“Sorry, but what the hell happened to you! It looks like you were tortured or something.” he said looking up and down my body with concern.

“What?” I looked down at the burns and scars that covered me from almost hoof to neck. It mainly covered me on my body.

“How in the hell did you get those?!” he said almost making me wonder if I’m going deaf.

“I don’t know, I had these for as long as I can remember.” I said turning on the warm water.

“Ok? So, you don’t remember where you got burns and scars that cover your body and something tells me the same thing is with your leg too?”

“The burns and scars, I don’t know but, the steel leg I got from a group of Steel rangers.” I said splashing water in my face.

“Wait, you met a group of STEEL RANGERS! Why did you need a steel leg?” he said yawning.

“Well, that can wait until tomorrow.”

“Ok.” he said as scratched his head.

“Also, one more thing.” I said facing him.

“What?” he said raising an eyebrow.

“GET THE FUCK OUT SO I CAN TAKE A FUCKING SHOWER!” I yelled almost making him fly from where he is standing.

He responding while rubbing his ears. “Ok ok I’ll leave. Shit, you don’t have to yell.” he mumbled the last part as he left.

I sighed and took my shower. I needed that. It was the first shower that I had that wasn’t irradiated in a while.

I fell on the bed thinking over the day. Just as I was about to fall asleep, a random thought went through my head. Where did that slash on my helmet come from?

********

My vision was blurred and my ears were ringing, when it cleared I was in a battlefield. Bullets were whizzing around hitting the concrete. It was the battle for Stalliongrad. I don’t know why I know this but, I feel like I do. I was getting up with my rifle. I had the Pip buck HUD. Red dots pretty much filled the Eye-forward Sparkle. Bodies filled the streets. Blood stained the snow and ice. Where it wasn’t frozen it was making a river. I fired a burst of the rifle, killing a Zebra in armor what seemed to be made of leather straps and painted red. He fell, but the entire time, time slowed. He kept his eyes on me but, they weren’t filled with hate or fury but, with desperation and… gratitude. When he fell, everything stopped. A bullet was about to hit the pony right next to me. It started to turn to white again.

Blinding Snow was sitting looking over a file. She was sitting at an overmare’s desk with… my riot helmet but, it was black and had green eyes instead of red. I was about to wonder why it was like that But, Blinding snow looked up. She seemed older now maybe a teenager now. I think. “Hello, Eagle Shot.

I raised an eyebrow at that. “Who the fuck is Eagle Shot?” I asked but, the name had a familiar ring to it.

She cracked a grin. “Interesting.” She said getting up and walking toward me.

“What’s so interesting?” I asked starting to get a little annoyed.

“Nothing, it is just that when the first time I met, you snapped at the name like it was a curse but, now you can’t seem to remember anything.”

“So, I’ve been having memory problem for a while now.” I said trying not to show her that I realized that she was right.

“How long?”

I looked at her with a raised eyebrow. “Two years.” I said flatly.

She sat back down at the desk with the file. “And how long can you remember back? Can you remember any childhood memories? Flashbacks?”

“What is this? A therapy session?”

“No, but just answer the questions.” she said flatly with an edge of annoyance.

“No, I can’t remember anything beyond the last two years of survival. The last two years of sorrow. The last two years of… lonesomeness.” I said sighing at the last part.

The pip buck on her leg went off with like some kind of alarm. “Shit, I think these sessions are starting to get shorter every time. I need to look into this.” is all she said as it world turned to black.

__________________________________

Chapter end.

Analysis… Complete!

Level up!

New Perk!

Pre-war hacker- Your science skill is raised by 10 and you have a fifteen percent chance to find Holotapes that will help you in the future, weather for money, survival or new gear. Also, when in SATS each shot takes five percent less Action points.

____________________

Shoot out at the Cotton tavern

Chapter 4: Shoot out at the Cotton Tavern.

My eyes shot open and I sat up in my bed soaked in sweat. I looked at my pip buck. 0800 on the dot. Again. I got out of bed and began to put on my armor again. I put the Thumper in the quick draw holster, the 10mm on my side. The ZA assault rifle at the ready, and All-Equestrian for a back up. I got the trench coat on and noticed my Riot helmet staring right at me on the dresser next to the window. I almost freaked out as I realized that I left my helmet in the overmare’s office. I picked up with my magic and placed it on my head. When I did something went into my vision. A vision of blood, screaming, gunfire and a green mare. When it stop the clocked on the wall went to 8:01. I shook my head but, all it did was giving me a headache. I walked outside to the corridor. When I did Fire came out with a teddy bear yawning and still in pajamas. The moment he saw me, he slowly back away into his room, keeping eye contact with me. I chuckled at this. When he came out he smiled sheepishly. I could see the impression of the teddy bear in his bag. Now, I got shit on him.

About fifteen minutes later we were at the door. Fire opened the door and we started down the tunnel. Light filtered into the tunnels through cracks and holes everywhere. When we got to a gate, I opened the gate the frosty air hit us like a sledgehammer. The pip buck HUD lit up and is said you have discovered E. Market Sq. Metro. I turned to Fire to see that he was looking up at the building up ahead. “What’s wrong, Fire?” I asked.

“Well, you know that bounty that’s on your head from the NCR?”

“Yeah. Why?”

“Well, it is seems that our little red friends have placed one on you and me and it seems that they want you alive, but, they want me dead or alive.”

“Damn it.” I said looking at the poster. “Motherfucker, I hate these damn things sometimes.”

“What?” Fire asked.

I showed him the poster next to my face. “They can never get my nose right!”

He shook his head. “Whatever, lets go before I freeze to death.” he replied.

After about three hours of traversing the twists and turns we came up to the market square.

We entered the building and for a frozen wasteland there was some bustle and hustle in this place. Well, this is a town. I shrugged but, the moment that I walked in I started to get some looks. I was getting a bad feeling. As we came to the Cotton trail caravan company booth and ponies recognized Fire. “WHERE THE HELL WERE YOU DESERT FIRE!?” the ponies with a daisy suit on with a cigar his mouth. “Were you off having a fucking holiday or something and where the hell is our shipment that is a week late!?”

I could tell that Fire was on the verge of a breakdown or meltdown. “Sir, I’m quitting.”

The Boss was about to say something else but, he turned from white to red with rage. “WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU MEAN THAT YOUR QUITTING! YOU ARE UNDER CONTRACT FOR TEN SHIPMENTS!” he yelled spitting out the cigar from his mouth.

“Say it, don’t spray it.” I said wiping the spit off my mask.

The boss looked at me. “And who the fuck are you, asshole?” he yelled.

I took off my helmet and glared at him. “If you ask me you are the asshole here. I’m the pony that got Fire out of that fucking arena alive and he has been with me ever since. And just to let you know my name is fucking Last shell.” I said slamming my bowie knife into the table, starling him.

“Wait, let not get rash here.” he said, pulling his collar.

Fire pushed me back as he stepped forward. “Let me take care of this. Go to some of the bars or something.”

“Alright, I’m going to get some whiskey and some other shit. I have the craving for Sparkle-cola and yes I’m going to get you one.” I said walking off into the watching crowd. After a bit at the bar and getting a little drunk, I wound up at an booth and on the floor some time later.

“Hello, sir what can I do for you today?” the mare said leaning over the table.

“Do you have anything interesting, besides your looks?” I said getting up. She blushing like a rose.

“I got some things that might interest you besides me.” she said. I could tell that she winked but, barely through the fuzzy vision. “I have an old wanted poster for a pony named Eagle shot.”

I whipped my head toward. “Who’s Eagle Shot?” Why did this name interest me and why does it sound familiar?

“Ok, you must be new here or something as everypony in Stalliongrad knows Eagle Shot. He was a infamous sniper that stuck fear into the Zebras. They placed a hundred thousand bit bounty in the first year. But, after about three years of service he disappeared. No pony knows what he looks like because he always wore riot armor.”

I looked her straight in the eye. “What else do you know about him?”

She just shrugged and showed me the poster. “Not much, just what is on the poster.” All it showed was a pony in riot armor with an sniper rifle with a winterized finish. All I could see was a little of the side of the helmet and it had a symbol on it. It appeared to have a set of wings with thundercloud with a lighting bolt come out of the cloud. The pony was in the middle of reloading his rifle, it had a solid stock which was kind of weird. But, if you looked closely it had twenty-five tally marks and counting. Damn. “But, I do remember that he had about a hundred and thirty-two kills before he disappeared. Just seven away from the most recorded sniper kills made by a single pony.” she said snapping me out of my concentration.

“uh, what? Wait, he made how many? Damn. But, I got one question what is this symbol on his helmet?” I said in one breath.

“I think that is the Ministry of-” She was interrupted by the sound of gunfire.

“Shit!” I knew where that was coming from. I floated the helmet on my head and pulled out Thumper. I looked at the mare. “Get Security and met me at the Cotton trails caravan booth!” I said running and stumbling toward the booth and Fire. I cocked Thumper. When I got to the booth, Fire was behind a overturned steel table that is getting pelted by bullets. The buck in the Daisy suit was rubbing his jaw and firing his pistol. Two of the body guards are firing their assault rifles at Fire, pinning him down. I jumped tackling one of the body guards. When the other one saw me he tried aim his rifle at me but, before he could I had my pistol against his head. “If you even move your fucking rifle even a little I will shoot you. Now, drop it.” when I said that the guard dropped his gun and it went quiet for a moment I could hear the moans of ponies caught in the crossfire. I heard a gun fire behind me but, I thought of the boss shooting me instead it was the mare from the booth with a smoking lever action rifle in her aurora. She had shot the gun out of the Boss’ mouth. Behind her was two fully armored guards with sub-machineguns on their battle saddles.

“What’s going on here?” one of them said he had a scruffy voice like he need a drink of water.

“I was attacked by a-”

“He tried to fucking kill me, just trying to get the pay I’m owed!” Fire interrupted the dipshit in the daisy suit.

“Alright, but I want to get the input of the Company owner.” the other guard said.

“Thank you, sir. As I was saying before the buck over there interrupted me.” he pointed at Fire who was almost spewing flames out his ears. “He attacked me for no reason and I owe him nothing, he didn’t bring me any of the goods I ordered to sell here and that was in my agreement with him for ten shipments and he only brought nine so I don‘t owe him anything.”

The guards looked at Fire like they were about to shoot him on the spot. “My agreement with him is that if there are any casualties during travel, pony and nature alike that I would get compensation for survival and loss. So you owe me two hundred-fifty caps. Fifty for each pony killed and a hundred if captured by raiders, also the last part I’ve done ten shipments already and this was my eleventh shipment. I’ve got my contract right here in black and white but, he won’t admit that this is his signature.” he said taking out the contract.

The guard that had a beard took it out of his mouth and inspected it for moment. “This is legit, you owe him the two hundred-fifty caps and all of the medical bills for everybody that was hurt in your little shoot out. And if you don’t pay up we will personally kick you out of this place.” they looked at me with Thumper still in the body guard’s face. “Thank you sir for not shooting this pony and resolving this in a peaceful way. But, you can holster your pistol now or you will be charged with assault with a deadly weapon.” he then, turned to the mare. “Thank you for getting us when you heard the shooting and for shooting the gun from Mr. Cotton.” The guard looked at the crowd. “Alright, show’s over get going.”

I holstered Thumper and began to walk to Fire as Mr. Cotton threw the bag of caps over to him. “Now, get the fuck out of my face. You will never have a job in this caravan ever again and I hope that Celestia herself apple bucks you in the face.”

Fire looked at me as he picked up the caps and placed them in his bag. “Alright, we can get the fuck out of here and-” he was interrupted by the rumbling of his stomach. “And get something to eat I guess.”

“I know a place; so follow me.” the green mare said. Fire looked at me and I shrugged. “Are you coming?” she yelled. We began to follow her but, I could feel the heat for Mr. Cotton’s scowl. We followed the green mare for bit and we wound out at a little bar and restaurant mainly bar. I sat down at the corner of the bar, looking over my shoulder. I got my ZA rifle ready to draw and fire. “Alright, I hope you guys like noodles.”

Fire looked at me and then, at the mare. “OK, first thank you for the noodles and two who are you?”

After she ate some the noodles, she looked up at me then, ate some more. “Only if he tells me his name.”

I looked at her as I took my helmet, my mane poking me in the eye a little. I blow the blue strand from my face. “My name’s Last shell and this is my friend Desert Fire but, I just call him burnbutt.” I said with a small chuckle with a gib smack to the back of my head as an answer. I looked back at the mare, her rifle on the table ready to be drawn if need be. Paranoia, it looks like I’m not the only one. “I didn’t catch your name.”

She swallowed what food was in her mouth and looked in the eye. “Name’s Winchester nice to meet ya.” she said putting out a hoof. I shook it and began to eat my noodles. “So, what you are guys thinking of doing after you leave here and I know that leaving this city is almost impossible because the Caravans of your friend barely makes it.”

“Well, we are just looking for more information about something.” Fire said drinking a Sparkle-cola. Of course.

She raised her eyebrow at that. “What are looking for?”

I put down my bowl as I drank the juice from the noodles. “We are looking for info on the NCU.”

“NCU? You mean those North Communists bastards?”

“Those are the ones?” Fire said.

“Well, shit.” Winchester said scratching her head. “What did you do to piss them?” she said sticking a cigarette in her mouth and lighting it.

Fire and me looked at each other and chuckled a little. “Well, we don’t exactly know but, what we do know is that we killed an entire capture squad of about five of their ponies.” Fire said causally with a shrug.

She dropped her cig in amazement. “You what?” She said in shock. “You killed five of their goons with just the two of you. You two much have been close to being killed.” She said taking out another cigarette.

I cracked a smile and chuckled. “Close only counts in horseshoes and hand-grenades.” I said looking at my empty bowl. My ears perked up as I heard something tumble on the floor to our left near the entrance of the bar. “Speaking of hand-grenades.” I said flipping the table with my magic just as the grenade exploded, peppering the table with shrapnel. Before anypony could get up the sound of machinegun fire and bullets started to come through the walls ripping anypony apart that got in the way of the bullets. I dove behind the table putting on my helmet and taking out Thumper and my 10mm pistol. I began to look around and saw that my ZA rifle was thrown across the room from the blast. I turned to my right to see that Winchester and Fire was behind the main bar with two other ponies taking cover. The firing stopped but the sounds of screaming and moaning continued. I checked both my pistols and they were both loaded with hollow points. I peaked around the table and saw that masked ponies in Combat Armor were coming in with machineguns and assault rifles. “Fuck.” I murmured to myself as they got closer.

They stopped. “Alright, kill any survivors the boss says that they went in here and to kill them without mercy and remember no witnesses within earshot. You can do what you please boys.”

I began to hear execution shots and I looked over at Fire and Winchester both were bleeding from shrapnel and bullets wounds covering their bodies. Fire was looking at me and he shook his head, mouthing “Don’t do it, they will kill you.”

The shot began to come closer and closer. “Hey, newbie check behind the table, while I get some action.”

“Fine.” the newbie said. I could hear the hoof steps as he got closer.

Just as he got to the top of the table; I jumped up, placing the 10mm under his chin. “Hello there.” I said with grin as I splattered the ceiling with his brains. The others looked at me in shock. I aimed Thumper at buck that was about to rape one the waitresses.

“What the fu-” was he was able to say as I shot him with Thumper. Damn, it deserves its name but, when it hit him it nearly blew him in half. I really need to read that note some more because I didn’t know that it could cause fucking him to obliterated. On the top of my HUD it said Critical hit on Murder.

I began to fire with both pistols as they tried to figure out what is happening. I fired Thumper again and it went click. They began to fire at me as they found out where the fire was coming from. I dropped it drawing my other .44. I fired again hitting them in the necks and heads killing all of them. It was done within thirty seconds when I started firing. I started to calm down, I fell to the ground. The pain was over-whelming as I laid there in a pool of my own blood. I coughed once and blood came out. I was spread out on my back, looking up at the ceiling. I couldn’t breath, talk or move. I could hear screaming, yelling, moaning and hoof steps running franticly. “Hey, somepony get help NOW!” I heard Fire yell as he came to me with Winchester at his side. I blinked twice as Winchester tore off my helmet and began to give me CPR. I blinked twice my vision getting blurred with each blink. Is this how dying feels like? Am I going to die? I don’t know but, I’m starting to get tired. I thought.

I closed my eyes and let out the rest the air in my lungs. I could hear somepony slamming on the floor. “NO, don’t die on me you stubborn bastard. You can’t die like this.” that was all I heard before I blacked out.

********

No dreams, no blinding snow and no weird images. Just black. I opened my eyes to see that I was in a bed with medical equipment around me reading my pulse and other vitals. I could hear the beeps of the machine to my right. I looked to my left to see that Fire and Winchester were sleeping in chairs. I looked at my pipbuck that was hooked to the machine to my right. When I tried to sit up pain shot from different spots on my torso. “Fuck.” I barely muttered as a yellow nurse with a copper mane came in with a clip board.

When she saw that I was trying to get up she quickly came to my side and helped me up. “Don’t hurt yourself. You’re safe.”

It was hard to breath like I was hit in the chest by a Super sledge, which has happened before and it is not pleasant. “What happened?”

“You kicked ass is what you did, stubborn bastard.” said a voice to my left to see that it was Fire waking up from his nap.

“What else happened?” I said again rubbing my head.

“When we were talking, all of sudden you flipped the table then, boom. A grenade went off and gun fire was ripping apart everypony in the bar. If it wasn’t for our armor and your quick thinking, we would have died. Then, when we crawled behind the bar, you stayed. When they began to kill and rape the ponies, you began to fire using both pistols killing all of them. But, when you made that dramatic last stand, you several shots to the torso, legs, and a shot to the neck.”

“We thought you died on the spot but, as Fire said you a stubborn bastard.” Winchester said interrupting Fire.

I sighed a little, sending a sting of pain up my spine. “How long I’ve been out?” I asked.

“About two days.” the nurse said checking my pulse and I.V. “Also, when you are able to walk we want you to pay up front.

I sighed. “Alrightly but, I’m wondering how many ponies survived?” I asked the nurse.

She smiled a little. “There were about thirty-two ponies inside when the shooting started and twenty-four made it out alive but, three more have died while in the ER.”

I looked at Fire and Winchester which both of them were piling my gear on the table next to me. Most of it looked the same but, my armor and helmet looked like it was repaired and polished. “What did you guys do to my gear?”

Winchester was starting to blush and Fire smiled. “Our little friend here, apparently she know a why around a wrench and sewing kit.”

“Yeah, I can’t repay you for what you did for me.”

I shrugged even though it hurt. “Hey, I owed you for saving me from Mr. Cotton.”

“Ok, who is speaking of my good old friend?” said a buck as he entered the room. He was strongly built buck with a sheriff’s hat and regulator duster. He had a lever action rifle on his back maybe a .45-.70.

“I did.” I replied.

He looked at me with a smile. “So, you are talking about that son of a bitch that killed innocent ponies, injured more and nearly killed my daughter.” I raised my eyebrow at this but, my curiosity was answered when Winchester walked to him and hugged him.

“Hello, daddy. How are ya.”

He looked like he was stuck by lighting. “I should be asking you the same thing. But, I can see that you’re fine.” He looked at me and Fire then, back to me. “Is this the buck that saved all those ponies and you?” she nodded. He looked back at then, walked to me and stuck out his hoof. I shook his hoof while he said “Thank you, just thank you. I can’t repay you for saving my little girl.”

“Daaadddd.” I heard Winchester complain.

“I’m sorry but, I’m just so happy. That you are alright. I heard that you stopped Cotton from killing a pony that was protecting his friend and I’m proud of you for that. But, you need to starting thinking before you act, just be glad that you are a quick shot.” he hugged her then, turned back to me. “What’s your name?”

“Last Shell, and you don’t have to thank me. I’m sure that you have done the same thing.”

He looked at Fire who was drinking a Sparkle-cola. Where he got one I don’t know. Then, back at me. “Still I want to thank you and so do some of the ponies that you saved. We want to pay your hospital bills and give a special present that I’ve been holding on for a long time.”

Winchester looked at her dad with concern. “Dad, are you sure?”

“Yes, I’m sure. You’re growing up and I know that if I coop you up here in this town then, I would just wind up pushing you away.” he looked at me. “I want you to take my daughter with you on your travels.” I couldn’t find any words to say. “But, only one condition. Every time you come to the neighborhood, I want you come here and rest up. And if I hear that anything has happened to her that you could’ve prevented, I will rip off your balls and feed them to the ghouls of Applejack Metro and then, let them rip you from limp to limp.” he said causally. Winchester faced hoofed.

“Uhhhh” was all I could say as I couldn’t think of anything else.

He punched me in the shoulder and laughed a hardy laugh. “Just kidding, if I wanted to hurt ya I would just beat you to an inch of your life and rip off your balls then, feed them to the dogs.” He said with a smile. I felt the color drain from my face. He laughed again and patted me on the back which made the Nurse nervous. “Don’t worry as long as you stay on my good side, you have nothing to worry about it.” he paused a moment and laughed again while Winchester faced hoofed again. “I completely forgot, I didn’t tell you my name. Name’s Marlin. Now, rest up you hear because I got a special job for you.”

When he left the room, I noticed that my gear near the door with my helmet staring right at me. Creepy. I laid down and closed my eyes. “Hey, Fire wake me up in two hours. Then, we can see what Marlin wants.”

“But, you need to heal up before you can even move.”

I opened my eyes and looked at Fire then, smiled. “I’ve had worse but, still wake me up in two hours.” I closed my eyes and took a deep breath.

_________________________________

Chapter end

Analysis…Complete!

Level up!

No New perks

There we have it Chapter four. Also, if you are wondering; yes, I named Winchester and Marlin after the manufactures of famous lever action firearms. Hey, I think it was fitting. Now for chapter Five. Changing Roles.