Fallout: Equestria -- One War to Another

by LightningDash NLR

Rating: teen
Tags: Gore, Crossover, Human, Anthro, Romance, Original Character, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Comedy, Other, Adventure, Sex
Length: 29192

Being torn from your home world by some unknown reason and only finding the charred and irradiated remains of your favorite TV show world can be kind of stressful, but for Lyra Locke and her team of Misfit marines it's all about adjusting and helping

Lyra Locke Aged 23. Nathan Hughes Aged 22. Peter Meeks Aged 22. Jordan Hughes aged 18 and Kieran Richardson Aged 23 these are the British marines who had volunteered to go on the first mission for the brand new Military helicopter to clear out the largest organised Taliban uprising ever seen, after all the trouble with Islamic State 6 years Prior they wanted to clean this out before it could become a hazard for the people of the world, what they did not expect though, is the chopper to disappear without a trace. for humanity, they lost one helicopter it is not a large deal. But for where that chopper has gone, they may have gained something far greater than they ever could have expected. As for the marines themselves, they will make it up as they go along.

This is our story, my story. Starting from our last day breathing Earth air to now. and boy it was one hell of a bumpy ride, Lt Lyra Locke reporting from the middle of a dirty building in the middle of asshole nowhere, trying to make this place...a better place.

Published 2014-05-08 17:00:02 UTC
Last updated 2017-04-20 17:15:11 UTC

Chapter 1: The Prototype

Chapter 1: The Prototype

"My name is Lyra. Lieutenant Lyra Melody Locke I am a White British girl with Black hair and blue eyes. i was born in Chester hospital on the 14th September 1997 and in 2024 The impossible happened to me and my Old friends who followed me from school into the Royal marines. This is my story."

********

I was walking to my mission briefing when I heard someone call my name. I turned around and saw my friend Corporal Nathan Hughes. His armour was covered in desert sand and he still had all his equipment on, so he must have been on an IED disarming mission, He called to me again.

“Hey Lyra, Wait up!” he called running past a squad of SAS troopers and running over to me.

“It’s Lieutenant to you, when I feel like being a hard ass.” I said and he chuckled.

“Well just so you know Jordan will be joining us on our mission later today, whatever that may be.” He said calmly.

“We’re taking your brother Nathan?” I thought about it for a second “He’s only just got shipped out here and we’re already taking him with us. I’m pretty sure Jordan is going to be shot. I know he has the basic skill and training but no experience and I don’t want him hurt under my command.” I said this with a worried look burned into my face.

“Don’t worry I’ll look after the little rookie.” Nathan said with a smirk.
I shook my head and started walking to the command tent to find out what we are actually doing out in the field. The tent was the biggest in the base. As uninteresting as the base looks from the outside, inside was very packed with British soldiers getting ready to take the fight back to the Taliban for what they have done in the London bombings last week after the death of Osama Bin Laden.
I entered first and was met with the sight of seeing my CO talking with Jordan and Kieran. Peter wasn’t there yet. They stopped talking when Nathan walked in behind me.

“Ah, Lieutenant Locke, good you’re here, now we are just waiting for Lance Corporal Meeks. Then we can get started.”

It took another 5 minutes for Peter to arrive “Sorry, sir. I just heard I was wanted!” he had exclaimed when he ran though the tent door.

“It’s ok son, now we can get to work.” He said as he went to the table in the middle of the room and picked up a dossier. “Here, this contains the Mission and its purpose.” He said handing me the file.

I opened it and read the mission briefing. Apparently I am the best pilot around here and am needed to take the brand new chopper for a test bombing on a Taliban base. The chopper is made of new alloys and doesn’t need fuel, only electricity. It is lighter and more resilient than any other military helicopters ever seen before it.

“Sir, this chopper sounds impossible. The choppers need fuel to get the blades moving fast enough, are you really telling me they have a device capable of turning those blades the correct speed for flight, running only on electricity!?”
He looked at me, a knowing smile plastered on his face.

“I said the same thing to the Officers who gave me the dossier too.” He said Chuckling.

30 minutes later we were all in the hanger, unveiling the new chopper. It was beautiful, a standard desert camouflage, it was rounded and had a futuristic look to it, large passenger area and some solar panels on the top it was the best chopper I have ever seen. It was fantastic and surprisingly light. Just the 6 of us Me, Nathan, Jordan, Peter, Kieran and my CO could lift it over our heads.

“Damn! I have never been able to lift a helicopter by hand before!” I laughed as we put it back down.

Kieran, who was feeling very proud of himself, asked. “So when do we leave?”
I answered first: “5 minutes. I need to do a run of the engines, fly it over the base once or twice for a comfort run. And then we load up and go.”

As I finished speaking, I got in the cockpit and put my helmet on, hit the on button and watched all the lights come to life. After a 3 second check to see if there were any problems, I took the stick and quickly rose into the air, it was incredibly smooth flying. It took me less than a minute to get used to flying it. 'Best fucking heli I have ever flown in my bloody life.' I thought as I started to make my descent back to the Helipad. After the landing, I got out and started loading some supplies. We packed some guns, ammo, food, water, medical supplies and some powerful radios for our use, if we are shot down out there. This thing has thick armour, but there is a possibility we will be shot down.
Peter came up to me and asked “Where are we actually going to attack?” after roughly 10 seconds I turned around to face him.

“Northern mountain base, there are about 235 identified Taliban assholes sitting in that pile of shitty rocks, so we’re going to blow them into goo and then come back here and probably get a drink.” I said honestly.

He stared at me before chuckling “I have never ever understood you and never will.” he said shaking his head, still smiling.
I responded by pulling his hat over his eyes and continuing to pack the helicopter. Another 5 minutes later I was back in the chopper getting ready to fly.

“COME ON!” I shouted as Nathan and Jordan Climbed in.
Peter and Kieran arrived a few seconds later singing to ‘Discord’.

“YES! Keep singing that!” I shouted and hit the start button. My CO and a few British and American Army boys came to see us off.
The Americans had arrived 30 minutes earlier with wounded that couldn’t get a CAS EVAC in time so the British army evacuated them as we were already close.
After I Rose us into the air and towards our destination. We had been in the air about 10 minutes in silence. That was interrupted by Kieran behind me though.

“Ok, let’s get this straight. We’re going to fly over this place and then bomb the living daylights out of the shithole!” Kieran shouted over the noise of the blades and cocking his assault rifle.

“Maybe.” Nathan said, crossing his eyes, making Peter and Jordan Laugh.
We passed over some mountains when suddenly the entire helicopter started shaking all over, the sudden turbulence instantly silencing everyone aboard, and after a few seconds of shaking the blades started to slow down and we started to plummet.

“OH MY GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD!” I screamed trying to get control of the chopper. “NATHAN I BLAME YOU FOR THIS!” I shouted Pointing at him with my free hand.

“WHY ME!” he shouted back as Kieran was holding the door next to him screaming like a little girl.

“EVERYTHING EVER THAT GOES WRONG FOR ME IS YOUR FUALT!” I shouted as the ground was now meters away. We all braced ourselves for our inevitable fate.
There was no explosion. After 5 seconds of silence I opened my eyes and was surprised to see what I saw. It looked like a piece of shit and was burned like hell and covered in multiple pinkish clouds but I could recognise it, it looked. Jordan climbed over the turned over ammo case and looked out the window.

“HOLY SHIT! IS THAT CANTERLOT!” He looked at me in surprise.

I turned around and saw the others looking at me too. Nathan was smiling at hearing that name, Peter Scowling with hate for the city and its bureaucratic B.S, Jordan sad and Kieran looking with a blank look, his eyes twitching every few seconds because the impossible had just happened.

“Well, didn’t expect that.” I said looking at the city again.
*******
POV: Watcher.
I looked over at the strange Enclave sky carriage to see what they were doing down on the surface when one of the ‘Ponies’ stepped out of the vehicle and looked around

“Hmmm, I wonder how much taint that mare took in to look like that. no wonder they left the clouds.” I said then began my approach.

S.P.E.C.I.A.L

Lyra. Nathan. Jordan. Peter. Kieran.
Strength: 6 4 5 9 4
Perception: 7 5 6 7 8
Endurance: 6 5 5 9 4
Charisma: 7 8 6 6 4
Intelligence: 6 4 5 5 6
Agility: 8 6 4 4 3
Luck: 6 3 9 5 9

Author's Note

Well this is new to me. give me all the help you think i need because. I struggle to add detail and people point out if you need more explination and i will edit it. enjoy the story and i hope you actually like it.

Chapter 2: Looking around.

Chapter 2: Looking around.

'Wow, Canterlot... burned and looking like shit, but still Canterlot HOLY FUCKING SHIT I AM IN EQUESTRIA! Wait but why is Canterlot burned then?' This is what I was thinking when I stared at the City, so common to be seen only on TV. It wasn’t like I remembered, nor was the land around either.

“What the fuck happened to this place?” My arm feels heavy, so I looked at it to check if I hurt it, and stopped dead.
There on my arm was an odd device with a screen with multiple buttons on it, branded on the top left hand side was ‘Pip-Buck 3000’. I stared at the thing on my arm, then tried to take it off to get a better look. To my surprise it didn’t budge at all, in a panic I shook my arm in a vain attempt to remove the mini computer.

“What the FUCK IS THIS THING!” I shouted “GAAAAHHH!” My Screaming alerted Peter and Nathan.

“WHAT IS IT!?” Peter shouted, pulling out his Glock handgun.

“I believe your friend here discovered her Pip buck.” a voice sounded from behind me.

I spun around knife in hand instantly ready for anyone, but was surprised to just see a flying robot ball thing in front of me. Peter was
very quick to react, grabbing the robot and holding it tightly in his hands.

“Please let me go, I can explain some things for you.” it said.

“Peter chill ok I think it’s ok just let it go but keep an eye on it.” I ordered.

Peter did so keeping his gun pointing at it. Nathan was confused by the robot and was staring out the window at it. Jordan and Kieran climbed out of the dis-powered chopper and walked over.

“What’s going on?” Jordan asked.

The robot turned to us and said. “You don’t look like any Enclave group I have ever seen. So, I am guessing that you are NOT the Enclave. That computer on your arm is a Pip-buck. It is very useful and contains maps, information on your current health, your possessions and equipment as well as your personal perks and skills. It also contains a tracking spell called an ‘Eyes Forward Sparkle or E.F.S. as well as the Stable tech automatic targeting spell or S.A.T.S.” Its voice was emotionless and a little creepy but I had a feeling this thing was helpful so against my better judgement I trusted it.

I looked at my Pip-Buck and started pushing some of the buttons. The screen then came on, is playing a small pony grinning with its...THUMB up. Ok so were in an ANTHRO world. Oh goody, that’s just what I needed semi-humanoid ponies, but I guess that means that we would be able to access more areas than if they were normal ponies anyway so that’s a plus.

“So these things are like them Pip-Boy 3000’s from the Fallout games?” Peter asked Fiddling with the one on his arm.
I looked around and saw the others had some too, how I hadn’t noticed the fact that the large computers were on everyone’s arms was beyond me.

“Oh yeah, they are similar if I remember anything about Fallout New Vegas this should be ok to learn.” I said as I flipped through the many menus. This thing has reaching one saying ’E.F.S Activate?’ I selected ‘yes’ and I gained a HUD like in the video game.

“Wow that’s awesome.” I said as I flicked a few more menus and listing what they were upon coming to the perk page I had a look surprised to find my Military professions listed along with some other ‘perks’ I read them aloud to the others .

“Perks? I am Human, Pilot, Marine, Squad leader, Mechanic and Medic.” I was about to read the description of them when the robot spoke again.

“Well I see you are getting used to them, so here’s some advice: leave this area as soon as possible! The Canterlot ghouls know you are here and are coming.” A few seconds passed in silence. I was about to ask him what the fuck a Canterlot ghoul was when he began again.

“When you get out of here listen to the radio on the Tenpony tower frequency on your pip-buck to find out where the ‘Stable Dweller’ is. She could use your help. After you find her I’ll come back with another pony to find. That is what you need to do to make a difference around the wasteland, if you are actually interested with helping us all.”

I nodded “I plan to help. Do you guys?” the others nodded.

“Well we are here the ponies need help and we have no clear way back home right now so…let’s just fucking do it.” Jordan said shrugging.

The robot spoke again. “Thank you, when you meet Littlepip. The Stable Dweller, tell her Watcher sent you to link your teams.” With that the robot beeped and started playing strange music and flew away.

“Well shit that was reassuring.” Nathan said and we headed back to the chopper to see what’s damaged

**********

Even though the Equestrian wasteland looked like hell I could still see recognisable things I wish I could see the sky but there was a huge screen of clouds in the way.

“It’s going to rain at some point. Those clouds look very deadly.” I muttered to myself before starting to look at the Pip-buck again.
While I was looking at the Pip-Buck, Nathan looked at the engine of the chopper.

“So can you see any damage?” I asked.

He shook his head “No, it’s actually fine. Just out of power, which in turn sucks but, it is solar charged and we can boost the power with batteries or cell boosters…but we might not even need to the thing is recharging faster than ever recorded on the charts for the solar panels above... it’s like the sunlight here has more power even through those thick clouds” He says and closes the hatch.
As I am about to say something to him a red blip appears on that EFS thing quickly followed by another after.

“People we got trouble two tangos, unknown classification seen as a red blip on my EFS lets move!” I Ordered and climbed back into the chopper.

The others all instantly looked nervous. I opened the weapons locker behind my chair, grabbed my SA80 with shotgun bayonet and cocked it. A few seconds later I was outside the helicopter, walking, weapon up, keeping my eyes peeled for anything. If one if those ‘ghoul’ things were coming, I'd need to be ready. Nathan ran up behind me, his UZI 9mm up and ready. I glanced back to the chopper Kieran, Jordan and Peter was trying to rig the Chopper with enough electricity to fly away from here.

“Ok, we need you to help us get that EFS thing working on our machines, and you need to work out how that ‘SATS’ thing the robot mentioned works too.” Nathan said as we walked.

I put my hand over his mouth to shut him up, as we hid behind a rock nearby and listened. There was groaning and heavy breathing. Footsteps were heard as they got closer. A few seconds later the first one walked past and we got a good long look. Anthro pony all right and it is glowing really bright and looked like the equivalent of corpse and the wretched stench was the worst thing I had ever smelled in my whole life, and I had been knocked into the latrines back in training by a drunken sergeant.

After the ghoul walked past my gagger counter went off loudly, showing radiation was emanating from the freak. It, of course, had to hear the counter clicking and turn around. It growled and ran towards us.

“SHIT!” I shouted and put a bullet in its skull only to have it stagger and continue unaffected. “What the fuck! How could that thing survive that?” I said alarmed.

Nathan ran forward and smacked it in the face with his UZI, screaming, sending it to the floor. I spun around just in time to see another ghoul pounce at me.

“WOAH!” I shouted as I sprayed my clip into its chest.

As soon as it hit the dirt dead, I turned around to see Nathan. He was being grabbed by the original ghoul and a normal one without any glowing parts.

“LYRA HELP PLEASE!” he shouted desperation in his voice.

I was there in a flash, knife in hand. I stabbed the normal ghoul in the neck and pulled hard. Its head fell off and rolled away, splashing blood as it went.

Nathan grabbed the Glowing ghoul by the jaw and pulled with all his might. The jaw came free from its head and fell to the ground.

“GAH! Did you like that?! Have some more!” Nathan shouted and punched it in the eye.

It staggered back stumbling over its own hooves, and landed in my arms. I slammed the knife into its head and twisted. That was the end of that. There were no more targets on the E.F.S, so I put my knife away and pulled Nathan off his ass.

“Zombie Ponies, how can our day get any better!?” I said grinning like an idiot. Nathan’s reply was a good one:

“Maybe meeting one of the real ponies from the TV show that isn’t an evil zombie that tries to eat us.” he said with a bemused expression.

My gagger counter was starting to annoy me, so I walked back towards the helicopter until it went silent. “Ah that’s so much better, how much of that shit did I absorb over there?” I thought to myself while checking the number on my pip-buck screen I reached the correct menu. I saw the number of the radiation in my body: 344 out of 1000.

“Fuck, well that’s not bloody good now is it?” I looked over at the sickness level “Minor Rad sickness, Effects loss of strength, endurance and agility.” I started feeling the sickness and I coughed. “And it makes you feel like you’ve been on a 50 night drinking bender, fucking excellent!” after I finished complaining, I walked to the chopper and waited for Nathan to arrive. It had been 10 minutes before he came back.

“Where the hell have you been!?” Peter shouted from the side seat of the chopper.

Nathan just grinned and threw a bottle that I caught. I looked at the label and read the title

“Sparkle cola? I doubt it can beat Coca-Cola.” I laughed and put the bottle down. Then it hit me “Holy shit, Guys there is a stash of Coca-Cola in the red box with the orange lid.” that box was opened revealing about 300 bottles

“Cool…Where the fuck did you get all these?” Jordan asked and grabbed a bottle.

“I traded all my unused shore leave time for them, all of it added up was enough for the bottles and some chocolate.” I said with a smirk.

“So what happened to the chocolate?” Kieran asked looking over to me.

“Kieran, I am a girl you know we can’t resist chocolate when we have it.” The men laughed at me and I just shrugged. I looked at the Sparkle cola again and picked it up. I looked at the label again and saw that I had missed something.

“Oh, it's Sparkle cola Rad…Blah, blah refreshing taste blah ooh tastes like radish.” I looked at Nathan, he said he liked radishes, so I gave him the bottle. “Nathan it is supposed to taste like radishes so you are the test subject, you get to taste the first Equestrian drink.” I said with a smile.

He looked at the drink, shrugged and popped the cap and drank it down in one. What happened next was a surprise. He coughed sputtered and threw up green glowing stuff.

“GAH, what the hell man?!” Jordan shouted and backed away.

I stood there eyes wide and jaw on the floor. Nathan stared at me with a look of wanting revenge.

“I am so sorry.” I said. Completely horrified at what had happened.

He was about to reply when the choppers lights powered up, that meant we could fly. I threw myself into the pilot’s seat and started the engine. I looked over out the window as about 20 red dots appeared on the EFS.

“Oh my god…CLOSE THE DOOR WE’RE LEAVING NOW!” I shouted.

Kieran poked his head out the door hatch as the ghouls appeared over the hill; he squeaked and slammed the door closed. I began to rise as they all sprinted towards us. One of them had pounced onto the front of the chopper and held on as I flew away from the horde, unaware of the ghoul gripping the chopper until it started climbing up towards the open pilot side window.

*********

Jordan’s POV

Lyra was flying us away from the ghouls when suddenly she screamed. I looked at her and saw one of those things grabbing her through her open side view window. I was there almost instantly with the wrench I was using to secure the crates to the floor.
The ghoul pulled her arm out the window trying to bite her, causing her to let go of the cyclic stick causing the helicopter to swerve to the left.
After regaining my balance I swung the wrench at the ghoul shattering the bone in its arm and freeing Lyra from its grasp. She pulled herself back and grabbed the wheel again, causing the helicopter to straighten out. Peter fired his gun at the ghoul from his seat shooting its pointed ear off

“Shit!” he screamed as the ghoul reached for Lyra again.

“JORDAN, KILL THAT BASTARD!” Lyra shouted slapping its hand away. I complied climbing on the back of the seat and smacking its head with the wrench consistently until it fell off the helicopter.

Lyra then closed the window and vowed to never leave it open ever again. We flew over many different monuments and towns their names appearing on the screen of my Pip-buck: Canterlot was the first as we had flown over the city it was still the same as in the show, but dark and had these little pink foggy areas that peaked my interest.

“What is that pink stuff?” I asked and Lyra took a look sighed then answered.

“It looks like something similar to the Red cloud in Fallout: New Vegas… it was the, the Blood Money D.L.C I believe. Well if it is, I am never going there ever! That shit is toxic.” She said as we flew over Canterlot castle we could all see how beautiful it must have been even Peter, the non-brony of the group, was in awe. As we flew past Ponyville and up more north all I could do was stare at everything I saw until we were suddenly hit by something and the whole helicopter shook.

*********

Lyra’s POV

It had been an hour since we left Canterlot airspace and we were looking for a safe place to set us down. I had made a plan to land on the roof of a building in the next city I saw.

I could see an old statue of liberty, well the anthro pony version but still. That meant it was the city of Manehatten. It was in the very far in the distance but I could see it from the air, it was maybe an hour flight to the city by helicopter. I checked the power in the helicopter’s battery by looking at the dashboard we had enough for an hour and a half long flight so I sighed with relief finished thinking.

'Get to the city, find landing zone, wait for chopper to charge more and then figure out what the hell we are to do about finding that ‘Stable Dweller’.
That was the plan but we never made it to the city as I was flying us over a small town ,that looked inhabited but we didn’t have time to care about, the Name ‘New Appleoosa’ popped up on my new HUD. I ignored it and carried on flying as I never wanted to get involved until I found 'stable Dweller' and found out what she does.

I made a turn and passed a large crane when suddenly there the missile alarms went off then there was a large explosion off to the side where Nathan was sitting that shattered his window, causing him so scream in surprise.

We were hit by the missile I knew we were in severe trouble if it had done damage to something important so I immediately pulled up the condition screen on the dashboard: The rear propeller had slowed down and barely countered the spin the one on top was giving. So I was stuck swerving to the right and shaking the entire Helicopter. I could no longer go forward and was unable to stop us spinning to the right. The screen loaded and I saw exactly what was damaged.

The power cables in the back, the propeller at the rear, right doors, right main window and the large propeller at the top.

“DAMMIT!” I screamed as I knew we were out of options. I turned around to see what the others were doing.

Peter was securing the crates, so if we crash the supplies are not destroyed.

Nathan was holding onto his seat with all his might.

Jordan had been staring out of the window when the first impact had hit, now he was in the seat next to me, trying to help lower the growing number of system failures that were appearing all over the control panel.

Kieran was actually calm and thinking about something which he surprised me with when he spoke.

“Guys, if we crash, try to head for a hill. The ground will be softer and offer more protection even though the crash will be harder there is less chance of us getting flipped or blown up!” he yelled and I looked out for the nearest hill.

A few seconds later we were hit again and something exploded, as in the whole back propeller and the tail that was attached to the rest of the helicopter. There was only one thing left to do as we fell. Swear like drunken sailors, who had been kicked in the balls. And of course blame Nathan for it all again as it is always his fault.

“Nathan, why whenever you get in a chopper with me we explode?!” I shouted at him as the chopper smashed into the path just outside of the small town.

AFTER THE CRASH.

“Oh my God! That was worse than getting hit by that truck back in Liverpool!” I thought as I rubbed my sore head. I hadn’t been knocked out or killed so that was something but I was in really bad pain in my neck head and my leg.

I looked behind me and saw the mess that had once been our ride. There was a huge hole in the back and there were loose wires hanging everywhere.

Peter and Kieran were knocked out, Jordan was rubbing his face and Nathan was nowhere to be seen. The window on the door on his side was gone, so I could guess where he went, out the fucking window.

“Poor bastard…I better pull him off the ground.” I said as I looked back to see how badly the supplies were damaged.

The ammo boxes and the supplies were still where they were before the crash. I mentally commended Peter’s clever antics as I undid all the buckles that were pinning them to the ground. This wreck was NOT going anywhere, so having them on the ground was pointless. After a few seconds of sitting back in my chair because the pain had forced me back into it after I finished with the crates.
After about two minutes of feeling like shit I looked to Jordan who looked very dizzy. I realised that Nathan was still outside in the dirt and I needed to find him, so I tried to open the door. It was jammed closed.

“Of course.” I deadpanned this was all I needed.

“What?” Jordan moaned from next to me.

“Door's stuck.” I sighed before kicking the door hard.

It swung open and I slipped out of the helicopter and onto the ground. A massive shooting pain went up my whole left leg causing me to gasp and collapse onto the dirt ground.

‘Great my legs hurt.’ I complained internally as Jordan poked his head out the open door.

“Lyra, you ok?” he asked.

I nodded, not wanting to move. As I lay there I could hear distant shouting. It was getting louder and closer. So I picked myself of the floor, limped to the side door to see if Nathan was ok. To my surprise and horror he wasn’t lying there like I thought he would be. He was nowhere to be seen.

“Shit.” I said, worried for my friend.
The shouting was getting louder and I could make some of it out.

“Get to that thing and make sure the Enclave troops inside are captured or killed!” was the one I heard out of the jumble and I quickly started waking up the others. They weren’t hurt bad and could move, so we grabbed our backpacks, I also grabbed Nathans, and as many crates as we could carry before we ran around to the choppers other side to try run off into the direction the shouting wasn’t coming from. Unfortunately we never got far as there was a fucking sniper with a dart rifle and a good aim. The darts hit us one by one until we were all on our ass feeling numb.

I looked up to see a very surprised looking unicorn. He said something that I couldn’t hear and rubbed his face. He looked to his left and I saw an Earth pony looking at me then shrugged. I reached towards my friends, then everything went black and I hit the floor with a ‘thud’.

*********

Lyra's skills:
Barter: 15
Magical Energy Weapons: 15
Explosives: 20
Guns: 30
Lock pick: 25
Medicine: 50
Melee Weapons: 30
Repair: 60
Science: 34
sneak: 25
speech: 40
Unarmed: 20

Lyra's Perks.
Human: Living myth the ponies call you well that or mutant freak. your unusual form will make many ponies judge you unfairly but keep strong and things will get better. (Ponies don't trust you easily, +1 agility, +15 unarmed +10 melee weapons)

Pilot: Flying things comes Natural to you just finding a replacement vehicle is going to be a bitch (Can fly any Helicopter or Vertibuck you find)

Marine: Years of service has made your aim sharp and your tongue sharper use them well. (+10 Guns, +5 Energy weapons. +5 speech)

Squad Leader: Long have you led teams into hell and back with no losses to your name you are an amazing leader. (+1 Charisma, Companions are more effective)

Mechanic: You learned how to keep all your gear in check building all your engines yourself you can rig anything together with enough time. (+10 repair)

Medic: Years working with soldiers made you search for the ways of medicine you know how to keep someone alive...just as long as it isn't yourself (+10 medicine)

Author's Note

I know that i only did Lyra's perks and stuff well that is because she is the only one so far who has seen them so only she knows her skills.

Chapter 3: New Appaloosa.

Chapter 3: New Appaloosa.
Nathan’s POV
I woke up feeling like shit. I sat up quickly to see where I was. I found myself on top of a metal… thing. It was painted blue. I decided to look at the Pip-Buck and see where I was. The screen came up with the map.
My current location was ‘New Appleoosa’, the same place we were flying over, when we were shot down… “My friends.” I peeked over the edge to see where I was in relation to the helicopter. I could see the chopper in the distance in the middle of an open field. It was crushed and smoking.
“God dammit.” I cursed and looked to see what I was currently on top of. I was on top of a tall stack of metal train cars.
“Holy shit biscuits!” I exclaimed and looked for anyone I knew.
In the town centre there was some commotion, so I took out my binoculars and took a closer look. They had my friends and our shit from the chopper. They took them into a building with a cross on the roof.
“They took them to the hospital?” I muttered to myself.
The town around me was quite large in size and reminded me of the shanty towns that I saw in Afghanistan. Small custom built houses with multiple repairs and lots and lots of small cramped streets. After about 50 seconds of thinking I decided what I was going to do.
“Fuck it! I am going to walk into the hospital, and politely ask if I can have my friends and stuff back. If they say no ‘pretend’ to be worried. Then run outside and then come back later and break them out.” This is the dumbest idea I have ever had, and I had challenged a US navy seal to an arm wrestle. And therefore was in a cast for a month. But this beats that by about 300,000 miles.
I climbed down the train cars, only just now noticing the pain in my knee, briefly later I slipped and fell, landing on my ass on a barrel.
“If PewDiePie was here I know what he would say right now!” I muttered angrily in pain. I rubbed my sore ass as I walked around a corner right into 10 of the locals who had come to inspect the noise.
“What the fuck is that!?” the earth pony mare to the left said. After I managed to think, I weighed my answers and said the wildest one in my head.
“Hi, I’m a sexy bastard and I am going that way.’’ I pointed behind them and as they looked at the direction that my finger was pointing at, then I began running very quickly towards the hospital, which was conveniently in the opposite way.
“GET THAT THING!’’ they shouted from behind me. “Well that could have gone better!” I thought as I ran. The building was a few meters in front of me. I burst through the door, and tripped over a medical box. I landed on my face but knowing where I was, I looked up quickly right into the barrel of a mini-gun.
“Chort!’’ I said and put my face to the floor.

******************
Lyra’s POV
5 minutes earlier...
I awoke with a start. After I calmed I looked around the room It was covered in posters saying ‘Do Better, Ministry of peace’ It was a picture of my second favourite mane 6 pony Fluttershy and she was standing in front of some very evil looking zebras.
“Wartime propaganda, how I hate you so. You are the one thing that is always there in every war.’’ I said, unhappy to see Fluttershy being a part of it. I was brought out of my staring when someone asked me.
“What kind of fucking taint did you suck up and how did it make you lose your tail?” I spun around on the chair, to which I was tied and saw a large bulky earth pony with Red fur and a grey mane. The thing that worried me though was the fact he was carrying a large mini-gun and pointing it at me.
“Err what?’’ I asked, not having a clue what the fuck he was talking about.
“How much taint did you take in to become that mutated.’’ he said again pointing at me then scowled “Enclave bitch acting stupid.’’
I looked at him and was very confused and insulted.
“WHO THE FUCK IS THE ENCLAVE!?’’ I shouted, and was getting fed up of being assumed to be in a group that seem to have a similar reputation to the Nazis.
After a few seconds he looked really confused and anxious, and I knew why he was the earth pony I saw before a passed out him and his friends had shot us down thinking we were Enclave. And he didn’t want to tell me.
“So... you’re not Enclave?’’ he asked and I shook my head.
“Do I look like I am?” I asked staring at him blankly.
“Well no… then what the fuck are yo-. He was suddenly cut off, when the one person on the planet I didn’t want to see, crashed through the door and face planted onto the floor. The pony pointed the mini-gun in Nathan's face and I heard Nathan complain, using the Russian word I taught him in year 9 of high school.
“Nathan… you’re retarded.” I sighed and leaned back in the chair. The guard pony moved Nathan to a chair next to me, while pointing the mini-gun at us the whole time, I could tell he was angry with him as he threw him into the seat next to me, which then nearly fell backwards.
After staring at us for a few more seconds, he asked his question again “What the fuck happened to you… you are clearly heavily mutated, so what did you-‘’ I stopped him right there.
“We are not mutated in the slightest… have you ever heard of ‘Different species’? Because that’s what we are.” He looked at us thinking.
“Fine but what are you then?” he asked with a look in-between confusion and suspicion.
I answered, while Nathan was looking around the room. “Humans, we are-” I was cut off by the guard's shouting:
“What kind of foal do you take me for?!” he was clearly pissed at me, for what reason I didn’t know.
“What are you talking about? You asked what we are!’’ I shouted back. He growled and began to spin the chambers of the mini-gun. The sound of the spinning barrels was sending fear into my heart.
“Humans are made up in books! I know you are lying to me!” he screamed, while moving closer to me.
I nearly panicked but regained my composure quickly. I decided to keep to the truth as I explained.
“Who the hell said we were from ‘Here’ or this planet at ALL!’’ he looked shocked and a bit sceptical at that but I continued before he could open his mouth.
“My friends and I were on a routine fly test of that brand new helicopter, that you ‘Soooo happily’ destroyed, to bomb a mountain full of enemy insurgents. As we haven’t blown up our planet small troubles are larger than they are here , so we're dealing with a terrorist group known as the Taliban, instead of whatever the fuck you fight.’’
He was staring at me mouth agape. I took a peep to the left and saw that Nathan was staring at the floor, clearly worried that I was saying too much, but I didn’t care.
“Well during the flight we had, some kind of thing happen that brought us here. We have these Pip-Buck things ‘Magically’ appear on our arms and had to kill ghouls outside Canterlot. THEN after we finally escaped from them, we were shot down by you ponies and captured. So fuck everything I ever knew about the universe because this shit doesn’t happen to people… it is not normal!’’ after finally finishing my rant I looked right into the eyes of the pony, who couldn’t believe what he just heard.
“Err…’’ was the only response I got. As I expected he was very confused and had no Idea what to believe. I could almost hear the gears in his head going into overdrive. He was just staring at me eyes wide, so with nothing better to do I just waited for him to say something. This took a good five minutes for him to do because of the extent of.
“You are humans from another world. And are Non-hostile?” I nodded to him and he rubbed in between his eyes as I answered.
“Yes. We have been here less than a day and already got our ride destroyed… today was a bad day.’’ I replied getting a nod from the guard.
“I will relay this info to my boss then find out what to do.’’ He said then walked out of the room.
I stood up out of my seat and walked around the room that is when I realised something, WHY WASN’T I TIED UP! I thought but decided not to care.
Nathan was looking over, when I started to hum winter wrap up to myself, while looking in a box with a magazine on lock picking.
“What you looking at?’’ Nathan asked.
I ignored him and started to read the book. I found a page about how to pick simple and rusted locks.
“A screwdriver and a bobby pin turn the pin and then the screwdriver ? I have some of the pins for my hair, so this should be simple.’’ I said as I pulled a pin from my hair, causing the hair to fall down over my face. After I quickly sorted it out I went over to Nathan who was staring silently, thoughtfully’ trying to guess what I was doing. “Nathan, can I borrow your screwdriver?” I asked.
He looked at me and raised an eyebrow “Why?’’
“I need it.’’ I stated simply. Nathan buckled under my stare and handed it to me “Thanks elf ears.’’ I joked as I slid it into an ammo pouch that was empty along with the pin.
“Lyra?’’ Nathan asked me suddenly.
“Yes, Natalie?’’ I asked. He grumbled about the name then spoke.
‘’We are not tied up… why don’t we just leave?’’ he said. I thought he had a very valid point until I remembered that the others were in another room.
“Nathan… Kieran, Jordan and Peter are still captured.” I reminded him causing a complete half turn.
“Oh fuck!’’ he shouted. I face palmed and turned around to see the guard and his boss, a red unicorn stallion with an eye patch staring at us from the doorway.
“Hello… you see we never ran.” Was the only thing that I thought of saying at the time. The guard’s boss flipped a bottle cap in his hand and raised an eyebrow at us.
“You said they looked mutated.’’ He looked at the guard. “I see no tumours or glowing body parts.”
The guard looked at him with a surprised look on his face “But look at them, it is easy to mistake them for a ghoul. They have no fur!’’ he shouted raising his arms to point at me.
“So that makes them a mutant to you because they are furless?’’ the Boss sighed.
Nathan spoke up suddenly “Why did you shoot us down?!” I looked at him, and then back to the ponies at the door nodding for them to answer. I had guessed why but wanted confirmation.
“We thought you were Enclave pegisi spies or an invading unit from them… seeing as they are usually hostile we decided to shoot down all pegisi vertibucks that come close to town.” He said continuing to flip the cap consistently while explaining.
Nathan spoke up from beside me again. “But there must be a difference between a Vertibuck and a British Army helicopter. Why were we shot down!?” he stated angrily.
“Nathan calm down, that’s an actual order!” I hissed in his ear. I didn’t want to become a pile of meat paste and he was acting as my ticket to Hell.
The boss actually gulped, which surprised me. “Well to us anything that comes from the sky is an Enclave Vertibuck or a squad… we don’t get many griffins around, so we just assumed…” he trailed off unable to finish. I thought quickly of a question to ask him.
“Ok fine, but what is going to happen to us and our stuff that we were carrying?” I asked.
He shook his head then answered. “We were originally going to shoot you in the head and keep all your gear… But you are not Enclave and are non-hostile. So therefore we are going to let you out of here with it and our apologies. Be aware that not many ponies would be this generous but we still believe in SOME dignity in the wasteland.” The last part was a clear warning that we needed to be careful but I was so relieved to find out that we could be free that I never really took it to heart.
I was about to say something, when he spoke again. “Stick around town for a while and get your bearings. And if you need some radiation supplies you can get them in the general store.” he turned and walked out the door and the guard followed but he called back to us “Follow me to get your things and friends.”
I had no reason not to, so I did, Nathan followed after a few seconds later. We were walked down a corridor and into a small ward room with some beds in. Peter and Jordan were waiting for us while Kieran was lying on a bed. The nurses were staring, while they were bringing out our Duffle bags full of equipment we pulled out of the chopper. The room itself was a lot cleaner than I thought it would be with only a few cracks in the floor and walls, there were 3 broken lights and the posters were also less torn and dirty.
Peter saw me and walked over. “So Lyra, we get to go free?” he asked as he stared at the ponies behind me.
They nodded and gestured to our stuff “It’s all there and we never even searched it so you won’t find anything missing… We are really sorry about this whole thing and we hope we can make it up to you.”
We all were surprised when he pulled a large sack of bottle caps and held it out to us. I shook my head and was surprised to see Nathan, Peter and Jordan shaking too. I looked back to the ponies in front of me.
“We cannot accept that and will not either. Keep them.” He was staring directly into my eyes to see if I was serious. Seeing that I was, his eyes widened in disbelief.
“Really, you don’t accept… there are 5000 caps in this!?” they were so surprised that the earth pony guard dropped his mini-gun.
“We would be glad to accept them… IF we actually deserved them… so we got our stuff and we are alive, so we forgive you because you thought we were evil pegisi and it is a mistake anyon… anyPONY on the surface would have made… we will stick around town and find out what the fuck is going on in this wasteland then leave. Then we will begin our mission again to find the Stable Dweller and her crew.”
He listened to everything I said and to see if there was something he could help with; he couldn’t, so he gestured to the door “You know where the exit is, you get your friend and I will go tell the mayor of the town and the other ponies NOT to shoot you in your flanks… you have flanks right?” he had trailed off asking that question.
The response: laughing, lots of laughing “I *laugh* think that we have the same thing here, so I don’t personally give a shit.” I said holding my sides.
Jordan looked over laughing “I like this place. Coming back is defiantly ON the list of the things we need to do while travelling.” He grinned at me when he said that. I noticed what that meant. I made a note to return to New Appleoosa. The ponies left the room and I turned to Kieran “Let’s wake him up.”

***********

20 minutes later.

“Why the hell is he such a light weight when it comes to this type of stuff!?” I shouted as I slapped his face “Really we have been doing this for 20 minutes!”
He finally stirred and opened his eyes then suddenly shouted “OW WHY THE FUCK DOES MY FACE HURT!”
I face palmed and walked out the room as Peter started to explain what had happened to him. I passed through the corridor to the main room again and went to the front door. “Well moment of truth.” I muttered and walked out the door. Outside there was the entire town’s population “Take a step outside and Holy shit.” I muttered to myself.
I heard comments, lots of them too “There is one of them.” And “What the hay is that thing!”
They were all cut off by the Guard boss from earlier “I told you they weren’t ponies and that they are friendly. That is all that matters!” the crowed grumbled but walked off back to their business. Nathan walked out the door behind me and gave me my Duffle bag as the Boss walked over to us.
“See, as soon as they learn you are not here to rape and pillage us they walk away and stop caring.” He laughed to himself for a second while me and Nathan smiled.
“I just realised we never properly introduced. The name is Railright and I am pretty much the sherrif here.” I nodded and shook his hand.
“Names Lyra, thanks for letting us go.”
“Don’t mention it ok, it’s our fault you are now ride less.”
“Hey Railright it’s cool ok I never expected our luck to hold out with that helicopter anyway…surviving the entry into this place was way too lucky to begin with.” I shook my head and nodded at him.
“The name’s Nathan and I also say thanks.”
Railright smiled at him then looked back to me.
“Well the general store is over there ‘Absolutely everything’s the name.” He pointed to a building nearby “It’s run by a ghoul pony just as a warning.” He was cut off by me
“Oh, so that means that they are from the pre-war times right?” I asked. He nodded, I grinned back.
“Yes, her name is Ditzy Doo an-“
I cut him off suddenly again in excitement. “THE Ditzy Doo as in pegasus mare with a yellow mane with slightly miss-angled eyes!?’’ I asked jumping on the spot.
He raised an eyebrow then answered “Yes… Why?’’
I didn’t answer instead I squealed in delight knowing that my favourite pony was still alive, and although she was a ghoul I knew she wouldn’t look the same but I am not racist to anyone, so I didn’t care in the slightest about it.
Leaving a confused pony and marine behind, I ran down to the building named like he said ‘Absolutely everything’ and stopped outside spotting a sign on the wall ‘Wasteland survival guide. Get yours today’.
“Huh she wrote that book like Moira did in fallout 3 makes sense as they are both Derpy … clever girl.’’ I said then I then opened the door and walked inside.

Chapter 4: Derping around.

Chapter 4 Derping around

One thing I knew it smelled BAD but I knew the poor girl couldn’t do anything about it. The shop itself was cool it had lots of ammo, weapons, radiation supplies and medicine plus a few random its and bits scattered around. Ditzy herself was sitting behind the counter with a grey hoodie on her ‘derped’ eyes still adorable even with her rotten face. Her yellow mane was nothing more than a few long clumps of yellow hair. She stood up and walked over to me with a chalk board in her hand. She smiled and wrote on the board, she flipped it over and written on it was.
“Hello! Welcome to my shop! If I may ask, are you a ghoul too, whose muzzle fell off?” I looked her and saw a playful look in her eyes.
I burst out laughing, she laughed too. There was no sound from her though. I wanted to ask about it but that was definitely NOT the correct thing to do.
After I stopped laughing I said “Good joke… ok fuck it.” I raised my voice and stated aloud “Ditzy Doo, you are the best pony in Equestria!”
She looked at me, her eyes focused and she wrote on the board again she showed it to me again it stated “What? Why am I the best pony in Equestria?”
I sighed “Fine! Don’t tell anyone this EVER but… My people on my planet can see Equestria before the war. We made a cartoon that perfectly remade it up to the battle against Chrysalis at the royal wedding of Shining Armor and Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, in that show we all got to see you back in Ponyville on the day that you were fixing the town hall with Rainbow Dash when you accidentally made that hole and Rainbow fell through, well ever since I saw you I thought you and Lyra Heartstrings were my joint favourite ponies. I know it sounds like crazy bullshit but it is all true.”
Throughout the whole story her face switched between shock, embarrassment, surprise then happiness. To show her I was telling the truth I took off my Armour vest and unbuttoned my Shirt. She was looking very alarmed and looking left and right. But calmed and managed to sqwee in happiness at what she saw. Underneath my shirt was a Derpy and Lyra t-shirt, they were hoof bumping and grinning with the message ‘Derp up the Music’ underneath. She gasped at the shirt and wrote ‘Wow, that’s cool but why are me and Lyra Heartstrings so different in that picture… I have 2 hooves and hands not 4 hooves.’
I did my shirt back up and put on my armour “You look like that because that is what our show put you as what you really are. NOW, right here is what we humans say ‘Anthro’ - in between Human and that Pony on my shirt, a perfect mix. Please, don’t tell anyone but I needed to tell you that you are awesome.” She smiled and walked behind the counter. After a few seconds she walked back out and put a book in my hands. I looked at the title ‘The wasteland survival guide’ I gasped.
“Wow! This is your book?” she smiled and then wrote ‘Yes, one book free to every family.’
“But I am not with family.” I was confused.
“Doesn’t matter, none of your family have one, right?” she replied with her board I nodded in return.
I walked over to the medical supplies.
“Healing potions, MedX, Super healing potion… Dash?... RadX… where is it… AH-HA!” I picked up some Rad away and said to Derpy “How much are these each?”
She wrote her reply quickly ‘For my biggest fan 3 caps, its usually 6 but I like you.’ I smiled back. I looked into my pocket and saw 13 coca cola caps, the sparkle cola rad cap and a beer cap.
“Do you accept any caps?” I asked. She was confused by this and looked at me then wrote ‘What do you mean?’ I pulled out a coca cola cap and put it on the counter. “I have some caps from my world here from our drinks, instead or sparkle cola we drink Coca cola and other drinks like Pepsi and Dr pepper… would you accept those caps too or are you only interested in sparkle cola?” she thought about it for a minute before she smiled and wrote ‘Yes I remember. ALL caps are welcome. There was a Zebra drink and the caps are accepted like any other in the wasteland. So I assume yours would be good too.’ She winked her yellow eye at me and I giggled. Even after all she had probably seen and done she was still our cute little Derpy.
“Don’t ever change Derpy, please, don’t ever change.” I said as I got all my caps out, I counted out the 15 caps in my pocket and bought 5 rad away’s. Then I realised something.
“Derpy, I might have some very rare items with me I need to check.” I took off my bag and rummaged through all my stuff and found them, my bottles of Glens vodka, that I had hidden from everyone else and my coca colas,
I decided to be smart, remembering my Fallout 3 games and checked the pip-buck for how much they were worth; the vodka was worth 100 caps and the cola each was worth 20.
“Whoa… Human items in Equestria are worth A LOT of caps that’s what my pip-buck says.” I showed her the numbers and she nodded and wrote ‘They are very, very rare… I can offer you 18 for the cola though and 75 for the what you said ‘’HUMAN?’’ vodka.’ I decided that was fair as she was lovely and I loved her enough to let my price drop.
“You got yourself a deal Derpy.” I said and shook her hand… it was a bad feeling and we both grimaced, It felt like a freshly peeled scab. She wrote.
‘I need to put my gloves on, I hate being a ghoul sometimes.’
I replied simply: “I refuse to call at least YOU that name … I will call you...” I paused for a few seconds, thinking for something. I shrugged and said “A Pre-war pony. You are way too nice to be called a ghoul, a ghoul describes a living dead that wants to eat you and is the same as a zombie but can’t turn you into one, so I am not calling any of you ponies that.” She cocked her head to the side as I put 16 cola’s and the vodka on the table as I talked. When I was done she simply shook her head and smiled before handing me my caps.
“Thank you, Derpy.” I said as she paid me. As I turned to leave she prodded my shoulder, holding her sign up ‘What is your name? I want to add you to the list of Friendly ponies on the back page of my copies of the book.’ I smiled
“I can’t believe I forgot to tell you that.” I face palmed at my forgetfulness “My name is Lyra, Lyra Melody Locke if you wanted a full name.” she gasped and wrote ‘You have the same name as my old friend. No wonder you like her. Also, how do you spell your last name?’
I took the board from her and wrote the full name down with her chalk. She grinned and grabbed a pencil and wrote the name on a piece of paper on the wall. There were a few names above mine there too. Hers was at the top, Ditzy Doo. Then there were a few I couldn’t read from this far but as I reached near the bottom I saw ‘Littlepip’. Knowing this may be a chance to learn her location I spoke up.
“Derpy, do you know where I may find Littlepip?” She looked at me, questioning why I would want to know. Then smiled and wrote down ‘She isn’t allowed in this town anymore because her efforts caused trouble for the town. But she may be seen around the Manehatten area. Or maybe somewhere near Fillydelphia, if you listen to the radio, she is being talked about by DJ PON-3. The 3 is pronounced E so sounds like DJ pony. The Ten Pony Tower radio should be on your pip-buck’ I looked at the Radio tab and saw the names the only one with signal said ‘Ten Pony Tower’.
“So DJ PON-3 must be like Three dog then.’’ I laughed to myself then nodded to Derpy. “Thank you Derpy, no matter how you feel, keep smiling.” She grinned as I walked out the door.

I walked back outside and right into Peter. “There you are!” He said, looking relieved “What did you get?” he asked. I looked behind him and saw Jordan and Nathan looking at the wasteland survival guide sign while Kieran was staring at all the ponies with interest.
“Peter, I got some Rad away and sold some cola, plus my special vodka, and oh, Derpy gave me her book.’’ I said and pulled the Guide out of my pocket.
“We sticking around or leaving?” Kieran said looking at me. I put the guide in my pocket and walked out into the street checked the Pip-Buck map for Manehatten and set a marker.
“We will be back here at some point to see Best pony again.” This caused Nathan and Jordan to grin and walk into the shop, their eyes glowing with excitement, while Peter ignored them, Kieran was wondering what the hell just happened, but shrugged it off then started to adjust settings on his pip-buck.
“Well when they are back anyway we are heading to the Ten pony tower building in Manehatten and talk to the DJ. Speaking of which.” I switched to the Ten Pony Tower station on my pip-buck and turned it on a Deep Black American voice came through the speaker.
“Now kiddies we need to remember ghouls are ponies too. You see, when ponies have been exposed to a huge amount of radiation and haven’t had the good fortune to die, they lose their fur and manes, then their skin rots a little and they look bad. THEY . ARE . NOT .ZOMBIES ! Kiddies, we need to remember this as some of them survived the war just to be killed by us. That just isn’t fair see, BUT I am talking only about the gouls who talk with ya. Those feral ghouls that roam the underground, surround Canterlot and await their prey in the boneyard up in the hoof. They are zombies and will do anything to get a bite out of ya, so kill any you see… the poor bastards need it. Now here’s Sapphire shores –“ I turned it off and looked towards the gate, Nathan and Jordan had returned with a smile on their face and an autograph, seriously why did I forget to get one too, and were waiting for my command.
“People we are going to Manehatten. I found headphones on this thing, so I will be listening to the radio as we walk to find out about that Littlepip, such as her exploits and personality as well as her location. Let’s go.” I walked to the gate and the guards opened it.
“Good luck out there!” the guard to my right said, looking into the dark road we would soon be walking. “You’re going to need it.” He commented as we walked past and into the wastes.
As soon as the gates were closed we walked out, following my marker on the HUD, the path was old and well used. The dead grass on either side made my heart sink a little and the distant view of a distant destroyed Ponyville made a single tear roll down my face, shaking these feelings away I grabbed my SA80 and cocked it, while the others fell in line behind me, Peter and Jordan then Nathan and Kieran behind them.
As we began to walk I grabbed my iPod and started figuring out a way to put the songs into the pip-buck.
“Let’s see here.” I noticed a slot in the pip-buck that matched the USB port of the iPod wire. I plugged it in and saw the Pip-buck gain a new menu on screen ‘Saved Music’ I checked it and all my songs were already transferred.
“YES!” I hissed and turned on ‘Song of Storms Living Tombstone remix’ as it played I turned on the radio too to listen for an announcement. “We are officially set.” I said to Peter who nodded to me.
“Lyra, should we check the Helicopter crash for stuff?”
I shuck my head. “We managed to grab everything ‘worth’ saving Peter.” He sighed before nodding and falling silent.
As we walked I looked onwards into the dusty road wondering what awaits us in this darkened new world.
“Just so you all know, I have no idea what is to be expected out here.” I said to the group and they looked a little nervous.
“Well, I think it’s going to be fun finding out.” I said with a grin getting the others to roll their eyes at me. I looked back to the road again with a little more bounce to my step. 'This isn’t gonna be that bad after all.' I thought as a break in the clouds gave us a brief look into the beautiful blue sky above and the golden sun, lighting our way to adventure.

Chaprer 5: First mistakes

Chapter 5: first mistakes.
With my music playing and DJ PON-3 Radio on, we were walking towards Manehatten; it was going to be a long journey, but something we could manage. I looked around as we walked to see if there was anything worth investigating. Finding none, other than a tree that looked like a finger flipping you off, which Peter took a photo of, I looked at my pip-buck and checked my inventory menu.
I had no idea how the fuck this thing knows what I am carrying and how much of it but decided not to question the magic involved. I checked my weapons first. SA80 rifle with shotgun attachment on the front and a Glock 18 with a silencer and laser sight. Ammo wise I was pretty good 660 5.56mm rounds for my rifle 72 12 gauge shotgun shells and 200 rounds for the glock. I saw the bullets for all my guns available to purchase in Derpy’s shop, except the 9mm rounds, so I knew I could restock here.
I checked my ‘Aid’ menu to see what food and medical supplies I had, 34 colas still, A full military grade first aid kit, a healing potion 'somehow', 16 MRE’s and the 5 Rad away’s I bought from the shop.
Satisfied I let my arm fall to my side and looked around; we were walking past an old building that looked a lot like a bus station.
“Want to take a look?” Peter asked me. I nodded and be walked over to the door.
“Stealth, no door breach.” I whispered. I checked the HUD for red blips but could only see my friends' yellow ones.
“Scan shows clear but be prepared for ANYTHING.” I hissed to the others and tested the door. It was locked. “Well I guess I am just going to have to pick the fucker.” I said and got the screwdriver and pin from my pocket.
“Or we could just breach the door.” Peter said to me the large man shrugging.
“You see this building mate; it’s a fucking old wreck. We can’t risk the building collapsing so I am picking the bloody door.”
After putting Pete’s plan out the window I crouched down. This old thing looks easy enough. I thought and started picking. After a few turns of the pin the lock gave a satisfying click and I turned the handle, the door opened a little. I removed the pin and the screwdriver, and put them back into their pocket.
“Ok, let’s move.” Nathan said and we pushed the door open.
Inside was a small burned out lobby with posters too charred to see on several billboards. There were 3 vending machines in the corner and several doors and boxes plus the till behind the counter, probably for ticket fare, which we could raid.
“Ok Peter, Nathan you search the rooms through those doors for things like weapons ammo and most importantly look for a box with 3 butterflies on them, I saw in the guide that those are medical boxes that might have potions in them. Kieran you search those boxes for stuff and Jordan you go twat that till you see if it has any money in it. As for me, I am raiding the vending machines for drinks.” After a few brief grunts of conformation from the others I walked over to the vending machine and saw a gold coin on the floor, picking it up, I saw it was a bit. Being curious, I put it in the machine in front of me and it dispensed a Sparkle cola.
“Wow, this thing still works!” I called to Jordan who was looking over from hitting the till with a hammer he found on the floor. Grabbing the drink I put it behind me and turned back to the machine. After a few seconds it dawned on me ‘Why isn’t this place raided?’ I turned back and looked around the lobby for anything that looked dangerous, finding nothing, I called out to the others.
“Guys this place is untouched and on a road, so I think we need to leave as soon as possible, this place MUST have something wrong with it if the ponies never touched it in what? 200 years?!” Jordan looked over and nodded.
“Thanks, I’ll keep an eye out. Kieran keep your eyes peeled for anything creepy, ok?” he called getting a response in the form of a grunt from him, who had his head in a box.
I turned to the Vending machines again and decided to wing it. I booted the front of the machine shattering the front and revealing the (Nearly empty) interior. I grabbed the five colas and moved to the next machine. This was a different machine, one of which the drinks name made Fallout New Vegas come to mind.
“Sunrise sarsaparilla, are you kidding me? That is almost EXACTLY like Sun’SET’ sarsaparilla from New Vegas, is the universe even trying!” I laughed and kicked this machines front in too, Grabbing 9 sarsaparillas’ I then moved to the final machine. Unlike the others this one was for food.
“Apple sugar bombs… 200 year old food… fuck it! If the colas are still good then this must be too.” I muttered and smashed the glass in, taking all the boxes of apple cereal about 13 in total. That was the food we eat when either we run out of MRE’s or want something which doesn’t taste like dirt.
I walked over to the counter and Jordan threw a bag at me. I caught it and looked inside, it had bits in, a small text box I never noticed before stated that 57 Pre-war bits were added to my inventory. I raised my eyebrow at that then looking back to Jordan.
He was filling another bag with some more bits from the till.
“Nice Jordan congrats.” I said putting one of the newly obtained Sparkle colas onto the desk in front of him. “it’s not as nice as our coca cola but it will be an ok replacement when we run out.” I said as he put it into a pocket on his duffle bag. Someone then slammed their hand on the counter in between us, causing Jordan to jump backwards and me to pull out my glock and point it at the intruder. I looked and saw it was Kieran who had slammed the counter. He was grinning and putting a box on the table.
“Kiwi, you stupid dick! We nearly shit a brick!” Jordan shouted over the counter.
“Oh you’re fine, shut it.” Kieran replied and opened the box inside there was 3 small boxes with the sun and moon on them. I opened the boxes and inside there were 3 very well preserved knives. They were encrusted with a different crystal per blade, one red, one blue, and one green.
“So you found some cool knives, I guess this was some kind of post office or something not a bus depot.” I said picking up the red one. I passed the green to Kieran and the blue to Jordan. I slid it into the second knife hilt in my shoulder that was empty, while the other 2 put theirs in an ammo pocket.
“So we found a lot of shit, let’s wait for the others to come back and then head out before dark.” I said looking at the open door.
We waited another 5 minutes before I started to get worried, deciding that my friends were in trouble I shot up from sitting on the counter and walked in through the first door into the darkened corridor that led to other parts of the station.
I turned on the pip-buck light and the torch on my rifle for extra light pulled my rifle into a ready position and walked down the corridor looking for Nathan and Peter. When I got quarter of the way down the corridor Jordan appeared next to me.
“We know what you’re doing, so Kieran is searching the other corridor in case they link up. Turn on your walkie-talkie we have a clear signal with each other now. The channel number is 19.4.” he said as he pulled up his rifle and walked next to me.
I did as I was advised and set up the channel on my walkie-talkie.
“Kieran, you there?” I asked into the microphone a few seconds later I got a reply from him.
“Yes ma’am, the coast is clear, but this area looks like a scene from a horror movie. There are skeletons everywhere!” he was nervous. Then I remembered something VERY important “Kieran when I spoke to the ghoul shop keeper, I noticed that she never had a yellow blip on my HUD like she was dead, If there are any ghouls hiding I think our pip-bucks wont be able to detect them so be fucking careful and if you see a corpse move SHOOT IT!” 'That might explain why this place was never searched' I thought to myself, I heard Jordan next to me gulp and he cocked his weapon.
As we rounded the corner I heard ‘Thump, bang, bang’ then there was an inhuman growl and some muffled shouting back at it.
“Found ‘em.” I said and sprinted towards the sound. Roughly halfway there I was suddenly tackled to the ground, in surprise I looked up at a heavily rotten mare with glowing eyes, my pip-buck was letting me know I was sucking up radiation from her.
“GET OF ME!” I screamed and my boot met with her chest giving me room to grab one of the knives. I took out my standard knife and slammed it into her head, and gave a hard twist, to my horror she roared in my face unaffected by the knife in any way, She was beginning to force my leg back down, her teeth gnashing to tear a chunk out of me.
As she was within inches of my throat she was suddenly flung of me, impacting the wall with a loud crunch. I turned to see what happened up to see Jordan with a pipe in his hands covered in glowing blood.
“Move Lyra!” he shouted and threw the pipe, It impacted on the ghoul’s chest, pinning her to the wall, I grabbed my pistol and fired into her face, until she stopped moving, splattering the walls with glowing blood and brains.
“Thanks.” I said to Jordan and started to walk towards the distant shouting again, much more carefully this time. We both rounded the corner to see 3 ghouls pressed against a metal door clawing at it desperate to get in, inside I could hear Peter shouting curses and kicking the door. Two of the ghouls were glowing and the other wasn’t, so I devised a quick plan.
“Jordan take out the glowing ones first. They are tougher and need to be dealt with.” I whispered into his ear. I got the taller one, he took the smaller.
After a quick countdown we ran around the corner and fired. The taller ghoul was surprised and turned to attack us, but as soon as he started to move towards us the first bullets impacted his body 3 shots to the chest and 2 to the head put an end to his plans of a meal.
The second ghoul Jordan was having trouble hitting as it was charging and ducking, with surprising skill. It got within striking range and pounced at Jordan.
It was intercepted by a kick to the legs that sent it onto the floor from me. I fired again showering the wall in its glowing brains.
I looked up to fire at the third ghoul, but what I saw was surprising, Peter was holding it in a headlock. After a few seconds of struggling he threw it to the floor then jumped on its skull with all his weight turning its head into a pile of sludge.
“Eww Peter, damn that was gross and it’s all over your boots too.” I said, pointing at his now brain matter covered boots.
He looked at his boots and simply kicked the remains on a wall.
“Lyra, shut up! Nathan was chased into another part of the building, we need to find him!” he stated loudly and ran up the corridor towards the back of the building.
“PETER, WAIT!” I called out, but it was too late as he was gone. “Dammit!”
Kieran spoke over the radio. “Hey Lyra I found Nathan, he was buried under the corpse of one of them ghoul things. I heard shouting and a gunshot and found the poor bastard a second later. We’re hiding in a room full of filing cabinets in place known as the ‘filer section’ so meet us there.” He sighed and I heard some growling.
“Some of the bastards charged around the corner as soon as I got Nathan on his feet. So we ran in here and locked the door, they are trying to open the door but Nathan is holding the valve handle closed. Please, hurry!”

Nathan called out from the door “Sooner than later please!”
After hearing that I and Jordan sprinted down the corridors the way Peter went trying to catch up so we can help if Peter got to them first.

***********

Peters P.O.V

I ran away from Lyra and Jordan to chase after Nathan, it wasn’t a good idea but I wouldn't forgive myself, if I lost him in this hell hole. I charged full speed through the dark halls. Knife at the ready, I managed to slit the throat of the ghouls in my way without even slowing my pace.
After another 3 minutes of running I turned a corner and ran right into a group of about 12 ghouls that were attacking a metal door similar to the one I hid behind, which meant it was a storage room. The wall had a small sign saying ‘Filing section’ but that wasn’t what interested me.
All the ghouls turned to me at once and the roar that came after was all I needed to know in this situation.
“RUN OR DIE!” I screamed and charged back the way I came with the hoard following. As I ran around the corner I saw the one thing I didn’t want to see at that moment: Lyra and Jordan. they were running weapons ready towards me but stopped in their tracks when they saw what I was bringing in their direction. “PETER RUN!” Lyra shouted and she and Jordan started firing at the hoard of flesh hungry zombie ponies behind me.

**********

Lyra’s P.O.V
I couldn’t believe what I was seeing Peter was training a hoard of ghouls and was heading right towards us.
“PETER RUN!” I shouted and started firing at the hoard behind my friend, Jordan doing the same; I managed to take 4 of them down while Jordan got 2.
“I need to reload!” we both said at the same time, looking at each other in shock we realised ‘we have not got time to reload’ we turned and ran with Peter now a meter behind us and the hoard just behind him. We rounded a bend and shot through a hole in a wall leading into a delivery room. I hopped over a conveyor belt and grabbed my pistol and knife, this time the red jewelled one, and readied for the attack. Jordan and peter carried on running past and went through a door, not noticing that I had took cover.
“Oh fuck!” I said when I noticed I was alone. The ghouls charged through the hole. Our sudden change in direction had confused them and coming right towards me I emptied my gun into the front of some of the ghouls sending 2 to the floor in a heap. The other 4 got tripped by their friends and that gave me enough time to holster my pistol and grab my other knife. I had just got ready when the first ghoul got within my range. I swung my hand to the right bringing the knife, the one without a jewel, into the ghoul’s forehead. The second ghoul swung its hand at me, intending to knock me down. I blocked in time and stabbed the jewelled knife into its chest. To my amazement it burst into flames causing me to stumble back.
That was the opening the ghouls needed as both of them pounced me at once. One grabbed me from the front, and one from behind. I shouted and swung my military knife into the front ghoul’s eye, sending it to the ground, dead before it even began to fall. The second I couldn’t reach, so I struggled to get out of its grip but before I could escape, the ghoul bit into my neck and tore a chunk of my flesh away. Agonising pain spread through my body and I did the only thing my brain would let me do at the time. I screamed.

Chapter 6: Mutations and Heroics.

Jordan’s P.O.V
A female scream echoed in the halls behind us and that is when I finally noticed that Lyra was NOT with us.
“OH FUCK, PETER WE LEFT LYRA BEHIND!” I screamed in horror and spun around, quickly shooting down the halls back towards the package room.
As soon as I charged back through the door I was met with a horrible sight, Lyra was screaming and trying to dislodge a feral ghoul that was currently tearing through her neck.

Lyra herself was desperately trying to remove the creature, hitting it in the ribs with her elbow and head butting the ghoul as it bites into her, her attempts were in vain because it had the better grip and she was starting to lose consciousness.
In an instant I had pulled my knife out and charged at it, once within range I slammed the knife through the ghouls head, it’s glowing, rotten blood oozing out and soaked Lyra’s hair and face, with some dripping into the wound itself.
Horrified out of my mind I charged forwards, catching the falling woman, bleeding heavily from the neck, soaking my hands with her blood, and lay her on the ground.
“Lyra are you ok?!” I asked checking for any more signs of injury, finding none I looked into her eyes, she looked back into mine with panic.
She coughed and sputtered before managing to wheeze out “Get… the... healing… potion.” she blacked out half a second later.

“Shit!” I shouted.
Acting on impulse I opened her bag and rummaged through her personal items and equipment, until I found a small bottle filled with a dark purple liquid, I spied the putrid ghoul blood sinking into her open wound, so I grabbed my canteen and turned her over, I poured water into the wound, cleaning the wound of dirt and ghoul blood, after a few seconds of checking for dirt I grabbed a sterilised rag from my side pocket and put it into the bite to try to slow the blood loss.

I remembered what she said, that there was a healing potion in her backpack, seeing as that bottle was the only thing in there I decided to trust it and popped of the lid and poured the potion into her mouth, helping her swallow it by rubbing her throat with my thumb.
I watched in amazement as the potion took effect the wound had started to close right before my eyes.

“Whoa…” was all I could say. Peter ran into the room panting.

“Sorry a one of them grabbed me in the hall after you shouted and…” he stopped talking as he noticed the wounded Lieutenant in my arms. “LYRA!” he called out in shock, he instantly ran over to the downed lieutenant “Is she ok?” he asked me. I only shook my head.

“I have no idea, err she was bitten on the neck by that motherfucker on the ground there, her neck is healed by some healing magical potion that she had found at some point, but that ghoul bled into the wound and… well I don’t know what the fuck is going to happen to the poor girl now.” I didn’t know if this was contagious, if she was going to become one of them or die of a disease from the initial bite so I had no idea what else to tell him.

Peter looked worried and started to shake her gently, while I got my radio and contacted Kieran.
“Oi Kieran, I think Peter cleared the doorway that was covered in ghouls, so get your arse here right now and also don’t forget to bring my brothers scraggly backside too… it’s Lyra, she’s down.”
Kieran replies instantly “Lyra is down? Could you repeat that?”
“Yes Kieran, Lyra is down, one of the bastards got her neck, I have used a potion and her wounds have mostly healed but she is still out cold.” I replied, Peter looked at me with a worried look as Kieran’s reply came. “We will be there soon!”
I looked over to Lyra on the floor, Peter picked her up and was walking her out towards the door.
I suggested we both walked her out with a weapon raised, so we don’t have to deal with one of us being defenceless, In response Peter lowered her to his right and held her up that way, with his pistol in his left hand.

I grabbed her from the left and held my gun in the right hand, that way we were both using our good hands and are more accurate.

“Peter, let’s get to the others.” I said and we began to jog forwards, making sure the woman in our arms was securely held along the way.
We met up with Nathan and Kieran in one of the cleared corridors of this building, they both saw the amount of blood that stained Lyra’s armour and sleeve.

“She lost a lot of blood.” Nathan said, his voice full of concern.
We were heading towards the lobby to leave this place, when suddenly Lyra projectile vomited, spraying some of the corridor in front of us, the vomit itself was vile, it was bright yellow and glowing as well as giving off a radiation reading.
In shock and minor horror we dropped her, she hit the ground with a loud thump, luckily avoiding the vomit, she woke with a start and looked around.
She coughed heavily then threw up again, her eyes widened with horror when she saw what she was puking, she looked at us and all we could do was stare, dumbstruck by this surprising turn of events, as she spoke.
“What the fuck is happening!” she cried before clutching her stomach and having another coughing fit.

I grabbed her arm and pulled her onto her feet, putting her arm over my shoulder like before, Peter grabbed her other side once again and we began to jog quickly towards the lobby. Once there we would be able to treat her properly for her sickness.
We got to the lobby Nathan and Kieran ran and closed the doors at the side of the rooms that led to the corridors, Nathan then ran and locked the front door.

“Put…me down.” Lyra slurred, barely conscious.

We put her on the floor behind the counter, she threw up again but had managed to grab one of the old mini bins that were under the counter, she looked at me for a second before she fell back and passed out again.
I grabbed her bag looked for anything that may lead to her recovery, The answer was a small orange packet with a straw poking out ‘Rad away’ was written on the front in pencil.
I grabbed Lyra’s arm to look at her pip-buck checking her health menu.
Her radiation level was on 964 and she had critical radiation poisoning, which meant if that creature had held her for much longer she would have died.

“HOLY FUCK!” I shouted in a panic, waking her up.
“What?” she moaned, with her eyes still closed, I put the straw in her mouth and her eyes shot open.
“Drink this or you are going to die!” I said. In response to this she stared at me with a mortified expression, she started sucking all the liquid out of the packet rapidly.

“I feel a little better.” She said when she had finished, I wasn’t paying attention and checked the menu again. 731 just out of ‘critical’ and into the ‘Advanced’ radiation level.
“Do you have any more Rad away Lyra?” I asked, she nodded at me.

“Pass me back my bag... I’ll find them.” She said groggily. I gave her the bag, she pulled out another 4 packets.
“Ok, let’s see how bad I need these.” She smiled and looked at me, that was when I notices something, something that caused my eyes to open wide with shock, her eyes had been mutated, the iris had changed to orange, not only that but her eyes were glowing the same colour. I didn’t say a word, knowing that right now it would horrify her and I did not want her to worry, so instead I stood up nodded and went to stand guard in front of the counter. “Jesus Christ!” I muttered, as I leaned against the counter, and shook my head.
Lyra’s P.O.V
I felt like shit. My eyes burned, my neck was killing me and my stomach was doing somersaults. I looked at the pip-buck screen to check how much radiation I had now, I saw that the amount of radiation I had absorbed was in deep orange, at 731 out of a possible 1000. I looked to the list to see how sick I was. ‘Advanced radiation poisoning’ was highlighted.
“Fuck.” I Grabbed the rad away’s and drank one. For some strange reason it tasted like a sour orange, I took a look back to the screen and saw that my radiation poisoning was still advanced.
I groaned and drank another; a small message popped up with a picture of a happy pony in my eyesight, for a second I thought I was seeing things then remembered the pip-buck probably did it, a message popped up with the image. ‘You no longer have advanced radiation sickness.’ then suddenly, it was replaced with a suffering pony. ‘You now are sick with minor radiation poisoning’ I sighed and drank the other 2 rapidly, just after I finished the final rad away my eyesight blurred for a few seconds before focusing again, I looked around and noticed it was suddenly much darker.
The message appeared again. ‘You no longer have minor radiation poisoning’ I smiled, but then I was confused when it was replaced by a sad pony ‘Night sight unavailable’ was written next to it.

I was alarmed by the message but decided It was not important at that moment. I shot up and jumped over the counter, I landed next to Jordan, who jumped at my sudden appearance.

“Feeling better?” he asked, I nodded and then sighed.
“That was bad… and I regret my actions now, but I thought you guys would follow.” I laughed then looked over. “Thanks for coming back though.” I said with a smile.
He looked at me directly into my eyes, with a minor wince, then grinned.

“Its ok. And I am really sorry about leaving you behind, you were right at my side and I never noticed you break off.” I waved off his apology and hopped back over the counter to grab my bag.
“I want to leave this place as soon as possible, so go tell the others I ordered them to get their shit together and be ready to leave ASAP.” I ordered, he nodded and walked over to get the others ready to leave. I turned on the radio and listened in. It was time for the news broadcast.
“Ok kiddies, I have some news for you. You know those mares’ tales your mother used to tell you about all those old mythical creatures out there? Well it turns out some were actually true! I have reports from the ponies of New Appleoosa that real Human beings have been confirmed to exist in the equestrian wasteland, and they seem like a friendly bunch too. The ponies that had ‘accidentally’ shot down their air vehicle outside the town were very surprised to find them. Instead of Enclave personnel clambering out of the vehicle, they met the humans, who were trying to run for the hills. Even after all that the humans FORGAVE the towns folk and left the town a few hours later. Seems like New Appaloosa is popping up with all kinds of new things; first, the Stable Dweller, now real humans. Speaking of the Stable Dweller, she is currently celebrating her successful escape from Fillydelphia with a new zebra friend and because of that my voice can finally be heard in that hell hole. Take that Red eye! And now here’s Velvet Remedy singing.“

I cut off the radio, completely surprised. ‘How the fuck can he know about us so fast?!’ I thought, I realised that the others needed to know this, so I ran around to where the guys were to tell them. Just as I was about to speak Peter stopped me by showing his pistol in my mouth.
I cried out in alarm and fell backwards, landing on my ass. Peter towered over me and held the gun towards my head, I was terrified, Peter was going to shoot me, he began to pull the trigger when Nathan punched the gun out of his hands and grabbed the taller soldier by his chest staring into his eyes, with a fire I have never seen before from the young man.

“WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING?!” Nathan screamed at him. Peter glared at me and saw my face, Scrunched up in horror, shock, betrayal and fear.
“You said she became one of them Jordan!” he spun pointing at him.
“I said her eyes are glowing, not that she…” he tried to counter, but I interrupted him in a panic. “MY EYES ARE GLOWING!?” I started, stood up and screamed, the shock of the Ghoul earlier, Peter nearly blowing my brain out and the news that my eyes were glowing was too much for me to deal with at once, I was about to scream again when Nathan shook me, I looked at him, he was looking at me with a reassuring look.
“Calm down.” He said and patted my shoulder. Peter got his gun back from the floor and holstered it.

“I'm sorry, Lyra...” He said solemnly, walked out the door and waited on the road.
I looked to Jordan and said: “So that’s what my pip-buck meant about Night sight then… my eyes are mutated… son of a bitch!” I was horrified to learn that within the few hours that I was in the equestrian wasteland, I had become one of the most fucked up humans in our species' history.

Jordan helped me walk to the door as I was in a state of shock. I looked over my shoulder and saw Nathan and Kieran giving each other a worried glance. I shook myself awake and stepped away from Jordan.
“I’m good, thanks though.” I said and stepped out into the open air, I walked over to Peter who was staring off in the direction we needed to go.

“So, where are we going now?” he asked.

I gasped and put my hand in the air “That is what I was going to tell you when… that happened… but anyway. I checked the radio and apparently we are already known by the locals, also the mare we are looking for is on her way to Manehatten too, so we need to hurry ok, because if she leaves for another fucking job, we will be left with empty hands, until she comes back, so let’s bloody move!” by saying that I got a cheer from the others and we all began to jog towards the distant city. We ran for about 2 miles before we needed to rest, so I decided we would walk for the rest of the way.

“Ok, ok jogging wasn’t a great idea, so we are going to walk there. I think have enough time to get there before she leaves as long as we walk quickly.” I said, getting nods from the others. After we counted up our ammo, I found that I had 547 bullets for my rifle and 174 for my pistol, I haven’t used my shotgun attachment yet. So I still had 72 shells.

“Ok, let’s go.” I said and we began walking. I pulled my helmet off my duffle bag and looked at it, the tech visor is the newest addition to the military arsenal, It outlines enemies and has a small range motion sensor, I forgot that I had the helmet, so after a brief check of its condition I put it on and activated the visor, the additional radar added to the HUD from the pip-buck made it really easy for me to judge distance and height.

A few minutes of walking later, I saw a small camp, There were 3 camp fires in barrels and multiple hung up pony corpses, the sight of the ponies hung up like decorations made me sick.
I crouched low and ordered the others to follow me.
We moved over to the side of the road. Kieran gave me his sniper and let me take a look, there were about 12 ponies around the camp, with tattered leather armour, covered in blood. I saw a cage built out of steel bars in the middle of the camp. Inside that cage was a sight that made me grit my teeth in anger. There were ponies in there 3 adults and 12 foals.

“Marines, we got some kidnapping over there, I guess from what those fuckers are wearing and the ‘beautiful’ decorations they have scattered around means they are raiders.” I took another look and saw one of the foals get whipped on the back. We heard the scream from our position.
“The motherfuckers are hurting children!” I threw Kieran’s rifle back to him and pulled out my own.
“Turn on your walkie-talkies and get ready, everyone got a silent weapon?” I got nods from everyone. “Good. Use them, this is a stealth rescue, and if we are noticed by the raiders they might hurt the hostages, so we need to secure the perimeter around the hostages first.” I looked to Kieran.
“Kieran, you are going to stay here and I will radio you with targets.”
I looked to the others. “Me and peter are going left, the brothers will go right.”

“Yes, ma’am.” they said and then we all separated.

I and Peter went to the camp's left side; I pulled my pistol out and turned on the laser sight. I listened for movement at the wall and heard some of the raiders talking.
“So you hear about those humans on the radio then?” a stallion said, a mare spoke back: “Yeah but it’s a load of shit. Humans don’t exist, that’s final. Now shut up! We are going to have some fun with that unicorn filly now, so come on!” she said and they walked out of the shack we were leaning against.

“I’m stopping those plans bitch.” I whispered and moved to the edge, where I could see them clearly. I took aim and silently dispatched both of them with a head shot each. Their falls were anything but silent, as they landed on a piece of sheet metal creating a loud crash.

“Fuck!” Peter muttered next to me, as a mare began to walk over, she saw the bodies and pulled out a whistle, her head exploded suddenly ending her warning before it could even begin.

“Thanks, Kieran.” I spoke into the radio.

“Welcome.” He replied, with a chuckle.

“Nathan, where are you?” Peter asked, looking past his cover deeper into the camp.

Nathan answered in a whisper “3 raiders in our way, sitting and drinking some alcohol. I can’t see any others, so me and Jordan are clearing them out.” We heard some silenced shots over the radio. “Now, all clear.” He chuckled at the end.
I gestured for us to move forwards with my hand, me and Peter walked into the camp, I used the motion tracker and the HUD, following the blips to the some raiders who were asleep.

“I feel like a bastard doing this.” I whispered to Peter as we went to work, cutting their throats while they slept.
“That’s 10. 2 left.” I said to Peter and through the radio to the others.
“I counteract that, there is only one left, the guard on the roof is missing a brain.” Kieran said with a cold tone. The last raider is the one with the whip near the cage.

“I recommend simply shooting the fucker. I have visual on him but I can’t get a clear shot.” I ordered to everyone as Peter and I walked out the door of the sleeping quarters and snuck around the cage. Every single pony was staring at us, while we were sneaking past, a little filly was going to say something, but I shushed her with a finger to the lips. The ponies all nodded back to me and looked to the raider.
I crept closer, until I was on the corner of the cage, the closest to the raider and Peter was at the other side. He walked around the corner, getting the attention of the whip wielding raider.

“Hello! May I please distract you for a moment?” he asked as I slipped behind the raider.
“You want to die mutant?” The raider giggled evilly and swung the whip in a combat ready stance.
I patted him on the shoulder.

“Nope, you do!” I cried out and stuck the military knife into his skull. He hit the ground with a thump and I turned to Peter. “Please may I distract you for a moment?” I laughed “Really?” he nodded.

“Hey it worked didn’t it?” he said and we turned to the captive ponies.

“So do you know which one of these bastards had the key?” I asked and they shook their heads.

“Well looks like we are going to search the bodies then.” Peter said and searched the whip raider. He had some bottle caps and a hat but no key.
I walked back to the bunk house while Peter waved Nathan and Jordan over; they emerged with a bag jingling loudly. I stopped and turned to them.

“What the hell is in the bag?” I asked and Nathan called back to me.

“I searched the raiders we killed, they had some caps and shitty weapons we can sell or take the parts for...” I waved to them and walked in the bunkhouse.
As soon as I had walked through the door Kieran spoke over the radio.
“Oh shit, everybody hide, we got a returning party of raiders coming back with some captured locals about 3 in total. There are 7 raiders and one of looks like the leader, from the way he keeps hitting the others, so he might have the key.”

I saw Nathan and Peter drag the body of the whip raider away with them behind the cage. Jordan burst through the door and dived past me and hid behind a desk, I did the same and we waited together.

“They have found the bodies… the search parties are already searching for you, everyone be ready, I will take out the leader as soon as possible then I need you to take them all out.” As soon as he finished talking 2 raiders ran through the open door, me and Jordan leaned down more and held our breath.
“Fuck! Everypony in here is dead too, I am going to kill who ever fucking did this!” an earth pony stallion shouted, furiously.
The unicorn mare next to him sniffed the air. She looked towards the desk, right at us.
“There!” she shouted and pointed at us, me and Jordan shot up in an instant, I fired my shotgun Into her face while Jordan blew the head off of the stallion, they never even got to aim their guns at us.

???????“Fuck, you’ve been spotted!” Kieran warned. I saw the leader, who shouted his last order, before he fall dead on the ground with a sniper rifle round in his throat that ended his reign.

“They are all heading for you in the bunk house!” Peter said over the radio.
“We’re coming.” Nathan called.
I heard gunshots and saw three of the ponies outside the door falling over while the forth dove inside.
“Fuck! Goddesses dammit!” he called out and levitated his gun back to him, while grabbing multiple grenades.

I shot up and used S.A.T.S. Using it caused time to slow to a crawl and I lined up my shots, 3 to the head and one to the heart, he bit the dust without a sound.

I ran out of the bunk house, leaving Jordan, and went to check on the captured ponies. They all looked up at me in fear.

“DON’T EAT US!” the filly of the group called out and hid under her father. Both parents looked just as scared as she did.

“Jesus Christ, what the fuck did those assholes do to you?” I asked as I cut through the ropes that were holding them there. They looked at me with confused looks.

“You aren’t going to kill us?” her father, the green unicorn asked and I shook my head.

“We help, not harm.” I said simply and he smiled. He and his family sat in a huddle on the floor as I walked over to the raiders' leader. His throat was nothing but a pile of gore.

“Eww jeez... seeing this is fucking disgusting.” I reached into his pockets and found lots of caps, a weird pistol and a key. I also found some little boxes that my pip-buck identified as magical energy cells. I put them in my empty ammo pocket, and put the pistol in my leg holster, the one I used for my desert eagle, which I left back in our world.
I skipped over to the cage and tried the key, it opened and I was bombarded with multiple pony foals hugging me. I was flabbergasted by the amount of praise I was receiving, I had never expected it. I looked over to the ponies in the back of the cage who were smiling at me.

“Are you the Stable Dweller?” they asked me. I shook my head.
“Nah that honour is taken by a mare. Don’t thank just me, friends did a great job too. ” I said humbly.

I looked at the foals grabbing my legs they all looked up at me smiling, despite their cuts and bruises they were the most adorable things I had ever laid my eyes upon in person. Their large grateful eyes melted my soul.

“Err thanks for the hugging kids but can I have my legs back now please?” I joked.
They backed away smiling. I smiled back and then left to talk to Nathan and Peter. Jordan had left to get Kieran.

“So what now? What are we going to do with them?” I said and gestured to the pony family then the ones in the cage. Peter looked over then walked in between both pony groups.

“OK PONIES!” he hollered, getting the all of the attention. “Do you where you can get to safety?” one of the small fillies from the cage walked up to him. I walked closer as she spoke.

“The raiders killed everypony in our town, leaving only us… we have nowhere to go.” I nearly started crying, the horror I felt in my heart made me so internally glad that the raiders were dead. I held the tears back and walked to the family.

“What about you… do you know anywhere these ponies can go?” they looked up and the mare, a black earth pony spoke up.

“There is a town up the road, a couple of miles away, called New Appaloosa. They take a few ponies in now and then.” I sighed with a little relief and a little disappointment.

“Yes, I know that place… Would you lead them there? I will give you this pistol for the trip. We would take them but we are heading the other way.” She nodded and so did the other ponies.

“We live past there and were heading that way. We will also search the raiders for weapons we may need, so don't worry about us.” I thanked them before looking at them coldly.

“You are very generous and I thank you for taking them, but I must warn you, if you harm them or betray them we will come back for you… just to let you know.” The adult ponies nodded honestly and I nodded back, then I walked to the others and spoke loud and clear.

“Ok, these ponies over here have arranged to take you with them to New Appaloosa. There you will be free to do whatever you want. Take anything you need from the raiders equipment, then meet at the road, us humans will see you off and we wish you good luck. We apologise that we cannot take you there ourselves but we are in a rush to Manehatten.” They nodded and thanked.
Jordan and Kieran arrived looking around.

“So are we taking them somewhere?” Jordan asked. I shook my head.

“No they are all heading off to New Appaloosa, while we carry on towards the city.” I looked back and saw the ponies had finished raiding already, some of them had rifles and knives, while others had more basic weapons like pipes. They walked past us waving goodbyes as they left. After they were all gone Peter, Jordan, Nathan and Kieran walked up to me.

“Great work lets bloody hurry before we miss, Littlepip!” I ordered and we departed quickly. I took a quick look back at the camp. That was our first wasteland heroics and I felt pretty good. I smirked to myself and quickly ran to catch up with my friends.

“So, that was pretty eventful and now I feel really good about myself, what about you guys?” I asked with a smile as I caught up.
Nathan was the first to answer. “That felt better than any of our previous rescues from back on Earth… that gratitude was the warmest thing I've experienced.” he smiled as he said that, Kieran was the next to answer.

“I have to agree with Nathan here, I have never seen anyone that relieved before anthro ponies or not those were nice people we saved.” He smirked as he said ‘anthro ponies’ and chuckled after he finished.

“Yup, I do feel really good about what we just did, and hope they all have a great life ahead of them.” Peter said truthfully.
Jordan just chuckled and patted my back.

A few hours later we crossed over a large hill on the road, at the top we looked over and saw the large destroyed city in the distance. It made my heart ache as I could clearly picture the glory this place once had. Peter suddenly pointed out and shouted.

“There the building that’s lit up. That must be the tower.” I smiled and quickly turned on the radio. I heard the end of a song before DJ PON-3 began the broadcast.

“Hello children, here’s the news. The Stable Dweller is here in Ten pony for some well-earned rest after her escape from a hell hound infested hell hole earlier today, but now those humans we all been hearing about have shown signs of being, yep you guessed it, REAL heroes. There have been confirmed reports that the human soldiers lead by a Miss Lyra Locke have defeated a whole Raider camp and saved a lot of ponies today, so look out Raiders and Slavers out there.??????????????????? It looks like the wasteland is throwing everything she has at you guys now, and now for a public wasteland safety bulletin.” I quickly had an idea and grabbed my radio, then turned to Keiran.

“Kieran, can you hack into the signal of the Ten pony broadcast?” I asked, he jumped then smirked.

“Yes, but why? What’s the plan?”
“The DJ said that the Stable dweller is AT the tower now, which means If I can talk to him maybe we can delay her from leaving and give us some more time to get there!” I smiled at him and he nodded. Keiran got his hacking device and he began to turn the knobs and dials for a few seconds. He then threw me the box.
“Signal’s tapped. Plug that to your radio to get access to the signal, it used to be a military emergency broadcast station, so it was easy to hack into.”
I plugged the device into my radio.

“Hello?” I spoke into the microphone DJ PON-3 instantly went quiet, everyone turned on the radio to listen in.
“DJ PON-3?” I asked and he replied, sounding confused and surprised.

“Hello! Who the hay is this and how are you talking to me live on air?” DJ asked me.

“Human ingenuity, which I won’t reveal. I asking that you need to keep the Stable Dweller at Ten pony for as long as possible. I NEED to talk to her.” DJ replied:

“Fine. Are you Lyra by any means?” he asked. I looked over to Nathan who was staring in shock.

“Yes, I am. I need to talk to Littlepip, so please keep her there, me and my friends will be there soon.” He replied a few seconds later.

“Sure, I will try… err do you think that on some of my broadcasts we can have talks to keep the world in the new, while you are travelling Miss Locke?” I laughed and answered.

“Fine sure but I will like to have our first chat in person… or is it in pony here? Well anyway, Good bye DJ! I will see you soon!” I ceased the radio transmit icon and listened in to hear his reply.

“Well you heard it here folks. The humans have tech that can get into my systems, so I will be talking to her soon. And now some music.” As some upbeat music came on I turned off the radio, and got a slap across the cheek.

“Damn it, woman! What the hell were you thinking?” Nathan said in a stereotypical black American accent as I rubbed my cheek. We both started laughing, the laughter soon spread to the others as we began walking towards the city where our mission begins.

Level up.
New perks: Lyra.
Night sight: your tragic turn of events with the glowing ghoul has had an effect on your body. Your eyes have now mutated and when you are sick with radiation sickness, you'll be able to see in the dark clearly. Your eye whites are permanently tinted orange, which might lead to mixed results.
DJ talkie: You can now speak to the word of the wastes DJ PON-3. Luck increased by 1, speech increased by 5.
Wasteland hero: your title is now known around the wastes. Keep up the good work and ponies will come to like you.
Skill Increase: Jordan
Medicine + 10
Melee + 5
S.P.E.C.I.A.L Increase: Peter
Charisma + 1
New Perks: Peter

Almost Betrayal. Your terrible choice, when dealing with an ally’s mutation has led to a large amount of guilt that you cannot get over. Speech – 4, barter – 1.

Skill Increase: Kieran
Guns + 1

Skill Increase: Nathan
Sneak + 2

Chapter 7: Manehatten and Tenpony.

Chapter 7: Manehatten.
We were walking towards the city, the darkened clouds thickening above us as we walked, creating a feeling of dread that we all were secretly ignoring. I was leading the group followed by Peter , Nathan, Jordan and finally at the rear was Kieran.

“I still doubt that talking to the DJ was a good idea.” Peter said.

“Peter now that the DJ knows that we’re coming he will keep Littlepip there for longer and getting into the tower will be easier for us too.” Nathan explained.

“How will it?” Peter asked, turning back to Nathan with a glare.

“Well now they will know that we are not ponies and stuff, Peter imagine them thinking we were more ghoul ponies.” Nathan paused before adding. “With a face like yours that was most likely inevitable.” He finished with a smirk. Peter simply punched him in the arm, very hard. Nathan called out in pain.

“Ah, you tit why did you have to hit me?” he asked, rubbing his arm. The rest of us just laughed and continued marching onwards, glad to of had the mood lightened by Nathan’s antics.

After roughly 40 minutes of walking, with Nathan and Peter bickering the whole way, we reached the first corpses from the city after its initial bombing, there were lots of skeletons, they were hanging outside of chariot windows and a few buildings too.

“God damn…this is horrible, there are hundreds of them!” I said as we passed a large cluster.

Kieran was the most upset about this because of all the death, he simply stared at each skeleton he saw, in horrified silence.

We passed some burned buildings and watched as the skeletons became nothing more than ash piles the closer we got to the city. Jordan spotted something depressing, a bus like vehicle filled with skeletons much smaller than the ones we saw before.

“Little kids…this might have been a school bus?” Nathan stated as we walked past. I spotted a destroyed house and ordered everyone inside, as the sun was setting and I needed to think.

“So we rest here or carry on for a little longer into the night?” after a few seconds of pondering we put it to a vote. Jordan and Kieran and I voted to carry on while Peter and Nathan voted to stay.

“Looks like you guys are outvoted get your asses in gear.” After some serious groaning from Peter and Nathan we carried on.
The sun had set by the time we reached the first skeletal skyscrapers of the Manehatten ruins. The buildings themselves cut out any remaining light, leaving ruined street we were walking through in complete darkness, even the combined effort of all five of our pip-buck lights were not enough to illuminate more than a few feet in front of us, we were getting more and more irritated and nervous of the dark until.

“its pitch BLACK AND I CAN’T SEE SHIT!” Jordan screamed, annoyed.

Everyone else stared at him with shock and horror, we then prepared ourselves for any and all raiders that come to kill us, none came.

“Err Lieutenant,I think we got lucky.” Kieran sighed relieved, that relief was short lived as Nathan began to tremble.

“Lyra oh my god, look up!” Nathan said with a very shaky voice.

We all followed his gaze upwards to the darkened buildings above, attached to the walls were many red eyes, all staring at us with hungry looks.
I instantly searched my memory of The Wasteland survival guide for what these things are I remembered reading about creatures that matched their appearance they were Bloodwings These creatures were deadly, they fly down to grab a prey, bite them and within a few seconds the prey is drained of all fluids and is dead, everypony was afraid of these.
And now there were about 45 of them flying towards us.

“Oh, shit.” Peter commented dumbly.

“RUN LIKE HELL!” I screamed, I span on my heels and started running at a full sprint away from the incoming swarm of death. I sprinted down the streets towards the only light I could actually see, which was TenPony tower further into the ruins.

With the others just behind me I ran down the main street as fast as possible, a skyscraper had collapsed into the street ahead but Peter had spotted an alley, which we all then sprinted down, the Bloodwings were getting close to us so I took a peep behind me to see many red eyes much too close for comfort, my logical thinking went out the window at that moment as terror overtook my body and I screamed.

I picked up the speed and ran faster than I had ever ran in my life before.
Nathan looked back and saw the nightmare right behind us and was suddenly in front of me.

“Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit!” he shouted shouting as he ran.
We ran out of the alley and into a large street which was still mostly clear of debris.

I looked around quickly for an escape from the creatures of death behind us and spotted an open door to the left of us.

“In there now!” I ordered and we ran inside and slammed the door closed.

“Jesus fucking Christ…What the hell were those things!?” Jordan asked out of breath.

“Those were Bloodwings.” A voice said behind us causing everyone to spin around weapons up and aimed in less than half a second.
Before us was a small squad of griffin mercenaries.

“Weapons down ponies we aren't going to kill you.” The leader a large female said waving her talon around in a somewhat calming manner. It was weird seeing an anthro griffin. She was just like the show’s griffins except she was bipedal like us.

“Sorry to intrude but those things were fucking horrible!” I said lowering my weapon. The griffin laughed then asked a question I never expected.

“Are you from Trottingham because you have the accent?” she asked with and inquisitive look.
I replied casually intending to confuse them.

“Nah, I am from Wirral. Which is over the river from the city of Liverpool. It is a nice place to party seeing as the city wasn’t damaged at all.” That got them staring at me like I had said there was no sun.

“There is an undamaged city out there?!” I sighed before correcting them.
“Not on this planet.” Their faces scrunched up in confusion.
“Err what?” The griffin asked me. Nathan started laughing which soon spread throughout the group of Marines.
The griffins were looking frustrated and confused but let the matter drop with a synchronized sigh . “You are the first griffins we have met so far.” I said after I managed to stop laughing. The griffins
huffed.
“I have met hundreds of ponies so.” She was cut off by Peter.

“We are not Ponies.” They stared at us and squinted to try to get a better look. In response to this Me and Peter took off our helmets. I pulled my long hair back more and they could see my face.

“Oh…then may I ask what the hell you are?” the griffin behind the boss said.
“Humans” Nathan replied simply, getting a gasp from the griffins.

“So you are the one that spoke to DJ on the radio? No one has ever managed to do that…you’re Kind of revered as possible heroes by now.” The boss put out her talon for me to shake.

“I’m Hammer; Nice to meet ya.” She smiled and I was surprised to see that she had teeth even with a beak. I smiled back, trying to keep my revelation secret.

“Lieutenant Lyra Locke, it’s nice to meet you too.” The others saluted and said their names
“Lance corporal Peter Meeks.” He Saluted quickly but efficiently.
“Corporal Nathan Hughes.” He cocks his SMG and nods.
“Sargent Kieran Richardson.” Kieran simple nods slowly.
“Lance corporal Jordan Hughes.” Jordan raised his hand up with a thumb up gesture.

The other griffins behind Hammer looked over.
“I’m Blunder.” He said nodding at us. The third chuckled before spoke.
“And I am Crash. Are you guy’s mercenary? Because you seem trained.” I shook my head.

“No, Military.” They nodded with acceptance and mild intrigue.
I walked over to the door and opened it a peep, the street outside looked clear. I opened it fully and stepped outside but I was grabbed by a hand and a talon Nathan’s and Hammer’s .

“Don’t go out there!” Nathan hissed.

“I am just checking to see if the fuckers are gone.” I whispered back and shook my arm loose and snuck out into the street. I looked up and nearly pissed myself. They were all there waiting for me from the wall of the skyscraper ABOVE the doorway. They began to flap their wings ready to attack. One dropped and blocked the doorway, which Hammer then slapped closed.

“Meet me at the tower!” I screamed and ran.

*****************************

Nathan’s P.O.V
Poor Lyra the last thing I see is her sprinting through an alley with all of bloodwings behind her.

“Oh my god. That poor girl.” Hammer looked out the door shaking her head.
“Guys we’re going now Lyra is in very deep shit!” I roared at the other marines. The griffins backed out if our way and we charged out the door. The last thing I heard Hammer say was.
“that is some loyalty right there.” The door was slowly closed then as we exited into the, now, Silent Street.

******************************

Lyra’s P.O.V
I could see the tower now clearly, it’s one street away from where I was currently running.
I looked behind me to see if the bloodwings are still following me, they were.

“Fuck you assholes!” I shouted and picked up speed I rounded a corner and my boots skid on the broken concrete. My momentum stopped dead as I barely managed to stay standing.
That was a bad mistake I had slowed down and one of them managed to grab me. It ascended taking me with it into the air, I could see the others give chase to the one carrying me.

“NOOO!” I screamed and stuck my knife into the eye of the bloodwing carrying me just as it was about to bite into me, It shrieked in pain and dropped me.

"OH SHIT!" I screamed as I began to fall.

I fell about 12 meters, Smashing through a window. I pulled myself off the floor and took a peep out the window I had crashed through. Ten pony towers walkway was just down the street the bloodwings being shot at by some turrets and a few guards On higher walkways I never saw before.

“Just…ow…need to get there.” I said aloud and thought of a quick plan.

I hopped out the window and started sprinting towards the walkway. Inhuman screeches sounded above me I grabbed my rifle and fired at the monsters. I ran up the walkway and clambered up the ladder to the front door. There was an intercom by the door so I hit the call button.

“Hello who the hell is out there?” a female voice came through the speakers. A Bloodwing flew at me and I dodged it sending it into the wall. I ran back to the door and pushed the button.

“Please for the love of god open this door right now!” I screamed loudly into the microphone.a second later the voice replied.

“Why who is this?” the voice replied cautiously. I screamed as a Bloodwing swung at me and I dodged by diving to the left, only just managing to get back to the intercom.

“Let me in or I am going to die, I have Bloodwings crawling after me OPEN UP NOW!” I screamed.

“By the goddesses!” she cursed. A second later the door opened loudly, a Bloodwing Pinned me to the ground.
I screamed, but before the mutant bat could bite me, a burrage of bullets entered its head spraying my face with blood. I was up on my feet again within 3 seconds before dashing through the door. The mare security guard with a combat shotgun quickly closed the door again.

“Thank you, The fucker almost got me.” I panted.

“Yeah, now come here.” She said calmly.
“One moment, I need to contact my friends.” I said and got my radio, and switched to Nathan’s signal.
“NATHAN I made it! Make sure you all stay in cover, meet me in the morning!” I said into the radio. He replied sounding relieved.
“Thank god…fine we will hide here.” I waited for a few seconds and a squad of security guards walked into the room. The unicorn mare walked up to me now that I had done what I needed to do.

“Ok if you want to enter Ten pony tower I need you to hand over all ammunition to us right now.” She ordered and levitated a box over before holding it out for me with her hands.
“Will I get it back?” I asked and she nodded. “All ammo is returned upon your departure.” I took all my magazines and shells out of my pockets and put them in the box she provided. “Please don’t touch it ok?” I asked and she closed the box.

“We won’t touch any of your possessions. We will now scan you for any concealed ammo.” I was about to protest that I had to remove the ammo from my guns too, but I was too late. Her horn glowed then turned red when she scanned me.

“ I said hand over ALL ammo!” she growled I sighed with minor irritation.
“Jesus Christ you literally just took the box away before I could unload my guns, That’s why they are still loaded, can I have the box back then?” I said calmly and started to unload my weapons, My Assault rifle mag was removed and the chambered bullet ejected and placed into the box, shortly followed by my pistol’s ammo, I finally unloaded my shotgun Attachment’s shells into the box and searched myself.

“Yep, I think that’s all of it now.” I said honestly. The mare looked at me.

“One more scan then.” She replied and her horn lit up again. It stayed the same colour until it reached my chest and it flashed red. the mare looked really pissed off at me.

“That’s it I said ALL AMMO!” she grabbed me in her magic and pinned me to the floor.

“But I gave all my ammo for God’s sake!” I protested while she forcefully removed my chest armour, which took ages because of the advanced materials used to make it, and looked at my chest, more specifically my dog tags, secured to my tag’s chain was a single 50 Cal bullet, the bullet was deactivated before I bought it, but It was cool so I got it as a little luck bringer. The security mare sighed and rubbed her face with her hand.

“I see you’re just using an old bullet as a necklace…and you appear to be mercenary or Military, that’s good to note…as is the fact that now I get a good look at you, you’re not a pony.” She finished the last part more to herself than to me.

“Well yeah, I'm not a pony I am military and I have only used this bullet as a necklace. Can I please get up now?” I looked up at her with an innocent smile. She looked back with a deadpan look.

“Yeah, let me help you up.” She grabbed my hand and pulled me back to my feet, her hand felt fluffy and I almost commented on it but managed to stop myself before I embarrassed us both. I put my body armour back on and picked up my bag, she had knocked it against a wall when she pinned me, I finally put my helmet back on and looked to her.

“So, can I go in now?” I asked. She shook her head and led me through the door with a sigh.

“Welcome to ten pony tower the stores are on these floors here.” She pointed to the 4th 5th and 6th floors on a map of the tower that was on the wall.

“Anywhere above is residential or security.” She finished. I nodded and she opened the door into a brightly lit area with a lot of ponies inside.
Every one of them stared at me with curiosity or disgust. I instantly remembered why I hated high school.

“Oh they look happy to see me.” I muttered to myself.

A dress wearing Unicorn mare threw a rag at me and muttered about mutant filth. She got a hard glare from the guard.
Instead of glaring back at her I flipped her off and said to her quite loudly.

“I am not a mutant you pansy Racist fucktard!” leaving her in a state of shock I walked with the guard to where she was leading me.

"Huh she isn't gonna forget that for a long time." the guard commented smugly.

“Is the stable dweller here?” I asked the guard turned with a suspicious look.

“Why?” she asked the distrust clear as crystal in her voice. I simply told her the truth.

“I want to talk to her about joining mine and her groups together.” The guard looked a little stunned. Appreciative of the plan.

"Really?" she asked.

“Yes, Pretty much.” I answered with a chuckle.

“Yeah well if that’s your plan I guess I can tell you, she can handle herself anyway. So here, she is upstairs she heard about you on the radio and is very intrigued, One of her friends usually can be found spending her caps in the markets so I recommend talking to her first.” The guard said.

“Thank you.” I smiled but then realised I don’t know what this friend looks like or Littlepip herself.

“Err what do they look like?” the guard looked at me before leading me to a staircase.

“Stable mare, she is a grey unicorn with a brown mane and tail. She has a Pegasus with a cowpony hat he’s brown with a lighter brown mane, and a zebra too. That is the simple give away to spot her group but she also has that Unicorn friend who comes down to barter for them, she’s charcoal with a white mane and tail with a red and yellow coloured streaks going through them.” She looked at me with a curious look, I know she wants to ask about me more, but knows she doesn't have time.
.
“Thanks I have friends arriving when the bloodwings back off, Ok?” I asked and she nodded.

“I’ll keep an eye out.” She walked over towards the security room, waving a small goodbye while I headed up the stairs.
As I opened the door to the 5th floor I walked right into a unicorn mare she had white hair with a yellow and red stripe through it.
‘Oh it’s that other unicorn!’ I thought to myself, I quickly made sure my darkened Helmet goggled were lowered properly so she can’t see my eyes, finding that they were I was relieved.

“Oh my apologies are you…ok?” she had to pause when she saw me.

“Yes hello I am fine and NO I am not a mutant the names Lyra Locke. You?” I said as I offered my hand she shook it cautiously and I finally noticed something pretty noticeable with the ponies hands. They only have 3 fingers on their hand instead of 4.

“Ok well my name is Velvet Remedy.” She said, a little cautious. I smiled at her.

“Nice to meet you.” I said and crossed my arms “Do you know a Littlepip?” I asked and her eyes shot wide.

“May I ask why?” she asked giving me questioning glare.

“I really need to talk to her about something involving, Watcher.” I said honestly but quietly. She looked at me then nodded.

“Fine I am one of her friends and I am going to trust you for now but if you try anything-“ I cut her off.

“Please I want to be her friend, not harm her… I have a group too and I wanted to meet her and tell her some idea watcher had.”

Velvet gave me a quick stare then smiled sincerely. “You are telling the truth I have a good guess of character and can see it plain as day…fine follow me.” Her voice was definitely sophisticated I noticed as I began to follow her. We walked to the less populated part of the floor, from there she led me to an elevator.

“Our room is up here and I want to make it clear before you get any ideas. Don’t steal from us.” She said sternly. I instantly got the message, even though I never planned to steal anyway.

“Not interested in anything I don’t steal from people, not like that, ever.” I replied honestly with a minor chill in my voice, I hated being suspected of theft.

The elevator dinged and the door opened, I was still surprised that any elevators actually still worked after the bombings but never voiced my confusion.
Outside was a nicely lit corridor with multiple rooms, the walls as usual were cracked a little with time but other than that it was pretty clean.

Velvet walked out and I followed her closely, preparing myself to meet with the Stable Dweller herself, that name started to ring a few bells in my head now that I had time to think clearly. Where had I heard it before? I couldn't remember so just shrugged it off and focused once again on following the Charcoal mare in front of me.

She led me down the corridor in silence until we reached a room at the end of the hall. She stopped outside and looked at me I looked at the door then back to her.

“One question about you before we go in. are your eyes supposed to be orange, as I am sure I have seen ponies with those eyes somewhere?” she asked with minor concern. I looked at her with surprise.

“How can you see through my darkened goggles?” I asked alarmed.

“Well they are glowing bright enough to see through the darkened glass.” She replied simply.

Fuck my eyes had been discovered, maybe that would complicate things, maybe it wouldn't but now I was nervous.

“No, my eyes are not supposed to be glowing orange.The ponies you may have seen would most likely have been ghouls…can I go inside and meet Littlepip now?” I asked.

She looked sympathetic for a second before she opened the door and gestured inside.
I walked into the room, it was pretty clean with a few bits of equipment on the floor, I was about to ask if anyone was actually there when I was suddenly pinned against the wall. My helmet clad head slammed into the wall hard and my vision blurred.
I couldn’t see my attacker but I could feel them holding me against the wall with all her strength.

“Who are you, what are you!?” a female African voice spoke up from next to my ear.

I knew this meant I was being pinned by the zebra I heard about, her grip tightened when I tried to turn around, stopping me from looking at her. Desperately I thought of what I could do., I came up with the Idea of simply calling for help.

“VELVET! Why am I being used as a wallpaper replacement by someone?” I shouted. My current position with my mouth pressed against the old plaster wall made my voice sound muffled and quiet. I heard Velvet’s hoofsteps approach the Zebra mare pinning me before speaking to her softly.

“Xenith, can you please let her go dear, I brought her hear to see Littlepip.” Velvet nodded to me.

I finally managed to turn around , My eyesight cleared enough to see a very pissed off looking zebra with a knife in hand, the blade of the knife actually inches from my throat.

“Damn that’s a nice knife, where’d you get it?” I looked down to my knife holster to see mine missing.

“Oh that’s my knife, may I please have it back?” I smiled innocently as Xenith looks confused at me, then to Velvet.
I was let go and fell to the floor in a heap, the zebra said an apology and gave my back my knife before helping me back up.

“What’s all the noise in here for?” A female voice called out from behind a door, she sounded young but worn down, it then opened to reveal a short, by pony standards, Unicorn mare with grey fur and a brown mane. There she was, Littlepip, the stable dweller herself. She was exactly like I was expecting her to look, which was a surprise to me. she was skinny with a armoured vault suit, or should I say stable suit, and had a 44 magnum with a scope secured to her hip, she didn't have any boots, just her hooves. That I had expected because the ponies never really needed shoes like our feet do.

Behind her was a Pegasus with a brown coat and a slightly lighter shade of brown for his mane. a cowpony hat adorned his head and he was gripping a large sniper rifle tightly, looking at me with suspicion. he was wearing an old duster coat with some armour underneath as well as blue jean like pants. He also had no shoes on.

“Ah Littlepip good, this mare here wanted to speak with you about something.” Velvet said and pointed at me. Littlepip raised an eyebrow and walked up to me, we were exactly the same height, I had noticed that Humans were shorter than the ponies here but now that I, a very tall human woman was eye to eye with a short Unicorn mare it all added up. She looked me up and down once before finally speaking.

“So, what do you want to talk about?” She asked calmly, her hand had reached round to grip at a 44 magnum, a just in case that I respected. I looked deep into her green eyes

“Err well when I first arrived here I was approached by a flying sprite bot…” I began to explain the plan we had thought of and what we may do together. Littlepip had one question.

“What have you done so far?” she asked. I informed them all of everything my friends and I had accomplished in our short stay here so far.
Littlepip and Calamity were really impressed when I had told them of the Raider base rescue.

“And well that’s it really, what do you think, we've only been here a little while and already started to help like that, are me and my group good enough to join up with yours?” I asked hopefully. Littlepip smiled gently before looking at me.

“You've cheered me up, let me remember that there are others out there who care like I do, You know what, I think that it may be a good idea for us to link forces you know, lets make a trial run, you and your friend get to come with us for a little while and we check out your skill, if your good you can stay, but if you are a burden then we would part ways but still be allies, that seem fair to you?” She asked with a wink.

Calamity spoke up next.
“I think that you and y’all friends all earned a place with us, good work with them raiders, a trial run seems a good choice though, I vote to agree with Littlepip on that.” He said calmly.
velvet just nodded and so did Xenith, it looked like all was agreed so far.

“So Littlepip. The name’s Lyra, do we have a deal?” I asked and held out my hand.

“Deal.” She replied and we shook on it, a new alliance had been formed.

Author's Note

Here's chapter 7. Sorry if there are more grammer screw ups than usual, I currently have no editor at the moment.

Anyway here you go, Chaos in the streets then ending with an amazing meeting. We'll all see how well this trial goes for Lyra and her men.

Chapter 8: Nightmares and Ten Pony

Author's Note

Just so everyone knows, all humans mentioned in this story are real people. and all are just as random as real life, I hope you enjoy reading and I love you all.

P.s Sorry for the huge delay in uploads... life has been a littttttttlllee poop lately, I will try to upload more as soon as i can, enjoy!

Chapter 8: Nightmares and Ten Pony

Chapter 8: Nightmares and Shopping.

I looked around, I was in a House, it wasn’t destroyed in fact it was quite nicely decorated, I recognised it instantly.
“I’m at home, home….” I gasped and turned around, looking at the photos above the small fireplace to make sure.
It was a little different than the last time I remembered, there were some pictures missing. It took me a good few seconds to realise which ones were. Only the newest ones were missing, my first day at basic training, my picture of me, my mother, my two sisters and my girlfriend all smiling is also gone, as well as a lot of my high school pictures.

“I wonder where they all are…” I looked around my living room, now noticing the curtains closed and it being mostly dark, I nervously walked to the door and looked out into the hall. I caught my reflection in the mirror; I looked horrible, my eyes glowing in the dark and dirt covering my face.
“Oh Jesus Christ you need a bath.” I sighed and rubbed my forehead, I noticed I still had the pip-buck, I checked the map and it actually had my home address in highlighted in my current location. I heard a noise coming from my kitchen.
I decided to sneak up to the kitchen door. When I got there I peeked in, inside was my whole family, My mother, both sisters, grandparents and even my father and his new family, which shocked me as he never is seen with my mother ever. I looked at them and noticed they all were crying.
I was getting worried so I called out. “Mum, Dad? What’s wrong?” not a single person responded. I took a few steps inside and tapped my Nan’s shoulder, to my horror my finger went right inside her.
“I can’t believe she’s gone.” It’s the first thing I heard any of them say, and it came from a voice I didn’t expect, I peeked over my nan’s shoulder and saw the speaker, my little niece, Macie.

My older sister Charlotte reached over and hugged her.
I looked up at my mother and followed her gaze, my eyes fixed on what they were all staring at. It was a shrine, to me. A newspaper clipping above it with the picture my CO had taken before we had taken off in the helicopter, written above.

‘New Military helicopter declared failure after first ended up in KIA of all Operators with no wreckage recovered’ it then had our names written below. I looked and saw all the photos of me positioned around the shrine with my birth certificate in a frame. I felt my heart sink as tears entered my eyes; they all thought I was dead. And all of them were suffering, I didn't care if this was some kind of vision or a nightmare, I needed to talk to them, let them know I wasn't dead.
“Oh god, MUM, DAD I’m NOT DEAD IM RIGHT HERE!” I waved my arms around desperately trying to get any of their attention. I was in desperate panic moving from each member of my family, trying to get any of them to pay attention to me.
“NAN, GRANDAD, CHARLOTTE, DAD, MACIE, ALFIE, MUM, TAMZIN, SOPHIE! SOMEBODY HEAR ME!!!” I broke down falling to my knees, with each and every one of the people I cared for the most unable to hear any of it.
“They can’t hear you, you know that don’t you?” a deep male slightly creepy voice said from behind me, I turned around slowly and looked up, there before me now, was a skeleton pony shuffling a deck of cards, though how he seemed to smile at me creepily is unknown, it still shook me to my very core.
“What the fuck are you?” I said standing up, I was now completely shaken inside, shaking physically too, fists raised defensively.

The skeletal Pony grinned at me. “That does not concern you, what does, I presume, is what is around you now.” He smirks at me; it was honestly starting to piss me off more than scare me.
“Yeah, I guess you’re right there…why the fuck am I seeing my family?!” I yelled and pointed at him.
His reply was the most cruel thing I have ever heard “So you will suffer and learn from your suffering.” He said that so casually that I just froze, stared at him for a solid 12 seconds, as my blood began to boil.

“You, only did this, to make me suffer!?” I ground my teeth together and clenched my fists to hard that my leather gloves began to strain. “YOU FUCKING BASTARD!” I screamed and ran at him, he disappeared as I swung my fist at him, and I punched through one of my kitchen cupboards, pain spread through my entire arm and I screamed with agony.

The skeletal bastard began to laugh behind me. “My, my, dear Human you have more anger in you than even Blackjack has against me.” He smirked again which refueled my anger. I tore my arm back out of the cupboard door and ran at him again. He grabbed me by my throat and held me up. I was being choked and began to flail my legs as I tried to get free. He smiled. “I believe that you are going to be just as fun to mess with as Blackjack is.” That was followed by him throwing me through my kitchen window; I fell down darkness consuming me the last thing I see is his skeletal hands shuffling more cards and hear his dark laughter before darkness takes over everything.

***********
I shot awake screaming. I instantly looked around the room rapidly, checking for any signs of the skeletal dealer at all. Finding no trace I finally focused on where I was, and it was not where I had been last I remembered. I saw some kind of medical equipment near me so I guessed I am in a doctor’s lab or a hospital.

“Hey, you’re awake that’s good.” A male voice to my left said, I turned my head to look at him rapidly, he was a kind looking doctor with a good smile. “I am Doctor Helping Hoof, you gave us quite a scare.”

I sighed and calmed down a little but was still shaking all over. “What happened?” I asked weakly. He showed a glass jar with a piece of metal in.
“That was in the back of your head, it had ricocheted off the ground and up under your helmet. It severed a nerve so you could not feel it and it caused you to pass out from blood loss. Little Pip brought you to me quickly and because of her speed in doing so we managed to stop the bleeding in time. Unfortunately you were left unconscious because we had no blood bags that would not kill you.” He looked a little guilty as he confessed that, and I had to stop that immediately.

“No I’m a weird race you have never seen before, it’s okay. But how come I am awake now?” I rubbed my forehead and sat up in a more comfortable position.

Helping hoof points to a blood pack hanging above me “Your friends arrived, and they donated some, which we then converted to your blood type and pumped into you.” He sounded satisfied with himself now.
I thought to myself. ‘OH good! Nathan and the others made it, that’s good news I needed after that horror’ I then sighed and looked at the doctor. “Did Littlepip and the others …leave yet?” I was worried about his response being ‘yes’ so I felt my pulse start to elevate. He noticed my increasing pulse on the heart monitor and quickly responded.

“No they didn’t leave you. Velvet Remedy said they were going to wait for you to get out before talking about their plans more.” He smiled at me and I started to calm down again.
“Thanks, I…thanks ok, I needed some good news, yay for health.” I smiled weakly. He looked down then up again, looking right into my eyes.

“I was really worried about you before, you nearly had a heart attack in your sleep. What were you dreaming of if I may ask?” he sounded only reassuring but I was not sharing that horrible dream, not yet at least.
I shook my head and sighed. “I’d rather not talk about it, okay? It was just a bad dream.” I rubbed my temple to ease my stress a little.

“Okay, it’s up to you. You should rest now.” He said and turned to a machine, he began to write some things down.

I sat up more and hung my legs over the bed, I realised I was only in my T-Shirt and Pants, my boots socks main shirt and armour was gone, as well as my backpack. “Where is my stuff?” I asked him a little confused as why my shoes are gone.

He looks at me “why, I hope you are not planning on going anywhere.” He sounds commanding, but I know I am ok.
“Yeah I have to find my friends and I mean right now. Don’t worry I know I’ll be fine I have had worse than a metal shard in my head.” I spoke calmly and surely. “Now can you tell me where the hell my boots are?” he looked at me and chuckled.

“Your friends took them and most of your clothes to wash them. Velvet changed you into the clean clothes from your bag as your other ones are…really badly blood soaked.” He shrugged and sighs. “you should stay here for a while and rest.” He sounded very determined to keep me here, but I am not one to follow doctor’s advice. So In less than 10 seconds had unhooked myself from his machines and stood up.

“No Doctor, I can’t stay here cooped up, I have stuff to do.” He was about to protest when I put my finger over his mouth. “Don’t try to protest, I won’t listen as I have WAY too much to do.” His response was a sigh and pointing at a corner of the room.

“You’re spare boots are there, from your bag, go ahead then just don’t say I didn't warn you.” I watched as he shook his head and walked to the other side of the room.

“Noted Doctor, and I apologise for not being able to respect your advice at this time.” I made sure to sound formal as I picked up my boots and began to put them on with new socks. I did really believe that I should still be in the bed right that second, but I had to the others to find out if they are ok or not. Then I will need to talk with Pip more about what we can do for each other.
Helping Hoof came towards me again and holds out a syringe. “Take this Med-X if you start to feel any pain in your neck or head, Okay?” I nodded and smiled.
“Yes Doctor that advice I am glad to follow.” I start chuckling and he smiles at me.

“Good thing that is the case or you would be sore for hours.” He said with a kind, yet serious, smile.
I stared into his eyes for a few seconds before looking down as I tied the lases of my boots, once tied I stood up and tapped my feet on the floor to get comfortable then I made my way out of the clinic.
The lights were slightly brighter outside the clinic than I expected and It gave me a headache. “….oh perfect.” I muttered and covered my eyes while the pain receded. When it finally stopped I looked around to look for any clues to where my friends could be.
I rubbed my neck and felt some stitches. I realised how large the cut must have been and shiver.
“Up already? My, my, you are surprising Miss Locke.” A voice said behind me, my jumpiness from my dream returning made me spin around with a yelp, which then caused me to lose my footing and land on my back on the hard ground.

I slowly fought to slow my heart beat down and looked up at who had surprised me. I saw Velvet Remedy Looking down at me with her hands over her mouth, she looked like she was speaking but I could only hear a whistle at the time, my hearing slowly returned just to hear her finish her sentence.

“-and that is why I was waiting for you.” She finished and offered her hand for me to take, I took it and she helped me up.

“I…Did not hear any of what you said Velvet…what’s going on?” I asked rubbing my forehead.
She looked at me confused then sighed. “I said that I was terribly sorry that I scared you and that I hope you are ok, Then I said that I was waiting outside for you because you would get lost, I honestly expected you in another 4 hours at least…you surprised me.” She patted my back with a smirk.

I shook my head and looked at her. “…yeah well I am a surprising girl.” I looked at the floor then back up at her. “..so…where to?” I asked with a forced smile. I had decided to keep my terrible mood away from the others now by pretending to be just as happy as before. I hoped it would work.
Velvet nods at me then points to the far side of the hall. “The rest of the shopping team are over there.” She said and patted my back.
“What do you mean shopping team?” I asked with a chuckle before looking out to where she had pointed.
There was a railing in my way but I thought I could see a helmet peeking over the top, which meant that was definitely Peter, as he is the only one taller than the railing. I was snapped back to reality by Velvet answering my question.
“The shopping team, yes. It is a small group of good barterers that are going to haggle with the Stall managers. Usually that is just me but now, apparently your friends are rather good at haggling according to…Nathan.” She smiled at me and led me towards them.

I shook my head with a small smile as I followed her, when I rounded the corner and came into view of who was there, which was Peter and Nathan. Upon seeing me Nathan ran over with a smile.
“HEY there you are!” he called out and tackled me in a hug, which I was not prepared for and we both ended up falling backwards.

Velvet stood over us with a mocking smile. “It seems falling down is one of your strong points Lyra.” She chuckled and offered us both a hand. I again took it and she pulled me up then she repeated with Nathan, who was blushing very deeply.
“Sorry about that Lieutenant.” He said and rubbed his neck, I reached over and bopped him on the head with my fist.
“All’s forgiven elf boy, just don’t do that again, please.” My voice cracked without me expecting it and that got the attention of all 3 of them.
Peter walked over to me and put his hand on my shoulder. “Hey, you’re alright aren't you?”

“I’M FINE!” I suddenly yelled and backed away from him in a sudden burst of panic. This caused him to charge forwards in alarm and grab my arm. In response to this I shook my arm away from his and reversed a good few steps, my back hit someone and I jumped, spinning around with my fist first and punching who was there in the face.

It turned out to be Nathan who had tried to grab me from behind to stop me running away and hurting myself.
Now he was falling down onto the ground with a red fist mark in his cheek.The regret from my actions hit me almost as hard as my fist had hit him.
“Oh fucking shit.” I muttered to myself and covered my eyes with my hands.

I heard a small chuckle come from below me.
“For a girl, you hit harder than Peter.” Nathan chuckled, I uncovered my eyes and peeked down at him, he was laying there on his back with a swollen cheek. I winced and looked away while holding my hand out for him to take it.

He did so and I pulled him up, I couldn't look at what I had done to his cheek at that moment so I stared at the floor instead.

“C’mon the floor isn't that wonderful is it, Lyra?” He asked me with a slight chuckle.
In response to this I looked up again slowly.
“Maybe it is, but who knows right?” I chuckled along before sighing. “…I’m sorry Nathan, I’m such an asshole.” His only response to that was a shake of the head and poking me on the nose and walking back to Velvet while I slowly turned around and followed them quickly.

All three of them kept turning to look at me as we walked together, it was quite distracting but I was glad they had been checking.
Velvet started slowing down to walk right beside me. I knew she wanted to ask me something so I looked up to acknowledge her being there. “Can I help you Velvet?” I asked as I looked at her

“Yes, it is about that little show of violence towards your friend Nathan.” She sighed and looked at me. “Does that happen often?” she asked.

“No, It’s nothing like this at all usually, it’s just…I saw something while I was out at the hospital. What I saw has left me a little…strained.” I shuddered and sped up a little, unfortunately so did Velvet.

“What did you see? If you talk about it maybe it can help.” She suggested and smiled at me, I shook my head looked straight ahead.

“Velvet it was just some shitty dream about my family I’m never going to see again, okay? We can share stories when we’re not busy…now we’re supposed to be… shopping right? If so, lead the way Madame.” I slightly bowed and gestured with my right hand for her to go ahead of me again, she sighed and did so. She led us down some stairs into a much wider area with some stores around the hall, some restaurants and a cheese store is what caught my eye first.

“A cheese store is here?” I asked but one small look at me from velvet instantly told me I should not mention that shop again. “…Okay then.” I shrugged and walked towards somewhere for ammo or weapons. I found a weapons trader. They had a large selection of ammunition we could definitely use, especially the rifle rounds.

The stallion was not a local to the tower so was more friendly towards me than the snobby bastards who have seen me so far.
“Which type of ammo are you interested in?” he asked.
“How much are you selling 5.56 rifle rounds for?” he showed me they were for a Okay price of one cap per bullet, I quickly raided my backpack for my caps, I had 563 with me and the others were split between the rest of the squad.
“Can I get 400 5.56’s please?” I asked and he nodded.
“400 caps then and you know the rules about ammo, so this ammo will be delivered to your locked away ammo.” He said and nodded at the security doors.

I looked at the door and raised my eyebrow “Sure, sure that’s fine don’t worry that’s perfect in fact. Now here are your caps.” I said and placed the 400 caps down, which took a small while to do perfectly, and I felt embarrassed doing so but once done I saw him packing up ammo boxes into a box.
“Come with me so the guards know what locker to put them in.” he said before walking towards the door I quickly followed and soon one of the guards was talking to the shop keeper about which locker to put the bullets in, after that was done I was free to walk back inside.
So I went far to the right to search for Where Nathan had gone. I owed him an apology I was going to repay somehow.

I saw a booth selling some food and I saw a box of Apple sugar bombs. “Hmm, I want one of them.” I said to myself and went over to buy some a quick haggle and 7 caps later, which I shrugged off without a single care, I went to look for Nathan again.

It took me a good 20 minutes to find him looking inside the doctor’s clinic, I heard he and Velvet were both haggling Helping hoof for some spare medical supplies. I sat down on a bench outside the room and listened in to their bartering.

“I say that a healing potion simply is not worth 33 caps Doctor,” I heard velvet say
“Yeah the value of these in my pip-buck says they are only worth 20.” I listened as Nathan spoke rather confidently, I was impressed.
I then listened to Helping Hoof’s response. “Fine I will lower to 27 but not a cap lower.”
Velvet seemed to be emanating pure joy when she spoke. “Thank you that will be marvellous!”
Nathan chuckled. “Yeah mate, that’s great. Thank you, I really mean it.”
Helping Hoof sighed and they traded their caps for potions, then Nathan and Velvet left the clinic with large grins, Velvet spots me and chuckles.
“Ah you found us, Very clever.” She says and smiles.
Nathan taps the top of his helmet and winks at me. “Agreed I had expected you to get lost somewhere like usual.” He chuckled and shook his head. Usually I would slap his arm. But I owe him now so I let him off.
“Well, let’s find the others, right?” I asked with a large smile.
“Well haven’t you cheered up again, see I always told you that whamming me in the face would be good medicine for you!” Nathan laughed.
Velvet rolled her eyes. “Come on silly monkeys lets go find Little Pip and your friend Peter again.” She smiled before walking on. Nathan and I stare at her unamused.
“Did you call us Monkeys?” we both asked simultaneously and ran after her.

A short time later we had found Peter staring at a couple of ponies bartering, and seeing how they react with each other. He was surprised when I tapped him on the shoulder.
“Peter I thought we agreed that you would leave the creeping for Minecraft mobs.” I said with a snicker.
He rolled his eyes behind his sunglasses and sighed. “I am looking at how they react to see how similar to Humans they really are, I see so far a 99% match in personality to us, which basically means that they are Americans. And that’s the only difference I see in them.” He said with a shrug.
“So, I wasn’t creeping.” He chuckled and poked the front of my helmet. “Pay attention glow eyes.”
I slapped his arm. “Don’t give me shit about the eyes I hate them enough already.” I groaned and turned back to Velvet who is rolling her eyes again.
“Seriously you take seriousness and throw it to the wind don’t you?” she asked with a small chuckle.

I shrugged. “I guess so, but that doesn’t mean we CAN’T be serious, because we really can be when the time comes.” I smiled at her then looked around. “So, where are we going now?”

She looked at me then up at the cracked ceiling. “I believe that YOU should talk to the DJ.” She pointed at an elevator.

“Oh, yeah, that would be a good idea. I really need to talk to them, I am sure they’d be interested in talking face to face with the people who got into their radio broadcasts, right?” I chuckled and started my walk towards the door with a slight spring in my step. I was excited to meet this pony. If he was anything like Three Dog at all this was going to be a rather entertaining talk with them.

Peter and Nathan ran after me quickly. “Hey wait up, I want to meet the dude too.” Nathan called as he squeezed past me into the elevator, Peter doing the same next, crushing me against the door.

“Guys, you are morons…” I groaned to myself and finally got inside. Velvet was unamused as she entered, clearly sharing the same opinions of the men as I was.

Nathan could feel the annoyed stares we were giving them meant they were currently in trouble so he stood behind Peter. This led Peter in response to be confused and irritated by the smaller man’s actions.

I decided to give up on those idiots for now and turned around as we arrived on the correct floor.
As we walked up a few hallways I started to fiddle around with my pip-buck and found all my music files again. Looking through them led me to see a song I randomly saw when browsing YouTube back in 2015. “OMFG…those songs were fun.” I muttered and looked ahead again with ‘I love you’ Playing in the ear pieces. I knew it was playing quite loud as Velvet turned to look at me with interest. So I took out my other earpiece and offered it to her. she took it and began to listen with me, the song is very random but I could see that she liked it, it must have been the first time she heard a song like it as she began to giggle as the song progressed especially when I began to mime the words to the song with silly expressions as we walked.
The little bond time with Velvet over silly music really helped my mood to finally get high enough to fully ignore my dream again for now, so I was happy as we reached the door.
I knocked on the door and a Mare opened the door, she looked a little flushed and inside I could see Littlepip on a sofa, naked.
“Oh, we can wait.” I said and turned away.
Nathan and Peter saw the embarrassed face of me and Velvet, and the other mare, and instantly began to do the most mature response their tiny brains can muster, laughing in our faces.
Velvet turned to the mare. “I am sorry we interrupted Homage…you, have a nice time, we will be back later.”
The mare blushed and nodded. “Right, see you later… eh heh..” she closed the door again and We heard a few giggles from inside the room.
Velvet and I immediately pushed past the laughing men and sat on a bench, both silently blushing.
It took quite a while for the men to shut up, but when they did we both were glad.
“Lyra,” Velvet said, looking at me. “May we never speak of this again?” she asked.
I nodded and rubbed my face. “Agreed,”

Chapter 9: The Test

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