Fallout Equestria: Darkstar

Chapters

Chapter 1: Birth
Chapter 2: Death
Chapter 3: Friends

Chapter 1: Birth

Fallout Equestria: Darkstar

By ValdimarGreen

Chapter 1: Birth

Life. Life never changes. Unless of course, should you cut the cocoon open.

Life was great within the cocoon, I should know, I had lived it for two centuries now. There had been no hunger, no pain and no thoughts to mark the passage of time, only a floating sensation within a green haze.

Then one day, something changed, suddenly there were ripples rolling over me, accompanied by a strange sensation of sinking. Cold air touched my carapace for the first time. Sensations filled me as my senses came fully alive, sound, sight, smell, taste and touch. And my world changed.

I could feel my heart, and with every beat, genetic information was interpreted and converted into an rough education regarding myself, the hive and the world. I was a changeling, a parasite, with one single purpose, to serve the Queen and the hive. How you serve, varies depending on what kind of changeling you were. A larvae can be grown into either a female, a builder, a harvester or a warrior, by filling its cocoon with the right gene altering goo.

My cocoon had been filled with slime that promoted enhanced physical capabilities and a stronger carapace in favor of other attributes, such as spellcrafting and intelligence. Not that I’m stupid mind you, say rather, that the other types tend to be very clever. Still, nothing wrong with being a warrior, the safety of the hive lay in my hooves after all.

The whole process of birth and schooling was done in less than five seconds after the air first touched me. Not a little overwhelmed, I twisted around in my cocoon to look out through the gap that had been sliced in it. My schooling told me that my Queen would be just outside, ready to grant me a name. Not wanting to keep her waiting, I ripped apart the cocoon in my haste to get outside. Rather ungracefully, I and a lot of green slime flopped out on the metal floor.

As I got to my feet, careful not to slip in the goo, I noticed a small zebra who sat frozen a few paces away. That was not my Queen... and this room… it didn’t look at all, like how a hatchling chamber should, it was cubic rather than ovoid. Where was the rock walls smoothed with adhesive green spittle? Where was the rich clammy air? Reality was fucking up everything!

Returning my attention to the filly zebra, I studied her. Was she the one who had cut open my cocoon? She shook slightly, her wide eyes fixed on me as I moved closer, Her shaking grew more frantic as the distance between us shrunk. I looked down at her, and she stared back up at me. She was breathing quickly, her chest rising and falling rapidly.

She opened her mouth and whispered one word, “Darkstar.” It came out in a mix of awe and horror. My genes had been expecting a name, and were determined not to let it slip away. I was ‘Darkstar’. Not too shabby, I thought, as I rolled it around in my mouth.

With my name came the outraged realization that zebras were not allowed in the hive, she was not supposed to be here. She was an invader! I growled at her, “Where is the Queen and what is this place?” My words seemed to trigger something in the zebra, because she lunged forward and to the side, scooping up her dropped dagger with her mouth. Her head swiveled around in a tight arc as she hurled the dagger towards me.

“Die starbeast!” she shrieked.

The dagger hit me point first in the base of my throat, and promptly glanced off my carapace, sending the dagger skidding across the floor, before finally stopping in a puddle of slime. Thoughts fled as I rushed forward and slammed into the zebra, carrying us both to the ground.

She squeal, “FATHER H--” her cry was cut short, as my jaws clamped down tight around her windpipe, fangs digging into her throat. I got you now, I thought, as I bit down hard.

With surprising ease, my maw split her hide and ripped through the flesh beneath. I tasted warm blood and filthy fur. And I could feel the gooey texture of her flesh. Uuuhhge, It was sickening. I jerked away from the filly and heaved out the big chunk of flesh and fur that I had ripped from her throat. I spat a few times, trying to get the coppery taste out of my mouth.

Feeling decidedly bad about how my life was going so far, I turned back to the small zebra. She lay in a spreading pool of her own blood, small ripples rolling over the surface as her legs moved in a feeble imitation of a gallop. Her eyes had unfocused and her mouth sagged open just a bit, as her movements slowed. There was something about the view that was deeply disturbing.

A gruff voice called from beyond the doorway, “Imhani? Are you down there? We have finished with the upper floors, it's time to move!”

I jerked away from the grim view and looked at the doorway. The zebra had not been alone, and what did he mean with ‘finished with the upper floors’? I looked around frantically, my eyes finally returning to the now dead zebra, Imhani. I knew the theory behind spellcasting, but knowing and doing are two different things. I crouched, tensing all of my muscles, focusing on my horn and my memory of the small zebra. A ring of green fire engulfed me, rippling over my body, changing it.

The room grew both larger and darker. In fact, it was hard to distinguish much of anything in the light from the single lantern that was resting by the doorway next to a satchel. My body felt weird, especially my ears and eyes. No longer fixed in place, I could now move them around freely.

I had not time to adjust however, as the voice called again sounding angry now, “Imhani, you get your flank up here, this instance! Everyzebra is waiting for us!”

With no time to think I rushed to the doorway scooping up lantern and satchel. Whoever these invaders were, I did not want them coming down here and discover the corpse. I dashed out the door as fast as my new short legs could carry me, up along a corridor towards a dimly lit staircase. I noted vaguely that this place also didn't resemble a hive in any way. The walls and floor were made from white slick material and the ceiling were a mesh weirdly bending cylinders. Where was the tubelike rock tunnels lit by luminescent fungi?

I pushed my rising fear and uncertainty to the back of my mind.

A bit short of breath, I emerged at the top of the staircase, and was greeted by a large gray room filled with trash. A row of broken windows was letting in a refreshing cold breeze. As I turned taking it all in, my gaze landed on a huge zebra, towering almost three times my current height. He was standing to the side, looking decidedly unhappy.

Before I could react, I had two massive forelegs wrapped around me, squeezing me. I stiffened in terror, he was gonna crush me. Somehow he had seen through my disguise and at any moment, he would snap me like a twig.

A moment later the zebras death squeeze softened. “Imhani, my dear daughter, what have I told you about running off by yourself,” the zebra said as he held me. He reached up and stroked my mane with one of his hooves. “I swear, one of these days, one of your little adventures will get you killed. And what would your mother and I do then?”

Shivering slightly, I whispered the only thing I could think of, “Sorry.”

Satisfied with my response, the zebra released me. “So did you find anything down there?” he asked.

I shook my head, dumbly “Nope, nothing.”

He smiled, “At least you are safe. Come on. Lets go. The others are waiting for us.” He turned and trotted towards a doorway. I followed a few paces behind, with a rising feeling that something had gone terribly wrong.

Changelings are not killers, we are parasites and as such we need the equines to flourish so we can thrive ourselves. Since a dead pony is a pony who won't be feeding a changeling, killing tended to leave a bad taste in ones mouth. The warrior cocoon however, is designed to dampen such traits especially should the hive be in danger. So it wasn't really my fault. I was just a product of my cocoon and I had believed my hive to be in danger… it had been an unfortunate accident.

But from the looks of it, my hive was not even here and never had been. I hung my head, a mounting sense of loneliness sweeping over me. The cool breeze that a moment ago had felt invigorating was now unpleasantly cold against my coat. The zebra filly was dead, and she was not coming back, so I might as well make the best of it.

“Rotspawn” I swore under my breath. Shaking my head I tried to force the gloom to the back of my mind. Come on Darkstar! Just hang around for a bit, feed on the love of her parents, grow strong, then head out and find the hive! How hard could it be?

Imhanis father lead the way down a wide corridor towards a pair of double doors. They stood flung open to the outside, another zebra standing between them. The new zebra wore a brown leather barding, leaving only her face visible. Her stripes were a rich black color and tightly packed over her face.

As we approached, the zebra called out to Imhanis father, “ Did you find her, Xingahar?”

Xingahar stepped to the side revealing me, “I did. And you were right, Zevah. She was in the basement.”

Zevah smirked at me, “Find any monsters to vanquish?”

I did the safe thing and shrugged. They both gaped at me, stunned.

Zevah stared hard at me, “Who are and what have you done with the real Imhani?” she asked. I froze, had I just given myself away? Before I could think of a reply, Zevah was on me, a foreleg wrapped around my head. I was so dead.

But Zevah was laughing and ruffling my mane with her other hoof. She turned to Xingahar, “When did she grow up and how did I miss it?” She released me and took a few steps back.“Whatever happened to...” She rose up on two hooves and struck a pose, one hoof pointing at me. Making her voice squeaky, she proclaimed “Miss Zevah! Your mockery this day, shalt not be forgotten! One day soon we shall strike thee down in honorable combat.” Zevah came down again, laughing hard. Xingahar was smiling.

I thought fast, apparently Imhani had been an extremely dramatic filly. If I were to play her part, I would have to learn to act like her, enough to keep them satisfied at least. I rose too my own hindlegs, wobbling slightly, and pointed a hoof at Zevah “Thee exploits our weariness to taunt us! Begone!”

Zevah smiled broadly. “Consider me, vanquished!” she said as she turned and trotted out.

Xingahar was smiling warmly. “I swear that sometimes, watching the two of you, I could forget the wasteland and all our problems.” I gave him a forced smile in return, and added a yawn to further establish my lie about being tired. He stepped over and pulled my up on his back. “Lets get you to the wagon.” he said as he trotted towards the doorway.

Resting upon his back, I was anything but tired. Love was pouring into me through every inch of my body, making my muscles tingle slightly, as they were filling with power. I was more than ready to take on the outside world.

The outside was not ready to receive me however, as it looked completely wrong. It should have been be vivid and alive… not gray and dead. Dilapidated buildings were tightly packed along the streets, some only seeming to hold together by the stale vines that snaked around them. Anything metal had rusted long ago, causing brown smudges to be visible through the coating of gray dust that covered everything.

“What the fuck happened?” I whispered to myself. This looks even worse than the badlands...

I frowned, Where was I anyway? My schooling had not been specific enough to provide me with a map. Now that I thought about it, my education had really been lacking in many ways. I needed to find out just what was wrong with it, and then fill in the gaps. To do that however, meant, asking questions. A dangerous pastime while masquerading as a zebra, who should already know the answers.

As Xingahar trotted down the steps to the building, I hazarded a question; “Why did we pick this building again?”

Xingahar slowed a bit as he answered, “Remember that map you found? This building was marked ‘Bright Shoe medical research center’, sounded like the perfect place to resupply on medical supplies.”

“And was it?” I asked.

Xingahar slumped a little bit, “Its been a long time since the war, and there have been lots of scavengers before us… It was stupid of me to assume that it would have supplies still lying around. However, we did find a few things in a locked office on the third floor, including a PipBuck.”

“Thats good,” I said, as my mind raced through what I had learned. War? Scavengers? Pipbuck? I have a bad feeling about all this, especially this ‘Bright Shoe’ character, why had he kept my cocoon in his house?

As we came around the corner of the building, I could see two wagons surrounded by zebras. I counted sixteen of them. They were all covered in dust, just like everything else. They were all dressed in dusty bardings of some kind or another. I noted that five zebras were not carrying any bags, rather they were shouldering metal pipe-things in different shapes and sizes. I noticed that Zevah had one too.

Zevah waved, as we closed with the group. A zebra wearing a black barding with lots of metal plates, stepped forward. “About fucking time!” he said angrily. The effect was somewhat ruined as he began sneezing hard from the dust a moment later. I dubbed him ‘Sir Sneeze’ in my mind. Zevah snickered softly, as if she had read my thoughts.

Xingahar ignored Sneeze as he trotted up to one of the mares and nuzzled her. “We found her, she was in the basement.”

“Good,” the mare said, as if she didn’t really care. She turned to me, and by the scruff of my neck, hoisted me up onto a wagon . Two other fillies and a colt were already sitting on it. The mare turned to one of them. “Keep an eye on her, Majina,” she said again in that same monotone voice.

The little filly named Majina wrapped a foreleg around my neck, “No worries, If your daughter gains another stripe, I will be there to see it.” she said with a wide grin. She leaned over and with the corner of her mouth she whispered in my ear, “You better take me with you next time!”

This mare was supposed to be my ‘mother’? Strange, there was not a drop of love coming from her. I thought that ponies were supposed to love their offspring. On the other hoof, maybe zebras where different? I settled back as the wagon jerked into motion. Everything was proceeding smoothly, unless you counted the dead filly back in the basement.

The band of zebras pulled the wagons down the side of the road, the wheels were grinding furrows in the dust, that stretched out behind us. The zebras with the metal pipe-things had spread out in a loose semicircle ahead of us. As I was scanning the streets, Majina was telling me some stupid story her mother had told her.

Two hours later, we approached a large town square with tall buildings on either side. By this point, I was bored out of my mind and itching to move. Xingahar and Zevah were channeling love into me constantly, and ignoring Majina took almost no energy at all. Lying on my back, with my head outside the wagon, I counted the junk that littered the streets as we rolled by. Then suddenly there was a pony skull lying in the dust. I jumped up, “Whuuaaa! How did that get there?” I exclaimed.

Majina glanced at it, and then gave me a strange look. “Because somepony died there,” she said slowly, as if talking to a complete nincompoop.

“But how did it happen?” I clarified.

Majina swept a hoof in a wide arc, “The same way as all the others, I would think.” I followed the arc with my gaze and saw them... hundreds, no thousands of bones scattered all about in the dust. Majina continued, “The whole town was probably gathered here when the bombs struck. I guess that explains why there have been so few bones up until now, compared to that previous town.”

My brain blinked a few times trying to sort it out. It sounded like towns filled with bones were commonplace to the zebra filly. Also, what manner of creature had these ‘Bombs’ been for them to be able to slaughter a whole town like this? Wait... was this the war Xingahar had mentioned?

Bones began to crunch and snap under the weight of the wagons as we entered the city square. Rolling down the edge of the plaza with a brick building with a row of broken windows to our left, I chanced another question, “How many years has it been now?”

Majina looked at me for a moment, then she turned away and shouted to one of the zebras, “Mom how long since the bombs fell?!”

The zebra responded calmly, “Two hundred years or so, it has been.”

I was saved the effort of having to hide my shock, because right at that moment a huge snake like thing wiped out through a broken window of the brick building, and closed its teeth around the torso of a zebra who was walking just ahead of the wagons. The zebra screamed as the snake thing pulled itself back through the window even faster than it had coming out. The zebras slammed into the window frame, halting the creature. It gave a vicious tug and the zebras body snapped before being jerked through, into the darkness within.

“RADEELS!” somepony called out, just as another of the creatures sprung forth from a different window. Its maw closed around the zebra that were pulling our wagon. The entire wagon was jerked to the side and began sliding towards the building.

Close up now, I could see it clearly. It had dark red scales, a massive lower jaw and two huge darting yellow eyes. It was a Quarray-eele! Memories not my own flooded me, showing the creatures invading hives, killing and consuming builders, females, larvae and cocoons alike. They were monsters without compare and the main reason for the existence of warrior cocoons.

All thoughts fled and I let out a battle roar as berserker rage filled me. I wanted to use my horn and fangs to rip into the monstrosity. However, a faint thread of logic prevented me from changing back on the spot. Instead I pulled out Imhanis dagger, and leapt on top of its head.

Screaming around the dagger in my mouth, I plunged it into one of its disgusting eyes. The beasts eyelids snapped shut around the dagger, pinning it in place. The beast screeched and released the zebra in its maw, and yanked itself back through the window. Still with a death grip on the dagger, I was yanked along through the air, towards the window. Xingahar was shouting something as I disappeared inside.

Well inside, the beast went into a frenzy, flinging itself over the floors and against the walls. In the onslaught, I lost my grip on the dagger and tumbled to the floor. The eeles remaining eye focused on me. It paused in its rampage to let out a roar that reverberated throughout the house.

I gathered myself, and with a burst of green fire, changed myself back into my true form. And it felt good, so very good. Now I could use all my built up energy without restriction. I leapt forward and to the left, putting me on the eeles blind side. The massive head turned as it tried to keep me in sight. I shifted four carapace plates on my back, releasing and unfolding two pairs of wings. A deep buzzing filled the air as i launched myself up towards the eele.

My flying power might have been weak compared to a pegasus, but my horn was sharp. So it was no big surprise when the force I did manage to build up, proved enough to drive my horn deep into the monsters throat. Cackling in glee, I wrapped my legs around its body and twisted my head violently, jerked back and forth, my bladelike horn slicing through its flesh, tearing and twisting. Blood splattered down over my head and poured into eyes, tinting my vision red. Screaming in pain, the thing writhe violently trying to fling me off. Useless! Useless! Useless! It’s useless you fucking overgrown worm. You are going to DIE! I thought as I laughed.

With a final heave, the thing suddenly went limp and tumbled to the floor, slamming me into the ground with it on top. Pain erupted up through my body and my head felt like it was about to split apart. It was the first time I felt real pain, and it was rapidly ruining my good mood. It got even worse as I wriggled painfully out from underneath its bulk. Forcing myself to my feet, I stumbled achingly over to my dagger and picked it up with mouth.

“IN HERE!” a muffled voice shouted, from the next room.

I froze, “Shit!” I needed to change back, and quick! Even in my current state, with pain twisting my insides, the magic came easily. I felt the green flames rippling over my body, transforming me into Imhani once more.

A moment later, the door was bucked off it hinges and Xingahar, Zevah and Sneeze burst into the room. “Imhani!” Xingahar shouted, sounding panicked. Then his eyes landed on me. All three of them stopped and just stared.

I didn’t blame them considering how it must look. A filly zebra drenched in blood, clutching a small dagger in her mouth, standing with her back to the carved up corpse of a monster whose teeth were thicker than her legs.

I felt pride surge through me, I almost felt no need to act as I spat out the dagger and rose onto two legs, posing dramatically. “Behold the fate of those who-” I was interrupted as Xingahar swept me up in a painful hug, ignoring all the blood.

Then he sat me down and roared in my face, “WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?!” I temporarily forgot that I was a fully grown changeling warrior, as I cowered before his fury.

The lecture took quite some time, Xingahar was pacing back and forth growling and throwing the occasional angry question my way. Questions that could only be answered correctly with a ‘sorry’ while looking at the floor. Zevah had signaled through a window that everything was fine, and then had settled down to enjoy the show. Sneezes gaze was constantly shifting between me and the monster, as if he still couldn't believe it.

When we finally left the building, darkness had settled in. The zebras had set up camp around a small fire. Two zebras were cooking pieces of a radeele over the flames. I stared at them, as they worked.They were going to eat it? That was disgusting! Though, I would admit that the thought of the radeeles being turned into poo, was rather pleasing.

The three radeeles had managed to killed four zebras before perishing. Still, a very good trade in my opinion, especially since these radeeles seemed to be a larger breed of the traditional Quarray-eele.

As we came into the firelight, the three fillies from before rushed up to me, Majina at their head.”That was amazing!” she said as she came to a halt in front of me. The other two closed up on each side of her and started talking over each other in their haste to express how amazing I was. I felt my face split in a huge grin, Xingahars lecture forgotten.

With pride burning in my chest, I told them the tale, or at least an altered version of the tale, starring Imhani rather than Darkstar. There were a lot of posing and speeches involved, some of the adults had wandered close to hear. They all gasped when I told them how the radeele had swallowed me, and how I had cut my way out, using my dagger. Everypony that is, except the zebra wearing the metal plate barding, Sneeze was frowning.

Later, when camp was all set up, the zebras had all given a toast to their dead comrades. After drinking my own cup of bitter water for appearances sake, Xingahar approached me carrying a strigil in his mouth. I stared at the small curved cleaning tool, how come I know what that is called... but not the pipe-thingies?

Xingahar saw me narrowing my eyes at the strigil, “I know you don't like being cleaned, but if we don’t do it soon, all that blood is going to dry and you will be itching all over.” he said sounding tired.

I had in fact, already begun to itch. Having skin rather than carapace was really inconvenient. Had I been in my original form I could simply have closed my eyes and jumped into the fire, letting the flames burn away the dirt and blood. As it was however, I had little choice but to submit to Xingahars painful administrations.

Afterwards, my skin felt both bruised and raw, enough so that I was actually looked forward to sleeping. As I lay down next to Xingahar to do just that, I was surprised to see all the other children had gathered around him. Xingahar pulled out a book from one of his saddlebag and put it in front of him. “So what story would you like to hear tonight?” he asked in his gruff voice.

Majina and the colt spoke in unison. “The first Caesar and his battle with Darkstar!” The other filly who had been saying something else, quickly changed her mind and piped in her support. My ears had perked up on the mention of my name.

Sleep would have to wait.

Footnote: Level Up.

New Perk: Dragonslayer - You gain +50% Damage when attacking any Reptile or Amphibian.

Chapter 2: Death

Fallout Equestria: Darkstar

By ValdimarGreen

Chapter 2: Death

–and so the Ceasar slammed his hooves into the magical support beam, breaking it with a crack. Darkstar stared at the Ceasar in shock, “YOU FOOL! You will bury us both under the mountain!”

The first leader among the zebra tribes looked at the black monster as it rushed up the tunnel. “If it is the only way to vanquish thee, then so be it!” the Ceasar declared. Then, ignoring all his wounds he reared up one final time and slammed his hooves into the last support beam. This one, with the weight of a mountain upon it did not merely crack, it exploded into a thousand crystal shards.

As the Ceasar was flung back, hundreds of shards buried themselves deep in his body. Through the pain, he could hear the monster scream, “Do not think you have won zebra! Even with a mountain upon my back I shall –” Whatever else the monster would have said, was drowned out by the mountain, crashing in.

The Ceasar smiled despite his agony, all of zebra kind would be safe once again.

Xingahar closed the book, “The end.”

Majina and the other two children started talking excitedly with each other about the story. I lay down, grumbling quietly. Finding out that you were named after some hideous space monster, who had come to Equus to devour all life, was not very flattering. I rolled up into a ball and tried to sleep.

When sleep finally came, It brought with it, dreams... nasty dreams. I saw myself standing in a cave tunnel looking up at Imhani, her tiny body covered in bloody wounds. She was hammering frantically at a crystalline support beam, her tiny hooves hitting it again and again. The pillar stood immaculate and as strong as ever. I approached slowly, my hoof-falls echoing in the tunnels.

Imhani started crying as her struggle turned into a desperate flounder. “Please, please, please, please, please, please!” she wailed, over and over again. When I finally reached her, she had slumped against the crystal pillar, her forelegs around it, holding on desperately. She looked up at me, her tears had formed lines in the dirt on her face. “Please,” she whispered feebly.

I grinned at her, “I win.” With those words I clamped down my maw around the back of her neck. Biting down hard, her spine and flesh came apart with ease, leaving her almost decapitated. I tore the head loose from the last strands of meat and smiled at it. Just then, Xingahar and Zevah came around a bend in the tunnel ahead, calling out for Imhani.

I saw myself lift Imhanis head and driving it down in top of my horn, then I turned to Xingahar and shouted, “I am over here dad!”

I awoke screaming, my lungs burning. The entire camp burst into movement as zebras hastily got to their hooves, looking around for the source of the commotion.

What the fuck was that?! I blinked a few times as I tried to get a grip on reality. After the initial shock faded somewhat, I realized that there were a lot of zebras looking at me. Xingahar wore a worried expression as he gazed at me. I forced out a sheepish grin, “Just a nightmare… sorry.”

“You have never had a nightmare before...” Xingahar said.

I lifted a hoof and scratched the back of my head as I looked away. “You know… must have been the… the –” My gaze fell on one of the dead radeeles “– the battle from before… I was fighting the radeele again, but this time it got me.”

Xingahar sighed, “ perhaps we shared the same dream.” He reached out a hoof and pulled me close, before lowering himself back to the dirty blankets.

Lying there next to him I looked down at my tiny forelegs, seeing the striped fur that covered them. I grimaced. Going back to sleep would not be possible. Growling softly, I bundled myself up next to the big zebra again. Damn you Xingahar for making me feel like this.

It took forever for dawn to arrive. Why do we even wait for it? All it does is turn the world from a dark gray to a not so dark gray. When it finally came, the zebras briskly bundled everything back into the two wagons. The three children and myself were placed in the rear wagon this time. That way, if there were any more radeeles, we would hopefully be out of range when they pounced.

As we made our way out from the plaza, Majina took the opportunity to search the new wagon for treasure. It wasn't long before she found one, in the form of a thick metal bracelet. This, I was informed, was the ‘PipBuck’ they had found back at the research center. And apparently it was enchanted, because after she fiddled with it for a while, it started to talk.

“–little ponies, it’s time for the news! Now you ponies remember when I told you ‘bout those two ponies who crawled themselves out of Stable Two? Well, I’ve been gettin’ reports that one of those little ponies took out the raider nest in the heart of Ponyville, and saved several pony captives – including the beloved author of The Wasteland Survival Guide, Ditzy Doo! Hey kid, thanks! From all of us! And now the weather: cloudy everywhere, with a chance of rain, gunfire and bloody dismemberment...”

I stared at the bracelet. The spirit inside was clearly insane, not that I was an expert on spirits or anything. Still, listening to its mad ramblings proved entertaining as we rolled along the street, especially when it paused its babbel to bust out into song.

I learned a lot that day, listening to the spirit and to the animated discussions of my fellow wagon companions. Children, it turns out are ridiculously easy to get information out off. Even if your question is strange and the answer obvious, they still respond. I guess they enjoyed the feeling they get from patronizing somepony. All I had to do was huff a bit and seem upset, or simply yawn in response, and any suspicion would melt away.

From one heated argument in particular, I gleaned something very important. Majina and the colt had argued whether a shotgun was more awesome than a submachinegun. Majina had won the discussion with the line, “Shotgun? Ha! More like SNOT-gun!” She had danced around the colt repeating it, until he couldn't take it anymore and had subsequently climbed to the front of the wagon, where he spent the next hour sulking.

The pipe-thingies some of the zebras wore were called guns. If Majina were to be believed, a gun was an extremely dangerous version of a shepherd's sling. Projectiles punching right through a ponys body… ludicrous. Still, I eyed the guns all around, warily. I wonder if my carapace could handle it… Being the boundless optimist that I am, I decided that guns and their bullets would be no problem. I had killed a radeele all by myself, after all!

I looked over at the PipBuck, “Majina why won’t you put it on? Why have it on a string like that?” I asked.

Majina treated me with yet another of her smug know-it-all smiles, “Imhani did you hit your head when you fought that radeele? It’s pony-tech, so of course it won't work for us zebras. Too bad really, I heard these things have some wicked cool capabilities.” Majina held the bracelet up in the air, and peered at it with narrowed eyes, “Stupid pony magic!”

I grinned at her. “I bet you –” my words froze on my tongue as a disgusting reek assaulted my nose. I scrunched up my muzzle, “Uggh What is that stench?! It smells like rotten meat covered in shit.”

Majina grimaced and pointed at something behind me, “That's probably because... that’s what it is,” she said.

I turned around to look in the direction we were heading. My gaze was immediately drawn to the chain that had been strung up between the building ahead. From it hung several mutilated pony corpses. Their intestines had been dragged out and laced together, creating a macabre spiderweb of sun-dried flesh. I gaped at it, Wha ha. What... What the fuck?!

Zevah and Xingahar had both closed in around the wagon. “Raider territory,” Zevah said quietly.

Xingahar grimaced, “Can’t we go around it?”

Zevah shook her head. “Not if we want to use the bridge. I guess we could head further south and look for a ford in the river, outside of the city. But, I have no idea how long that would take, and with our supplies being what they are, I wouldn’t chance it.”

Xingahar closed his eyes and let out a long sigh. He turned to me, “Keep your head down, and no heroics this time.”

I put hoof to my chest in exaggerated outrage, “You can’t just quell the righteous fire that burn within me! Should battle come to pass, I shall be there to offer my support!”

Xingahar narrowed his eyes at me.

“Ugghee,” I cleared my throat, “Of course, what greater support could one offer but that of moral support! Hehehe,” I finished with a nervous gulp.

A corner of Xingahars mouth quirked upwards, “Good.”

Zevha spoke just loud enough to get everyzebras attention , “Everyzebra, grab a weapon, just in case.” Satisfied that everyzebra had heard, Zevah turned and dug around in her saddlebag, producing a small revolver. “Xingahar, take this,” she said holding out the weapon. “I know you don’t like it, but raiders are raiders. There is no reasoning with them.”

“I know” Xingahar said, sounding tired, as he took the proffered weapon. He moved the gun around in his mouth, trying to get a comfortable grip on it.“Ugghhuu beh chhaghul tooh” he said.

“Always,” Zevah replied with a smile.

The zebras closed in around the two wagons, arranging themselves in two circles around them. There were not enough guns to go around, but the zebras who had one placed themselves in the outer circle. The rest, armed with clubs or knifes, made up the inner circle. Majina and the colt were moved to the wagon in front, giving us all ample room to take cover in our respective carriages. Then we rolled forward.

As we passed under the spiderweb, one of the intestine slid against the side of the first wagon before getting stuck on a splinter. I watched as the fleshy tube stretched and then ripped, spraying us with brown sludge. I gagged at the smell, heaving out everything I had ever eaten, literally everything. Looking down at the pool of adhesive green slime, I froze. Oh fuck...

A particular thing about the changeling digestive system is that; it’s not used for nourishment, rather its sole purpose is converting mundane biological matter into the green changeling slime that we use for almost everything. Mostly it’s used for tunnel support, cocoons, furniture, armor, weapons and the like. Thats why builder-changelings were so important, with their heightened ability to generate and shape the stuff. Still, it comes with a risk, if a pony wants to know if another pony was actually a changeling in disguise, she could just have the other pony puke. If what comes up is green and sticky, the pony is a changeling.

Fortunately, I had not been the only one to empty my stomach and most of the zebras attention was focused on a particular zebra who was frantically rubbing at her face. “IT GOT IN MY EYE!” she wailed.

Sneeze was there in a flash, shoving a hoof over her mouth, “Be quiet you fool! Do you want to bring the raiders down on us?”

She just whimpered pitifully in response. Her left eye, red and wet.

Sneeze sighed, as he produced a small bottle of clear liquid, “Hold still, I will clean it.”

As he did, I took the opportunity to cover my ‘accident’ with a yellow box adorned with pink butterflies.

We headed out again, this time making sure not to disturb the remaining intensities. The stench lingered over our party as we moved forward, small brown stains marked where the sludge had landed. I noticed that a few drops had splashed the PipBuck. I quickly dried them off, hoping the spirit hadn’t noticed, who knew what DJPon3 would do if its home was defiled. I thought for a moment; DjPon3 had mentioned ‘raiders’ before, so the spirit might be useful to keep around. I turned my small satchel upside down, a few rocks, some metal scrap, two cans of food and my dagger clattered to the wagon-floor. I picked up the dagger, then disregarding Imhanis other treasures, I shoved the PipBuck into the now empty satchel, and hefted it.

As we headed further into raider territory, the smooth dust layer became more and more broken up by hoofprints, drag marks and bloodstains, a lot of bloodstains. Every street light had corpse hanging from it, not only ponies, but animals as well. I saw cats, dogs, a two headed cow and even a radeele. Their silent dark forms giving the street an otherworldly feeling. I rubbed at my legs trying to get rid of the goosebumps that were crawling up them. My gaze flickered between the empty black windows of the buildings on either side. I was not the only one, all the zebras seemed to feel it. Sneeze was sweating and his ears twitching as his head swung back and forth.

I jerked, my breath caught in my throat, as I felt something grab me. I looked down and saw that the remaining filly had crawled in under me. With her eyes firmly shut, she had wrapped her forelegs around one of mine, holding on tightly. “Please... I don’t like this,” she said, whimpering.

Strangely, with her trembling below me, I felt a lot better. Lifting a hoof, I patted her on the head, “It’s okay, I will protect you,” I said... or at least thats what I tried to say, was it not for the dagger clutched in my mouth. My words came out sounding something like: “Ith oheh Ibh pertectuhhu.” Still I think she understood, because her whimpering ceased.

Behind us, the sun had begun to set, peeking down below the cloud coverage far to the west. It actually became a bit brighter, knowing that the light wouldn't last long, we quickened our pace. Sneeze wanted everyzebra across the bridge before dark. Nopony argued.

Trotting along the now curving main road, it only took a few minutes for the bridge to come into view. And what a bridge it was! A hulking metal monstrosity, ten times the size of any dragon, it seemed to glow in the sunlight. In contrast, the gorge under the bridge was a pit of darkness, a black wound in the world.

With only two hundred paces to go, everyzebra breathed a sigh of relief. Naturally, that was when the screaming began.

Twelve sets of zebra eyes and ears swiveled in the direction of the sound, which happened to be the second story window of a building on our left. In that moment, when everyzebra was distracted, the raiders laying in ambush on the other side of the street, attacked.

Sneeze was the first one to die. His head exploded as a rifle round found its mark. Then there was chaos as several things happened at once. The three zebras closest to the incoming horde of laughing mad ponies, turned and opened fire with their own guns.The filly under me started screaming. On the rooftops above, several raiders began throwing metal disks. Both wagon pullers set off in a gallop for the bridge. I could see Majina and the colt hugging eachother, staring back at us with wide eyes from within their wagon.

One of the metal disks bounced off the forward wagon, before rolling to the ground directly in our path, a small red light blinking rapidly. That can’t be good… The zebra pulling the wagon apparently agreed with me, because she swerved hard to the side, but it was too little, too late. The metal disk exploded. She never even got the chance to scream, as metal shrapnel ripped her apart.

The wagon flipped over onto its side, coming to a crashing halt. Both me and the filly flew through the air before hitting the road, hard. Dazed, I forced myself to my hooves and looked around. In front I could see Majina, the colt and four other zebras rushing onto the bridge, none looking back. Behind me I could see Xingahar, Zevah and two other zebras limping towards us, all of them bloodied. The raiders had taken up the chase, guns discarded in favor of crude cudgels. Do they plan on taking us alive?

Despite his bullet wound, Xingahar reached me first, “Hurry Zevah! Grab the medical box and lets go!” he said, in between pained gasps.

“I am on it,” Zevah said, as she hurried up to the fallen wagon. “Huh?! What the... XIN, the box is stuck! I can’t budge it!” Zevah shouted, the beginnings of panic in her voice.

I felt a large weight settled in my stomach, Oh no, please don’t tell me...

“Thats not funny Zevah!” Xingahar shouted back.

“I can’t even open it, there's some green glue over the hinges,” Zevah responded.

Xingahar looked down at his wounded foreleg then his posture sagged, ears falling down. His despair only seemed to last for a moment however, as he turned to me, “Daughter you need to run for the bridge. I will be right behind you.”

I stared at him, then at his leg and back again. Does he think I’m stupid? There is no way he could outrun… Oh rotspawn! The fucker was planning on sacrificing himself to buy me time to escape. And when it had been my fault that they couldn't get to the medical supplies! “I wont leave you fathe –” my words were interrupted by the rock, crashing into the side of my head. The world tilted to the side before swirling into darkness.

This kind of unconsciousness was great, there was no pain, no guilt and no disturbing dreams. It was almost like being back in the cocoon again. Sadly, if I had learned anything from my short life it was that; great things never last. The world came back to me, and there was pain, so much pain! My legs, my side, and my head. MY HEAD! Oh rotspawn how it hurt.

With a groan, I forced my eyes open and was rewarded with a view of a dimly lit room. The light coming from a single small lantern on a table in corner, its light revealing moldy walls and a shitstained floor. I lay on a mattress, my tiny legs had been bound together with dirty rope. It had been wired so tightly that I had begun to bleed. I guess that explains the pain in my legs.

My ears perked at a muffled sound from the other side of the room. Rolling over on my side, I spotted another mattress with a limp form upon it. Squinting in the dim light, I could make out the tightly packed stripes of Zevah. She had been beaten badly, bruises and cuts all over her body.

“Hey Zevah! You okay?” I called.

Zevah jerked at the sound of my voice, her eyes fluttering open. “Imhani?” she said. Then tears filled her eyes and her jaw clenched, ”Imhani sweetie, you must wiggle over to me” – her voice broke as she continued – “and I will make sure they will never hurt you.”

For some reason I didn’t like the way she said that. Deciding to change the subject I asked, “What happened?”

“We need to be quiet” Zevah said, sounding both pained and desperate, “Come over here and I will tell you.” When I didn’t move, she started crying. “Please Imhani.”

Thats when the door was flung open and three raider ponies waked in. “My, my, my! You makin’ a bunch of noise in here. You miss me? You ready for round two?” said the one in front.

At the sound of his voice, Zevah rolled into a trembling ball, her sobbing growing worse.

I studied the raiders, DJPon3 had been right, they were the very definition of murderous psychos. Two stallions and one mare all with reddish coats and manes, but that might just be because they had smeared blood all over themselves. Their eyes were puffy and yellow, over their ...grins. I recoiled when I saw the mouth of the stallion who had spoken, he had filed his teeth down to points, which in turn had turned his mouth a scarred and bloody ruin. I was surprised he could talk at all.

Scar-mouth noticed my reaction, and turned towards me with an even wider grin. “Ha! The little cunt is up! My, my, my! It was about time we got this party started,” he said, before licking his lips.

“Don’t you dare touch her!” Zevah shouted, in a burst of defiance.

The three raiders just laughed. “What are you gonna do about it?” asked the mare, “Wiggle your ass at us?” She laughed uproariously.

Scar-mouth walked over to me, pressing me into the mattress with a hoof. “Hold still now little cunt or I will have to start breakin’ bones.”

I looked over at Zevah, her face full of agony. With my face an indifferent mask I spoke coolly, “Zevah, I am sorry for what happened to Imhani and for deceiving you,”

Her eyes grew wide and she blinked several times,“What?”

Green fire rolled over my body. Scar-mouth jerked away from the sudden burst of light. And I rose in all my glory, black carapace plates shifting against each other, unmoving insectoid eyes gleaming, powerful jawbones cracking as I gave Scar-mouth a true sharp toothed grin. The ropes around my legs had torn, like paper.

I had never actually tried to estimate my true size before, but looking down at Scar-mouth. I realized I had to be at least as large as Xingahar, if not even larger!

“What the fuck” Scar-mouth said, staring up at me, his eyes wide.

I lunged for him, my maw closing over his face, upper jaw digging into his right temple, the lower into his left. He screamed as I bit down. His skull cracked like an eggshell under the pressure and with surprising ease, I ripped a Darkstar sized chunk out of his head. Scar-mouths corpse fell to the ground, missing both its eyes and some of its brains.

I turned to the remaining raiders. I opened my mouth and let the gory mush splatter to the floor. “Ta-Daa!” I said.

The female raider was the first of the two to recover, pulling out a gun, that had probably belonged to a zebra a day ago. With a manic grin, she began firing BAM, BAM, BAM, BAM, BAM, BAM. She got off six shots before the gun clicked empty. Three of the bullets hit me, all ricocheting off my carapace. Still I wasn’t in the mood to celebrate, they had hurt... a lot, especially the shot to my throat.

Hiding both my pain and surprise, I smiled at the mare. She gaped at me, the gun falling from her slack jaw and unto the floor.

Seeing my opportunity, I charged. I was still accelerating when my horn punched into her barrel, spearing both her lungs. Straining my muscles to their limit, I heaved the writhing body up above my head. Then, moving my head in an arc, I flung the dying pony at the remaining stallion. They both slammed into the wall together, releasing a cloud of old plaster. The stallion crawled out from underneath his companion, coughing. I stomped on his head, and kept stomping until there was only mush left.

I didn’t even think about the brutality of my attack. It just felt right, besides putting a sick animal out of it misery, is the moral thing to do. Feeling decidedly smug, I turned to Zevah who was staring at me in horror.

“A changeling...” Zevah whispered, “That is impossible!” Her expression darkened and with a rising anger, “Your kind are not supposed to exist!”

Losing some of my smugness at her tone, I replied, ”Well… here I am anyway, Darkstar at your service.”

“HOW LONG?” Zevah suddenly roared, “HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN PRETENDING TO BE IMHANI?”

“This is not really the time,” I replied hesitantly.

“TELL ME! Or I swear by the sun; I will see you dead.” she growled.

I sighed, “About two days.”

Zevah let out a heavy breath,“Where is she now?”

“Bright Shoe medical research center” I replied.

“Is she alive?” Zevah asked, the faintest tremors of hope in her voice.

I grimaced, “Sorry”.

Zevah sagged back onto the mattress. “I knew something was off, but I ignored it. Changelings only exist in legends, made up legends, just a fiction of some random zebras imagination.” Her voice trailed off towards the end, then she went silent for a minute. “So what now? Are you going to kill me?”

I blinked at her, “No? Why would I do that? My plan was to cut you lose and then we could go save Xingahar together.”

“He is dead.” she said coldly.

I gaped at her, feeling numb, “But… they took us prisoner”

“He bled out on the way here, so they hanged him from a streetlight.” she replied harshly, “All because of that stupid fucking medical box.”

I flinched. There was that weight again, in the pit of my stomach. “Well… ” I said, trying to hide how badly the news had rattled me, “I suppose I could just help you out then.”

She glared at me, “I don’t want your help, monster.” She jerked at her bonds, to no avail.

“Don’t be a foal, at least let me cut your ropes,” I said, stepping closer. She wiggled away from me. I rolled my eyes and growled; “We don’t have time for this.” Making my decision, I closed the distance between us and pinned her to the ground with my body.

“Don’t touch me!” she screamed while thrashing as hard as she could.

Ignoring her struggles, I placed my horn on the inside of her leg and followed it down to the ropes, before slicing through them. Immediately her hooves struck at me, aiming for my eyes. Hastily, I rolled off her and backed off a few steps.

Zevah got shakily to her hooves and snarled at me, “I hate you.” Then, glancing at the dead raiders, she added “But you did aid me” – the words seemed to cause her physical pain – “so I won’t kill you... for now.”

I snorted, “As if you could.”

Zevah ground her teeth at that, then with a visible effort, she reigned herself in, “I guess, I could use your help to save Kizhaka.

I tilted my head to the side, “Who?”

Zevah let out a deep sigh, “The filly that rode in the wagon with you. They grabbed her as she tried to hide behind some trash bins.”

So that was her name; Kizhaka. I gave Zevah my widest grin, displaying my bloody teeth. “Let’s go vanquish evil and save the fair maiden”

Zevah armed and geared herself with the raiders weapons and bardings. I didn’t bother, my carapace provided far better protection than any barding. And when it came to guns; I would rather rely on my natural weapons. Besides, killing form afar just seemed so… boring. Still, I did take a pair of shabby saddlebags, blackened from old blood. Too my pleasure, I found Imhanis old satchel, with the PipBuck still inside. I shoved them both into my new bags. Finally we were both ready, and we left the room with me leading the way.

Being almost half again as wide and a head taller than Zevah, in addition to my toughness, I would rush in and attract the raiders attention , while Zevah picked them off from afar. It was a good plan, it had style.

We stepped out into a corridor with numbered doors running down its sides. At the far end two raiders were having an argument. I immediately set off in a gallop towards them. They both stopped surprised. I accelerated to my top speed. One of them began laughing despite the rapidly approaching threat. The other raider frowned, “What the–” and that was all he got out before Zevah shot him in the head.

His companions laughter dwindled as he watched his companion fall. “You okay?” he asked the corpse.

And that was when I slammed into him. Since he was wearing a thick metal plate over his throat and chest, I opted for my shoulder rather than my horn. We flew through the air and landed on the musty carpet, the raider on his back and me on top. I ripped into his face with my teeth, and kept at it until he stopped moving.

Zevah trotted up, and looked down at me from the corner of her eye, “...”

“What?” I asked.

She ignored me, indicated the stairs with a hoof. “Lets keep on moving.”

The building was a hotel complex, every level holding about a hundred rooms, it would have taken days to search them all. Luckily for us, we found Kizhaka in the hotel lobby. She hung from the high ceiling with a rope around one of her hindlegs. A stallion wearing a blindfold was swinging a baseball bat at her. Three other raiders were laughing and egging him on. The little zebra filly was flailing franticly trying to keep out of the bats way.

Zevahs eyes grew wide as she saw the bruised and battered filly take a blow to the stomach, sending her swaying back and forth. Gritting her teeth, Zevah aimed her rifle at the blindfolded raider and fired, sending three shots into his side.

As she did this, I flew up to the ceiling, pushing off it and launching myself down towards the three onlookers. Going down, I wrapped myself in green flames, the spell coming easily to me. Two of the three raiders simply exploded, I can’t think of a better word to describe it. Their remains splattered everywhere. The one remaining raider tried to run, but I caught him by a hindleg with my mouth. As he turned to strike at me, I snipped the leg of. Yes, you heard me. I snipped it off.

The raider fell to the ground, screaming and clutching at his bleeding stump. I jumped on him until he stopped. At this point I was so covered in gore that my carapace looked more red than black.

“So only nine in all?” I asked, “I expected there to be more.”

Having cut Kizhaka down and pulled the filly up on her back. Zevah replied, “There are more, and thats why we should get out of here as soon as we can.”

We headed outside through the big double doors, and was greeted by a cold breeze and the darkness of midnight.

Suddenly Zevah turned to me, “The basement, what happened?” She spoke quickly, as if she really didn’t want to know.

Maybe I could have made some excuses, ‘I was newborn and confused’, ‘She attacked first’, or something. However, It wouldn’t change anything, it would just be pitiful. I glanced a Zevah before looking away into the darkness. “I ripped her throat out.”

Zevah stared at me for a moment then said in a quiet voice, “I will kill you for that.” Then she turned and trotted off into the darkness, Kizhakas holding on tightly to her back, still looking like she couldn't believe that she had been rescued.

Walking into that same darkness, It struck me that now, for the first time, I was completely alone. No hive, no zebras, no father, no nothing. I felt the beginnings of panic within me, starvation had just become a very real possibility.

I forced my mouth into a weak grin, I still had the spirit ‘DJPon3’ to keep me company, that was better than nothing... right?

Footnote: Level Up.

New Perk: Bloody Art - Your victims could be considered; funky modern art. You gain +10% overall damage and more violent death animations.

Author's Note

And here it is chapter 2. I apologize for it taking so long, you know how it is with finals.

Chapter 3: Friends

Fallout Equestria: Darkstar

By ValdimarGreen

Chapter 3: Friends

Starvation is not fun. How long has it been? Three days? Four? My stomach ached so much, that it was a constant struggle just to keep my body from curling up into a ball. And the funny thing was; it didn’t even make any sense! My stomach had nothing to do with nutrition, it was just a glorified ooze gland. So why does it hurt so much?! My joints sent out small twinges of pain as I moved sluggishly forward. And as if that wasn’t enough; the back of my head throbbed painfully, blurring the edges of my vision. Sleep had been very hard to come by these past few days, what with the relentless nightmares.

The zebras had planned on heading east after the bridge, to place called Hoofington. That was most likely where Zevah and Kizhaka where heading. Thinking that Zevah might be less than happy with me following, I had instead gone south, along the river.

By simply flying from rooftop to rooftop, leaving the city had been easy. With frequent breaks, I had even managed it without straining my wings too much. Still, they were quite delicate and could rip easily if put them under too much stress. With such wings, I would never come close to a pegasus in terms of speed, agility or endurance. Still, they had their uses, so whenever I could; I kept them safely folded beneath their wing-plates.

The landscape south of the city, had turned out to be a be a rocky desert, crisscrossed with treacherous canyons. Standing on a high outcropping I had taken the lay of the land. Mountains far in the east, curved north along the horizon, gaining more snow on their peaks the further north they went. All perfectly normal. What had not been perfectly normal, was the enormous towers that dotted landscape all around, reaching beyond the clouds. One of these towers in particular had given me the creeps, it was black a monstrosity that dominated the sky to the northeast. There has got to be rules against building something so big!

Important as it all seemed, it had told me nothing. That had changed, when I turned my gaze to the south. A single great mountain sat there on the horizon, a city growing out from its side. Canterlot, home of Princess Celestia, the one location my education had included, besides the Badlands. Hope had filled my chest at the sight. With the Badlands located southeast of Canterlot, I should be able to find my way home as long as I kept the mountain in sight.

Survival first Darkstar! You need a new source of nourishment before anything else. With this in mind I had kept to the river as it curved eastwards. At some point, traveling along it, DJpon3 had gone silent. This had been both scary and unnerving since the spirit had been my only companion for days. Changelings, being herd animals just like ponies, need to socialise regularly or there would be consequences.

That had been a few days ago. Now my body was screaming for food, my head was longing for sleep and my soul was yearning for companionship. It was all too much, I felt lightheaded and the world seemed vivid to my eyes.

“You don’t look too good” a rock said, in a deeper version of my own voice.

I blinked, feeling the gravel in my eyes, “Hello there, Mr rock.” I said, looking down at the small rock in my path.

“Hello yourself,” the rock replied.

I tilted my head to the side, and gave the rock a sheepish grin, “Am I going to die?”

“Eeyup,” came the answer.

“Don’t listen to the rock! He is telling lies!” a new lighter voice piped up. For some reason it also sounded almost like my own voice.

Surprised, I turned around and looked at the twig whom must have been the speaker, “...Mr twig?” I asked.

“Darkstar is going to be alright!” the twig declared, “He is following the river and everypony knows that ponies build their towns by the rivers. It’s only a matter of time before he finds one!”

My head swiveled back as the rock replied, “ What if its just another raider town? And even if it isn't, he doesn't have the strength to transform anymore so how would he get them to love him?”

The twig seemed to consider this for a moment, “He could tell a joke, everypony likes a good joke.”

“HA!” I shouted in triumph, pointing a hoof at the twig, “That’s it!”

The rock remained unmoved, “That is fucking stupid, it would nev---” I picked up the rock and tossed it away.

Turning back to the twig I said, “We need to think of a really good one.”

Then suddenly my ears perked up, I could hear something. It sounded like… talking? TALKING! I was on my hooves in an instant, my gaze scanning the surrounding terrain. After noting the direction of the sound, I grabbed ‘Mr twig’ and put him into one of my saddlebags. We would have to think of jokes later.

As I threaded my way around some huge rock formations towards the voice, I could start to distinguish the words.

“---No, to be the best we can possibly be? I’m telling you now, as your friend, as your leader, that we can. We must. And we WILL!”

I rounded a final boulder and came face to face with the speaker as he finished his sentence. He was a rather big parasprite completely encased in metal armor, even his wings appeared to be made from metal. I smiled, befriending an insect was as easy as breathing. “Hello, would you like to be friends?” I asked.

The parasprite said nothing.

Feeling a little bit panicky, I tried again,“I know its a bit sudden but, unless somepony loves me soon, I am going to die.”

The twig sticking out in my saddlebag spoke up, “I don’t think you can feed on the love from insects.”

I swiveled my head around to glare at the twig, “We don’t know that unless we try!”

“You don’t have to be so mean about it,” the twig said sulkily.

“Sorry, but I could really use some fucking positivity right about now.” I replied.

The twig was quiet for a moment, then it spoke excitedly, “Try telling a joke! Thats sure to break the ice.”

“Now you're thinking” I said with a grin, turning back to the parasprite.

It had not moved, it simply continued to bob in the air, observing me.

I took a step forward and cleared my throat, “Why are dragons so boring?”

The creature was silent for a long moment then there was a clicking sound from within the metal armor. Then the parasprite spoke in a slightly slurred metallic voice. “Why?”

“Because when you talk to them, it tends to DRAAAAAG ON!” I replied, before laughing uproariously.

The parasprite was silent for a long time, before finally speaking, “I don’t even know what to say to that one.”

“That you loved it?” I said with a wink. “I am Darkstar by the way,” I added, holding out a hoof. Realizing that the little creature didn’t have a hoof for me to shake, I hastily dropped it. “What’s yours?”

The parasprite seemed to consider me for a moment then said, “Call me Watcher.” The creature hesitated before adding, “And if you really want to make friends... there are some ponies on a boat upriver that could really use some help.” After finishing, Watcher let out a screeching and hissing sound, turned and promptly began fluttering away.

Recovering from the start the sound had given me, I stared after him, debating if I should follow him or head for the boat. Hunger won out and I trotted towards the river. Insects really are the best pals a guy can have.

I didn’t take me long to spot the boat Watcher had mentioned, it had been anchored in the center of the river, it was a moderately sized vessel and even had a small lifeboat. I squinted from my lookout, forcing myself to process the details, despite the pounding in my head.

The first thing I noted was the large cage in the center of the deck, filled with filthy and starved looking ponies. Dismissing them, my gaze moved away from the cage and on to the four ponies that made up the crew. A brown stallion with a sand colored mane who was hammering at a metal box in the back of the boat. A thin yellow mare who was missing an ear. She was leaning on the railing as she watched the first one work. The final two were obviously twins, both unicorns with the same grey coat, same black mane and same green eyes, only difference between them was their gender. They were currently engaged in a heated argument, both with flushed faces, and both holding a wide stance.

Brownie, One-Ear, Sister Gray and Brother Gray, where these the ponies that needed help? My gaze swept over the cage again noting the smaller forms of fillies and foals within, and I somehow doubted it.If anyone needed help, it was the ponies in the cage. Just you wait, I will save you and then... you are all going to love me! I stifled a giggle.

Now all I needed was a plan, A ground charge? No, wouldn’t work, I can’t swim… A skydive? Nah it would probably sink the ship… unless something or somepony could break my fall. I felt a wicked smile spread over my face.

‘Mr Twig’ spoke up in his high pitched Darkstar voice, “Wait a moment, none of those ponies are raiders, nor are they attacking you or the hive! We can’t just kill them.”

One of my eyelids twitched. But, then I smiled again. “Don’t worry I will give them a chance to surrender.”

Unfolding my wing seemed to take forever, my muscles working sluggishly. But, soon the deep buzzing filled the air and dust began rising up from the ground. I flew straight up at first, before heading east until the boat was right under me. Then letting go, I dove. I might not have had enough juice to transform but I did manage to squeeze out enough to wrap myself in the familiar green flames.

And down I plummeted, like a green comet, slamming into the top of the cage. The roof warped inward with a metallic screech, but the wide rectangular framework did manage to spread out the force of the impact enough to leave the boat unharmed. The caged ponies all shouted up in alarm before gaping up at me, they were not the only ones, the grey twins had stopped arguing and were staring at me.

“What the fuck was that?” Brownie shouted before he and One-Ear rushed out from behind the metal box, before stopping to stare as well.

One-Ear broke the silence, “What is that thing?”

“It kinda looks like a lobster…” Brother Gray said.

His comment earned him a scornful sneer from his sister, “Lobster? Are you fucking blind? Look at them wings and them eyes, somepony went and fucked a radroach.”

I narrowed my eyes at her.

“Ha! I think you pissed it off,” Brother Gray said.

His sister glared right back at me, and the assault rifle she had slung over her back, swung around in her magical grip to point at me. “I would like to see it try anything.”

I grinned at her, displaying my sharp teeth, then I taped the deformed metal cage.“This could have been your back. If I had wanted it, you would be bloody paste right now. And the name is Darkstar.”

They all took a step back at that. “Shit, it talks!” Brother Gray said.

Brownie produced a revolver and pointed it as me, his tongue on the trigger. One-Ear had a strange set of metal tubes tipped with crystals protruding from a metal box strapped to her side. Still, she pointed them at me as if they were designed to do something nasty.

I looked back at Sister Gray, who obviously was the leader, “I am here on a rescue mission with the spirit of DJPon3, so surrender now or prepare to fight.”

She sneered at me, “You gotta be kidding me! Have that asshole started inspiring monsters as well now?”

As I opened my mouth to reply, she pulled down the trigger of her weapon, “RA TA TA TA TA TA TA.”

I closed my eyes and felt the bullets smash into me before bouncing away. Two of the bullets however, found their way into one of my wings, ripping it apart. I ignored it, the wing would grow back, eventually. After what seemed like an eternity the magazine finally clicked empty. I heaved myself out of the depression in the cage and launched myself at Sister Gray.

We went down in a heap, my teeth found her neck. But, when I tried to bite through it I couldn't muster the necessary strength, I was just too starved. Still, my teeth punctured her skin making her bleed.

She started screaming, “GET IT OFF ME! GET IT OFF ME!”

Her brother came to her aid, slamming a sledgehammer into the side of my head. Ripping her loose from my grip. Not a very smart move since, my teeth ripped deep furrows in her flesh as I was flung away.

The brother, seeing his mortally wounded sister forgot all about me and instead scooped her up and ran towards the back of the boat. I shook my head and got shakily to my hooves, only to find a frowning One-Ear pointing her strange gun at me. There was a “BZZZING” sound and a green energy beam struck me in the chest.

Pain, like nothing I had ever imagined possible lashed into my chest. I fell to the deck, screaming and thrashing wildly as I tried to escape the pain.

In the far distance, as if in another world I could hear Brownie speak, “Shit, you got him good. I must admit, when he took all those bullets without even flinching, I was kinda worried.”

“Yeah,” One-Ear replied, “but old FireFly have never let me down. I think she blasted a hole right through that chestplate of his.“

The pain was fading somewhat, and I stopped thrashing in favour of just breathing heavily.

Brownie spoke again, “So are you gonna finish him off or what?”

“I suppose I should,” came One-Ears response, and I felt something press against me.

She is going to shoot me with that thing again! I am going to feel it again! No, NOT AGAIN! NEVER AGAIN! I lunged for her face, my maw closing around her muzzle, and with the force of blind desperation, my teeth broke through flesh and bone alike, resulting in half of her face being ripped off.

Now it was her turn to fall the deck screaming, as she clutched the ruins of her face. I stomped on her head, putting her out of her misery. Thats how you fucking do it! You don’t stand around and talk about it.

I turned to Brownie who had pulled out his useless revolver, while backing away. I didn’t have the strength to pursue him, so instead I grabbed One-Ears body and spun it around on the deck so FireFly was pointing towards him. His eyes went wide, as I bit down on the trigger, “BZZZING.” The green beam shot out once again and Brownie was turned to dust.

I heard a splash from the back of the boat. The twins had grabbed the lifeboat and were speeding away in it. The sister lay wrapped in bandages and unconscious, while her brother steered the little vessel away. He looked back only once, confirming that I was the last one standing. Then they disappeared out of sight.

I might have died right then, had it not been for the trickle of gratitude from the dozen or so prisoners. However, from the way they were eyeing me it was clear that they were also terrified. It didn't help when I starting coughing up green ooze, that I then used to stuff the hole in my chest.

Finding the key to the cage on One-Ears body, I unlocked it. “You are all free to go.” I said with a grin. The prisoners hurried out of the cage, careful not to get too close to me before jumping into the water and swimming ashore. They all looked back from time to time as if worried that I might change my mind.

I let out a grim little chuckle as the last one disappeared from sight. I was even hungrier than before this whole thing. I turned back to the cage and blinked, one small form remained inside. It turned out to be a small unicorn filly with a light red coat complemented by a deep red and yellow mane. Her lime green eyes grew wide as I entered the cage and approached her.

I tilted my head to the side, “Why are you still here?”

She stared up at me, then gulped before opening her mouth to speak. Nothing came out, and she promptly closed it again. Shaking slightly she instead pulled out a foreleg from under her rags. It was badly swollen.

I stared at it for a moment, and I felt anger rise in me, “They left you because you couldn't walk on your own?!”

She flinched back from the anger in my voice. “Yeah... but its dirty, so I am pretty much dead already.” she said, looking at the ground. “You know from infection and stuff.”

“Why not just clean it then?” I said gesturing to the river, “You have a perfectly fine river over there.”

She tilted her head to the side, some of the fear bleeding off her. Maybe for you, being whatever you are, but to us ponies, its poisonous.

I glanced at the river again, “Really… well I guess we will have to clean you the changeling way then.”

“The changeling way?” she said clearly not liking the sound of it.

In response I let my long blue tongue fall out.

She stared at it for a moment, “No way...”

She squeaked as I pulled her closer. Under the rags I found four more dirty gashes crisscrossing her back, as if somepony had whipped her with an intentionally filthy whip. Though, none of them were yet as bad as the one on her foreleg.

I coughed up more green slime and let it ooze down my tongue.

“Ewwwwwwww” she squealed.

I let my tongue wrap around her foreleg, forcing the slime into the wound. The little filly squeezed her eyes shut. I counted the seconds in my head, One, two three, four, five, my tongue tightened around the strip of half hardened green slime and pulled it loose. As it left the wound , so did all the grime and dirt, leaving the wound completely clean. Ignoring her squirming protests, I repeated the procedure with her other gashes.

“Your tongue is all cold and Ewwwww” she said with a grimace.

Not that she could fool me, her gratitude was great enough to ease my hunger somewhat. However, I was still starving. Gratitude will never be enough.

“I am Darkstar” I said with a grin, “What's your name?”

“I am Strawberry... and I already know your name, everypony heard it when you told the slavers,” she replied.

“Well Strawberry, would you like to be friends?” I asked.

Strawberry eyed me as if she couldn't decide if I was being serious “Just like that?”

“Sure, I could put you in a saddlebag, I don’t tend to carry much myself,” I glanced over at FireFly,“ I should be able to handle a some extra weight.” With those words I emptied one of my saddlebags before padding the bottom with one of the less filthy blankets. Then scooping her up, I gingerly dropped her into the saddlebag.

Her stomach made a little rumble, and she looked away sheepishly, “Sorry”

“Don’t be,” I replied, “I know what it’s like to be hungry.” Oh how I knew it.

She eyed me warily, “You hungry?”

“Not for pony flesh, if thats what you are thinking.” I replied.

She seemed to relax a bit and settled back into the saddlebag. “I think the slavers kept their food in the back, by the engine.”

The label read ‘Magical Fruit’ but inside there were just beans. Still, Strawberry ate three whole cans, before lying back with a contented grin on her face. Since I needed to resupply on ooze, I ate two as well.

We headed for the front of the boat again and Strawberry helped me equip FireFly, lashing it to my right side so it could work as a counterweight to Strawberry on my left. It was kinda cool actually, because now she could just lean over my back and reload it with a new spark battery, should I need it.

Since I couldn't swim or fly, we had to crash the boat into the riverbank to get back on dry land.

Strawberry looked up at me, “So… where to now?”

“Southeast,” I said as I pointed up the upriver.

Her mouth dropped open, “Fillydelphia?”

Fillydelphia... I kinda like the sound of that! Probably filled with fillies who would love to make some new and interesting friends.

Footnote: Level Up.

New Perk: A Black Horse - You are getting used to starvation, you are now 20% more effective in your energy use.