Fizzy had no idea what she had done.

That beam of magic... She had never done anything nearly as complicated as that before. Hay, the only spell she knew was levitation! Every unicorn knew that one. At least, everypony in Stable 6 did.

Night Shade was leading Dirt along the railroad tracks, making sure he didn't stumble thanks to his half-blindness. She had covered his eye in gauze, but the smart pony knows a bandage only hides their wounds. If healing potions and bandages couldn't help it, they would have to find a doctor.

Fizzy was bringing up the back, a puzzled expression on her face. She'd had a headache since they had fled Old Appleloosa, but she chalked it up to the stress of battle. She figured if she had a Sparkle-Cola, though, her headache would be gone. Dirt had traded them all away, though, to get a room in New Appleloosa for them.

Night looked over her shoulder at the young filly. "So, what did you do back there? I had no idea you knew combat spells."

"I don't," replied Fizzy. "I have no idea how I did it. It's just... I was scared, they were going to hurt you... I guess I just lost it a little bit."

"We all lose it out here. We just have to find it again before it's gone forever." Night shook the half-conscious Dirt in the right direction, watching him closely so he didn't trip on the tracks. "So, how do you feel about it?"

"About what?" the unicorn asked.

"Your first kill."

Fizzy blinked. She hadn't thought of it that way. "It was more of an accident," she argued. The poor filly couldn't take the idea of having murdered another pony, regardless of what they had done.

"Accident, my flank." Night snorted. "You saved all of us, including yourself. If anything, you should be trying to figure out how to do that again."

Dirt seemed to be stirred by these words. "No. If she doesn't want to hurt anypony, she doesn't have to. No matter how powerful that spell was, we can't exploit it."

Fizzy didn't bother speaking any more on the subject, as Dirt had pretty much voiced her opinion for her. It seemed that Night, too, was done talking about it for now. The filly checked her PipBuck to kill some time. It appeared that they were still far away from their destination. Thanks to the injuries Dirt and Night Shade had sustained, though, the distance seemed even greater.

From behind them came a faint rumble. At first, Fizzy thought it was the sound of thunder. As she turned around, however, she realized it was definitely not the weather.

"A train!" she cried to her companions.

Dirt squinted with his good eye. "Looks to be about six cars," he noted. "Must be delivering goods."

The train was approaching quickly, but they had plenty of time to move out of the way. It passed them at a relatively slow speed. Fizzy noticed that it was loaded with cargo.

As the train began passing them, Night looked at Fizzy. "Jump on the back of the train when you see it. We're going to bum a ride from these fellas."

Fizzy nodded, preparing to make the leap. Night shook Dirt, trying to get his attention. "You hear me, Dirt? Get ready to jump." The stallion merely nodded.

One boxcar passed. Another. Finally, the caboose. The group managed to jump at precisely the right moment, landing on the back of the car. Dirt was winded by the jump, though, and pressed a foreleg against his side in pain. Night hurried and led him inside the caboose with Fizzy.

The train car was filled with crates, containing everything from scrap metal to bits of electronics. Each crate was addressed to the same group: "The Enlightened". What the significance of this was, the three didn't know. Then again, there were so many groups in this place that the odds of them ever meeting these Enlightened were slim.

"Wonder what anypony would need with all this junk," Dirt muttered.

"Why couldn't they have been delivering crates of healing potions?" said an irritated Night Shade. "At least then I could fix us all up!"

Fizzy said nothing, merely fiddling with the radio to distract herself. Of course, there wasn't much to fiddle with, considering there were only a hoofful of stations. She eventually decided on listening to the radio station hosted by that stallion Shout Out.

"I've been getting reports of strange goings-on in the Wasteland, listeners. Sources in New Appleloosa today told me that they encountered a spy from the Grand Pegasus Enclave in their town. What the Enclave would be doing below the clouds, I have no idea. But still, if they're plotting something, I'd recommend steering clear. The only good Enclave grunt is a dead one, as I always say.

"Furthermore, there have also been sightings of large numbers of glowing ghouls just outside Manehattan. It isn't known whether they're feral or not, but I would avoid them either way. That appears to be the last of the new reports. Until next time, listeners. This has been Shout Out."

Fizzy looked over at the other two. Dirt was resting peacefully, but she noticed grimly that his bandage already needed changing. The bleeding was slowing, though, compared to what she had seen right after the battle.

Night was sharpening her knife with a chunk of rock. Not exactly the finest way to do it, but better than leaving it dull. Fizzy got the mare's attention. "Do you think he'll be okay?" the unicorn whispered, gesturing to the sleeping Dirt.

Night continued sharpening the blade, not looking up at Fizzy. "If he doesn't go through all our bandages, we should be able to find him a doctor before his wound does him in."

Fizzy's eyes widened. "How far is it to the next town?"

"You're the one with the PipBuck. You tell me."

The mare blinked. "Oh, right." She lifted her foreleg and examined the digital map. She hadn't noticed it, but her map had already programmed the locations she had visited. The marker that Dirt had left on her PipBuck told her that they were closing in on the town of Dust. "It looks like we'll be on track to arrive before the day is out!"

Night chuckled. "Yeah, and I'll sprout a horn and become the next goddamned Princess. Odds are, this train isn't going exactly where we're going. It could be heading for Stalliongrad, Dise or even Tartarus for all we know. We're just riding it for as long as it's going in our direction."

Fizzy dropped her head in embarrassment. She'd been too optimistic. "Right. But, at least we're getting closer..." Her headache increased in severity, and she pressed a hoof against her forehead in pain.

This did not elude Night, who put her knife away and looked at the filly with concern. "I suggest you get some rest, Fizzy. There won't be any time to sleep while we're walking." Her tone betrayed quite a bit of compassion, which surprised the unicorn.

"Okay," Fizzy said. She plopped down on the wooden flooring of the caboose and leaned her pounding head against a crate. It wasn't comfortable at all, but she didn't complain. Fizzy noticed that Night was still sitting, watching the scenery pass through the window. "Aren't you gonna sleep?"

"Somepony's gotta keep an eye on you- I mean, on the train. I've got to watch and wake you two up when it changes direction." The pegasus scratched the back of her head with her hoof. "Don't worry about it."

"All right. Thank you." Fizzy closed her eyes and relaxed as much as she could. After a long time spent tossing and turning, she finally managed to get to sleep.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When the unicorn awoke, Night Shade was shaking her with a hoof. "Train's stopped. We should hoof it from here."

Fizzy yawned, rubbing her eyes with her hooves. She sat up and looked around. Dirt was already awake, gathering his things. He still looked like his wound was bothering him, but resting had done him some good. Night, on the other hoof, looked a bit tired. Fizzy checked her PipBuck's map. "We're a lot closer than before," she remarked to her comrades.

"Good," Night replied. "If it means less trotting, I'm happy."

The caboose's cargo door opened abruptly, allowing bright beams of sunlight to invade the dark container. The conductor, a thin orange stallion, peered in at the unexpected passengers. "Oi!" he shouted. "Get the buck outta my train!"

Fizzy widened her eyes. "Sorry, mister! We'll be going!"

The conductor, either too wise or too stupid to be afraid of Dirt's guns, scoffed at the three. "Well, ya better be! Do ya see a sign that says 'Stowaway Pony Storage'?!" He narrowed his eyes as the trio hopped out of the car and onto the cracked ground. "Yer lucky I'm lettin' ya off easy, ya punks!"

The ponies walked away from the angry conductor as fast as they could. Once the fellow was out of earshot, they all laughed. Despite all they had been through in the past 24 hours, despite the injuries they had taken, - and given - they couldn't contain themselves.

"What was that guy all about?" Fizzy said after a brief pause to compose herself. "Letting us off easy? We could have squashed him flat. Hay, I could have squashed him flat."

Night nodded at the unicorn's comment. "He was less a stallion and more of a beanpole. His threats were about as intimidating as his figure." She chuckled.

Dirt snickered as well, but stopped himself quickly. "All right, enough of that. We've got to keep our eyes peeled. Even you, Fizzy."

The filly did a mock salute. "Aye aye, Captain Dirt." She looked around at the area. They were far from the railroad tracks now, surrounded only by dead plants and a few farms along the path. The farms, of course, were rundown and the crops long-since shriveled and/or harvested. Even the few barns still standing were smeared with blood or blasted full of holes.

They were in raider country. Thankfully, there appeared to be no hostiles, according to Fizzy's PipBuck. Either that, or they were just hiding. "Uh, guys? Do you think we're safe out here?"

"Of course," assured Night Shade. "As long as we're quiet. Anypony out there will know to steer clear of a stallion armed with two shotguns and a mare with a rifle."

"What about me?" Fizzy had left the pistol behind in Old Appleloosa, which she now regretted immensely.

Night looked back at the unicorn. "Just stay close to me."

Dirt's ears perked up at something in the distance. "Hey, gang. Check it out."

Fizzy strained her eyes to see an object in the distance. It appeared to be some sort of carriage, partially buried in the dirt. It looked different from the normal fare of wrecks; this one had recently crashed. She could tell because the upturned soil was relatively fresh. There was aging paint on the side of the carriage that was no longer readable.

She blinked. How had she noticed all of that at a glance? She wasn't nearly that observant back in the Stable. Perhaps, she mused, there was less to notice back then. "Wonder what's in it?"

Dirt approached the carriage and began to search through it, rummaging through the trunk. "Not much," he said aloud. "There's some shotgun shells here, though." He grinned. "And a book." He hoofed the tome to Fizzy, who studied it. The cover was black and yellow, with a monochrome, confused and cross-eyed mare on the front. It was slightly dog-eared at the corners, and a few pages appeared to have been ripped out hastily. Nevertheless, it was an honest-to-Celestia legible pre-war book!

"Unicorn Magic for Eggheads?" the filly read the title aloud. "Oh, so you think I'm an egghead now." She chuckled and placed the item in her saddlebag. She had a feeling it might be useful.

"You know what I'm wondering?" Night asked. "Why anypony would crash their carriage and not take what was inside with them."

Dirt raised an eyebrow. "You think it's a trap?" he asked.

"Either that, or whoever crashed this thing didn't have time to get their things." The pegasus scratched her head. "Because they were being chased."

"By raiders." Dirt spat on the ground. Fizzy was looking to the distance, where an amorphous black mass was forming on the horizon. The unicorn could see the mass clearly, though.

It was a mob of rotting, shrieking zombie ponies.

"Or by those things," she said quietly, pointing a hoof to the rapidly advancing army. Dirt took notice and readied his battle saddle.

"Ghouls!" he shouted. "Get to one of the barns!" The three of them turned tail and galloped as fast as they could. Fizzy hadn't any idea what ghouls were, but if they scared Dirt, then the group was in deep trouble.

Night Shade attempted to fire into the crowd of ghouls, but it did little to stop them. There were dozens of the monsters, all quite bloodthirsty. Cursing, Night loaded another bullet into her rifle and sprinted with her companions.

Fizzy looked behind her and gasped, terrified to see that the ghouls were gaining on them. She somehow managed to increase her speed, putting even more stress on her muscles. The others followed suit, but Dirt seemed to be struggling to stay ahead. He was panting, glancing behind him in fear. The zombies were practically upon him.

The unicorn knew she had to do something. Thinking quickly, she grasped Night's knife with her magic and removed it from its sheath. She swung the blade around and slashed the closest ghoul in the eye. It screeched, falling over and tripping the ghouls behind it. It bought them just enough time to charge into the closest barn and slam the door. Night picked up a stray chunk of wood and barricaded the doors with it. Not a second after she had accomplished this task, the ghouls began to pound on it. The door held firm, though, and the three were safe for the moment.

Dirt took a deep breath, patting Fizzy on the head. "Thanks. They nearly had me back there."

Night Shade took her knife from the filly and almost cracked a smile. "You did well, kid."

The unicorn shrugged. "I did what anypony else would do." She sat down in a pile of hay. "What are those things?"

"Ghouls," Dirt explained. "When a pony gets too irradiated, they either die or become one of them. Not all of them are feral, but they all look that ugly."

Night looked at the door. The pounding was dying down now. "We should wait for them to disperse, then we'll keep going. Dirt, how's your eye?"

The stallion sighed. "It feels funny. Not a good sign, I suppose?"

Night trotted over to him and lifted his bandage with a hoof. Upon getting a good look, she cringed and replaced the gauze. "I don't know how to tell you this, but... it's infected."

Dirt frowned. "Well, I guess I only need one of 'em, anyway." He sat down next to Fizzy and looked at her. "You should start reading that book. We might be here for a bit."

Author's Note

Sorry. This chapter should have been done six days ago, but it's here now. Hope you like it.
-Endless Madness