Fallout: Equestria - Frosty Skies

Chapters

Chapter One: New Beginnings
Chapter Two: The Cloaked Stranger
Chapter Three: Wasteland Wonderland

Chapter One: New Beginnings

Fallout: Equestria - Frosty Skies
By TornadoFIM
Chapter One: New Beginnings
“You’re just a pony; let’s just see how long it takes before you break.”

War… War never changes…

Over two centuries ago, the magical land of Equestria was consumed by war and hatred; ponies hated Zebras and Zebras hated ponies. It was an ongoing war, a war that never seemed to have an end to it. The land was consumed by balefire -- the cause? Madness. War. Hope. It was their only option; to end the war to end all wars, they dropped Megaspells onto the land of Equestria, turning the once bright and colorful landscape of a land that was filled with magic and happiness, into an apocalyptic Wasteland filled with hate and radiation; life was abolished from the surface.

Over three decades ago saw the rise of a hero; the legendary hero from Stable 2. LittlePip. She brought a new hope to the Wasteland, filled the ponies’ hearts with happiness and assurance. She opened up the skies; she opened the heavens above and revealed the sunlight from behind the thick, blackened clouds for the first time in centuries.

However, the north was left alone. The north was ignored -- instead of ponies seeing a hero in the mare known as LittlePip, they saw a traitor… A liar. Even after all of her heroic actions, the north continues to perish, still without the hope of a hero any time soon.

*******

I was deafened with a loud banging upon a metal surface. I felt myself get dragged away from my slumber, my eyes slowly opening as the blinding light from the window beside my bed filled my vision. I lifted a hoof to cover my eyes, the white screen slowly fading away. I lowered the hoof from my vision slowly, and steadily set it down on the rough, cold bed I lay in. Staring up at a scarred, wooden ceiling made of splintered wooden planks.

The banging continued, before a voice echoed from outside of the room I was in. “Sky! Sky, wake up! Breakfast is ready!” cried a mare’s voice from outside of my room. The banging continued once more, this time growing more aggressive.

“Grr,” I groaned, yanking the tatty and stained old pillow from beneath my head and bringing it down on my head to cover my ears. “I’m up! I’m up! Goddesses, I know they say ‘knock before you enter’, but you’re overdoing it!”

“Well, get your lazy flank outta’ bed, Sky -- I’ve got to head out to work at the Clinic, so I’ll be back in a couple of hours like usual,” the voice replied. A sound of hooves was heard stomping against the wooden flooring of the house, fading slowly as they distanced themselves from me.

I propped myself up onto my flank steadily and slowly, just so I wouldn’t find myself aching and in need of a bed much later on in the day. I edged backwards, sitting against the rough wall behind me. I scanned the room, the large… and almost empty room. The floor had no carpet; in fact, the flooring was made of wooden planks, damaged ones at that. Some sections of the floor had large holes the size of a hoof inside of them. In one of the far corners of the room was a small foot locker with a black duffle-bag leaning against the wall beside it. My “bed” wasn’t really a bed… it was just a solitary mattress with a pillow and a small blanket made for a foal. A plain beige blanket.

The closest corner to me contained a large, mahogany drawer. It was losing its color, and also had large scars all over the exterior of it, and placed on top of it was a small mirror; the mirror was cracked due to it being something found in the Wastes… just like a majority of this stuff. The wallpaper was a fading teal color, the wallpaper peeling from age, and even some parts were to reveal the wood beneath the paper stuck to the walls.

“Just another day, huh Sky?” I spoke softly to myself, realizing I was alone. Standing onto my hooves slowly and steadily, I took the short walk to the drawer beside my… mattress and stared into the cracked reflection to see a cerulean unicorn mare, with a flowing dark blue mane with wide lighter blue stripes in her mane. The long mane covered one side of her face, covering one of her tired dark blue eyes. In-between her eyes were some darker blue freckles, making her look strangely adorable.

This was me… I was Sky. And a day in the life of Sky was nothing interesting. I groaned as I glided my hooves across the wooden drawer I stood in front of, feeling for something with my hooves but not looking. It didn’t take me long to find what I wanted. Upon feeling a crinkled and tatty box touch my hooves, I soon gripped onto it and lifted it from the drawer. I looked to the box in my hooves… Party Time Mint-Als… or as I liked to call them, sanity pills. They were the only things that really kept me calm, that kept me sane. I don’t know why - but what I did know was that I was addicted.

“Bottoms up,” I said, tilting my head back and throwing a couple of the Party Time Mint-Als down into my throat, before swallowing as soon as they hit the back of my throat. With my eyes coming back to meet the mirror, I rested the substance down on the drawer and then gave the mirror a false smile. “Whatever you do, Sky - don’t lose your shit.”

*******

Upon finally leaving my room, I walked down short and claustrophobic hallway. The hallway, since it had a lack of windows, was dim. The wallpaper was the same as it was in my room, and also the rest of the house… The same blue wallpaper, torn and peeling from the age. Reaching the staircase at the end of the hallway, I slowly walked down the stairs, each step creaking and squeaking as I took slow and subtle steps down them.

Faintly in the background, a radio was playing. At the bottom of the staircase was a half open door, allowing some of the light from the outside to seep through the small gap in the doorway ahead of me. I stepped off of the last step, raising a hoof to press against the metal door fixed within the wooden doorway, slowly and steadily pushing it open. A small kitchen was beyond the doorway. There was of course the sink, the refrigerator, and a couple of cupboards, however, some of the doors on those compartments had been torn off to reveal the emptiness inside of them. In the middle was a solitary table with a metal frame, and large sheets of sheet metal nailed together to make the table top, and on the table sat the radio.

Behind the table was… a door. Made of battered and burnt wood, not of the familiar metal that most of the doors around the house were made of. The glass within the large rectangular window frame was cracked, but not shattered or overly broken. Just a few large cracks spreading the width of it.

The flooring was made of marble, but the tiles below my hooves were cracked and dirty. The white color they once carried now looked a horrible, rotten brown color. I trotted to one of the sturdy chairs that was tucked beneath the table, gripping onto the back of it and slowly pulling it out for me, before sitting down on the hard surface…

To my surprise, breakfast was ready, and on the table. Normally, my mother would just stuff it in the fridge and expect me to know that it’s there. The food sat right in front of me; cooked radroach meat and potato chips… Yay. The thought of it made me gag, but it was better than nothing, I suppose.

I let out a sigh and then grimaced, staring at the steaming food in front of me. “I need a drink…” I climbed to my hooves once more, walking to the fridge. My horn glowed as I focused my telekinetic strength on the refrigerator, opening it. However, the door ended up hitting me in the face and sending me stumbling back into the table, my horn’s glow disappearing.

“Ugh… Dammit.” Once the dizziness faded, I soon crouched underneath the open door, turning my head to look at the open and surprisingly empty fridge. Once I passed underneath the door, I found myself climbing into the fridge, pushing my head as deep as I could to look for any liquid to shove down my dry and sickened throat. Alas, I did find… a drink. Not the drink I was hoping for, but a drink. My expression instantly brightened up, as I went to grab the almost hidden bottle from the very back of the fridge, before pulling it out with my horn’s telekinetic power. Finally a drin--Dirty water… Great…

I let out a sigh of frustration, before closing the fridge door and placing the irradiated beverage onto the table and then sitting back down in my place. I stared at the intimidating food that sat before me - I was hungry, but even just looking at the stuff before me, including the drink I had pulled out, made my stomach churn. Not just a little… but a lot.

The almost-silent radio continued to play - I glanced to it, raising a brow. “Maybe some radio might help calm the mood…” Twisting a knob on the rectangular radio box ever so steadily, the volume increased to a level I was happy with. I rested my head down on the uncomfortable sheet metal tabletop, looking away from the food. I found myself staring at the device that was emitting all of the sound.

“...and that was the Cutie Mark Crusaders with “Hearts As Strong As Horses”, hope you enjoyed it, children! For those that are just joining us, good mornin’ - how is it in post-apocalyptia today? You done anythin’ exciting? Maybe you’ve just killed a whole band of raiders and yelled ‘fuck yeah!’ at the top of your lungs, because who wouldn’t want to do that after killing a bunch of ‘em?

“Next on our playlist is a highly requested song - and I can most certainly see why, children. Next up just so happens to be “What Is My Cutie Mark Telling Me” by the Elements of Harmony themselves! Take it away!”

The voice of the buck soon faded away as the song began to play. The music however did not help me stomach the food any better. I glanced to the radroach meat, lifting my head off of the table and sitting back as my eyes were fixed on the food. But I had to eat it… for mom’s sake… And for mine. I was hungry, but… not that hungry; I’d eat radroach if I was hungry, hungry. Like starving… but I wasn’t.

“I think I’ll pass…” I grunted, looking to the water and slowly pushing it to the edge of the table. “Not just on the food, either…” I slumped my head back onto the rough and rusty sheet metal nailed down onto the tabletop, as I groaned and exhaled heavily. I wanted to eat… but… Not radroach; radroach tastes awful, even when cooked.

*******

I sat at the table for hours, my head just staring at the radio as I listened to the strange male pony on the radio. I was somewhat entertained, hell, it even took my mind off of my roaring and aching belly. Unfortunately, my peace with the strangely attractive voice on the radio was soon interrupted with the sound of the front door opening from within the hallway. I lifted my head up, looking to the hallway to see… my mother. Thankfully it was her. Her sky blue coat was visible from even within the darkness of the hallway she stood in, and her greyish minty green mane was neatly combed, as well as her tail, the purple and pink highlights in her mane losing their color from age. This was Crystal… my mother.

She walked into the kitchen, her saddlebag filled to the brim with medical supplies and chems. “Mornin’, Sky,” she spoke softly. Upon reaching me, her eyes hovered to the radroach meat I had left. I didn’t even take a bite out of it. “You haven’t touched that meat, wasn’t you hungry?” she asked. I glanced back at the meat, before looking back to her and nodding.

“Y-yeah… I wasn’t hungry,” I lied, hoping not to make her feel bad. My mother wasn’t particularly the strongest pony when it came to feelings. A lot had happened to her before I was born… stuff she said she would rather not share. She turned to the kitchen counter, opening up her tatty and old saddlebags and emptying both satchels onto the counter.

“I can always reheat it - if you want it later, that is.” Upon finishing what she was doing, she turned to me once more and levitated the plate from the rusty old table, and placed it on the kitchen counter alongside the medical supplies. Upon hearing the voice of the male radio presenter, she looked to it and giggled to herself softly. “Lemme’ guess… you’re crushing for that DJ-PON3, am I right? He’s got a sexy voice, I’ll give you that -- but he doesn’t seem to care at all for anypony’s personal life. Everything has to be out there - if you ever catch his eye, when you eventually go out into the big bad world on your own, don’t expect him to turn a blind eye to you. He will mention you.”

“Mother!” I felt myself blushing, shooting a look at her. This only made her giggle even more. Shit… my own mother began teasing me about something that wasn’t true! ...Okay… Maybe I did adore his voice, maybe I did have a little crush on him, but I wasn’t planning to travel the Wasteland just to find him. I wouldn’t last if I did, anyway.

“What?” she spoke, her grin widening as she leaned closer. “I know what goes on in your head, Sky. Every single week it’s always a different buck. “I love him -- oh but now I love this guy”. You need to wait for the right one instead of crushing out on ponies you barely even know.”

“B-but…” I said, raising a hoof but then retracting it. She was… right. Dammit. “Is that what you did…?”

Crystal’s expression changed into a frown, “Sky, I’ve told you not to ask or even mention anything about your father… it brings back memories. Some good, most of them bad; my past is something you shouldn’t be concerned about.” She turned away from me, sorting her chems carefully. “There will come a day when I tell you everything… but have patience.”

“Mom…” I said, my ears flopping down. “I-I didn’t mean it like that… I-I wasn’t asking, I was just asking if you waited for him…” Ah shit. Guilt. What a wonderful feeling that was -- seeing my mother cry hurt me more than anything else. Even if somepony punched me in the gut, and shot me in the face, I would feel less pain than seeing my mother cry. I knew she was crying. I heard her sniffs, and her silent sobs.

“I-it just hurts to remember him, Sky,” she exhaled shakily, turning back to face me, her eyes now red from her crying as tears slowly trickled down her cheeks. “You didn’t know… i-it wasn’t your fault. I-I would just prefer not to have him mentioned to me.” She took a deep breath, looking down and wiping her eyes with a hoof of hers. “Sky - can I have a moment… please?”

“S-sure, mom… anything you’d like,” I whimpered, standing to my hooves and soon trudging towards the darkened hallway, my head hanging low as I dragged myself out of the room… Ah shit… Well done, Sky. You’ve just made things a lot worse. Upsetting your mother? Sky, could you stop being a bitch?

*******

I stared up at the cracked and aged ceiling, feeling the softness of my mattress below me as I focused my mind on what I did, the darkness of the night outside of my window almost making this room pitch black. I hated making my mother cry -- I was all she had, and to make her cry, to make her of all ponies cry killed me inside. Each time I saw a tear trickle down her cheek after I had said something, whether it be about dad or from an argument, I felt part of me die inside. And it hurt. It wasn’t a painless, gut-wrenching feeling… no. I felt something stab into my heart. My mom is all I have.

“Why did I have to be such an idiot?” I groaned, levitating the small box of Party Time Mint-Als from my drawer in my horn’s telekinetic grip, and pulling them in front of my eyes and examining the battered and dirty box. “Maybe one of these’ll calm me down…” Opening the small box of tablets to see that very few remained. Lifting three of the Mint-Als out of the box, closing the box up and staring at the three tablets I had in my levitational grasp, I threw them into the back of my throat and soon swallowed. “I should really stop taking these things…” I said, levitating the box back onto the drawer and sighing softly.

While most ponies would lose their minds when they take some Party Time Mint-Als, I would lose my mind without it. A dose of them each day would keep my mind calm, and not send me into a nightmare of withdrawal. I sat up where I was, exhaling deeply as I leaned against the wall just behind my mattress, staring at the opposing wall on the far side of the room.

Upon hearing hoofsteps coming towards my door, I focused my eyes on the metal door to the left of me, waiting for the sound of a knock against it… or any other sound trying to get my attention. I blinked, remaining silent - it might have been somepony else. But, the thought of that worried me. This town wasn’t that friendly - it has its punks and trouble-makers, as well as its guards and peacekeepers.

A moment of silence washed over once the hoofsteps came to a halt just outside of my door, the coldness of the room nipping against my neck as I blinked and stared at the door, waiting for a knock to be slammed onto the door. The knock was applied… slowly, the sound of the hoof banging against the metal loudly ringing out.

“Who is it?” I asked cautiously, keeping my eyes fixed on the door. Silence once again. I waited for the response of the pony on the other side.

“I-it’s your mother,” a shakily voice responded. “May I come in, Sky? Please?”

“It’s open,” I responded softly, my eyes slowly drifting to the cracked floorboards beside my dirty old mattress. The door opened slowly, revealing the sky blue mare with the minty green mane as she slowly walked into the room, her eyes still red from all of the tears she had cried out earlier. “Hey…” I softly said.

“Hey, Sky…” she responded with a soft silky sound to her voice. Upon reaching the mattress, she sat down beside me, my eyes not looking at her. My eyes focused to look down at my forelegs, trying my very hardest not to throw myself on a guilt trip.

There was an awkward silence between us. A strong silence; a silence that lasted longer than I had hoped, or even imagined. But she soon broke the silence, and personally… I’m glad she was the one who decided to do it. It would have been awful if I did it -- I probably would have ended up making her cry again. That was all I was good for.

“You still beating yourself up about earlier?” she asked, caressing my mane with one of her hooves. Gently nuzzling me, she added, “You shouldn’t… Honestly, it wasn’t your fault. I… overreacted…”

“I shouldn’t have said anything, mom,” I replied with pure guilt. My head was still heavy, my eyes staring at the floor as I took a deep inhale of breath and then exhaled to prevent myself from breaking down into tears. “I shouldn’t ask about him if it really hurts you… I’m sorry.”

“Hey, hey…” she gently placed a hoof underneath my chin, and lifted it up. Looking into my eyes, she smiled softly out of forgiveness, “You have every right to ask - it’s your job to be curious about things you know very little about - it’s what makes us ponies. If you didn’t ask about him, then I’d be worried, Sky.”

I smiled at that remark, but it didn’t take any of the guilt I felt away. “At least tell me this… Was dad a good pony?” I asked, hoping for at least one answer from her regarding my father. I wanted just one answer…

My mother looked lost… Her smile changed into a frown. This worried me. Had I hurt her again? Was he not a good pony? Did he kill others for… sport? Did he make mistakes he didn’t regret? What was so bad about my father that made her so upset?

“Was he a good pony?” she repeated, reeling back. She exhaled softly, closing her eyes and smiling softly. But it wasn’t out of happiness. It was more of a grimace. “Your father made many mistakes; he came from a Stable - Stable 30… When he visited me for the first time, he was new - what surrounded him was alien. All of it. The creatures, the ponies, the surroundings… But the more he got used to the Wasteland, the more he changed. The Wasteland changes ponies, whether it is good or bad, the Wasteland changes everything about you. He was a good pony to an extent - he knew his boundaries. He had good intentions. But he made mistakes - he could fix them, but he always assumed he couldn’t repair the damage he caused…”

My smile turned into a frown and I soon looked down once again. “O-oh… Does the Wasteland change ponies like everypony says it does? Does it change ponies like you say it does?” I asked, looking back up at her, hoping for more answers.

“Yes…” she nodded slightly, looking to the door and wrapping a hoof around me. She held me close. “The Wasteland is… unforgiving. It doesn’t give you a second chance if you make a mistake. You have to live with that mistake, unless you find a way to fix that said mistake. Going back to the subject of your father, I guess he was in one of those situations… especially after what happened…”

“W-what happened?” I asked, hoping for her not to scold me. “What did he do?”

She took a deep breath, and then looked back to me. “Promise me you won’t hate your father - it was a mistake. He did it for my sake.” I nodded, waiting for her to continue. She took another deep breath, and then exhaled, “He… destroyed a city. He destroyed it to save my life - I had a gun pointed to my head, and so did he… If he didn’t do it, I wouldn’t be here and neither would you…”

My eyes widened, not speaking as I took it all in. He destroyed a city? But-- No… No, he was right to do that if it was for my mom’s life. If it was out of bad intentions and greed, then I would be pissed and glad he’s gone. He sounded like a… neutral pony - he did as he saw fit, he didn’t want to side with one side and have to fight against the other. He sounded like the type of pony who was respectable, to an extent, of course… But still nonetheless respectable.

Crystal got up from beside me, walking back toward the door and opening it entirely. Upon walking between the door frames, she glanced back at me and smiled softly. “I have something to give you, Sky… Wait here, I won’t be too long.” She walked out of my room, and as I saw her disappear into the corridor’s darkness, I sat and waited for her return.

I heard her hooves slowly fade out, and as they did, I heard another door open. I waited patiently for her, but did feel myself get somewhat impatient with how long I was waiting. When she did finally return, it seemed as if she returned with nothing, but her horn was glowing a light sky blue color as she timidly stepped back into my room. I kept my eyes fixed on her, leaning side to side occasionally to see if I could see exactly what my “gift” was.

“No peeking!” she giggled, walking closer before stopping right in front of me and looking down at me. I gave her a look that suggested I wanted the present now. I was too excited to wait any longer.

“What is it?” I asked, unable to see it… but I knew she had it as her horn continued to glow bright within the darkness of my room. “You’re killin’ me here!”

She giggled once more, before revealing a pistol… Her pistol. She levitated it towards me, smiling. “Hold out your hooves,” she requested and as soon as she did, I did exactly what she had instructed me to do. Holding out my hooves, she slowly and steadily lowered it down onto my hooves.

I examined the gun closely, my eyes wide and my smile even wider. The chassis of the gun was a sky blue color, and it had black swirling patterns all over it engraved into the metal that made the chassis of the gun. Why was she giving me her gun though? I remained silent, completely speechless.

“This was my gun… for a short while. Not while I knew your father, but long enough to protect you and also myself from those who intend to hurt,” she said, lifting a hoof from the ground and cracking a gentle smile at me. I looked at her and smiled widely. “If you decide to go out there, face the horrors of the Wasteland and explore, this gun will be your best friend… it’ll protect you from anything that wishes to harm you.”

I returned to examine the gun, levitating it from my hooves with my magic and slowly twisting and turning it around so I could get a proper look at it. I emptied the magazine from the stock, shaking it slightly to hear it was empty. I put it back in the stock, looking to my mother expectantly, hoping that she’d give me the ammo. I planned to leave. I wasn’t sure when, but I wasn’t wanting to spend the rest of my life… here. And she was expecting me to go soon, anyway by the sound of things.

“Ah… yes. The ammo,” she lifted herself onto her hooves, walking out of the room again with a swift trot as her hooves hit against the wood beneath them. Yet again, I kept my eyes on the door as I waited for her return. She was quick to return and in her levitational grasp were seven boxes of rounds, all of which containing two magazines each containing six bullets. At least… that is what it said on the boxes. She placed all seven boxes onto my drawer’s top, and then sat back down beside me. “I know it ain’t much… but it’ll serve you well.”

I placed the empty gun on my bed, yanking her in for a hug and squeezing tightly. She hugged me back and I nuzzled her neck. “Thanks, Mom… I love it. Really.” I held her close to me, hearing her giggle to herself before pulling away and looking at me.

“It’s what you deserve, Sky,” she said to me softly, caressing my mane. “After all, the Wasteland is there to be explored… whether I like it or not, you will leave some day. And it is of course best to be equipped with at least one gun for your first night out. What you do out there is up to you -- whether you’re a good pony who intends to change things for the better, a pony who takes no notice of others and just looks to survive or a pony who wants complete control over the Wasteland, to force those who live and thrive in the Wasteland to kneel before your hooves… it’s up to you. I can’t make your decisions… but I hope you to make the right one.”

Hope… Was that what got her this far? Hope that she would move on and start a new life without dad? Granted, I wasn’t the best pony for anything, but I certainly didn’t want her struggling when my time to leave finally arrives. She was all I had, and I was all she had. I couldn’t have said ‘thank-you’ any more than I had already, but I… I felt like I needed to. I felt like a simple thank wasn’t enough to show her how grateful I was.

“Thank you…” I said softly as I pulled her into a gentle hug. I felt her hug back once more, just nodding her head in reply as I held her close to me.

*******

That night, I slept a rather… peaceful night. Most nights in the area weren’t particularly the most peaceful. You’d hear conversations exchanging from street to street, drunken bucks harassing innocent little mares. Mares harassing bucks. Drunken bucks having a singing contest… every so often somepony would get shot. But that was rather rare, though. While Winter wasn’t the most peaceful settlement in all of the Northern Wasteland, it was most certainly home to me. And honestly? I could never ask for anywhere better.

Mother dropped some hints that her life that she had before having me wasn’t so glamorous. She didn’t go around, picking heads off of creatures and crazy ponies wanting your head. No. She didn’t live the typical lifestyle that most colts and fillies would have you believe. The Wasteland was violent, but it most certainly didn't sound like a playground of mass destruction; a place where you could just kill anything and everything in sight. But... Colts and fillies being the ponies they are would want to imagine it to be like that.

I'll admit, even when I was a filly I wanted in on the Wasteland action. I always used to talk about how I'd one day go out there and shoot everypony and everything. Some filly I was, huh... Though, things are sorta different. I was not wanting to go out there for the soul purpose of killing things and kicking flank, but I wanted to explore... I was somewhat aware that the Wasteland was a cruel place to be. I wasn't blinded with lies like the children were.

I bet many Wastelanders got asked the same questions. How many did you kill? Who did you kill? Did they bleed? Can I see the head? And so many more to do with Wasteland violence. Children being children, you have to expect questions like those. I had been there and done that in my early years of life.

My peaceful sleep wasn't to last. Deep into the night, I awoke to what sounded like... Screaming? From outside of my window, I heard ponies running, begging for mercy... But that mercy wasn't show with each gunshot that echoed loudly outside. I sat up, my heart beginning to race as I heard raspy voices yell at civilians from outside. Soon, my mother burst through my door, my eyes quickly snapping to her in alarm… I took a breath of relief once I recognized the mare standing in my doorway.

“We have to go,” she shouted, stomping a hoof. “Grab everything you need, and meet me downstairs… don’t dawdle!” She quickly darted off to the staircase without any more words being said, her hoofsteps quickly fading out as they made distance between my room and her.

“Wait!” I called, hoping that she would have heard me.

No reply.

I stood onto my hooves, walking over to my drawer, trying to block out the dying screams and gunshots that echoed from outside… but I couldn’t. They drilled against my ears, and the more they did that, the more it hurt just to hear them. I levitated the gun that my mom gave me off of the top of the drawer, and then searched the top draw for the ammo boxes. Placing all seven of the aging boxes onto the top of the drawer, I trotted over to the far corner to my duffle-bag. I opened up the zip, pulling a leather jacket out from inside of it, and wrapping it over me before zipping it up.

I levitated the duffle-bag, and soon carried it over to the ammo boxes, placing each individual one into the bag. All but one. Emptying the stock of its empty magazine, I levitated one solitary mag out of the ammo box I had kept out, placing it into the gun and cocking it back with my horn’s magic.

Opening the second draw down, I levitated all of the caps, healing potions and bottles of Sparkle-Cola I could into my bag. Three bottles of Sparkle-Cola, three healing potions and… Twenty-five caps. And also a small box of Sugar Apple Bombs to prevent hunger. Zipping up the bag, I looked around to see if I had forgotten anything.

That was about… everything. Ammo, check. Food, check. Drinks, check. Healing potions, check! And of course caps… if I need them. Oh… There was one more thing I needed. I opened up my saddle bag, and then the third draw down, levitating a small picture within a dirty and dusty frame. A picture of… me and mom. A couple of years ago. Kissing it, I threw it into my bag and zipped it up once more.

“Sky! Hurry up!” I heard my mother call from downstairs, her voice barely audible beneath the torture, screaming, gunshots and insane laughter happening outside. I responded by trotting to my doorway, scanning my room for anything else…

No. I was ready. I trotted out, shutting the door and then rushing to the staircase before trotting down to meet my impatient mom at the bottom of the cracked and wooden staircase. The tortuous sounds that were heard outside were slightly muffled due to the walls blocking the sound out… but I could still hear them.

“W-what’s happening?” I asked--but… I knew what was happening. I shook my head, looking to replace the question I had asked. “W-why is this happening?” I asked once more, looking around the dark room. My mother turned to the door that led to the kitchen, before turning to me and putting a hoof over my lips before I could continue… But I had so many questions…

“I’m sure you have many questions, Sky…” Crystal started, glancing behind herself before looking back to me. “But I cannot answer them… even if I could, I don’t think you’d understand. If you had seen what I had seen, felt what I had felt and done what I had done, you’d understand - you wouldn’t need a second explanation.”

I fell silent, looking at my mother. “What wouldn’t I understand?” I desperately wanted to know more, even though I knew I wasn’t ever going to get the information from her. I tried to block out the ruckus from outside, the violence which occurred outside of the house.

My mother fell silent also, blinking and turning away as she opened the door to the kitchen, walking into the room. “Everything…” she muttered as I followed her in, Crystal gathering any loose bottle caps from the table, and checking to make sure everything she needed was inside of the saddle bag she carried. She turned to me, looking dismal has she walked over to me. “Just one thing: if you manage to get out there, if you manage to explore the big bad world… don’t trust anypony from the first word being spoken. Monitor them, and watch your back - whoever decides to tag along can end up ditching you or worse…”

“Worse?” I tilted my head to the side, an ear flopping down. She looked at me with a look of bemusement, the type of look that said “oh… is she really that stupid?”. The answer was yes. I didn’t want to make assumptions that maybe weren’t true - I didn’t want to offend her with those assumptions, considering she had gone out there and explored it all once before.

“Do I really need to say?” With a shake of her head, she soon turned to the battered and scarred door behind the table. “We’ll exit through the back - that way we don’t run into any unwanted company… at least for a short while.”

She walked to the door, twisting the knob on it with her hoof, before slowly pulling it open. To greet her was a snow covered patio, with blades of dead and dry grass poking up through the deep-ish snow that sat outside of the door. I trotted over to her, waiting for her to step outside. Snowflakes fell and drifted down from the night sky softly with the calm breeze

She looked left, and she looked right… Only to repeat the process two more times before stepping out in the soft and rather cold blanket of snow outside of the door. “It’s clear… We can leave,” she said, looking back to me as she waited for me to follow. Stepping out, and feeling the freezing cold snow touch my hooves, I looked to my mother, and then down the walkway that led to the gate attached to the fence, seeing the invaders slaughter… and kill innocent ponies.

I felt my heart sink, and fear take its place, quickly looking away from the ponies that shot, beat and tortured all of the civilians who were trying ever so hard to leave the town. But no matter how hard they had tried, they all got no profit. I looked to Crystal… she just watched, and kept her eyes on them. No emotion on her face whatsoever.

“W-who are--” I stopped, looking down at the white blanket of snow below my hooves, before shaking my head and looking up at my mother, tears now forming in my eyes. “No… What are they?” I asked calmly, trying to block the screams out. Trying to remove myself from the world, at least for just a second. And just as I managed to do that, just as I managed to calm myself and release the tension from my body for the moment… just as I had placed some happy thoughts into my depressed brain, something interrupted my small moment of peace.

“Over there! I see two fuckers beside that house!” I heard a raspy voice yell, my eyes shooting open as I looked back to see blood covered buck, blood that obviously wasn’t his own. He had a dark brown coat, and a mane that was spiked violently down the middle and sides to give him a more intimidating appearance. He was a Unicorn, so the shotgun he had floated beside him in an aura caused by his horn’s telekinesis. “Time to die!”

I felt the hooves of my mother shove me to the ground in a rush. I landed to the ground with a loud thump, getting a mouthful of snow as my face landed in the soft white substance beneath it. Cold… Really, really cold… And I didn’t like it… I felt myself shivering, and my teeth chattering as I soon lifted my head from the snow, looking to her. She ran towards the intruder, quickly turning around and slamming both of her hindlegs into his face, a loud pop sounding as if his neck was completely disjointed from it. As she did kick him, however, a blast from his shotgun fired up into the air, no doubt alerting the others in the area.

Climbing to my hooves, I slowly but steadily walked over to my mother, whose hooves were covered in the blood of the pony she had bucked moments before. At first I felt shocked, and then came fear and then… confusion. As shocked and as horrified I was to know that my mother killed this pony that she had never even known, as shocked and as horrified I was to see a pony get killed right before my eyes, I… couldn’t blame her. Completely. This pony was going to kill us, and no doubt his just-as-insane buddies will try to kill us next.

She levitated the shotgun he dropped, cleaning any of the blood that had splattered onto it. And then my eyes drifted to the buck himself. From the kick she delivered, his spine had torn right through his neck, the blood still leaking out onto the frost covered ground below.

“Y-you killed him…” I muttered, looking to her, hoping to forget about the sight I saw. “We could have just run.”

“They’re Raiders, Sky,” she countered, looking to me with a dismal look. “Raiders are… the worst types of ponies you’ll ever see. They show, and know no mercy - they have a lust for blood, pain and torment - I’ve met many in my time, fought with them all. I’ve never seen a Raider show true mercy and sanity.” Upon grabbing whatever ammo she could from the buck’s corpse, she placed the few remaining shells from his body into her bag, before glancing back into the backyard. “Come on, we have to hurry. The others will be here soon - put that pistol I gave you to use if you have to.”

My mother soon began to trot off into the backyard, but I remained. I opened up my duffle bag, soon levitating the custom designed pistol that she had given me, before sealing it back up again. I kept the gun in a levitational grasp, observing it for a second or two before eventually following the mare who had run off into the darkness. And as I followed, raspier and rather bitter voices called out from behind.

*******

We had left the house -- the house I was brought up in, the house I had lived most of my life in. And I wasn’t sure if I was ready. Not yet, not now. But we were forced out, we had no choice -- it was either stay and die or leave and live. Well, live a little longer, that is. Either way, we still had a lot of ground to cover to say we couldn’t just waltz through as if it was any other day. Today was different.

With the screams of the dying and tortured still echoing throughout the village, I followed my mother closely as we hugged the shadows. We passed many ruined houses sitting alone in the dark, as if they were the first to be hit. Doors were broken into, and entrails and corpses of those who had struggled during the night lay there, lifeless and broken. And the Raiders didn’t think twice to search the house for anything useful… they just came and went by the looks of things.

I couldn’t help but glance over my shoulder to check that we weren’t being followed by those who had heard Crystal break the neck of that pony outside our house moments ago… luckily we weren’t. But I couldn’t help but think that they may have chosen a different route the reach us, as if they knew where we were heading.

Trudging through the snow, and following my mother closely, I wanted… or rather needed to know more about these “Raiders”. Whether or not I would get answers is a different matter completely, but I was sure she’d understand my curiosity.

“Mother…?” I said softly as I tried to pull up beside her, but found myself unable to do so because of the deep snow we were walking through. I glanced around, looking at the many emptied houses that surrounded us within the dark. “What are Raiders?”

“I’ve told you what they are, Sky,” she muttered to herself, walking at a similar pace to me. Slow… and steady. “Insane, merciless and brutal ponies. That’s all there is to them…”

“But there’s got to be more,” I countered, managing to get up alongside her, looking at her with blinking eyes. “They’re ponies, too. No matter how insane, or brutal they are - you’ve seen it all, you’ve seen what they are.”

She stopped, looking down at me and shooting me a look. “They’re NOT ponies, Sky. The dying screams - are you going to tell me that a pony with a brain would do that? I sure as hell wouldn’t call them “ponies”, let alone worthy of living!”

Oh… that was… unexpected. I reeled back, blinking and scrunching up my muzzle. “O-oh… Well in that case, nevermind…?” I said with a tone of… I don’t know, but I sure as hell felt like I ticked her off just asking about Raiders. Was it wrong that I wanted to know more?

She sighed, walking ahead and hanging her head. “Sky… I’m not saying there isn’t more to Raiders at all - a small fraction out there may have brains - however big that fraction is a different story completely, but--”

“Well, well…” some unfamiliar, raspy voices soon filled my ears, stopping us in our tracks completely. I turned my attention to the nearest house, where the wooden panels along the exterior of the house were battered in, and splintered from the damage. The front door… non-existent. And within the darkness of the entrance to the house exited a group of ponies that looked similar to the one my mother had killed earlier. “Looks like we found ourselves some lil’ mousies!” A bald black Unicorn buck, dressed in spiky leather armor with a thick but rugged scarf pulled over his muzzle stood in the doorway. In his horn’s levitational grip was a poorly assembled assault rifle that looked like it was made out of anything he could get his hooves on. He was accompanied by… what looked like two mares… All three of the ponies had the look of insanity in there eyes.

I lifted the gun in my levitational grasp up to aim at them, taking a couple of steps back in fear. “D-don’t make me shoot…” I said, trying my hardest to sound brave. Obviously, that had failed me as the dirty and wasteful ponies in front of me burst into an echoing laughter that sounded somewhat exaggerated.

“Awwh. Ain’t that cute? This lil’ mare’s tryin’ to act brave…” he said hastily, grinning at me underneath his scarf. “Well… it seems like our lucky day; two mares who look like they’re ready to die!” He then looked to my mother who stood her ground with no emotion of fear.

I sure as hell wasn’t ready to die… I didn’t want to die. Why not sleep? Why not rest? Why not live? Anything other than death would be nice. Of course, I knew we didn’t have a choice. Instead, I readied my rather shaky pistol, keeping my sights locked on them. However, my mother kept her shotgun lowered, and took a couple of steps closer to them.

“You must feel so brave,” my mother contradicted to him, stomping a hoof in the snow. “Hiding within a ruined old house, sticking to the shadows? Might I say that’s not normal for a Raider - I thought you liked killing ponies, I thought you like being in the thick of the action. I’m beginning to think my assumptions were wrong,” she said with a tone of mockery.

The buck stepped down from the porch, trudging through the snow as he approached my mother. “Bitch, what did you say?!” he spat in her face. She cringed from his presumably horrible breath, reeling back and keeping her eyes fixed on his.

“I’ll repeat that, shall I?” she groaned, gritting her teeth. “I’m beginning to think my assumptions were wrong,” she repeated, grinning. “Better?”

“You bitch!” He swung a hoof across her face, knocking her to the ground and then levitating the barrel of his assault rifle to her head, jabbing her with it with a look of pure hatred on his face. “Repeat it for me, bitch. Do it. Fuckin’ repeat it, I’ll pull this fuckin’ trigger… or so Celestia will help me.”

At this moment, I felt an alien emotion fill me. Rage… anger… hatred… whatever it was, it wasn’t positive at all. Stomping over to him, I raised my pistol and pressed it against his head as I breathed heavily, feeling myself tense up in the moment. His eyes looked at me as he kept the barrel of his gun pressed against my mother’s head, who was now on the floor bleeding from where she had been hit.

“Nopony calls my mom a bitch!” I screamed, cocking the gun back. “And nopony can EVER hit her, you piece of wasteful shit!” The moment when by like a flash… all it took was one pull of the trigger and...

BLAM!

I sent a bullet straight through his brain, a large chunk of his head breaking apart, allowing his brain (which, it’s surprising that he had one) to splat and break into small chunks, as blood and brain matter painted the snow beside him, some of the blood splattering onto my face and chest. His body fell with a crash beside my mother; his eyes still wide open in surprise as if he didn’t expect it at all.

I… I killed a pony. Upon realizing what I had done, I looked to the other Raiders with both a feeling and a look of fear. And upon them noticing, their surprisingly shocked faces turned into grins, their crooked and yellowing teeth revealed within the grins as both of the earth

pony mares reached into their leg holsters, pulling out a pistol each.

“Time to die!” one of them screamed with a dry voice. I darted to try and find whatever would be considered as cover, as shots were fired at me. I felt their bullets whiz past my ear, sometimes just skimming my flank and ear.

My mother followed, firing two blind shots of her shotgun up at the Raider mares, with no effect. I took cover behind a rusty dumpster that sat next to the house, leaning up against it… Crystal sat next to me, checking the ammo in her shotgun before looking to me.

“Are you okay?” I asked with a tone of concern, still shaking from what I had done and as I did, she wiped some of the blood from her muzzle and nodded with a soft smile.

“Y-yeah… Thanks for doing that, Sky,” she responded. She soon frowned. “Are you okay, though? Killing your first pony isn’t exactly the easiest experience to go through, but trust me, you’ll get used to it.”

“I-I’m fine,” I lied with a smile. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to get used to it - killing just felt so wrong. But… from what I heard from my mother, and what I saw within the last hour or two, ponies had to kill to survive. It was… in their nature.

I peeked over the dumpster, seeing the Raider ponies just making their way around, and upon catching sight of me, I fired two shots that, unsurprisingly, missed them completely. And as I ducked down, a spree of bullets smashed into the dumpster, pinging into it loudly. I flinched, checking the magazine I had in the gun, before shoving the magazine back in and preparing to go again.

“Come out of hiding and face us. Show us how brave you really are!” a raspy voice heard within the approaching hoofsteps spoke. “I’m not going to hurt you… much. I’ll only rip your head from your shoulders - that’s lenient compared to what the others do.”

I gulped, slowly crawling around the closest corner of the house, Crystal following me closely as we shifted to the back end of the house. I felt my heart begin to race as I heard the insane ponies slowly making their way around the dumpster. Upon reaching the back door of the house, I leaned against the cracked and crumbling wall, taking a few deep breaths. My mother took her place beside me, looking at me and gently holding my hoof. She knew I was afraid.

BANG!

I heard the sound of the dumpster being kicked, before hearing a cry of anger. I felt my heart stop as the sound of the metal being bashed echoed loudly, my eyes shutting tightly in fear. I felt my mother hold my hoof tighter, my eyes opening as she did. I looked to her, taking deep breaths - she cast me a smile of reassurance, another spree of kicks on the dumpster.

“Oh, are we playing a game of Cat and Mouse, eh?!” I heard one of the female intruders yell from the other side of the house. “So if you’re not in the dumpster, are you behind the house? Or have you made a runner? Hah! Pussies!”

“Be quiet!” I heard the other one reply hastily, the sound of a hoof hitting their companion. “If we want to take them by surprise, we split up, circle around the house - and when we find them, we blow their fucking brains out!” the other mare hissed through her whispers. Silence followed for a few seconds, before I heard movement… and that’s when my heart stopped again. “And this time, don’t fuck it up - last time I didn’t manage to get a shot on the fucker because you were being too loud!”

“Yeah… whatever,” a final groan was heard before movement became audible once again. I looked to my mother, hoping that she would have a plan. Surely she would know what to do, she had been in similar situations… or I had assumed that before noticing the clueless look in her eyes.

Great… Fucking great. I was having to kill more ponies. Not that I enjoyed it the first time, no, I found it absolutely horrible. Ending one’s life just because they have a gun isn’t a real reason to why you have to do it. But that… thing, that thing I wouldn’t dare call a pony, attacked my mother, what else was I meant to do? It was either him or her in that situation.

“Sky… I know you must be feeling scared right now,” she said, cracking a smile at me. Too fucking right I was, I honestly didn’t know what to do. “But you have to stay strong… I want you to run. Run away from this place, and never come back.”

“W-what?!” I exclaimed while keeping a low voice, my eyes widening at her words. “I’m not leaving you here… I can’t leave you here, and I won’t!” My heart would only sink further than it had before, knowing that she wanted to stay here and not come with me.

“Sky, I’m too old for this, for everything like that. I can’t join you out there… even if I wanted to,” she responded, my head slowly looking down as I felt something weigh it down. My heavy emotions…

“I heard somethin’!” one of the deep female voices yelled on the other side of the house, the voice sounding much closer than before. “Keep low, keep quiet, and don’t fuck this up!”

“I-I’ll miss you, mom.” I tried to bite back the tears, biting my lip harshly. But I couldn’t… my vision was replaced with a blurry fog as the warm tears soon trickled down my cheeks. I couldn’t stop them. Next was trying not to cry so loud.

I felt myself get pulled into a warm hug, soon hugging the mare back and softly crying on her shoulder. And she couldn’t hold back the tears, either… I felt her warm tears roll down my forelegs, neck and back, holding her as close to me as I could - and even though I knew we didn’t have time for this, I didn’t want to let go… I loved her too much to just let her go. I felt her trying to push me away, but I refused to let go of her.

“S-Sky…” she groaned, sniffling and trying to push me off. Not. Letting. Go. Not ever. No. “S-Sky, you have to go… n-now!” She managed to release me from the hug, and as I felt myself break apart from her, I tried to pull her back in… but she didn’t let me, of course. With tears streaming down her face, she put on a smile that told me “everything was going to be okay.”. As if that was true. “Everything will be okay. I promise. Just… watch your back out there -- and even if I don’t make it out of here alive, just remember… I-I’ll be watching from the stars.”

She leaned forward, applying one last kiss on the cheek, before letting go of me completely. I was still struggling to fight back the tears, hearing the movement that was now inside of the house.

“I think they’re in the back!” I heard a voice roar from inside of the house, before hearing a hoof slam into the one that had just spoken once more, before her hasty companion responded to her.

“Yeah, and now they might have run off! Keep your fucking voice down!” I heard her dry voice speak, my mind unsure of what to do. I had to run. Obviously. But, I didn’t want to leave my mother… she was all I had - not only that, but I didn’t know what to expect at all out there. That was the scariest part.

I had no choice, did I? The answer was no. Climbing to my hooves, I looked towards the endless Wasteland that was on the other side of the crooked fence that barely stood at the end of the backyard. And as I took a deep breath, I felt a hoof nudge me… I wanted to go, but at the same time I didn’t. It’s… just what may or may not be out there that terrified me the most. The stories I had heard about the Northern Wasteland or even the Wasteland in general were pretty terrifying in themselves.

I gulped, closing my eyes and bracing for my first ever step outside of my hometown. “Well… here goes everything.” I darted off, galloping as fast as I could away from the village, feeling the falling snow hit my face as I ran forwards. Upon leaping the fence, I had realized that I had traveled the furthest away from this place in my lifetime, and no doubt, that distance would increase. Overtime.

Galloping through the seemingly like blanket of snow that coated the hardened and dry soil beneath my hooves, the darkness had restricted my vision for the most part. The only thing that I could see clearly was the snowflakes that came down at a rapid pace, hitting me in the face. Despite them feeling so cold, I was more worried about what I might bump into after my leave.

I soon heard… the most worrying sound I could ever hear… A gunshot. Muffled, and crackling through the sky like distant thunder clouds. I stopped in my tracks almost instantly, glancing back to the faded light in the distance. Home. My heart sank even further, this time almost dragging me down with it. I worryingly looked down at the snow and the grey and dusty soil at my hooves, shaking with fear and heartbreak. I was hoping, wishing - that they hadn’t killed my mother. Right there, and then… the emotionless look of her face staring into the barrel of demise, before taking the shot - right between the eyes, and ending it for her completely.

No. Stop thinking thoughts like that, Sky… they’re damaging. Stop it!

BANG! WHIZZ!

Feeling one of their bullets only just miss my flank, I quickly threw myself down to the ground, landing on the hardness of the ground beneath the thin sheet of snow. I groaned upon landing, but still attempted to remain still and silent. They had seen me run; they had heard me… worst thing being that they knew where I was.

A few more shots flew over me, some of which missing me by a safe distance, while some almost blowing my head clean off. Some almost making an entrance into my flank. That thought made me cringe more than any other - the unimaginable pain…

I lifted my head from the ground, looking into the distance to see the flashes from the guns that were shooting at me in the distance. Shot after shot was added, bullets missing me by a single hair, or missing me by a large distance. Either way, I decided to keep my head down and remain silent, hoping for the best. The best being not to go and get shot. I kept my gun close by in my levitational grasp, waiting for them to get close enough.

“Come on, you fuckers,” I hissed, keeping my eyes on the seemingly never ending wave of bullets. The rage was returning - just like before, I had the urge to kill. I didn’t understand why, but honestly, I could care less - I just wanted to kill them from this point. They did the unthinkable. They killed innocent ponies for sport, they killed those ponies for their own entertainment… and quite frankly, I had no time for ponies like that.

I had killed before - just moments before I ran out of town. It was shocking to see the corpse in front of you; it was shocking to know that you were the killer - that you had taken a pony’s life, in exchange for your survival. But… As much as I didn’t want to get used to it, I knew that I would have to start doing it soon, or this Wasteland would be all over me like a rash.

I checked the amount of rounds in my gun as they grew closer… Three bullets. Even though I had more ammo in my bag, I didn’t want to go reloading half-way through the fight, finding myself pinned to the ground with a barrel pointing against my head. Shoving the magazine back in, I noticed they had grown closer. I hid the gun, levitating an old, ruined newspaper that had drifted its over to me over it. And their shots had stopped.

With the two insane ponies approaching me, they looked at me with savage grins. I looked straight back up at them, showing no emotion, nor expressing any. They both levitated their guns high into the air, aiming them down at me, one of them approaching me as the other remained where she stood.

“Game over, little pony,” she hissed, poking the barrel of her rifle up against my head. My horn gave away a soft glow as I attempted to grab my pistol with my telekinesis. Upon grabbing it, I showed a grin at her, yanking the pistol from underneath the newspaper and aiming it at her quicker than she could blink. Her eyes widened as she found herself staring down the barrel of my pistol.

I held my breath, trying to keep control of my emotions. “No… No, I don’t think so,” I said hastily, cocking the gun back. “Au Revoir.” I fired one of the three remaining bullets into the eye of the Raider pony stood in front of me. It went through her eye, and out of the other end of her skull, forcing her to fall with such great force. She landed with a powerful thud, blood squirting from her eye as it leaked from the back of her skull.

And breathe…

I quickly climbed onto my hooves, aiming the gun at the other Raider. She almost dropped her gun out of her levitational grasp, but managed to recover, aiming it right back at me. And I knew she wasn’t going to be merciful, right after that, anyway. I quickly darted out of her line of sight, hearing the gun she fired boom loudly in the silent Wasteland air.

Feeling a few of her shots just miss me by a hair, I looked around frantically for cover. Upon finding a broken, dead looking and leafless tree, I vaulted myself around it and sat against it as I waited for my target to draw herself closer. I listened out carefully for her hoofsteps, giving the odd glance at her, before feeling a bullet shoot past my ear, forcing myself to take cover once more.

I took a deep breath, holding the breath within my lungs, before peeking around and firing the two remaining shots I had in the current magazine. Miss and… miss. I slammed myself against the dry bark of the tree, emptying the magazine out of the weapon and reaching for another magazine in my duffle bag. It was quite hard for me to find any source of ammo, but luckily I had found one, shoving it into my gun and cocking it back.

I leaned around the corner once more, firing two more shots at the Raider pony who had decided to play the waiting game. HIT and… miss. The shot that had hit her pierced its way into her left foreleg, forcing her to fall with a loud cry of anguish, blood trickling down her leg as she applied force to it with her other hoof.

I climbed to my hooves, walking out of cover and up to the Raider mare with my gun’s barrel staring her right in the face at all times. Stopping right in front of her, I pressed the gun right up against her head, a look of fear in her eyes as she found herself staring death right in the face. Not that her begging would ever save her from her demise. She deserved it; all ponies like her deserved it.

“Tell me why I shouldn’t just kill you now?” I snarled at her, breathing heavily as I attempted to control my anger. “Spit it out!” She flinched back as I allowed my anger to be heard, gritting my teeth.

“Y-you think I’m scared of you?!” she barked, her eyes telling me that she was scared of me. And I… found that amusing. A pony that was meant to be the meaning of insanity scared of a pony that had never killed a pony before this night. “Get fucked.”

“Yes… You are scared,” I spoke with an amused giggle, poking the barrel in-between her eyes. “I’m still waiting for the reason for why I shouldn’t kill you.”

“B-because we can be best friends!” she spoke with a begging tone, smiling innocently. Ew… that failed her deeply - not only were her teeth crooked, dirty and yellowing, but the look in her eyes didn’t match, either. She carried the burden of insanity; it never would work, no matter how hard she tried.

“Best friends? With you?!” I’ll admit, that made me laugh. “That’d be the day. You killed ponies for your own amusement, why should I be friends with you?”

“I-I’m sorry! Just please let me live!” I noticed in the corner of my eye, her gun coming back up slowly as if she was just using these words to buy herself some time, to distract me so that she could kill me. I soon slammed a hoof into her wound, making her scream out in agony and dropping the gun from her levitational grip.

I grinned. “You don’t mean any of this - you just wanted to buy yourself so time so that you could kill me yourself, but guess what, that won’t happen!” I said matter-of-factly, cocking my gun back. “And now, you just got rid of your last hope of survival… goodnight.” I took a deep breath and held it for a few seconds, before I fired a shot right in-between her eyes, the bullet traveling straight through and hitting the ground. She fell back, blood squirting out of both ends as she fell back. Dead. Eyes wide open.

And breathe…

I put the gun back in my duffle bag, turning away from the Raider’s corpse and staring out into the seemingly endless Wasteland that was there to greet me. I began to make the slow walk into the emptiness beyond me.

And I had slim hopes that I would make it…

Chapter Two: The Cloaked Stranger

Fallout: Equestria - Frosty Skies
By TornadoFIM
Chapter Two: The Cloaked Stranger
“You’re welcome, by the way!”

Alone and afraid. Where was I? Who was I? Where was help? Where was… mother? I was truly alone; I was afraid. I had left by my mother’s wish; I didn’t leave because I felt like it was the right choice. I should have stayed, dammit, I should have stayed! There was no excuse. I had nothing to defend the matter that I had left her to die, and die she did. Or, I presumed she did. I was long gone when that gunshot had gone off, and at that point it was too late to go back. They were on my tail. I didn’t want to die… for her sake.

But I was out here now; in the empty, never-ending Wasteland. The infamous stories that my mother had spoke about always scared me; the stories were the perfect balance of entertainment and nightmare fuel… and now I had the perfect opportunity to witness all of the horrors myself. Not that a mare such as myself would make it through day, or even, night one without at least getting shot once.

I got lucky. Very lucky. Lucky to even be in one piece. I had killed, and it felt wrong. I didn’t want to kill ponies, hell; I didn’t want to kill at all. But I had to get used to this lifestyle, this sickening, wretched, lifestyle that someponies love the life of. But who am I to say? I’m just a mare. A mare who was always too scared to even set a single hoof outside of the place she called home. I was an insult to ponies like my mother, ponies who had braved the Wastes, seen the horrors and experienced them. Ponies who had witnessed the violence, and the insanity that was waiting to greet me.

I always reminded myself that those vicious ponies were non-existent. Oh how I was wrong. They were very real. I had witnessed them on this night, seen what they did. I stared into their eyes, and I went so far but to kill them. The rage, I couldn’t stop the rage. Even though I knew it was morally wrong, even though I knew that I could have just… run. Even though we could have run so far away from this place, I chose the stupid option. Kill. Kill. Kill.

I was a bad pony…

*******

I was lost. Lost within the darkness of the surrounding Wasteland. I continued to trudge through the snow at my hooves, trying my hardest to navigate my way through the blackness of the surrounding darkness. I was lost. I felt lost, and I knew I was lost. I had never ventured this far beyond the border of Winter, and with nopony to guide me or keep me safe, it was just me from now on. Me. On my own. I didn’t like the idea of being alone out here. No. It was too new, completely unknown to me. I was too new to it.

I used my horn as a light source. Making my horn glow with a bright, sky blue aura, the path had been… somewhat enlightened. Not that there was a path. All I could see was a white sheet of snow, and the snowflakes falling in front of my vision. I took slow, careful steps forward, now more cautious and aware that I had given my position away to anyone looking to kill someone. I levitated my gun out of my duffle bag, scanning the area for any… unwanted guests.

I felt alone, I knew I was alone; but my brain told me I wasn’t alone. My stupid brain told me I was being watched, or worse, followed. It made me feel uneasy. In moments like these, I felt like taking a bullet to the brain, but then again… not a good idea. Maybe a punch, or a kick - something to just help me realize that there was nothing wrong.

“I could use one of those PipBucks right now,” I said to myself, slowly trudging through the snow. The breeze grew stronger, and with it, more snow began to fall. What only seemed to be a few snowflakes at a time turned into thousands, all of them falling from the sky. And as what seemed to be just a sheet of white falling covered my vision, I felt well and truly lost. “A PipBuck would do nicely… hmm…” I groaned, lifting my hoof up and looking at it. Yup. Nothing but a naked hoof. No PipBuck - just the leather on the jacket I wore dressed over my sky blue fur.

Lowering my hoof and feeling the snow find its way beneath my jacket’s sleeve; I shivered slightly, before slowly pushing my way through the cold darkness that lies ahead of me. Unfortunately for me, I had to rely on instinct. Just keep walking ahead, and I’d finally find… somewhere safe. Then again, the old stories of the Wasteland, both new and old, told different. They described it as a never-ending hell, where everywhere and everything was a danger to you.

Coming into my horn’s light was a tree. A broken, black and dead tree. It sat in the snow, getting buried slowly as the snow fell down on it rapidly, the cold also removing the feeling in my hooves as I walked through the never ending fields of frost. I needed a break… I had been walking for at least an hour or two. I hadn’t been jumped, yet, but I was far from home. And no matter where I was, there wasn’t going to be another settlement for at least the next few miles.

I walked up to the stump of the tree, scanning it. No leaves… just empty branches perched over me, looking at me as if they had eyes. I shivered, looking down at the ground once more, seeing the top of my hooves completely engulfed in snow.

“I need to rest… for five minutes at the very least,” I moaned, leaning against the unsurprisingly freezing tree that sat alone in the darkness. Resting my head against the splintered bark, I yelped as I felt some of the wood of the tree jab into the back of my head, flinching away and hissing from the sharp pain that I felt for just a second. I scrunched up my muzzle, before slowly leaning back against it and easing my way onto the tree.

Staring out into the endless abyss in front of me, I took my duffle bag off, bringing it in front of me and resting it on my stomach. Looking down at it, I focused my magic on it, opening it up to reveal all of the belongings I had with me. I rummaged through, checking to see if I had brought everything I needed. I had a gun, ammo, caps… a picture of my mom and me together. Both smiling, and… holding each other close. I levitated the small picture frame from the bag, feeling my heart sink just by looking at it. I stared at it for a good few seconds, silent and remembering what we had before I came out here. The many, many years we spent together. She looked after me, she cared for me; she made sure I was safe, and out of harms way. And in return, I did the same. I couldn’t stand the thought of losing her… and I had. Or thought I had. I never knew what happened to her.

I noticed my vision blur, feeling the tears that tried to escape slowly leak out and trickle down my cheeks. One by one, the warm and smooth tears rolled down my cheeks and then landed on the glass frame of the picture that I held in my levitational grasp with a small splash. But I smiled… I smiled at the picture, feeling my cold lips tremble from grief.

“I-I hope they didn’t kill you, mom…” I whimpered, sniffling as I tried to hold the shaking smile on my face in place. “A-and if they did… y-you’re in a better place now. W-within one night, I’ve realized that the Wasteland is a very dangerous place. I-I’m prepared for what may try to hurt me… but some part of me knows that I haven’t seen anything yet. I-I love you, mom. T-thank you for everything.” I pulled the picture close, kissing the surface of it, getting the salty taste of my own tears on my lips.

I couldn’t take my eyes off of it; just seeing how happy she was brought back so many emotions. She was all I had. I’ll never love anyone as much I loved her. My lip soon stopped trembling as I managed to compose myself, and as I did, I heard… something. I quickly became alert as I heard someone pushing their way through the surrounding snow, remaining silent as I glanced left to right. I placed the picture back in my back and levitating my pistol out of the bag before quickly sealing it up with my telekinesis, and observing everything. The darkness however restricted my vision completely; the only moving thing I could see was the snow that fell from the sky.

I pointed my gun at the abyss before me, slowly scanning around the area with it as I took shallow breaths, waiting for the enemy to pounce. I had killed before… I didn’t want to kill anymore, but if I had to, then I was prepared to do so. I heard the echoing silence wash over me once again, lowering my pistol slightly as I looked into the wilderness, puzzled and confused. I kept on full alert, however, still waiting for whatever was out there to jump me and take me away.

Feeling a bullet dart passed my face, just missing it by an inch; I quickly ducked down and threw myself to ground, hearing the muffled bangs of the guns from the attackers. I levitated my gun up, aiming it back into the darkness and firing a few blind shots into the darkness… but there were no cries of anguish and agony to be heard. Just the constant firing from their own weapons. I couldn’t help but blame myself for this, considering I was the one with the glowing horn. But as I tried to ignore the self-blaming thoughts, I reloaded my magazine, quickly opening my bag and levitating another one into it scruffily. The magazine almost dropped onto the floor and out of my levitational grip.

“Over here!” I heard a dry male voice yell from within the shadows. I climbed to my hooves, trying to avoid the shots they fired rapidly. However, the flashes from the tips of their guns somewhat revealed their positions, and as I saw their faced within the flash of their guns firing, I grinned, taking aim and firing two shots directly at where I saw his face.

Upon hearing my own gun emit a loud bang, I heard the sound of a gargled cry followed by the sound of a heavy body falling to the ground. Assuming that I had killed him, I knew he wasn’t the only one. I saw two more flashes fire blindly from within the darkness, missing me completely and hitting the tree behind me. I ducked down once more, firing a sudden burst of shots before having to reload again.

This time, I wasn’t so lucky with the reloading. Attempting to reload, I ended up scraping the ammo case along the stock, the loud screech putting me off and making me drop it in the snow. Fuck, now was not the time! I cursed under my breath, resting the gun down and quickly picking up the magazine in my teeth, feeling another bullet just miss my ear, once again ducking my head down to avoid any chances of being hit. And with each shot, I now noticed they got closer.

“Oh, so you want a death wish, do ya’?!” I screamed, trying to act brave. I climbed to my hooves, aiming the gun into the darkness and gritting my teeth. “Come on. Come at me!” Laughter. Mocking laughter was all I heard as their guns stopped. I lowered mine, looking into the direction of the laughter with an expression of confusion. “What’s so funny?”

“You really think you’re so tough, so menacing,” one of the voices within the darkness replied, the voice sounding similar to one of the female Raiders from back home. “But you’re fuckin’ not. You’re a damn weakling; you can’t even fire that gun properly. Why you out here, kid? Are you lost or something?”

My ears lowered, hearing their tones of mockery. And with my ears, so did my head. “N-no, but--”

“But nothing! You’re useless out here, kid. You should have stayed home with your mommy and daddy like a filly!” She was… right. Maybe I was useless. Maybe I couldn’t fire a gun, but I had a reason to be out here. I couldn’t go back. “Now run along back home while we’re still givin’ you the chance, kid.”

“I can’t go back… My home was invaded by you… scum! And wanna’ know the best part?! My mother’s dead,” I said matter-of-factly, stomping a hoof and snarling at where the sound was coming from. Assuming that I was looking directly at her, I heard a snicker.

“You’re right, that is the best part.” I heard the mockery continue, feeling my blood boil as she showed no remorse. “Your mom’s dead? That’s great. I’m glad she is - not that I knew her, but that makes one less useless slut in the Wasteland!” she chuckled, her hoof coming into view as she stepped into the light. Her scarred, blood and dirt covered face coming into the light, as her wide grin showcased her yellowing crooked teeth.

“Y-you mind repeating that?” I tried to control the building up anger, climbing onto my hooves and walking up to her. I pressed my muzzle against hers, hearing her laugh silently to herself. “Go on… Spit it out!”

“Which part? The part about your mother being a slut? Or was it the part about her being dead?” she repeated. I felt my anger rise to the highest it could, preparing to strike her down with just my hoof and beating her to deat-- GAH! As I prepared to strike her, something heavy landed on me, forcing me to all back down onto the cold surface of the snow with a thud.

Attempting to get out of what weighed me down, I felt a hoof touch my shoulder and as it did, I quickly threw myself onto my back to see who it was. Another scruffy, dirty, unhealthy pony… perched over me. This one was a buck, and by the looks of it he had climbed the tree and jumped down on top of me. I started waving my hooves into his face, the muscular buck that sat on my stomach only having to lean back to avoid my useless attempts of getting him off of me.

“G-get off me! Get off!” I screamed, the mare Raiders who watched snickering to themselves. I felt him wrap his forelegs around mine, before slamming mine down into the snow, silencing me. I looked straight into his eyes, eyes that had no sanity in them whatsoever. I took a few deep breaths, looking away from him.

“Oh… don’t be frightened,” he said, attempting to sound… reasonable. “Look at me…” As his surprisingly non-violent words spoke, I looked towards him with a look of fear in my eyes. He grinned down at me - and that was where I knew there was something wrong. He wasn’t like how he was acting…

“Let me go… p-please?” I whimpered, pushing up against him, only to feel myself get weighed down by him. “Pleaaaase? I’ll give you all of the caps you want… every single bit of shrapnel if you let me live.”

“My dear, we may like our caps, but we don’t accept bribes from pretty mares like you,” he spoke flirtatiously, trying to sound… romantic or lustful? I couldn’t tell. But whichever one it was, he was failing at both. Not to mention his breath, his rancid breath. It made me gag, but for him, that didn’t change anything. “Maybe we can… have some fun…?” He leaned in close, running his muzzle against my neck and my cheek, I looked away, eyes widening.

I giggled nervously, my eyes focusing on him as he applied a soft kiss to my neck. “Oookaaaaaayyy. Well. Uh. I know I would just love, love, love to get laid, but… I ain’t that desparate, so no thank you,” I stated nervously, my voice shaking. And as I said that, his facial expression turned sour, with a twisted grin across his ugly face.

“That just makes it more fun for me, then,” he spoke, forcing me to look at him with his hoof. And as his hoof let one of my legs free, I tried hitting him in the back… of course, to no avail. I began to panic, trying to get him off of me with every single jolt of movement I could do.

“Hold her still!” he barked at his Raider companions. “She moving around to too fast, and I can’t do anything to her if she’s moving around now, can I?!” I noticed in the corner of my eye the two mares move closer towards me, finding it harder and harder to resist against him. Not that I wanted him, but that he was making it hard for me.

“Somepony. Please. Help me!” I screamed, feeling tears build up once more. I felt him strike me in the face with his hoof, my muzzle feeling broken upon contact. I yelped out loudly, looking to the side and allowing the blood to trickle. “W-what you’re about to do is… is--”

“Is what? Immoral? Why should I care?” he grunted as I felt the hooves of those he asked to help him hold me still. I began to cry softly to myself, preparing myself for the worst… and the fact that he showed no remorse made it worse for me. “Now… I hope you like it dry…”

I shook my head, tears now streaming down my face into the snow. I tried to beg and beg for him not to do it, but no words came out. Just silence… But as he was about to enter, a large stone like club slammed into the side of his head, forcing him to be thrown off of me and into the snow, blood oozing from the large crater created in his skull. Behind him stood a cloaked figure, his face shrouded by the darkness that his hood gave off. I knew it was a he considering his muzzle was only just visible… and it looked like a stallion’s to me.

“W-what the?!” I heard the voices of the mares exclaim behind me. I didn’t bother to get up, just in case he classed me as an enemy too. I saw him swing his large club made of wire mesh and concrete slam into the heads of both Raiders, his club being soaked in the blood and brain matter of those he had just taken the lives of. And he had no problem with it… It was as if he was used to doing it.

He dropped the club beside me, my heart still racing from the moment. My head turned to his blood soaked club, getting the vile stench of the gore that was stained onto it, once again forcing me to gag. As he walked over to my bag that sat by the tree, I kept my eyes on the cloaked pony, remaining silent for a moment. He wore just plain brown saddlebags at either side and I noticed… wings. He was a Pegasus pony. He rummaged through my bag, and I sat up slightly, shooting him a poisonous look.

“H-hey!!” I exclaimed, my voice luckily making him stop. “You never look through a mare’s bag!” He just remained silent, standing up straight and taking a deep intake of breath. I kept my eyes on him, waiting for him to face me and hopefully reveal his face. Which, I doubt he would considering he was a complete stranger to me.

However, he eventually did rotate to look at me, his seemingly blank eyes that reflected from my horn’s glow staring directly into mine. The frown upon his lips told me that he wasn’t the slightest bit impressed - he didn’t even seem amused. No smile, no smirk… just a cold stare right into my eyes. He soon reached into his saddlebag, searching through his own stuff now luckily, before pulling out a small vial filled with a glowing blue liquid.

Tossing it to me, I caught it with my horn’s levitational grasp, slowly lowering it down near my face. The liquid was… bubbling. Bubbling? Bubbling?! Bubbling was never a good thing when it came to potions. In fact, all I did was stare at it, hoping that it was just a little gift for me instead of a drink… then again, why would he gift me. I looked to him once again, the stranger giving me a nod as if he wanted me to drink it.

“I… drink it?” I spoke gently, unsure of whether or not I should actually drink it. He signaled with a nod once, pointing to it and acting out how to drink as if I was stupid. I let out a nervous giggle, shrugging as I glanced at it again. “It looks… dangerous…”

His face fell into his hoof, before he rolled his eyes and pointed to it and then to me. I really didn’t like how he wasn’t even bothering to talk. Did he even have a voice? If he did, then I would have preferred that… I snarled at him, feeling like I was going to snap, and I sure as hell did.

“Look, pal! I would prefer it if you didn’t treat me like an idiot. I know you want me to drink it, but I am not sure about it!” I gritted my teeth, placing the vial down on the ground and shaking my head. “Thanks for the offer, but no thank you. Oh, and I’m not deaf… no need for the sign language, buddy.”

He let out a sigh. The first sound that actually came from his mouth. “Very well… If you want to die out here in the cold, then be my guest. I won’t help you - you’ll only have yourself to blame for this, not me.” My eyes widened. Hearing him talk. Wow, I was getting somewhere.

“About time you spoke,” I said with a tone of impatience. “What’s in this thing, anyway? Why is it bubbling? Why does it look dangerous? Why does it… smell funny?” I spoke, getting a whiff of the liquid I had rested on the snow. “It smells… like perfume mixed with crushed Mint-Als. Not that I do drugs.”

“I’m answering one of those questions. The rest you’ll have to find out yourself,” he said, a smug grin spreading across his muzzle. Did he have to do that? Now I felt even more uneasy. “Just something an old friend of mine put together - she had given me the recipe, and I had a shot at it myself. It’s made with a few herbs, and other remedies that help sooth the body and warm up in cold temperatures such as these. It prevents death, you know.”

I levitated it up once again, observing it closely. “And… it is safe… right?” I asked, my eyes glanced towards him. He still had that same grin on his face.

“Of course. I wouldn’t give it you if it wasn’t.” He took a small walk closer to me, looking at me expectantly. “Now drink up, little mare. Trust me, you won’t regret it.”

“Well… as they say; “bottoms up”.” I said, tilting my head back and removing the cork from the top of it, the scent of it rushing out of the top and making me gag a little. I took a deep breath, wrapping my lips around the top of it and slowly drinking from it, feeling the fizzy liquid go down my throat. The taste of it wasn’t nice, either. It tasted a lot like a rotten apple… which was strange considering the color of it was blue. I gulped it all down in one, not wanting it to remain in my mouth any longer… and as it went down, the aftertaste soon came. The aftertaste being much, much worse - I couldn’t quite distinguish the actual taste, but all I knew was that it tasted… horrible.

I hacked and coughed violently, spitting down at the snow and wiping my potion-stained lips, before looking up at the hooded pony who stared at me. “W-what the hell is in that potion? It tastes awful!”

“My dear, you’ll be thankful once it kicks in,” the pony said with a low tone to his voice, turning away from me once again. “Now sleep… when you wake, you’ll feel much better, little pony. I promise you.”

“W-what are you--” Before I could finish my sentence, I felt the energy leave my body almost instantly. My eyes suddenly felt heavy, and as I fought to try and keep them open, they slowly fluttered closed as I let out one last yawn and fell down onto my back, feeling the coldness of the snow beneath me go against my back. Even the cold couldn’t stop me from falling into a deep slumber…

*******

I woke up from my slumber, after what felt like hours of complete and utter darkness. However, I was no longer out in the open Wasteland like I was just hours before now - I was somewhere else. The light that blinded my vision for a short while began to fade to reveal a small house made of sheet metal and wood, all of which were taped together to build the structure of the house.

I lifted my head from the pillow that my head rested on; shifting around in the surprisingly comfortable bed I was given. I looked left to right with my head only. To my left were just rusted sheets of metal placed unevenly on top of one another, with the wood behind them supporting them, the wood having a couple of thick strings of rope wrapped around them. Looking to my right, I noticed the metal bedside table, a small candle on it and beside that table was a lone stool that seemed to have rust eating away at its legs. And beside it was my… duffle bag. Still full to the brim with my stuff. The candle was the only light in the room, giving the rest of the hut a very shady feel to it.

There were no ponies about, not even the pony who had drugged me and possibly dragged me here. Which, the thought of that terrified me. Strangely enough, I don’t think I had been raped… at least not yet. I didn’t feel any different ‘down there’. Which I was thankful for. However, the feeling of being alone in this… hut felt off. Lying on the bed, alone in the darkness - I didn’t like that feeling. I scanned the room once more, looking for any more details that could help me gather up information to where I was.

I leaned over the bed, my horn glower as I opened one of the draws in the bedside table, rummaging through all the bent bottle caps, and pieces of ripped-paper. Nothing. No weapons, ammo, or anything at all. I closed that draw and quickly yanked open the one above it, searching through the same mess that was in the other one. Again, nothing. No leads to where I was, or who captured me. I opened the final draw with a mighty force that almost yanked it out completely… again, to my surprise, finding nothing.

“Fuck…” I cursed under my breath, throwing myself back down onto my back and slamming my head down on the pillow. But then something clicked. I looked to my bag again, turning my head slowly as my eyes did, before wrapping my levitational grasp around it and slowly lifting it from the ground and pulling it closer to me.

Quickly prying the bag open, I rummaged through everything that sat inside of the bag, making sure that whoever brought me here didn’t rob me in the process. But then again, why wouldn’t they just take my bag? I stopped upon finding the picture of me and my mother… and of course my gun. Levitating both of them out carefully, I looked at the picture for a few seconds, smiling but… also frowning from the pain I felt just from remembering. I placed the picture back into the bag carefully, but I still kept the gun out for when said pony, Ghoul or whoever decides to make a return.

Hearing the sound of metal grinding against rust, I instantly switched to full alert. I aimed my gun into the darkness, waiting for the pony to step into the dull light that came from the candle. Assuming they were a pony that is. The flame from the candle kept flickering, the sound of hooves in the darkness slowly approaching me were heard. I took a deep breath, trying to steady my aim.

“Who’s there?!” I yelled, cocking the hammer back and snarling. “Why am I here? How did I get here?! Answer me, dammit!” I heard a couple of dry coughs come from the darkness, words struggling to get out as the deep coughs continued for a little while longer.

“Shit… Wasteland air really does clog up your lungs after a while…” a male voice said within the darkness. A hoof stepped into the flickering light, then another hoof, and then the body and the face of the… stallion became visible. “No need to use that thing - put the gun down, beautiful, and I’ll give you all the answers you need.”

I blushed a little, scrunching my nose up. Lowering the gun, he stepped closer. I noticed that the stallion wore the same cloak as the pony that had prevented me from getting raped. And then I noticed his wings… it was him. He had saved me. Looking to his face, he no longer had the hood covering his image. His coat was a light caramel brown, and his eyes were a light azure. His mane was light brown, with dark brown accents. Same went for his tail. His mane was styled in a rather neat fashion - styled upwards like a Mohawk, just without the spikes. More slick if anything.

He walked closer to me slowly, flashing a reassuring smile at me. He took his saddle-bag off, tossing it behind him untidily. “Now… I know you may have a lot of questions, and I’ll try and answer them.” He sat on the bed, looking at me and showing a friendly look. Not the expression of “bend over and take it” like the last stallion I had an encounter with did. I looked at him sternly, however, despite him being so friendly.

“First question: why am I here?” I repeated, my horn glowing to provide a little light as the candle began to lose its flame. I looked to the candle, and then back to him. “Sorry… I would prefer it if we didn’t chat in complete darkness.”

“No worries. To answer your question, you’re here to… shall we say recover? You suffered a few injuries from the fight you had gotten yourself into. Especially your spinal area. Something landed on you, correct?” He leaned closer, examining my body for any other injuries… that or he was checking me out, but either made me feel uneasy.

“Yeah… one of those Raider guys.” I sighed, pulling the sheets back over my body. That made him stop, of course. “What’s the deal with those guys anyway? Plus, why do they stink of sewage water, piss and vomit all mixed into one?”

The stranger on my bed chuckled, looking to me with a smile. “Well… I don’t know how to answer that second question -- the first I can. Raiders are the definition of insanity; they have a thirst for blood. Once you’re in their sights, they will not let you run without a fight. Though, they aren’t as difficult to fight as some assume. Their insanity and bloodthirst somewhat blinds them, runs them into danger.” He soon paused, laughing to himself and rolling his eyes. “But then again, they don’t care what happens to them. As long as they see red, that’s all they’ll ever care about.”

I remained silent, looking down at the bed sheets that kept me warm. “How come they help each other if they’re that insane?” I queried, looking up at him once again, expectant for an answer. He fell silent, looking down at the ground as if he was pondering.

“No one really knows,” he spoke softly, looking at me once more. “I see them as one big family. They’re all the same, in a sense. There’s no diversity between Raiders, no differences. All of them are just cold-blooded killers.” He frowned, leaning closer. “Where did you come from exactly?”

“Winter…” I said hesitantly, looking down once more and sighing.

“And why exactly did you leave? Why were you on your own?” he asked, waiting patiently for an answer. An answer I didn’t want to give him.

I looked up at him sternly, scowling. “I thought I was the one asking the questions. You answer my questions, not the other way round!” I hissed, shooting him a look of disapproval.

With a roll of his eyes, he leaned closer and gave me a look of disapproval, too. “Just answer the questions.”

I let out a painful sigh, looking down again. “W-we…” I hesitantly started, taking a few deep breaths. “We were attacked by those Raiders… they killed so many ponies. So much blood, so much death… suffering. All of those innocent ponies shot down, all of them beaten to death by those bastards…” I shakily started, feeling the tears fill my eyes once more. “M-my mother fell victim… we were meant to leave together. If they hadn’t gotten her, if she hadn’t--” I stopped before I blamed her. “N-no… it was my fault. I left her -- yes, she told me to, but she wanted me to be safe. I should have just stayed.”

“My condolences…” I heard his soft voice respond to me. I looked to him to see his downhearted facial expression. “You’re not the only one -- I’ve lost family, too… in similar circumstances.”

“I-I’m so sorry…” I said with a small whimper, looking to him with hope that he’d tell me. “What had happened?” However, his facial expression told me that information was… classified. “Sorry… I shouldn’t have asked…”

“It’s alright…” He stood onto his hooves, walking over to his saddle-bag that leaned against the rusted metal wall by the door, his entire body almost fading into darkness once more. I just stared at him. “Here we are - I found it!” he said in accomplishment, before turning back around and walking over to me. In his mouth was a… PipBuck… I couldn’t describe it, but I knew exactly what they looked like. The metal chassis of the device was rusted and covered in dirt… but it didn’t look too bad. “I got this for you. I’m sure you know what it is, even if you’ve never left your town this far. But just in case you don’t know, it’s a PipBuck. Even if you don’t want it, I advise that you take it, as it will be your best friend.”

“I-I’m grateful… Thank you.” He placed it on the bed, smiling at me as if he was urging me to put it on. I picked it up with my telekinesis, unlocking the small latch on the bottom of it, and opening it up to put it on my foreleg. Placing the metal device around my right foreleg, I closed it once more, locking it and examining it. “One question… is it really meant to be this tight?” I looked at the screen, and unlike the average green color, the screen of mine was blue.

He nodded. “Yes, absolutely. It prevents theft of PipBucks - the only way to really unlock one is a skill in picklocking. That or what you just did,” he noted, sitting back down on the bed beside me. “What do you think of it?”

“I’m very, very grateful. Thank you,” I repeated, looking to him. I wanted to hug him… but, that would be creepy considering we had just met. But I had one more question. “Where did you find it?” And probably, I should have asked about why it felt so… slimy.

“Oh… well… to put it bluntly,” he stammered, struggling to process the words. I was hoping for the worst. “Some Stable Dweller’s corpse… I just found them lying in the snow, and since it was of no use to them, I stole it and wiped it of any data relating to them.”

My eyes went wide. I looked to the dirt on the PipBuck and… that wasn’t dirt. It was dried blood. I felt like vomiting. Even though I admired the fact that he got me one, to know that this PipBuck belonged to a pony that is now dead made me feel sick in the stomach. “D-did you kill them?”

“What?! No. Of course not!” he exclaimed, rolling his eyes. “I don’t have it in me to kill ponies that are of no importance to me. I didn’t know this guy; therefore I had no reason to kill him, anyway. I’m just the one who scavenged the device from his rotting corpse.”

“Enough. About. Corpses!” I demanded, feeling like I was going to throw up. I forcefully coughed, and looked to him, shooting him a look. “Please?! I’ve seen enough blood, enough guts for one night, can I have a little rest from it… please?!”

He stood there in silence, looking as if he was offended, which why he would be confused me, but if he was, then that was his problem. He soon burst into laughter, falling onto the ground and rolling around as he tried so hard to contain his echoing laughter. My face flushed with red, and I shot a look at him of disapproval and anger.

“W-what are you laughing about?” I said, my muzzle scrunching up as I watched the cloaked stallion roll around, tears of laughter streaming down his cheeks. “What’s so funny?!” This can’t be legit, can it? If anyone laughed that hard at nothing, I’d take them to see a doctor. The Pegasus didn’t listen, however. He continued to laugh, slamming a hoof down onto the dirt below him.

When he eventually did climb back onto his hooves, he wiped a tear from his eye. “L-listen, kid. As much as you crack me up, you’ve gotta’ get used to seeing corpses and dead things. You’re going to be killing to survive. It’s how it works out here - you either get used to it, or go home. Oh, but that’s right, you can’t go home… do me a favor and get used to it, alright?”

Those words… hurt. I didn’t want to lash out, and luckily I didn’t feel the need to do so. But… did he just mock the fact that my hometown was butchered? Did he find it amusing? I shot him a dismal look, looking away from him shortly afterwards. I heard him walk closer to me, shifting away from him as he did.

“Kid…” he said, but I continued to move away from the stallion. Even if it wasn’t his intention, it was an assholish move.

“Don’t… call me a kid…” I mumbled, feeling the urge to cry again. Oh fuck. Not again. I didn’t want to cry in front of him, and then he’d really see how weak I was. And I was weak. I wasn’t strong, no; I was the weakest of the weak. If that was even possible, which I’m positive it was.

“Then what should I call you?” he groaned. I looked to the sticky, blood covered PipBuck on my leg, still shivering and gagging at the fact he picked this off a dead body. But I didn’t want to take it off, considering that I needed one.

I was… hesitant to say the least to say my name, but I knew I had to at some point. “Sky…” I said softly, looking to him once more, managing to prevent myself from bursting into tears from what happened hours ago. Maybe even days ago, depending on how long I was out for.

“Sky, huh? The name’s Ratchet,” he responded, looking at me with a rather clueless expression on his face. “Now… I wouldn’t mind if you told me what exactly I did wrong. The attitude you had told me I did something wrong.”

“You…” I paused, realizing that I was the one reacting. He had no idea how it felt. I shook my head, looking down. “Nothing. I just overreacted to what you said is all. Something about me not having a home -- sorry, I shouldn’t have overreacted. You’re right, I need to get used to seeing dead bodies and blood and… other things of that nature. So, considering that I have to get used to it, I’m willing to try, I suppose.”

“If you want, I can tag along with you,” he offered. I looked up at him, seeing a forthcoming smile on his face. It made me feel at ease. “Well, that’s if you want the company. I won’t blame you if you don’t--but, the Wasteland can be a dangerous place, y’know? The last thing you want to be out there is alone.”

“You can tag along,” I softly responded. “When can we leave?”

“First thing tomorrow,” Ratchet replied, laying me down on the bed and looking down at me. “But first, you need your rest. As do I. Besides, to leave now would be suicide. The Wasteland at night is a dangerous place, as you’ve experienced. When tomorrow comes, we can leave.” I nodded, the buck tucking me in. I felt young again, and let out a soft giggle as he did, though thankfully he didn’t hear it.

“What about you? Where are you going to sleep?” I said as I noticed I was in the only bed. He stood onto his hooves, looking to his bag and walking to it. It took a while to get a response, but it finally did come.

“Well… I lied. I don’t need rest, I’m on night watch. Someone has to be.” He grabbed his cloak, placing it back over him and soon pulling the hood back over his head. He looked to me, his muzzle the only thing visible in the light. A smile soon spread across it. “Go to sleep, Sky. I’ll see you in the morning.”

He opened the door, a wave of irradiated cold from the outside flying into the shack, almost blowing the candle on the bedside table out completely before he closed the door to cancel it out. I rested my head down on the soft pillow below it, closing my eyes to try and force myself into sleep. And unfortunately, I didn’t feel tired. I didn’t want to sleep, but I knew I had to if I was to remain on full alert come tomorrow.

First real day out in the Wasteland would begin tomorrow… And I needed sleep. Dammit, Sky, just sleep for Celestia’s sake!

Footnote: Level Up!

New Perk: Black Widow - When attacking male opponents, you deal 10% extra damage towards them. Outside of combat, this perk will allow unique dialogue options that allow you to flirt with other males and potentially ‘get lucky’ for a few caps and maybe a bit of information.

New Companion: Ratchet - Ratchet has joined the party. He has increased your intelligence by two, but your charisma has fallen by one.

Current level: 2

S - 5
P - 7
E - 4
C - 6 (-1)
I - 7 (+2)
A - 8
L - 4

Author's Note

This chapter sucks, and I know it sucks. But I had to get it done. Writer’s block is a bitch, and that’s my only excuse to why this chapter sucks hairy mansack. Don’t worry, though. I’ll hope to improve in later chapters just like I did with The Last Wanderer, just a lot less later. Hopefully somewhere before Chapter Ten is where things can start looking up!

Thanks to Kkat for making this epic universe! And also thanks to all of you who have made it this far to even give a damn, or whatever. You guys are amazing!

Chapter Three: Wasteland Wonderland

Fallout: Equestria - Frosty Skies
By TornadoFIM
Chapter Three: Wasteland Wonderland
“Yes, I think I’ll have the shotgun, with a side order of blood… Oh and don’t forget the brain matter!”

Sleep…

Sleep was not easy that night. I tossed myself, and turned, and counted brahmin, but… nothing worked. Instead, all I did was think about my maybe-dead mother. I had no doubts that she was dead, that she never made it out. That made it much worse. Hope? There was none. Just regret and grief; I wish I could have helped her. If only I didn’t listen to those final words she muttered before her untimely death, maybe I would have been able to save her.

“Everything will be okay. I promise. Just… watch your back out there -- and even if I don’t make it out of here alive, just remember… I-I’ll be watching from the stars.”

It hurt to remember… I wanted to forget. Was I a bad daughter for abandoning her? Even though she told me to? I could only hope that she made it, even though it’s highly unlikely that she did. But my mother was strong… she had told me all of what she had been through, only days before the invasion. How she had seen it all. The blood, the guts… the violence. How she had seen a pony close to her lose his own life. My dad. What I had seen, at least thus far, was nothing in comparison.

I had to stop being a little bitch and get on with it.

*******

I looked to the screen of the device around my right foreleg, as I lay restless in bed, with nothing but the cold and the silence surrounding me. Ratchet wasn’t back yet, which got me worrying; but he seemed like the type of pony who knew a thing or two. In his absence, I decided to play the Wasteland radio, just for a little bit of… company. I needed to hear a soothing voice, especially after what had happened.

“Now, who on earth would be up at this time of night? Y’all are some crazy fuckers, I’ll give you that. But I love you all for it. You’re what keeps me in business -- without you guys, I’d be ever so lonely up here.

“Onto some rather shocking news: a small village by the name of Winter was attacked earlier this evening, and judging by how severe the attacks were, nopony was left standing. A band of raiders wiped everypony out within the hour. A bloody massacre, where nopony got out. My condolences to those who saw the attack, or knew a pony who was caught in the crossfire. I know what it’s like to lose somepony you love.

“If any of you happened to be there when the attack happened, and got out alive, I’ve got a treat for you. Music! Everypony uses music as a way to calm down, as a way to medicate their trauma or sadness. This track is just for you, if any of you are out there…”

His voice faded away, and replacing it was a soothing track. A track that consisted of relaxing sounds and a very slow tempo. I smiled only slightly, while staring up at the tatty ceiling of the shack. I needed this more than anything, and with Ratchet gone, it gave me time to think about… well, where I go from here. Do I run to Vanhoover now, in the dark? Or wait for Ratchet? Considering that he didn’t sleep, or he claimed he didn’t, I guess I had time to myself. And I’ll admit time to myself, with nothing but a radio playing from the bulky device around my foreleg helped the sooth the pain.

But the sweet music that played, didn’t rid of the pain completely. It didn’t abolish the nightmares I had seen and heard. Innocent ponies, slaughtered for sport. All of them; mothers, fathers… entire families. Gone. Nopony was left standing.

I was alone… for a few seconds more, anyway. I heard the door open, the rough materials of the doorway grinding against the door loudly, as the hooded stallion wandered back in. Judging by how loud and cold it was outside, I could tell we were in a storm, some of the snow from the blizzard pouring inside of the hut, before the Pegasus slammed the door shut.

He noticed I was still awake, before pulling back his snow-dressed hood. “Sky. What are you doing up?” he asked, speaking over the radio playing from my PipBuck. “It’s late.”

But then I noticed, on his left foreleg. Blood. Not his own, either… I felt like asking about it, but then he swiftly covered it up and cursed below his breath. “Sorry… I was just concerned was all,” I began, taking a big gulp. “And… I cannot sleep, after. Y’know.”

“Yeah, I do know,” he sighed, hanging his hood up on his aged coathanger. “But if you let it bug you, you won’t focus. We move out towards Vanhoover when the storm passes, I need your eyes sharp. Don’t think I’ll be doing the dirty work.” I was actually glad that he didn’t ask anymore questions about the subject, nor did he gloat about blood. I was relieved that we let the subject of ‘what happened’ die.

“How far away is Vanhoover from here?” I asked, blinking as I silenced the radio. Ratchet, rummaging through his saddle bag, placed a pistol; a splintered bat; small ammo boxes; a bottle of half-empty Sparkle-Cola; and a small sack of caps onto the table in front of him, before responding to my question. Eventually.

“A few days walk… we’ll need to stop in at various settlements we find, or set up camp if we’re not quick enough,” he spoke, looking to me with a frown. “Though… with a storm like that, I’d highly advise that we don’t take the latter option. Settlements are a must.”

“R-right.” I looked back to my PipBuck, still trying to get used to the newly-found device on my leg, before hearing him speak again.

“You do know that thing has a built-in map, right?” My cheeks flushed with red, as I looked up at him with wide eyes. I… actually did not know that. “I mean, how else would ponies know where they’re going, unless they traveled the wastes daily… like me?”

But then I came to a sudden realisation. “Wait… we’re leaving tomorrow?! What about my spinal injury?” Considering that I had been resting for the past few hours, I hadn’t actually realised that my spine was in no condition to be punched at, shot at and so on. Since according to him, that’ll happen a lot.

“You know that potion you drank? The one that put you to sleep? It’s a healing potion, but with a slight twist. It put you to sleep because it can heal most of the severe damage while you’re knocked out. Any damage you have now isn’t severe, but is still painful. It should heal completely within a day or two.” Somehow, I didn’t believe it. But maybe that was me being a pussy.

“Mmmhmm, now get some sleep,” he said in a demanding tone of voice, shooting me a look. “Like I said, I ain’t allowing you to sit back and relax while I take care of all the dirty work. We’ve got a long journey ahead of us, and the first day’s always the hardest day; get some rest while you can.”

“Yeah…” I’ll admit, I felt a little unsure. Thankful that he had saved me from my imminent death, but I barely knew him and he wanted me to sleep here. Here. In HIS bed, in HIS shack? I mean, he could fondle me or something. But I had slept just fine before he came back, so... I had to remember that. At least, I think I did.

*******

The next morning, we got up as early as possible. Five AM to be specific. He didn't tell me why – he just woke me up at stupid O'clock in the morning. But I guess the buck had his reasons... somewhat. Once I had gathered everything I needed, we headed out just minutes after waking from our slumbers. I'll admit, I felt better than I did a few hours prior.

The first thing I felt though? Cold. Too cold. There was a light blizzard gliding across the landscape, carried along by a gentle breeze. The first thing I saw? Dunes of snow... as far as the eye could see. There was no sign of civilization in sight, other than a few crumbled buildings lying in their own rubble, but even those were predominantly covered by a thick white sheet. A cold one at that.

The rising sun, seeping through the minuscule gaps in the thick winter clouds above. There were no ponies in sight, at least not as of yet. No Raiders... nothing. I felt like we were alone. The cloaked Pony who rescued me the night before, began to walk ahead, his hooves sinking into the snow, leaving deep prints behind him.

After a few seconds of 'taking it all in', I began to trudge through the thick snow, following Ratchet as he ventured into the arctic wasteland that faced us. To break the silence, he decided to remind me of where we were going, and how far away it was. Not that he needed to remind me, of course...

“Vanhoover is a few days walk from us. If you ever feel like you need a rest, just give me a shout... Not too loud, though. We don't want to end up as someone's next target,” the stallion spoke, as I felt the breeze turn into a stronger wind. “Some pony gal I know lives there. She can set us up with a place to rest, and maybe hand us a few supplies too.”

“I trust she won't think I'm replacing her as your marefriend, buddy,” I said with a small chuckle to myself. However, the little joke backfired a little, as the buck stopped in his tracks and groaned to himself, before glancing back at me. Seeing the anger in his eyes made my heart sink... just a bit.

“Look... I should probably inform you about something, alright?! I am not the dating type. My last experience nearly tore me apart. If you want to become my friend, you've not made a good start!” he groaned in a raspy voice. I soon noticed a tear in his eye, wondering what did happen... But I didn't ask. If it was really that bad, surely he wouldn't trust someone like me with the information he's hiding.

“I'm sorry... I was just joking, you know?” I soon went on to change the subject. “Who is this mare anyway? Is she a close friend?”

“Her name's Eventide. She's a friend, but not super close. I trust her enough that she'll help us, though. As long as I give her my word that you're one of the good Ponies, and not some Raider in disguise. She has trust issues. So if you want to make sure you keep all of your limbs, I'd suggest not getting on my bad side.” I gulped, knowing that I had to be careful with the words I chose next.

“And Vanhoover... it is safe, right?” We continued walking for a few more seconds, before he bothered to respond to me, quite hesitantly too.

“For the most part, yes. But there some no-go areas there, too. So I would watch your back, if I were you.” We reached a small, desolate house, left in ruin. However, instead of being completely buried beneath the snow, the entire frame, as well as the ground floor were completely visible.

I had a feeling something was wrong here... very wrong. It looked too neat, for what the Wasteland was. In fact, it looked extremely tidy compared to what most of the houses did. Especially since it still had a lot of the furniture from before the blast centuries ago still present. As we reached the collapsed doorframe of the entrance, I was the first to enter. The frail, and burnt floorboards beneath my hooves, rough to the touch. Shattered picture frames hanging from the wall. Some? On the floor, where the glass of the frame lay in shards around them. Old, colourless pictures, wrinkled and curled with age. And yellowing. A sofa, torn apart, and punctured with bullet holes. Painted with dry blood splatters.

A filly's cot. Awkwardly placed against the wall that used to be there. And inside of it... I will not lie when I say my heart skipped a beat when I saw what I saw. The skeletal frame of a filly, holding its toasted bear close to its chest. The poor thing must have felt that the bear was a sign of safety, that it would keep them safe. It was a painful sight to see...

The remains of the family, however, were nowhere to be seen in what remains of their home. Did they up and leave without the filly? Or did they perish more than the youngling did?

Peering over the cot, I felt my eyes grow teary as I imagined what had happened all those years ago. How devastating the blast really was. How much pain and suffering all these ponies went through. The ponies that didn't make it to the Stables in time, or at all. The ones that were left behind – to die as Equestria did. Just imagining the things the ponies that remained on the surface went through was painful to think about.

I moved away from the cot, shaking my head to try and rid myself of the thoughts eating away at me, while Ratchet searched the desolate home for anything useful. I felt a little bit of pressure on my healing spine from all this standing, so I decided to sit on the... incredibly rough and uncomfortable surface. Not a good idea at all.

“You know, there's a perfectly good couch there,” Ratchet said, pointing out the obvious as he tilted his head to the rotting sofa sat in the far corner of the room. Eh. Considering how disgusting it looked, I'd rather have the floor over that.

“Do you think anypony survived the blast?” I asked, looking to my PipBuck, and fiddling around with it. But like before, it took a few seconds to get a reply from my newly-acquainted companion.

“They did, actually. They call them ghouls. It's when they take up so much radiation, instead of dying, they survive and become something... horrific,” he started, as he rummaged through the nooks and crannies of the old home. “Some ghouls are tame, while others...? As soon as they catch sight of a pony, they have an unquenchable bloodlust that needs to be fed.”

“I see... and these nice ghouls you speak of. They can't turn... can they?” I looked away from my PipBuck, to my hooded companion. The buck placed a few caps he found into his saddlebag, before looking to me with no emotion whatsoever.

“Well... there's been rumours. Some say they've befriended ghouls, only for them to turn feral and attack just weeks later. But I've had no personal experiences with tame ghouls like that.” He proceeded to leave the rubble, before stopping in the doorway. “When you're ready, just give the word.”

I gave him a small nod in response.

My rest, however, was short lived. My EFS picked up one. No, two. No, no. Three... Oh Goddess. More and more red blips were appearing on my EFS, all of which were heading in our direction. Fast. Roughly about seven blips altogether, all heading towards us. Ratchet was completely unaware. I would think he'd have perfect view of the enemies charging towards our position, but no. He had no idea, clearly.

“Get to cover,” I warned him sternly, standing onto my hooves steadily. I scanned the area for more red blips. We were in the clear, for now. It was just the seven on their way. “My Eyes-Forward-Sparkle is showing seven red blips coming towards us.”

“Shit... already?!” Ratchet groaned, unholstering his pistol as he gripped it between his upper and lower jaws. “We've barely been out for an hour. Why now?!” The Pegasus shifted behind whatever remained of the wall next to the doorway, preparing for the attack.

I opened my saddlebag, levitating my own pistol from my bag. Considering that shots from the opposition had not been fired yet, I took the time we had to check my magazine. As the metal casing slid out from the grip, I counted the bullets I had. Eleven; a full magazine. From what I could remember, I had enough ammo altogether to last me a few days. That's if we were constantly ambushed like so, everyday.

I quickly ducked behind sofa, the stench of it alone making my nose shrivel up. But I had to ignore it.

Bufph! Fzzttt!

Distance gunshots began firing at us. They know we're here. Peeking over the couch, I could see them this time, only just. I could only peek for a few seconds, before a bullet whizzed passed me, only narrowly missing me by an inch. I was scared—no... I was petrified of what was about to come. Last time I couldn't pull the trigger. No. But this time, I was determined to do so.

I peeked over for a few seconds more, so I could get into S.A.T.S with ease. I targeted the closest one I could from this range. Raiders. The entire group were charging towards us, all wearing thick coats and balaclavas to cover their muzzles. And with that, goggles to shield their eyes. However, my chances of actually hitting the target were slim; but what difference would it make? They knew we were here.

I was hesitant at first. I didn't want to kill another pony. But I knew I had to, or I wouldn't be able to live out here. I took a deep breath, inhaling the surrounding cold into my lungs, before targeting the torso of the target, and firing one singular shot.

BANG!!

The shot, however, missed. On the bright side though, the bullet that the Raider evaded, managed clip the leg of one of their companions, sending them down in a heap of pain. As I exited S.A.T.S, their screams of pain as the lead penetrated their flesh became audible. Did I really shoot another pony?! I'd never done anything like this in my life, nor would I have ever thought that I'd have to.

“I'd suggest attacking now, Ratchet!” I ordered my companion, ducking back down behind the sofa as the shots from the invaders really started to hit us. Bullet after bullet, flying overhead, at great speed. I scurried to the left of the couch, peering to see how bad our situation really was.

Ratchet removed the hood from his head to get a better view, before peeking around the corner and firing a couple of shots towards the Raiders, however to no avail.

“Gah, it's no use... they have more firepower than us!” Ratchet moaned as he struggled to get any decent time to take aim and fire. Despite the firepower bombarding us, I quickly scurried over to his position, dodging a few wayward bullets narrowly.

My heart was really beginning to pound against my chest. The adrenaline was unreal.

“Gah, shit. The fucker's jammed!” This was my cue. I quickly locked into S.A.T.S again, locking onto the Raider struggling to reload. This time, they were close enough to be shot. I targeted the torso twice, and their horn once.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

All three bullets hit successfully. The first punctured the skin, the blood that splattered onto the snow being evident of that. The second bullet only increased the damage the first shot did, as it collided with the first one, only to push it deeper into the Raider pony. The third shot, cutting through the bone of her horn, removed it completely. This sent them into a spasm of pain and agony, as they collapsed, losing blood and holding the clean cut of where their horn used to be.

However, this put me in the shit. Like, really deep. They all turned to me, locking their sights at the mare who blew off their friend's horn.

“F-f-fffucckkkin'... biiiiiitchhhh!” the buck sounding Raider yelled. I'll say, though. The fact that he was rolling around in pain, slightly overdoing it might I say, didn't really bode well for his masculinity. “I-I'm gonna kill you...”

He began to climb onto his blood-soaked hooves slowly, picking his large shotgun back up in his jaws. But before he could fire a shot again, I quickly fire blindly at him, my eyes closing as I waited to get shot down by his friends. But... as I opened my eyes, I saw that my shot had gone right between his eyes, blood and brain matter painted on a small rock behind him.

He fell down, twitching and choking on his own blood as the last remaining bit of life left his system. I just stared in shock, as the battle between us and the Raiders had come to a sudden halt for a few seconds. D-did I just KILL another pony?! Did I just willingly take somebody else's life?!

“You're dead now, kiddo!” I heard one of the mare Raiders groan in a dry, raspy voice, before she cocked her assault rifle back and began to spray bullets at me, charging towards the building once more. I quickly ducked down to sit next to Ratchet.

“I've got a plan...” I began, hearing the bullets ricochet off of the door frame and wall we hid behind. “You may not like it, but it's the best we have going for us!” I exclaimed, peeking over the small wall, that was slowly deteriorating from all of the gunfire it was taking. Each passing second, they were getting closer and closer, to the point where I could only peek for a millisecond, before a bullet nearly ended my journey.

“Well, what is it?!” my “delightful” companion asked impatiently, as the Raider ponies began to close down on our position.

“We attack them from two differen--” and as I spoke those words, I heard exactly what I was going to say from the mare Raider leading the attack.

“We attack them from two different angles. Surround the house! Don't let them get out alive!”

Damn, she was smart. For a Raider, who's only aim in life is to kill, she was smart. Ratchet's face lost a bit of colour, as if he knew exactly what was going to happen. However, this only spawned another idea. An idea that was risky, and a tad bit cocky of me, but it'd work. At least I hoped it would.

“Change of plan... You attack the grunts, who are no doubt coming around the back of the house...” I started, peeking over to see the leader alone, with one of her meek little grunts by her side, waiting for her order. “The leader? She's mine...”

“Are you nuts?! Have you seen her gun?! She'll shoot you down, before you can even get close to her!” Thank you, Ratchet, for pointing out the obvious. As if I didn't know that she'd most likely kill me. Of course she would, but would he be any better at taking her down?!

“Well, have you got any better ideas?!” I exclaimed, glaring at him as our time was slowly running out.

Sighing, the buck responded, “No. I haven't. So I take out the guys coming around the back, right? Okay. I'll do what I can.”

If they were going to attack us the 'smart' way, then we'd have to do the same. However, I was beginning to regret sending Ratchet after the posse their boss had sent out after us – he didn't sound ready for it. Not at all. It was as if he was willing to die, right there on the spot.

Standing up, Ratchet looked to me with a look of dismay. “You know; if this all goes to shit, then I'm placing you responsible for my impending death.” The buck proceeded to silently sneak around to where the small gang of Raiders were, leaving me on my own. He wasn't confident, and that worried me.

It was then my turn. I levitated my pistol, checking the magazine – I only spent four of my eleven bullets. It should be enough to waste the damn bitch. If not, I could always reload with quick succession. At least, I would hope I could – I don't think I've ever reloaded an actual gun before. Not from my understanding, anyway.

Hearing a couple of shots, presumably from companion (at least I hoped), I proceeded to leave the wreckage of the house, walking slowly towards the large, buff mare. Shit. She was much bigger than I thought. She stood tall, wearing spiked armour around her legs and torso. A balaclava covering her muzzle, and a pair of blacked out goggles shielding her, no doubt, bloodshot eyes. I didn't get a proper look at her before, but now that I had... I wish that Ratchet was here too.

Nervously walking towards my own demise, slowly, her servant looked at me, his eyes widening with glee. Clearly insanity had already plagued his mind beforehand. She hadn't seen me... yet.

“M-mistress! Look!” he groaned, his grin revealing his horrendous teeth. “This one's still alive.” Another gunshot echoed from behind, more and more filling the air as Ratchet had started a battle. At least it gave me an indication that he was still alive, at least up to now.

“Oh yes... And she's all on her own. I assume your 'friend' is getting torn apart by my grunts,” she choked, as her dry voice sounded as if she had phlegm lodged in her throat. “That means this one's all mine!”

“And mine!” the meek Raider by her side, who clearly hadn't eaten in days, called weakly. Only to receive the back of her hoof to his face.

“You get nothing! This one is all mine, and that's it! Anypony else try to take her down, will have to answer to my rifle!” Her attitude was terrible towards her servant. Did he really deserve that? And on top of that, the threat of being punished with death?

“H-hey, you didn't have to do that!” I called out, glaring at the large Raider pony. Worst. Mistake. I've ever made. Period.

SWOOSH!!! THUD!!!

Her large, hulking hoof, collided with my jaw, filling my face and my body with an unimaginable pain. Not only did my jaw feel cracked and broken, but my entire body felt broken. The impact, leaving a large bruising mark on my cheek, sent a shockwave through my entire body. Even if I was to breathe, or move a leg only slightly, I would feel a sharp pain that made me want to cry.

But not out here. No. My gun, which was flung across the cold sheet beneath me, sat against a small snowy dune, covered in cold.

“Now, now, little mare. You don't disrespect your elders like that,” she calmly stated, before stomping on my healing spine. AGH!! Fuck! It felt like she had grabbed it and snapped it in two. The pain was unreal. I felt warm tears begin to build from my tear ducts. “Now just lie still, while I end your pathetic life.”

I couldn't move. I was in severe pain... I was paralysed. I felt dead. Was I dead yet? Well, no. I wasn't. If I was, I wouldn't be able to feel her warm breath against my neck. And the stench of it? Oh, it was like I stuck my head in a sewage pipe and used that for my source of oxygen.

I kept my eyes closed, warm tears beginning to run down my cheeks as I felt a large barrel poke the back of my head. I felt my heart pounding against my chest, wanting out before it died with me too. I couldn't do anything. My body was throbbing with pain. A pain that I had never felt, in the years I've been alive. No. Feeling what I felt, I wanted to die. Just so the pain could stop.

“No resistance? Are you that weak?! So weak that you can't even get your gun and shoot me?!” she taunted, as I felt her thick saliva land onto my back as she spat out those words. “You don't belong out here...”

This was it...

BLAM, BLAM!!

G-gunshots?! Was... was I dead? No. I wasn't. I could still feel the pain from when the mare assaulted me. But just milliseconds after the shots were fired, I felt a thick, gloopy and warm liquid splash against my body. I wanted to open my eyes, just for a second. I glanced back, opening my eyes to see the bare, with a large chunk of her face blown off. Her tongue flailing out of her shattered jaw. Her eyeball, hanging from the string of flesh it was connected to... and her actual jaw? Hanging from her mouth, before she collapsed. Dead.

“W-what the...?” I looked back to where I was facing, to see Ratchet with a sawed-off shotgun between his mouth, the blood coating his face as he murdered her. “Ratchet?!”

He ignored me call his name, before the buck placed his new weapon into his saddlebag, and then leaning down to me with a pained sigh. “Hurt again? Is this going to be a frequent thing? Have you never been in a life threatening situation? Not counting the one I originally found you in last night.”

He was right. I hadn't. I'd never properly used a gun before, up until now. Nor had I been in a proper fight until now. “N-no...” I spoke, struggling to muster any words from my aching mouth. “I-I'm hurt. Bad. She hit me hard.”

“There's a small town not far from here... I'll take you there and then you can rest up.” W-was he... wanting to help me? Really? After my failed attempt at killing her? Why would he help me after that? Clearly I wasn't 'companion material'.

“W-why are you going to help me? I'll only slow you down...” I groaned, still unable to move from the throbbing pain that surged through my whole, delicate body. At least, in the state I was in, it was delicate.

He just sighed. “Could you stop being melodramatic? Your plan didn't work out completely, big deal. You're still alive, aren't you? That's good enough for me.” He was right. I was alive, I guess... It's not like I was completely lifeless. “Tell you what; I'll carry you there, just this one time. You're too weak to walk, and I'm sure if you were to run or overexert your body again, you'd only collapse.”

“Th-thank you...” I whimpered weakly, as the strong buck steadily bent down and gently lifted me onto his back. It wasn't the most comfortable thing to be on, but it was better than trying to force myself to walk again.

He kept to his word. He carried me all of the way there. I was grateful for that. I mean, considering my current condition, he was right about it being hard for me to walk. I could barely breathe without it hurting me in a way. My jaw hurt the most those, considering that's where she had hit me.

Despite the thumping pain, I did manage to get some rest while he carried me there. In other words, I ended up passing out. I assume it was because I had a potential concussion from the impact of the Raider's hoof. The connection was strong, so it was a possibility.

*******

I woke up what felt like minutes later, in a completely different place than I was when I passed out. Warmth... that was the first thing I felt. Then the softness of a bed below me, at least, I thought it was a bed. I did feel a soft sheet cover me, so it certainly was a bed. But whatever it was, it was soft. And then... the pain, circulating around my body. Ow. It fucking hurt so much. Not as much as before, I'd say. But still it was painful to even turn my head.

I opened my eyes once my body had woken from a long slumber, the brightness of the room stinging my eyes as they fluttered open. When my eyes eventually opened, I was greeted by the sun peeping through the clouds, beaming into my eyes.

“Gah, dammit!” I groaned, as I felt my eyes sting from the sunlight. I quickly turned my head away from the unwelcome sun rays. The first thing I noticed in the room was how the maroon wallpaper was peeling with age from the mahogany walls behind it. Empty drawers, all with their draws opened up as if the place was raided, hugged the walls.

I proceeded to scan the room, a solitary lightbulb hanging from the ceiling by what looked like a thread of wires. So thin that it'd take mind power alone to tear it from the string. There were large chunks torn out of the ceiling, allowing the crumbling dust above to gently fall onto the floor.

“Ah, you're awake,” I heard the familiar voice of my companion say with a slight tone of relief. I locked my sight onto him, to see him peeping out of the window at the far end of the room, before turning towards me and slowly walking over. “You've been out for a few hours now.”

“W-what...” I began weakly, blinking slowly as I tried to contain myself again. “What time is it...?”

“Four in the afternoon,” Ratchet said with a small smile on his face. “I was beginning to think you wouldn't wake.” So he did give a shit? That was new. I knew he cared a bit, because he wouldn't have carried me here if he didn't. But he was genuinely concerned. I wasn't just a buddy for him. “I might have to see a doctor of some sort. My supplies aren't good enough for your injuries.”

Ah, shit. That didn't sound good.

“She hit me that bad, huh?” I asked, still weak and unable to move from the bed I felt glued to. “She had quite a swing on her, I'll say!” I attempted to add a little of jokiness to the comment. Didn't work too well.

“Just be glad you're still alive. There's a clinic nearby, just across this building. I'll pay a visit and get some supplies,” he started, but then his gaze turned slightly more serious. “I, uh, might need to borrow a few caps. The clinic here's expensive, believe me.”

“I see.” I heard ponies outside of this place, wherever I was. I assumed it was a hotel, or something. It was quite loud to say it was a small town. “Where are we, again? I don't think you told me, actually...”

“Here? This place is called Clinton. Quite an odd name, but it's a small market town. Hence why you can hear so many ponies.” He returned to peek out of the window again, a small wry smile spreading on his face. “A lot of the ponies here know they're safe here, at least with the protection from the NVR – they pack a lot of firepower, and it's the only reason this place is left standing.”

“The NVR?” I asked, as I tried to sit up. At first I did fail, but I managed to eventually get the strength to sit up against the backrest. It hurt to move like I did, but I needed to remain awake. At least, now that I was awake, anyway.

“You've never heard of them? You have a lot to learn,” Ratchet answered me with a tone of sarcasm in his voice. “They're the reason these ponies, and most ponies in the Wasteland, are still alive. At least the ones that don't mean harm or do good. They mostly cover the Vanhoover area, but often come down from Vanhoover to help neighbouring villages. Like this one.”

“Are they big?” I brought up another question about the NVR. I had heard of them, I just sadly barely knew anything about them.

“Heh, are they big? Big's an understatement.” The sun rays from outside lightened up his face as his focus turned to me. “They're a military operation, in a sense; a fully fledged army. Weapons, armour – you name it, they've got it. They give those Shadow Legion bastards what-for, that's for sure.”

Shadow Legion...? Where had I heard that before? I couldn't quite put my hoof on it, so the most I could do from this point was query about it. “And the Shadow Legion? What are they?”

“My, my. You really have no clue, do you?” his head lowered in a form of disappointment. At least that's the impression I got. However, with a deep sigh, he spoke again. “Look. Instead of telling you about them, I do have this document hidden away in my bag. Maybe that'll help you more than I am willing.”

He gave me a chip of some sort from his bag, of course after a bit of rummaging. I was confused at first – what did he give me exactly? Was it a document, or an audio file of some sort? I'll admit; I had no idea what the hell I was doing with this thing. Well, not until he gave me guidance.

With a heavy sigh, he walked up to me and uttered the words, “You download that thing, onto your PipBuck. That isn't too hard, right? It'll give you answers I simply cannot.” Once my stupid little brain managed to figured out how to download stuff onto my PipBuck, I proceeded to do so. Ratchet proceeded to leave the room.

“W-where are you going?!” I exclaimed, hoping that he'd stay, just a little bit longer. Yeah. Good luck with that.

“To get some supplies,” he replied with calmly. “Shops close in about forty minutes.”

I couldn't say anything else after that. He'd already left, unfortunately. So, I was here all on my own, with nothing but the recording I downloaded onto my PipBuck. I honestly, at this point, had no choice but to give it a listen. The silence after he left was enough to send anypony mad, let alone somepony like me.

“This message is brought to you by the Vanhoover Shadow Legion; purging the world of evil, for the greater good!

*******

“Good evening – this is Commander NightGlyph; I am the leader of the VSL, or the Vanhoover Shadow Legion if you prefer to be... technical. It doesn't matter what you call us, just as long as you fight for our cause.

“Let's go over the basics, shall we?

“Many, many years ago, the Vanhoover Shadow Legion was formed for one purpose; to bring hope and prosperity to those who live in the northern land of Equestria – and we still fight for the ponies of Equestria, for that reason. We have one simple rule here, though – one rule you must follow at all times.

“Show no remorse.

“The enemies of the VSL deserve nothing but a swift death, and you must follow direct orders if they're given to you – or it'll be you who loses out on breathing the oxygen you breathe.

“Back onto the topic at hand.

“When the Shadow Legion was formed, there were only four members at the time. Ironclaw; Garren; Cybor; and Saren. All of which possessed strengths unlike any other. You could say they were... Mary Sue. But they didn't need anymore members. They not only protected the city of Vanhoover from the dangers that threatened it; war.

“The Shadow Legion played their part in the Great War – and while their army was small – they still managed to take enough lives with them.

“That was... until the bombs fell. As soon as balefire lit up the sky, and the battlefield lost, the megaspells sadly claimed the lives of those who founded the Shadow Legion, just ten-or-so years after forming – and they were forgotten after that day by those that took shelter in the underground Stables.

“No word ever broke out about these noble warriors that put their lives on the line, warriors who name would forever go down in Equestria's bloody history. They were the forgotten heroes of the war; all four of them.

“And that was where I—I mean, we, come in. We decided enough was enough – we being my friend Griff and I. We formed the newly improved Vanhoover Shadow Legion. We wanted Equestria to remember the true heroes, the true reason to why they still have hope to this day.

“Unlike our predecessors we laugh in the face of resistance. Or actually, should I say, we shoot the face of resistance? Anyone, or anypony for that matter, retaliates against the might of the Shadow Legion, they will be met with a swift death.

“The Northern Vanhoover Republic, the scum that they are, are damaging the Wasteland the citizens within it. They need to be eradicated – wiped off of the face of the earth. But we can only do it with your hope, as the war is still ongoing.

“Sign up today! Just come to the VSL Spire, in the north-east of Vanhoover City.

“Your future is in your hooves.”

Footnote: Level up!

New Perk: Buckin' Nerdy – You love your information! Especially when it comes to reading and listening! Your intelligence has boosted by +1 – but your agility suffers, by a -1 attribute.

Current level: 3

Author's Note

I would like to apologise for the delay. Motivation doesn't come cheap, at all. But I did it. Eventually.

I would like to thank my editor, Hardline Potato, for offering to be my editor! :heart: She has helped in more ways than she knows.