Fallout Equestria: Alicorn Blues

by Yoater

Rating: mature
Tags: My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Dark, Other, Original Character, Profanity, Adventure, Violence, Crossover, Death, Narcotics
Length: 70200

Just as Shock thinks she has it all, fate throws a wrench into the mix. Plans change, ponies change, but the wasteland remains the same.

Coming back from a routine job in Baltimare is usually quite boring. I walk into my tent, drop my normal gear off, get two hours of sleep, and wake up to cook for the town. Simple, boring, repetitive, but nice. So when my boss offered me the chance to do something else, I jumped at it without hesitation. Even if it was doing pretty much the same thing I did every day.

Then morning came. I found myself bound and gagged in the back of a wagon by the same ponies I was helping. They say I’m not who I’m supposed to be, but that’s a minor point. A very minor point. What happens when you’re a being who is empowered by radiation and you’re thrust into something that can’t handle that radiation? What if you’re chock-full of radiation when that happens?

I think I can see my mane falling out.

(Set in Kkat's Fallout Equestria universe.)

Published 2014-08-27 23:50:04 UTC
Last updated 2024-09-28 04:58:57 UTC

Chapter 1: On The Road Again

Chapter 1: On The Road Again
"When the road ends, you’ll find a rocky cliff.”

I was walking back to town when a grey-green alicorn stepped in front of my path and looked into my eyes. I stared back without replying. She wore slightly grimy yellow dress, that seemed to hug her form tightly and allow her wings to show.

"I need your help." the alicorn said with her mouth, much like a normal pony. It was quite an oddity for her to approach a pony directly for a job, lest she be connected to it and blamed.

I looked at the ruined buildings to my right, then at her. Rain steadily drizzled down, yet my hooded cloak kept me mostly dry. "This is most unexpected, Mistress. What can I do for you?"

She stepped closer, glancing around as she moved, and stopped near my face. "I need a cook for a caravan leaving in a few hours."

I adjusted my hood to keep my horn from getting wet. Slowly, I looked back towards where I had come from. From where I had seen something strange and also caused me to wonder about everything. After a few seconds, I slowly floated out the revolver and read inscription along the fancy barrel. Rain splotches twisted and distorted the message of redeemable monsters.

"What is that?" Mistress Tail Blade asked quietly.

"A trophy." Was all I said. She did not need to know the story behind how I came to possess the weapon, nor did she need to know the previous owner. I put it into my bags and nodded. "I'll go with your caravan." I nodded.

"Good." She smiled, her gaze flicking to something behind us for a second. "And your ‘other’ task?" She used her telepathy to ask the last question so no eavesdropping ponies heard. I knew the question was coming as soon as I saw the green alicorn. It was natural, since I had been gone for over a week.

"Won’t be bothering us anymore," I replied with my own telepathy.

Mistress Tail Blade nodded as a small frown formed on her face. “I suppose it had to be done sometime, but she could have proved useful for this.”

“How so?” I tilted my head.

She stepped closer. Her green wing wrapped around me and we began walking back to town. “You see, Lilium, she was a tool of mine much like you are a tool. But, instead of your type of tasks, Eclipse was paid to keep the Steel Rangers looking the other way.” She looked at me as I looked at her and we both smiled. “See what problem is presented when you approached me to ‘deal’ with her?”

I nodded. With a deep sigh, I looked at the shantytown known as Alicorn Town ahead of us. It was quite small considering that it was a wall surrounding an old diner. Tents and buildings were set up to provide shelter for the near twenty alicorns living there, and the fifteen or so regular ponies. Even now I could see the carts and wagons being prepared to leave.

“Yes, Mistress, I understand. You needed another tool to do the same job before I could have my revenge. The Goddess saw fit to grant us what we needed.”

We drew closer to the town as she shook her head and shut her eyes. “The Goddess… nevermind. You won’t get it.”

I felt her warm wing leave my side, so I looked over at Tail Blade and tilted my head. “Something the matter?”

Her drenched mane covered half her face like she was some filly trying to make a statement to her parents. She brushed it to the side and smiled at me, slowly shaking her head before looking up at the clouds above. “Just wondering why you believe she is up there.” Tail Blade said to the sky.

I followed her gaze and received a face full of rain for my efforts. Quickly covering my vision with my hoof, I tried to see what she saw, but failed. “The Goddess is the Goddess. She does not merely ‘die’. I believe she is watching us, guiding us, as we try to finish her plan.”

“Do you even know what her plan was?”

I nodded, lowering my gaze to look at Mistress Tail Blade. “Yes, she wanted to spread Unity and give aid to the wastelanders, even if they did not deserve Our help.”

Tail Blade’s eyebrow arched up as she cocked her head like a bird. “I do not think that means what you think it means.”

I ignored her reply and looked at the nearest wagon. It reminded me of my time on the island when I had attacked a Steel Ranger caravan, yet most of these ponies were not of the Tin Can variety. One of the purple alicorns near it was busy tying crates to the bed of the wagon. My gaze wandered down from his face to his cutie mark of a lasso wrapped around a square object I could not quite make out.

He must have felt me staring at him, because he looked over. I felt my cheeks burn at having been caught staring at a pony's flank. I quickly looked at Mistress Tail Blade and thought of shoving a knife into her eye, which caused my blush to go away. She smiled at me and winked. I rolled my eyes. "Mistress, I was curious as to his cutie mark. It seemed interesting."

"Let's find out what it means, shall we?" she asked as she draped her wing over my back and started leading us towards him. I wanted to run, to head back to Dead Hoof and sort out my equipment from my bags, but I allowed myself to be led over to the purple. "I have your caravan cook," Tail Blade said to the pony.

I stepped aside and pulled my hood lower over my face to hide from him and to block out the rain. He tied a knot off and stepped back from the cart. "Can't say I have met her before. She new?"

"No, I am not." I replied in his mind with my telepathy. "I have been away for a few days on business."

He looked at Tail Blade, then at me and adjusted his backwards turned cap. "Could you not use that telepathy? I don't much care for it and it makes me think you're tryin' to implant some kinda thought into my head that ain't mine."

"She would do no such thing/" Tail Blade glared at the pony. "Lilium is our town's cook. She prides herself on helping ponies, not manipulating them. Lilium does not like to speak with her mouth. I understand this. You should too."

Manipulating ponies is your job, I thought as I looked at Tail Blade. The green stood tall as she flexed her wings and tried to look imposing as if... as if she were protecting me.

I backed away from her and looked towards the purple stallion. He looked to her as his magic pulled a double barreled shotgun out and checked it for ammo. It appeared empty, so he loaded the weapon with red shells. I slowly started heading for my own tent, gulping. "I... I should head to my tent and pack for the trip. I've got to get ready, bye. Nice meeting you!"

Their reply did not come fast enough as I dashed away from them into the tents and small makeshift buildings. My mind raced with strange thoughts swirling around inside my skull, ranging from Tail Blade kissing me goodbye to Eclipse pleading for her life with a pistol to her head.

I wended my way around the path between the various tents, until I came across my tent and dashed inside, panting heavily from galloping and not breathing enough. Slowly, my eyes adjusted to the dark light as I took in my surroundings. All we owned was a small cot for a bed, a slowly rotting desk, and two lockers with our equipment inside them. The small cot near the far 'wall' held a sleeping blue alicorn on it, Dead Hoof.

I placed a hoof to my rapidly beating heart and slowly shook my head to clear my thoughts. Then made my way to my box of stuff. My cloak and bags were quickly removed and opened.

The yet undetonated one hundred and five millimeter shell was brought out and set aside. Strangely, I did not want to use it. It felt sentimental despite it being heavy enough to almost weigh me down. The strange black and gold revolver was lovingly set atop the nearby desk so I could show it to Dead Hoof when he awoke. After that, I dug through my bags and pulled everything out. Only to replace the items with mostly cookware, my journal, a weapon cleaning kit, and a standard ten millimeter pistol with four replacement magazines. Oh, and the Twilight Sparkle statuette. Can’t forget that one, ever.

After the bags were checked, re-checked, I pulled a set of armor plates over my forelegs. They once belonged to a suit of Enclave power armor, but I did not have enough time to loot all of it. Somewhere out there, a pony is probably walking around in a partially complete suit. As I turned around to wake Dead Hoof, my heart jumped into my throat to choke me as my wings unfolded with a pop. The sneaky blue alicorn was standing just behind me with the revolver floating near his tilted head. He glanced down after noticing movement and smiled. "Morning. This is a nice pistol, but you know my rules. It stays in the locker with the other weapons."

I folded my wings and nodded. "Don’t you know it’s not nice to sneak up on a mare like that?"

"Nope. You staying?”

"No." I shook my head as he set the pistol onto the desk. "I'm leaving at dawn with the caravan."

"Caravan? Didn't you just get back?" I nodded and looked up into his eyes. They reminded me of Sister's, but I tried to hide it; however, he must have seen my forming frown because he frowned too. "I was worried. Where did you go?"

"To the island." I lied. He did not know of my other activities, and did not need to. "I had to see Ripper about something."

"About what?" He tilted his head and sat down.

I looked towards the caravan's direction knowing full well I could not see it. Dawn was not far off, and they would not leave without me. A fact I was fully aware of since Mistress Tail Blade seemed relieved she had found me. With a deep sigh, I moved closer to Dead Hoof and smiled. "About her saddle. You remember it, right?"

I placed a hoof on his chest and smiled. He smiled back as he gently set a hoof on my cheek and leaned slightly forward. "Yeah. I remember it being rusted and her obsession over fixing it. You yourself said it was beyond repair."

“But it still sort of works.” I stared into his big blue eyes as they reflected my green face back to me, but my thoughts were interrupted when I noticed something about him. His purple dyed mane was different and… short. "You cut your mane!" I exclaimed as a grin formed on my face.

"Yep." He nodded and leaned back so he could run his hoof through it. "A couple days ago. Oh!" he gasped like some young mare that had just remembered something important. Then, as quick as he could, the blue alicorn rushed over to his locker and dug around inside it.

"Dead Hoof," I sighed. "I like you, remember? I was wondering..." He pulled an object out and my eye was drawn to a blue glowing jar, causing me to tilt my head. "What's that?"

"A drink I bought off a travelling sales pony." He held it out. I took it as gently as I could and popped the lid.

Blueberries and near rubbing alcohol levels of booze filtered into my nose as I inhaled and smiled. "Moonshine? This is a nice gift."

He nodded again with a small smile. "I know our friendship isn't the best, but this is my thanks for being there. If you hadn’t come along and shot everypony I paid, I’d still be a depressed mare stuck on the island."

I smiled as I closed the jar and put it into my bags. "Thanks for the drink. They shot first, I swear.”

“Right,” he muttered.

“Just think.” I pulled my cloak on, followed by my bags. “You’re stuck with Rosey Hoof for another week.”

“Wut?” He tilted his head. “Rosey… Hoof? Shock, I don’t have a…” Slowly, I saw his face change from confusion to recognition as his eyes widened, then narrowed at me. “Shock, you’re a dick. And I’m going with you. I’ve been going nuts here! It’s so boring with them doing the same. Thing. Every. Day. Wake up, tend what little crops they can grow, work, work, work. It’s boring!”

"But who would look after our stuff?" I waved a hoof around the meager shared tent and tilted my head. "I need you here to make sure no pony steals Hyde and my shell."

He grabbed my shoulders and stared into my eyes with pleading eyes. “They have me cleaning toilets! Have you seen how disgusting they are?! I lost my lunch twice when I saw the first one! They're the toilets from Tartarus! Disgusting, rancid, caked on shit, and grime...” his voice trailed off as he stared to my side, lost in thought.

I giggled at him as I pat him on the shoulder. “It sounds like you have a very… shitty job, but you have to stay here. Mistress Tail Blade said only I was to go with them.”

“Oh come on!” he stomped his hooves down. “I’m a ship captain, not a janitor! I’m not supposed to clean toilets!”

I leaned back, my magic grabbing the black and gold revolver. Dead Hoof glanced at it and tilted his head. The weapon was slowly dragged over and hefted up so I could look at it. I contemplated using the bullets to give Dead Hoof a few new holes to breathe with, but I shut my eyes and took a few deep breaths, counting down from ten. Slowly, I felt my mild annoyance fade away.

When it was fully gone, I opened my eyes to find the blue had moved over and laid down on the cot while I had been counting, and appeared to be snuggling a tattered blanket. “Dead Hoof, where did you get that jar of moonshine?”

“A traveling sales pony, why?” He pulled the blanket closer to his chest and nuzzled it, inhaling quite loudly.

“I want to buy more," I replied with a sigh. "What did he look like?”

Dead Hoof sat up and placed a hoof to his chin. “Hm… He was a long eared earth pony with a big hat and a lot of bags. I’m surprised he isn’t dead with how much stuff he had. Can I go with you now?"

I shook my head, causing Dead Hoof to frown. “I still need you to be here. My stuff is valuable.”

“That sword and bomb aren’t valuable to anypony but you.” He held his hooves up and let out a deep, frustrated, sigh of defeat. “Alright. I’ll watch your bomb for you if it’ll make you happy. " He then pointed a hoof at me and glared. "But if I turn into Ripper, I’m going to hurt you.”

I nodded, letting out another deep breath to keep my nerves in check. “There’s something else.” He tilted his head. “I think… I think Mistress Tail Blade has a crush on me.”

“Really?” he asked as his ears perked up. I nodded. Slowly, a smile crept up on his face and the blue stallion began chuckling. He popped his wings out and hovered towards the door, causing my eyes to widen in shock. “I’m going to go ask her!” Dead Hoof laughed.

“Nooo!” I roared in complete shock as I grabbed hold of the blue’s foreleg and yanked him from the door, Dead Hoof let out a yelp of surprise. “She’s a mare, and… and I'm a mare! I like stallions. They’re big, handsome, strong, and oh so very protective!”

Dead Hoof hovered at the door to our tent as a groggy eyed blue and orange pony pulled the flap back and tried to glare at us. "Shut. The fuck. Up," he growled, his voice giving off a loud croak to betray his anger. "Ponies are trying to sleep."

I laughed sheepishly and nodded. "Yes, sir. We'll be quiet right away."

Dead Hoof looked at me, then the other pony and nodded. "Yeah, sorry."

The blue and orange earth pony left our tent. I let out a breath I had been holding and looked over at Dead Hoof, floating my revolver to eye level. "I saw you looking at this. What do you think of the inscription?"

"Looks like your hoof writing," he replied. Dead Hoof had read my journal a few times, so I'd imagine he was quite knowledgeable at what my hoof writing looked like. "You make that with Ripper?"

I shook my head as I set the weapon in my bags. As I was about to open my mouth and tell Dead Hoof the story, Mistress Tail Blade opened the tent flap and said, "Ah, there you are."

I looked over to her, giving a slight wave of my hoof. "Dead Hoof and I were just talking."

She looked to him for a second, then to me and nodded. "Perhaps. But I should mention that the caravan left a few minutes ago." My eyes widened in shock. "It seems they are on a tight schedule and no amount of pleading by me could persuade them to wait."

My ears folded back. I opened and closed my mouth, trying to form a reply that did not sound stupid or as an apology, but a shove from my right broke me out of my daze. "Shock," Dead Hoof growled. "You lied."

"What?" I blinked.

"You said you were leaving," he replied.

I picked up my bags in magic as I spread my wings. "And I am."

*** ***

As I flew through the slowly crumbling artificial canyon, it occurred to me that I did not know where the caravan was, but I was an alicorn. Flying and magic was what I did. I sighed deeply, my gaze sweeping across the ruined buildings again. They looked as dark and depressing as ever.

There were only a four exits from Alicorn Town and the caravan consisted of only three large carts, and there was really only one way for them to go if they were heading to the outskirts.

It did not take me that long to find the caravan, despite the darkness and the rain pelting my face. The three wagons were slowly, and steadily, making their way northwest. I could see a few ponies walking alongside the carts, while only one sat on each. My gaze lingered on the center cart for a moment before I dove down.

At the last moment, I flared my wings and bled off my excess speed, folding the feathery appendages as I dropped to all fours in a perfect landing. My ears twitched and swiveled as a static filled voice sung about heroes nearby.

"Nice to see you joined us," one of the collared workers said with a slow drawl. I rolled my eyes and began walking along with the center cart. All of the boxes were open and empty, causing me to frown. I had assumed that they were sending supplies and food out, but it seemed not.

After untying my bags, I tossed them onto an open spot in the back of the wagon. Then hovered up and looked for the purple stallion with the lasso cutie mark.

I spotted him at the lead cart, so I ignored him and hovered to the the rear cart. The alicorn didn't even wave to acknowledge my presence. I spun around to face the front of the caravan and looked up to spot any air support. A quick search of our immediate surroundings revealed none. All I saw were various buildings ranging from complete piles of rubble to mostly intact.

The caravan ponies seemed lax and devoid of any concern for the well being of their cargo. They looked ahead, only occasionally glancing to the side, and none of them even bothered to keep a watch for intruders coming from behind. It was like I was with a bunch of feral ghouls!

Taking a deep breath to calm my nerves worked and I felt a bit better. I hovered past the second cart and landed next to the first. The purple alicorn with a lasso cutie mark looked over at me as we passed by some rubble that could have hidden bandits. I kept my gaze on it as we passed it by. "What do you want?" the stallion asked from my left.

I’m going to call him Lasso Ass because I have forgotten his name. Or did Mistress Tail Blade forget to actually introduce us?

"I was looking at your caravan from the air and it seems your defenses are complete shit," I told him as blunt as I could. Slowly, I pulled my gaze from the debris and looked at him.

"No pony is dumb enough to attack eight alicorns." Lasso Ass said with a shake of his head. "Use your brain and think. Who is that suicidal?"

"Steel Rangers for one," I nodded again and motioned with my horn towards an earth pony worker. "They've got the firepower to take us down quite easily. Enclave has laser weaponry and the height advantage. The wastelanders have what's left, which can still be capable of-"

"Look, Cook, I don't know who you are, but you can't tell me that you know what's best for my caravan."

My eye twitched. I nearly shouted at the insolent purple. "Just because alicorns are superior to normal po-"

"I've heard enough." he interrupted, causing me to frown.

"You need air patrols!" I shouted as I followed his cart. "We have the ponies to do it, just listen to me if you want this to work."

He looked down at me again. "Want what to work?"

"This caravan." My ears folded back as I placed a hoof to my chest and hovered off the ground. "Please, just listen to my idea. All we need are two alicorns flying constant patrol. Say her and her," I pointed at a pair of blues who looked at each other. "They could fly for three hours while invisible. Then they switch with another pair and so on. When we make camp we must make sure there is always a pony on watch in two hour shifts."

He shook his head. "Nope. That's too much work. It'll tire us out before we even get halfway to the outskirts."

"It worked fine for the Equestrian military!" I landed on the road and stomped my hoof down. "How do you think the Steel Rangers sleep in the wastes? The same fucking way!"

He shook his head as he tapped near his eye. "They got that fancy armor with the fancy sight. Now, if you want to run the caravan, then get out of my mane and start your own."

What? Fancy… sight?! No… that’s. That’s not the reason you dumbshit!

I screamed in frustration as I stomped my forehooves down and flared my wings out.

*** ***

Food was passed out to the normal ponies. The standard fare of crushed ancient apple chips in dirty water greeted them because I was too angry over Lasso Ass’s attitude. My idea was quite valid and yet he refused to listen. The fool should never have been added to Unity. His contempt was… was… contempt for apathy!

Alcohol threatened to burn my eyes as I stared at the partially drank jar in the light of the fire. Another discrepancy I wanted to kick out of him. So, to avoid breaking the stallion’s jaw and gutting him like a fish, I walked over to the workers and sat near them. Their quiet munching of food at least told me some pony cared about what I did. Hooves moving across the wet rubble told me one of the alicorns decided to follow, but I decided to ignore her and take a swig of my glowing drink. The blueberries assaulted my mouth like they kicked a door in and rushed towards my stomach to kill off any evil vibes.

As I returned my head to normal, I looked at something floating in the jar and saw a pretty flower. With a shrug I took another sip and pulled the flower into my mouth without hesitation.

“Hey,” the alicorn said quietly from my right. I glanced over at her and started munching on the nicely flavored flower. She looked at a pale red earth pony next to us. He stopped eating to look at her, tilting his head slightly.

"Hi..." she waved her hoof at him.

"Hi." He waved his own hoof and went back to eating. I poured everyone another bowl of the slop because they needed their strength. "Thanks." the same stallion said as his bowl was filled.

"You are most welcome." I bowed my head some before taking a sip of my drink. It was... Odd that he said anything at all. The other workers appeared scared out of their minds, most likely having assumed I would melt their brains or activate their collars if they said anything at all.

The alicorn stepped closer with her head tilted. She slowly, very slowly, brought a hoof up and smiled. “That was interesting what you did today.”

“Hm?” I poured her a bowl of warm slop. She took it and stared at it. “What was?” I slightly slurred out.

“You trying to tell Lasso how to run the caravan.”

“Wait. His name is actually Lasso?” I blinked in confusion at having guessed his first name correctly. She nodded and took a few bites of her food, which produced a grimace.

“Lasso Overcart.”

"That's a terrible name!" I said before taking a long swig of my alcohol jar. Then offered it for the mare.

She shook her head, holding up a foreleg. “I get drunk too easily and do bad things.”

“Bad things?” I tilted my head. She rubbed at her foreleg and stared down at it. My ears drooped, so I tried to change the subject. “So how do you know Lasso Ass?”

She giggled and quickly covered her mouth. “It wasn’t that long ago that we met. He said he could help me and knew what I was going through.”

“The loss of Unity,” I said. Then took a long draw of my drink, noticing that it was nearly gone.

The blue alicorn nodded again. “I was so lost and confused. He told me I had been wandering in circles for weeks! My hooves were so worn down they hurt to walk on." I slowly dug through a nearby bag of junk, eventually producing a bottle of Sparkle-Cola. She took it and pocketed the cap. “Thanks.”

“I know what you went through, to be so lost. It was like a part of you died and you could not get it back. The Goddess was great and powerful, yet she could not escape that little shit.”

“The Lightbringer saved the wasteland from you freaks!” a nearby worker piped in with a wave of his hoof. I shot him a death glare. With an eep, the pony quickly went back to eating.

I ignored his comment and looked to the blue alicorn. She scratched the back of her head with a small frown. “I’m… not sure that the Goddess was great. Don’t you regret converting ponies?”

I shook my head. “We were making them better and as close to perfection as we can attain.”

The earth ponies nearby grumbled malcontent for my words, but I spoke the truth. While Unity had its downsides with a complete lack of stallions, which got rectified, it also had a few upsides that were obvious. Radiation healing us for one. As I drank the last of the alcohol, the blue alicorn said, "I guess. So... What is your name?"

The very last drop of the alcohol began assaulting my annoyed nerves. So I tossed the jar at a nearby building, and watched it shatter into many tiny pieces. "Shock, Dog, Shell Shock, Lilium. Take your pick. Any will work fine."

"Lilium sounds nice," she replied quietly. "Like a flower."

I looked at her and tilted my head as my eyebrow cocked at an odd angle. "It is a type of flower."

"Oh." she giggled a little, causing me to roll my eyes. I pulled the various pots over and started washing them in whatever water I had, which was dirty with lovely radiation because it is quite helpful. "So where were you before this caravan?"

I dumped out a pan of irradiated slop and cleaned it. When it was as clean as it was going to get, I put it aside and did the same for another pot. "I was on an island where everything wanted to kill me."

"Sounds like normal."

I set the clean pots aside and let out a deep sigh. "Perhaps, but this island is unlike any place I have seen before in the wasteland. And that is saying something. If the vegetation didn't kill you, then the freaks in the morning fog would try."

"Vegetation?" the mare blinked in confusion, then looked down at her drink. "Like plants?"

"Yeah. The island was covered in a lush green jungle so thick I couldn't see more than twenty yards at the most."

"Green... living plants...?"

"Look, I don't want to talk about that place. Why anypony willingly heads there is beyond my comprehension. You said you were found walking in a circle? How big?"

She looked down as her ears folded back. "I'm not sure. All I remember is hearing 'Flee my children! Save yourselves!' And so I flew and flew until I couldn't, so I started walking. Next thing I know Lasso Overcart is trying to get me to stop walking. He's really nice once you get to know him. He already had Lemon Drop and they were transporting supplies to a town in the mountains."

I facehoofed. It was a line I've heard many times before and one I hated. If somepony is an asshole when you meet them, it's a good chance that they'll keep being an asshole. As I gave a small shake of my head, I put my pots and pans away, then pulled out the black and gold revolver. The mare moved even closer as a blue light illuminated the weapon and the both of us stared down at it.

Slowly, the cylinder was pulled out and each bullet was removed and inspected. The workers left us to our own devices, having got their daily meal and probably scared I was going to fill them with lead. "Forgiveness," I recited the word inscribed onto the brass casing, then put it into the cylinder. "Hope," I followed suit with the second bullet and then a third. "Morality."

"Why do you have those on bullets?" the blue asked, her quiet voice filled with the sound of a pony eager to learn.

I glanced at her and held up Compassion, Charm, and Decency in my magical field. Her gaze went to them as her brows knitted together. "These bullets represent traits I've lost." I looked at the revolver and frowned. "I think."

"You think?"

I nodded and finished loading the floating revolver, snapping the cylinder shut with a spin. "This weapon is as perplexing as the stars. I believe the intent of this weapon is for me to go nuts trying to figure it out."

She took it in her magic and read the inscription along the barrel with a frown. "Heartless Monster? Who put that there?"

"I believe I did." I gently grabbed the pistol in magic as I pulled it back and slipped it into my bags. "I've done too much, seen too much, and lost too much. All I have left is the memories and a desire to stab things in a blind rage."

"So you were a raider before Unity." she nodded, receiving a nod from me in response.

"You might say I was one of the first few raiders. Access to wartime tech with the knowledge to use it. Use it we did." I looked over at the burning camp fire and stared at it. The flames licking up to the sky brought an old memory to the surface, but I brushed it aside. When I blinked, I could still see it. Tanks on fire. "Only the strong could survive. You ate, or you died. It was as simple as that."

"Wait." She scratched the back of her head again as I looked from the fire to her. "I don't get it. Were you once a Steel Ranger Scribe or a Raider?"

I smiled at her, gently patting her shoulder. "Don't think too hard on it. Steel Rangers are Raiders in their own right. How about we head over to the others and get some sleep?"

50% to next level.

Chapter 2: Old Bones

Chapter 2: Old Bones
"Why does this feel familiar?”

Slowly, I awoke. The side of my head felt like a pony had stabbed an ice pick into my skull and was sawing at the other side with a dull bonesaw. Strangely, my mouth tasted like I had eaten shit covered in grease and dirt and my legs felt restrained, nor could I feel my wings. Their soft feathers did not brush my sides, neither did it feel as if I had fallen asleep on them, it was as if they were not there at all.

A strange bump tossed my head in the air before I could think about moving.

My eyes snapped open as my head slammed back into a wooden floor, causing white to blind my vision for a second. Letting out a muffled gasp, I laid there breathing through my nose while trying to figure out where I was. I attempted to open my mouth, but found it was nearly impossible due to a cloth being shoved into it.

A rainy sky blocked my view of the sun, so trying to discern the correct time of day was futile beyond just daytime. The alicorn owned carts were moving along a partially rubble filled road, tall buildings stretched skyward and groaned quietly on the wind. As I looked to my side, I saw why I could not feel my wings.

There were no wings. Dirty tan fur replaced my forest green coat and rain soaked muddy brown hair replaced my grey-green tail. The only thing missing was the shine and the grey in my mane.

I gulped at the sight and shut my eyes, praying to the Goddess that the change was just a dream. Of course, I got no reply. She never replied but it was okay, I did not mind. She was most likely saying hello to the other alicorns who were more important. Like Mudpie...

My muffled mumbling must have been heard by a nearby pony, because he said, "Ah, you're awake."

As I opened my eyes, I looked over at his purple face and nodded. "Yes. It is I, Lilium! Your cook! Now let me go." I explained to him, but it came out as muffled and incoherent mumbling.

The purple, whom I recognized to be Lasso, did not immediately reply. He stared at my back for a few long moments, then I noticed his gaze went to my cutie mark. I glared daggers at him in a failed attempt to kill the whelp with my eyes. "What'd you do with our cook?" he asked. A rather stupid question because I was the same pony.

I glared harder. "I'm her!" I shouted to no avail. Trying to use my mind to scream at him failed all attempts. Then, I was suddenly aware at how laughably stupid their plan was to keep me captured. I quickly untied my gag with magic and tossed it aside along with that disgusting cloth. But the horrible taste remained in my dry mouth. "I am your cook, asshole. This has to be a dream, right? Ponies don't up and change species overnight!" A pony used to be able to change species ]i]to alicorns, but no longer. A quick check of my hooves revealed they were all there and their attempt to keep me from moving were just as bad as the gag. "There has to be a rational reason for me reverting," I said as I untied myself and tossed the rope aside.

"I don't think you're our cook," Lasso drawled out. "You ain't no alicorn, yet you got the same cutie mark."

I rolled my eyes at his Captain Obvious observation. "Because I am the same pony. Look, Lasso Ass, I-"

"Overcart," he corrected, narrowing his eyes.

"Well you're a stubborn asshole, so it's Lasso Asshole." He frowned at my words. The purple alicorn levitated a double barrel shotgun out from below the seat and aimed it at me, cocking both hammers back with a noisy click. I grinned. "Overcart it is!" He nodded, but kept the shotgun pointed at me. "Lasso Overcart, you as well as I know it is possible for..." My voice trailed off as the gears in my brain wheeled around and slammed into an invisible brick wall. "Killing Joke! But… I’m not dead…? Why am I not dead?"

"I don't get it," he muttered. Overcart glanced ahead for a second before giving me his attention again. I looked around with a small frown and, oddly, found my stuff next to me.

I levitated a bottle of water out of my bags and unscrewed the top. "That's what I don't get either. I'd understand if I turned into a fish pony or filled full of holes, or even lost a leg, but there's nothing deadly about my current body. I’m just a normal unicorn." As I was about to take a drink of water, I looked cross eyed at the dirty bottle with its murky contents. Slowly, my mind clicked in place that the water was heavily irradiated. My eyes snapped wide open as I dropped the bottle of death and scrambled back. "No! How much…? Fuck!"

I quickly looked around, ignoring the confused looks as I attempted to find a Pipbuck, a geiger counter, something, anything, to tell me how much radiation I had! My breaths became short and my heart began pounding in my chest like a freight train as I sat there. All I saw were simple ancient ruins around us, the confused looks from Lasso Ass and those pulling the carts. My gaze locked onto one of the earth ponies pulling the cart behind us. He stared at me not with confusion, but with a smirk as if he were enjoying my fright.

I felt something cold touch my hind leg suddenly, causing me to start in surprise. A quick glance down and I saw what it was. It’d be fine if it were a hoof or even a weapon, but oh no.

It was disgusting water.

“Aah!” I jumped away from the evil water of doom as I tried flapping my wings, they failed. Instead of hovering off the cart, the hard concrete below reached out and caught me in all its unforgiving glory. Pain shot through the side of my head as I landed with a crack. I groaned as I rolled onto my back and stared up at the clouds for a quick second. My world swirled and I watched the tops of the buildings dip left, then jumped up to the right. They continued to sway as a faint ringing noise filled my ears, popped, and suddenly faded to nothingness.

The ponies pulling the carts stopped and started to gather around me like I was some side show in a carnival. Instead of bothering to say anything to them, I rolled to my hooves, ignoring my joints as they popped and cracked, and bolted for the nearest door. There had to be supplies inside one of the buildings. Ponies found things all the time, right? Right?! All I’d need to find was one thing of RadAway. Maybe more, but hopefully one would do it.

A purple flash ahead of me signaled one of the purple alicorns teleporting just in front of me. I lowered my horn in preparation to stab the insolent whelp. Just as I lowered my head, something green slammed into my forelegs and I went tumbling towards the door as the purple teleported away in a flash of light. I reached out with my forehooves and slammed them into the ground, slowly sliding to a stop on my belly.

"She seems confused," said a voice inside my head as a strange presence barged its way in. There could be only one reason for it, a green alicorn decided to say hello. I groaned as I sat up to brush the dirt off my nearly-almost perfect coat. "Why would she attack if she is the same pony?"

"Because he's an asshole and deserves a good stabbing," I grumbled, dusting the dirt off my tan forelegs. A look up showed four alicorns in front of me; a green, a blue, and two purples. It was an oddly familiar sight even though none of them were matched colors beyond the purples. That, and each alicorn wore some form of barding. "Look. I need to find anti-radiation medicine, now!"

The blue mare from last night looked over at Lasso Ass and tilted her head. I could hear faint whispering as her lips moved. Then, the green's obtrusive presence filled my head even more before I could try to listen in. "We do not need such things. You will have to make due until we hit the next town."

Her mouth did not move when she talked, yet I heard her perfectly clear. I wondered if I was that annoying when I used my telepathy. The green slowly nodded as if she heard my thoughts. Her reaction caused me to facehoof. "Right. Telepathy works both ways," I mumbled. "All I have to do is think."

"Correct." She looked over to the others who were staring at me like I was a freak. I looked to the strange blue and could feel my insides tingle while they died cell by cell every second we stood there talking.

"I need to find RadAway," I told the assembled alicorns, again. "I'm dying just like last time. I can feel it!" They looked at each other as the green's presence left my head. It was like a blanket being pulled away and I could suddenly think clearly again. "Please." My ears folded back. "Give me five minutes to look in this building. It's all I ask."

"You got two minutes," Lasso Ass said.

I quickly scrambled to my hooves and bucked the door in before galloping inside. Dingy and grimy decor greeted me as I started pulling drawers out of anything I could find with my magic, flinging them aside after a quick check. Papers, diapers, more papers and caps, a bullet and more caps, a fuzzy hat that I immediately placed on my head, but no RadAway.

"Where are you?!" I shouted as I galloped into the kitchen and tried to tackle the fridge. But bounced off it like a dog who had misjudged the couch and fell to the floor in a heap. With a deep frustrated groan, I got up and attempted to rip the annoying door off its hinges. It flung open, hit the stops and slammed shut again, the insides rattling quietly.

I rolled my eyes and quickly opened it with my hooves. In the center of the rack was something black that had once resembled a sandwich and gave off the most Goddess awful stench. If one were to give it eyes it might move forward and conquer the world. A nice warm bottle of Sparkle-Cola sat next to the sandwich. I ignored the disgusting food and floated the bottle in my magic as I inspected the rest of the fridge for alcohol or RadAway.

"Time is up," the green’s voice filled my mind, causing a shiver to run up my spine. "Return to the caravan."

I looked towards the door and jumped back, barely holding onto the bottle of cola as my heart leapt into my throat. Standing in the doorway was the green alicorn. Her eyes were like tiny slits and her wings were held slightly out from her sides. I gulped.

"I need more time," I told her, my eyes narrowing slightly.

"There is no more time. It has been one minute and fifty nine seconds exactly. Now two minutes."

"What...?” I blinked in confusion. “Were you counting or something?" She nodded. I set the bottle down and rolled it across the tile towards the green. She took it in her magic and put it away as her presence left my mind. “I don’t need this crap. All I wanted to do was help ponies.”

“You still can,” she said with her mouth. Her voice was almost too quiet, as if she hardly ever used it. I leaned on the fridge door and shut my eyes, sighing deeply. My body started aching all over and I felt like all I needed was a nice long nap. “I was told of a story from a pony named Tail Blade.”

Upon hearing that name, I partially opened my heavy eyelids. The green alicorn stood within touching distance while a rusty knife floated in her magic. I gripped it in my own magic and felt its light weight, which was perfect for chopping veggies with but not so much in combat as it wasn't balanced right. “Story?”

She nodded and took a few steps back. “About a lost pony.”

I glanced towards the caravan’s direction, then looked to the green. “What’d she say?”

The green also glanced towards the caravan and stayed there for a few moments before looking at me. “A lost green came to her. She was confused. Tail Blade was unclear.as to what her reasons were and I had to fill in the blanks. This green arrived in the company of a blue who seemed equally lost.” I frowned at her story. It seemed Mistress Tail Blade was telling ponies about me. A fact I shall have to rectify by knife point. “So Tail Blade took them under her wing and gave them shelter at no cost.”

I shut my eyes as I let out a deep sigh. “Why are you telling me this asinine story? What could it possibly have in common with my predicament?”

“Because that green also claimed she wanted to help ponies. Do you even know what it means to help a pony?”

I sat there and thought about it. And thought about it. After a few moments I opened one of my eyes and looked at her. “I would like to think I helped ponies on the island, but that’d be foalish to think I did. I was selfish."

“How so?” She sat down and I wondered whether or not the caravan had left already.

“I… I messed up badly, okay? By the time I realized my mistake, it was too late. I had become something they feared and the island was lost.”

“It’s behind you, so move on.”

“I already know that,” I muttered and shut my heavy eyes. “I can’t look at the past, or future, because I am in the present. My actions now affect the now. The outcome of anything is uncertain."

“Look. Out of the other alicorns in her camp, Tail Blade personally recommended you for this job. Lasso and I need to speak with you tonight about it.” The green smiled down at me, which was unnerving when she showed me all her teeth. They looked filed to sharp points.

*** ***

"Now just wait a-" the stallion was shut up as a carrot flavored snack cake was shoved into his mouth by my magic. I walked along next to them with a bag floating filled to the brim with various preserved food. The pony stared at the cake for a second and started chewing.

I pulled another one out and offered it towards the other pony. "Any objections to a snack on the go?" I asked the barf colored earth pony with blood splatter for a cutie mark.

He took all of less than a second to decide before snatching it from my magic. I smiled at them and looked towards Lasso, my smile slowly faded at his frown. "They get one meal a day," the purple alicorn said with a small glare. "Can't you count?"

I was about to reply when my hoof suddenly kicked something and I felt my face fall towards the ground. With a cry of surprise, I slammed face first into the dirt and laid there as the cart moved on without me. As I pushed myself to my hooves, I looked around for the bag of food. It wasn't far away, its contents having partially spilled out onto the road. My magic dragged it over and I quickly put everything back into the bag.

"Hey," came a mare’s voice from behind me. I turned around and followed her slender blue legs to her concerned face. Her eyebrows were knitted tightly together. "Are you doing okay?"

I shook my head and adjusted my fuzzy hat. "No. I can feel my insides tingling and I keep thinking I'm going to glow any second. I need to look for RadAway now, not in a few days, but now." Slowly, I placed a hoof on my stomach and winced when a sharp pang of pain caused my skin to twitch. "It's not fun when you're insides rot out. I can just imagine the pain of having to take a crap."

"That's a bit too much information for me." she took a step back. "How about I fly ahead and get some medicine? I can be back within the day."

Her plan was sound. I tossed her two magazines and twenty caps from my saddlebags, every cap I had. "Trade those for as much RadAway as you can get."

"I will be back later tonight." She nodded and looked up at the cloudy sky as droplets of water hit my nose. It then occurred to me that she might have trouble finding us again, so I grabbed her hoof with magic before she could spread her wings. She looked down at me in confusion. "Yes?"

"How will you know where to find us?" I asked, catching sight of the final wagon of the caravan as it slowly passed by.

"Easy." The blue smiled. "I have the route memorized and Clockwork has our stops planned to the second. She's very good at timing our routes."

I did not doubt the green's ability to plan things that concerned timing. Another thought occurred to me of the naming nature, so I asked, "Can you tell me your name?"

"Willow." Was all she said. I let go and stood up, backing away so she could take flight. She rocketed into the sky without so much as a wave or a good bye, but our pleasantries had already been exchanged. As she flew off, I found myself staring at her flank and smiling at the view of her leaving. Her near perfectly curved flank flowing down the equally near perfect legs. The horn atop her head was thin like a sword at the distance watched her from.

Slowly, I began wondering why I found blue alicorns so appealing. Mudpie was a blue, Deadh Hoof is a blue, and so is WIllow… It was like they were a magnet and I was drawn to them.

As if to ruin my little moment, the green's obtrusive presence filled my head and I found my thoughts becoming muddled again. I slowly looked down as I clutched my head with a hoof. "It's rude to do intrude on a pony's thoughts like this," I said quietly knowing that she's hear me wherever she was.

The presence suddenly left and I could think clearly again. That was when I noticed her hooves at the top of my vision, so I looked up at her face and wondered how long she had been standing there. "She's taken," Clockwork said with her mouth. "So don't think about trying to get her into your tent."

My eyes narrowed as I glared at her. "She offered to buy me medicine and I accepted. Is she your marefriend?"

Clockwork shook her head. "She is Lasso's catch. Did you know you look almost as pale as death?" I nodded. My coat was something I was not interested in looking at, neither were the small clumps of my mane that randomly fell out whenever I touched it. Clockwork glanced around for a few seconds before looking down at me. "Did anypony ever tell you that you have cute eyes?" Her cheeks darkened a bit.

I took a step back as a shiver ran up my spine and into my horn. "Ew. No. I like stallions."

Clockwork shrugged as if my absurdly blunt reply wasn't at all hurtful. "I saw the way you were staring at Willow and assumed that you had an interest in those of the same gender."

"I'd prefer it if we never speak of this again. In fact," I levitated a knife out from its sheath at my side and held it up. "I'll shove this in your eye if you try to kiss me."

Clockwork looked at the knife, then at me and walked towards the carts. "That was an interesting reaction," she said to herself, but loud enough for me to hear. "I wonder what she is hiding."

I rolled my eyes as I put the knife away and followed her back to the caravan. We walked past the third cart with two alicorns riding atop it, I paid no mind to them, and headed for the second cart where I kept my stuff. Clockwork silently looked back at me as she walked, then looked ahead after a few seconds. "Why does your horn look like it is sharpened?"

I shrugged. "Why does your flank look like a watermelon?"

She stopped and looked at me in mild shock, eyes wide. I tilted my head as I trotted around her, not really understanding why she was surprised. "Did you just call me fat?" she asked with a slight whisper.

"No. I asked a stupid question to mirror yours."

“It was not a stupid question!” Clockwork growled.

Lasso jumped off his cart at the front of the caravan and started heading over. I tossed the bag of food onto the cart, then hopped in after it. "I just want to be fixed," I said quietly.

"What's going on here?" Lasso asked.

"Nothing," I replied.

The green glanced at me, then to Lasso and said, "We were discussing food and how it related to pony anatomy."

Lasso threw me a cautious look that said he did not believe Clockwork. As I looked down to the green walking along with the cart, I noticed that her cutie mark was a shattered clock. Something I'd have to ask her about one of these days. To avoid looking like I was interested in her, I looked over at my bags and opened them to make sure everything was there. It was, so I pulled out the Twilight statuette and hugged it tightly.

"I'll give ya five hundred caps for that," Lasso said almost immediately. I shook my head and hugged her tighter, causing him to frown deeply. "A thousand!"

"No. She's mine! Your grubby hooves cannot have her. Shoo." I dismissed the insolent whelp with a wave of my hoof. He looked to Clockwork for help, but she shook her head. "How far from a town are we?" I asked quietly as I laid down and shut my eyes.

"We'll be at the outskirts tomorrow night," Clockwork said as she slowly looked up to the sky. "If we stick to the schedule and nothing happens tonight."

"Don't tell me you believe her lies about our security," Lasso grumbled as he pointed a wing at me. "What's gotten into you, Clockwork?"

I drifted off to sleep as Clockwork mumbled something.

*** ***

Strangely, a memory appeared in my mind.

Mudpie's happy blue face as she laughed at me having told her a joke inside the Crescent Moon's engine bay. It was quite a silent memory, yet I could not clearly see her face. Regardless, I smiled at the small memory. That was when she looked directly at me, her face clearing up and changing from its normal demeanor. Her mane quickly became blood soaked as one of her eyes swelled up and shut. Her long exquisite horn broke off at the tip and a crack ran the length of the remaining horn. "Shock, you killed me,” she said as her skull began to crack and flatten on one side.

My eyes snapped open and she was right there staring at me in all of her blood soaked glory. She mumbled something I could not hear.

I quickly scrambled away from the face of the dead, bumping into something behind me. My breathing was rapid and ragged as my eyes slowly adjusted to the dark light. I saw Willow sitting where I had seen Sister’s face. Her ears were back and the non-flowing mane obscured half her face. It was then that I noticed something was tugging on my skin and fur on one of my forelegs.

"You were out all day," Willow said quietly. "We weren't sure if you would wake up or not."

"All day?" I mouthed at her as my breathing slowed down to normal levels.She nodded. I looked down at the thing tugging on my leg, noticing that it was some kind of device strapped with an orange cylinder the size of a syringe. "What is this?"

"A portable RadAway thing," she replied quietly. "It was all I could get."

"It's uncomfortable," I grumbled at the infernal device. "I wanted the packets." All I could hear around us was the sound of a quietly burning fire and ponies talking in hushed towns.

Willow sighed deeply. "The doctor said he didn't have packets. I had to buy that harness and three needles."

When she mentioned a harness, I looked over at her and frowned, then down at the device. Something about it was... odd, so I slowly I unstrapped it with my magic. The straps appeared to have loops for holding syringes, one such syringe being inside the loops. "Willow, how much do you know about medicine?"

"Um..." She looked at me as I floated the syringe holster up. "Absolutely nothing?" Willow sheepishly smiled and hugged her large blue wing wing quite cutely.

I wanted to yell, or even scream at her incompetence for treating me without knowing what it does, but I merely facehoofed. "Thanks for trying to help," I mumbled. She smiled widely at me. I pulled the syringe out of the holster and cringed as I injected its contents into my leg, then tossed it aside when it was empty. “Clockwork said Lasso and her wanted to talk with me. What was it about?”

"You'll have to ask Lasso about that when he wakes up. He was injured and they came back to the caravan." She looked down and frowned deeply. "Shivers is upset over the loss of Noose."

“Who?” I asked, tilting my head.

“Noose was a blue. She… died earlier.”

I nodded. The syringe holder was attached to my left foreleg the right way, with the loops facing out. Willow had said she bought three needles and I spotted three scabbed over holes in my lower leg. I assumed, or hoped, she managed to inject the other two into my bloodstream. Judging by the fact that there was no swelling, it seemed a likely conclusion. I prayed a quiet wish to the Goddess, that I'd have all my fur and mane in the morning.

Willow needed fixing. That much was certain. I took a very deep breath and let it out. "Willow." I took my fuzzy hat off and ran a hoof through my mane. As I looked at the mane covered hoof, I frowned and waved the hair off.

She looked up at me and tilted her head, blinking her curious eyes as her ears swiveled forward to give me her full attention. "Hm?"

"I am going to teach you the basics of first aid before you kill somepony with a needle." Her ears quickly folded back again. I motioned for her to rise. "Where are the others?”

She stood up and looked towards a small sky wagon that was laying on its side. A rib cage and bone pile rested on the ground below the harness, giving an indication as to where the owner ended up. "Lemon Drop and Shivers are over there." Then, she pointed at one of the carts where a sleeping Clockwork was. The green alicorn had a wing draped over a worker, which caused me to tilt my head a bit. "Over there are Clockwork and... I'm not sure who that is." She turned and pointed at a blob of blankets near the fire. "And that is Lasso."

I tilted my head even more. The more I found out about the caravan, the more it annoyed and confused me. "And what injuries does he have?" I asked to try to make some sense of what happened while I was out, and to distract myself.

"He, um... He... I'm not sure," she managed to tell me nothing. I went over to the blankets and glanced at Willow. She bit her lower lip and shook her head. "Don't. You'll wake him."

I rolled my eyes. A glow surrounded the blankets as I ripped them off the sleeping purple alicorn. Lasso snored quietly without a care. One of his wings was wrapped in a bloody cloth, his other wing missing a few feathers from what looked like an energy blast. He curled up into a ball as he shifted around and tucked his head under his mostly good wing. I stared down at the injured alicorn and one word came to mind.

"Cute," I whispered as quietly as I could and stepped back. Slowly, the blankets covered him again while Willow anxiously watched on. After that was done, I quietly moved away from him and rejoined the blue. "So, who bandaged him?" I asked her in a quiet voice.

"Clockwork," she replied just as quietly. "She’s our healer. Why?"

"Well." I took a deep breath and let it out slowly, slowly bringing my foreleg up for Willow to look at the syringe holder. "You see this?" She nodded. "This is a syringe holder. It's a storage device, not a portable injector."

Willow frowned. "But I thought… It looked like…?" She sighed deeply. "Clockwork's better at medicine than me."

I nodded and set a hoof on her side. "Not everypony knows everything. I only know what it is because I used to have one a long time ago."

"Really?"

I nodded. "Look, next time a pony is injured. Please observe how Clockwork fixes them. It might save a pony's life."

Willow slowly smiled and nodded. "I watched her patch up Overcart. Bandages seem pretty easy."

"They are. You clean the wound and wrap it up. That's all there is. A healing potion is even easier. First, make sure they don't have any metal bits inside them, then get them to drink the potion."

"That is pretty simple." Willow flexed her wings out and smiled up at the cloudy sky. "I should get some sleep, but Clockwork said a pony-"

"I'll watch for a few hours." I told her. She looked at me for a second before nodding.

And so it began. The longest and most boring three hours of any pony's life: Guard duty. Willow went over and snuggled under the blankets next to Lasso. I went over to my bag of equipment, wobbling instead of actual walking, and opened my bag.

The contents were thankfully undisturbed, so I removed the ten millimeter pistol and checked it over. The badly engraved name on the side had some dirt in it and a few scrape marks on the slide showed the usual wear of rattling around in my bag with other metal objects. I partially pulled the slide back and stared at the top half of the bullet.

Somepony in wartime Equestria made an absolute killing on manufacturing weapons. The things were all over and ammunition was in every nook and cranny, not to mention supplying the military.

The slide snapped forward as I let it go. Slowly, I floated Shock’s grip into my mouth so I could bite down. Pain suddenly stabbed at my jaw like an an ice pick being shoved through, causing me to drop the pistol and hold the side of my mouth. The pain flared up for a second, then slowly died to a dull ache.

The pistol sat there on the damp ground as if mocking me and saying, "Hah, you can't hold me!" A low growl escaped my throat, but I did not lash out. Instead, I opened my mouth and gently probed the painful area with magic. It did not take long to find the area as it stabbed at my jaw when I gently touched a tooth near the back.

Shutting my eyes, I closed my mouth and waited for the pain to subside. "Why did this happen to me?" I whispered to myself as I opened my eyes, scooping the pistol off the ground with my magic. The side of the weapon's cold steel slide was placed against my forehead. I shut my eyes again. "Goddess, please hear Us," I said quietly so as to not wake the others, lest they freak out. "Your child is lost and confused by her current state. We fear that We are falling apart, turning into a hideous ghoul before We can reverse the hideous and imperfect change. Please, Goddess, give Us some sign that you are alive and well. The others say mean things. They do not believe in you, but We do. We cling to the promise you, the Great and Powerful Goddess, told Us before We became better. Please, guide Our hoof to the right path, give Us strength to carry on, and We will fulfill your grand vision of a perfect Equestria."

I opened my eyes, slowly looking up at the cloudy sky as a few clouds thinned out just enough so I could see that beautiful grey orb encased in a faint halo of light. Staring at the moon made my worries melt away and a sense of calm washed over me as the pain in my jaw faded to almost nothing. It was as if the Goddess heard my plea and chose this night to answer.

I had a strange feeling as if I had done this all before, and recalled the night when an impure wastelander had tried to use me as a pack mule. My old alicorn horn had skewered his heart and I had found myself staring up at the moon on a clear night sky. But, that was long since past and now I was a unicorn, again.

I looked down at my left hoof as fire light illuminated it. Pale tan fur grew along my leg, which was an oddly welcome sight. It was fitting in a way. I, Shell Shock the ‘broken’ green, have been given a third chance at redemption.

As I set the hoof down, I slowly looked over to the two cuddling workers, whom had fallen asleep in their loving embrace. They looked quite peaceful and normal if you ignored the rubble around them. I looked over to Clockwork next to the wagon, the green still had her wing over the other pony. She slept just as peacefully as the two workers and something occurred to me.

What is perfect? The Goddess was perfect, yet she still did not see the Destroyer, an imperfect pony, coming. Even our problem of only having alicorn mares was fixed by an 'imperfect' pony. I, Shell Shock, am broken and highly imperfect. Perhaps it is the key to achieving the goals set by the Goddess. We cannot achieve perfection without being imperfect.

Clockwork's words floated to my thoughts. "Do you even know what it means to help a pony?"

"I do not think that means what you think it means," Tail Blade had said when we were talking about the plan laid out by the Goddess.

Sister's voice floated in my head as her smiling rain soaked face appeared. "I believe in you. I know you might be a little slow on some things, but you really are a smart pony."

"Medical aid should be given freely," I had once said to Sister. "The Sisters of Unity will show them that alicorns are the future. We will destroy the Goddess's mortal enemies and alicorns will reign supreme."

My own words stung slightly, but I knew I was partially right, and every other pony was a hundred percent right. I knew the concept of helping ponies, but I went about it the wrong way. And with time comes change. A seemingly annoying change that brought something beneficial: All my enemies will think I've died or gone missing.

Smiling at my own thoughts for once, instead of being afraid of them, I stood up and headed over to Clockwork. She slept calmly and quietly, oblivious to my internal ramblings. "Clockwork," I said quietly as I approached her face and gave her wing a light tug with my magic.

She blinked awake as her wings folded up and shook, then folded against her sides. "Is it my time for guard duty?" she asked quietly so as to not wake her companion, whom I noticed to be a stallion, causing me to tilt my head in confusion. "What? Lasso wanted us to sleep in shifts after an aerial attack earlier," she said before I could ask her about the stallion.

I tilted my head. “Earlier attack?”

She nodded. “Some kind of metal flying machine with lasers. What'd you want?"

"Um, we need to talk about... things." I gulped and slowly rubbed the side of my jaw. She cocked an eyebrow in response. "About my change."

"Alright, let's talk." she nodded. Then looked down at the still sleeping stallion when my eyes drifted to him. Her horn glowed as a pair of magical shields surrounded his ears. "He'll sleep like a rock."

I nodded, leaving the hoof on my jaw. "I seem to be falling apart. First my mane, now my teeth." Clockwork frowned a bit before yawning quietly, ears were swiveled towards me. "I... I'm not sure how long I'll last before I turn into a ghoul."

"Are you sure that will happen? Not many do turn into ghouls from what I hear."

I looked down, my ears folding back as the thought of dying a painful death surfaced. "Look. I did some thinking and... you're right. I don't know how to help a pony like I originally thought, but..." I pointed my left hoof at the collared worker. "I'm not sure if that's helping either."

Clockwork looked at the stallion's collar as her brows knitted together in thought. She remained quiet for some time, as if my question caused her to debate whether or not she'll collar me too. Finally, she let out a deep sigh and facehoofed. "I guess not." Her horn glowed brighter as another field of magic grabbed hold of the stallion's collar. My eyes widened a bit as she pulled on the latch, causing the collar to click open as it dropped to the ground.

The stallion shot awake and pulled his head away from the collar. "I didn't steal those caps!" he exclaimed loudly, drawing a confused look from Clockwork and I. I tilted my head. He looked down at the collar, Clockwork, the collar, Clockwork, then me and back to the collar. "Wh-huh? What's going on?"

I finally noticed that it was a pale red stallion that I had fed the other day.. "I removed your collar," Clockwork said. "There is a favor I would like for you to do. Do this, and you can consider your debt wiped clean."

He instantly looked over at her with wide eyes. "Are you serious?" Clockwork nodded. "I'll do it! Anything."

Clockwork's lips curled up in a small smile. "Good. Please escort this mare to town and see that she gets to the doctor before midday."

"That's it?"

"Correct."

I rubbed at my jaw as the pain decided to surface again, then fade, then surface and fade again. Quite an annoying problem, but a minor one. "Thanks, Clockwork," I said quietly.

The stallion looked to me as he stood up. "Are you ready to go?"

*** ***

"Wait," I said, stopping to lean against the wall. My legs did not want to go on, they wanted to lock up so I could lay down and die. Slowly, my eyes shut for a few seconds, letting my thoughts whirl around as the pale red stallion waited for me.

When I opened my eyes, he was right there within touching range. His eyes looked focused on his task of escorting me, or they could have been thinking of something else, like killing me or leaving me for dead. I wasn't quite sure. The clouds did not decide to piss on us again, something I was thankful for. Instead, they slowly parted like a curtain to illuminate the ruins around us with a pale-gold glow from the sun.

Ruined buildings are ruined buildings. When you've seen one crumbling structure, you've pretty much seen all of them. Only these were quite tall and stretched towards the sky like claws from a gryphon, drawing my attention up and up towards the cloudy grey-blue sky.

"You have no idea how beautiful the sky is," I said quietly, my throat feeling like I had swallowed acid. "To not see it for so long..."

"Whatever," the stallion's contempt reply was laced with boredom. "I need you to keep moving."

I smirked, remembering a few weeks ago when I had said something similar to a maimed pegasus just before I shot her four times. "I wish I could, but you don't quite understand."

As I lowered my gaze to look at the earth pony, I felt myself grin. Why, I don't know. I just felt like I needed to. The whole situation felt terrible and funny at the same time. I'd be practically defenseless without my horn, no thanks to my teeth falling apart as well, so the ex-worker was my proverbial knight in shining armor.

"Are you alright?" he cocked his head to the side as he slowly brought a hoof towards my chin. "You're staring at me."

"Yes." A glow surrounded his hoof and began squeezing it tightly. His face scrunched up in pain as the pressure steadily increased to the point where it could almost crack his hoof, had I been an alicorn. "I was just thinking about my situation and how you're my savior. So, bold knight, care to tell this fair maiden thy name?"

My magic quickly vanished, causing him to gasp in relief and shake his hoof. "Surf," he quietly grumbled. "Surfing Chain."

"Nice to meet you, Sir Surfing Chain." My bones decided to pop as I took his earlier offered hoof in my own hoof and gently leaned down to kiss it. The hoof tasted like dirt. "I am Lady Lilium, your damsel in distress. Shall we head to town? A gift awaits you if you get me there in one piece."

His eyebrow raised up as confusion spread across his face. "I think my gift is freedom, which I already have. You have nothing to offer me."

“I think I have something you’d like,” I giggled a bit. “Unless you’re into stallions.”

“I’ll pass.”

"If that is what you wish, then that is fine." I pushed myself off the wall. Fire flared in my joints and a few areas felt like the bones were pinching together, so I gave each leg a quick shake to clear the feeling. My skin and fur felt stiff, strange, and nearly dead. It caused me to wonder just how long I had to get to town, and if it was too late or not.

Surf turned around and began trotting along the path he had set. I followed along behind him and watched the buildings around us. They were dull, as usual, but looked mostly intact. All they would need is a bit of paint, some new windows, and they'd be fine. A fact that made me wonder why ponies abandoned them in the first place.

My thoughts were broken by multiple not so distant pops, my ears swivelling towards them. "You hear that?" I asked Surf and kept listening to the pop, pop, pop of distant gunfire. Which was replied to by a short burst that sounded like a rapid fire weapon.

He stopped and looked towards me, nodding. "Yeah, but it isn't the the caravan if you're wondering. They're in a different direction."

I nodded. "I want to check it out. They might have RadAway."

"That's out of the way," he growled. "The town is less than a five minute gallop." It occurred to me then, that the stallion wanted for us to head to town as soon as possible.

With a deep sigh, I nodded my head. "Okay, let's head to town. I think I can survive five minutes of galloping."

He bolted away without so much as a reply, leaving a small rooster tail of water as his hooves pounded on the street. I smirked at his eagerness and walked after him, but it soon picked up into a light canter. My eyes were locked on his backside, hoping for the unavoidable flash he would not know he gave. As we galloped, the shadows and light moved around from the clouds above like a dance. Which made it quite difficult to even see if a pony was hiding in the ruins. My heart pounded against my chest as my heavy breathing matched the pace of my hooves pounding against the wet road. Surfing Chain galloped fast and was pulling away easily, but I would wait for him to slow down and be out of breath.

Then I'll mock him for being unfit.

As I followed the stallion, my brain decided to flip back to an earlier time long before the city was in its current state. Ethereal ponies and wagons grew out of the road as I galloped. They were silent, but the intents of their daily lives were clear; a pony waving hello to one pulling a cart, a pair of ponies idly chatting on a bench while waiting for the next skywagon to take them somewhere. All of them happy, yet oh so very dead.

Something vaguely tank shaped caught the edge of my vision, so I looked at it, but my forehoof caught on something as I cantered, throwing me head over hooves into the ground. I quickly tucked my hooves up and rolled with the momentum as the asphalt slammed into my body over and over until I slammed into something hard.

When it was over, I opened my eyes with a quiet groan and found myself upside down against a block, staring at a barbecued pony wearing a frock with an assault rifle saddle. "Hi," he said. "Have a nice trip?"

"No," I groaned. Surfing Chain was behind the ghoul and smirking at me. I shut my eyes again and waited for the pain in my back to subside. It did not, so I opened my eyes again. Regrettably, the ghoul and Surf were still there. "Where am I?"

"New Baltimare," the ghoul said with a chipper attitude. "Or what dock ponies refer to as 'The Outskirts'."

"I need a doctor," I mumbled to the ghoul, content I was to lay with my head on the ground and my flank in the air until I realized something about the position I was in. I rolled onto my belly, flopping onto the ground to stop showing my flank to the world, and shut my eyes. "I'm dying."

"You look pale," the ghoul stated the obvious. The familiar feeling of my fuzzy hat being plopped onto my head caused me to adjust it with magic. "And you're losing hair."

"Thank you, Captain Obvious," I grumbled as I covered my nose with my hooves. "Where's your doctor?"

"Well, it was nice knowing you, bye!" Surfing Chain said rapidly as hoofsteps echoed off the buildings. I opened my eyes and saw his backside as he galloped away. It was then that I sat up and looked at what I had actually ran into, which was an improvised metal wall blocking the street. A glance up revealed an empty catwalk for guards.

I looked to the ghoul, who had yet to reply. "Where is the town doctor?"

He looked toward the gate and took a deep breath. "Doctor Gauze is on the third floor of the Baltimare Ritz. Entry fee into New Baltimare is five bits."

"Five bits?" I tilted my head, remembering that I had given every bit I had to Willow the day before. "I don't... I don't have five bits."

He shrugged. "No bits? We didn't want your business anyway."

A deep frown formed on my face. I unbuckled my bags and slowly slid them off. "Hang on. I think I have some bits left over."

He picked up his saddle's trigger and readied to bite it, which was a smart tactic. As slowly as I could, so he did not get spooked, I opened the saddle bag. Inside were my two pistols, the Twilight Spake statuette, my cloak, journal, a few knives, and ammo, but no bits. The ten millimeter pistol I had named Shock was withdrawn from the bag with my hooves, along with ammo. The ghoul's gaze went down to her.

"Will you accept a trade? I really have to see the doctor."

Slowly, as if the gears in his head were rusty, the ghoul stallion let go of the saddle's bit and held his hoof out. "Welcome to New Baltimare. You have two days before your payment has run out."

"Thank you." I smiled and dropped the weapon into his hoof, then pulled my bags back on.

Shell Shock: Level Up!
New Perk - What happened to you? Karma reset. Good Luck.

Author's Note

Fixed a few things that weren't in italics

Chapter 3: Shiny Things

Chapter 3: Shiny Things
“Can you annoy Death?"

New Baltimare was not a normal 'town', much like how South Bay was a mall turned into a town. New Baltimare was actually just three buildings surrounded by a wall to keep wastelanders at bay. I stood there looking up at the intact remains of a once lavish hotel, its exterior was marred by the elements and time. The building-sized sign above the front door read 'Quilted Ritz', which was an odd name. Below it, some pony had painted a new sign saying 'Baltimare Ritz'.

I glanced over my shoulder at the building across the street. The building was once purple with a star on it, but it had faded to an almost pinkish coloring and the top floor had collapsed. Part of the name ‘Purple Star Hotel’ had partially fallen off long ago, but was still quite legible. Below the center of the star was a grimy yellow door with ponies standing in front of it.

Letting out a deep sigh, I looked at the Ritz’s double doors. They were perfectly intact, which contrasted greatly with the Purple Star. No guards greeted me, and neither did I see any holes for turret defenses. So, I took a deep breath and opened one of the doors with magic.

As I stepped inside the door, I let out a quiet gasp. Gold appeared to line the red carpet leading up to a brightly colored wooden desk. It looked new. Even the walls looked brand new, but, as my eyes adjusted to the warm light of candles, I saw why they weren't using spark battery lights. The carpet was slightly moldy, a few dirt splotches were scattered every so often on the walls. The room was spacious and branched out from there. A door with a sign labeled 'Elevator' was close to the desk, a door leading east was barricaded shut, and the only other door looked like it had seen better days.

A slightly cute stallion in a neatly pressed red uniform and cap stood to my left just inside the door, his gaze locked on me. I glanced around the room again, finally noticing a few others.

There was a pale blue unicorn sitting in a plush chair was reading some paper, a lit cigar shoved in his mouth. Across from him sat another unicorn, also in a fancy chair, who was staring at a checkers board. It appeared, to me, like they were using caps and bits as playing pieces.

On the other side of the room stood a pretty light orange mare in a charcoal grey uniform, her mane neatly done to give a pony a full view of her face. She stood behind a receptionist’s desk with a smile plastered on her face, which looked completely fake. "Welcome to the Baltimare Ritz, where all your dreams can come true." she said with a light airy voice.

"I'm looking for Doctor Gauze," I replied without hesitation, gently adjusting my saddlebags and knife sheath with magic. "How do I get there?"

She pointed a hoof at the elevator, her smile never fading. "Quite a lot of ponies make that mistake. Just hit that up arrow there and then the fourth button from the bottom."

I looked to the elevator, tilting my head. "Wait. That works?"

"Yep! We meticulously maintain it. Haven't had an accident in a month!" The relieved and happy tone of her voice caused me to look at her and tilt my head the other way.

"Accident?" My eyebrow raised up as I picked a hoof up off the ground.

She laughed as she shifted her weight around her hooves. "That was... an accident! Not to worry because everything is all fixed now." she nodded, gulping. I glanced at the pony to my left, noticing he was still staring at me.

"Are there stairs?" I asked him. As much as I would hate to take them due to my joints, I would much rather do that than a two hundred year old death trap.

"No stairs, sorry." And with that, the stallion took my safety and flushed it down the proverbial toilet. Then again... It is the wasteland and everypony has a gun. I shook my head to clear the thoughts from my brain. He said something else, but I did not pay attention, because I headed over to the elevator and hit the button.

The door let out a quiet squeal almost instantly and I found myself staring at... myself. The mare staring back at me looked like death decided to cuddle for the night. My eyes looked sunken in with dark bags hung below them, and dirty matted fur covered my face. As I slowly pulled my grimy fuzzy hat off, I turned my head side to side, looking to see if my failing mane made me uglier. As I did so, the doors began to close, so I stuck my left hoof out to hold them open. That was when I saw the multiple needle marks again, one welling up and looking purple.

Letting out a deep sigh, I shut my eyes and whispered to myself as I pulled the fuzzy hat on, "You've been given a third chance. Make it count because Death has to be pissed off."

I stepped into the elevator and turned around, slapping the button for the third floor with my hoof. Slowly, the doors closed with their squeal. I suddenly felt my stomach jump as the car moved upward. Rusty squeals and scraps drew my attention to the lighted tiles acting as the elevator's ceiling. One was worn around the edges with scratches near the mirror. Probably the one they used for maintenance.

Which gave me an idea. I glanced at the panel with all of the numbers and pushed the dark red Emergency Stop button at the bottom. The elevator instantly responded by stopping with a faint lurch as the inside went pitch black.

Then, a faint green light illuminated the darkness as my horn glowed softly. I looked up at the panel again. However, the doors squealed as they were pushed open and a pony said, "Alright, let's see what..." His voice trailed off as light illuminated the mirror to my left.

I turned to my right, noticing that only half the door could be accessed, and smiled. "Thank the Goddess you came so quickly!" I exclaimed to the confused pony without hesitation, my voice sounding half-relieved and half-'scared'. "I just don't know what went wrong! One second I was admiring myself in the mirror, and the next it went black!"

The pony wore dirty blue and yellow utility barding pulled straight from a stable, the number replaced with an R. In his forehooves was a long pry bar with various tools hanging in pockets. An active Pipbuck on his right foreleg with the light function nearly overpowered my horn's glow, so I dropped the spell. "Howdy, ma'am." He set his pry bar down and crawled through the gap. "What was all that?"

I took a deep breath and slowly let it out. They were quite quick to respond to the elevator stopping. Seeing as it is their only means of travelling between floors, it does not take a scientist to figure out why. As I looked up at the ceiling again, I thought it might be for the best that I was interrupted. It is better that I think the elevator is in perfect shape, rather than see a horrific bailing wire and duct tape fix. If that was how they fixed the ele-

"Aha!" The stallion shouted, breaking me from my evil thoughts. I looked down at him and saw he had his Pipbuck light near the elevator buttons. "Looks like ya bumped into the stop button when you were admiring yourself."

I decided to tilt my head and play dumb. "I'm sorry. The what button?"

"This one right here." He flipped it, causing the elevator to be filled with a bright yellow light as the doors shut. The car lurched upwards again, then quickly stopped as the doors squealed open. "I should probably remove that button in case somepony does that again," he mumbled to himself as he pulled out some screwdrivers and wire cutters. Then turned to me. “You look like you need a doctor.”

“That’s where I’m heading.” I flashed him my best and completely fake thank you smile on my way out of the elevator. But quickly stopped when I noticed a bag of what looked caps on his side. They were just sitting there exposed to the air, and the stallion was busy with the buttons, so I quickly snatched the bag of caps with magic and trotted off. He did not even react.

A yellow box with three pink butterflies stood halfway down the hallway. Even those who cannot read knew that symbol as the greatest thing in the wasteland, a Ministry of Peace medical box. The attached door was painted a bright yellow with the three pink butterflies on it, as if it couldn't be more obvious.

I glanced around, noticing a few ponies remained in the hallway. Most likely a few guards. A quick check of the bag told me that there was only about forty-five caps in total. I opened the MoP door and stepped inside.

A short sterile hallway filled with an odd smell greeted me. Beyond it, I could see that they had knocked down half the wall to connect two rooms, and then tried to cover it up with curtains. The floor was white, the walls were white. And so was the ceiling. It reminded me too much of a hospital, and of my leg.

"Hello? Anypony here?" I called out to anypony as I stepped through the hallway.

Slowly spinning around, I took in the room. The curtain wall took up the right side, while the wall immediately to my left and rear held heavily worn seating. More curtains at the far wall drew my attention. Pulling them aside showed a boarded up window, causing me to frown.

That's when I smelled it. A repugnant sickly sweet smell like rotting flesh.

"Yes?" a pony asked in a slightly deep, but non-raspy voice. As I turned around around to face it, a light brown non-ghoulish pony in a lab coat stood there staring at me. The pony had no mane, only light brown fur on top of her head and a dark yellow tail that almost touched the floor. As my gaze drifted to her earrings, I noted they were made with small bird feathers dangling from some kind of abstract loop. "Hello, do you need help?"

Her words broke me from my daze and I blinked a couple of times. Slowly, I sat down and held my forehead with a hoof.. "Yeah. I'm dying. I need RadAway, now."

"You must be that unicorn I was told about." The pony's voice was almost like a mare's but deeper. "I am Nurse Sawblade." I cocked an eyebrow at the confusing name for a nurse, but merely nodded. "Doctor Gauze is..." she looked back towards the curtains for a second, then looked at me and smiled. "Busy with a patient. Surgery. I am authorized to sell things."

As I sat there, I rubbed my forehead with a hoof. Sawblade was an odd looking pony. One I couldn't figure out. When I looked at her again, I found myself staring at her strange earrings. "Do you have RadAway? I can pay with caps."

She nodded. "I do have RadAway for sale, but you need more than that. It looks as if you have been touched by..." Sawblade slowly looked around the room before speaking in a hushed whisper, "Nightmare Moon."

I scratched the back of my head, frowning deeply. "I... Nightmare Moon? Sawblade. Nightmare Moon and Princess Luna are dead. They-"

"They steal your dreams!" she exclaimed in a hushed whisper. "They live on in the dreamworld. Nightmare relishes in the torment of your worst fears as Luna guides the dark one towards you."

"Look." I stomped my hoof down and glared at the light brown pony. "I came here to buy stuff. I have caps. You have medical supplies. Let's make a deal and talk about dead, but not dead, Goddesses later."

After a moment, she set her hoof down and stood up, nodding slowly. "Agreed."

*** ***

"And that is that," Sawblade stepped away from my right foreleg. She deemed the original waiting room to be an adequate area to be worked on. I stared down at the bandage wrapped around my left foreleg. Sawblade was holding a vial filled with a mixture of purple and orange, giving it an odd grayish color. "You should feel some effects soon after drinking the vial."

I took the vial in my magic, looked over to my bags on the floor, the grey alicorn sized cloak covering them like a blanket, and nodded slowly. "How much is this going to cost?"

"Forty caps," she replied..

I tossed her the whole bag of caps without hesitation. She caught it and smiled. "Fine. How about I pay you later for more supplies? Call it an I owe you thing," Oddly enough, a unicorn stallion in a slightly bloody lab coat was standing behind her. She didn't see him as her back was to him.

"I'll speak with Doctor Gauze," replied Sawblade. She turned around to go, and quickly jumped back, letting out a yelp of surprise.

"Are you alright?" He asked in a deep voice and tilted his head, I rolled my eyes at her reaction, opened the potion and started to slowly drink it.

She quickly stood tall, recomposing herself with a faint nod. "Y-yes. I did not expect you right there. It seems this is the unicorn you told me about. I was about to ask her where she found so much radiation." Sawblade rapidly nodded. Her tail lightly flicked back and forth.

"What's her name?" Doctor Gauze asked Sawblade, who most likely stared at him with a dumb expression, because he looked to me after a few seconds. "Got a name?"

I nodded and set the half-drank vial to the side. "Lilium. I'm with Lasso Overcart's caravan."

Doctor Gauze glanced at Sawblade as she walked into the other room, then looked to me. "Lilium, where did you find so much radiation?"

I glanced down at my left foreleg where the bandage was. "Why do you want to know?"

"So I can warn my other patients to avoid that area." I let out a quiet yawn. "Well?"

I shrugged "I looked for the dirtiest water I could, and the areas with small hot-spots. I don't quite remember the exact locations."

Actually, I knew where they were, but I did not feel like telling him. Doctor Gauze, for his part, stared at me without so much as a change from his normal expression, but he must have been internally facehoofing. Silence slowly fell between us and I could hear Sawblade muttering something from the other room. I glanced over at the curtains. They were pulled back to reveal a room set up with beds everywhere. Only one of which was occupied by a sleeping pony. Sawblade was sitting at a desk with items and a mixing bowl.

"So you're purposely trying to kill yourself?" Doctor Gauze asked after a few more moments of silence. I shook my head. "Then why? That's the only reason I can see for a pony to seek out radiation."

I looked to the unicorn again and frowned. "Look, I only had forty caps and your town guards are thieves. They took my pistol as payment for two days inside town. What kind of corrupt place is this?"

He ran a hoof through his ugly mane. "It's because you're an outsider. And outsiders have loads of caps."

"I don't," I growled, narrowing my eyes. "Why would I need caps when I don't need food and can shoot lightning from my horn? There's nothing for me to buy!"

Then Sawblade piped in before he could say anything. "Doctor Gauze?" He turned his head to look over his shoulder at her. "Is this potion supposed to bubble like this?"

"No. Pour that down the drain and try again."

A look at the nearly empty vial sitting next to me me was an annoying reminder that I needed more caps.

"Now then, Lilium." Gauze's voice drew my attention back to him before I could say what I was thinking. "I'll make you a deal. You trade in that syringe holder, do a little job for me, and I'll give you a few bags of RadAway. Plus a few caps."

The syringe holder floated up encased in my magic and I stared at it for a long while, as I thought over his offer. It could be useful if I had to keep Med-X close by, or a couple other things, but I had no other uses for it than that. "What's the job? I only really know basic field survival stuff, so I can't help if it's medicine."

He frowned, but nodded. "What do you know of alicorns?"

"What makes you think I do?"

"Because you hang around them all the time."

I shrugged. As I took a last drink of the vial, strawberry and orange contents assaulted my taste buds on the way by. I gently floated the empty vial to him and smiled. "I know as much as regular ponies; greens have shields and telepathy, blues go invisible, and purples teleport."

"What is their anatomy like?"

"Like a unicorn with wings. Next stupid question?"

He frowned and looked down as his pen moved across the clipboard. "How do they counter everything? When one dies it seems like they all know how it died and act accordingly."

"They do," I growled. There was no way I was going to tell him that his assumption was now false.

He nodded slowly. "And why are there only three main color hues? Can the others learn the abilities of a different color?"

"Because the Goddess wished for her children to be unique in their own way. Sneaky unicorns became pretty blues, strong willed unicorns became greens and the rest became purples. At least that is my interpretation of how she thinks." I slowly looked up to the ceiling and smiled. "She is a good Goddess, but quiet lately. As for learning new abilities... A spell is a spell, is a spell. I do not know any more than that."

He set the pen down and nodded. "Alright." Gauze stood up, put the clipboard away and held his hoof out. I did not take it, which made him frown. "You should get some rest. That potion should work, but it'll work faster if you sleep."

I picked up my stuff in my magic and slowly stood up. "May I use a bed?"

He nodded.

***===***===***

I looked out across the city beyond my simple rooftop abode. Rain poured down in a torrent of fury as thunder roared overhead, rumbling deep into my bones. Still, despite the abysmal weather, the city was quite active. Lights dotted nearly every floor on every building around me.

I leaned forward to get a good look at the ground far, far, below me. Street lamps illuminated the road and a few ant sized ponies as they walked along the sidewalk. Leaning back again, I unfolded my wings and stared up at the thunderstorm. The city lights of Baltimare reflected off the clouds, giving them a nice orange hue.

"Why is it alicorns and pegasi have to sleep in the highest point they can find?" a stallion asked from behind me. I glanced over my shoulder at the pink and yellow earth pony in black barding. He stood leaning against an air conditioning vent. A black umbrella protected his body and face from the rain. I frowned because I did not have an umbrella. Only a corrugated panel propped up by metal poles. Which was partially inadequate.

"Bucky." I smiled at him, half-closing my eyes. I folded my wings, so they did not get wet should any rain splash into my shack. "What are you doing here?"

He shrugged. Then looked up as thunder roared overhead again. As it echoed off into the distance, the pink stallion looked at me. "Just came here to check on you. Been missing lately."

"I was just thinking about something." I turned around to face the annoying stallion. He had yet to move from his spot. "We are so high up that We have a nice view."

He smiled a little and nodded. "I noticed... So what do you say, hm? Newlyweds and all that?"

I looked to my left where the wooden wall of my shack stood. The ripper known as Hyde was placed on it like a trophy, as was a pair of ten millimeter pistols. A bed made of just blankets took up most of the floor room while a tiny book shelf consisting of five books took up the rest. Slowly, I looked to Bucky and smiled. "Possibly."

He smiled even more. Bucky hobbled over, keeping the umbrella gripped around his foreleg until he was under the corrugated roof. Lightning flashed for a few seconds, illuminating his face and the surrounding area in a pale light. He leaned forward and shut his eyes as thunder immediately roared overhead.

As he tossed the umbrella to the side, I leaned forward to kiss him, but stopped midway when something occurred to me. "You're dead," I told him flatly.

He opened his eyes, the smile slowly fading to a frown as his ears folded back. "What...? How can you say such a thing?"

"Because I chopped your head off in the tunnels on Oakwood." I waved my hoof at a nearby building. "This city is not real either. Cities such as this burned two hundred years ago."

"Or are we in the far future and what you think happened, was only a dream?"

"Don't fuck with Us," We said as We pushed the stallion back. "What is going on? Tell Us or We will kill you again."

Bucky growled at me as a snarl crossed his face. The bright white tips of fangs barely poked out from under his lips, causing my eyes to widen slightly in shock. He charged at me before I could say something. I jumped to my side as he closed the gap. As I landed on my forehoof, I tried to use my momentum to spin and kick the pink stallion in the side, but I was too slow. He turned towards me and I felt his full earth pony weight slam into my chest, sending the both of us flying over the edge of the building.

My wings unfolded uselessly at the same time Bucky wrapped his forelegs around me. "I will have your memories!" he shouted as we began falling towards the ground below.

I swung my head forward, cracking my forehead against his, and causing white to fill my vision for a second. My wings started flapping as I spun us around, but the stallion kept dragging us towards the ground. My forehoof came up, connecting with the underside of his jaw and sending his head back. I brought the hoof down again. The force of the blow reverberated through my leg and into the spine.

It had the right effect as the pink stallion let go. He slipped off, falling silently towards the ground. "Bucky!" I shouted. My eyes widened as I dashed towards the falling stallion, grabbing hold of his foreleg with both of mine.

As I flattened out my wings, instantly causing our fall to stop, Bucky looked up at me and opened his eyes. He grinned as fire quickly surrounded his body. When it was over, I stared at a perfect copy of myself. Her perfect forest green fur mixed in with her overly long and flowing grey-green mane. My eyes widened even further as she spread a set of large wings mimicking mine.

"You and I need to have a chat," the thing shouted as thunder rumbled off the windows around us.

***===***===***

My eyes snapped open as I awoke from my nap. It was oddly dark, the only illumination coming from faint lights that appeared from the ceiling. I covered my face with a forehoof and shut my eyes again as the odd dream quickly faded to the recesses of my mind.

Despite the annoyingly hard bed beneath me, I wished to feel me feathers against my sides again. Somepony had played me for a fool. Yet... When I had talked with Dead Hoof in our tent, he had displayed no malice, so perhaps he had thought the drink was merely alcohol. Which meant I must find that long eared earth pony Dead hoof had mentioned.

Long eared earth pony meant mule. A mule who carried a lot of supplies is what Dead Hoof had said. He should not be hard to find at all. When I do... I'll throttle the fucker until he gives up the cure. If there was one.

I let out a content sigh, a small smile slowly creeping across my muzzle as the black friendly abyss of sleep called me back. But, before I could fall asleep again, I felt a strange feeling as the hair on the back of my neck stood on end. Slowly, I opened my eyes, laying my hoof next to my side.

As I looked to my right, I spotted an odd pony standing there staring at me behind a set of bars. He was, at one time, a pale-white coated unicorn with an equally pale-yellow mane, but no more. His flesh and coat were wrinkled as if he had been set out in the sun like a raisin, and his mane was nearly pure silver. The barding he wore was quite simple, consisting of chainmail and thick cloth. A double barreled sawed-off shotgun was resting firmly in a quick draw holster at his side. I noticed a solid white hat adorning his head with a gold star in the center. There was even a gold star printed onto his shoulder pad.

His purple eyes glared at me like I had done something wrong.

It was then, that I noticed the room was not as it should have been. I slowly sat up and looked around. A bar covered window adorned the wall immediately to my right, while the wall directly ahead was covered in bars. The entire room glowed softly from a light in the ceiling. I could not find any furnishings beyond the bed, and neither could I find my bag of equipment.

I looked to the strange stallion. "Where is my stuff?" I asked quietly.

“Given to the town,” he replied in a voice that sounded like it came from far, far, away.

“Why?” I frowned.

“You committed a crime against New Baltimare and her mechanic. Your week-long sentence is to be carried out henceforth.”

I rolled my eyes. Sliding off the bed proved to be easier than expected. As I landed on the floor with a quiet thump, I noticed I was not chained and a quick check of my neck and horn revealed nothing strapped to them. I smiled, slowly strutting towards the bars with an exaggerated swing in my step. The stallion’s gaze left my eyes for the faintest of seconds.

I stopped near the bars, an idea coming to my mind. Slowly, I leaned forward and stretched my forelegs out as I let out a loud yawn. It felt nice to not have creaking joints or pain in my jaw. Whatever they had given me must have cleared up the problem. The stallion watched me the whole time. I stood up again with a smile. “He should keep his caps hidden and not in a bag on his side. Can you let me out?”

“No,” he replied, his old face changing back to boring guard mode.

The stallion walked off, leaving me alone in my cell of boringness. I tilted my head to the side, turning my ears towards my left and waited for the other door to shut. When I heard the metallic click of a lock closing, I quickly went over to the cell door and began feeling the lock with my hoof.

It felt like cold rusty metal, which caused me to frown. Slowly, I used my magic to feel the lock's insides to see if I could unlock it without a key. However, all I managed to do was make the tumblers click over and over without any real progress.

The room was filled with my loud groan as I pushed myself away from the bars and stomped my forehooves down. My heartbeat quickened, then dropped back down to normal levels. I attempted, and failed, to flex my wings, which would have had ruffled feathers on them. With a deep sigh, I shook my head and began pacing around the room.

The walls looked like shit, the floor was ugly stone, and the rusty bars were just standing there like an annoying wall saying “hello, my name is Rusty Bar. Ha! You can’t pick me.”

I stopped my pacing and stared at the bars. The jailer can’t be daft enough to think a unicorn can’t pick a lock, can he? Well… I can’t.

My ears slowly drooped. Then they perked up and swiveled forward when I remembered that I can pick a lock. If you consider smashing to be picking.

Taking a deep breath, I lowered my head and thought of smashing the bars with my skull, but I'm not that thick headed.

But, before I could turn around to kick the bars, the door at the far end of the hallway opened, causing me to stand up straight again as the sheriff walked in. He was followed by a slightly tall green alicorn with a flowing mane and a familiar cutie mark.

Clockwork looked over at me, her eyes slowly narrowing as I felt her presence begin to fill my mind. It quickly vanished, leaving me to tilt my head. The annoying sheriff stopped near my cell door and looked at Clockwork. "Is this her?" he asked with a slight grumble in his voice.

Clockwork tore her eyes from me and looked at the stallion, giving a firm nod. "Yes," she said with her mouth. "This is her. Why is she behind these bars?"

"She was caught pickpocketing for caps," he replied, receiving no reaction from Clockwork. The alicorn merely stared at him with her bored looking expression and yawned quietly. "Her fine is two hundred caps or a week in jail."

"You stole all my stuff!" I replied, nearly shouting. They looked at me, but I stood tall like an alicorn and tried to look down at the stallion. "Give it back!"

The stallion shook his head. "Impossible."

"Why?" Clockwork asked in a monotone voice before yawning again. I tilted my head at this and wondered why she was, as she did not look at all tired.

The stallion replied, again, that all of my stuff had been given to the town because thieves need to learn the error of their ways. A most stupid thing in my opinion, as a bad thief only gets caught... Which I must be a bad one because I got caught.

"Shock? Where are we?" a familiar mare's voice asked from behind me. Slowly, I started turning my head to look at who it came from, but a noise drew my attention forward again.
Both Clockwork and the stallion were looking at me while the stallion's horn was glowing. A matching glow surrounded a ring with a few keys as they floated into the lock and turned, opening the jail cell.

Sheriff Dickhead took a few steps back, glancing at Clockwork and saying, "Fine, she's in your care now. But I'm not buying anything from you again."

Clockwork gave him a nod before looking at me and frowning. My ears folded back slightly, yet I did not know why they did. I quickly turned them forward and gave her a nod. Pausing for a moment, I glanced at the sheriff and turned my nose up as I trotted torward Clockwork.

Her presence quickly barged its way into my mind, but I ignored it until I was out of the cell. Then she was given my attention again. "What?" I asked, tilting my head. "You expect me to not steal easy to grab caps?"

"I expected more... restraint," she replied, her mouth unmoving and her voice echoing in my head. Her brows moved closer together for a split second before her ears turned towards the noisy sheriff locking the cell door again. "We will speak of this later."

And what of my equipment? I thought to myself knowing she would hear it.

"Consider them lost causes."

My eyes widened slightly, then narrowed to fine slits. Lost causes? No! Absolutely not! My journal is precious to me. There are memories in there!

The sheriff cleared his throat, drawing my gaze away from Clockwork's to his grumpy old face. "I got work to do if the two of you are done staring at each other," he grumbled.

"We were just leaving," Clockwork said softly, and nodding. She slowly looked at me, I turned my head to look at her when I noticed the movement. "Right?"

"Right." I nodded. "We're leaving."

25% to next level.

Chapter 4: Crystal Coated Goodies

Chapter 4: Crystal Coated Goodies
"When it was all over I never wanted another mission again."

“Light?” Lasso’s deep voice echoed into my ears. They were swiveled towards the others while I rested on the back of an empty wagon, my head sitting on a folded up stable barding. The number had been removed and replaced with a patch reminiscent of an old wartime unit marking. Except I don’t remember any units numbering four ‘A’ with a flaming hammer in the center. When I had asked about it, the purple asshole merely said, ‘some crazy fucker owned it’.

“No,” Willow’s voice replied to Lasso, pulling my attention away from the old and long dead army.

I sighed deeply and pulled my forehooves close to my chest. The bright deep blue canopy above the buildings forced me to squint or have my eyes tear up. A few white tendrils floated about quite some distance up, reminding me of the Goddess in a way. Each bump the cart hit was like being jostled around inside a vertibuck that hit some bad air. My body was too busy yelling at my brain that I was missing wings to care much about the pain stabbing at my cheeks.

I watched as a syringe floated over in a deep jade green glow to match my horn. It slowly floated down towards my foreleg. “Lily!” Willow exclaimed, barely suppressing a giggle. The needle was gently shoved into my leg and I pressed down on the end of it.

“What?” Lasso nearly shouted. I looked over to see him looking at me with his head tilted, his forehoof pointing in my direction. “But… but that’s not…?” He blinked and looked at Willow. The two of them were sitting in the driver’s seat of the carriage as a pair of ponies pulled it forward.

“It is too in the rules.” the blue alicorn smiled. “I can say I spy anything I want.”!" Her smile turned into a devious smirk just before she punched Lasso's shoulder. He shook his head and pulled his hat off, sticking it on her horn like an ornament. Willow looked up at the hat and tilted her head.

"My turn," Lasso added. I went back to staring up at the sky and waited for te Med-X's effects to take hold.

But then I heard Willow giggle. My ears turned in her direction as she said, "Nuh-uh! It's Lilium's turn."

"But she ain't even playing!" Lasso retorted. Slowly, I turned my head towards them a second time. They were both looking at me, Willow was smiling while Lasso's face looked mildly annoyed.

"What is the game?" I asked quietly, tossing the needle into the nearby ruins. The buildings were not as tall as they were yesterday, or even earlier at New Baltimare, which is quite a dumb name. Why must everything be 'New'? Why not something else?

"I Spy," Willow said, pulling her wing around herself and hugging it. "It's a game my family has played for generations to relieve boredom. The rules are as follows..."

"I know the rules," I tried to interrupt her, which worked because she closed her mouth and tilted her head. "You pick anything and have the others guess."

"See!" Willow looked at Lasso and plopped his hat back into his head. "Told you."

He grumbled something to himself as he readjusted the head cover. "Alright, fine. It's Lilium's turn then."

I nodded. "I spy with my little eye, something very old and blue. Something much older than me," I said, smiling because they'd never guess it.

Willow tapped her chin in thought, slowly looking und the area. at all the ruins around us. Her brows moved closer together as her lips went from a smile to a small frown. Lasso took a quick look around the area as well before his gaze fell upon Willow. He clapped his hooves together and pointed at her. “Willow!” he exclaimed, quickly drawing her attention to him.

“Huh?” she tilted her head. “Me? Oh!” Her eyes widened in surprise. “I get it! I’m blue and old. Wait...” the alicorn blinked a few times. “I’m not older than you?”

I rolled my eyes and pointed up. “It’s the sky.”

The two of them slowly looked up at the bright blue sky. Lasso’s smile turned into a frown. "Huh. Well, it is blue, but it's new."

"Old," I corrected him, slowly rolling over to face them. I could see familiar buildings approaching. Those markers near Alicorn Town I burned into memory so as to always remember where I was in the city. The workers seemed to be pulling the cart over the rough terrain with ease. They didn't complain, which was natural. A slave that complains is a slave without a tongue.

Lasso shook his head. "No, the blue sky is new. Ain't been there much more than a few years at the most. Only been grey as long as I remember it."

"I'm surrounded by morons," I grumbled under my breath. I facehoofed and tried to not groan, but it did not work and I let out a quiet one. "How... How can you run a caravan if you have no idea the sky was covered with clouds?!"

His horn glowed brightly. I tensed up, lowering my horn in preparation for charging the whelp. Willow quickly hugged Lasso tightly and rested her head on his, the tips of their horns touching. The purple alicorn stopped what he was doing, the glow quickly fading away from his magical appendage as he looked at Willow. "Willow," he said softly. "I know ya find her an interesting pony, but I can't let her insult my intelligence."

"But it's okay," she said, a smile quickly forming across her lips. "She's just grumpy from being changed." She looked at me and tilted her head. "Right?"

"Yeah." I nodded slowly.

"See?" Willow looked at Lasso and smiled. He leaned back a bit and scratched the side of his muzzle, his eyes slowly narrowing as if he were thinking deeply about something.

I looked down at my 'pillow' barding and tried to fluff it up as best I could. Clockwork refused to let me search New Baltimare for my equipment and forced me to to scavenge the caravan's crates for anything I could use. The only thing that fit me was the blue and yellow barding. Much to my dismay there were no weapons or Pipbucks.

I could feel my cheeks heat up slightly as the stabbing pain dulled a little, causing me to smile and shut my eyes. The Med-X finally kicked in, which meant my bones would soon be free of pain for a few hours.

"Willow." Lasso's deep voice drew the attention of my ears. They turned towards his direction to see what he would say.

Willow merely hummed in reply. "Hm?"

"What say you about me making Lilium my second wife?" he asked nonchalantly. My eyes instantly snapped open as wide as they could go, my ears turning back slightly. Willow was looking directly at me, but the purple ass was looking at her, a smirk firmly plastered on his face. "You two get along well enough."

"Well..." Willow slowly stood up and took a step towards me. "You'd have to ask her."

"No!" I shouted as loud as I could and quickly picked up the bundle of stable barding, hugging it tightly. "I am not now, nor would I ever be your 'wife'," I growled, nearly snarling at him. "I signed on as a cook, a. Cook! Not wife, you... You purple shitbag!"

"Look at your face!" He threw his head back and let out a deep laugh.

Willow turned to face him and frowned. "Lasso, that's not funny. I too thought you were serious."

"No." He shook his head, chuckling a little. Lasso sat up and stretched his good wing out before folding it again. "I am not serious." Somehow, his tone made it seem the opposite. He looked toward the front of the caravan and waved a hoof. "Well, your contract is up. Alicorn Town dead ahead."

"Finally," I grumbled. "Longest five days in the history of Equestria."

*** ***

Alicorn Town was almost the same as it had been when I left. Though the tents and walls looked a little dirtier than I remembered. The diner in the center of the shanty town was different. A small section of the roof and wall appeared to have been hit by a blast of something capable of melting stone. It was warped, buckled and drooping toward the ground.

One purple alicorn stood near the warped section. Her horn glowed brightly, an equally bright glow trying to surround the section of wall. I was unsure of what she was doing, but assumed her to be fixing it somehow. Sitting not far from her was a blue alicorn. He wore slightly reflective grey barding, indicating it might be layered metal plates. Even his helmet reflected the light. Yet the stallion seemed unphased by the attention magnet.

The caravan slowly made its way through the town toward the exit. I sat on the hard, annoying, dirt ground and sighed deeply. Sitting on the back of the last wagon was Clockwork. The green alicorn sat facing me. She waved a little bit, so I waved back, but made no attempt to yell a good bye.

All of my equipment was gone. My journal was gone, possibly being used as toilet paper by some illiterate wastelander. My guns, even the black revolver was stolen. My favorite possession, the Twilight statuette, was nowhere to be seen. It was possible that Lasso had it, but I did not feel like asking.

I was reduced to wearing the stable barding I had managed to convince them I needed. The fit was quite loose, being designed for a larger stallion, which meant that it might get in the way if I have to move around quickly. The only other items I owned from the trip were two Med-X needles and a hoof full of caps.

"Shock?" a stallion's voice floated on the air, pulling my mind from the thought of items and ponies close to me. I still had some weapons stashed nearby, so I would be okay. "Shock?" Dead Hoof called out again as the blue stallion stepped out from a pair of tents.

He quickly looked to his right, then to his left where I sat. Our gaze connected and we stared at each other. I smiled at him after a moment, but the moron stepped into the road and turned around. "Shell Shock?!" he shouted loudly. "Where are you?"

"Right here, Dead Hoof," I huffed, rolling my eyes. He turned to face me and frowned. I quickly stood up and turned to show him my cutie mark, wiggling my flank a bit. "See? Who else has such a mundane cutie mark?"

"Stable ponies," he replied nodding his horn towards me. "You look like one with that suit."

"Well I'm not. I'm Shell Shock, Dog, Lilium, take your pick. Or do I have to kick your dick in to get the point across?"

He stared at me, an eyebrow raised up and his head tilted slightly. "Shock?"

"Dickhead?"

"Shock?" He tilted his head the other way.

"What the fuck do you want?!" I shouted, stomping my hoof into the ground and shaking my head. "Do you want me to tell you how I found you as a piss-poor wannabe pirate mare? How about the time you saved a wounded pegasus and the Enclave decided to be assholes and took her from you?"

"Shock!" he exclaimed as recognition finally dawned on his face and his wings unfolded partly. Dead Hoof walked toward me, but I took a step back. He quickly closed the gap and pulled me into a hug so tight I could swear I heard my fragile normal bones cracking under the pressure. As it was his forelegs constricted my chest, making it hard for me to inhale and exhale.

I tried to push away, yet the blue forelegs of death held fast. That was when he did something that was not even on my mind. Dead Hoof leaned his head down and his warm lips pressed against mine. He pushed against my lips as my eyes widened in complete shock. I relaxed and decided to let the kiss happen, even though I should blast him in the face with magic if he did not let go of the hug. The pressure squeezing my back lessened to the point where I could breathe. As I inhaled a breath of air, I felt his slobber filled tongue press against my lips and head inside my mouth. I tried to avoid it, but then I had an idea.

He pushed his tongue in further. I quickly bit down on the tongue and grinned, but not hard enough to make it bleed. Just hard enough that it'd stay put. Dead Hoof's eyes widened. He fully let go of the hug and stared into my eyes. His deep blue eyes held my tan reflection, but I could see the hint of fear deep down inside them. Dead Hoof was afraid I'd bite down fully and take his tongue off.

Ever so slowly, I opened my mouth and stepped back, wiping the drool off my lips and spitting off to the side. "Ask a pony before you shove your tongue in their mouth. Goddess knows what shit you've been licking."

He gulped. Then wiped his mouth off with a wing and looked off to the side. "You never complained before. Always asking for more."

My eyes widened slightly, ears turning back for the faintest of seconds before they turned to face him. I lowered my head, aiming my horn as it glowed brightly. "You! That's private information!" I shouted and charged at him.

He jumped in the air, his wings giving off a huge gust of wind that kicked up loose dirt. I slid to a stop inside the dust cloud and jumped, waving my forehoof at him. I missed by a longshot.

"Not fair!" I shouted, falling back down to the ground and collapsing onto my side. It was not a hard landing, but perhaps the blue would think it was if I acted hurt. I started to stand up, my forelegs shaking visibly before I dropped to the ground again.

Dead hoof landed softly just out of stabbing range and folded his wings against his side. A smirk was firmly plastered on his face and would have been knocked off had I not been laying on the ground. He turned towards the exit the caravan had taken and sighed. "Well now we're even," he said, his tail swishing back and forth like a dog wagging its tail.

"Even how?" I stood up and gave each leg a test shake to make sure nothing was actually broken or injured.

He looked at me and smiled. "You said something personal, and I said something personal. We're even. What happened to you? You're... different than what I expected."

I looked towards the purple alicorn at the diner. She had moved to the roof and had her horn aimed at her hooves. A strong glow surrounded both the rooftop around her and her horn. The blue in plate armor was walking around like a town guard, but was mumbling quietly to himself.

"Not here," I said quietly. "Too many observers."

Dead Hoof nodded and began walking off. "Come on. Let me show you a place I found. It's got all the comforts of home."

My eyes widened slightly, my cheeks turning to ice as a cold sweat began to form on my brows. Did he find my stash? I thought to myself.

*** ***

The blue alicorn walked through a brick-lined corridor. A damp musky smell drifted upward off the dirt covering the floor. Old incandescent lights hung from the ceiling not far above us, illuminating various spots and highlighting the grime. A thick wire ran from each light toward a doorway at the end of the hall. We passed by a large, long dead, skeleton clutching a briefcase.

I stopped and looked at the bones. The extra set of limbs told me they belonged to a pegasus at one time. A rusty clasp and chain ran from the skeleton's foreleg to the dirt encrusted briefcase.

I stood there wondering how long he, or she, had been laying in that spot. The briefcase appeared to be shut tight, locks still firmly clamped shut. Curiosity got the better of me and I leaned down to get a closer look.

"Hey." Dead Hoof's voice pulled me away from the skeleton before I could reach the briefcase. The alicorn had turned around to face me, his head tilted slightly. "I've been meaning to get rid of that, but I keep forgetting."

A small frown crossed my face. I turned my head to look at the briefcase again and sighed. "I want the briefcase. Do what you want with the bones. Hell, make his skull into a helmet for all I care."

"That's kind of creepy," the alicorn replied a bit hesitantly.

"That's the point." My magic reached for the briefcase and pulled hard, causing the skeleton to collapse into a pile of useless bones. "I'd wear it. He doesn't need his skull anymore."

Dead hoof opened his mouth, lifted his hoof off the ground, but set it down again as he shut his mouth. He looked down at the pile of bones while I shook the briefcase and placed an ear against it when something rattled around. "Come on," Dead Hoof said quietly. "We're almost home."

I looked at him, smiling a bit at my prize, whatever it was. His mane was still dyed differently, but his face looked odd. It was like there was disappointment in his eyes and not the happiness his smile showed. His wing feathers looked slightly ragged like he rarely took care of them. Even his coat was matted in places and splashes of dirt covered it.

My gaze wandered towards his cutie mark. And then down the smooth curve of his backside to his barrel where my gaze stayed. Dead Hoof's short tail flicked towards me, causing me to blink a couple of times and move my eyes to his face. "Sorry. What were we talking about?" I asked.

"Nothing." He smiled even more, shaking his head a few times. I placed the briefcase on my back and followed Dead Hoof as he headed toward the end of the hallway.

My hooves crunched dirt as I quickly followed Dead Hoof to the door. It was a normal everyday, wood, door. The kind you could easily buck down when a wastelander thinks it’s safe because it’s locked. Somepony, possibly Dead Hoof himself, had cut a hole in the corner of the door for the wire to run through.

As the door opened, I tilted my head at the sight of the room. It was furnished rather poorly. A single bed, the exact same cot from the tent, sat in one corner. Next to it was the chest of items Dead hoof owned. Another chest was next to that. While the desk I remembered using was shoved against the far wall.

I stepped inside, my hooves sinking into the old dirty carpet. As I turned around slowly, I looked at the walls, noticing he had moved Hyde and stuck him on the wall. Lamps hung down from the ceiling. The wires running from them to a small mass of metal I assumed to be a spark generator.

"So what's this about?" Dead Hoof mused as he shut the door and locked it. "You aren't what I was expecting."

The briefcase was tossed to the side with magic. I backed away from him so he could come into the room's center. "I was changed and I suspect that merchant mule to be the culprit."

"Oh?" Dead Hoof tilted his head, a small smirk crossed his face. I tilted my own head in response. "Changed how?"

He could not be that blind. I stood there staring at him, my head tilted and my brain thinking of blasting him in his useless eyes. However, I took a long slow breath and let it out. "You're a moron," I mumbled.

He rolled his eyes and quickly turned around, his tail lifting up and to the side to give me a full unobstructed view. Dead Hoof turned his head slightly so he could look back at me. His smirk never leaving his face as he lowered his chest toward the ground, so his hind quarters could stick high up in the air.

My mouth began watering slightly at the sight of him, but I quickly shook my head and facehoofed to block it out. "What are you doing? I'm not going to mount you."

"Why not?" He asked, his voice sounding a little disappointed.

"I'm not a stallion," I muttered loud enough for him to hear it.

"Never stopped you before," he replied. My cheeks heated up slightly as I looked toward my box of items for a split second. "It's your turn anyway."

My hoof slammed into the floor, causing him to flinch. "Can't you let me think clearly for a minute?! That alcohol you gave..." My eyes widened slightly.

"What about it?" He tilted his head, still in the familiar position. Dead Hoof wiggled his flank a bit to get my attention. "I think that toy's still in your chest of junk. Why not grab it?"

"What does Killing Joke do to alicorns again...?" I asked myself as my hind legs gave out, forcing me to sit down. I tried to sit up straight but the world felt like it was tilting left and right, and forward and backward.

I was staring at the result. It was so obvious, but the question was why. Why would a mule want to trick an alicorn mare into becoming a stallion? Why did it not work on me?

"Shock?" Dead Hoof's voice floated into, and out of, my ears, but I just sat there staring at his balls. My eyes were wide and my mouth was slightly agape. "Look, if you want I'll start." He stood up and turned around to face me, his tail going back down but his wings were spread slightly from his body.

"What?" I blinked, quickly shaking my head and facehoofing again. "Dead Hoof. I need to think. I have to find that mule. There has to be a cure for what he did to me. Now is not the time for this. I did not come here to have you screw me! I want to know why he targeted me!"

He looked down, his hoof circling a spot on the ground as he leaned to the other side slightly. "Well, um... I can answer that."

"How?" I wanted to stand up, but my hind legs did not want to move. Neither would my forelegs. All I could do was sit there and hope I would be able to move soon.

"I," Dead Hoof sighed. He took a breath and shut his eyes. "I... Uh, I..." He looked away from me and pulled his wings tight against his body, keeping his eyes shut. "I wanted you to see what being a stallion was like."

I stared at him, my head tilted almost ninety degrees like a bird might. A giggle quickly rose up and burst forth in a full on laugh as I leaned back and stamped a hoof into the ground. "That's so stupid! You wanted me to be a stallion..." My laugh stopped as my eyes widened again. "What? You're telling me. That you gave me a drink knowing it was killing joke?"

He nodded. "Yeah. I thought you'd be happier as a stallion."

"You fucking moron!" I shouted, jumping to my hooves and pointing my left hoof at him, eyes narrowing to fine slits. "Moron! Moron! Moron!" I stomped it into the ground with enough force to crack wood, which there was not any. The blow reverberated through my hoof and into my shoulder, but I ignored it. "That drink could have killed me!"

He quickly shook his head and looked at me, his wings fully out as he took a few steps back. "Now, Shock, let m-me explain!"

"Explain what?" I hissed, walking forward to keep up with him. He was not far from the wall and would run into it soon. When he does... My horn will be shoved through his chest!

"Explain how you wanted my non-existent cock? How you hid this fact from me? How you thought it'd be a good idea to have me drink a potion that could kill me? I nearly died drinking that shit!" His flank bumped into the wall, yet he continued to try backing up even more until I was right on top of him and looking up into his eyes. "Answer me or I'll chop your dick off!"

"He said the potion was harmless! The effects were temporary, a day at the most! I... I... I wanted you to drink it here and see!"

"See what?" I turned my head to the side and stood up to glare into his eyes at the same level. "I want a family. Do you hear me? I'm a mare. I was born a mare. I'm over two hundred years old and I've never had a foal, you fuckwad! Why do you think I even have sex with you? I don't give a damn about you. I just want. One. Thing."

He nodded so fast I thought his head would fall off his neck. I dropped to the ground and stepped far enough back that he could relax slightly. Dead Hoof chose to stay pressed against the wall, his mouth trembling like he was trying and failing to speak. My forelegs were shaking badly and I could feel my temples throbbing with each rapid beat of my heart.

I looked to the closed door. Taking a deep breath, I held it for a moment and slowly let it out. "Does this look temporary to you," I said, my voice quivering in anger with each word. "I have been like this for five days. Five days. My bones hurt, my face hurts, and I nearly died of radiation poisoning."

"Shock, I..." Dead Hoof squeaked. "I... I didn't-"

"Five fucking days!" I shouted in his face. "This is not temporary. The potion was permanent!"

"I sold some things?" he whimpered, slowly shrinking into a ball. "Split the profit... Bought this room for us?"

"And you thought the stallion potion was a good idea?" He nodded. "Why?"

"Well, you..." He shrugged. "You keep complaining about the strap-on falling off."

I facehoofed, feeling a small smirk crossing my face. "Was that the real reason? You sure I shouldn't find you a green stallion, that isn't me?"

"I thought you didn't like me?"

"I don't know," I sniffled and rubbed my nose. "You keep me on a leash. How can I like the pony that makes me follow rules like a dog? I take orders from others, yes. But I get paid for that. Here..." I waved a hoof around, feeling and hearing a loud pop at the shoulder. "Here I am a prisoner with benefits." Turning to face him, I took a deep breath and stood up on my hind legs, leaning forward and kissing his lips lightly. He froze up, eyes wide slightly. "But perhaps our feelings have become muddled. I think you are confused by the sex and I am confused by my desires. What if we took a break?"

"B-break?" He sputtered and blinked. "Like what?"

I stepped back and motioned him closer. "I need to find the mule. Where is he?"

"I don't know. He's a travelling pony, but his route has a pattern. I have it written down somewhere. May I move to get it?"

I nodded. He went over to his footlocker, his wings pulled firmly against his side but I could see the shaking in his legs with every step. "A-so, um..." he stumbled over his own words like a colt seeing a mare for the first time. I tilted my head. He opened the box and started digging through it. "I take it you did not miss me."

But, to be sure it was not a trick, I pulled Hyde off the wall and began checking him over. The weapon was as I remembered it, a puny chainsaw dagger about the size of my current horn. The Hellhound teeth looked as sharp as ever and a quick test with my hoof proved it to be true. I started to suck on the blood coming out of my hoof while I watched Dead Hoof.

He had a small black booklet in his magic. "Shock?"

"Hm?" I tilted my head, keeping my hoof in my mouth.

He looked at me, his ears back slightly. "Did you do this with Mudpie? String her along with sex and break her heart?"

I shook my head, floating Hyde up and aiming it at him. "No. And if you ever suggest that again..." I gave the trigger a light squeeze. The weapon did not do anything in response. I frowned and slapped the side, testing the trigger again to no avail. "What?"

"I used the gem in my generator." He nodded toward the annoying object. "Here. The mule has five stops in Baltimare. One every other week."

"And where will he be next?" I walked over to the bed, Hyrde dragging along the ground behind me. No doubt leaving scrape marks, but who cares?

Dead Hoof mumbled something quiet, something I could not really hear. Hyde was floated up and stabbed into the briefcase. The blades cut through quite easily and it was no problem pulling it open like a can of beans. Inside were useless papers and a round glass orb about the size of my hoof. It was murky and an opaque black like the night. My eyes widened slightly at the sight of the orb. I was about to grab it with magic when I remembered a tactic used by The Destroyer. That little grey shit had forcibly shoved a memory orb on one of my sisters to distract her long enough to blow the alicorn's brains out.

I gulped down my fear and reached into the briefcase with my hoof, slowly scooping the orb out. "Dead Hoof," I said quietly, tilting my head as I stared at the orb. "Do you remember The Destroyer and memory orbs?"

"Yeah. Is that a memory orb?"

I nodded. "A memory orb in a hoof cuffed briefcase..." Looking over at him revealed the blue to be looking at me with his head tilted. "Top secret perhaps?"

"Doesn't matter anymore." He shrugged. "Let's see it."

"No!" I pulled it back and cradled it close to my chest. "It could be a trap. Let me look over the paperwork first."

He groaned in reply and looked down, again mumbling something I could not make out.

*** ***

Dead Hoof's weight was pressing me into the cot. Based off what I remember, it seemed like he gained a few pounds. His chest was quite warm, as was the underside of his chin as it rested on my mane. The cot was as uncomfortable as I remembered it. Its old fabric needing to be replaced soon. His unsupported heavy weight had the annoying side effect of making any normal breathing difficult at best. Spread out before us were pages of the document, some floating in Dead Hoof's magic and some floating in mine.

My magical aura flipped the top secret stamped cover letter over. Oddly enough it had both the Ministry of Morale, and Ministry of Awesome seals underneath the lettering. "Dead hoof." My voice was quiet as the blue was right there near my mouth.

"Yeah?" His voice echoed into my ears at normal volume.

"You're fat and it's constricting my chest."

"Liar," he replied plainly. "An alicorn can't get fat."

I leaned sideways and bucked my hips into his stomach. He made a groaning noise and slid off onto the bed next to me. The sudden weight loss was great, like I could be free. I inhaled deeply and smiled. "Much better."

"I don't get these papers," he grumbled. Most likely upset about losing a favorable position for him. The blue alicorn righted himself and scooted close enough that our sides touched. His feathery wing wrapped around my body and pulled me even closer. Each feather was like being touched by a tiny hoof made of the softest fabric imaginable.

I smiled even more, nuzzling the feathers and giggling. "They're so soft and cuddly."

"Look at this. They're talking about something called pop rocks. What's that?"

"Pop rocks?" I blinked a couple times, my eyes narrowing a bit as my brows moved closer together. The name was familiar and rang a quiet bell inside my head. When I found it, I nodded slowly. "It's candy made by a company called..." I looked up at the wooden ceiling and drew a blank. "I don't remember. They didn't last long before the plant shut down, I think. Their slogan was ‘crystal coated goodies in a bag’."

"I never heard of pop rock candy. What are they?"

"Small crystallized rock candy that pops in your mouth. I remember reading a news article about a foal dying because he ate a bag and drank a whole sparkle-cola right after on a dare. His stomach exploded."

"Might be why they shut down."

I went back to looking at my paperwork in front of me. It was rather mundane, like Dead Hoof said. So I read it out loud to annoy him:

Enclosed within these documents is my observation of the various Pop Rocks in Equestria. The newest batch has integrated in our society as expected and are ready for subtle nudging toward the betterment of Equestria. I have observed some of the initial batch still floating around and they are acting as expected. There are no discernible side effects from the procedure aside from one batch I heard about. However, it is with my heartfelt regret that this batch of candy rocks have not been sent back to Equestria for evaluation in nearly seven months. I only have the word of another to go on at this time and will make it a priority to inspect the ‘flawed’ batch to see what went wrong.

It is my finding that this corrupt batch is a fluke and I recommend production to be increased two-fold.

Signed,
Inspector Long Dead Shithead of the Long Dead Equestrian Army.

P.S. The passcode for the memory orb is the header for this message.

I looked at Dead Hoof and rolled my eyes at his head tilt. "What? His name doesn't matter anymore. It's not like he can come in the room and haunt me because I called him shithead."

"So this top secret document is talking about candy?" He tilted his head further. I nodded. To which he facehoofed and groaned. "That's stupid!"

"Pinkie Pie took candy very seriously," I said with as straight a face I could. Then leaned close to the blue and nuzzled behind his ear, whispering, "Since we know the passcode, I figure it's up to you."

"What is?" He looked at me as best he could. I lifted my head up, grabbing hold of his ear in my teeth and pulling on it, hard. He shut his eyes and yelled, "Ow! Ow! Ow! Fuck! Shock let go!"

I shook my head and bit down even more, but not enough to actually take his ear off. It was pulled farther, taking the blue's head with it so he'd keep it attached. A strange tingle engulfed my muzzle as a blue glow surrounded both it and his horn. I began feeling my jaw trying to separate on its own, yet I still held my grip as best I could. The battle was slowly being lost against the might of an alicorn, so I relented and opened my mouth.

"Psycho!" he grunted at the same time a wall of blue force slammed into my chest. Before I could brace myself against it, I felt myself shoved toward the edge of the bed and off it.

The floor was hard and stopped my fall as well as I'd expect, the shock of the blow ran through my shoulders and up into my teeth, practically rattling them in place. I rolled onto my back to stare up at the ceiling and said nothing to him.

A psycho. Was that what I was?

Yes, a voice whispered in the back of my mind. You know it's true, I know it's true. I can help you if you'd let me.

I shut my eyes and covered my face. "No," I said quietly to myself. "I don't want to hear it from the peanut gallery."

"Shock," Dead Hoof began with a grumble. "Why do you bite ponies?"

"Because they taste good." I giggled and grinned. "Rub some barbecue sauce onto a thigh, soak it in lemon for a few hours before cooking and spritz some mozzarella onto it. Mmmm, meat."

"Shock!" Dead Hoof snapped loudly.

The sound of his voice hit me like an anvil to the brain. I blinked a few times, noticing only my hooves in front of me. "Wha? What do you want, Dead Hoof?" I lowered them and turned my head to look into his face, which was looking down at me from the cot. He was frowning, eyes narrowed and ears back slightly.

"You were talking about eating ponies again," he replied.

"Oh?" I smiled. "Roll over and I'll show you first hoof how much I can take in."

He rolled his eyes. "No. I'm not trusting you when you talk about eating ponies."

"So that's a no to the memory orb?"

"Yeah. No." He half-laughed without any humor whatsoever. "Not a chance. You think I'm going to go into lala land for Celestia knows how long?" He shook his head over and over. "No. Nope. No way, no how."

"You owe me," I growled, pulling my forehooves close to my chest.

"I owe you?!" his eyes widened. "For what?"

"You turned me into this... this lesser pony. The least you could do is look at a memory orb for me."

"Yes." Dead Hoof nodded, his wings unfolding and folding again. "I did turn you into a unicorn, but we went through that already. I'm going to get you fixed. Don't forget that."

I rolled my eyes. "So? You could have killed me with that drink. You owe me."

"Do you know how many ponies wouldn't put up with your shit? They'd blow your brains out rather than help you! Shock? Why can't you see that I have been at your side for years? I've been here since the island! I've helped you, I saved you from the Steel Rangers! You'd be dead if it wasn't for me. I've had plenty of chances to kill you, but you know what? I don't. I fucking love your company!"

I rolled my eyes."Right."

He continued as if I never even said anything. "I see a mare that could be so much more than she is. You were a gibbering wreck of a pony hell bent on revenge when we met. You couldn't even go more than a day without flashbacks!"

I rolled away from him and stared at the grainy wooden desk. The old wood was rotting like everything else in Equestria. It was perhaps a thing I should do, find a nice building and jump off it. That way I could rot with Equestria.

"You've gotten better with me, haven't you?" he asked, his tone calming down somewhat. I merely nodded and curled up tightly, shutting my eyes to block out the sight of a dying room.

An odd noise like glass hitting wood made my ears turn forward at the same time I opened my eyes. The memory orb bounced off the floor, landed again and rolled into my nose. I silently stared at it without saying anything.

"The passcode is Operation Pop Rocks." Dead Hoof's quiet voice reached my ears as if he was distant.

My reflection stared back at me from the orb. She was green and looked tired, her mane a mess. Then she vanished quickly as she appeared and was replaced by my current face. The face of Lilium, a pony that should have died many, many, years ago. My ears folded back slightly at the thoughts.

I shut my eyes, pushed them aside and tried to think of only the words 'Operation Pop Rocks' as I took hold of the orb in my magic.

45% to next level

Chapter 5: Stories From The Old Days

Chapter 5: Stories From The Old Days
”When you get to the cliff, do you jump or look down first?”

I could not move, but I could feel something on my back. A familiar feeling of having wings, but there was nothing on my head. My brain screamed at me that the feeling was wrong. There should be both a horn and wings! But, there was another feeling I had not felt before. It was like I was disconnected from my body and placed somewhere else, somewhere dark and warm. With a new feeling between my hind legs.

Wait a minute... It's not supposed to be like that? Oh Goddess, the memory orb is from a stallion's perspective!

Before I had a chance to think further, a strange sweet smell filled my non-existent nostrils and it took a moment for me to recognize it to belong to candy. Peppermint, regular mint, toffee, chocolate, caramel, and all manner of other scents filled my nose.

"Ponies are getting nervous about all the questions you've been asking," a mare's quiet voice said from my right. I tried to look over, to see what was there, but my head would not move and my neck did not respond.

Yet, strangely, I felt my head move on its own as my eyelids decided to open up. A wall lined with candy filled vats stacked to the top with brightly colored rocks greeted my vision. My head turned to the right on its own before I could identify if the candy matched the smell.

Standing near a large storefront window was a brightly colored pony. Her gaze was looking out into the street where ponies walked by without looking in. The pony's coat shined and glinted in the bright light coming from the ceiling, marking her as a crystal pony. I wanted to see what her cutie mark was, but the memory orb's host had other ideas.

He looked out into street and frowned. "Is it wise for us to be seen together in your shop?" His voice was bassy and felt like it came from deep within a volcano. "Somepony could look in at any time. Or Celestia forbid..." He looked to his left at a cash register where a Ministry of Peace poster hung on the wall behind it. "A zebra."

"It's Sunday. My shop's closed. And besides. No pony looks into a candy shop except for foals, but if it'll make you happy..." She sighed. The light coming in from the outside was quickly blocked out. My host looked at the crystal pony again, then glanced around the room far too quickly for me to to pick any specific details out. "Satisfied?"

"Is this room secure?" my host inquired, his wing moving on its own toward the front door. I decided to kick back, stop trying to fight his control, and watch since I was stuck until the memory was over. "That door does not look soundproof."

"It's crystal. I doubt you'll find a sturdier door." The crystal mare turned away from the window and headed over to the register, passing by an apple barrel filled with crystal looking apples. "About why you're here..." She stopped behind the register and punched a button, receiving a mechanical ding from the device.

"Yes," Mr. Nameless pegasus replied with a nod. He flexed his wings in and out very slightly. Then brought up a forehoof. I only realized then that the leg was being clamped by a hoofcuff as the pressure felt so familiar to him that it went by unnoticed to me. "I talked with a few pop rocks in-"

"They have names," she growled, her eyes narrowing slightly as she pulled a booklet out from the register drawer. "They're ponies, not candy."

"I know, sorry." Nameless frowned. He sat on his haunches and entered a code into the briefcase. A simple and easy to remember string of numbers; 3436. As he opened it and pulled out some papers, he said, "I have a request form here for more aid."

She nodded. "I figured you might have come for that reason. I've heard..." Her head tilted slightly as her lips pursed together, her eyes softening slightly. "Rumours about 'shiny' ponies fighting zebras. My superiors are concerned about these rumours. The Empire has a reputation of neutrality to uphold."

Nameless frowned even more and nodded. "I have heard these rumours, too, and have forwarded the proper paperwork to the Ministry of Image, so it's out of my hooves now."

The mare closed her book and set it on the counter with a loud slam. "It needs to be fixed now!" her voice echoed throughout the room. "Do you realize what would happen should the zebras realize we're giving you aid? They'll attack us!"

Again, Nameless nodded. He closed his briefcase and hovered over to her. The paperwork was set down and Nameless hovered back. "The crystal guard was invaluable in retaking Hollow Shades. And we have not forgotten that."

My eyes would have widened if they could. I tried to look for a rewind button, something to get him to repeat his words to make sure I had not heard him wrong. Yet there was no such feature in a memory orb.

He landed on the ground and took a deep breath. "But from what I've found out in my research, those guardsmares had... 'issues', flaws if you will."

She rolled her eyes, opening her booklet again. "Which regiment was it?"

"The one attached to the ninety-ninth Anti-Armour Brigade."

"I remember them coming through here," she said quietly. "They were not as disciplined as regular military. Had a few crystal pegasi and unicorns if I recall right."

"Well we retrained them." I felt a wide smirk form on Nameless's mouth. Something that should be knocked off his smug face. "And they fought well, but took very heavy losses. The whole unit was nearly wiped out."

"Then they didn't fight well enough if they took heavy losses," she replied with a huff and a shake of her head. "What were the 'issues'?"

He tilted his head some and looked up the ceiling, his mind trying to dredge up memories I wished to access. "Let's see... One of the regular Equestrian survivors' described it like, hm..." He frowned, his hoof giving his chin a few hard taps. "Like a manticore. Wild, a mixing of things. Almost too aggressive. Hungry for a fight?"

"They weren't regular guard," she deadpanned. "Reservists it says in my book. They weren’t full-time military, so I’m assuming, and don’t quote me, their training slacked."

"Do forward a request for more regular troops and not an untrained lot. We don't want a repeat of Hollow Shades."

She nodded. "It'll take a few weeks to get through my channels. Do you have their code names? We need to let their families know they died in a training accident involving a raptor and a remote mountain."

He tapped his hoof on the paperwork. “Right here.”

******

My return to reality was met only with silence, except for the quiet sound of air passing through my nostrils as I inhaled. The floor was as I remembered it, cold and unforgiving. Yet I was laying on a thin blanket. My body, soft and wingless. The feeling in my forehead was telling me that I had a horn.

The only thing I found odd was that the orb was sitting on the table and the cot was much further than I remembered. It was all the way across the room and occupied by Dead Hoof. He was curled up as small as he could get with his head tucked underneath a wing. The sight of which made me smile and whisper to myself, "Cute."

I pushed myself up into a sitting position and stretched my forelegs high into the air, my eyes slowly shutting. My right forehoof snagged against something heavy, the rattle of a chain reaching my ears.

"Hm?" I blinked a couple of times and looked down, pulling my hoof to the same result. Slapped somewhere between my fetlock and hoof was a thick black metal band. Splotches of a crusty dark orange color coated part of its surface, and every single link in the chain. A small frown formed on my lips when I saw that the chain was attached to a metal loop installed in the wood floor. Sawdust surrounded the loop and the edges of the rusty bolts were shiny, indicating recent use.

"Dead Hoof?" I asked quietly, pulling on the chain until it went taut. It gave me only enough room to walk in a small three foot circle.

The only reply I received from the blue was silence.

"Well, it's not a bomb collar," I mumbled to myself and brought the cuff to my face. I tried to look inside the lock so I could use my magic, but the poor light of the room cast long shadows over the keyhole. My magic surrounded it and penetrated, flipping the tumblers around as I tried to imagine opening it, but all that did was make the lock rattle without making headway. The cuff was not all that heavy, despite it being made from what felt like cold iron.

A yawn threatened to take hold, so I shut my eyes and took a deep breath. The memory orb was... Interesting. And told me exactly why that document was talking about candy, yet I don't remember any crystal guardsmares in the Equestrian Army. Though finding out any more info would be next to impossible, unless Dead Hoof and I could track down that candy shop. But it could be anywhere! The memory orb could have taken place in another city months before he died for all I knew.

He...

I leaned forward and looked at the empty spot between my hind legs. My free hoof slowly in her forward and pressed against my coat to be sure nothing was there. The memory orb felt a little odd, being stuck in a stallion's body temporarily. If the orb was longer and about something else, I could have paid more attention to his body's feel. As it was I only got a short glimpse and it was overshadowed by the fact that the Crystal Empire was secretly fighting the zebras alongside Equestria.

But why? Why would the Empire fight in secret? What would they gain by doing that? I thought to myself as I poked my stomach a second time. Quickly sitting up straight, I looked around the room for the toy to see if it was still out, but I couldn't see it anywhere.

This fact made me frown. I sighed and facehoofed, slowly rubbing my forehead while my brained turned over. Supposedly the Crystal Empire fought for Equestria, but they did not want anyone to know, and that was important somehow.

"Doesn't matter anymore," I whispered to myself and yawned. My free hoof poked the chain again. It still did not disappear. The thought of unscrewing the bolts from the floor came to mind, even the thought of slapping Dead Hoof with the chain, but he had to have a reason for chaining me to the floor.

A hollow thump coming from behind the closed door drew my attention. I quickly looked at Dead Hoof as the blue rolled over in his sleep. An idea came to the forefront of my mind, and I quickly enacted it. I laid down on my side and shut my eyes to pretend like I was still in the orb.

The knock came again, only this time it was louder and a pony shouted from behind the door, "Open up, Dead Hoof. This is Mistress Tail Blade."

"Alright! I'm up," he exclaimed. I slowly cracked one eye open and watched as he dropped to the floor. He stretched his wings out and leaned downward, stretching his hindquarters high in the air, then leaned forward and puffed his chest out as he stretched his hind legs.

The door rattled, it's handle turning as Mistress Tail Blade tried to open it again. Her hoof slammed against the door a few times again. "This is important damnit," she growled. "There is no time for games or dawdling."

I could see Dead Hoof roll his eyes and walk over to the door. As soon as the lock was flipped, it flung open and the green alicorn burst inside. She spun around, slamming the door shut and locking it tight. Her gaze swept around the room, slowly looking at everything on the walls, then her gaze fell upon me.

She looked at Dead Hoof and pointed at me. "Who's that? Your slave? A hooker? Who?" He opened his mouth, but her grey-green hoof shoved its way inside. "I don't care. I did not come here to talk about how you get your kicks. A storm is coming this way and I am informing you that the town is moving into the heart of the city. Should you wish to bring your stuff, slave included, you should start packing immediately."

She slowly removed her hoof from his mouth and nodded, possibly indicating he could speak. He looked at me, sighing deeply. "That's no slave. It's Shell Shock."

She quickly placed a hoof to his forehead and frowned after a moment. "Are you alright? You seem warm. Shell Shock is a green alicorn, not a tan unicorn."

"I'm fine," he replied with a grumble. "That really is Shock. She's in an orb at the moment, though."

I gasped quietly, drawing their attention as I started stretching and sitting up. "Mmmm that was a fun orb." My voice was soft and almost sensual, but not. Slowly, my eyes opened to show both alicorns looking at me, just as I had hoped. I let my eyes shut halfway and waved my free hoof. "Hello."

Mistress Tail Blade looked at Dead Hoof, then stepped toward me. "Excuse me, miss. But what are you doing here?" she asked without telepathy.

I shrugged, moving my chained hoof and making the chains rattle. "I live here with Dead hoof." I rubbed an itch my nose and felt a familiar burning sensation coming from inside me. "Can I be unchained? I need to pee," I whined.

Tail Blade rolled her eyes and looked at Dead Hoof. "Really? Don't you have a bucket for her to do that in?"

"No. She bit me." I heard him growl. "Right here." He turned his head so he could point to his ear. "And nearly pulled my ear off!"

"Well I wonder why?" she tilted her head, her voice dripping heavily with sarcasm. "Dead Hoof. If you wanted a mare to fuck while Shock is gone, you should have come to me and I would have found you one!"

"That is Shock!" he stood up and pointed a hoof at me. "Look at the cutie mark! Ask her!"

"You're delusional, but," she sighed and turned to face me. A smile forming on her face. "Miss, what's your name?"

"Lilium," I replied and nodded. Dead Hoof facehoofed with a loud groan. "Or Dog, or Shell Shock, or Shock. I don't care. Look, I want out of this." I waved my chained leg around. "I need to find a mule and a candy shop."

Tail Blade looked at the blue, then at me and stepped closer. "You really trained this one well. She even sounds like Shock. How much did you pay for her?"

Dead Hoof shook his head. "It's her, I swear to Celestia. That's Shock!"

She looked at me again and said, "Let me see your flank." I turned to the side to show her my cutie mark. Her brows knitted together in thought as her lips curled downward. Tail Blade glanced at Dead Hoof, then at me and her horn glowed brightly.

A matching glow surrounded a small pistol being held in a foreleg holster. She pulled it out, cocked the hammer back and pointed it at my head. My eyes widened in surprise.

"Tail Blade! What are you doing?!" I shouted as I took a step back. "I drank a potion! Killing Joke made me like this!"

"I know," she said quite grimly, her eyes narrowing. Movement behind her would have drawn my attention had I not been so focused on the gun barrel pointing at my face. It moved even closer as she took a step forward. "I heard from the caravan. I thought it was just a tall tale to explain your death, but now... Now..."

I bumped into the wall, cold steel pressing up against my forehead. My eyes shut involuntarily. "Goddess, this sucks," I whispered to myself.

"Mistress Tail Blade," Dead Hoof began quietly. "This is under con-"

"Shut up, Dead Hoof," she snapped loudly. "Just stand there and let me handle this. I'm going to ask her one question," she said coldly and calmly. "Where did you get the potion? If you lie your brain is exiting your skull."

"From a mule!" I replied as quickly as I could. My forehead felt like it was being crushed by her pistol as it pressed even further into my skin. I knew what she wanted; a location. "He's a travelling sales pony here in Baltimare! He drifts from town to town. I bought the drink to turn me into a stallion, but got this instead!"

"Fool!" She shouted in my ears, and mind at the same time, her presence filling my skull. My head was shoved back into the wall from the force of her pistol pressing even harder into my forehead. I opened my eyes to find her glaring down at me, eyes feeling like white hot bolts of lightning drilling through my brain. The pistol was pulled back and pointed up slightly, its vanishing pressure a welcome relief. "Tell me, Shock. Was this potion selling mule with the Followers?"

I opened my mouth, closed it and shook my head, muttering under my breath, "No. He was not."

"Of course not." She sneered. "A travelling sales pony wouldn't have a Followers potion. And if he did I would suspect something amiss."

"But, I thought..." My ears folded back. "He said he was certified by the followers!"

Her hoof came around with lightning speed. It connected with the side of my muzzle, the room filling with the sound of an audible slap as the hoof's edge nearly cut into the skin. My head turned sideways, the area quickly burning with a jolt that felt like it was stabbing deep inside me. Slowly, my hoof touched the area, yet I could not feel it beyond the tingle left behind by Tail Blade's slap.

She spat at me, the cold saliva hitting above my eye and dripping down. I merely stared down at the floor and let my ears flop to the side of my face, my hoof staying where it was. "You're a weak-minded fool. Trusting a pony's word about what a potion does? There's a reason we only buy potions from the Followers!. I wish it had killed you instead."

Glancing at Tail Blade, I opened my mouth to say something, but Dead Hoof spoke first. "Please. Don't kill her. She's... She's my-"

"Slave," Tail Blade finished for Dead Hoof. She stepped back and turned to face Dead Hoof. Her pistol went back in its holder as the green alicorn nodded. Dead Hoof's ears folded back slightly. "I want her confined to this room at all times. Keep her chained up if you have to. She's not to speak with any other alicorns, neither is she to even look at them. As far as they are concerned she is just your unicorn slave. Treat her as such if you have to. Do I make myself clear?"

He hesitated for a moment, glanced at me with his eyes, and gave a firm nod. "Yes, ma'am. We were going to leave in the morning to look for the mule. There's supposedly a cure."

"Really?" She cocked an eyebrow. "Hm..." Tail Blade headed over to the door and stopped next to the frame. Then looked at me, eyes slowly softening for the faintest of moments. "Tell you what, Shock. You bring me the mule's head on a pike, destroy his wagon and any copies of the recipe he used, and if you're cured, I will forget this 'incident'."

I shifted around where I sat and squished my hind legs as close together as I could to keep my bladder from reminding me to relieve myself, giving Tail Blade a nod. "I will bring you his head."

*** ***

Dead Hoof smiled at me, but it was not a happy smile that reached his half-lidded eyes. His ears were turned forward so they could listen to every word I had to say, every breath I took, and even the faint swishing sound made by my tail as I gave it a couple of flicks.

My bags sat light on my back. Only the essentials were taken; two boxes of food, a bottle of water, my syringes of Med-X, a RadAway, and some cloth for bandages. Hyde rested across my back inside his sheathe. Dead Hoof had not given him his power gem back, much to my annoyance.

I needed the power gem. Needed it to stab and rip a pony to shreds with. Hyde was little more than a spiky bat without it. Yet the blue would not give it up. No.

Instead, he floated the gem in front of my face. Dangling it like a worm on a hook, and I was the fish. This was what he was smiling about. Every time I reached for the gem with a hoof, he'd pull it up or back, or to the side, just slow enough that I thought I'd might grab it.

"Dead Hoof!" I snapped, stomping my hoof into the floor. My ears were turned back, listening to the door in case a pony decided to come in. The loose fabric of the oddly redecorated stable barding tickled at my sweat matted fur. I wore it for one reason, and one reason only, to hide my mundane cutie mark. There was little in the way of armor in the outfit.

"Give me my gem," I whined, stomping my hoof into floor a second time. "This isn't funny."

He looked at it, the power gem floated closer to my face. Light glinted off each and every angle, every imperfection, and reminded me of the mare in the memory orb. Her coat shined so bright, yet my current coat was dull and crap.

I reached out with my hoof to take the gem, expecting it to pull away from me at any moment. My head turned to the side slightly, both eyes on his face to see how he was reacting.

The gem stayed put.

His eyes met mine for a moment. Then they went back to the gem. "Shock," he said, his voice was quiet and his magic still surrounded the gem. My leg wrapped around it, cradling the shiny item in the crook of my fetlock. It was oddly cold for a power gem and felt as hard as any other gem I'd encountered before. I knew not what made a power gem special; only that they made things work.

As I pulled the gem toward me, he let go of it. "Yes?" I asked, cradling the gem close to my chest like a foal and drawing Hyde with my magic. "What is it?"

"I want you to be safe." His blue hoof slowly reached its way into my view. I kept my eyes on Hyde, making sure I opened the right panel and inserted the gem the correct way. It shut with a click, then a high pitched whine emanated from within for a moment. Dead Hoof's hoof gently touched the spot Tail Blade had slapped. There was a slight pressure and the hoof stayed.

Slowly, I lifted my head and looked into his eyes as I touched his hoof with mine. "I'm just going to kill a mule. How bad could it get?"

He tried to smile even more, but he frowned, his eyes blinking back what looked like tears. Though I had no idea why he would cry. "Shock, I... I..." His other hoof slowly came up and was placed on my other cheek. "I almost lost you earlier. And I thought it might be a repeat of that pegasus. I don't want that. I want you, alive. Do you hear me?" I nodded. "Say it. Say that you will come back to me."

My eyes widened slightly, my ears tilting back as my cheeks grew clammy and cold. The beating heart in my chest, that organ every pony has to constantly give them life, it skipped a beat when he said those words. They mirrored a pony's words so very long ago.

The howling of an icy breeze blowing past a boarded up window began to float into my ears as Dead Hoof's face and hooves began changing to something else. Something old, something familiar, something black and orange. My mind dredged up a memory, pulling it from the deepest, darkest, recesses. I blinked a few times, then shut my eyes and willed it back down, pushing it aside with thoughts about that stupid mule and his wagon. He had to die, I had to get cured, and I had to come back. If not for me, but for Dead Hoof.

I gave Dead Hoof a firm nod. "Dead Hoof, I promise I will come back to you."

"Thank you." He smiled a genuine smile that reached his eyes. "Now go. I will make sure our stuff is secure."

"Are you sure?" I tilted my head. "I could use some help and you won't have to worry about me."

He glanced back in the room. So light on furniture he could carry it with him should he chose to. It'd be nice, to have a portable bed, but alas.The blue sighed quietly and nodded. "I'm sure. Mistress Tail Blade explicitly said for just you to go."

*** ***

The road stretched out before me, seemingly until it reached infinity. The buildings lining it reached skyward like skeletal gryphon talons. There were floors falling apart on some, some collapsing on others, while most had shattered windows. Where one particular building used to be, a large pile of rubble took its place. The building next to it had fallen over the road, it's roof resting on one strained looking building. It appeared to me like a tunnel of death waiting for somepony to walk under it so they could be crushed.

My gaze was on that roof section, ears turned forward to listen to it groan and creak on the wind. I ignored the fact that the sky was a pure deep blue far above. I even ignored my mane being blown backward like I was staring at a fan. So great was the speed of the wind it made my loose barding press and slap against my hide.

"Looks like a boxcar," I said quietly to myself, remembering that first alicorn crushed by the Destroyer. The building groaned again. This time a loud metallic bang echoed out from somewhere inside it, forcing me to take a few steps back in case it decided to come down.

"Afraid?" asked a voice from my left, barely audible over the wind. Slowly, I looked over, horn alight incase they were hostile. My gaze swept over the ruins quickly, yet I saw nothing.

"Show yourself," I ordered loudly at the same time Hyde was drawn out of his sheathe.

"Only if you promise to not stab me," it replied. I tilted my head some, my lips turning down slightly in a small frown. The voice felt familiar, like Tail Blade's or Dead Hoof's perhaps. Certainly not one of my crazy visions. Those had never asked to not be stabbed.

I looked down at Hyde for a second. He was slightly dirty from lack of use, yet the battery port held a bright glow from the gem. It needed to be used on something soon, or cleaned at the very least. Though he would not get put down without a reason.

I looked toward the voice again and squinted my eyes. Sitting in shadow was a highly reflective eye looking back at me. It belonged to a grey-green face, which had a long slender horn attached to it. My frown only grew more. Hyde was gently set down, but my magical hold on the handle stayed firm. "What do you want?" I loudly asked her. "Come to slap me again?"

Tail Blade's head shook slightly. "No. I have come to talk about my outburst. Please, put that weapon away and follow me."

I looked toward the building one more time. The way to the mule's first stop was through there, but I would rather find a way around than risk getting crushed. Or over it.

My gaze went to the building's top. So very high and inaccessible to me. I could easily have flown over it had I been an alicorn.

Slowly, Hyde was sheathed across my back again. His weight was a welcome distraction from my lack of wings. A look to my left showed that Tail Blade still stood there in a small shadow.

She had a pistol. That much I knew. Hyde could easily make quick work of her shield should things get heated, but she had access to spells far more potent than I could currently cast. Tail Blade could give me a heart attack in the time I drew Hyde and plunged him deep in her chest. Following her to a secluded room could be a death sentence, but she was my boss... She relied on me to do her dirty work when her business contacts decided to change their mind. Sometimes just a visit with a bat was enough to get them to reconsider. Other times, well. They weren't a problem anymore.

"Shock?" She stepped out from behind the wall. I could tell her foreleg holster was empty and her black dress was slightly dirtier than usual. "Can we talk like civilized mares?"

I looked at the building, then behind me toward town. It was quiet, except for the wind howling past my ears. No pony would see us in the road, but that was a dumb idea to think.

I let out a deep breath, slowly nodding a couple times. She smiled. "Okay. Where do you want to talk?" I asked.

She motioned with her hoof for me to come closer. I took a long slow look to my left, then to my right. All that surrounded us were ruined buildings and piles of rubble. Perfect places for ponies to hide, but also perfect shelter for an alicorn to hide in. Though, like earlier, I saw no one else but Mistress Tail Blade.

With a quiet sigh, I walked over to her and looked up into her eyes. She stepped back, nodding slightly as she sat down. I quietly sat down and waited for her to speak, since she was the one that wanted to talk.

She looked away from me, down at me, then at the sky, and back at me. "Lilium, I would like to apologize to you for my outburst," she said with her mouth, causing me to blink a couple of times as I leaned back.

"Apologize?" I turned my head slightly, an ear twitching.

She nodded heavily and breathed in deeply. "Yes, I am sorry for slapping you. I let my fear get ahead of me." She slowly let her breath out and stared into my eyes. Her wings were folding and unfolding ever so slightly, and I could have sworn I saw one of her forelegs shake a little bit. "You see." she lifted that leg up and made a circling motion with it. "Long, long, ago I was in charge of a brothel."

I nodded. "You told me this already."

She nodded slightly and looked down at her hoof, and picked at it with her other one. "But I didn't tell you the whole story." Tail Blade sighed before looking at me. "It was successful, well kept, and I had many repeat customers. You would have enjoyed it there."

I shook my head. "I'm not a whore," I told her. "While I want a foal, I don't open for just anypony. I have standards."

What about Bucky the bug pony? One drink for a roll in the hay? My brain tried to mock me, but I attempted to ignore it because I was drugged during that evil thing.

She moved over to my side and wrapped a large, feathery grey-green wing around me. It was warm, soft, and very snuggly. I wanted to lean into her and pull the wing around me even farther, but I resisted the urge and stared up into her eyes. Her body felt clammy and she shook every so often like she was cold. As she opened her mouth to speak again, I noticed a very faint tremble in her lip. "Y-yes." she nodded as her hoof was placed on my cheek. A small smile tried to form on her lips, but it failed to stay. "I meant as a guard. Had you been there guarding my business. You... You..."

She looked away from me and let her hoof drop. I tilted my head some. Then leaned against her and wrapped one of my forelegs around her chest. Her heart was pounding against her rib cage despite her cold exterior. My hoof gently pat her side at the same time I felt her take a deep breath.

"You might have prevented it from failing," she said finally. My ears folded back. I should have said something to her, but what, I didn't know what to say, so I remained quiet and listened. "You see. One d-day. A group of raiders attacked us." I looked away from Tail Blade and kept my ears turned toward her. The brick alleyway was quiet, except for her voice. She pulled me into a foreleg hug and squeezed tight. "They attacked us."

I looked at her again and nodded. "And you were defenseless."

"Oh no." She shook her head. Then slowly looked up at the sky. "We had guards. They even put up a fight, however brief it was. Some of the mares fought too, but in the end. They broke through the front door. And..." She looked down at me. "The guards weren't good enough. They couldn't shoot straight. More like farmers than fighters. They just wanted the freebies."

"Freebies?" I pulled my head back some. "You didn't pay them in caps?!"

"I tried to." She shrugged. "Most accepted the caps, but also wanted more." Tail Blade smiled at me and slowly pet my mane. She let her hoof stop on the back of my head. Then pulled me as close as she could get and gave me a hug.

I kept looking up at her and wondering why the hell she kept hugging me. "Mistress," I managed to squeak as I tried to pull away. "What happened next?"

She frowned. "The place was burnt down. They rounded everypony up, executed the stallions and the mares that fought back, then clapped everypony else in chains. As for me..." I felt her whole body shudder as her voice became as quiet as a whisper. Her ears drooped to the side of her face and she stared off into the distance. "The gang leader shot me five times and left me for dead when he was done."

I just stared at her. Part of me wondered if she was hiding something, my other half wanted to hug her and say she is okay now, while the rest of me wanted to know who those raiders were so they could be repaid with Hyde's blade through the throat. Slowly, I opened my mouth. "Mistress... who-"

Her grey-green hoof quickly clamped my mouth shut. She breathed in slowly, held it, and slowly let it out. I quickly glanced around to see if someone was sneaking up on us, but saw no one.

"I survived on luck," she said plainly. Tail Blade looked down at me. I could see that she wanted to cry. Her eyes were watery and puffy, but the tears would not fall. "One of my customers, a mare, happened to come by the day after. She nursed me back to health over the next few weeks. I clung to her like a blanket in my despair. She was stronger than I was, more adept at fighting, and a good teacher, but." She frowned and looked down at her hooves. "She was hit in the chest by a rifle round as she was freeing some captives."

She pulled me into a hug so tight I could almost hear my bones crack. Then the pressure was released just as quickly. I felt her warm breath brush up against my ear. As I turned to look at the alicorn, I felt her muzzle press into the space between my ear and skull. It pulled away after a second. "What does this have to do with me?" I asked. "Why is this related to you slapping me?"

"Because..." Her ears drooped again as her wings went limp. "I was injured, again, but escaped after killing the leader. I traveled for days until I collapsed. Near death, no ammo, no friends, no food. I was hopeless, powerless, and pathetic." She inhaled deeply, again and a small smile crossed her face. Tail Blade cocked her head at an angle and looked down at me. "Then you found me."

"What?" I blinked a few times as I tried to remember when and where I first saw her before, but came up blank. "You must have me confused with another green. I've been on an island for over twenty years."

"Maybe." She shrugged. "But it was an alicorn." Her face lit up like a young mare remembering her crush as she shut her eyes and smiled even more. "An alicorn... she said she had been following me, watching me, evaluating me, and had deemed me sufficient for something. Oh I was overjoyed at the thought of becoming as powerful as Princess Celestia. No more would I fear common raiders, no longer would I have to rely on others in a firefight, no more would I be helpless. I could wield the power of the sun as it were!"

Her hoof pat me on the head and stayed there for a moment. Slowly, my brain turned over as I pieced together the information she had given me. She had run an establishment, it got destroyed, she got revenge and became an alicorn. "I still fail to see how it is relevant," I told her.

The edge of her hoof slid along the side of my neck, sending a faint chill up my spine and into my head, causing the tips of my ears to turn slightly warm. Again, she slowly ran the hoof along my neck as I stared at her chest. "Lily, it's simple." her voice was quiet, almost motherly in tone. I blinked slowly and looked up at her face. "Seeing you as you are, hearing you being able to transform back into a regular pony with a simple potion, losing your alicorn spells. It frightened me, because what if a pony did that to me?" She grabbed my shoulders and shook me back and forth, forcing me to grab her forelegs for balance. "What if they did that to me?!" she shouted as she continued to shake me, her voice cracking into a scream. "What if they did it to me?! I'll be helpless again!"

I attempted to pull away from her. The grey-green forehooves dug deep into my skin. My old, normal, and non-radiation healing skin broke in one place with an explosion of pain. Blood pumped out of the gash and onto her hoof as I let out a scream, "There's a cure!"

She stopped shaking me and blinked a few times. Slowly, the pressure ceased as she let go of my shoulders and looked at her hoof. "Sorry. I didn't..." Her horn glowed as her bag was pulled in front of her and opened up, revealing some medical supplies. "Let me fix that. I think I have some thread and a needle in here."

65% to next level

Chapter 6: Radio

Chapter 6: Radio
"It's all you'll need to know."

My ears twitched. They swiveled left toward a loud crack at the same time my eyes snapped open. Light poured in, completely filling my vision as if I had looked directly into the sun. Slowly bringing a hoof up to block the light from my face, I turned my head toward the rifle's drifting echo.

As my eyes adjusted to the late morning light, I recognized the ruined second floor wall of my shelter. The window had long since been shattered and any remaining glass was lost to time. Dirt and mold covered the concrete floor, including the frayed carpet whose design had faded into obscurity. The bright blue sky was easily seen through the gaping hole in the ceiling, reminding me that I needed wings again.

"Come on out," shouted a pony from outside the room. Their voice was barely audible over the roaring wind as it blew by the open window and hole in the ceiling. I sat up and turned sideways, reaching my left hoof for the saddlebag that had made an uncomfortable pillow. "We've got you surrounded," the voice continued unanswered by me.

Any fool could have simply snuck up on me while I slept, slit my throat, and be done with it. Surely they weren't yelling at me, were they?

Grabbing hold of my bag, I dragged it close and dug through it for the Med-X needle. The whole time I watched and listened to the window.

"Just give us the filly!" yelled the voice.

Filly? What filly?

My magic floated the needle close to my foreleg. I felt it pinch for a split second, causing me to wince slightly as I injected the contents into my bloodstream, and tossed the empty needle aside. Bringing an orange bag of RadAway into view, I tore a corner off and began drinking it. I did not know if I needed the medication or not, but taking it again wouldn't hurt. The radiation had to be purged from my system. It is evil, sadly, for my current body.

The last of the vile tasting liquid was squeezed into my mouth. Gulping it down, I dropped low and made my way to the window.

"You can't hold out forever, birdbrain," shouted another voice.

Birdbrain? Are they talking to me? Surely they’d know the difference between a pegasus, gryphon and a unicorn?

Slowly sitting up and peeking through the window, I could not see much. Some ponies had taken refuge behind a rubble pile containing a land wagon about sixty yards down the road, their backs to me. I saw one was injured, a yellow earth pony with a bandage around his fetlock. There was a pink unicorn in your standard issue metal and leather barding. She had her side pressed against the wagon and was busy tearing down her rifle in her magic.

The third and final living member was a green earth pony. He, or she, was sitting on the rubble above the others. Yet unlike others I had seen do similar things, the earth pony held a piece of metal in front of them. It was large like a door, perhaps it was one from a wagon. Perhaps not. I could not be certain.

What was left of the fourth member sat about twenty yards from my position. Their ashy remains glowed softly, faint wisps of smoke drifted along the wind along with the top layer.

Of the so called birdbrain, I saw nothing. No feathers, no glints from the windows, no moving shadows. Whoever they were, they had either moved on when the ponies showed up, or refused to move, choosing to wait it out.

I sat there contemplating on my plan of action. I could simply slip out the back door and move on to find the mule. Doing that would let me finish my task today. Or I could observe and find out what was going on, perhaps saving a pony or two first. Who needed saving was still up to debate. Were the ponies bad? Was the birdbrain bad? Were they two competing factions? I was lost as to who was friendly without a pipbuck.

"You know what you must do," a crackly voice said from behind me. It came from a mare. That was obvious enough.Glancing over my shoulder toward the source, I quickly scanned the room and saw nothing, causing me to frown. The room was eerily quiet aside from the outside wind. Nothing stood out as odd. The door was still shut, there was nothing standing there in the center of the room like some fool.

Once more my eyes scanned the room. Every shadow, every crack in the boards. Something had to be the source of the voice. Or perhaps... someone playing a trick on me. Once more I failed to pick anything up.

A bright red flash and a loud zap drew my attention back to the window before I could investigate further. The earth pony on top of the rubble pile turned away from his cover and jumped down next to the injured one. There was a glowing and smoldering hole in the metal he had been using for cover.

His voice was incoherent to me from the distance between us. However, those two ponies near him looked at him and nodded.

I watched the pink one bring the freshly repaired rifle around the corner. The muzzle flashed, a loud hollow crack echoed off the buildings in response. I did not see where the bullet hit, presumably inside one of the buildings, but I did see the return fire. That hoof-sized beam of red light seared into my vision as it streaked past the unicorn's horn. She cycled the bolt with her magic and nothing happened. Looking at the rifle, she pulled back into cover and started field stripping it a second time.

"Who's got who surrounded, hm?" I hummed to myself as the earth pony picked an smg up in their teeth, stuck their head around the corner and fired off a burst before hiding again. The rapid pops echoed off the buildings, combining to sound like Hyde in a way.

"I know what to do," I said to the air, nodding. Slowly moving away from the wall, I picked my stuff up in magic, heading for the door to go on my way. "It’s not my fight. The Goddess will let the best fighter win."

“Where do you think you’re going, Shell Shock?” the voice said from my right as a speaker crackled to life. My eyes widened, my jaw dropping slightly as my ears turned toward the voice. Looking over toward the bed, I saw nothing but the place I had slept on.

“There is no Shell Shock here,” I yelled toward the voice.

“Oh really?” the mare replied in a curious tone, causing me to tilt my head. “How about We start this over? Excuse me a moment.” Her voice cut out for a moment. Silence fell upon the room as the warm static filtered up and into my ears. The random rapid-fire pops of gunfire out the window made my ear turn in that direction.

“This is stupid,” I mumbled to myself as I looked toward the window. The wall blocked my view beyond, but I did hear a pony shout that they had been shot by a laser. I merely rolled my eyes. They would not last long against a pony in cover.

"Greetings, oh Great and Powerful Shell Shock! Or shall I call you Dog? Perhaps Lilium? Your name doesn’t matter to me, honey," came the mare's near sarcastic voice through the static, causing me to look over at the wall near the bed and tilt my head. "Radio here, and pony have I got a proposition for you. Let's cut to the chase, mkay? I have a job. But first, you must find the source of my voice. Follow the soothing sound of the ghost. OooooooOOOOOooooo."

With a roll of my eyes, I walked over toward the static, ripping the mattress off the frame with my magic. The covers flew everywhere and the bed frame nearly jumped off the floor. But I saw it. It was an old two-way radio set used by Equestria during the war. The backpack was smashed in and repaired, but the dials on the frequency adjuster glowed brightly. There was a speaker attached to where the headphones plugged in at.

I knelt down and pulled the radio pack close. It looked in working condition, but battered beyond normal use. Like somepony had kept the radio with them throughout the many, many, years since the wasteland was born.

"That’s it, honey. Lift the radio and you’ll find headphones underneath. Put them on. We’ll continue our conversation then.”

Frowning deeply at her annoying tone, I pulled the speaker out and lifted the device up. Sure enough, there was a headset underneath. The wires looked frayed slightly like they were about to fall off, but workable with some quick repairs, if I found the parts. They were plugged in to where the speaker was and the radio was strapped on over my saddlebags in place of Hyde. It was heavy, but nothing I couldn’t handle. Hyde was shoved in one of my bags as I pulled the headphones over one of my ears.

The foreleg panel was strapped on and I made sure to flip the frequency locks to locked position, just to be sure it wouldn’t slip. Sitting down, I placed a hoof to my ear to block out the gunfire from outside. “Okay, Radio, I’m here. Now what?”

“Go to the window,” she replied quickly. The static was still there, but not as bad. It was a lot like a record player’s warm pops and crackles.

Looking toward the window made me frown. It was obvious why she wanted me there; to snipe me. But it made no sense in a way. She could have sniped me any time I had been in front of it. If she put the radio under my bed, then why go through the theatrics to kill me? Why didn’t she just do it then when I was sleeping?

“So you can shoot me?” I asked quietly, slowly walking over to the wall and leaning against it. Radio chuckled in my ear for a few long moments as I stared at the window frame.

“No, I won’t shoot you with my pipbuck assisted Anti-Machine Rifle loaded with armor piercing rounds. What a waste of a perfectly good bullet.”

I felt my heart skip a beat as a chilly feeling crawled up my spine. My throat suddenly felt dry at her reply. Gulping quite audibly, I shut my eyes and listened to the ponies outside. My left ear turned toward the wall as a pony yelled, “You’re fucking dead, birdbrain! Just wait until we get in there!”

“Do you hear them?” Radio asked rather pointedly.

I rolled my eyes. “Obviously. What’s it matter to you?”

"What's it matter to you?" she parroted back to me. I frowned as I slowly brought my face into view of the window. The ponies below had not moved much.

The yellow earth pony was lying in the road not far from the rubble. Smoke steadily rose from their jaw. It looked, to me, that the pony had tried to stick their head out and had been shot. The unicorn was looking at the other pony while she was putting the rifle back together.

"Nothing," I told Radio. "It matters not to me if these fools kill each other."

"Over a filly," she added. "Think about it. What are those two going to do if they find the filly, hm?"

"Kill her mother, or take them both into servitude," I sighed and rubbed my forehead, shutting my eyes. Taking a deep breath to fill my lungs, I slowly let it out and felt my nerves calm down slightly.

"Exactly. You know what you must do."

"Save the mother and filly," I muttered and shook my head.

"And you will be rewarded soon. Keep the radio with you at all times," Radio said before the static vanished.

I took another look at the ponies. The distance was far too great for me to use my lightning spell with any semblance of accuracy, if I could use it at all. My invisibility should have worked still, yet it did not. I felt... weak, helpless, and wondered if that is what Tail Blade had meant when she confessed that she was frightened by my change.

If I could not use my alicorn abilities, then what good was I?

*** ***

"Why am I doing this?" I whispered to myself, keeping low behind an ancient newspaper dispenser. The pages inside had long since vanished and the glass on the open door was smashed in. Wind whistled past my ears, carrying even more bits of ash away from the pile in the road's center.

I glanced around the bin before hiding again, noticing the wide exposed gap between the unknown ponies and I. If I merely galloped across I'd be spotted quick and get shot in the face by either them or the birdbrain.

Shutting my eyes tightly, I concentrated on becoming invisible. I focused on the tip of my horn and tried to send my magic to it. Yet I felt nothing at first, but then I heard something. It was a faint echo like some kind of laugh resonating inside my skull. Frowning, I tilted my head back, banging my skull against the metal box.

Pain shot through my brain like a lance of fire jabbing into my ear. I winced, clutching the side of my head.

"I hate Mondays," I groaned. Whether or not the day was Monday was unclear, but my point stood. Monday was usually a crap day.

The wind howled by my ears, whipping dust and ashes off the top layer of ground. My gaze tracked the ashes as they left the pile and drifted off into the sky.

The sky...

I was oddly reminded of my conversation with Lasso about it. He had assumed the sky was always grey and it had become blue only within the last few years, yet that was not the case.

The fool.

With a smile and a plan, I reached out with my telekinetics, grabbing hold of the nearest objects; rocks, metal bits, an old rusty pistol with no ammo, a Sparkle-Cola bottle. I looked at them, contemplating on throwing them toward the two ponies Radio had said to kill. All I would gain would be two pissed off ponies.

Tossing the junk away and putting the bottle caps and bottle in my pack, I slowly stood up as my bones popped and protested from the weight of the radio pack.

My hooves dug into the concrete, gaining a strong foothold before I leaped over the newspaper dispenser, landing on the other side with a loud clop of my hooves.

I broke into a gallop, lowering my head so that my horn might act as a spear when I slammed into them, but kept my eyes on my targets. So distracted on their task of shooting the 'Birdbrain', they did not hear my hooves slamming into the dusty road.

A red energy beam danced across my nose. The bright light seared into my vision at the same time I thought I could smell my fur burning. The air popped, and a loud zap filled the air before I could blink.

"Shit-shit-shit!" I yelled and picked up my pace. Ducking my head low to the ground, I skidded left as a second beam hit the concrete where I would have been had I not turned.

Ahead of me lay the safety of the ponies I was supposed to kill. Or so I thought. The lower half of my vision was in complete shadow. I could not see where to put my hooves as I turned right, jinking away from a straight path to throw off Birdbrain. It worked for a time, zipping left and right while the remaining ponies fired at Birdbrain’s position.

My luck ran out just as I was about to reach the safety of the rubble.

Pain shot through my hind leg, causing it to collapse under me as I let out a short scream. My flank hit the dirt next, followed by my side and then the radio. I clawed at the ground with one hoof, digging into the dirty road in a vain attempt to stop myself. Instead of stopping, my momentum carried me through.

I found myself flopping onto my belly against my will and sliding to a stop not far from the ponies. My muzzle slammed into the ground, white momentarily filling my vision while pain shot through my jaw.

"Mondays suck," I groaned. Luckily for me, any and all pain was momentary thanks to the Med-X I had taken earlier. Though my jaw still throbbed and felt numb.

The two of them looked down at me. That pink unicorn mare was possibly the leader of the bunch. Her leather and metal barding looked in better condition than the green earth pony's. His was in serious need of repair and wouldn't last more than a few days before it looked like it'd tear itself apart.

"Today's Thursday," the earth pony replied to my groan. The pink unicorn glanced at him with her eyes, leaving her muzzle pointed at me. Her eyes slowly narrowed at him. Magic surrounded her horn and the floating rifle I suspected to be mostly broken based on how she had to unjam it after every shot.

What kind of monster never maintains her own gun?!

Her gaze went back to me. The both of them stared into my eyes. I stared back. My left right hind leg felt like it was about to catch fire just under the skin from the heat.

"It's Monday to me," I grumbled. Slowly, I pushed myself up into a sitting position and looked down at my leg. The cloth barding had taken the brunt of the blow and fused into my leg. Creating some kind of rippled and charred texture that reminded me of barbecued meat. Even smelled like it, too.

It would have been no problem if I had been an alicorn, but noooo. Dead Hoof had wanted to make me a stallion so I could fuck him in the ass with a real dick. Why he thought that was a good idea was beyond me. Stallions are weird.

"Hey!" the mare shouted, stomping her hoof into the ground. Both her voice, and the noise of her hoof clopping onto the ground drew my attention to her face. It was contorted into a scowl, narrowed eyes, teeth clamped tightly together.

"Go easy on her, boss," the stallion added. "She just took a nasty tumble."

I pointed my hoof at him, eyes narrowed into a glare. "I don't need your sympathy! I'm here for one reason."

"Baron Steel finally sent us help? About damn time," the mare said with a relieved sigh. "I thought for sure our last runner didn't get through."

"What?" I tilted my head, my eyes fluttering in surprise. "Who the fuck is Baron Steel?" Quickly shaking my head, I facehoofed. "Nevermind! Just what the hell is going on here?!"

Both ponies frowned. The mare looked toward the edge of the rubble pile before looking at me. "They didn't tell you?"

I shook my head. "No. No pony ever tells me any of their plans. It's like they won't trust me!" I waved my foreleg around. "It's just go here, do that, go there. Stab those ponies for me, okay? I'm too fucking lazy to do it myself. Pretty please with a cherry on top? I'll pay you~"

The ponies looked at each other. The stallion's eyes were slightly wide. Whether it was surprise or not I could not say. The mare mouthed something to him. He shrugged in response.

"Well that stupid pegasus stole Baron Steel's foal," said the stallion with a deep grumble. He went over to the edge and partially peered out. A beam of red blasted past his face, causing him to jump back in shock.

"That whore's probably going to sell the foal for Dash," the mare added. She floated her rifle up and pulled the bolt back. This close to her, I saw how rough the action was. It caught in one place, moved, got caught again, moved more. She grunted when it got stuck halfway and pulled it even harder. The whole bolt slid back and out onto the ground in a pile of parts. I watched the spring fly off into the wasteland, never to be found again.

My frown only grew more when I saw how pitted the metal was. There was no shiny smooth sheen anywhere, not even what I could see of the barrel's interior. Just rusty shit. I would have tossed the weapon away. It wasn't even fit for scrap.

"Give me the damn thing!" I yelled, quickly snatching the rifle with my forehoof. Pulling it close and giving it a quick glance showed the reason why the gun kept getting jammed with each shot.

The mechanism for lifting the rounds up to the barrel was missing completely. It was, for all intents and purposes, a single shot rifle that was annoyingly complex.

"This gun's a piece of shit," I told the mare as I shoved it back to her.

She took it in her hooves and looked down at it. Her ears folded back slightly. "I spent so much on it!"

"You got ripped the hell off." I rolled my eyes.

Why haven't I stabbed them yet? I don't know. I just don't know anymore.

I knew from her words that the hidden mare was a pegasus, and the mare needed Dash. But...

My eyes widened slightly when I realized something. There was only one Dash addicted pegasus I knew. Perhaps there was more than one, perhaps hundreds, maybe even thousands, or all of them! But I only knew one.

My head turned to the side, eyes narrowing slightly. "This bird-pony wouldn't happen to be maroon with a dark blue mane, would she?"

"So you've seen the whore around then." The pink unicorn nodded.

I glared at her as my magic firmly gripped Hyde's handle and slowly pulled. "Wraith is not a whore." My voice was drowned out by Hyde as he revved to life the second his teeth cleared my bags.

The mare's eyes widened to the size of pie plates. She took a few steps backwards, not noticing she was heading for open ground. "H-hey! Put that away. We're on the same team!"

"No." I shook my head, a smirk crossing my lips. "I changed sides to Wraith's just now." Aiming Hyde at the mare, I nodded at her and revved the sword to make noise. "Now back the fuck up."

She gulped, looking behind her as she took another step toward the open ground. The green stallion was looking at me, his eyes narrowed to fine slits.

"How about a deal?" the stallion finally opened his mouth to speak. My gaze shifted to him for a moment before returning to the mare. "Lake and I will leave you, and that whore alone."

Hyde was aimed at him. My eyes narrowed even further. "Don't call her that. I'll shove this sword so far up your ass you can taste your own shit!"

Lake looked at the nameless green stallion. Then at me and nodded rapidly. "We can do that! We can go. Just don't kill us, please?"

Well it was better than having to clean Hyde later.

I took a deep breath and slowly nodded. “Alright. Go. Get out of here and never bother me, or Wraith again.”

*** ***

The shiniest surface I could find was pushed out beyond the wreckage. It was tilted forward and back, side to side, in an attempt to find where the maroon pegasus was hiding. I was leaning against the cover so I wouldn't die. The two ponies had snuck off not long ago after I took their broken weapons and shoved them in my bags for later sale.

Again I saw nothing inside the buildings. No shadows, no movement, nothing at all to indicate she was hiding there. Whomever had trained her in the art of hiding did a very good job.

Wind whipped past my ears, blowing my mane past my vision and obscuring the mirror.

Using my hoof, I cleared my vision by tucking my mane behind my ear and using the earphone to keep it in place. Radio had said to rescue Wraith, but did not specify how, so I took it upon myself to scare the daylights out of the ponies instead of killing them.

A red beam of light collided with the mirror, glancing off and flying right past my ear. I jumped back, blinking back the temporary blindness caused by staring directly into the stupid beam as it flies by your face. The pop and zap came swiftly, as did the smell of burning ozone and fur.

At least I knew she was still there and smart enough to shoot the mirror away. It had shattered into many tiny pieces when it landed on the ground.

Ears turned to my left to listen for movement, I leaned against the wall again. "Wraith?" I called out as loud as I could. "It's me! Shell Shock! Don't shoot. I got rid of the others. I'm alone now. It's just you and me. Don't you remember me from the island?"

There was a long moment of silence where I heard nothing but the wind. Nothing but my own breathing and heart beat. It got to the point where I thought I had been wrong about who was out there.

"Wraith?" I yelled. "How about I throw my weapons into the street and step out unarmed? Sound like a plan?"

This time I heard the faint warm crackling and pops from the radio underneath the wind. Placing a hoof to my ear to block out the sound, I tilted my head and listened.

Nothing from Radio and nothing from Wraith.

I frowned and took the earpiece off to hear clearly. Followed by removing Hyde and tossing him out into the open. My bags followed after. They landed in a heap not far from me.

With nothing standing between me and death, I tested my luck with death for a fourth time and stepped out into the open.

"You're not Shock," a familiar voice shouted from one of the rooms. My gaze slowly moved from one room to the next, but I still did not see her.

"Think before you shoot!" I shouted, stepping away from my gear. "Look at my mane, my face! You've seen my memories. I saved your flank from a horrible death! If you still think I'm not me, then shoot. I don't care anymore."

I shut my eyes and waited for death. Waited for her to think back through her withered mind to the bunker with the killer plants. She would remember that at least, or so I hoped.

No shot came. Only her voice. "What's your filly's name?" she yelled, her voice echoing off the walls around me.

Opening my eyes, I went to tell her I had none, but my words stopped cold in my throat.

Surely Wraith would know I had none, and thus it was a trick question. But, as I thought about her question and whether or not I had a filly, I remembered one I traveled with for some time; Sienna. However Sienna and I had traveled with Axe, not Wraith. Perhaps Axe told her about Sienna, and Wraith thought the filly was mine in some strange way. Though I had thought she was for a few weeks. Then she vanished. Taken from me by that Steel Ranger Celly.

Gulping, I smiled a bit and lifted my injured hind leg off the ground to relieve the pressure on the wound. "Sienna!"

What grass there was swayed with the wind whipping past my face. The debris to my left creaked and moaned softly, cold metal popping as something snapped. I looked toward the sound and quickly side stepped away. The roof of the wagon collapsed downward ever so slightly.

"Pick your stuff up, slowly," shouted Wraith, drawing my attention away from the barrier. I looked ahead again, and then up at the second floor. Movement on the first level stole my gaze. A fleeting shadow, possibly a trick, possibly not. It was hard for me to tell with his fast it moved.

My horn glowed as I reached for my bags and Hyde.

"With your teeth," yelled Wraith.

I frowned and let go of my stuff. But with a deep sigh, I used my teeth to pick my saddlebags up along with Hyde like I was some dirty earth pony or pegasus. One or two of my teeth felt like they shifted ever so slightly, sending a faint pang of pain through the roof of my mouth. Gulping it back, I adjusted my grip until it went away.

"Happy?" I tried to shout, but it came out garbled.

"Walk forward." Her voice carried across the gap.

Tilting my head slightly, my eyes looked up at the building to my left, ears following suit. They were empty, the glass was missing from most windows, and the interior looked in a piss poor state of repair. I tilted my head the other way and glanced to my right. It was much the same; decrepit, decaying, and no pony around.

I had no idea if it was a trap, nor did I know if I had made the right choice in letting the two ponies go. They could be hiding nearby and waiting for the maroon pegasus to show herself for all I knew. If they were I would not hesitate to ram Hyde down their throats.

The dirt ground its way into my worn hooves, reminding me that I desperately needed to get them looked at. With each step on my injured hind leg, fire danced around the wound and into my brain, telling me it was still sore I still saw no sign of the pegasus as I approached the building.

The building's interior was a cafe with overturned tables and chairs. All the fabric on the chairs had been ripped off at one time, the ponies leaving the stuffing strewn about. It was as dark as the night inside there causing me to nearly trip over something.

Looking down at my hooves, I saw the foreleg bone from a long dead pony. There were no other bones with it. Hissing, I kicked it aside and looked around the shop again.

The empty shelves along one wall had been ransacked. A thick layer of dust covered everything except for a few light hoofprints.

"That's close enough," Wraith yelled from somewhere in the shop. "Drop your stuff and step back."

I gulped and did as instructed. My jaw was thankful, but I kept looking at Hyde and feeling vulnerable without him.

Movement drew my attention as she stepped out from another room leading to the back of the building. A dark grey cloth covered the doorway and was only apparent when it moved due to the shadow being cast over it. The pegasus was wrapped in cloth torn from the nearby chairs and benches. The only part of her you could see was her midnight blue mane and her glowing eyes.

Those eyes glowed a soft orange in the dark of the building, partially illuminating her wrapped muzzle. The odd looking revolver held in her mouth and the eyes reminded me of a different pony than Wraith...

"Axe?" I asked, tilting my head upon noticing the glowing eyes. I had thought Wraith to be the addict, but it seemed I was wrong.

She dropped the pistol from her mouth. Quickly catching it in her wing, she tilted it and aimed it at me. I stared at the weapon’s square barrel and was confused as to which pegasus twin was staring me down.

"Why can't you fuckers leave me alone?!" she yelled, her glowing eyes narrowed. Her gaze felt like she was trying to use her mind to kill me.

I stared her in the eyes and made no move for my weapons. The thought crossed my mind that she possibly had no idea who I was or even remembered our meeting. It was so long ago. And yet... She had asked about Sienna, so she had to remember.

I dared not risk the wrath of a pistol fired by an angry pegasus. Nodding slowly at her words, I took a step back. "Axe, is it? Or is it Wraith? You two are so alike it seems."

"I'm not going back to him," she growled and stepped toward me. I could not tell if she was frowning or not.

"And why should you? You're clearly a capable mare. What happened to your armor?"

Her gaze shifted to my right, her ears turning in that direction. She looked at me again, wings puffed up. "Comet has it."

I nodded. "I see. Look. I was told by Radio to help you get rid of those two ponies. I was sleeping in that building over there when they cornered you." I turned sideways and pointed my radio hoof down the road.

"Radio? Whose radio? Wait. That thing gets a signal?"

Looking at her and nodding, I gave the pegasus a small smile to reassure her that it did work. "Yes. I was on it earlier. Why?"

She looked toward my left at something I didn't look at, her ears following. The pistol stayed on me. "I need to contact the supply raptor when it comes into town tomorrow." She unfolded her non-gun holding wing and let the feathers feel the wind that didn't blow through the building, then closed the appendage.

I frowned at her antics. "What has you so anxious?"

She looked at me again. This time her ears turned to listen behind her. There was no noise from the other room. Though her eye glow was still as strong as ever. She sighed deeply and sat down. Standing up again, Wraith looked over her shoulder at the room. She then looked at me and sat down again. "You really don't know anything about what is going on?"

I slowly shook my head, shutting my eyes. "No. I do not. I have been living in Alicorn Town with Dead Hoof minding my own business. Regular pony business is not my concern. He bought me a drink, which turned out to be Killing Joke. It turned me into what you see before you. I'm hunting down the seller so I can rip his head off after I get a cure."

Again, Wraith looked over her shoulder for a moment before looking around the room. Her wing slowly pulled the pistol in and held it at ease. She looked at me, then the room behind us, and me again. "Okay. Shock, my father sent me to this city so our small fleet can trade with ponies that make Dash."

I frowned even more. My ears turned forward and my eyes narrowed. "What for? Planning to distribute it?"

"No!" Wraith hissed at me. "Wraith needs it, remember?"

"So you're Axe," I said. She nodded. I nodded slowly as well. "I remember that particular 'quirk' about her."

"We tried to get her off Dash but it nearly killed her," she replied quietly. "So we had to find a steady supply of it. No pony makes it on the island."

"And Baron Steel is the drug kingpin here in Trottingham?" My head tilted almost like a bird's.

"Sort of... He gets it from some other pony and distributes it. I thought I could get it cheaper if I slept with him. He agreed and I stayed here to make sure we kept getting it at that same price."

"So... you sold your body to help your sister?" My head tilted the other way. She nodded. In a way that mare from earlier was right. Axe is a whore. I couldn't see myself in her position. I would have cut the stallion's head off and gotten it for free.

"And that brings us to now... You see, he and I... Well..." She tapped her forehooves together and bit her lower lip. "We had a foal together."

I facehoofed. "Axe!"

"It was an accident!" she yelled back. "Once he found out about it, he locked me in a room so I couldn't leave!"

I set my hoof down and frowned at her. "I wonder why? He wanted to protect you and his foal! He was looking out for your health!"

"I don't want my foal growing up with her mother the sexslave who's paying for her aunt to get monthly Dash shipments."

I opened my mouth to ask her another question, but was interrupted by a sound I had not heard since before becoming an alicorn all those years ago. The ear piercing wail of a cranky foal pierced the relative silence of the room. It clawed at my ears, scratched at them and tried to dig deep into my skull to stab at my brain. My ears pressed against my mane in an attempt to drown the cry out. Axe quickly looked at the cloth covering the doorway and rushed inside. The pistol dropped to the ground behind her with a clatter.

The radio's earpiece crackled to life with warm static. I placed it against my ear and tilted my head some, listening in to see if Radio was there.

"You saved them? Now keep them alive," was all she said before the static vanished again.

*** ***

"You're joking," Axe quietly said. She was sitting on top of a mattress lying on the storage closet floor with dirty covers over it to keep it looking somewhat useful. The room was dark, yet she had no trouble moving around thanks to her eyes. The foal was wrapped up in a bundle of blankets she held in her forelegs. I could not say how old it was nor could I identify the race beyond she wasn't a unicorn. The only thing I noticed about her was that she was extremely young. Young enough for Axe to risk staying in one place for many days until she was found by the bandits.

The cloth covering the door behind me had a vision slit cut into it, allowing very little light in. Not far from the door was a covered laser rifle I assumed she had used against the ponies and me.

My leg continued to ache while my teeth stopped annoying me. I finished checking Hyde for damage and put him in the bag.

"No," I replied to the maroon pegasus, shaking my head slowly. My voice was low so as to not wake the grumpy tiny pony. "I am not. Alicorn Town is far safer than the wasteland."

"It's full of alicorns!" she hissed quietly, her glowing eyes narrowed.

I nodded. "Yes. And that is why it is safe. No pony is insane enough to attack a town full of alicorns."

Unless they were Steel Rangers or Enclave.

"He is. You don't understand, Shock. He's got resources. You're wearing one of his uniforms."

I looked down at my stable barding and poked it. The cloth was the same as I remembered, and it made sense for a stable pony to have the ability to make drugs, but Lasso had said the uniform belonged to a crazy pony.

"What?"

"He's got his hooves dipped into many places; me, various settlements, some crazy as fuck pony with a monstrous steel machine. It moves on tracks and squeals like a wounded animal. I heard a story it shrugged off a plasma shot! You don't fuck with Baron Steel Skies."

I sat there staring at my barding for a few moments. The blue and gold cloth was covered in dirt, sweat, and smelled like burnt meat.

"You sure you want that bardin'?" Lasso's voice floated in my mind. "Some crazy fucker owns it. He ain't all there in the head. He'll come lookin' fer it an' I'm gonna tell him to talk with you when he does."

"Axe?" I asked as I lifted my foreleg up and pointed at the shoulder. "You say you've seen the pony that owns this uniform. What does this symbol mean?"

She looked at my shoulder as she gently brushed the sleeping fillyl's mane. Axe's eyes narrowed, her wings puffed up as she looked at it. "I'm not sure, but I've seen it on the front of the pony's machine. It's faded, but there along with the old world's flag."

I nodded slowly. "Anything else you can tell me about it? What does it look like? Is it armed?"

"Oh yeah it's armed," she replied quickly and nodded, then shook her head. "It's got an enclosed turret on top with a single cannon that looks like it'd fire a bullet the size of my hoof."

"Anything else?" I tilted my head.

"It also spits green fire from the hull where the tracks are like some kind of dragon. There's a name on the side of the gun barrel; Banhammer I think is the name?"

I frowned deeply as I slowly looked around the tiny room. My ears folded back. It was quiet, but that could change any moment. I had let Baron Steel Skies' ponies go free, they saw me wearing this pony's uniform. They will most likely report to their boss one of 'Banhammer's' crew threatened to kill them and saved Axe. Their boss is going to question whomever owns Banhammer and they're going to come looking for me here.

"You need to come with me if you want to survive the week," I said quietly and started to remove the radio pack so I could take off the cloth barding.

"Where?" she replied, frowning deeply. "Shock, I'm in no shape to fly with you on my back, plus all of our gear and Cola!"

"We don't need to fly. I'm trying to find a mule merchant. He is in a town not far from here. If we keep moving we can stay ahead of the enemy and get you and your foal to your family."

75% to next level

Chapter 7: Nowhere In Particular

Chapter 7: Nowhere In Particular
"Allow me to tell you the tale of the pony in black."

The energy rifle was odd. I had seen them mounted in Enclave armor before, used by wastelanders, and by many ponies in the guard, but its inner workings were alien to me. For all intents and purposes, it was a long matte silver box with a square scope attached to the top. Axe's rifle had a hole to stick your forehoof into and a curvy stock to brace against your barrel with. She had attached a bipod to it and notched ten kill marks along the stock.

The unloaded weapon floated in my magic. Without having to worry about accidentally shooting myself, I inspected every inch of the strange arcane device. From the stock, to the scope, to the barrel’s side, even the battery port.

My eyes were slightly wide and a small smile was on my face. I had never been able to look at the internal workings before. Though I could not tell you what was what in the battery bay; it looked like a flashlight's interior to me. And that is what I shall call it. Axe's Flashlight.

"You try sliding the power cell in. Make sure the little ridge goes into the relief. Otherwise it won't slide in," Wraith explained to me. She had decided to allow me use of the Flashlight until we got to town where she would buy me a proper firearm, so we were going through the basics. Not that I needed a firearm. They were handy when I didn't feel like using magic, which was… most of the time, so I suppose I needed one until I felt like stabbing something.

Taking the battery in my hoof, I turned it around and placed it against the weapon. It smacked against the bay and refused to go in. I tried to shove it in until it dug into my fetlock. "It's backward, isn't it?" I grumbled and flipped the battery around before she could answer.

"Yeah." She had collected all of her things into her modified saddlebags. One bag had been removed and a small crib-like container was placed in its stead so she could carry her foal with her. The bag had been moved to her other side in an attempt to balance the weight, but she said the crib and foal were still too off balance to fly correctly.

The battery went in with a satisfying click. A whine emanated from the weapon, slowly increasing in pitch before dying off. I watched the power lights on the left side of the weapon go from nothing, to red, to yellow, and finally to a bright green.

"Anything else?" I held the rifle's 'barrel' away from her or I, aiming it toward the ruins outside the storage closet.

"Yeah. Aim at a hostile pony."

I rolled my eyes. "I know that."

“No I really do mean you have to aim at the pony. Like directly at where you want to hit since there’s no bullet travel time with a laser. The hit is practically instantaneous with no real need to lead your shots..”

“Oh.” I nodded slowly. The advice sounded… odd to me, but I trusted her judgement. She did hit me in the leg after-all. Axe could be messing with me even though she sounded completely serious.

"And if the weapon starts beeping and all those lights flash red? Throw it as far the fuck away from you as possible, hopefully as close to the enemy you can."

"Why?" I looked at her, tilting my head.

"Because that's an overcharged cell. It carries a slight risk of an explosive malfunction."

"Why?" Was all I asked. I stared into her glowing eyes and frowned.

Ammo that turns a gun into an accidental grenade? Preposterous!

She shuffled her weight side to side, then looked down at the sleeping grump cradled in her foreleg. Her wings puffed up, unfolded slightly. "Because I want to make sure I kill whoever tries to take my foal from me," replied Axe, her voice low and quiet. So sure was she in her ability to do as she said, that I did not question it further. Even though the idea sounded insane to me.

"How many shots does each pack hold?"

"Thirty," she replied.

My gaze went back to the energy rifle. The faint moonlight coming in through the slit cut into the cloth door illuminated its matte surface. Hardly any light reflected off of the dull weapon. Hell, the pegasus had wrapped the barrel in cloth and had taped over the scope to give a tiny view of the target that would not reflect light. I kept the wrap but removed the tape.

I found her name choice to be odd for her abilities. Axe preferred stealth to kill her foes. Her sister, Wraith, preferred to charge headlong into the enemy with a blade in her grip. It was as if their names were given backward. Or to purposefully confuse a pony as to their true abilities.

My thoughts were broken by a light touch to my side. I glanced to my right as Axe nodded at me. She had moved and our muzzles were a hoof width away from each other. That soft glow coming from her eyes reminded me of radiation.

It also reminded me that I was mortal again.

I quickly looked at the gun and smacked the safety lever into the safe position to be sure it wasn't going to accidentally fire some how. "This is a nice rifle, Axe. I'll try not to break it." I nodded slowly, letting my hoof rest over the switch. My ears folded back ever so slightly. "It's a nice rifle."

Mortal... Weak to radiation. Weak to bullets, weak to age, energy weapons, and even food. Goddess, I hate being a unicorn and Dead Hoof needs a good kick to the face.

"Shock, I..." she began quietly. Her voice had a faint hint of something deep down that I could not pinpoint exactly. Maybe regret, or possibly sorrow. I could not be certain. I tore my gaze away from the Flashlight and looked into her eyes. She nodded firmly, her glowing eyes narrowing ever so slightly. Axe licked her lips and gulped.

"What is it?" I set the weapon down onto the table next to us and turned to face her. My ears turned forward so I could listen intently.

She took a deep breath and held it for a moment. Her foal was being cradled in her foreleg and sleeping quite soundly. The foal rolled over in what looked like an attempt to stick its face against the front of her barrel. She looked down at the filly before looking at me. "I... don't need your help," Axe said in as few words as possible.

Still, they caught me off-guard and hit my mind like a bag of bricks thrown by a mule. My smile slowly faded as I leaned back slightly, eyes wide. I could not formulate much of a reply beyond a half stutter that sounded more like a croak. Most, if not all of my words caught in my throat and felt like they were weighed down by a boulder.

I opened my mouth to speak, but closed it just as quickly. My gaze shifted to the rifle lying on the table, Axe's face, her filly, the weapon, and back to Axe's face again.

It made no sense to me why she would show me the operational details of her laser rifle if she had no intention of letting me follow along. Nor did it make any sense why she would agree to follow my plan and contact the vertibuck using my radio, only to rescind that idea. Her words threw a wrench into my plans and everything came crashing down upon my shoulders.

At that very moment, it felt like I was alone in a dark pit with the pegasus armor just out of reach.

"Why...?" was all I managed to get out. I lifted a forehoof off the ground and tilted my head. Had I wings, they would have been fluffed up like a fat fluffball. My ears folded back just a bit more.

"You're dangerous." Axe nodded again, tapping a hoof on the floor. I Tried to say something to change her mind, but she left no opening. She kept talking firmly like an angry mother. "Do you think I don't remember the island? You got me separated from my squad. You nearly got me killed twice. You screwed up the city! Now in what universe would I ever allow you to lead me around again?"

"The one in which I saved your sister from being melted by an evil plant." I smiled and nodded at her. "You and I both know she could not have gotten out of that facility without my int-"

"You tried to kill her," she added.

My smile vanished instantly as my mind wandered. I nodded, again at her true words. "Well yes, I did, but that-"

"Was before you decided to use her. I'm not a strung out junkie like her. I remember my father's instructions; get the alicorn, get out. Under no circumstances are you to ally with or make deals with her. Her rescue is her payment for rescuing Wraith. That order still applies. Our contract is done, fulfilled to the letter. We owe you nothing."

Payment...? So they consider rescuing me to be the payment for giving them information and rescuing Wraith? Well that means one thing; never will I get a suit of power armor.

Unless I steal one.

My ears drooped to the side of my face. I turned away from her and walked toward the flap covering the door. My head hung lower to the ground, giving me a good view of the dark concrete.

Words were lost to me. I could not come up with a reason why she should follow me, nor could I force her at gunpoint as that would break our trust further. She had made it abundantly clear she wanted nothing to do with me.

"Shock?" her distant voice reached my ears as I pulled the door flap back. I looked over my shoulder at her only to find her pushing the laser rifle closer to me. "You can have this though. Keep it, sell it, I don't care.”

I looked at the rifle for a few long moments. It'd be nice, but I had absolutely no idea how to fire it effectively. If I tried to fire it, it'd be like giving a newborn foal a pistol. I could not hit the broadside of the barn. It'd be a more effective club than a fine precision instrument of death in my hooves.

Might be worth a decent amount of caps though.

*** ***

Hyde's hellhound teeth scraped quietly along the narrow passageway despite being sheathed in his holster on my side. The distance between the concrete wall and the underground subway car was just narrow enough that I had no room to maneuver in, but could still fit. All I saw ahead of me was rubble and darkness, my horn only illuminating so much around me.

Not that it did much good. The subway train was annoyingly long and I was forced to take the underground path because the surface route was blocked by collapsed buildings. If I was smart I would have simply scaled the rubble instead.

If I was smart.

No, no. Smart pony was not in my vocabulary. It was why I was busy hauling a stupid radio pack on my back through the ruined subway system inside a pitch black tunnel where I could only see perhaps ten feet ahead. A hidden raider could see me coming from many yards away. Hell a raider could be sneaking up behind me for surprise butt sex and I wouldn't even know until it was too late!

I stopped struggling through the narrow passage way at that thought. My ears swiveled to listen behind me as I tried to turn my head and look back at the inky void.

Alone by choice I was. Lost, well not really, but I was looking for a way out. I hadn't slept since before encountering Axe and been travelling in the subway system for so long I thought I was seeing shapes moving in the dark. Things that weren't actually there, but appeared to be at first. Not even Radio could reach me down here. All I got was static when I had tried to reach the mare.

Was she even real?

At this point anything could be real or fake. I would take that surprise raider if only to say hello before cutting him in half with Hyde.

I frowned and pressed on, wiggling my flanks a little as I took a few steps forward. The passageway became narrower and narrower until it was so tight I could not move forward any longer.

Frowning at the rubble, I took a step back and unsheathed Hyde. "How does anypony navigate this stupid system?" I asked myself.

"They probably crawl along the top!" I replied.

"But I'm not a pegasus or alicorn, so I'll have to do this!" Pressing the power button on Hyde, he roared to life with a deep throated snarl, the blades quickly spinning to a blur of death. The blade quickly met the railcar and sparks shot toward me. I grunted and cringed, looking to my right to avoid being blinded.

That was when I saw it. It was so obvious it was a wonder I had missed it when first passing by. A door stood not less than two feet to my right marked Maintenance with a broken light above it. It was covered in grime and dirt, almost blending into the wall around it, but the door was there. I saw the handle glinting in the soft green light of my horn.

Hyde stopped cutting the rail car. Tugging on the blade proved fruitless as he had jammed himself into the metal. Frowning, I wiggled the blade free and sheathed it. Hyde whined sadly as he powered down to await another time to be free again.

My hoof probed the door handle for anything out of the ordinary, but I found nothing. Luckily for me the door was unlocked, so I stepped through it into a dark hallway that reminded me of the tunnel system beneath Oakwood Isle.

I glanced left, then right, and quickly looked left again when my brain had registered words written on the wall.

It read, beware the ghouls, with an arrow pointing down the hall.

I frowned at my luck and whispered to myself, "At least we're getting somewhere."

"Yes, yes we are," I replied for no other reason than to hear another voice. "Maybe this way leads to the surface?"

"Maybe..."

The hallway was decidedly less cramped than that stupid tunnel with many pipes running overhead and along the walls. My hooves were annoyed by the dirty concrete covered with patches of metal, but still I pressed on. Every so often I would encounter warnings about feral ghouls and warnings to turn back.

It was not until I opened another door at the end of the small underground maze did I realize the warning was truthful.

Standing around large container tanks and pipes were many ghouls. The uniforms and clothes they once owned were a tattered mess more fit as rags than anything resembling real clothing. Each and every pony looked like they had stood far too close to a balefire bomb when it had gone off. Some had their manes, others lost most of their skin and were showing bones and meat. One even glowed a bright green where exposed flesh was, glowing mist floating around it. Luckily for me the irradiated ghoul was far, far in the back, but the others... were quite close.

Close enough that I could see their individual teeth through their exposed jaw. Even closer still, was the stench. Oh Goddess the smell of so many ghouls in one place was almost overpowering. I didn't mind barbecued pony, but living corpses was another thing all together that made my eyes tear up as I stepped back and covered my nose. My chest contracted as I attempted to heave out my empty stomach and failed. It turned into a dry hacking cough instead that alerted nearly every nearby ghoul to my presence.

And yet I heard no screams through my coughing. I couldn't see anything past my nose because it was all a blur of tears. My horn reached out and tried to slam the door shut, I thought it did at least, but it slammed into something else with a thud.

"My fucking nose!" a gravelly voice rasped to me from the doorway. A glance in that direction told me all I needed to know that I had slammed the door on a ghoul's face. He had stumbled back and was pointlessly holding his nose.

"That smell!" I blurted out to him without thinking. "Close the door before I puke my guts out."

"Stop breathing and it'll go away!" he shot back.

"Piss off," I grumbled at his remark as I stumbled away from him, tripping over something in the dim dark hallway. I couldn't see what it was, nor could I stop myself from face planting into the floor with a clang.

"Ow..." I groaned.

"Hah! That's what you get, smooth skin," he said the obvious. "If you heeded the warnings you wouldn't need to throw up, would you?"

"Screw you," I groaned as I picked myself up and looked in his direction. I had nothing to block the smell. No filtration mask, no flamethrower to burn the pony, nothing. So I motioned at the door, again, with my forehoof hoping he'd close it.

"I could screw you if that's what you want," he said, not closing the door.

"I bet you can't even get it up," I growled back.

"Care to find out?" he tilted his head. I wasn't sure if he was smirking or half his face had fallen off and it only looked like he was.

Where was a gun when you needed it? Well, I had Axe’s Flashlight in my bags but I’d probably end up shooting my own hoof off instead of hitting the ghoul, so that option was out.

I frowned at his retort and thought of just walking off, but my hours of trudging through the darkness would only be wasted if I did. That and I would have had to spend countless hours retracing my steps. And navigate twisting passageways that I already forgot the layout of.

"Maybe…? Not really, no," I said quietly as I shook my head. Either my nose had fallen off, or the smell had gone away. As it was I no longer smelled the horrid rancid stench of decay. Though I did faintly smell it when I took a deep breath. I facehoofed, rubbed my forehead and frowned. "No. Look, I'm tired. Is there a room to rent in... whatever that place is?" I waved my hoof toward what I guessed was an underground pumping station for sewage.

My vision steadily cleared up while I sat there and stared at the frowning ghoul.

I saw that unlike most of the ghouls I had spotted, his rags resembled armor of some type and he had an ancient baton in an easy to grab holster. Not that the unicorn needed it. He also wore a black ball cap on his head, possibly because I saw no mane sticking out from under it.

"It depends on your intentions he said with a slow nod as the baton was drawn and pointed at me. "For you see, we cannot let you leave just yet."

I frowned at the baton and drew Hyde with my magic, aiming the ripper sword at him in turn. "I'm looking for a town where a merchant mule or donkey is said to stop often. He gave me the wrong potion and I want a refund, okay?"

The ghoul twirled his baton in a circle while his mind churned over my words. He was hopelessly outmatched and I doubt he knew it, but... If I killed him I'd have the entire 'town' after me. Including a glowing ghoul that would probably kill me just by saying hello and asking for a hug.

The baton stopped its twirl at the apex and spun the other way. It completed one circle before being put back where the ghoul got it from. I slowly relaxed and sheathed Hyde as well.

"He'll be here in the morning for some water trading," he said, nodding slowly. "We don't get many smooth skins down here so you're out of luck as far as a hotel goes. But you can stay at my place." He grinned again.

I rolled my eyes as I leaned to one side. "Yeah. I bet you'd just love that. Me asleep in your room, helpless too. I'll pass."

His grin faded again. His one and a half ears folded back slightly. "Oh come on! I wasn't being serious earlier. I was just messin’ with ya."

I frowned, turning my head slightly. "What time is it?"

"Five in the afternoon. Why?" He tilted his head some.

I didn't want to go with the ghoul, but neither did I want to sleep in the hallway. If I slept somewhere inside town the glowing one might pass by me and give me a death hug in my sleep. I was screwed any way I looked at it with only one real option to take.

"If... And that's a big if with a capital I. If I go with you back to your room, we are following my rules, got that?"

He stood there for a moment before nodding. "Sure. Whatever you say."

"First, no turning me into food. Second, no screwing me in my sleep. Third, and most important of all, don't go through my stuff. If I find you took something of mine..." I lowered my head to show him my horn. "I'll shove this so far up your rotted ass it'll come out of your throat."

"Sounds kinky." He shrugged at my threat and nodded. That was when I realized I couldn't actually kill the ghoul by shoving my horn into his backside. Nor into his chest. He was already dead! I would have to cut his head off to fully kill him. "I don't know where you got the first two ideas from, but they shouldn't be hard to follow. Come on." He motioned for me to follow him as he turned around and headed into the room.

*** ***

I kept my distance from the ghouls as we walked along. No clue where the stallion was taking me, nor did I care so long as I could get some sleep. The ghouls to my left were watching me closely, frowns on their faces or craziness in their eyes. I couldn't be sure.

Sidestepping further away from them, I slowly spun in a circle and took in my surroundings as I followed the nameless guard, who I shall call… Bacon. As that is what he reminds me of.

Sweet juicy bacon flanks.

Ew… my brain retorted.

I rolled my eyes in response to my own thoughts. Of course I had no interest in the ghoul. He was, afterall, quite dead and in the unlife. Close to being a zombie I’d imagine he was, nearly turning on his compatriots at any moment. With a ghoul you were never certain if they were about to snap of not.

Except for Sienna. That harmless little filly. Why I could imagine her just calling my name and seeing her face as she ran up to me to say hello, complete with her glowing red eyes that normally marked ghouls as feral. And yet she would be normal, for whatever reason I could not fathom. Perhaps the magic of the pods, or the magic of having an alicorn yank her back to reality. Or even… friendship of all things!

Whatever it was, she was her.

Something slammed into my foreleg and held onto it tight enough that I lost my balance and slammed face first into the hard stone floor, knocking me out of my daze.

“Face, meet floor and say hello,” said Bacon with a hearty chuckle.

“Ow…” I groaned as I blinked, staring at the rusty grate for a floor.

That was when I heard it clearly. That unmistakable high pitched voice from somepony so young, yet had been ghoulified.

“Lilly!” squealed the filly firmly attached to my foreleg. My ears flicked, turning toward her voice as she continued. “Oh my gosh! WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?! I've been looking aaaall over for you!”

Her voice was just as gravely as I remembered. Ever so slowly I pushed myself up into a sitting position and lifted my right foreleg up.

Her familiar face and her red glowing eyes were grinning at me. I tilted my head some, noticing that her brown coat still looked as shriveled as ever.

“You know her?” Bacon asked as he looked at Sienna.

She nodded rapidly. “Uh-huh! Lilly is my momma!”

I looked to Bacon for help, smiling sheepishly as I set my foreleg down and pat Sienna on the head. “Yeah.”

“You don't look like a ghoul,” he replied while Sienna rubbed her cheek against my fur. I wanted to cringe, to desperately push the filly away, because rotting smelly flesh could spread evil radiation or even fall off entirely, yet she was here in the flesh so to speak.

The filly was real. If she was real that meant others were.

My smile became more genuine at the same time I nodded. “Yes, well I’m not exactly her biological mother as you can tell. I rescued and adopted her as my own.” Then I looked down at her and frowned. “Why did you leave me?”

She looked up at me, ears folding back as she shook her head rapidly, causing her eye glow to create a solid pair of lines for a second. “I didn't leave you!” Sienna frowned and pouted, lip trembling slightly.

I let out a deep sigh and frowned as I pat her on the head. “Alright… you didn't leave me.”

“Yay!” Sienna grinned. She quickly crawled up my foreleg, used my neck as a booster and hopped onto the radio pack as I stood up. “Hey! This isn't fair! I don't wanna walk!”

I looked back at her and frowned, but the filly was losing her grip on the radio. Her hind legs dangled off the ground as she kicked them like she were galloping, tried to pull herself up, and flopped onto her back with a soft thud.

I looked toward Bacon, knowing whatever necromantic magic was keeping them both alive would prevent the filly from getting too harmed. Bacon continued to frown at me as if I were being judged for something I did not do. How was I supposed to know Sienna was looking for me? Celly was…

I quickly looked back toward Sienna. “Where’s Celly at?”

“I dunno!” She giggled as she rolled to her hooves and started hopping circles around me. “But you're back! We’re gonna go adventuring again! You’re back! You're back!”

I facehoofed. “Sienna... I’m tired, alright? I don't feel like doing anything but sleeping.”

“Then follow me! My house is this-a-way!” She grabbed my hoof in hers and dragged me away from Bacon.

I frowned. Not wanting to upset Sienna, I decided to follow her and look around the underground area, lest that glowing one gives me an unexpected death hug.

There were a few levels to the place, three in total with the upper floor appearing to be reserved for winged ghouls. Fences lined anyplace a pony could fall off a precariously placed catwalk with no railing. Small huts made from anything they could get their hooves on dotted the area.

Luckily for me I did not spot the glowing ghoul anywhere and that meant I would be safe for now.

For now. Assuming he, or she, did not actively seek out any smooth skin to turn them into a rock-voiced bacon pony. That would be bad for me, as then I would not be a pretty alicorn anytime soon.

Speaking of alicorns… Why had Sienna not said anything about me being a unicorn? Did she not remember? Or did she remember and was happier I was… ‘normal’?

My frown only grew the further into the complex we went. Sienna was babbling on and on about things, but I hadn't even heard a word she was saying, as I hadn't tuned her in.

“...Coltfriend!” she giggled, My ears definitely picked up those dreaded words I had wished she never knew about. I felt my face turn cold as my ears flicked back, eyes widening slightly and twitching.

“I’m gonna kill Celly,” I whispered under my breath as I stared straight ahead at a random ghoul who did not notice my stare.

“Um, Miss Lilium?” Sienna jumped in the air and waved her forehoof in my face, blocking my view of the random ghoul.

Blinking once, I took a step back and looked down at Sienna. “Huh?”

“I said you should get a coltfriend!” she giggled and pointed at my nose. “You could then cast the foal making spell and make me a little brother!”

I facehoofed as the blood suddenly rushed to my face and caused it to heat up exponentially. Even my ears burned. My eyes were shut tightly. “Oh… I… See.”

Yet I already had one, sort of… not really. Dead Hoof was alright, but not the sort of father material I would imagine Sienna needed. If she needed any at all considering she was almost as old as me, though, she did act quite like the filly she appeared to be.

Setting my hoof down, I smiled at Sienna and nodded. “Yes, I should I suppose. Maybe I’ll look for one tomorrow after I get some sleep, okay?”

She clapped her forehooves together once and pointed at a shack made from rusty grates, wooden boards and cloth for a roof and a door made from fencing. It appeared to be no bigger than your average queen-sized bed. “That’s my place right there. I built it myself using my horn!” said Sienna, pride in her voice at her own magic work.

It was crap, but let's face it. Everything in the wasteland was complete shit; the land, the ponies living in it, the air, and… the Destroyer.

I wanted to frown and tell Sienna that the shelter was a horrible death trap that any fool could get inside, but that would break the filly’s heart. And breaking a filly’s heart would lead to a scorned filly. A scorned filly leads to an angry filly. An angry filly leads to an enemy. An enemy which I could ill-afford to make. As angry fillies have learned to weaponize cuteness regardless of if they’re ghouls or living.

So I smiled and slowly nodded. “It’s… nice? Cozy, too, I think,” I muttered the last under my breath, unsure of what to call the death trap.

Sienna stuck her nose high into the air and trotted over to it like a dog who had been given a treat for doing something good. Using her magic, the filly opened the door for me and motioned inside. “You think it looks good from the outside wait until you see the inside!” She grinned.

I decided it would be best to continue humouring the filly and walked over to stick my head inside the door, as I wasn't sure if I could fit through it. Or if I would need a tetanus shot from looking at it.

The inside was indeed somehow better than the outside. Sienna had jerry rigged a laser rifle to power light strips that ran along the floor, illuminating everything from the bottom up. Glow in the dark stars of all sizes dotted the ceiling to provide a semi-pretty moonscape, if a false one. Clumped at the far end of the small shack were blankets and pillows piled up like a small nest or fort. Though running all along the wall to my right were hoof-sized green apples. Almost twenty bright, green, apples lined along the shelves.

“Is that food?” I asked, pointing at the apples and tilting my head. I was unsure if they were food or not as why would a ghoul need to eat?

Then again it was Sienna.

The unicorn hopped forward into the house and giggled as she shook her head. “Nnnope! Guess again, Lilly!”

I frowned and laid down outside the house contemplating taking off my radio pack and heading in. I honestly did not see the point in going further inside the ‘house’, as there wasn't much else to see. Just the apples, the bed, and some crayons next to a booklet. But if the apples were not apples according to Sienna then… that meant only one thing.

“Grenades?” I said to her as my ears folded back.

Sienna hopped onto her pile of blankets and dug her way inside them until she disappeared. “Yup! Green explody apples to fight the bad ponies with!”

My eye twitched. “Sienna… who are these ‘bad ponies’?”

The filly was insane! Keeping twenty live grenades all in proximity to each other. And not to mention the paint! What if she… oh Goddess what if some poor hungry pony tried to bite into one?!

Their poor teeth…

I rubbed my own jaw in response to my non-existing jaw pain.

“Bad ponies! Like them ponies who chop up other ponies for fun an’ hang ‘em by their guts.”

I let out a quiet breath and smiled when she described raiders instead of regular ponies, but it was still worrying… why would she of all ponies want to blow up raiders with plasma grenades? Let alone what insane pony is selling a ghoul filly plasma grenades painted green?!

More importantly, though…

“Who taught you to fight these bad ponies?” I asked, tilting my head.

“A featherless birdcat I call Kitty!” she giggled.

I scratched the back of my mane and frowned. “Can I speak with Kitty?”

She nodded. “Yup! But ya gotta go outside the city to do it. The others won't let him in.”

“Why?” I tilted my head. “He’s a ghoul, right?” She nodded. “So let him in!”

“They say he’s feral and will attack anypony on sight, but I swear Kitty’s harmless!”

All I could do was facehoof.

“But I can prove it!”

“No,” I said firmly and smacked my hoof into the ground. Sienna’s ears folded back at my frown and narrowing eyes. Her smile faded quickly. “I don’t want to hear it right now. Sienna, I’m tired, I need to find a donkey merchant.”

“Then sleep!” She squeaked like pair of rocks scraping against the chalkboard. Those two simple words smashed their way into my mind, causing my own ears to fold back slightly. I opened my mouth to speak, yet the filly was faster. “I told ya that you can stay here for the night!”

“But… Sienna, honey, I’m not a ghoul or an alicorn anymore. I die if that glowing one comes by.”

The filly stood there tapping her forehoof against her chin over and over. She looked up at the star studded ceiling, her barbecued ears folding flat then perked up and turned forward. Sienna hopped to her hooves and stomped a tiny hoof into the floor. “I got it! I’ll go tell Old Joe to steer clear!”

“You will?” I cracked a small smile and shuffled back out of the doorway.

“Uh-huh! He’s really nice an’ sounds funny, too! He’ll understand. Now sleep! You look like you need it, Miss Lilly.”

*** ***

True to her word Sienna had ran off and talked to Old Joe, who I assumed also kept his word as I was able to fall into a deep slumber all throughout the night and wake up again. Dreams came and went, fluttering through my mind like simple leaves on a breeze. One was of a place far to the south, another far to the west, to the north.

All were similar in that they had bleak wastelanders living in them.

Though the details were fuzzy. What was not fuzzy, was having a ghoul filly hop on your stomach to wake you up abruptly, shattering any hope of wanting to sleep.

After getting over the shock and grabbing my gear, the two of us headed out into the underground building. Sienna made me leave the radio pack behind so she could sit on my back and the filly’s familiar weight was re-assuring.

I mindlessly walked, not really paying attention to who was around me or where we were heading since all I had to do was turn left or right depending on where Sienna pointed to.

And after rounding the most recent right, I saw the merchant in the flesh. His coat was a deep dark grey, his mane a bright brown and eyes hidden behind thick shades. He wore your average scavenged wasteland attire made from various colored cloths with many pockets all brightly colored and grimy.

Around him stood a trio of ghouls including the guard from yesterday, which made me frown. Behind the donkey was his cart filled with barrels and crates.

The mere sight of the merchant made my blood boil deep inside. I grit my teeth and narrowed my eyes as I pondered how best to get the information from him. The first and foremost option was cutting a limb off and asking nicely with the promise of re-attaching it afterward with magic. The second idea was leaping through the crowd and strangling him until he gave it up. But then Sienna was here and I did not wish to do either of those things in front of her, so I let out a deep breath and watched.

A glass filled with murky water floated in the guard’s magic. He sniffed it as the merchant proudly proclaimed. “I drew that water direct from an irradiated spring high in the northern mountains filled with all the radioactive fallout you can imagine. The land is covered in snow and preserves the radiation better.”

The guard looked at the other ghouls before looking at the merchant. I stopped behind them and Sienna stood up, placing her forehooves on the back of my head so she could see over everypony.

“I highly doubt that,” I said loud enough for the merchant to hear me.

All of the ghouls turned to look at me, including a few nearby ones that were selling various items. The water and potion merchant seemed to be inside the ghoul town’s market and I noticed then that I was surrounded by shopping stalls and badly set up stores.

“And why not?” asked Bacon as he floated the drink back to the merchant’s table where I saw he had a canteen next to a pair of glasses half-filled with murky water.

“I can guarantee you this water is irradiated! Just look here!” The merchant pulled a Geiger counter out from his bag and held it over the water. Its needle suddenly spiked as it let out enough clicks that they blurred together.

Looking toward the merchant I sidestepped and slowly drew Hyde from his sheathe. Everypony took a step back as the blade was silently twirled in my magic. The guard quickly drew his baton, stared directly at me and frowned deeply. “Ma’am, he comes here every week. I have no reason to mistrust him.”

“Oh but I do,” I replied and took a step toward his cart. “See, I was sold one potion under the pretense that it would do one thing, but it did another entirely different thing.” My eyes narrowed to fine slits as I nodded toward the carts. “Open the barrel.”

“What?” The merchant frowned deeply.

“It's simple, open the fucking barrel and wave your Geiger counter over the water you're selling, and not a small sample of your choosing.”

Bacon frowned. “Sienna. Can you take her away before she makes a scene?”

“Uuuum. She kinda has a point.”

The other two ghouls remained quiet and gave me disapproving stares like I had interrupted something very important. Meanwhile the merchant was looking between me and Bacon.

“N-now there’s no need for that! I’m honest! All of this water comes from the murkiest most irradiated place deep in the far northern mountains!”

“Bullshit!” I shouted at him. “How can you go to the far north where this spring is if you’re constantly travelling in town?! Open the barrel!”

“I don't need to open the barrel! I have water right here! They saw me extract it with this canteen.”

The other ghouls all nodded one after the other while Bacon walked over to me. He hooked his foreleg around mine and glared daggers into my eyes. His rancid rotting corpse stench filled my nostrils again as my eyes teared up in disgust.

“Turn around and come back when this is done, okay?” His rocky voice was low, almost a garbled whisper. “We need this water shipment.”

“No,” I said loudly as I tried to pull my hoof free. He tightened his rotting grip to the point that I thought my hoof would pop free from my leg. Grimacing and letting out a quiet whimper, I shut my eyes as I tried to focus away the pain. “I am not a unicorn! This asshole sold me a potion that was supposed to turn me into a stallion, and instead it stripped my alicorn powers!”

The pressure on my fetlock ceased. Opening my eyes I saw the stallion take a step back and look at Sienna. I could feel the filly moving around as she nodded. “Mhm, it’s true! I remember Miss Lilium being an alicorn!” she said before he could respond.

Bacon looked at the merchant, looked at my tired exhausted face, and then back to the merchant. The donkey laugh-shrugged before pointing a hoof at me. “I’ve never seen this mare before in my life! I would remember her if I did.”

I frowned. “That's because I didn't buy the potion. My friend did as a gift. He’s a blue alicorn with a purple ponytail mane.”

“I don't know what kind of a friend gives a gift like that,” muttered one of the other ghouls. “That seems fucked up.”

“Mhm,” added the other.

“Why are you so defensive about the water all of the sudden?” Bacon tilted his head as he twirled the baton in his magic. Hyde continued to float in mine in a semi-non-threatening way. “If I’m paying fifteen hundred caps a barrel I ought to see the contents.”

The other ghouls nodded while one said, “Show us the water if you’ve got nothing to hide.”

The merchant smiled sheepishly. He gulped, took a step back, turned around and bolted off toward the far end of the market. “Hey!” shouted Bacon as he have chase. “Get your ass back here!”

Rolling my eyes and knowing that there were enough ghouls to catch him, I sheathed Hyde and floated the geiger counter toward one of the other ghouls. She had walked over to the barrel and, with her magic, popped the lid open.

She hovered the Geiger counter over the surface. Sienna hopped down off my back as I sat down. The filly went over to the murky water on the table and hopped onto it.

Miss Jerky frowned deeply. Then dipped her hoof in and tasted it. After a moment or two, she kicked the barrel over, tossing the ice cold water everywhere with a loud crash. “That fucking liar!” she shouted, tossing the Geiger counter in a random direction. I quickly backed away just to be sure.

“What's wrong?” asked the other ghoul.

“It's clean water,” I interjected.

The one sitting on the cart pointed at me and nodded. “She’s fucking right. The water isn't ‘spring water’. It’s fucking salt water from the bay!” she shrieked so loud I had to clutch my ears and cringe as her hind hoof slammed into the other barrel.

Her eyes flared bright red like Sienna’s for a moment, causing the other ghoul to shout. “Wait! Merry! Calm down!”

“Calm down?! How can I be fucking calm when we’ve been buying salt water from this asshole for the last year? It's no wonder ponies have been going feral even with the shipments!” She began panting heavily as she glared at the other ghoul with glowing eyes. Her jaw was closed tight enough that I thought she was going to bite through it.

I took another step back as I grabbed Hyde’s handle with magic, ready to draw at a moment’s notice. Sienna hopped from the table to the cart and hugged the ghoul’s foreleg before I, or anyone else could say anything.

Merry blinked once, twice, and finally third time before looking down at the filly. Her eye glow slowly faded as her eyes returned to normal. She pat Sienna on the head, slowly pulling her into a hug as the mare began to rock back and forth, humming softly.

“Why would somepony do that…?” The ghoul to my side whispered loud enough for me to hear it but not the other ghoul and Sienna.

I frowned at her, glanced at the one who had nearly gone feral in rage and shook my head. “I don't know.” In truth, the answer was quite obvious as anypony knew travelling sales ponies could be shady enough to rip you off for no reason other than you were unlikely to meet again. Unless you were me, and in that case you sought the bastard out to punch him in the face for his tuck-up. Hopefully the town guard would let me do the honors.

“I honestly don't know why.” I added as I shook my head a second time and turned away from the ghoul to avoid looking into what could have been my fate had I not chosen alicornification. Being a ghoul was not a fate I would wish on anypony.

“Smoothskin?” the mare whispered to me, my ears turning back to listen in. Though I kept my gaze on the weapons shop across the way. I had Axe’s Flashlight, that busted ass rifle no better than scrap, and the other pony’s smg. Not to mention the uniform barding I should sell

I did not acknowledge her because my name was not ‘Smooth skin’. Not even when she nudged my side did I look at her rotting visage.

“Miss? I wanted to say thank you and ask if you could… find it in your heart to help us survive. Without radiation, everypony here will turn feral sooner or later. We desperately need your help...” Her voice was quiet, grated, and coarse just like all the other ghouls I had come across, but deep down I heard something I hadn't heard from a pony in a long, long time. The sound of a desperate pony looking for help, asking me to save them from something. Not an order, not a request, not somepony using me for their own evil gains, but a genuine plea for help.

I frowned deeply, looking down at my forehooves for a long moment. She didn't need to tell me what they wanted, as I already knew the question and answer based off the fact that they were paying fifteen hundred caps for a fifty-five gallon barrel of water that should be irradiated. She waited while her friend Merry continued to rock back and forth with Sienna in a hug.

My eyes drifted over to the two and they fell upon the filly. So young to be a ghoul, but a very smart filly in my eyes. One who had built her own house to her liking and has survived without me for many years. If she were to turn feral now when I had the chance to prevent it… I would regret it until I died.

Sighing deeply in frustration from my choices at hand, I rubbed my forehead a bit and nodded slowly. “Alright… Alright. I’ll find you a source of radiation.”

Her rotting forelegs slowly wrapped around me and pulled me into a smelly bear hug before I could protest. “Thank you,” she whispered in my ear. All I could do was just sigh quietly and nod.

It can't be too hard to find them a source of radiation. The easiest solution would be to find a leaky stable generator and call it a day. Finding one in the half-sunk city shouldn't be too hard. All I would have to do is break into city hall, find their records and look where the large self-powered buildings are. Simple, quick, and easy.

Can't be too hard.

Shell Shock: Level Up!
New Perk - Late Nights And Long Walks. You can ignore the first day of sleep exhaustion while travelling, but you’ll forget things easier and lose all track of time unless you get a full night of sleep.

Author's Note

Sorry this chapter took so long to publish. :ajsleepy: The next one shouldn't take so long.

Chapter 9: You, and me, and the Goddess Makes Three

Chapter 9: You, and me, and the Goddess Makes Three
”Put the damn microphone down, ya fuckin’ drunk!”

“So you know my name, but what is yours?” The old earth pony asked. He was holding Axe’s Flashlight in his hoofs while we sat near the crates and a tiny crackling fire. It provided very little warmth and light to the otherwise dark and bleak room. Crescent’s Pipbuck quietly played a melody from the radio. Of what specifically I could not say due to the volume being too low.

The rifle was as it always looked; boxy, silver and covered in cloth with the unusual barrel brace. Unusual for a pony weapon and completely unwieldy for anyone not hovering off the ground or using magic to carry it. Truth be told it was slow to draw and completely impractical for me.

No, no.

Impractical for anyone! How could Axe use such a weapon effectively? Doesn’t really matter does it? The weapon won’t be mine much longer if Crescent agreed to the trade terms, the energy weapon and magazines for his submachine gun and two magazines with around forty rounds between them.

Crescent pulled the cloth off the rifle exposing the scope and mounting points and held it close to his tired eyes. Based off the stable pony’s eyes I’d say he only had another hour or two before he passed out.

“You should get some sleep after this,” I said to him, motioning at the earth pony with my hoof. My voice felt like it came from the depths of the deepest canyon and reverberated in my chest causing me to frown deeply. Not at all what I was expecting when I spoke. I tilted my head to the left and then right which made the aching joints pop and crack audibly as a wave of tension dissipated.

“I should, so you want to give me this fancy rifle for my broken smg?” He replied, flipping one of the batteries around in his hoof and in a swift move, without being told how to do it, he slid the battery into the rifle the first time. The rifle gave a satisfying click and whine as it warmed itself. “Interesting…” he added.

“What?” I slowly stood up as my knees protested by almost locking in place which made me pause halfway and then continue the rest of the way with a grunt. Where was Med-X when you needed it? Probably in my bags near him.

His submachine gun was a simple weapon really. Hold the trigger all the way down and you get full auto, which was why he had mentioned he didn’t like it. The fool did not realize you can simply lightly squeeze the trigger and release to get a single shot! Better for me I suppose.

“The cloth covered the charge indicator, which says there is a problem with the battery.” He pulled that battery out and tried another one while the light he spoke of continued to indicate a red error symbol. “And so far they all are saying that. Lilly, have –“

“Don’t call me that,” I stated plainly and narrowed my eyes to fine slits as I glared at him. “How do you know that name if I haven’t mentioned a name and you were asking me for mine?”

He raised an eyebrow and turned to look at me. The earth pony’s head was cocked to one side and from what I could tell his breathing looked quite normal. He motioned toward me while speaking again. “When you were in the city I heard that name mentioned toward you. I thought that was your name?”

I thought about this and kept my death glare up. Clearly it was my name, the name of a long dead unicorn mare from before the bombs fell. She was me and not me at the same time. I am clearly an alicorn. With a snort through my nose and a slow shake of my head I spoke softly, clearly and right at him. “You don’t get to use that name. Forget you ever heard it, because my name is Shock.”

“I like Lilly better.” He muttered and shrugged. This made a feeling of intense anger swell inside me. My heart suddenly pounded in my chest and I could only think of one thing; murder. The earth pony must die or apologize. Oh sure he was nice, but he must die.

“I don’t give a fuck!” I shouted, reaching for the submachine gun with my telekinetic magic. I could feel the magic grip the weapon tightly and pull the charging handle back as I brought the sights up to my eye and aimed in his direction. “I didn’t tell you my name, so forget Lilly. She doesn’t exist to you.”

Crescent stared unmoving at this display. He gently set the energy rifle back down and eyed me. I don’t know exactly what he was looking at or for. Probably staring at my messy mane half covering my vision, my matted and dirty coat, my sunken bloodshot eyes with bags under them, the many injection spots on my legs. It could be anything, really. I knew I looked like shit, but I didn’t care.

My magic held the trigger loosely and I could feel it slowly, but steadily squeezing. The smg was old but well maintained and it could easily wipe the smug expression from his face with a simple pull of the trigger.

“Okay, Shock,” he finally said in a tone that sounded sincere, causing my eyes to open wide and the magic to slowly let go of the trigger.

I just stared at the pony unsure of what to say, my eyes blinking a few times. Did I overreact? My heart thundered in my ears drowning out the crackling of the fire while the veins in my forehead throbbed and I could feel the anger starting to dissipate only to be replaced by an intense feeling of being stabbed through the skull by my own horn.

The intense pain destroyed the spell matrix with a pop at the same time I clutched my head with a hoof and clamped one eye shut. A ringing sensation in my right ear was quiet at first, but it quickly built up to an insanely loud screech that drowned out the sound of the weapon clattering to the ground.

The submachine gun did not go off. Was it even loaded? When I last checked I thought I had put a magazine in it to make sure the functions worked but there it was laying on the floor with no magazine. The chamber was wide open from when I had pulled it back revealing it was completely empty.

I think I’m going insane.

“You’re the one that needs rest, Shock.” Crescent’s faint words cut through the screeching in my ear, but I quickly shook my head. This proved to be a mistake at first as the ground did not stop spinning beneath e my hooves and I swore that the floor itself tilted backward before slamming down again.I took a deep breath while I struggled to regain my footing and when the strange feeling was over I gave him my best smile even though my eye kept wanting to close.

“I will be fine.” I replied, slowly nodding ever so slightly just in case the spinning came back. “I just… I don’t know what came over me, sorry.” As I spoke, my gaze slowly drifted back to the box containing the Balefire Bomb. That warm radiation called to me like a beacon in the night. I needed to bask in it. It will fix me, it will make me feel warm and fuzzy again. Maybe it will give me a set of wings.

Or death. A horrible, horrible death where my mane fell out and my skin sloughed off in chunks.

Crescent slowly walked over to me and held his hoof under my chin for a moment but thought the better of touching me and stepped in my view. “You’re not.” He said and stared into my eyes, but I looked down instead of meeting his gaze. How could I look at him when I just tried to shoot him over saying he liked the name Lilly better? Shock is clearly the better name, but Lilly also sounded nice!

But what was my name anyway? Did I even have one?

“I’m fine, don’t worry about it.” I muttered quietly to hopefully assuage his fears about me. Why was he so worried anyway?!

Because he cares for you, came a voice in my head. Familiar yet distant and distinctly not mine.

I blinked at the voice and glanced around the room before looking behind me. It was a familiar voice but one I could not place. Perhaps an alicorn was following me, but surely the earth pony can’t be so dumb as to care that much about me? All we did was talk business and he gave me a massage! And what a nice encounter it was…

A small smile crept across my lips, my heavy eyes wanting to close as I remembered the way his hoofs worked their way into my aching joints only a short while ago, but it was quickly shattered when Crescent clapped his hoofs together with a loud clap.

“Hey!” He shouted. His eyes narrowed and staring me down while I looked up at him due to him being slightly taller than me. “You aren’t fine, Shock. Even I can see that and I don’t know you very well. Tell me what’s wrong.”

“No.” I grabbed the submachine gun again with my hoof but tossed it on the pile of stuff that was mine and slowly walked toward it, my joints aching and clicking with each step. “It’s none of your concern and neither can you help.”

“And why not?”

“Just don’t worry about it. I’m working on it. All will be fine soon enough.”

“I watched you talk to yourself for hours, now you’re trying to shoot me with an empty gun over your name and you want me to not[/] worry?! Something is seriously wrong here. Ponies aren’t supposed to be like this.”

I do not get how this pony lasted two weeks if he is this concerned for another random pony. Surely a raider would’ve taken advantage of him and murdered him in his sleep by now! Has he even actually shot anyone?!

I stopped just in front of my belongings and looked down at them while my horn continued its attempt to murder me with pain. It had gone from the horn to the eye and ear and now to my neck feeling like something was pressing against it with their hoof but when I checked I felt no physical touch. There was nothing. Was it the radiation playing with my mind? I had cleared it with RadAway?

Through my only good ear I could hear the faint music from Crescent’s Pipbuck sounding like a pony galloping along with thundering hoofs. Each faint beat stabbed at my skull like an ice pick while my ears burned with each note. Memories of a past I thought I had outrun until recently started to float to the surface of my mind and I swore I could taste copper in my mouth.

And it was all Dead Hoof’s fault.

Speaking of the asshat… I looked at my hoof. “Bring me his head… bring me his head and I will forget this ‘incident’.”

“What? Whose head?” Crescent asked.

I slowly looked back at him and gave him a wide soft smile. “A bad pony’s head. Not you, but another. It’s the whole reason I am out here in the first place!”

“Who?”

“We need to get to the caravan first. Once I save the town and they give me the antidote I’ll show you the true me.”

Crescent raised his eyebrow. “Huh?”

“I’m actually an alicorn.”

“Funny. You don't look like one.” His voice had just as much confusion as his face held.

“How about I rip the wings off a pegasus and staple ‘em to my back? Would that suffice?” I turned my head to the side and gave him a small smirk.

His eyes twitched in reply.

*** ***

“So where is this caravan? Crescent asked, his voice droning on again.

Our hoofsteps echoed across the rubble strewn road. Clouds slowly covered the sky once again, but shafts of light shone down in spots and a faint rainbow even showed itself. Ruined buildings of old lining Our path like a maze once more. We wished We could fly above the maze, but alas, We could not. We were stuck. Plain. Boring. Useless, but she pressed on. She did the same thing she’d done since she could remember. Lilly walked with another at her side.

A heavy sigh left my lungs as I looked to Crescent, ignoring the voice in my head trying to call me useless. I tilted my head in his direction, before I looked up at the sky. “How the hell do I know?!”

He tilted his head at me. “You don't know?”

“No, I don't,” I replied, shaking my head. I waved a hoof ahead of us. “No Pipbuck, no map, so how do I know? A building is a building.”

“I have a Pipbuck,” Crescent said.

I stopped to look at him, my head tilting a bit. “You do.”

“I do.” He nodded.

“You do. Do ya know how to use a map?” I asked, a small frown wanting to form on my face.

He nodded, again, and turned his attention to his Pipbuck. Crescent used his nose to boop the screen and manipulate the controls much to my amusement.

I looked back the way we had come. Clouds were steadily rolling in threatening to dump more rain on us. What sun there was barely streaked through the clouds layer. My eyes drifted down to a taller building looking for any signs of movement inside. Something that would indicate a pony living inside. A light, boarded up windows. Anything.

But I saw no signs in that building. Crescent mentioned something, yet the words were not clear.

She heard naught of the outside world, only her own inner thoughts muttering quietly to herself. Lilly stood like a rock, much like she had done in the past on Oakwood. Unblinking, not even her ears turning toward the voice until movement caught her eyes.

Crescent waved a hoof across my face. I blinked, taking a few steps back from the stallion and frowned at him. “What?” I asked.

“You haven't moved in five minutes,” he said, a small frown on his face. Crescent’s eyes were narrowed at me as I stared at his.

“Really?” I tilted my head, lifting a hoof off the ground. “Five minutes?”

“Without blinking. Or moving.”

“Are you sure it’s been five minutes?” I asked.

He slowly nodded. “Ya looked like a damn statue.”

My eyes narrowed at him and I cocked my head to the side. “Five minutes without blinking is a bit unrealistic, no?”

"No.” He shook his head.

“Then how long has it been?” I asked.

“Five minutes,” he said once more, causing me to frown at him, but he pointed to the clock on his Pipbuck. “No blinking. There is something wrong with you, Shock. What is it?”

I opened my mouth to reply to him, but no words came. He couldn't be serious about five minutes passing, could he? Surely not. I mean, as an alicorn I could see it, but my current self? Not at all!

“What was your stable like?” I asked, hoping to change the subject, as I did not need him to insinuate that I was crazy. I already knew that.

“Like a stable; well maintained and a small community. No issues.” He clicked his tongue before he shook his head and motioned at me. “Ever been in one?”

“Actual stables or ones taken over by experiments?”

“Actual working stables,” he said, nodding. “The way they were designed from the start to save lives.

“Once if you count being stuck outside as radioactive snow fell and the inhabitants refused to open the door.”

“How did ya get in?”

“We didn’t.” I slowly shook my head. “Lots of explosives made sure they would have to dig their way out when they did eventually open.”

“Ah…” he tapped his hoof in thought over my words and stared into my eyes, so I stared back into his light pink, almost silver eyes.

He still had a sword at his side. That same comically oversized sword he had on initially, so I leaned to the side and pointed at it with a tan hoof. “Say… what is that? It looks neat. I like swords, too.”

Crescent drew the weapon and showed me the improvised device. Its handle was made from a pipe and wrapped in cloth while the actual blade of it was a sharpened road sign. It did not look at all combat competent, yet I saw flecks of dried blood over the name; Cake Street.

I pulled Hyde out of its sheathe to show him my sword. “Here’s mine.” The chainsaw machete was well used, but cleaned. The teeth showed signs of excessive use over the years. I should probably repair it someday soon.

Crescent placed his sword in its sheath, took mine in his hoofs and I saw him shift the weight balance from one hoof to the next. He frowned deeply at something, causing me to tilt my head.

“What?” I asked.

“It's imbalanced,” he said.

“And? I've been using it since I picked it up and it does fine.” I waved a hoof dismissively and shook my head. “It's a tool for opening doors and ripping through power armor like the tin cans they are.”

“Then why is there dried blood and, I’m not going to guess that, between the teeth?” He asked, giving me the blade back. I snatched it with my magic and sheathed Hyde on my back.

“Did you find the caravan? We should keep moving,” I said, nodding, not at all elaborating on the finer points of combat.

Crescent looked at the Pipbuck on his leg. “Not sure. Alicorn Town is maybe two days away according to the map.”

“We’d do well to avoid that place. They prefer to be left alone.”

“Well, Tartarus is a half-day's trot to the east and that's where we started.”

“What if we just give them the bomb?” I tilted my head. “You rig it up so it only dirties water and make it inert?”

“We’ve been over this already. If we give them the bomb we endanger everyone in the area. We have to dispose of it!”

“In the right hoof it is of no consequence who owns a balefire bomb. It is only what they intend to do with it that matters!”

Crescent frowned deeply at me. “I don't trust any surface dweller with a balefire bomb. Look around you to see the reason why.” He waved his hoof around us at the rubble I needed no reason to look at.

I sat down to stare at the scars on my leg from the Med-X injections and frowned deeply. He had a point. A very good point that not all surface dwellers could be trusted with such a weapon, but the ghouls weren't surface dwellers. They lived underground, they were likely there when the bombs fell. They would know the horrors such weapons could cause.

And that could make them all the more dangerous and insane. It’d be like giving Ripper a second… bomb.

“Ripper,” I muttered to myself, bringing my untrimmed and flaking hoof up to look closely at it. “Ripper…” My eyes drifted away from the hoof to lock onto Crescent’s eyes. He had an eyebrow cocked and was staring silently at me. I felt my lips contort into a smirk.

“What?” he asked, tilting his head ever so slightly. “What’s Ripper?”

“Who,” I corrected him, waving my hoof in his direction.

I could see the lightbulb going off inside his head as his eyes slowly widened, his head tilting back a bit. “Who?” he asked.

“A ghoul I've met. Not the most…” I shrugged, balancing nothing in my hoofs for a moment and shook my head. “Friendly of ponies. She’s rude, crude, and talks about invisible food, but.” I pointed a hoof at Crescent and waited.

He tilted his head. “But?”

“If you want to have a safe place to store your bomb, her place will be perfect. Assuming it is real in the first place.”

“She already sounds like a bad idea,” Crescent muttered. “Where does she live?”

“First! We pack up the bomb and ensure no point can look inside. Second, we transport it to Oakwood.” I smiled. “Third, we navigate all of her traps and mines to her ship.”

He tilted his head to the side and narrowed his eyes. “Oakwood? I've heard that name uttered at the docks. What is it?”

“An island off the coast that is basically a science experiment gone wrong. Everything wants to kill you, even the island itself. Miles and miles, and miles of underground tunnels run all over the island. A stable unlike any you've ever encountered is there.”

I paused and let the stallion chew over my words. I could practically see the gears turning in his head as slow as they could go. He glanced toward the east at the building next to us, before looking down the street again. Crescent frowned deeply, but said nothing. His ears folded back, but then lifted up, before they folded back again.

“No one, but Steel Rangers would miss it if it were to blow up,” I said.

“How do we get there?” He asked, turning his attention to me once more.

“Take a Steel Ranger transport out there, or convince a pair of alicorns to fly us. The only problem is if either of those groups find out about the bomb they will want to keep it.”

“I’d rather have my hoofs on the ground than in a flying deathtrap. We’ll need a cart.”

“And where do you think we can find one? The only carts around us are wrecks.”

“We can buy one.” He nodded. The area around us was illuminated by a bright flash, followed by a deafening roar that drew our attention to the wall of clouds.

I stared at the wall of clouds as something cold fell on my nose. A small droplet of water, followed by another, and another. “So she wasn't lying about the storm,” I muttered quietly.

“The radio’s been talking about it for the last week.” Crescent stepped toward the clouds and frowned.

I glanced at him. “The alicorns are moving further into the city’s heart to get away from the storm. If they are moving, then that means no ships will be leaving for Oakwood until it passes.”

“Aren't alicorns and Steel Rangers enemies?”

“Yes, but if the waves are so bad they're coming inland you can't dock a fucking boat!” I waved ahead at the clouds as more rain began to fall in a steady sheet, drenching the ground ahead of us.

*** ***

Rain. Glorious rain was all that I could see out the window. Couldn’t see much past the sidewalk either, as the rain came down so hard it roared like a freight train.

Crescent sat nearby doing… something with the laser rifle I had given him. Honestly, I don’t know what the fuck he was doing beyond tearing it completely apart! The dirt of the floor around him was cleaned away and a sheet from a stable was laid over the ground, weapon parts everywhere on the sheet. The roof of the room barely held together. A small fire between us kept the room warm while vegetables sizzled on a stick. Their crisp and sweet aroma was a nice break from the mud outside.

“Where the hell did you get fresh vegetables?” I asked Crescent, nodding toward the fire where I had put the veggies on only a minute before.

He ignored them as he held a small lens in between his hoofs close to his face. Crescent breathed on the lens, causing it to fog over before he quickly wiped it down with a cloth.

A lens? Why would a rifle need a lens?! Just slap some bullets in, close the bolt, and go! Crescent’s rifle was more wires and electrical components than a firearm. I stared at the parts on the ground with no clear view of where it all went together.

I used my magic to rotate the veggies a bit, my stomach rumbling softly so quietly that only I could feel it grasping for food. Food that could be eaten raw, yet for some reason I was cooking it.

If only it was radiation. That was easy enough to eat, just sit in it.

Returning my attention to the window, I saw more rain again. The sky had grown dark enough that it looked like night had come early, yet it was still daytime. Behind me, Crescent’s Pipbuck spoke softly. The words incoherent to me over the cacophony of rain.

Not the clop of a hoof against concrete and a gasp from someone as they slammed against the ground out in the rain though. My ears swiveled to the sound, focusing intently on where it had come from. I saw nothing out there.

I focused my magic on my horn for a moment, grabbing Hyde’s handle as I prepared to draw the weapon from my back.

“You better say something quick,” I called out to the rain, my gravelly voice carrying into the rain.

“Hm?” He asked. My back was to him, so I couldn’t see what he was doing, but I did hear him get to his hoofs and heard the faint click-clack of a pistol being cocked. “Wha’ out there?” he managed to say through the pistol’s grip.

Impressive. It sounded coherent enough I tilted my head toward the rain. “I heard someone,” I said, slowly drawing Hyde from the sheath whence it was stored.

Nothing came from the rain except the roar of the droplets slamming into the thin roof above and the concrete outside. I sat there staring, waiting, unblinking.

She did. Lilly sat and watched the rain for the longest time until she was certain that nothing was out there. Crescent sat behind Us and had put his pistol away to turn the veggies once more. Still, Lilly did not move. Yet… We saw something, We saw it before she did. Distinct movement in the rain signaled a pony getting up from the ground not far away. We nudged Lilly, tugging at her ear to follow the sound.

So she did.

The faint clink of metal against concrete in the rain. Not too loud, but different enough to be heard over the roar of water. Again it happened.

I looked toward the sound my ears had picked up and stared. Something was out there. Not something, but someone using an invisibility spell or device. Ever so slowly, I took a deep breath and prepared to throw Hyde out the window should the intruder come closer.

There in the rain was a pony’s silhouette outlined by the falling rain. Tall, regal with a long horn. They were pretty damn close, too. About six feet I’d say. How I hadn’t seen them when they approached was a mystery. The tall pony, likely a blue alicorn, moved as slowly as they could, picking one hoof up and stepping forward. Their hoof clinked against the concrete and they stopped.

I grew tired of the alicorn’s charade and threw Hyde out the window right at their face. At the same time I threw all of my weight at the door, leaping through the open window.

The pony let out a surprised gasp just before the machete slammed into their face. They stumbled back, shouting in a distinct mare’s voice, “My fucking nose!”

“Shock?!” Crescent yelled, but I ignored him.

I landed on the ground with a grin on my face, but the slick concrete was tough to get any traction on and my hoofs slipped under me. Face, meet ground. I hit the ground hard and slid for a moment.

The alicorn turned and bolted away as fast as herhoofs could carry her, but I got to my hoofs and gave chase.

She ran into the night, her metallic hoofsteps betraying her presence as she galloped down the street. I followed suit, keeping my head low as I galloped into the storm.

“Where the hell are you going?! Crescent yelled, but I kept going. “We’ve got a plan, dammit!”

*** ***

The rain made it easy to follow her for the most part. All I had to do was keep watch where it was being disturbed by her body as she galloped, a small rooster tail of water following her. We ran through the street, turning down an intersection. The dirt and grime on the road bubbled up creating a foam-like substance every now and then. Lightning flashed overhead, illuminating the buildings and thunder roared, shaking my body to its core.

I cared not for the howling wind trying to throw the salty raindrops in my face, nor for the thunder drowning out the sound of our hoofsteps as we galloped through the city. Crescent was… somewhere. His distant voice could be heard once in a while behind us.

The alicorn darted down an alley, with me following after her into the debris covered ground. Our hoofsteps echoed once more until she stopped. Her outline quickly turned as it grabbed a dumpster and tried to block my way.

With no wings to fly over and the dumpster being likely out of my height to jump over, I slammed my full weight into the dumpster. It shifted under the impact. Pain shot through my entire body as I let out a pained cry, “You bitch!”

The alicorn shouted in surprise at the same time the dumpster collided with something. I fell to the wet ground, my hoofs sliding across the concrete again. Fire lanced through my shoulder as I rolled away from the dumpster and looked at the alicorn.

The hood of the blue’s black cloak was down, revealing her form for all to see. A light azure hoof clutched the back of her head where it had likely collided with the asphalt. Her dark blue mane was drenched and covered her face. She lay on her side, wings splayed out and her saddlebag contents all over the ground near her.

A rifle lay on the ground, old, but maintained from what I could see.

I was the first to get up to my hoofs. I wobbled, not really using my weight on the injured leg as I hobbled my way toward the alicorn.

She was moving, slowly, but moving as she heard me approach.

“Who are you?” I asked, my voice letting out another croak. “Why were you sneaking up on us?”

She sat up, setting her hoofs on the ground, and I could see by the way her wings twitched that she was unsteady. Stars practically swirled around her head as the alicorn stared at me with dark violet eyes.

I blinked at what I was seeing, slowly reaching a hoof out to touch the mare. Her nose felt real enough. As did her face and her hoof when it collided with mine to smack it away from her glaring eyes. “What are you doing, foal?! Get your grimy hoof off of me!” Mud marred her face where I had touched.

“G-goddess…?” I whispered, my voice hardly audible to me as rain roared down around us. My eyes wide as I took in the near perfect face that almost resembled the Goddess to a T. At least my interpretation of her anyway.

The mare blinked once, twice, thrice at me. Then her frown became a small smile and she nodded. “Why… yes, it is I, the Great and Powerful Goddess!”

I blinked at her. The voice was familiar, but I couldn’t recall where from. “Where have you been? I thought you died…”

“You and everyone else.” She twirled her hoof, turning her nose up with a hmph, her wings spreading wide. “Behold! The Great and Powerful Goddess lives!”

What did I do? Not bow, that was for sure. The Goddess was dead if Mistress Tail Blade was to be believed. I could only stare at the alicorn.

My ears swiveled behind me, the alicorn before me leaned to the side at something approaching with heavy hoofsteps, but I didn’t look. It sounded like Crescent, because he shouted, “Finally caught you two!”

His voice echoed off the narrow alleyway as the Goddess watched his approach. Me? My eyes went to her non-moving mane, her zebra cloak covering most of her body, but importantly, the cutie mark of a few exploding gems was visible. I had no idea if it was the Goddess’ cutie mark or not. In truth, I had never seen the true form of the Goddess beyond what was at Maripony. Only in dreams did I see a mare that resembled this one, but different. Oh so different, but similar.

The Goddess stood up and backed away from me. “Now there are two of you?!” she asked.

Crescent finally arrived and slid to a stop, pushing the dumpster out of the way. He looked at me, the other alicorn, back to me, the other alicorn and then at me. “Who is that?” he asked.

“The Goddess,” I said quietly.

She bowed her head at the words. The Goddess turned her attention to Crescent and folded her wings against her side. “Greetings,” she said.

He stared silently at her for the longest time, before offering a hoof out. “Hi? I’m Crescent,” he said.

She stepped back, nose scrunched and wings spread ever so slightly. “Sorry, I don’t shake hoofs. Never know where they have been.”

He set the hoof down and turned his attention to me. “Shock? Are you alright?” Crescent asked me.

“Shock?” The Goddess asked, drawing my attention to her. She pointed a hoof at me. “You’re not Shock. You’re just some unicorn!”

I frowned at the alicorn, holding my hoof out toward her once more. “I can explain!”

“Who is it you’re talking to?” Crescent whispered loud enough for me to hear and looked toward the mare once again. “Who is she?”

Again, I said, “The Great and Powerful Goddess of Unity.”

The mare chuckled softly and gave Crescent a smirk. The area around us illuminated as bright as day for just a split second, then the rumbling of thunder roared by us.

Crescent slowly nodded at her. “I see. Hi, Goddess. Care for a snack?” He pulled a box of snack cakes out of his bags and held it in his hoof, gently shaking the box at her.

The Goddess stared at him with narrowed eyes. Neither Crescent, nor the Goddess spoke as the seconds passed by, so I set about picking her things up off the ground with my magic.

It was the least I could do for the Goddess.

17% to next level.

Chapter 10: The Things We Do

Chapter 10: The Things We Do
“We don't need a hero. We just want you.”

Wind howled like a banshee through cracks in the walls, as a faint flame failed to do much for warmth. Overhead, the pattering of a heavy rain drowned out the crackle of the fire.

My eyes were shut tight, head tilted to one side as I wrung my mane out with magic until it felt dry enough. Towels were a luxury none of us had. The Goddess’s zebra cloak hung above the wannabe blaze like a piece of meat being smoked.

Crescent sat across from me, a deck of cards in hoof, as he waved them around and spoke of rules to blackjack. I already knew, so I nodded along like I was learning something. I have no idea where he got the cards, but assumed it was from his stable.

“Hey, Shock?” he asked, voice pulling me from the comforting abyss of my own mind. I didn't smile, nor frown, I just stared at him.

He threw a hoof toward the Goddess. “Is she actually a Goddess?”

“You know I can hear you?” she said from across the room. A different room from earlier with a higher view of the street outside, but same enough it looked like a pile of rubble shoved in the corner.

I nodded to her. The answer wasn't clear. If only a fortune teller were around I could ask them. Or, if I had my alicorn magic.

Crescent smiled at her and shrugged. “Yeah? Hay, would you like to play cards?”

“What?” The Goddess asked.

I tilted my head at Crescent wondering just what he was planning. He paused, then held the cards out in his hoof to her.

She took them in her magic, flipping the deck around, before she pocketed the whole thing. “No,” the Goddess said. “We do not play foal games.”

Crescent's ears dropped. “Awww…”

He waited to see if she said anything, but she didn't. The Goddess just watched him. Then turned her attention to me. She said nothing, I said nothing, Crescent said nothing.

It was an old fashioned Griffin standoff without the guns.

Crescent was the first to break it by clapping his hoofs together with a thunderous clomp. “Alright then! Hey, Goddess, would you happen to know about the Steel Rangers here?”

“They're full of themselves and hoard technology,” she said.

Crescent looked at me. I nodded. He then looked at the Goddess. “I see. What about the pegasi?”

The Goddess shrugged her wings. “Fluffy, but nowhere near here.”

Crescent tapped his chin in thought for a few long moments. “Do you have a story to tell?”

She looked at me, and I looked at her, then she looked at him. The Goddess cracked a smile, giggling softly to herself about something. She nodded slowly. “Allow me to tell you the tale of the pony in black.”

I got up, my old irradiated joints clicking and aching like they were trying to kill me.

The goddess waved a hoof to me. “Or perhaps, Shock’ll tell it?”

“Huh?” I tilted my head.

The Goddess grinned. “Go on, tell us a story. You know the one.”

I knew of one, yes, many in fact, but which one she was referencing came up blank. I tapped the side of my head, the ringing in my ears faded and came back, then faded when thunder rumbled around us, coming well after the flash.

“Which one do you want to hear about?” I looked at Crescent.

“How about a ghost story?”

“I could tell you the first time I met a ghoul. I'll never forget it.”

“That's not exactly scary.” He shrugged. “I've met a few already.”

I tapped my hoof to my chin for a few long moments, an idea already forming in my head for a story. If they want a story, then I’ll give them one. I nodded slowly. I told them I found it in a memory orb a while back.

“Our story starts back before the bombs fell in a time when Equestria was still mostly happy. By mostly I mean ponies looked happy, but you could feel MoM’s watchful gaze. Balloons flying in the sky, propaganda posters everywhere. The ‘Pinks’ coming in the night to disappear you for speaking against the status quo.

“Even the news talked about zebras in the shadows sometimes. A lot of it was false if you knew who to ask. The history books were approved by a select group of people, so even looking into the past wasn't helpful.

“We’d caught wind of a new job some weeks back; transport cargo from A to B. It was simple, but the cargo wasn't. We had to borrow it from another pony first.

“That pony was elusive, paranoid, and always looking over her shoulder in case someone was trying to shoot her. I don't know her actual name, as she called herself Mrs. Peach. Peach would pay us a ton of bits in exchange for our help. All we had to do was meet her contact and get the info.

“It seemed perfect. Almost too perfect. The catch? Well, the cargo was a book. A random ass fucking book the MoI hadn't touched yet, so it still contained the secrets of old. Whispers of the Forgotten Ponies.

“I sat in the corner of a noisy club as a slowed version of a rapid dance song tried to deafen me. It was dark, except for the magical laser lights. Fog drifted through the oppressive heat filled the building, forcing sweat to pool off my body as I tried to quench my thirst with a cider on the rocks.

“A crimson pegasus mare named Dawn sat next to me. Her basic black hoodie was loose around her fetlocks, her normally short mane having been dyed a bright silver with a few neon extensions added on. Dawn clutched a Sparkle-Cola in her hoofs and took a sip, closing her eyes.

“She was waiting, I was waiting, no one said a word, but her wing wrapped around me was a lovely feeling. One that I leaned into and rested my head on her neck. I closed my eyes, allowing the abnormally slow song to thrum and thump through my skull in time with Dawn’s heart.

“I took a slow breath on the verge of letting sleep take hold, despite the loud music. My heart fluttered and danced with various thoughts, but I cannot recall them now.

“Dawn’s voice cut through the music, as she gently shook my side and told me to wake up.

“A pony approached the table. She was wrapped ear to hoof in a dark cloak like some kind of edge lord that didn't want you to see her face, but her cyan muzzle was visible, as were her pink eyes. She stood across from us, never pulling her hood down or sitting. She just… waited, as if Dawn or I were supposed to speak.

“The mare tilted her head at something, her eyes shifting to the side momentarily. She stepped right up to the table, speaking in a hoarse voice that barely reached over the music. ‘Whence the sun comes?’

“Dawn set her Sparkle-Cola down and slid it toward her. ‘Less is more,’ she said just as quietly.

“The mare tilted her head the other way. ‘Thou shalt wilt in the fields of mine feathers. Once the…’ the mare trailed off, as she shifted from one hoof to the next.

“My eyes wandered from the edgy mare to the crowd beyond her. A rainbow crowd of ponies were dancing in front of an oblivious DJ. Even a few uniformed army soldiers on leave were attending the party. The barkeeper was busy mixing a drink in their magic, twirling the tumbler and putting on a small show while ponies looked on.

“Fog drifted across the floor, swirling around the pony and settling near them. Not far from the pony was a pair of dead spots in the mist. Places no fog touched, but should.

“My ears folded back slightly, and then they turned toward the pony. I nudged Dawn’s side to get her attention and whispered, ‘We’re surrounded.’

“ ‘You just now noticed?’ Dawn whispered back, nuzzling next to my ear. The thumping music made it impossible for anyone else to hear what we were saying. Or so I hoped.

“The cloaked pony looked at me. ‘Once the twilight of the… the… ugh, this is so stupid,’ she hissed, casting her gaze at something else.

“ ‘I have no idea what you're talking about,’ I replied and picked up my apple cider with magic, faking a sip as I watched her reaction.

“She stammered, tripping over her words, before she gasped, ‘What?! W-wait! I know the code! I ha-have information!’

“ ‘Are you alright, dear?’ Dawn said to her, waving a hoof at the mare. ‘You seem lost.’

“ ‘Confused,’ I added for her.

“ ‘Perhaps you should have a drink?’ Dawn continued almost as if we were one.

“ ‘Please, have a seat,’ I said, waving my hoof to the chair nearby with an idea to bore the mare out of her mind. Dawn shot me a confused look, but said nothing, as the mare followed my words and sat across from us.

“As she sat down, her hood slipped just enough to catch a glimpse of the unmistakable wrinkled face of Rainbow Dash, the Ministry of Awesome’s leader. What was she doing here trying to set us up? The invisible security detail was clear why now.

“I used my magic to pull a deck of cards out from my bag and shuffled them on the table between us. ‘Let's play.’

“She frowned. ‘Why?’ Rainbow asked

“ ‘Tell us why you're here then.’ I dealt five cards to everyone and set the deck in the center of the table.

“Rainbow picked hers up after a moment’s silence and stared at them. She set two down. ‘I was told to meet you two for a job.’

“ ‘Uh-huh, I have no idea what you're talking about,’ I replied, moving my pair of eights to one side of my hand next to an ace. Then set a four down.

“Dawn placed four cards down, causing me to raise an eyebrow at her. She shrugged and glanced at Rainbow. ‘It was junk.’

“I dealt everyone their cards again and waited for Rainbow to speak. We had no chips, so Rainbow set some golden bits on the table and called for a waitress.

“She looked between Dawn and I for a moment, before speaking again, ‘I was sent by a mutual friend to tell you about a book,’ she said plainly and openly. ‘The friend is rather large and round. Perhaps you know her?”

“Dawn said nothing as she set some bits out.

“Four of my cards were dark, and I held two pairs, so I threw a few bits haphazardly onto the table to match the bet and shrugged. ‘You could be describing a baker who eats everything they make. Why not drop the charade and tell us what you want?’

“Rainbow sighed, shaking her head. She glanced back at the invisible ponies for a moment, before looking at her cards. ‘I can get you back in,’ the blue mare stated plainly.

“It was my turn to raise an eyebrow, letting out a soft hum. ‘Explain.’

“ ‘We need a group to go into Zebrica for an important item.’ Her voice was low, so low I had to turn my head to the side and hold a hoof to my ear. ‘It's dangerous, but we’ve made a list of ponies we thought could survive the trip.’

“Dawn and I looked at each other. Her eyes said she was tired and worn out.

“ ‘Hold on,’ Dawn said to Rainbow, ‘Why are you telling us this?! You work in a warehouse!’

“Rainbow giggled softly. Dawn was right. Why would the Ministry of Awesome be interested in going to Zebrica? They were logistics! Then again, moving books is technically logistics.

“ ‘I’m tired, Miss Dash, so very tired,’ I said, shaking my head. ‘I already lost an eye in Hollow Shades, so why me?’

“ ‘Because you're a mare who knows what she’s doing. Your experiences could help them succeed.’

“ ‘Hypothetically, if I accept, what do I get out of it?’

“ ‘Your memories,’ was all she said.

“I blinked slowly, letting my eyes stay shut for a moment. My memories? How would she know about that? I’d lost my memory in a skybus accident. Everything from my foalhood to a few years ago was blank. A gaping void of nothing. Fragments here and there tried to surface, but they were shadowed and I’d forget them the instant I opened my eyes.

“ ‘Truly?’ Dawn asked for me.

“Rainbow held up a memory orb; a trap most likely. ‘Everything you were, everyone you knew, all of it contained within little orbs like these.’

“ ‘How do I know they're actually mine?’

“ ‘You don't.’

“ ‘A quick in and out trip to Zebrica for my memories,’ I said quietly, rubbing my chin in thought. It was extremely tempting, but did I want to know who I was? My cutie mark was mundane and boring. All I did was cook! I had nothing, no one, but Dawn. Not even a foal.

“I held my hoof out for the orb. ‘Give it to me.’

“Rainbow pulled it closer to herself. ‘Yours are in the Crystal Empire.’

“ ‘Why there?’ I asked.

“ ‘That's where you died.”

Crescent stared at me, eyebrows raised in clear confusion. “Did you ever make it?”

“Did you not hear the part where she found that in a memory orb?” the Goddess said, before thunder rumbled overhead again.

Rain continued to hammer the rooftop as I stared into the flickering flames of the warm fire. “Got deep into Zebrica and was less than a week from our objective when the world ended. The job no longer mattered. I never left Zebrica.”

“But you're here now?” Crescent said.

“Sort of.” I shrugged my wings, well, my shoulders. I didn’t have wings anymore. I glanced at where they should be, wondering why. Just why did that fool give me the drink?!

My teeth ground together, but there wasn’t anything for me to do. Dead Hoof wasn’t here. I couldn’t put a bullet in his brain. Maybe when I got back, but then how do I explain it?!

Perhaps if I lured him away to some secluded spot. No, he wouldn't follow me anywhere like that.

No, he wouldn't. He wouldn't follow Lilly anywhere. He's smarter than she thinks. Smarter than she is. Smarter than us. Sometimes, maybe. We do not think he is, but she doesn't believe us when we say it. So we watch from the shadows, lurking, waiting for Lilly to heal us. To make us whole again.

And then we can both make his final day stretch into a month.

Crescent stamped a hoof on the tile, cracking it. “Shock! You're doing it again.”

“Huh?” I tilted my head, blinking over and over at the stallion. “Doing what?”

“Staring off into the distance without blinking.”

Goddess nodded slowly. “The earth pony is right. You were staring at the wall like a statue.”

I shook my head, then rubbed my face, letting out a quiet mumble, “I don't think it's been that long?”

“Two minutes?” Crescent tapped his Pippy, the hard bit of his hoof clinking against the screen.

I shook my head, yet both of them nodded at me. Was it an after effect of everything?

Probably.

Likely.

Are you sure about that?

Probably not. We need to find a cure, Lilly. We need to be one again.

We do… I need my wings back. I yearn to fly free, to give them a flap. They were still there. I could feel them moving when I moved. Feathers that'll never be preened, an itch in the joint I can't remove. It'd be simple to just flap and let it pop away, but no.

I stomped both hoofs into the ground and glared at the wall.

To Ripper then?

To Ripper.

*** ***

We convinced the Goddess to help by offering her radiation and caps as payment. She had never been to Oakwood before and heard the stories about the alicorns there. A ‘paradise’ of radiation hot spots. A place where an alicorn could be free from society and make their own way fighting terrible monsters.

I didn’t tell her too much beyond the basics. Just enough to entice an alicorn into making the trip, but still knowing what to expect.

The three of us waited until the storm passed and headed down to the docks with the Goddess carrying the balefire bomb on her back like a pack mule. A wholly humiliating prospect for an alicorn, but one she didn’t seem to mind, as she had set aside her zebra cloak in favor of helping us.

For now.

I still wasn’t convinced that she wouldn’t betray us later on down the line if she ever figured out the crate’s contents, but for now. For now she was with us.

The docks were in disarray with ponies trying to pull rubble from one ship that had crashed into a building, others were trying to get smaller boats off the streets and back to the water. The citizens and workers paid us no mind, for we were merely travelers looking for a handout in their eyes as we went inside the local bar that was three stories off the ground.

Situated inside one small skyscraper, the Sea Grill & Bar was a lively place filled with a rainbow assortment of ponies taking up damn near every place you could sit. They had converted almost the whole floor to a restaurant in the past, complete with fancy spark-generator powered lighting that hummed away from fixtures dangling above.

A bright green earth pony off near an empty dance floor sat on a stool playing a soothing melody through a battered guitar. It drifted across the room and over the other voices, beckoning my ears to listen to the magic of wandering an open desert. A pink earth pony sat beside the first with a tambourine in their hoofs, gently clapping away with the music.

Overall, I’d say the restaurant owner had her head on straight when it came to layout, because everything looked like you’d see from the old days in a popular place. Structured, orderly, with clean floors and tables. I’d say the owner was a ghoul. It had that kind of old world charm to it.

One that left me looking for any ship captain as I wandered from table to table, ears alert and eyes up, joints clicking away. Crescent had left me to go look for his own captain, hoping to find someone here that’d hire us on the promise of payment, because we didn’t have much. I certainly didn’t have any caps. Ponies kept stealing my stuff.

Oh, sure, I had Hyde and a few trinkets, but I wasn’t giving up my favorite weapon for anything and a few trinkets might not pay for passage.

That is when I saw the darkly colored hippogriff staring right at me with their piercing ruby eyes! They had a similar dark-green shade to my alicorn fur with wings that looked like they could engulf two ponies when unfurled.

I looked behind me to see if there was anyone else, but the Goddess was with Crescent, leaving me the only pony the hippogriff stared at, so I slowly walked over to their table.

They motioned for me to sit across from them. “I’ve been expecting you,” they said in a voice that sounded hoarse from screaming so much.

“Are you sure you’ve got the right mare?” I cocked my head. It was odd, because I sure as hell didn’t know the hippogriff.

They nodded firmly, long mane falling over their shoulders and blocking my view of their shirt. “I am sure. The cards did not lie that a traveler seeking passage would come to me.”

“Who are you?”

They had a spread of fancifully painted cards in the center of the table, each depicting different things from death to a tower, to a dragon and beyond. A parlor trick at best. A con at the usual times. This hippogriff even sold the con by having a bottle of my favorite Sparkle-Cola waiting for me.

“You can call me Anna. You and I are both heroes of our own tale. Just as your traveling companions have their own tale.” The hippogriff grabbed their own glass of what smelled like fresh sweet tea, sipping it as they watched me. “Sit, tell me of your request. Convince me that I should help you.”

I set my bags on the chair and slid next to them, not taking the offered drink. “I need passage for three to Oakwood. We must speak with a local there and will find our own way back.”

“A one way ticket to the Isle of Death? Tempting, but Oakwood is far, far away and fuel is expensive.” Anna hummed for a moment, tilting their head one way, then the other.

“We can pay in caps, items or favors.”

The dark-green hippogriff cracked an eye open, freezing in place. “Favors?”

“Favors.” I nodded firmly.

They tapped a claw to their chin for a long moment, closing their eyes once again for what felt like eternity. Long enough that I decided to lift the bottle in my magic and crack it open with a satisfying hiss. Anna flinched visibly at something. The hippogriff leaned to one side, fore leg reaching for some kind of switch that wasn’t there before they opened their eyes. Anna’s glittering red eyes stared at the back of her wrinkled paw as if they dipped it in flames at some point in the past. Then flipped it around to look at the palm and made a hoof.

They noticed I was watching and looked up at me, nodding. Their seashell necklace clattered together, drawing my attention to a single shark tooth-like item in the center of it.

“Sorry. I am not from Equestria. Sometimes, certain sounds take me back to my homeland. A favor for a favor is a fair trade. If you will help me with a group of scientists, I will help you. The only thing I require is that you must be ready to kill.”

“Always,” I replied.

Anna nodded firmly. “A group of scientists chartered my trawler to search for a wreck. They are bringing aboard a lot of equipment and too many ponies for me and my wife to keep track of. All I require is that you make sure they do not bother my wife or get into the engine room. Understand?”

“I do.” I held a hoof out for a hoofshake.

30% to next level.

Chapter 11: Sometime After the Last Day

Chapter 11: Sometime After the Last Day
“So what did you mean by the first time you met a ghoul? When was this?”

Well… It begins like all terrible tragedies do, it was one fine day sometime after the end of the world. The green radioactive snow had stopped falling in the region for a moment, and we somehow made it back to Hollow Shades after driving hard through Zebrican territory for the last several months.

We were alive, tired, sick and low on supplies. Hellcat needed gemstones for her spark engine, too. Everyone’s ammunition levels were dangerously low and the acid rain had washed away the camouflage we hastily applied in Zebrica, causing the machine to be a mix of camouflage and generic green paint with streaks of silver showing through. Its lower half was covered in mud from the melting snow and the wagons behind us were in just as sorry of a shape.

As I looked back at them I counted two medium tanks with a few dings, one captured Zebrican heavy tank and many transport wagons filled with both supplies and worn out ponies. A few zebras had come with, but they were in the lead tank replacing the lost crew.

I looked to my left where a pony sat in a bright yellow radiation suit with a map floating in his magic. He sat in the slush. I merely stood in the shit in my Equestrian Army uniform. I leaned against the Hellcat with a nearly empty whisky bottle in my own magical grip.

“Alright, look,” he began with a slow drawl to his voice that said he hailed from Appleloosa. A place I had heard was hit hard and we had to keep the unicorn away from the zebras by sheer virtue of putting them in Hellcat. After all, why would you pick a fight with a tank when all you have is a pistol?

I think he was saying something, as his mouth was moving, but I wasn’t paying attention, because my drink was more important than his words. The alcohol scorched my throat with a familiar burn and filled my gut. Never would I have been allowed to wield a missile launcher while drunk in the army and they still wouldn't let me, so I was stuck with my basic bolt-action rifle taken from a gryphon. It rested on my back and was a familiar reminder that I had been a part of the hell that caused the world to end.

The end of days was my fault in a way. With a bullet, I could end a zebra. Or a pony…

I frowned deeply at that and stared at the bottle, wondering if the alcohol was starting to think for me. Surely I wouldn't shoot a pony just because? They’re friends, not enemies!

“Lilly!” the pony to my left snapped as he stomped a hoof down in the muck. He held an evil glare I wanted to slap off his face, but I settled with a snort.

“What?” I grumbled. “Think you’re too good to face the elements with the rest of us, hm? My mane’s starting to fall out and you’re hiding in a suit!”

“Look, we’re doing the best we can with what we’ve got.” The stallion shook his head at me. “That’s why we’re here at…” he slowly looked down the road toward what could only be described as Tartarus.

Even before the Last Day the city looked like a wasteland with constant fighting, fires and smoke rising into the sky. Robotic factories produced weapons even while they were being fought over, inside, and around. Ponies had fortified it, zebras took and reinforced it. Ponies improved and made the defenses impenetrable.

And now zebras had it again.

“Is this really Hollow Shades?” The stallion asked with clear confusion in his voice. “It looks nothing like I imagined!”

I merely nodded.

He turned toward me, blinking a few times. “Is it?”

I sighed heavily at him since he clearly didn’t see the nod. “It's a little worse for wear,” I said, waving a hoof once more to the ruins, “but I will remember that ruined smoking skyline until I die.”

“Oh pony… It was like this before the end…?”

“I’d say it is better since I was last here.” I let out a laugh and shook my head. “Less ponies and it's so quiet. So very quiet…” my eyes slowly narrowed to fine slits as I turned my ears forward to listen.

Nothing, no distant chattering of gunfire, no wailing shrieks of artillery screeching overhead, no pleas of the dying. Only a deathly silence reached my ears.

“Something’s not right,” I said softly.

“You're damn right something's not right. It looks like you ponies made this—”

Ignoring the unicorn, I looked up at the Hellcat and raised my voice. “Murdak!”

A striped face appeared over the side of the turret, wearing a leather tank crew hat. “Aye, boss?” He asked in zebra. I hadn't known much when I first joined the army, only a couple phrases, but working with them improved my vocabulary greatly! I was fluent enough for a conversation.

“Anything feel strange to you?” I asked, motioning toward the city with a hoof once again.

He slowly looked toward it and gave the air a sniff or two. Then the zebra grimaced visibly. “Death. Pink Death.”

“Shit…” I frowned.

“What’d he say?” the unicorn whispered.

“Someone used a pink cloud bomb on the city,” I replied and glanced at him. “Meaning death will be near instantaneous if you breathe it in.”

The unicorn shuffled slightly and gulped visibly, even through the suit. He looked out toward the city before looking at me, then the zebra and back out at the city. “What savage uses such a weapon?”

“Shut up and tell me where to go before I kick your ass,” I growled at Banana Butt.

He cleared his throat and showed me a map of the city. The useless map he had likely picked up in a gift shop just outside of town. One that showed the pre-death hole state it was in. The unicorn had circled one area about fourteen kilometers to the southeast where a hospital would be.

I slowly shook my head and pushed the map away. “No good. That hospital was turned into the Zebrican Headquarters. We flattened it, but they built a bunker over it. Let me see your map.”

Before he could reply, I snatched the map in my own magic, grabbed a marker from a pocket and began scribbling out lines and circling various things I could remember. It was hard to recall everything thanks to the booze and never seeing it from the air, but I think I had a good idea of what it looked like.

“Hay!” the stallion shouted. “What are you doing?!”

“Shut up and let me finish!” I kept drawing, marking an ‘X’ over one cross street, running a faint dotted line underneath a park, toward a mall and then branching out toward other areas.

The stallion huffed and stood there waiting for me to finish and when I finally did, he gave the map a good hard look at it before proudly stating the obvious. “This looks nothing like the original map…”

I facehoofed and shook my head. “Moron.”

“What are these zigzagging lines?” He pointed at a pair that led the length from one ‘castle’ to another across a large portion of the city.

“A trench network both sides made,” I replied and motioned toward one of the castles. “And those castles are bunkers. Your best bet to find supplies is deep inside the bunkers.”

“That’s insane! Surely there are supplies above ground?!”

“Irradiated supplies,” came a mare’s voice from inside the Hellcat. A brown mare with a ten gallon hat atop her head looked out over the open turret. “Those bunkers got them there fancy seals an’ maybe one of ‘em has a command stable. ‘Least that’s where I’d put supplies if I wanted to keep ‘em safe from harm.”

“What she said.” I motioned up toward her. She tipped her hat and flashed a grin at me. Murdak merely watched, since his Ponish wasn’t too good.

Banana Butt sighed deeply and tried to scratch at his head, but failed miserably due to the helmet. His hoof clinked against the glass, causing him to gasp and step away from it when he smeared mud on the helmet.

“Alright then… how do we get into the city without dying?” he asked in an attempt to not look like a fool.

“That there lies the problem,” the brown mare said with a chuckle and pointed a hoof at me. “See, what I just heard from Lilly is that they done rebuilt this place after the zebras rebuilt it, makin’ the tunnels an underground maze of death.”

I nodded. “And that’s if we even get there. We’ll have to come up through the northeastern forest to avoid any chance of being spotted. Once there, we’ll need a team to go in on hoof toward that bunker.” I pointed to one on the map. “We have the tanks sit back and provide indirect fire support should they meet resistance. Hopefully we find a path of least resistance, because make no mistake, Mr. Banana Flanks, they—”

He frowned at me. “I am not a banana!”

“Whatever. Make no mistake, jackass. There’s an entire garrison of ponies, and an entire garrison of zebras out there and the city’s too damn quiet.”

“It's been months since the last day,” he replied. “They're probably out of ammo or they’ve made up and are working in harmony?”

I looked up at the mare above me, she looked down at me and we both laughed at the stallion.

*** ***

“I fuckin’ hate being right!” Apple Cart shouted as she hunkered down inside of a hastily dug hole. The poor mare clutched her helmet close to her head while bullets snapped above us, one after the other. “We should have gone through the western gate!”

“Hellcat, Hellcat, fire two,” I said into the radio, ignoring Apple Cart’s screaming. I rested on familiar ground; the mud next to the mare with a radiophone in my ear and the actual radio box on another mare’s back.

”Roger that Pathfinder One, firing two,” came Murdak’s static filled voice over the receiver.

All I could hear from the ‘deserted’ bunker Banana Butt had picked as our entry point, was the rapid chattering of a buzzsaw-like machine gun. Peeking up to see anything would be death, trying to dig away would be death. Staying in the hole would be death once they decide they got bored of shooting and lob mortars.

Speaking of Banana Butt, the fool had elected to come along as a liaison for the Ministry of Peace, and as a medic in case shit hit the fan. He was still in his now muddied radiation suit cowered as close to me as he could get. Close enough he should be buying me dinner. Banana Butt muttered nonsense while I listened for the screeching of friendly artillery, but then I heard words I never wanted to hear a pony utter in such a situation.

“I can't be here any longer! I’m not a fighter, dammit. I shouldn't have come! M-maybe if we hold a white flag up they’ll not shoot us…?”

I quickly grabbed him by the collar with my magic and glared a glare that tried to pierce his very soul. My eyes narrowed, teeth clenched before I yelled, “Do you wanna die?!”

His eyes widened, jaw trembling visibly. “I… I… no! I want to live!”

“Then keep your head down and stay put!” I hissed at him, keeping my death grip on his collar. “I’ve lost too many friends to them ‘just taking a peek’ and I won't lose another!”

“But if we just—”

“They’ll blow your fucking head off as soon as you look regardless of the white flag! This isn't some merry little war where both sides follow a decree. Both sides are dead! These are zealot zebras and we’re ponies. They. Want. Us. Dead.”

He gulped and shut his eyes, muttering to himself, “There’s no place like home… There's no place like home! I want to go hooooome!”

I rolled my eyes and shoved Banana Butt back into the mud. “Then keep your head down, idiot!”

As soon as I said that the chattering of machine gun fire was broken by the shrill wail of an artillery shell screaming its death song over head. Listening in, I heard it thankfully continue on past us toward its destination where it impacted something and exploded.

Dirt rained down upon us, brought about by the wind. The machine gun slowed to a stop, making it seem like the bunker had been hit directly, but I knew better. Apple Cart knew better. Everyone but Banana Butt knew better.

“They stopped!” Banana exclaimed. “Surely that means we hit them?”

Apple Cart was using a tiny mirror to look over the crater as she lay on her side. “Hellcat didn’t hit shit!” she exclaimed. “I knew I shoulda stayed in the tank. Have ‘em lift up one and a half degrees.”

I relayed the message to Hellcat before turning to Banana Butt. “It just means they're either reloading or trying to trick us. Sit tight. If we have to, we wait for nightfall.”

The stallion hugged me as tight as he could, causing me to groan. “Lilly,” the unicorn whined. “This plan was stupid. Why did we have to leave our tanks behind?! We could have rolled in and no one would bother us.”

“I’m babysitting a moron,” I muttered and shoved the pony away from me.

“We woulda lost ‘em if we brought ‘em. Enemy looks pretty dug in.”

As I looked up to the sound of another shriek, I swore I could have seen the shell had I not blinked, but then it vanished from view as it continued on. An explosion rocked the area as the shockwave washed over us, sending concrete and dirt over our heads with chunks raining down.

Apple Cart grinned widely and let out a hearty laugh. “Haha! Direct hit! They ain't shootin’ anytime soon!”

With a nod, I tried to look toward one of the other craters, whistling as loud as I could. “Razorclaw! Smoke ‘em and get ready to move out.”

“Aye! Aye!” The hippogriff replied as a smoking grenade came flying out of his crater, landing some distance between us and the bunker.

I placed the radiophone to my ear. “Good hit! I say again, good hit! Ceasefire, Hellcat. Pathfinder One on the move toward the target.”

”Roger that, ceasing fire. Let us know if you need any more support. We’ll be waiting.”

“Tell the Chief we’re entering the complex and expecting heavy resistance. Send what support he can asap. Pathfinder One out.” I gave the radio receiver back to Apple Cart with a quick toss.

“Smoke’s ready,” Apple Cart mumbled as she continued to watch the mirror.

I glanced over at the stallion to see how he was doing. The poor banana suited pony was still curled up in a tiny ball, shaking and muttering to himself about wanting to go home, or Celestia’s embrace. I couldn't be certain. Regardless of what he was mumbling, I gave him a swift punch to the shoulder to jar him out of it. “Asshole!” I shouted. “It's time to wake up and move.”

He blinked in clear surprise as he scrambled back, letting out a very loud and quite mare-ish shriek of surprise. “Don't kill me! I’m not a zebra!”

I rolled my eyes, shaking my head at his antics. “I’m not going to kill you, doc. We need you more than you know,” I replied quietly and turned my ears to listen for the shouts of my comrades.

“Oi! Zebras!” Razorbeak’s shrill chirp-like voice pierced the air, just before a loud thudding roar of a heavy gun drowned out his reply. The sound was quite familiar to me, one that said it was Razorbeak’s rifle that fired large caliber rounds. It was distinct enough to know it anywhere.

Apple Cart was the first to crawl out of our hole while Razorbeak let loose with another short burst, likely not even hitting anything but doing enough to make whatever was on the receiving end cower in fear.

Motioning with my hoof for Banana Butt to follow, I headed up over the crater after Apple Cart, keeping low in case someone spotted movement through the smoke. Despite smoke grenades being useful, they did not create clouds of impenetrable fluffy clouds. Nay! They created clouds you could walk through that were wholly dependent on the wind. And the wind was blowing the smoke far to the east, giving me a full view of the bunker and what Razorbeak was shooting at.

Much like what Apple Cart had described. The bunker took a direct hit to the front with a bunker busting round, though ‘direct’ was not dead on center. More of to the bottom right with a large pony-sized hole in it. The rest of it, however, appeared intact and there looked to be a machine gun setup right smack dab in the center.

Bullet holes surrounded the machinegun’s mounting plate and more were added by the second thanks to Razorclaw’s suppressing fire. Should any zebra dumb enough go for the gun, they would surely die a horrible, yet quick death.

With a nod, I got up and trotted forward toward the smoke behind Apple Cart. She glanced at me and flashed a smile, eyes fluttering slightly. “Eh? Eh? I told you I could hit the bunker without being in the tank.”

I ignored her look and checked on Banana Butt. He was peering over the crater, eyes and ears on a constant swivel while he slowly looked around us.

“Why are you still shooting?!” he shouted to Razorclaw.

The half-pony, merely ignored him and kept shouting in what could only be described as drunk speech. I made no attempt at discerning what it was, as even when sober the purple hippogriff was incoherent.

“Apple Cart, how about you knock?” I asked her.

She nodded at me and dug through her bags. After a moment or two she withdrew a grenade clenched firmly in her teeth. A stupid, suicidal move but hey. What can you do when you're not a gryphon with claws or a unicorn with magic?

She rushed forward, grenade in mouth as she made her way toward the break in the concrete, but before she got there. She tossed her head to the side, throwing the grenade out in front of her, the pin somehow staying with her teeth. She jumped onto one of her forelegs, spun around and gave the grenade a swift roundhouse kick toward the bunker.

I quickly dropped to the ground, covering my ears with my hooves.

Apple Cart landed and did a quick roll, coming to a stop next to the hole where she had easy access for a second toss. Razorclaw, however, stayed standing like a fool and kept up the suppressing fire every so often.

“Oh fuck!” a mare yelled in Ponish from inside the bunker. Then the grenade went off with a hollow thud, filling the room with both light and shrapnel.

The voice caused me to frown deeply and narrow my eyes as the air around us became silent. Razorclaw had heard the voice, too. Judging by the fact that he stopped shooting and was looking over at me.

With no more shooting and no need for cover I quickly galloped across the gap and slid next to Apple Cart. She had already drawn another grenade in preparation, but I placed one of my hooves on hers and shook my head. “I don't think that’s needed.” My voice was low enough that she could hear me, but no one else.

She nodded slowly and grinned. “Okay. Ladies first.”

“Hah. Hah. Hah…” I deadpanned, hovering up the bolt-action rifle before running through the hole. What I saw inside made me stop dead in my tracks and take a step back, jaw dropping slightly.

I could not be sure at first if they had been ponies or zebras before, as most were piles of bloody paste on the ground or so covered in shrapnel and dust that it blocked their coats. One or two looked like they had sat far, far too long in the sun and were hairless, wrinkles covering every surface of their scorched body.

Hellcat’s shell could not have done such damage to the mare, so it was likely done before, yet there was no way a pony could live with their entire body burned like so. My eyes flicked from one mangled corpse to the next, seeing no signs of movement from any.

Beyond them and to the right lay a steel blast door with faint splotches of surface rust. It was shut, which meant we needed to cut through it to get to the complex on the other side. Smashed radio equipment and smoldering papers were to my left, a wall of few firearms and half-empty ammo cans next to the equipment.

“Clear!” I shouted loudly. “Collect what’s useful and—”

“Help…” came a faint, pain-filled voice from somewhere to my right. Raising the rifle to my eye, I glanced that way and followed it to its source, knowing that whomever owned it would be near death. Either it was a trap and they had a surprise grenade, or they were on death’s door.

The voice belonged to the heavily wrinkled pony… or zebra. However, if one were to go off the mare’s uniform then it would have been a pony. Her familiar green uniform with a patch of the 75th battalion was like a needle to my brain. The 75th had been left in Hollow Shades as a defense force when my unit was pulled out to support the advance into Zebrica.

The name on her tattered uniform simply read Merry. I slowly knelt down in front of the earth pony, leaning the rifle on the wall next to us. She could not hope to use it. Hell, judging by the massive piece of bloodied rebar jutting through her chest, and likely lung, I’d say she shouldn't even be able to speak.

She stared at me with wide hazel green eyes. “We thought…” Merry’s voice sounded to me like she had eaten a hoof full of rocks. “Raiders…”

“Raiders?” I asked, eyes narrowing slowly. “What are raiders?”

“They kill…” she took a deep breath and didn't even wince at it. If I were in her position I would be screaming in pain right about now, yet the wrinkled pony acted like it did not even phase her aside from long sentences. “For food, supplies. Been attacked three times… this month. You’re the fourth.”

I motioned to myself. “I’m not a raider, Private Merry. My name is Lilly of the Forgotten.” I turned to the side to show her my unit’s patch on my shoulder. “My unit and I have been making our way home from Zebrica since the Last Day. We would have bartered for supplies, but you gave us no choice. You shot first, Merry.”

“Funny… isn't it?” she asked.

“What is?”

“You and I fought so hard to save the city… Now look at us, dead mares walking the both of us. The lucky ones are dead. Soon, you will be like me.”

My lips pursed together. “What do you mean ‘like you’? What happened to you?”

She motioned with a shaky hoof toward the hole. “I was on the surface with many others… when the sky split in half. A green cloud of balefire... with a bright rainbow rose to the sky. My buddy lost his vision and went mad, shooting everything around him. I felt the wave wash over me, the warm hoof of death touching me and I died.”

I took a small step back, reaching for the rifle with magic. “But you're here talking to me. You're not dead. Just…” my eyes looked the mare up and down, noticing her horrific injuries that seemed to not phase her in the slightest. Indeed, it seemed that the shrapnel wounds were already starting to vanish. Pieces of the grenade were falling to the floor! Whatever the mare was, was pushing the shrapnel out of her body. “Just mostly dead,” I added.

Merry chuckled quietly, her voice sounding like rocks clanking in a bucket, and then shook her head. “Mostly dead… I’ll have to remember that.” She slowly held a hoof out toward me. “Please. Help me off this rebar.”

I shook my head and took another step back, quickly aiming the rifle at her face. “No… I don't want your curse. I don't want to become… whatever it is you are! I’m me, Lilly. Not some ugly gravel voiced zombie.”

“I am not… a zombie!” She hissed at me and glared.

“You are! You said you died, but you still live! Zombies are undead, and I don't know about you, but you look undead to me!”

“I still live thanks to the curse,” she growled. “Please, help me! I can't move my hind legs right now. If you help me, I swear I’ll help you. We can still trade like civilized ponies!”

I tried to process her words, tried to listen. My instincts, however, told me that she wanted to curse me. She said I would end up like her; an ugly, hairless bacon-skinned mare. And I didn't want any part of that. With a shake of my head, I stepped back again. “I am trying to get home, Merry. Do you understand? I want to settle down and have a family. You can't have a family if you're a zombie.”

She groaned and banged her head against the wall behind her. “You're an idiot, Bell…”

I turned around and walked toward the others. “Hey, doc!” I shouted loudly, shaking my head from side to side again. “I found a live one that needs your help!”

“Where?!” The radiation suit wearing stallion quickly trotted over to me with a look on his face that was a complete mask of worry and horror at the sight of the bunker’s interior. I could tell by his green face that he was lucky to not have eaten before we left.

I motioned toward the undead mare with a flick of my tail. “She’s back there. A private from the 75th by the name of Merry, shrapnel wounds and rebar through the lung.”

“Are you alright?” Banana asked me, eyes practically softening to a look I hadn't seen before from him. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost, Lilly.”

“I’m fine. Just… do whatever the mare says and don't freak out.” Shaking my head in disbelief for the third time, I trotted over to the steel door to see what traps and death it could hold. Already Razorclaw, Apple Cart and the other stallion I forgot the name of, were busy inspecting it for traps.

“Freak out? Why would I freak out?!” Banana Butt asked.

I ignored him and focused on the three in front of me. We weren't Raiders. No, we were just looking for supplies and we’ll take them anyway we can, either through ruins, barter or… well, if they didn't wish to give them up… that’s what a rifle is for.

Author's Note

Hello!

I'd like to start off this message by saying thank you to all my lovely readers who have stuck with me thus far and keep coming back for more. You are appreciated and your comments keep me going forward with the project even if it seems like I am not writing.

Writing Shock has been an adventure for me just as it's likely an adventure to read. She was my first attempt to write a villainous character as the lead and started off as a one-shot idea. The chapter you have just read was written way back in 2017 during a time I didn't quite understand myself. It took me until 2019 to fully realize that I was trans and I've been on a journey of self-discovery since then, even though I had a feeling something wasn't right for the longest time before that year.

The reason there has been little to no updates since 2016 was because I lost almost all self-esteem during that time period and fell into a deep depression where I felt like I couldn't do anything right and everything I wrote was trash. I still struggle with it on occasion in addition to a hefty work schedule. So I apologize to you all if it seems like my updates are at random times throughout the years. I am also working on another Fo:E spinoff, which will be released into the wild soon.

I have not forgotten about Shock, but my progress writing her story will most likely be slow and updates infrequent. Again, I apologize for that.

Thank you for reading and have a wonderful day.

Chapter 8: Wings Are Fluffy

Chapter 8: Wings Are Fluffy
”Some ponies help for caps or ‘cause it's the right thing to do. She helped ‘cause the ‘bad ponies’ annoyed her."

Memories and visions floated through my mind like the ebb and flow of a tide. Recent memories of Lasso Ass’s caravan came to the forefront and I heard Willow speak as clear as the day we had talked. ”Sounds like a flower.”

The light crackling of a campfire drifted through my ears as the scent of poorly distilled alcohol filled my nostrils. An icy touch brushed against my cheek, causing my wings to fluff up as a shiver ran the length of my spine into my tail.

I smiled at the memory of the blue alicorn but it faded just as quickly as it appeared.

Only to be replaced with another icy feeling. One that ran deep through the core of my very being, right down to my bones. A chill that not even a roaring bonfire could melt away. Icicles practically formed on my nostrils with each labored breath, snow covered my barely exposed face and I felt little in my hooves or ears. Yet I pressed on, leaning into the howling wind with a thick scarf over my nose to block out the cold. Goggles covered my eyes to protect them from the wind and a thick armored dress kept me warm.

All of it did little. My pipbuck would have told me I was insane for being out in such conditions if it could talk. As it was, it warned that I was starting to get hypothermia with the image of a icicle covered stable alicorn filly.

Hyde’s spark battery had fared little better than I, having drained itself trying to keep the weapon in standby less than an hour ago. I had no doubt the submachine gun being kept in a fleece-lined scabbard would freeze solid if it was drawn. Flying was useless thanks to the biting cold freezing the leading edges of my wings, making them feel a hundred pounds each.

Knee deep snow surrounded me on all sides. The fierce wind blowing across my vision would make travel impossible were it not for a Pipbuck firmly attached to my foreleg. The only way I knew where to go in this desolate, ice covered hell was the waypoint I had marked for a vague ‘here be loot’ in the area I thought the Crystal Capital was.

No, not thought, I hoped the shining city was still there.

Something was calling me home like a beacon, a shining flare in the dark of the coldest nights. Or perhaps I was hearing things again. All I knew was that something compelled me to travel north. Surely the Empire did not survive the Last Day? If it had, then why hadn't they appeared since then? Were they waiting for something? Had they disappeared again and reappeared only now like the old stories mother had told me?

I don't know.

All I knew was that I was out in the frozen tundra trekking forward in the vain hope that I’d find something. Maybe I would find out who I really was before the war, but would I like my old self? Would one of us have to die? Or would the both of us co-exist in the same body? It was certain that we did not have the same personality. As one is a foal of the old world and one is a monster born of the wastes.

”You’re not a monster, Shock. You’re a pony.” Mudpie’s voice drifted into my mind as the image of the two of us floated into my mind. I was laying on my back staring up at her as she smiled down at me.

“What’cha thinkin’ about?” Sienna’s gravelly voice filled my ear. The filly sat right next to it on a table. It shattered my mind’s thoughts like a hammer smashing into a mirror and drew me away from my cold contemplation as I stared out the window toward the northern mountains, which from our distance could just barely be seen with snow covering the very tops.

I slowly looked over and smiled softly at the filly with a shrug. “The future,” I told her. Whether the future I was thinking about was true or false was another matter entirely. If it was true I would most likely die searching up north for home.

Merry told me the mule gave up the cure after a very short questioning session. I did not ask for details, but she told me I needed to do a job for her before she would relinquish it to me. And so, I sat with her and Sienna inside of a random store above ground.

“What about it?” Merry asked from my left. I glanced over my shoulder at the unicorn, my neck making audible pops and creaks. She had donned black leather armor reinforced with metal and an old royal guard helmet. At her side was a simple hoof-made post-war single shot rifle with a ‘scope’ on it made from scraps. The rifle looked like she had taken a chair leg, carved a groove for a long pipe barrel and added a firing mechanism to it. Though it ‘only’ fired .45 caliber rounds according to her.

“It's cold and bleak,” I said quietly. “And lonely. Everypony I know either leaves me or dies.”

Merry frowned deeply at me. Her eyes narrowed to fine slits as the mare puffed out what was left of her cheeks. “Knock that shit off! I don't wanna hear none of those negative waves, ya hear?”

I rolled my eyes and looked at Sienna. “Think you can stay here and help the guards to make sure the donkey isn't harmed by random citizens?”

Sienna’s ears folded back, eyes filling with water, lip trembling slightly in preparation to cry. “But… but you only stayed a day!”

“I know,” I replied, nodding. “How about when I’m an alicorn again you can introduce me to Old Joe, okay?” Giving the filly my best reassuring smile was about all I could do to relieve her fears. Well, that and pull her into a hug. She leaned into it and hugged my side about as well as she could.

“Perhaps he and I will cast the foal making spell,” I whispered, knowing it was impossible for a normal pony to even get an alicorn to conceive. If it would get the filly away from danger, I would lie. Though I felt like she would make me fulfill that promise.

Merry floated up a clipboard in her magic, flipped the page over and put on a set of ancient dusty spectacles that may or may not have belonged to her originally. “According to my map this town is about seven miles from city hall. But that’s not accounting for blockages or raiders.”

“That doesn't seem all that far?” I tilted my head at her.

Merry looked up from her map just long enough to push her glasses up a bit and sniff the air. “Are you sure?”

“Yes. If we travel light we can weave around and climb over the wreckage.” I nodded. Sienna let go of the hug and scampered off to go bug the guards, or stare at the donkey. I had no clue where she was off to, but she could take care of herself. In response to her running off.

Merry shrugged. “Need any supplies?”

I tilted my head in thought. I had Hyde on my right side, his power cell was about halfway drained no thanks to Dead Hoof. Axe’s Flashlight currently sat slung on my left side. The heavy radio pack on my back was a warm reminder that I had a wartime relic in my possession. All it did was crackle with static when I flipped it on. The barding I had taken from Lasso did not fit too well and the two wastelander weapons were useful for clubs, not to mention the useless RadAway I now possessed.

I withdrew my last syringe of Med-X and jabbed it into my foreleg with a quiet hiss to distract myself from the pain of the needle. “Yeah.” Almost immediately the flames burning in my joints began to die down from the medicine washing over them. I nodded at Merry. “I got shit to offload and need to get some more Med-X.”

She nodded in return. “Then follow me.”

Taking one last look around the shop showed me what I already knew: we had taken the donkey above ground where most of the town was. A non-ghoul earth pony was sitting at a desk, eyes shut and leaning against the wall. Around us lay many various trinkets and oddities that were supposedly enchanted with different effects, but there was a sign saying ’You Try it, You Buy It’ which did not prevent me from grabbing the nearest object with my magic.

The shopkeep was asleep, Merry was walking toward the door. There was no pony watching me at all. Nearest to me were various rings and necklaces ranging from mundane bottlecap ones to fancy gem studded jewelry fit for a Princess. The junk items were out on display while the fancy ones were behind thick glass that would take far too long to open and take something from.

Glancing at the ghoul, and then the shopkeep one last time to be sure neither pony was watching, I placed the bottle cap necklace into my bag. It was an old Sparkle-Cola bottle cap with a bright pink star in the center. Somepony had added a loop of string to tie it to some beads and more string, forming a semi-fancy, if a bit cheap necklace.

Since I did not wish to be around the store any longer than I had to be, I headed for the door as quick as I could without galloping. “Thank you for the potion, sir!” I said loudly to the shopkeep.

He snorted awake, quickly looking around for the source of my intrusive voice which he obviously found. He frowned at me, tipping the brim of his hat upward some. “Um. Anytime? Come back if you need something, alright?”

“Okay.” I smiled back at him and winked, leaving the dumbfounded shopkeep to hopefully not figure out he had also been robbed of a tiny trinket.

*** ***

And so, we had set off into the wasteland in search of a mystical place filled with a supposedly infinite amount of irradiated water, which I doubted was even truthful considering the donkey lied out his ass about everything else. Merry and I wandered forward toward the city limits, our hoofsteps echoing off the nearby buildings with each thunderous hoof fall.

Or, at least it sounded like thunder to my alicorn ears.

Merry spoke not a single word since we had left the store. I did not question her motives, not did I try to strike up a conversation. I doubted we had anything to talk about, aside from the Followers potion I had been promised by Tail Blade.

But there was no point in talking about it. Dead Hoof was a fool for even thinking I would agree to drink it, even if it could be reversed! I wanted a foal. Me to carry it. To give birth, to be a loving mother for a very special alicorn foal. One who would not know the oppressive iron hoof of the Goddess, as kind as she may be. She wasn't the most forgiving of ponies. A simple mistake and it’s ‘go do this assignment far away from me and the others’.

Neither would my foal know of the Destroyer and her friends. Though… the musical one known as Velvet wasn't too bad. It was by her, and the zebra known as Xenith, that we alicorns were able to reproduce. Something even the Great and Powerful Goddess could not provide.

“Maybe she isn't so bad after all…” I mumbled my thoughts out loud as we passed by what vaguely resembled an overturned wagon. I had scant paid attention to my surroundings, instead I focused on my thoughts. Which were running wild, rampant with insane ideas like the Destroyer not being all that bad for the overall livelihood of alicorns, even if she killed the Goddess.

Merry turned her head toward me ever so slightly, cocking it with a small tilt. “Who?” She asked just as quietly as I had said mine. Even that one simple word sounded like somepony with a sore throat asked it.

I shut my eyes and sighed, turning my head away from her, but kept my hearing focused on the ghoul. I wasn’t quite sure what to tell her. With Merry being a wastelander it stood a good chance that she already liked that mare, or maybe not considering the fact that after her adventure was done. There was no more easy radiation around.

“A… friend,” I replied with a lie. And to make it seem like truth, I spun it even more. “She has been coming on to me quite a lot lately, well before Dead Hoof gave me that stupid drink.”

“Don't you already have a coltfriend?”

Obvious answer was obvious. I shook my head. “No, not after he pulled that stunt. He even chained me to the floor because ‘I bite too much’.”

“Do you?” Her head tilted even more. Merry’s skin had so many boils, wrinkles, and missing chunks that she would be a hideous monster in a standard zombie storybook. And yet here she was, living on the razor’s edge between sane and feral. How she was deemed fit to live with others was beyond me. Maybe being around others is what kept her sane, hell even a hug could do it, I wasn't sure. All I knew, was that I had watched as she nearly went full feral in town and they acted like she does it all the time.

“You don't chain someone to the floor because you're afraid of them!” I whined, kicking a tin can toward nowhere. It bounced with a quiet rattle and slid to a stop next to a skeleton.

“There are times when you can, like for instance-”

“What?” I glared. “You're taking his side?! You even said yourself he didn't seem like much of a friend because he gave me that fake stallion potion.”

“Yes, well.” She shrugged. Then stepped around some rubble and hopped up onto the upside down wagon. “I was merely pointing out there were couples who do use chains and pain as part of their pleasure. Though, if you bite too much it sounds like he’s not into the pain part. Or you're biting wrong.”

“And what do you know about that?”

“Maaaany things. I could even teach you some tricks.” She winked, hopping off the wagon to walk next to me.

Rolling my eyes, I shook my head and wished I could flutter my non-existent wings. They needed to flap, to fly free, to carry me aloft. And yet I was stuck on the ground walking like a dirty earth pony without them, all because of Dead Hoof and his insane idea!

“No,” I grumbled. “We don't use pain for pleasure, or chains. He’s more into me screwing him in the ass with a rubber dick.”

Merry giggled at that. She moved closer to me, leaning against my side and resting her head on my neck. “And do you like doing that?”

I shoved her away with a bump of my flank before I stepped over a fallen light post. Then stopped to listen to my surroundings. I slowly looked around, searching for something, anything to change the conversation with, but… since I did not have a pipbuck I could not see something to shoot. Nor did I see much beyond Merry, a rubble building, a few wagons crashed into a small pile. I could have gone over to them and looked through their contents quite easily, but I remembered the wagon back on Oakwood many years ago. It was simple, unassuming, and a perfect trap that was nearly fatal for me.

There was no way in hell I was going to search those wagons, but then I saw something I hadn’t seen in a long, long time.

Sitting inside the ruins of one building and covered by quite a bit of rubble was a strange ‘box’. The box was angled at the sides with the top covered in stone and brick. The side facing me appeared relatively flat, but with a large round tube sticking out of it. The tube was quite short, about only as long as I was, pitted and rusted to the point I could not discern any coloring on it.

I tilted my head, ignoring the tapping on my side as I strode forward toward the wreckage. “Hey, Merry, do you see what I’m seeing?” I asked, turning my ears toward her.

“No? I see junk and rubble. What are you looking at?”

Stopping at the window where I saw the box, I saw that it was attached to the rusty remains of a large angled hull of a tracked tank. The paint had been weather worn and rusted, but I saw a few splotches of white. Feeling my heartbeat pick up, I shut my eyes and slowly reach a hoof toward the front armor plate.

“What is this?” Merry’s voice broke the moment before I could touch it.

I frowned, set my hoof down and looked at her. She had propped herself up on the window to get a better look at the vehicle. “A tank,” I replied to her. Then looked at it again, my eyes drifting up to the missing building roof where I saw what might have happened. “I think… what happened was that they drove in here seeking shelter and the roof collapsed on them. For whatever reason, they stopped here and died.”

“How does that kill a tank?” The ghoul looked at me, tilting her head and tapping the hull with a loud thud. “Seems pretty solid to me.”

“Well when you’re stuck and the crew can’t get out, they eventually die of starvation.”

“Oh…” She frowned. “I forgot about food.”

“Yeah… food is kind of important.” I jumped through the window and landed on the hull with a clang. Grabbing bricks and stone in my magic, I tried to shove them aside, but found they were far too heavy for that, so I pressed my forehooves to one of the larger chunks. Hind legs straining, I pushed my hooves into the metal as hard as I could and used all of my weight.

Yet it did not budge a single inch. I felt pain starting to creep up my legs and back as my hooves slipped on the metal. “Oh come on, you piece of shit!” I shouted at the stone, then hopped back and flicked my tail side to side, kicking with my foreleg.

“Come on, Lilly, let’s go,” Merry said, looking up at me with a small frown. “It’s clear this thing isn’t anything but a derelict.

“How can you not be curious about it?!” I whined. “It’s got a huge gun!”

“I’m gonna go check that out over there. You catch up once you’re done trying to look through the ‘tank’.” She tapped her ear before motioning down the road, my gaze followed hers and I saw that she appeared to be pointing far down the road near a subway entrance.

As I sat there staring out the window looking down the road, I heard the radio softly crackling in my ear. That warm, familiar static felt reassuring, comforting. I slowly floated down and sat on the tank hull, placing a hoof to my ear to listen for Radio.

”Hello, my old apricot,” a strange, familiar stallion’s voice drifted in on the static, almost imperceptible, but just loud enough to be heard. A quiet hissing sound picked up, increased and lowered back to normal.

I tilted my head, frowning as I turned it to the side and pressed the transmit button. “Synthie?” My voice was soft and each thump of my heart was like a hammer hitting the side of my head.

”Been a long time, huh? How’s our foal?” The voice chuckled, coming in clearer for just a moment before static overtook it.

My eye twitched at the reply. Quickly grabbing the earpiece in my magic, I ripped out and tossed it aside. “No! No! No!” I shook my head, holding a hoof to my forehead as the earpiece dangled in the air. “I must be going insane,” I whispered softly to myself.

Putting the earpiece back in its place, I tilted my head to listen in on the static. Though my magic felt like it was starting to run wild and flow upward toward my horn. Shutting my eyes and quickly holding a hoof to my forehead, I quickly tried to shake the feeling away.

“Goddess, I hate magic sometimes.”

“I don’t get it,” a pony said from in front of me. Blinking and opening my eyes showed me a flesh and blood pony standing there in a stable-suit of sorts with a pipbuck on their right foreleg. He was an earth pony with a comically oversized sword in a sheath at his side, a pistol in a foreleg holster and a submachine gun on his back. In one hoof was a bag that I wasn’t quite sure of the contents.

I smiled, nodding at his presence. “My horn regrew and now my magic is trying to unleash itself on anything, so I’m hearing odd voices on the radio.”

“Ah.” He nodded slowly. “Care to eat something then? I’ve got a bag of apple snack cakes.”

“I’ll pass.” I shook my head and stood up. “I’ve gotta get back to my friend.”

“What friend?” he replied, tilting his head somewhat as he put the bag away. I noticed that his grey mane said he was quite old, and his rich blueberry-like coat almost blended with the suit.

My smile slowly faded. The pony obviously did not know of Merry, but he was right. Merry wasn’t a ‘friend’ in the true sense. She was just an acquaintance. A pony I’d only met yesterday.

“A ghoul that was with me,” I told him, nodding.

“I, uh… hate to say this, but there was no pony with you,” he replied, shaking his head. “I’ve been following you for the last few hours ever since you left the town talking to yourself.”

“No, I was talking with Merry.” A frown crossed my face. “She left the store with me and-” My ear with the radio in it began ringing quite loudly, almost to deafening volumes. Clamping my eyes shut, I held onto my horn as it heated up to the point that it felt like it was burning and grimaced, waiting for the pain to dissipate.

It did not.

It grew worse, and worse as my magic slowly swirled inside me and moved toward my horn again. My heart rate increased with each passing moment, my breathing picking up. With a deep breath, I used the growing magic to rip the earpiece out again, quickly remove the radio and tossed it into the street.

The stable pony ducked as the radio pack flew over his head and slammed into the street, breaking apart at the rusted seams and sending the parts flying in a few directions.

I took a deep breath and shut my eyes, slowly letting the breath out. Then breathed in and out a few more times as my heart calmed down.

The stable pony was still there and frowning at me. “Throwing relics at me isn’t nice,” he said quietly.

“You’re telling me I was talking to myself. You’re wrong.”

“And you’re in denial.” He nodded.

“I am not!” I shouted, picking up a small brick and threw it in his direction.

He ducked and sidestepped again, frowning at me. “How about we start over? Hi, I’m-”

“I don’t care what your name is, you asshole!” Again, I grabbed another brick and tossed at him.

For a second time, the agile old earth pony dodged it by jumping to the side. Seeing as the bricks weren’t working, I drew Axe’s Flashlight and pointed it at him. He tilted his head and blinked a few times as I aimed right at his face

“I’m not insane,” I told him and frowned.

“Wanna go for a trot?” He asked, causing me to blink in confusion.

“What?”

“Do you… Want to go for a walk? Maybe get a bite to eat?” He shook the bag of snack cakes.

“What are you asking?” My frown grew even more.

“Wanna go somewhere else? As in, do you want to trot, walk, and eat with a new pony or would you rather shoot me for talking?”

The rifle was slowly lowered away from the stable pony’s face. I sighed deeply and facehoofed. “Where to?”

“I need your help with a job.”

“Of course… everypony needs my help with something. If it’ll distract my magic, I shall do so.”

He nodded and trotted off toward somewhere as he said, “Then hop off there an’ come with me.”

Is this what the Destroyer felt like when she was bugged by random ponies for help every thirty minutes?

*** ***

“This is your job?” I frowned as I took in the sight in front of me. We had gone down through the subway system Merry had pointed out earlier and now what sat in front of me was not at all what I was expecting. I expected to have to shoot something, maybe even beat a pony up, but no.

Nothing was ever that simple!

What sat in front of me was a large box of various items marked in zebra no less. Behind that box sat another box marked in Equestrian for shipping to somewhere in Ponyville. The floor was complete trash and flickering lights overhead made seeing much of anything in the room to be annoying, so my horn gave off its own steady powerful glow to let the magic flow out somewhere.

“Yes.” The pony nodded at me and stepped toward the nearest box. “I was hired by my stable to find a shipment of… well, it’s a bit embarrassing.”

I tilted my head and smirked. “Let me guess. Blow up mares?”

“No!” He quickly shook his head. “Toilets. See, our toilets are over two hundred years old and-”

I facehoofed. “Toilets?!”

“Yes! They are starting to crack and break. “It’s a very serious problem!” He nodded rapidly.

“So who are you?” Setting my hoof down, I looked at the pony and tilted my head the other way. “Just some random stable pony looking to make a name like the De-err… the ‘Lightbringer’?”

He muttered something in reply, which I could not hear, thusly I tilted my head the other way and frowned.

“What was that? I couldn’t hear you.”

“I’m the janitor. Janitor Crescent, though many ponies call me Croissant because I always have food,” he mumbled quietly and looked at the floor. “Nopony believes me when I say this is a serious problem! I came here looking for toilets like the manifest said, but when I open the box I find guns. Not just any guns, but zebra guns!”

I leaned forward and peered into the box. True to the janitor’s word, there was an older zebra rifle wrapped in a cloth with the bolt and trigger appearing to be shiny new. Folding the cloth over the rifle revealed that there were three more next to it, and picking them up showed me that the entire box was stuffed to the brim with zebra rifles.

Perfect. Pristine. Zebra rifles ready for battle.

“Well that is…” my voice trailed off while I tried to comprehend the thought. Either somepony liberated them from the zebras and was shipping them to the Ministry of Wartime Technology for evaluation, or some zebra was planning a revolt.

“Can I have one?” I finally asked, joy creeping in.

“No,” he grumbled. “They’re zebra weapons!”

“And?” I looked at him, smiling as I held the four rifles close to me. “They are nice rifles. Better than my laser rifle.”

“No! These weapons are property of the…” he paused to lean over, peering at the side of the box for a few long moments to see the name on the side. I saw him mouth the words as more of a question, eyes narrowing. “Ministry of Awesome,” the janitor muttered in a voice told me that he was not at all happy with the name.

Who could blame the poor fool when somepony mislabeled a crate over two hundred years ago? I certainly could not! Their loss, our gain.

So I merely bowed my head to him. “Yes, and as a citizen of the wasteland, it is your duty to report any cache of rare weapons to the nearest gun hoarder for cap exchange. After all, caps make the world go round and you want to be a rich janitor, yes?”

“Huh?” He blinked in confusion at me, tilting his head to the side. “You're not making sense.”

Facehoofing, I floated the weapons back toward the box. I wanted to call him a fool, but I did not. Instead I sighed. “I was trying to make a joke. Look, how long have you been out of your stable?”

“Two weeks,” he replied quickly. “I know ponies use caps and I know red bars are bad. You gotta shoot ‘em sadly because they don't listen. Our stable’s been open to traders for years, but we keep the door shut mostly. Gotta keep the dirt out so we can fix it up good an’ proper.”

“Yes, well, any normal wastelander in your situation would steal… er, retrieve as many guns as they could from this crate at one time, take it to the nearest town and sell. Then repeat until the box is empty.”

He looked at the crate before looking at me again. “Ponies… Ponies use zebra weapons?!”

“Yes.” I nodded.

“That’s madness!”

“No,” I shook my head and smiled. “It's good sense. A weapon’s origin does not determine how good or evil it is. Take this rifle for example.” I drew Axe’s Flashlight and held it to the side a bit. “Where do you think it comes from?”

“Um…” he looked at the cloth wrapping around the body and tried to lift it up only to find more cloth. “A clothing store?”

“Good guess, but no.” I twirled it in my magic and gently set it down. “It is an Enclave weapon.”

“Enewho?”

“Pegasus?”

“There are pegasi alive still?! I would love to meet one! I heard their wings are so fluffy and give the best hugs.”

I frowned, tilting my head somewhat. “You are very new here…”

And probably going to die soon at his learning rate. If he did not know who the Enclave were, I was not going to tell him beyond what I did. Hell, I wanted to walk away right then and there with a gun or two, or three, or all of them firmly inside my shield. It was not like any weapon he owned could even dent it.

If I could cast the shield that is. Part of me wanted to see what would happen if I tried that exact scenario, but another part of me wanted to help Mr. Naive with his task, because I had never seen a pony risk their necks for… toilets. And because trying to cast said shield was nigh impossible for some odd reason.

“So what did you wanna do with the guns?” I asked quietly. “Keep them? I doubt you can carry-”

“Destroy them,” he replied, causing me to frown and glare at him. “What?”

“These are brand fucking new! Do you know how many would kill to find one working Zebra Rifle? Let alone a whole crate in pristine condition?!”

The janitor frowned and looked down, eyes darting side to side as he tried to come up with some type of a reply, barely making a syllable before stopping and gulping. Then he puffed out his chest and stood up straight to glare. “What makes them so special? You can't even carry them right. They ain't got normal grips!”

“For you, you put it in a battle saddle, earth pony. Once that is done you now have a weapon capable of firing three silent shot bursts that set your target on fire and burn them from the inside out.”

“That sounds horrible and makes me want to destroy them even more!”

“Welcome to the wasteland, fluffy pony.” I nodded and put Axe’s Flashlight away. “Where everyone wants to shoot me for no damn reason.”

“Well I don't wanna shoot you,” he muttered.

Glancing at him, I saw he had relaxed somewhat and was eyeing me with an eye of… I wasn't sure. It could have been sadness, or confusion, or he wanted to mount me. When I followed his gaze I saw he was staring at my flank, so I stomped a hoof against the stone with a loud clop. “Don't even think about it.”

“Huh? I was looking at your cutie mark!” He yelled back.

“That’s what they always say! Then when they look close they pull me under them and it's fun times for us both.”

“That's not why I was looking,” he whined. “I don't li… well I do like mares, but your cutie mark is strange. Why is it like that? A cook hat and spatula. Are you a stable pony?”

“It's a long, long story best left untold until I trust you more.” I nodded.

Something had been bugging me about the other box being there unopened by the pony. Sure the box was labeled in zebra, probably sent by a friendly zebra spy to one pony for study, I hope. But what made him know it was a zebra gun? His pippy or something in the other box?

Making my way over to the box, there were a few marks in the wood indicating he had used a crowbar to pry it open with pure earth pony strength. And marks on top from where his hooves slammed down on the top to close it tight again. A quick push with my hoof told me that it was securely locked down.

The janitor was eyeing me again, so I frowned at him. “Tell me what's in this box and I’ll let you get a much closer look at my cutie mark.” I shook my flanks slightly and flicked my tail side to side.

I sure as hell needed the distraction and relaxation that came from that idea. I was starting to get antsy around him, like each time I looked at him my heart rate picked up and thundered inside my skull.

“More bad zebra things,” he replied quickly. Almost too quickly. His eyes darted side to side as he took a step back and it his lip. “Honest.”

“I didn't ask if you were lying. May I see the crowbar?”

“Ee-no, sorry.” The janitor gulped again. “You don't want to open that box.”

“Why not?”

“Radiation. Lots of it.”

“I’ve got RadAway and Rad-x.” I nodded at him. Sitting down, I pulled a tin from my bags and popped in a Rad-X tablet, chewing the nasty flavored pill before downing it with a flat Sparkle-Cola.

“It's bad! Bad! Bad! Bad! You don't want to open the box! Something inside there is… It… I dunno what it is! It just feels bad, okay?”

I wiped my mouth off and tossed the bottle off to the side, watching as it shattered into many tiny shares. “Calm down, take a deep breath and think clearly. Describe what the contents were. I'm not going to bite you.”

He nodded, took a deep breath and held it for a few moments before speaking. “It's a device that emits rads and makes me sick just to look at. That crate is lined with a material to dampen the rad leak. Lead, I think.”

He looked back toward the door for a few moments, then looked at me. I tilted my head at him, wondering what he was seeing on his pippy. “So, can I lo-look closer at your... cutie mark? I told you what was in the box.”

“Give me the crowbar?” I replied. “I need to confirm it first.”

“No!” He whined. “That wasn't part of the deal!”

“You can stare at my ass as much as you want when I look inside the box, so please. Just let me sate my curiosity? I’ll go nuts not knowing what is in there.”

Frowning at me, the earth pony dug in his pack and tossed the item over, before galloping behind the nearest bench to hide. I shoved the blade in between the gap and wiggled it around until it popped.

When I peered inside I saw something that made my heart sink, and fill with joy at the same time. True to his word there was another box inside, but the lid had broken on the smaller box. Through the gap I could see an unholy combination of swirling pink magic over a pitch black void and rainbows that made my stomach churn. Peering into the void felt like peering into Tartarus itself. Clutching my gut, I took a deep breath and basked in the rads, my ears picking up the janitor’s pippy ticking not far away. Attached to the smaller box was a busted keypad and display most likely meant for opening it.

There was only one other box I had seen before which leaked warm radiation like this, and that was owned by an insane ghoul, which meant it was a balefire bomb. And that was good for the the ghoul town.

“Those rads are gonna kill us!” He yelled as I shut the box as quick as I could.

I nodded. Then shook my head. “Kind of. Just take a RadAway. Look, there is a town that needs irradiated water. We put this device inside their water supply to irradiate it.”

“No, absolutely not! That thing is dangerous. I don't know how it hasn't gone off in all these years.” Croissant peered over the bench at me and frowned.

I glared at him, a frown crossing my lips. “I will not fail my daughter!” I yelled back.

“I can understand that.” He nodded, not even flinching at the yell. He motioned toward the crate. “But think about what this device is, what it can do to ponies.” I looked at the crate. “The device is broken, leaking, yes, but who knows what happens when you expose it to water. It could go off. Would you want to be responsible for killing your daughter and half of Baltimare?”

I shook my head and facehoofed. “No. I don't want to kill Sienna. I want to see her smile again.”

“Then let’s bury this thing far from the city.” He nodded. “Let some other pony deal with it.”

“Is that what you do at your stable? You let some other pony deal with it?”

“No, we help each other for the betterment of the stable.” He held his non-pipbuck hoof toward me. “So let’s help each other, to make the wasteland a better place?”

I looked at the device again, my ears slowly folding back. “But how will I get water for Sienna…?”

“I can do that,” he replied, causing me to quickly look at him. The stable pony nodded slowly. “We’ve got a spare water chip at my stable. I could rig it up to dirty the water instead. It’ll ruin the chip for non-ghouls, but if you help me with this I’ll do it.”

Sighing deeply and nodding, I placed my forehoof on his. “I’m holding you to that. You don't want to go back on your word with me. Your death will be a slow and painful one.”

He gulped audibly and nodded, smiling sheepishly as he shook my hoof. “I’d like to stay living.”

“Good. Now how do we get this crate out of here?”

“I was hoping you’d know.”

Tilting my head in thought, I stared into the earth pony’s eyes and tried to think of a plan, but sadly there was only one plan I could think of. And that made me frown, which made him frown. “I know an alicorn with a caravan…”

“Oh.” He nodded slowly. “And where is this alicorn?”

“I need to contact him and find out, but he and We don’t exactly see eye to eye."

Truth be told I wasn't sure if I could even cast the spell, as it seemed most of my alicorn powers were unavailable to me. Before I could shut my eyes, Croissant stepped closer to me and smiled.

I frowned. “What?”

“Could, um… could I… look closer at y-your cutie mark now?” He nodded.

I raised an eyebrow and tilted my head. “You still want to?” My voice was quiet and as relaxed as I could get.

Croissant nodded firmly. “Y-yes.”

Tilting my head the other way, I gave him a sly smirk, my eyes drifted down toward his sheathe. “Is this your first time ‘looking’ ‘closer at a mare's cutie mark?” Was all I whispered as I looked up at his face again.

The color rushing to his face to turn it purple-ish in a blush and the slight shift of his weight, his tail flicking to the side said all I needed to know.

“Alright.” I nodded and slowly removed all of my gear, tossing it into a pile next to the crates.

12% to next level