Bloody Logs: The Later Days

Day 45

So, today was different than what I expected. Everything went smoothly. After getting Sweetie Belle and her friends out, we went back to a hill at Ponyville and camped there until night fell. I had the great idea of going alone inside the town trying to see if that god dammed train worked. Apparently not, but I got to know a new friend. I befriended a female Timberwolf cub. She was more like a teenager than a cub, but that don't matter to me, she is awesome.

Skipping most of "Operation: Sneaky Beaky Like", we got out of the raider camp and went back to meet the girls. Turns out some shit happened and the raiders found about them, I think I was lucky to find out they were still there, if I had taken more time, who knows what would have happened to them. Some shots fired later, me and Artemis, the Timberwolf, killed the five raiders and we looted their corpses and trotted our flanks out of that place, following northeast, where the mountain where Canterlot was located is.

Apart from that, nothing else happened. We still got some food, and I hope it's enough until we arrive Canterlot, where I hope to buy more. I hope they still accept bits. I gave some blankets I took from Raider Town and gave it to the girls, who went to sleep. I'm now writing this log under the moonlight, with Artemis resting by my side. We were now resting before continuing our trip, we just got some distance from that town, so we don't end up being captured.

I checked that note by Pinkie Pie, which was from the start of February. I never though of that, maybe I could get enough notes to re-build the whole month, at least the most relevant news of that month. The note mentioned a castle, which I don't recall seeing on Ponyville. It was supposed to be a big crystal castle tree near the Town Hall, but there wasn't anything there, not even a crater. I wonder if I can really trust on that note. Or I'm just with amnesia. I can't really remember February and hardly remember things from before. I still have most of it, but there is a lot of blank spaces in my head.

I should stop thinking about it before I forget more things. No wonder why I keep this diary.

I was walking on one of the streets of Canterlot. Ahead of me there was a destroyed house. It had been cut open by some kind of explosion. I walked inside by the destroyed door, in the entrance room, there was a small table near a sofa, both by the wall. In the middle, in front of me, there was the skeleton of two ponies, one from a child and another from a fully grown pony.

In an instant, a image flashed at my face. It was of the same house, but now it was brand new. The sky looked light blue, and not so dead as it is now. The skeletons turned back into ponies alive, with happy smiles on their faces. I saw all of that in a moment, one frame of a second. I looked at my legs, bringing up my front leg that kept the revolver holster. The same scenario flashed for a moment again. my grey-ish red coat was back into a more bright color, and the holster wasn't there during the flash.

I looked up and saw the two ponies, a beautiful earth pony purple mare with a light brown hair and a small steel pegasi filly with a bright pink hair, standing side by side, looking at my direction. There was some space between them, like if it was supposed to be another pony standing between them.

I backed away, and I planned to start trotting away. The same image flashed constantly at my face, like if it was turning this whole apocalyptic world on and off.

I got out of the house and was about to turn when I heard something. The world paused at the old and beautiful world. I looked down as I couldn't see my legs anymore, like if I was a floating spirit. I slowly turned around. “This isn't happening.” I thought to myself. Finishing the turn I saw the same two ponies standing side by side, in the same position, What disturbed me was that, my body, it was there, between the two. One of my hooves was over the mare's neck, like if it was hugging her. My saddlebags had disappeared, as well as my bandage, and I was smiling like them, like if I was posing for a family photo.

“I love you daddy!” I heard the friendly voice of the filly speak. My mind told me it was her, but I didn't want to believe. This was all impossible in the current situation of this world.

“Why do you have to leave so soon dear?” The mare spoke. I felt the eyes of my spiritual boy starting to water. This couldn't be.

The ponies were speaking, but the image was frozen. They wasn't moving, it was just a photo.

“Don't go daddy!” The filly spoke again. The happy image turned off for a moment and went back again, The skeleton of the filly flashed right at me face. “Please stay-” The vision I was having turned off. I fell to the ground and the smiling skull of the filly smiling at me. “- and play with me.” She finished. I got up, and looked around. I was alone, not even Artemis was with me. I started backing away from the flying skeleton of a pegasi filly, frozen in the air, my heart bumping like crazy. My equipment was back, as well as my body. I had my eyes wide open, locked at the skeleton. The skeleton of the mare was standing like it's alive image, back at the house.

A frame of a second later, I saw the jaw of the filly openned and it's head flying at me, with the sound of a kid's laughter at the background. The scenario faded away. Another frame later, I found myself looking at the starry night sky, breathing very hard. It was like I was being suffocated by the dream. It wasn't a nightmare, as I wasn't in fear, but the situation really scared me. How could that be? What were they doing in my dream?

I got the first half of my body up with my back to the ground, being sustained by my two front hooves, as my hind legs were under the blanket. I looked to my side, and saw the three fillies sleeping safe and sound, as well as Artemis, who was sleeping under the same blanket as me, side by side with my hind legs. I took some time to breath, luckily I haven't awoken anybody.

My lungs weren't in the best situation to take air in, and I found myself in pain. I opened the saddle bags where I had the pain pills bottle I found, and took two down my throat. I waited some seconds, and I could finally breath properly. I really needed some time to heal up, just get the bullet out and I can take the health potion to help my body re-build from the damage faster. I got the pills bottle back in the bag.

I laid down again and tried to get some sleep, as I tried not to think about what had just happened. On the morning I would be walking all day.

“Are we there yet?” Scootaloo asked me. I shook my head, since we haven't even got near the mountain yet. We were following the train line for some hours now. Artemis was walking by my side, while the girls followed us. By now we had covered half of the trip until the mountain, and then we had to climb it. I estimated we would be arriving Canterlot by morning, as we kept a slow pace to not waste ourselves and because I was injured.

Apparently, my lung had just gotten worse. Breathing was much harder than before, and I started coughing blood this morning. I might have a bandage at it, but I think that the wound is getting infected.

I started to think how their sisters were going to react when I arrived Canterlot with the three holding their own guns and ammo, as well as having a Timberwolf. I think I'm going to leave Artemis out of Canterlot for the day, just to not cause any trouble. Maybe she will hunt something for her, or just wait for me, I wasn't planning on wasting more than a afternoon there anyway.

Now that I think of it, I don't know what I'm going to do after I leave them at Canterlot, this is, if thing really are holding out there. I won't leave this gals in the middle of gunfire. Maybe I will focus on getting all the notes to rebuild the month of February, and know what happened to the princesses, how I ended up at Ponyville, since I resided Canterlot, maybe discover what exactly happened to my family. Or I could just find myself a place and live there for the rest of my life, spectating this unforgiving land.

The possibilities are endless, so to speak. I can still get killed in the middle of our trip, if my body doesn't hold up for that long. I still have the health potion and some pain pills, but the potion would rebuild my body, and with the bullet still in my lungs, that isn't the best option.

“Ugh... Can't we go any faster?” Scootaloo groaned.

“Well, unless any of you know how to teleport all of us or knows how to remove the bullet inside me, there is no other way. Deal with it.” I gave Scootaloo a look of anger. She wouldn't stop complaining about how long this would take. “We will have to go through all this to find your family anyways.”

“Well, I don't see my parents in a long time, long before the apocalypse, seeing them would be nice. I still think this is all pointless.” She replied, with the same look as before. I assume she never had a family, so she just wanders around.

“Would you two please stop?!” Sweetie Belle, tired of our discussion, stopped us. “Even if your parents are dead, we can't stop down the whole group because of that! Cheer up Scoots, maybe Rainbow Dash is there too!” Sweetie Belle destroyed me with that comment, I didn't know their parents were long dead before it all, how was I supposed to know that? Scootaloo seemed unchanged

“And you! Stop being that depressed! I know your life have been turned into a big mess, but things can still get better, try to think of the good things for once! For fuck's sake, I'm tired of the mood of you two!” She them unloaded on me. Wow. I wasn't expecting for that.

Sweetie Belle than calmed down and went back to her friends side. I started thinking about she said. "Think about the good things for once!". Well, after all that have happened, I don't think that it is possible anymore.

We were really close to the tunnel that lead up to the mountain and went to Canterlot, night was falling already, and our light was going out. The moon wasn't as bright as it was the nights before, and so we would be left in the dark soon. I decided it was for the best that we camped for the night.

Gathering sticks for the fire, and using a tree trunk I found laying around, I immediately prepared our camp, making a camp fire, and using the trunk as a seat for everyone. I lit the campfire using a lighter I kept with me all this time. We were all gathered around the fire, enjoying the last bits of food we had left, until Apple Bloom came with a comment.

“I still don't understand why there is so many guns around, enough to make raiders overpowered at least.”

“I may not know exactly why there is that many weapons, but I may explain a little about they came into existence, and I have a theory why they were around.” Her comment grabbed my attention. She looked at me, interested. “If you are willing to listen, of course.”

“A little bit of lore never hurt anyone. Go ahead.” She replied to me, and her friends looked at her in confusion. “What? I liked history class.”

“Okay, are you all familiar with the Changeling invasion that happened at Canterlot years ago?” I asked, the three fillies nodded, interested in what I had to tell. “Well, after the attack, Princess Celestia made sure to reinforce security around Equestria, and with it, came the guns. Celestia wanted something powerful enough that could eliminate a threat as fast and easy as possible. With that, months of research later, guns started to being manufactured, but not distributed, they were at a max used by the royal guards I think, at that point. Celestia also wanted special groups capable of monitoring Equestria, looking for any danger. She recruited the best weapon masters in Equestria.”

“I was part of a squad. As nobody had any experience with the guns at the moment, Celestia recruited the ones who understood how to use a weapon in combat. I was a sword master, as you can see by my cutie mark, and I decided to accept the request, despite being happy with my family at Canterlot. There I learned more about the reason of why they needed a group like this, and I learned some ways of stealth, since I would be a secret agent. Celestia didn't want to depend on the elements of harmony and the power of friendship all the time. She didn't want to, but she admitted that we would have to use violence at one point to prevent things from happening.”

“Long story short, I presume that at some point, despite having a few dozen of members, we couldn't cover all of Equestria, and so Celestia liberated the use of weapons by citizens that met a certain criteria, like weapon management, a clean criminal file, and only meant self protection and a few others prerequisites.” I finally finished my story telling

“Well, that might explain why Rarity had her own gun.” Sweetie Belle concluded.

“I didn't know about those special groups. I bet not even Rainbow Dash knew about them” Scootaloo commented. I suppose Rainbow Dash was part of her family for her, well, close enough to her so she mention her. She hasn't even told me the name of a parent member, while the other two really want to see them again.

“We even had Discord to help us on some magical detection, but we never found anything that troubling.” I added. “You could say we weren't that requested by Celestia.”

“Do you miss your old life, Falcon?” Sweetie Belle asked. I didn't expect a question out of the context of the story, but I told a little about my life, so I guess I made her curious.

I paused for a moment before answering. Old memories of my life, my family and the city of Canterlot. The day I was requested was the day that changed all that, for the better and for the worse as well. I ended up wasting less time with my family and wasted even more time monitoring Equestria or going in different missions. I always kept it a secret, and that made my wife go crazy, thinking I was betraying her. I was afraid I had turned the world against me, but from what I remember, the world ended our marriage before she could. “Yes, I guess you could say that.” I answered Sweetie's question.

“Press the button Blades, I guarantee you won't regret it.” I woke up hearing the voice of a Changeling calling me by my last name, and the followed by a crazy maniac laughter.

I sat down on the ground and started recovering air, this lung wouldn't give me a break. I took a look around, searching for anything, but couldn't see anything. I think I was just hearing voices. Moments later, I coughed a little, and ended up coughing some blood again. This was bad, the wound wouldn't heal or even let me not bleed from other holes. I got up, and carefully grabbed a flaming stick from the still lighten campfire. I took care so I didn't woke anyone up, and carefully placed my hooves while walking so I don't make any sound. I walked about fifty meters away from the camp and sat on a rock I found.

It was very dark, but the moon light helped me see somethings around, and the torch I took would help me to see what was around me. I opened the holster for my knife on my hind legs and grabbed it. “It time to do some medical procedure.” I talked out loud to myself, as I bit a piece of wood I took. I grabbed my knife with one of my hooves and removed the bandage with the other.

I could feel the bullet, and fortunately it wasn't that deep on my chest. I didn't want to do this before, since I wasn't a good doctor, and could end up damaging one of my lungs, but now, I didn't really had much of a choice. The bullet had broken one of my ribs and penetrated the lung, and I would do the same with my knife.

I stabbed my self with the knife, the pain flowing trough my body, making me feel like screaming, but just biting the piece of wood as hard as I could contained myself. Blood started flowing down my hoofs, painting my already red coat into an brighter red. I started wiggling my knife inside my chest, searching for the bullet so I could pull it off. After some minutes of searching, I found it, and a lot of blood had already came out, I was starting to lose consciousness. I positioned the knife into an angle I could pull the bullet and the knife out, but ended up scratching the meat inside me middle way through, causing another flow of intense pain to strike me.

I stopped middle way through the "surgery" and got my hoof out of the knife's handle. I took a moment to hit the rock I was sitting with my hoof, stomping it so hard that I caused a loud sound to happen. I had come to a point that the piece of wood couldn't handle me that much. I spitted the piece of wood, making it go back to the ground, and opened the saddle bags where I stored the health potion and the pain pills. I got the pain pills out and opened the bottle. “Why didn't I do this before I stuck the knife in my chest?” I asked myself out loud again, with a fainted tone in my voice. I shoved the remaining pills all in my throat, and bit the picked the piece of wood again, biting it again. I knew the pain pills wouldn't be enough to handle all this pain.

I continued struggling to get the piece of metal in my chest out of there, and after five minutes of pain and blood all over me, I managed to get it out. I looked at the torch, laying in the ground, still lighten, but I couldn't see the colors, I was seeing in black and white. I bandaged my wound again and drank the whole health potion.

Out of exhaustion, I laid my back on the rock I was sitting. I looked at the sky, waiting for the potion to take full effect. The stars all seemed beautiful. I bet if Luna is still out there, she prepared this night just for me, she somehow knew that I would look at the sky after such of a moment of suffering. Thank you Luna.

I started hearing a growling. Sitting back at the rock, I looked around and found a pair of glowing eyes in the dark, I focused a little and saw a Timberwolf looking directly at me. “Artemis?” I asked the Timberwolf, trying to make sure that I haven't awoken them. The Timberwolf didn't move a stick of it's body, if it were Artemis, she would have answered my question with a gesture. God damn, the smell of my blood must have attracted it here!

I got up from the rock, removing my revolver from it's holster and starting to aim at the Timberwolf. I wasn't fast enough.

The Timberwolf flew and got me in the middle of my action, throwing me at the ground and making my revolver fly some meters away. I was surrounded on the ground, with my back to him. I tried getting up, but it was no use. The Timberwolf didn't waste a single second of his time, and grabbed my left wing with his wooden teeth and started pushing it, trying to rip it apart from me. I screamed in pain, and I felt the bone connecting my wing to my body being dislocated.

In my panic, I found my knife, laying right where I dropped after my surgery. I extended my leg further in order to pick the knife up before I lost my wing. I grabbed it while I screamed in pain for my life, at this point, I must have awoken everyone, I felt my eyes fading, and the vision starting to go black and white again. My first wound was still bleeding, even with the bandage at it, and would take a while before it settled down.

I stopped hearing, and stopped screaming, my eyes were slowly closing. This was it, my death had come to me. Despite not knowing what I wanted, I didn't knew why, but my mind wasn't clouded with doubts and questions for once. I felt... I felt peaceful. Even if I was having a horrible death, being eaten by a Timberwolf and bleeding, I felt like it was to be this way. I had never been in such peace before. Well, I actually did, when I still had my family. “Daddy, when will you come home?” I heard the voice of my daughter in my head.

I started feeling my heartbeats again, and my body was alive again. I haven't even got the chance to answer to my daughter before something dragged me back here. It wasn't my time to go.

I strengthened up and rolled, with the knife already on my hoof. the Timberwolf rolled with my wing, not letting it go. I jumped on his head stabbed the back of it's head with the knife.

Shnk!

On the first stab, I felt my wing being free again, and, oh boy, how does it hurt. I have probably killed it with the first stab, but I had no control, I kept stabbing the piece of wood that was the beast's head. The thing almost killed me, and I wasn't going to go easy just because it is dead.

Shnk! Shnk! Shnk! Shnk!

I looked up, panting and trying to take air back inside, I might have removed the bullet, but my lung was still recovering with the help of the health and regeneration potion. I saw the CMC and Artemis, looking at me, the fillies in terror.

I was standing in a pile of wood that used to be part of Artemis race, and was covered in my own blood, with an expression of anger in my face and a knife at my hoof. I must have looked like a monster for them.

I got up, grabbed my revolver and guarded it and the knife back on it's holsters. I apologized everyone for the mess I caused and for disturbing their sleep. I also gave Artemis a pat in the head, accidentally marking her with my blood. Well, at least now I knew which Timberwolf she was.

I have taken enough of our time, that the day was starting to come back, I awoke in the end of dawn, so in the place of going back to sleep, I decided it was better it we continued further in the cave, following the tracks, so we could get to Canterlot by lunch time or a little later. I didn't really cared, I just wanted these girls to get to a better place than this traitorous land.

I saw light. Finally. This was the last cave until Canterlot, and we didn't had a single problem getting here. Everything was going okay, and I was feeling better due to the potion. I'd say it was midday, but I didn't have a clock to be exact, all I knew was that the sun was burning.

Not so far, was the train station at Canterlot. The place where people are staying is at the Royal Castle, located deeper in the city. We got to the station a few minutes later. Canterlot looked just like Ponyville, half of it was completely torn apart, while part of it was still intact.

Now, if I followed the right path, we would be getting to the castle in no more than simply five minutes. I started walking down one of the streets once we got out of the Train Station building, and the rest of my group followed me. I stopped and turned to Artemis.

“Look, I think it's better for you to stay out of this, I don't think the ponies inside there will accept a Timberwolf walking in their only safe place. Why don't you go hunting while I'm out?” I asked Artemis to stay here in order to not cause any kind of problems, I didn't want to be banned from the first safe place I have been in over 47 days or more. “I promise I won't waste more than a few hours there.”

Artemis accepted, and I felt like she understood what could happen if a bunch of armed ponies saw her. I definitely know she didn't forgot about her old pack. I tuned back to walking, and the three fillies followed me in silence. They were always so agitated, but now they were simply quiet. I liked it, but wasn't sure if it was something I should worry about.

“So...” I tried to start a conversation. “Are you guys anxious to meet with who y'all wanted after all this time?”

“I hope Rarity is there.” Sweetie Belle answered. “I miss how safe she made me feel.” I wasn't sure if she was saying that it wasn't safe with me, or that her sister cared deeply for her.

“I hope AJ made it out, and maybe Big Mac too.” Apple Bloom replied to me, without adding anything, but I knew she felt just like Sweetie by the tone of her voice.

“Yeah, I hope Rainbow Dash is there, but my hopes aren't up.” Scootaloo told me, with the same "my hope is dead" tone of her.

“Wow, what got you all down like that?” I asked, to know what was happening.

Apple Bloom and Sweetie Bell kept quiet, but Scootaloo just simply answered me. “Yeah, I don't really know, is it because you traumatized these two yesterday by killing a Timberwolf after you were covered in you own blood and looking like a raider with no armor, maybe?” She told me with a sarcastic tone.

Okay, I think she is right. I did show them what a monster I really was, and what I was capable of when I wanted. That scene yesterday wasn't the best one for them to start a day with. Well, at least for Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle. Scootaloo just kept the same way. But really, what did they expect from me in that situation? Get eaten by the beast? Run? There was no other way.

We went back to being in silence, and I just kept walking forward.

Moments later, I looked to my left. There it was. The same destroyed house from the dream I had, and the two skeletons laying on the ground. I immediately turned my head back, and closed my eyes, refusing to have seen it, but that image just saddened me.

We finally got to the entrance of the castle. There wasn't anybody at the door, I was starting to suspect that there wasn't anybody inside. Opening the double doors, I was two armed ponies with assault rifles. They grabbed their weapons and aimed at me.

“Halt! Who are you?” The pony on my left asked me.

“I'm Falcon. I came here looking for the survival camp.” I answered him.

“Very well, leave your weapons here if you wish to enter.” The other pony told me. I felt a relief. For a moment I suspected they were going to kill me, and on another I though there was no one else.

I gave my revolver, my knife and my rifle to them, and told the three fillies to give their weapons as well. I told the guards that this were their weapons, so when I left, to not give them to me. After an inspection at my saddlebags, I was authorized to enter. I'm relieved they didn't think I was a raider just because of all this blood at my hooves and chest.

They opened the second double doors, that went directly to a hallway on the castle, and I had finally got in the castle. It has been an awful while since I last came here, when Celestia asked me to make part of that group. The hallway was very different from what I remember, now the windows that remarked important times of Equestria were broken, and the hallway was filled with shops, of guns, ammo, food, medicine and even clothes. It was also filled with a variety of ponies, chatting around or buying things. they appeared to have enough to hold themselves for years.

“Rarity!” I heard Sweetie Belle screaming behind me as I was walking down the hallway. I looked to my side and saw Sweetie Belle running in the direction of a clothing shop with a white unicorn mare with a violet colored hair. A very beautiful mare in my opinion.

“Sweetie Belle?” The mare turned to the filly. I could see that her eyes started to water. “Thanks Celestia! I though I'd never see you again!” She said as she hugged the filly. The two of them were crying now.

It's been weeks since I though happiness was dead. I was completely wrong. Little moments of happiness and relief like this is what keeps most people going. Not me though, I don't really know what moves me, but when I see a family reunited like this after such disaster makes me happy to. I cleaned the tear that came out of one of my eyes, and I was smiling, something I haven't done in a while.

The mare then looked to the other two fillies standing by me. “Scootaloo, Apple Bloom, it's good to see that you two made it through as well. I bet Applejack and Rainbow Dash will be happy to see you all.” She said as she got up from hugging her sister, but then a frown came to her face and she became a little worried. “Or they would.”

Apple Bloom and Scootaloo were lighten up for a second, but as she said that, a frown came to their faces as well. I interrupted the moment. “Miss, may I ask what happened?”

She looked at me. “May I ask you who you are first?”

“I'm Falcon, Falcon Blades to be more exactly. I was the one that escorted these fillies here.” I presented myself to her.

“It's a pleasure meeting you Falcon, my name is...”

“Rarity.” I interrupted her in the middle of her phrase. “Yeah, your sister talks a lot about you. Now may I ask what happened?”

“Well, It was so long ago. I remember being here with my friends, princess Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash and Applejack. We were still missing on Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie. AJ and Rainbow went searching for them, while me and the princess stayed to help the other citizens, since Celestia and Luna disappeared. Its been over ten days since we haven't heard of AJ and Rainbow Dash.”

Seeing the situation, I could see that those four that disappeared were of great importance to some of these ponies. I didn't really had a next location to move on to, so I guess I could try to find them. “Did you mention Pinkie Pie?”

“Indeed. She and Fluttershy have been gone since I could remember, I would say around fifty days already.” She answered me.

“Do you know in which direction Applejack and Rainbow Dash headed?” I asked. She got what I was trying to do.

“No no no. That would be too much to ask from you. I'm already glad you got my sister here, you don't need to do this.” she refused to let me help her.

“Look here Rarity, I hate being a douchebag, but I'm not the one that needs to be asked to help. I help when I find it's necessary, and I think you and your friends need a lift now. I will ask again. Where did they head?”

Rarity gave up. she knew this wasn't what she wanted, but what she needed. “They headed to Filly Delphia, to the east from here, but I doubt you will be getting there by walking, and even by flying, it would take days.”

“I don't care, this isn't about me.” I replied. “Somebody has to do it. Filly Delphia is a city controlled by raiders, If I don't go there, they might just be dead.”

“I doubt that AJ and Rainbow would let such cannibals get them so easily. But, if you are going to do this anyway, I might just provide you with some armor, I see that you had some trouble lately.”

“Some trouble would be nice. Thank you.” I thanked for her kindness to give me armor for free, one that wasn't from raiders for once. I still had another thing I needed to ask. “Do you know where I could find a wagon big enough to carry a Timberwolf?” I asked her. She just gave me a weird look.

I was walking, taking a look at some shops, mainly at medicine and ammo, that was what I needed the most right now. I still had one mag and a half of my rifle and enough bullets for the moment to my revolver. I was a little confused since none of these shops had any prices for their things. I was taking some time to buy some food and other supplies for me and Artemis, and maybe someone that comes around, while I waited Rarity to get ready with my armor. I asked for something light, since mobility was something really important. She also told me she would put better places for me to put my guns into, since these holsters were rusty, from what she said.

I found a shop that sold fresh food. Not meat, real pony food. Hay, some vegetables, everything I needed. I got a sack of bits I had kept all this time in opportunities like these, and checked to see if I could buy something with it. I think prices would have risen a lot since things became rare eventually.

I heard some giggles behind me. “I don't think you will be buying anything with those bits there.” The voice of a mare spoke with me from behind. I turned and found myself staring at a purple alicorn princess. Wow, what a honor. “I'm Twilight Sparkles, Rarity told me you would need some help when buying things.”

“Uh...” I couldn't say a word, I was still admiring the beautiful alicorn standing in front of me. Was I dreaming? Did I really die to that Timberwolf and was on heaven?

“Mister?” She called for my attention.

“Uh... Sorry. I finally snapped out of it. “Sorry, I was just... ah... Admiring you, I mean... It's a honor to be in the presence of such a beautiful alicorn. I mean...!” I didn't had any words, and ended up fucking everything I needed to say. She gave another giggle, and I found myself blushing. Nice move, Falcon.

“Come on, big boy, I don't really think you know that bits are used anymore around here.” She continued. I blushed even more when she called me "big boy".

“uh... Why is that?” I asked back.

“When the disaster happened, the whole government felt with Equestria, and there was nopony to keep the money rolling properly. Things also became rare, and the prices did really go up. When I took control, I made that buying things worked with trades and favors.” She explained.

“But don't you think that if somebody doesn't has anything to trade for, let's say, food, how exactly will that pony get some food.” I saw a flaw on that.

“As the princess of friendship, I see where your point is coming from. Here we are all friends, and are kind to others that are in need of our help. Those that are helpless, we each give something to get that pony running, and then he or she can work, helping our system grow.” She explained, everything made much more sense now. I remember this princess Twilight from before, but never understood what exactly she did, now it all made much more sense.

“Okay. Now, for a completely different question. How do you guys get fresh food?”

She simply giggled again. “It's a little complicated to explain, but it's basically science.” She answered me. She seemed very dedicated to her work, and seemed to know a lot. I bet she was one of those special students from the unicorn academy at Canterlot.

I looked in my bag, and I had some junk I had no use for, maybe I could trade them around, and get what I want by the end. I thanked the princess, and apologized for the strange beginning, and then went back to my trading.

I had spent some hours in the market, but by the end, I managed to trade some of my stuff for some ammo, some medicine and plenty of food. I was now wearing Rarity's armor, that was specially designed for me. It was a suit made out of cloth, with a chain mail vest behind it, and at the core a lightweight ballistic vest, and it covered my entire body but my tail, head and neck and most part of my legs. It was just like a casual shirt and pants connected and reinforced by combat, but that helped movement and still made me able to fly. It was just perfect.

I had just got out of the Royal Castle, retrieving my knife, revolver and rifle from the guards. I was pulling a wagon that would let me fly with Artemis at it's back. Flying would help us go faster and further in less time, as well as being more safe, but with this wagon, I would have to keep close to the ground.

On my way back to meeting Artemis, I found myself looking at the same house from my dreams, with the skeletons on the ground. I unstrapped myself from the wagon for a moment, and removed two flowers I had bought at the market. I placed the flowers at it's skulls. I was paying my respects for my wife and daughter after all. I strengthen up and got the the skeletons on the wagon, strapped myself to it again, and went back to moving.

“It appears that we are done, Artemis.” I told her, as I finished burring the bodies of my family. I needed to pay my respects by giving them a proper funeral. I had left my wife and daughter after. Why or how, I don't know, but I had to do this after all. Artemis has been keeping a look out for any danger around. I had lit a small fire, since we went all the way back from Canterlot to the bottom of the mountain, where there was space for me to dig a hole to bury them. It was the middle of the night, since we took time to walking down the caves. Now I would fly with Artemis all the way to Filly Delphia.

I got enough ammo, medicine, stealth skill and food. That was enough to get me inside a raider town just to rescue three or four ponies, a bit of action in my life does not hurt, right? Oh no, it does. But this opened me a big possibility. If I found Pinkie Pie, maybe she could help me rewrite the forgotten month, and maybe everything will make more sense, or maybe even less.

Extinguishing the fire, I moved back to the wagon, and began to strap the saddle that held me with the wagon, and I whistled to tell Artemis she could get in the wagon. With everything ready, I started trotting in a straight line as I flapped my wings to get up. After running about a fifty meters, I started pulling up, and so it worked, I was flying, as long as I don't lose any speed, we shouldn't fell from the sky, and I decided to keep with the ground, even if I could just fly as higher as I wanted. I just preferred that it was for us to crash, we don't suffer a death by fall.

Well, with everything settled, we started our trip to Filly Delphia