Fallout Equestria: Curiosity

Chapters

Prologue: Curiosity
Chapter 1: Land Beneath the Clouds
Chapter 2: Welcome to the Wasteland
Chapter 3: Charming

Prologue: Curiosity

Well here I am, the mare who had it all, well "it all" in the sense of everything a pony traveling the wastes might want, and left it behind. I left the luxuries of clean water and fresh food of the Enclave and went out into the wastelands below seeking grand adventures and a lost idol. Of course leaving also gave me freedom as the Enclave was a very strict military style government, and freedom is something worth fighting for, dying for, and giving up your life for.

Anyway here I am to tell you all of it. Well most of it, I'm sure I'll miss a few minor things. (Do you really think I could remember all of the things I went through?)

Well here goes nothing I guess.

Let me tell you about me, the pegasus who left the Enclave due to my extreme... curiosity, in search of a pony who inspired me, and looking to discover the wonders of the Equestrian Wasteland.

The wonders that would get me shot up, battered, bruised, lacerated, stabbed, cut, and worse. But it was all worth it honestly. I can't say I regret it. Made a few friends, did some grand things, helped ponies, and of course had true freedom for the first time. And of course I was able to satiate my appetite for knowing as I learned all about the wastes.

My name is Curiosity. A rather simple and boring name, but my father was never really the most creative pony when it came to naming or, well, anything in general. He was a military pony, and a rather simple one at that. So he named Curiosity, which while simple fit me because well.. I'm just that:

Curious.

I have this extreme appetite to know things. Someponies might call it a teeny tiny bit obsessive.

Because it is.

Box locked?

I want to know what's inside.

Can't see the top shelf?

I want up there now.

Not allowed into an exclusive club?

Damn it do I want in there, and I will find a way in.

I am so curious about everything that my cutie mark is a question mark. (I know right? A question mark? Seriously? It's like I've been damned to an eternity of not knowing who I am.) Maybe I should describe myself to you actually.

Quick rundown: I'm a pegasus mare, with a pale blue coat, and my cutie mark is a dark blue question mark. My eyes are brown, and my mane is rather nice looking, and is of black color. I'm not a very colorful looking mare.

Anyway that curiosity I told you about is how my father got the name. My mother died shortly after I was born, but she lived long enough to see me begin to get into trouble. Ever since I was a filly I would explore everything, and want to know. So my father said "Let's name her Curiosity" and they did. Kind of a lack luster story, but then again I'm better at learning things not teaching them.

Now take a pony like me and have her living her entire life above a layer of clouds, unable to see a whole different world that was beneath me, forever being taunted by the fact I would never see it. It was like a daily torture, and while most ponies in my position wouldn't know of the things below at all I had access to my fathers personal terminal, and with it all the knowledge of the things the Enclave government didn't want us knowing.

So being taunted by this knowledge of a world I'd never get to see unless I joined the military I decided to try to do that. Unfortunately for me I was terrible at it, and it was decided I'd live the civilian life and never be able to see this hidden land full of wonders.

So of course since I wanted to know about the land beneath the clouds, and a lot of the other wonders I might find down there, me being the smart pony I am decided to run away and try to find out. So I went down there, into that deep dark land of violence, and learned a bit about myself.

Honestly there are two reasons I left the luxury of living in the Enclave, and the main one was to search for my idol who had left some time before me:

'Deadshot' Calamity.

He was quite the pony in the Enclave, one of the most renowned shooters, and a rather high ranking officer if I recall correctly. He was important enough that when he left a mighty large bounty was out up for him.

I wasn't searching for the bounty though, money wasn't my style. I was searching for answers, and above all I wanted to meet him.

The way he shot with such accuracy, the way he was such a high ranking officer, the way my father spoke of him...

He sounded like the best type of pony. The perfect Enclave member.

The type of pony I looked up too for quite some time. And well he was known for being loyal, and a loyal pony doesn't leave the Enclave for no good reason. So I needed to know why he left.

So I left in search of him to find some answers, and maybe explore the Wastes while I was looking.

I'm quite glad I left. Being down here allowed me to help ponies who needed it most. Ponies the Enclave were ignoring.

All in all I feel like I did a decent amount of good in the wastes, and did my share to help the good ponies who lived down here. Lots of good ponies die out here, even friends, and they need to be avenged by carrying on the message they tried to deliver.

But I'll stop delaying.

Here's my story, a tale of action and adventure, romance and broken bonds, and plenty of other exciting things.

I hope you enjoy it.

Chapter 1: Land Beneath the Clouds

Night time was the perfect cover for my escape. Or so I had thought.

The entire week had been spent planning my leave of this place, and I had gotten everything set up perfectly. I wrote a note to my father, and left it on the table for him to find when he came back. He would be at some important Enclave meeting tonight -he was a rather high up pony in the government- which would allow me to leave my home without him knowing.

I had left my home when the clock struck eleven, and most ponies were asleep already in their homes, allowing me to escape without being seen. If I ran into any Enclave members I could tell them my father had sent me on a task, and inform them who he was. They wouldn't be able to question it, without running risk of getting into trouble form him.

I had packed a saddlebag full of food, water, Rad-Away, RadSafe (I may or may not have raided my fathers medicine cabinet for those) and two small pistols to protect myself from any dangers I may find down in the Wasteland below. From what I had learned it was a desolate waste, full of radiation, and practically unlivable. I was soon to learn all that was a lie.

I had accounted for every possible thing that could go wrong with my escape, covered all the bases. I could go deeper into detail, but that's the important stuff. I headed towards the spot of cloud coverage where 'Deadshot' Calamity had left the Enclave. The same spot many ponies escaping had ran away at. I'm quite certain the first pony to ever leave the Enclave went underneath the clouds from that very spot.

I had everything set up, I was ready to leave, and nopony would be the wiser.

What I had not accounted for however was my father's meeting ending early, and him returning home at eleven-thirty, shortly after I had left. That put a pretty big dent in my plans, and by the time I got to the cloud coverage where I was to go beneath the clouds, I found a small group of Enclave waiting to intercept me.

I flew down and halted on the clouds, and stared at the ponies in front of me. There were three of them, which may not seem like much, but with the Enclave it was enough to ruin my entire scheme within a matter of seconds. Two armored ponies, wearing standard Enclave power armor and equipped with battle saddles of nova surge rifles, and one officer wearing a black cap and a very pristine looking officer outfit. It was black, and bore the Enclave insignia on the front, same as the cap. The two armored ponies stood behind the officer, weapons at the ready, pointed directly at me.

"Curiosity, I presume." The officer at the front of the group said casually. He knew he had already won the second they caught me here.

I nodded in response to the question. I would have said something, but I was to afraid too speak. I had messed up, and messed up badly. Typically when somepony tried to run from the Enclave they were killed, or worse their cutie mark was seared off with a hot iron rod, branding them as a "Dashite".

A "Dashite" was a pegasus who left the Enclave, and considered a traitor in their eyes. Rainbow Dash was the first, hence the term. The brand was of her cutie mark.

So I believed I would suffer one of these two fates, death or branding. Neither of which was preferable.

Just imaging the pain of my cutie mark being burnt off made me cringe. Not only would it cause excruciating pain as my flesh was burnt and branded, it would remove my identity (not that a question mark as a cutie mark gave much identity). I was practically shaking in fear, and I could hear my saddlebags lightly smacking against my sides.

"At ease young mare, nopony is going to hurt you." He said in response to my not-so-well-hidden nervousness.

"W-what are you doing here?" I said, admittedly less confidently than I would have liked. "H-how did you know I was leaving?"

The Enclave officer smiled.

"Your father returned home earlier than you expected. It appears you left him a note. He was immediately worried, and sent us here." The officer said, a hint of joy in his voice.

"We have come to give you a task Curiosity. You see typically when a pony tries to leave they are brought back, or branded as a Dashite. Or killed." He paused and looked at me again, and obviously saw I was shaking.

"You will receive none of these fates." He continued. "Your father has informed us that he will allow you to go beneath the clouds, and venture into the Equestrian Wasteland. A stupid choice in my opinion, but I must follow orders. After much discussion with the rest of the Enclave Council he seems to have used the majority of his pull in the government to allow this."

I was honestly rather shocked. My father would allow me to leave the Enclave?

"You're telling me my father is willing to just let me leave?" I said in shock. "No catch?"

"You should be thankful, not questioning him or his motives. Your father is a great man, and you should know this by now." The officer said, obviously angered by my disbelief.

"He has informed us that you are a rather mischievous and crafty individual. According to him even if we were to deny your leaving you would find away to escape due to your "curiosity" as the name implies. He believes that even if he had wanted to stop you, you would still find a way out, and his efforts would be futile." The officer stopped for a moment. "Based on your rather well planned escape attempt, I have a strong feeling this is true."

I thought for a moment and realized it was indeed true. My entire life my father had tried to stop me from getting into things, learning things I shouldn't, but every time I would find a way.

It was why he named me "Curiosity". Ever since I was a little foal all I did was explore and look for things. I had quite the appetite for learning things. It was probably more of an obsession actually.

"Your father is not the one to place the "catch" on you however." The officer said. "The High Council would not let you leave unless you did something for the Enclave in return, so there is of course one condition to this."

I was honestly not at all shocked. The High Council never let a pony leave the Enclave, even temporarily unless they were on a mission.

"And what might that be?" I asked, trying to make my voice sound more level. The idea of being allowed to leave made me giddy with excitement. The idea of a task did not.

"You will be engaging on a mission, that the Council has ordered. We believe in your note you said you would be looking for 'Deadshot' Calamity." The officer paused for a moment, and looked at me raising an eyebrow. "Is this correct?"

I paused. Obviously the note had been shared with the Council, and trying to lie would be futile.

Besides this was my only chance of leaving.

"Yes. I am leaving in search of him. I want to know everything about why he left. Every last detail."

"Good. That means that your mission will coincide with your original goals. Shouldn't be too difficult for you to accept." He paused. "But it may be more difficult for you to carry out."

"And what do you mean by that?"

"Once you find Ex-Officer Calamity you can talk to him as long as you like, learn all you need about his leave, his escape." The officer paused, and then continued with obvious malice in his voice. "You will learn that he is not a good pony, and abandoned us like the "Dashite" scum he is."

"Get to the point already." I said in an exasperated voice.

"When you are done talking to him you are going to kill him."

I stared at the stallion in front of me in shock.

KILL 'Deadshot' Calamity?

That pony was my idol! I couldn't kill him!

And even if I had wanted too, he would probably kill me first! A pony doesn't get the name 'Deadshot' for no reason, and he would probably be able to shoot me ten time over before I could even get one shot off.

It was something I knew I couldn't do, and definitely something I didn't want to do. Part of the reason I was leaving was for my freedom, why would I do something I don't want too?

So I came up with a plan. A small one, not very large or world shaking, but just a tiny plan to cheat the Enclave in this deal.

"I accept." I said. Of course I didn't mean it. If I accepted I could leave, avoid being branded, and if I decided to I could potentially fake that I killed Calamity in order to earn my way back into the Enclave if I so desired.

Of course I would never desire such a thing seeing how evil they seemed to be, especially after this encounter.

"Good." The officer responded. "In honesty I expected you to say no. But only a stupid pony would say no. You don't strike me as a stupid pony."

"I'm not." I giggled a little. He had no idea I was going to betray this trust. "I'm smarter than you'll ever be."

The officer glared at me.

"I don't trust you Curiosity, and I know you're planning something. You don't seem like you'd go along with this easily, and even though I'm being ordered to believe you, I don't have to like it."

"As a matter of fact I'm not entirely sure the Council trusts you either. I have no idea what they're doing by letting you accept this mission."

"Am I free to go now?" I said, in what was honestly a bored sounding tone.

"Since we have your acceptance we are to equip you first." He responded reluctantly. "As much as I'd love to let you rush in to the wastes unprepared and die, that would be against my orders."

The two armored ponies marched forward in step with one another, the large duffle bag in between them. They stood in front of me, and threw the bag down at my feet. It made a muffled thump against the clouds as it landed

I cautiously moved forward, wary of the two armored ponies. I carefully unzipped the bag, trying to be as slow as possible so they would have no reason to feel threatened. I took a look inside.

The bag contained two canteens, several boxes of food, a set of armor, and a few other various things. Notably a battle saddle, and much to my delight and excitement, a Pip-Buck.

"We have brought with us two water canteens for you to take, filled with purified freshwater. A blessing down there. We also bring several boxes of fresh food and medicine, also a blessing down below, and several old family heirlooms from your father."

I removed my saddlebags and slowly packed the food and medical supplies into them. I then proceeded to take the armor out of the bag and began to slowly put it on.

I did everything slowly, as to keep the two guards relaxed, and without reason to feel threatened.

"That armor is a variant of that of an Enclave officer. Similar suit to what I am wearing, but contains extra protection on the inside. Like an armored version." The officer said as I put it on.

I finished putting it on, adjusted it so I could wear it more comfortably, and looked at my reflection in the armored ponies shiny suit.

I was now equipped in an armored variant of the Enclave officer officer uniform, and it definitely appeared armored on the outside. I got the feeling I was going to be quite protected I with this. I noticed the insignia on the front was torn off however, and the symbol of a "Dashite" cutie mark (really, Rainbow Dash's cutie mark) sown on.

By putting a Dashite mark on the uniform the High Council was probably trying to send me a warning of the fate that would befall me if I didn't finish the mission or something.

I proceeded to put the Pip-Buck on next, and it was probably the most exciting part of leaving. It was apparently an old family heirloom, from the first pony in my family to head above the clouds after the megaspell disaster.

Pip-Bucks are an extremely versatile tool that show the vitals of the pony wearing them, store notes, hack terminals, play music, use targeting spells, and a wide net of other things.

It was the most useful tool possible for a pony in the wastes, and I was extremely lucky to have one before going down there. This thing would prove so useful so many times, and I was extremely glad to have it. Besides it looked pretty cool!

I rolled up the sleeve of my Enclave uniform and put the Pip-Buck on over my left forehoof. I lifted my hoof up and looked at it, scrolling through the features.

I immediately found that nothing about my old family member who owned this originally was stored in here, and it was practically fresh and renewed. Completely mine. Of course the lack of information on the Pip-Buck annoyed me slightly, but I was too excited to care.

The next thing I put on was the battle saddle, and oh my was it a great piece of weaponry. Of course, me not being a gun expert whatsoever at this time didn't know this, but down the road of my story I'd learn that two hunting rifles simultaneously firing can definitely help you out in a gunfight.

There were two rifles on the battle saddle, making it so that one would rest on either side of my body, To fire it all I'd have I do was bite down on the middle piece and they would both shoot simultaneously. It was also compatible to the Pip-Buck I wore, allowing me to hook the S.A.T.S. spell of the onto it, which in turn allowed me the ability totarget whatever pony I swiveled my guns to by biting down on a second lever.

What was even more amazing to me however was that the thing didn't shoot lasers like most Enclave weapons, it shot bullets. According to the Pip-Bucks inventory sorter it was called Soarin's Revenge, and according to the Enclave officer it was a family heirloom.

There was a note on the Pip-Buck that had downloaded when I found the weapon, that told me that Soarin was the name of one of my ancestors, whom I had some form of unknown relation. He was involved with the Wonderbolts, and apparently towards the end of the war had fled up above the clouds, same as the rest of the Pegasi. I'm honestly quite happy that he did, otherwise I would be Pip-Buckless, and weapon less. And probably not born.

So now I had armor, two guns(they shoot bullets how cool is that?), large amounts of food, canteens of water, and a Pip-Buck.

I was definitely prepared for the wasteland below.

Or so I thought.

I said goodbye to the officer, who reminded me of my mission once more.

As soon as he stopped talking I was prepared to fly below the clouds, but the officer stopped me once more.

"Curiosity." He called out. I was surprised he had stopped me.

"Look" The officer said with a saddened look in his eyes, one that honestly surprised me. "I know I was saying I'd be fine with you dying down there, but I can't just send you to your death like this without trying to stop you at all. Just wouldn't feel right."

"I-" He paused. "Does it still seem like we're lying about things being and down there? Do you see what you're being outfitted with? You'd have to be extremely stupid to believe that we'd give you all of this equipment for nothing."

He had a point. They had just given me a military grade officers uniform, complete with armor modifications, a heap load of medical supplies and other various survival gear, a Pip-Buck, and a battle saddle.

All for a mare who was trying to run away.

"The Enclave has given you this mission now, and they expect you to complete it." He continued, standing in an official manner and pacing. "They have outfitted you for what they deemed to be the bare minimum for your survival and completion of this task."

"If this is the bare minimum than things probably aren't too good down there." I replied hesitantly.

"Precisely." He stopped again, as if searching for words. "I know you will still leave, it's inevitable. No stopping a pony with their mind set on a goal like this, who had already planned out part of it."

The officer came towards me, and leaned in extremely closely as if to tell me something.

"But tell me young mare, how can you expect to find anything below but death?" The officer asked, in a very hushed and serious tone.

"You can't truly believe that you will achieve your goal in the dark and desolate land below, can't actually be thinking that you will live."

"And what makes you think I won't live?" I asked, my pride obviously hurting. Than again I had little combat experience, but I didn't think that would be too much of a problem.

"I can't be certain." He replied, lowering his head and shaking it sadly.

His head jolted back up.

"But what I can be certain of is this:

You will go below the cloud coverage tonight, and possibly never come back. You will face death, violence, some of the most vile things you can think of, and countless other horrors. You probably aren't even remotely close to prepared for any of them, not nearly prepared enough to see the hell that is the land below. And yet you will go anyway, no matter how much I warn you, how much we try to persuade you otherwise. You have a quest from the Enclave now. You will see that accepting it will be your only choice in the end, and you will see that you need the Enclave to live in these times."

"And if I don't complete these goals? If I think otherwise?" I responded. "If I don't want to come back?

"Than one day you will return, begging and pleading to be allowed back. And on that day you will find no salvation here." He replied solemnly before turning around and walking away.

As soon as he had left I took one last look around at the clouds I stood on, and than delved down below the cloud coverage, and began the descent to the land below.

I was now confined to the world below the cloud coverage, and even though I had technically left one cage and entered into another for the first time in my life I felt truly free.

* * *

My descent was one of the most satisfying things I had experience in my life.

I had left the chains of the Enclaves military, and entered freedom, the great Equestrian Wasteland. No more being connived to staying above the clouds, I was going below them now, and it felt great.

A few things however were not so great.

While on my descent I notice one terrible thing, and that was the moonlight all but disappearing on me. The clouds practically covered the entire sky, and I could see nothing of the night time. I felt free now, yet at the same time the cloud coverage above me with the ground below me made me feel more caged than ever.

I kept going down, until I reached the ground.

It felt... strange to say the least.

For the first time in my life, I was no longer walking on clouds, but I was walking on solid, hard, ground. It felt extremely strange, and dirty, and harsh in my hooves compared to the fluffiness of the clouds above. I ignored the strange feeling it gave, and looked around. The first thing I noticed was a small shack in the distance at the top of a hill. That was all. Not many defining features of the place where I had landed.

My Pip-Buck however saw much more.

It immediately began mapping out the area, and now had a blank slate of the Equetrian Wasteland, but most interestingly it named the exact location where I had landed. A place called "The Rock of Destiny". A weird name, but the weirder thing was the fact that my Pip-Buck knew what it was called. I was however satisfied, as now I knew where I was, and knowing made me so happy. All I wanted was to know things. I looked around at my dusty surrounding, and took it in. The air felt less clean here, and much heavier. Probably due to the change in altitude. It felt... strange, but I was dealing with it. My breathing was quite heavy however, due to the change in air pressure.

I kept looking around, and took it all in. The sights where I had landed weren't much, but they were enough to make me happy. It was just the beginning of the entire world I was going to see, places I had never even heard of before.

I was satisfied, and the change of scenery from the clouds above invigorated me, and got me ready to move. I lifted one hoof, and prepared to take my first "real" step of my journey.

But before I could even move a small device, like a tiny metal apple rolled gently up to my hooves, with a slight klink sound as it touched the tip of one of them.

I looked at it curiously, confused as to what it was.

"What the hay is-" I had begun to say, before a large blast went off, hurling me backwards several feet, and knocking me unconscious.

Chapter 2: Welcome to the Wasteland

I woke up dazed, lying (more like sprawled out) on my back, head throbbing, and dirt all over my new armor. I began to flutter open my eyes, but when I did all I could see was blurry vision from the tears in my eyes. I tried to roll over, and wipe the tears from my eyes, but the second I tried to move I winced in pain. Not major damage, just a slight pinch.

Sensing no immediate threat I sat there for a few moments, thinking about what had happened.

A concussion grenade had happened. That's what had rolled up at my hooves and hit me, knocking me out after sending me back several feet. After thinking about it, it was rather easy to realize that's what it was. I had seen the Enclave's military practicing with a special variant of them before when I snuck out after curfew once to go see them practice. (And maybe I looked over a weapon record or two on my father's private terminal)

I sat there thinking about what had happened, and realized how angry I was. I was mad for several things, at several people. I was mad at the Enclave for lying about this place. So far it seemed dangerous (I mean I hadn't even been down here for five minutes and a concussion grenade rolls up to my feet) but not as "dangerous and unlivable" as they had said. I guess I already knew that, based on the records in my father's terminal, but I was still upset the Enclave had lied about it.

And then there was the concussion grenade. That angered me greatly. Here I was, fresh to this place, uncertain about what might happen, and before I can even take a step I'm blown away by a concussive grenade from some unknown assailant.

The more I thought about the more I grew worried. Where was this assailant? Where are they right now? Are they waiting to kill me? Why was I attacked? How am I still alive?

The fear welled up in me, and I laid there in fear for several more moments. I finally decided to get up after realizing that since I wasn't dead yet I probably would be soon. I flopped over onto my stomach, and pulled my Pip-Buck up to my face. I quickly scrolled through the menus and got to the one that showed my vital signs.

Luckily for me I wasn't injured at all, just a slight head ache that should go away.

I struggled to stand up, and got to my knees feeling weak. My head was throbbing, and I was in a small amount of pain, but I stayed standing. I began to take a look around.

Scanning the environment I looked around and that's when I saw what had thrown the grenade. And probably the reason they had done it.

Not too far from me stood two unicorns, stallions from the looks of it, both equal in size and height. One had bright red hair, the shade of which you'd expect to see for the color of some form of candy, and a candy blue coat. The other had light blue hair, the same color of the first pony's coat, and his coat was that shade of bright red of the first pony's hair. They both had light green eyes that stood out against their coats.

And they appeared to be going through my saddlebags.

I began to walk towards them, slowly as to not startle them. I was worried of being shot, but then I realized they were dressed in tattered rags, and appeared to have no weapons. They appeared to be taking out food and water.

As I approached them I could hear the conversation they were having.

"You sure that pony was a raider? Sure as hell didn't look like one, and we can't be stealing from innocent ponies." The first unicorn said. He was the one with the red hair and blue coat. He seemed less muscular than the other. He also seemed quite uneasy with the situation of stealing.

"Yeah I'm pretty sure she was a raider. Ain't there one o' them raider bases near here? Maybe she was out scouting around and we just got lucky." The more muscular one said in reply.

"Look I don't want to be stealing." The skinnier one said, his voice a barely audible whisper. "I prefer to loot the dead if it comes to that, but I don't like that much either. It's a necessary evil though. This is stealing, and it feels wrong, but there's no way I'd steal from anypony but a raider. Far as I'm concerned they aren't ponies anymore, just... vile creatures. Sick fucking animals, the lot of them." He paused for a moment.

"Besides given our predicament I think we need to at this point." He said gesturing at the rags they wore.

I moved toward them, slowly, hesitantly, and activated the S.A.T.S. on my Pip-Buck. It was a targeting spell, and I'd managed to hook it up to the battle saddle. The two guns at my sides slightly swiveled and locked onto both ponies. I was now ready in case anything happened.

"Why are you going through my things?" I asked them angrily as I approached.

The smaller pony jumped, hurtling the saddlebags at me with his magic, and cowered behind the bigger one, clearly afraid. The big one stood there silently, giving me a menacing glare.

"There's no need to be afraid." I said in as non-threatening of a tone as I could manage. "I'm not going to hurt you."

The muscular pony continued to glare at me, the smaller one cowering behind him. I paused for a moment and thought about what to say next. I needed to find the most peaceful way to resolve the situation, but it was hard to do when I could be attacked again at any moment, and had guns turned on them.

I tried to think of something to say, something to get them to talk to me.

"I heard you mention you were in some form of trouble? Why are you wearing those rags?" I asked, gesturing at the clothes they wore. I needed to get them to talk if I wanted to get them away from me peacefully.

The smaller pony slowly moved out from behind the larger one and looked at me, fear in his eyes.

"We-" He began to say before he choked on his words, shaking nervously. "We were captured by slavers. W-we needed supplies, and well... my brother thought you were one o' them raiders."

I stared at him. Given the dirt on his and his brothers faces, the rags they wore, and the scars on their faces, they may not have been lying.

"W-we didn't mean to hurt no innocent pony! I-I swear!" The small one stuttered out again.

"Did you say slavers?" I asked, appalled by the very idea of such a thing. "There are slavers down here?"

The two ponies looked at me like I had two heads.

"You been livin' under a rock?" The skinny one said, the stronger one still remaining silent. "There are whole armies of slavers here. How the hell do y'all not know about slavers?"

"I'm uh..." I paused, trying to think of an answer. "I'm sort of new. Can you fill me in on the some of the dangers here?"

"I guess so..." The pony said cautiously, obviously confused by my lack of knowledge of the wastes. I don't think he had caught on to the fact that I was from the Enclave yet. Maybe he didn't even know what that was. "Well in the Equestrian Wasteland there are plenty of things out to get ya. Raiders, monsters that are infected from the megaspell fallout, and much, much worse. And of course there are slavers."

"But that's just the brief rundown." He continued.

"Do you mind telling me about how you got captured? What's your story?" I asked curiously, as always.

He paused for a moment and thought about it. It seemed obvious that he wasn't willing to share it so easily.

"I'll tell you." He said reluctantly. "On the condition you give us some food. We need it, or we ain't gone last much longer out here."

"P-please... me and my brother need it." He said after several moments of silence.

I glanced down at my saddle bags. I had plenty of food, water, and other things to spare. I looked back up at the two beaten ponies in front of me.

I couldn't help but feel bad for them. They both stood there, looking broken and destroyed, as if they had lost something down here. And given that they had been captured by slavers they probably had. I couldn't just let them die. I wasn't a bad pony, my father raised me right.

I looked back down at the saddle bags, and my abundance of supplies.

"I'll give you some supplies." I said, as I pulled out a couple things. I couldn't just let ponies die. I set out several things on the ground in front of me, the two pistols I had packed, some food and water, and a small amount of medicine.

The two ponies looked shocked at the amount.

"A-all of this?" The smaller one asked in shock while the more muscular one already moved forward to take it. He picked up a pistol and examined it.

"I've got plenty to spare, and you look like you need it." I said softly, a tone of pity in my voice, I felt sorry for the two ponies. "Take it. It's the least I could do."

"T-thank you so much miss." The small one stuttered out to me, still obviously shocked at what I was giving. "W-we appreciate these supplies."

He paused for a moment, and moved closer to me while picking up some supplies. He looked at me, standing closer now, and seemed to have an idea.

"If you want, we're headin' down south to a town called New Apploosa, not too far from here. Maybe we could take you there to pay you b-"

Before he could finish his sentence his head just... exploded. All over me.

Pieces of him flying everywhere, chunks of blood and brain matter splattering all over me. Some of it got in my mouth. The body slumped over, blood leaking out of the hole where the head used to be.

I screamed as I stumbled backwards in shock and fell over.

"W-what the fuck was that?" I shouted, wiping the blood out of my eyes to try and see. I'd never sworn before. Now seemed like a good first time for it.

I hastily wiped the blood from my eyes, panicking. It was all over me. It was in my mouth, it covered my face, it was all over the front of my armor, and now on my hooves. I felt sick just looking at it, and feeling the sliminess of it all over me made it worse.

I felt like throwing up, and I did, tears welling up in my eyes, but only a small bit. I think I vomited mainly to get the blood of the other pony out of my mouth.

I was now lying on my back as vomit came out, and when it finally stopped I looked up to see the other pony standing right in front of me, casually reloading the pistol I had given him to make sure the clip had all six bullets in it.

He looked at me and casually walked over, pointing the gun at my head.

"Why the fuck did you do that?" I screamed, still in shock and shaking slightly. I felt like throwing up again, this time from fear more than sickness. Maybe both actually.

"He was a liability." He said with no emotion in his voice. "He would have weighed me down."

He paused for a moment.

"Besides killing him allows me to kill you, which gains me more supplies. And some armor if that'll fit properly." He said the last part while gesturing at my gear.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?!?" I asked. "Wasn't he your fucking brother? Wasn't he your friend? Why the fuck would you kill him?!?"

"He was broken." He said, his voice still emotionless. I couldn't tell if he really was soulless, or if he simply wanted to keep up an appearance. "I endured all the shit the slavers threw at me. I didn't let them break me. And due to my strength, I was able to survive."

He glanced over at the corpse, blood still oozing out of it's neck where the head should have been.

"He was broken." He said again, even more emotionless than before. He sounded practically robotic. "He. Didn't. Survive."

"What the fuck do you mean broken?" I screamed back. I felt extremely weak yelling in the face of his emotionless tone. Like somehow his lack of empathy made him stronger than me.

"The slavers." He said, a hint of a smile breaking across his face. "They tried to break us. Four of them. They had the two of us captured."

"They tried to break us." He said, his voice finally cracking slightly, revealing a hint of sadness.

I looked at the corpse nearby, and then back to dejected looking pony in front of me. He sure as hell looked broken to me.

I looked at him, shaking in fear. There was no way I was going to be able to get out of this. So of course, being the smart pony I am I tried to make the situation worse in hopes of a stupid plan coming to fruition.

"You're the broken one." I said, trying to sound as confident as I could while shaking with fear and a gun pointed at my head. It was a stupid thing to say, but I thought it might work.

"What the fuck did you say?" He said, his emotionless voice broken by a hint of anger.

"I said you're the broken one." I said slowly, to try to make him feel insulted.

"I'm not broken!" He said, the tone of his voice rising in anger. "You're the fucking broken one!"

He pushed the gun slightly further into my head, the metal pushing in on my skull.

I could see the anger welling up in him, see him clenching his hooves. So I continued talking. I hoped I could enrage him enough to make him hit me, and hopefully give me the opportunity to get the gun away from him.

"Of course you are." I continued in a condescending tone. "The slavers broke you. They broke you in a worse way than making you theirs. They broke your sanity. They got you to kill your own brother."

"I didn't let them break me. Only the weak break. I. BROKE. THEM." His anger was rising even further, and he finally yelled.

"You are broken." I said again, trying to sound calm, but a shakiness in my voice betrayed me.

"THEY DID NOT FUCKING BREAK ME!" He yelled again, spitting in my face. I winced as the spit collided.

"Are you sure they didn't break you?" I asked again, standing up slowly. He glared at me as I stood up, and I gently pushed the gun out of the way.

He watched me move closer to him in shock, and I slowly leaned in towards him.

"It looks to me like you've snapped." I whispered into his ear. "You are broken."

"I AM NOT FUCKING BROKEN!" He screamed at the top of his lungs, enraged, his anger finally fully betraying him.

He immediately threw the pistol to the side, punched me square across the face, almost nocking me over before he jumped at me.

Immediately I was pushed back on the ground, wings against the dirt, being pummeled. His hoof connecting to my face every second, the rest of his body holding me down on my back. I kicked back and tried to shove him off fighting with all my strength, squirming underneath him, my wings flapping frantically.

He kept on punching, and punching, and punching, every time he hit I could feel bruises forming on my face, blood splattering out of my nose every so often. Soon a blackness started to blur my vision. I struggled, fighting back, trying to push him off of me, trying to keep the blackness from taking over, trying to keep myself from being beaten to death. Or at least what I assumed was being beaten to death.

No matter how hard I fought against him though, how hard I tried to kick back, how hard I flapped my wings around in the dirt like a dying bug, the blackness kept on growing over my vision, making it harder and harder to see. I squirmed, struggling against him as he hit me more and more, slowly smashing my face in.

And the blackness continued to grow over me. And I was letting it. I was slowly slipping away. I had lost all of my strength, I had lost the will to fight back, as my face was pummeled in by this large pony, and my body took in so much pain. He kept on hitting, not even giving me a break. I couldn't fight back. I was too weak.

I had never before in my life experienced true pain until this moment. In Enclave I had hurt myself once or twice, maybe even been hit by my father for discipline.

This was entirely different.

This was true pain, in all of it's horrors. This is what it felt like to fear for your life as blackness over takes you, feeling as though you have no control as you're beaten and battered to death, matters being taken out of your hooves, and put into the hooves of somepony else.

I was experiencing pain. I was experiencing my death.

I didn't want to die. Not yet. I had just gotten here. Not even an day down here in the wasteland and I was dying. I was about to black out. About to give in and die. I was weak.

I hadn't even found Calamity yet.

"Wait a minute. I have not even fucking found Calamity yet! I hadn't fucking learned anything! I haven't done shit! I can't die now! I can't fucking give up now!" I thought to myself angrily, my mind trying to fight through the darkness blurring my vision.

"I can not fucking die here!" I screamed, and once more began fighting back.

I pushed against the pony on top of me, flapped my wings against his weight, kicking at him, trying to get him off.

He looked visibly shocked by my sudden resurgence of strength, and his punches finally began to slow as I fought back against him. I could feel a sudden adrenaline rush, as I punched him back, and I pushed with all my might, barely managing to kick him off of me.

I stumbled to my feet, and pushed him to the side, standing up with all my might, fighting the sharp pain in my head.

I watched as he tried to stand back up, and I quickly ran over to him kicking him in the jaw with all my force, knocking him down onto the ground.

I quickly punched him in the face while he was down, and continued to punch him several times while he fought against me. I saw his horn begin to flare as he tried to levitate the pistol back over, and I quickly stood back up. I immediately spin around, and began to stomp his head in with my back hooves.

Blood began to splatter out of his head, and I winced as I heard him scream.

And than I stomped again.

And again. He screamed once more.

And again.

Over and over, I continued to stomp his head, blood spurting out of his nose, until bits and pieces of his skin started to fly off with the blood, covering my hooves and the ground beneath him as he screamed in pain.

I kicked him again with extra strength, stomping his head in further, causing a loud crunching noise as he yelped in pain, blood spurting out everywhere as his eyes popped out of his head. That yelp marked his death.

But I didn't stop. The adrenaline rush combined with the pure terror I felt was too much, and I kept on stomping at his head until well past his death, crushing it up almost completely, blood spurting everywhere as his lifeless corpse flopped around with each kick. I was completely unable to stop myself, the terror was too great. I feared that if I stopped the blackness would start to take over my vision again.

My kicks gradually began to slow as I breathed heavily, feeling weak again, and barely able to stay standing anymore, the adrenaline rush calming down. I finally stopped kicking and panted heavily, trying to catch my breath.

I screamed a scram of rage.

Immediately the blackness began to blur my vision again.

I stumbled over to the supplies that I had placed on the ground for the two ponies, the boxes now had small amounts of blood on them. I immediately began to look for a health potion. The blackness was starting to fully overtake my vision again.

I dug through the pile, crying and whimpering in pain, only trying to stay alive for just a few me seconds. I finally found one after around a minute of searching, and I drank it greedily.

I could immediately felt my wounds healing, and my head starting to feel better. The blackness began to leave my vision as I breathed heavily, sobbing dryly.

I was feeling healed, but I still felt frail. Tired really.

I kept on breathing heavily, and fell down, lying next to the small pile of supplies that I had intended to give away. I looked down at my hooves and chest, and saw all the little bits of brain matter and blood that now covered me.

I couldn't help it anymore. I couldn't hold it in any longer. I threw up violently, tears pouring from my eyes as the shock from the events that had just transpired finally hit me in full.

The blackness was coming back again as I cried.

I let it take me this time, and slowly slipped away in the moonlight.

This was my welcome to the Wasteland.

Chapter 3: Charming

A dull pain washed over me as I lay with my back in the dirt, eyes still closed. I had finally woken up from passing out and collapsing onto the hard ground, and surprisingly I felt much better than I did before passing out. My head was slightly throbbing, but I believed that was more from the emotional trauma than the fact that I suffered physical injuries. Luckily I wasn't in any physical pain, as the potion had seemed to have tended to all my wounds, but emotionally I felt injured and destroyed.

I had killed a pony.

Sure it was in self defense, but I had still ended another living, breathing, feeling creature's life. I had killed another pony, somepony who probably had friends, and family, and emotions, and just the thought of that hurt. All I felt was a dull ache internally, one that stung, and the sting worsened the more I thought about the kill. I was hurt, but hurt even worse when I realized that it was a completely justified kill. I had not committed a wrong in killing that pony, he was evil; at least to an extent. He had murdered his own brother in cold blood, and threatened to kill me, he had even tried to kill me.

The fact that I was able to justify it hurt the most. I had never thought about killing a pony before, even though I had planned on being a military member in the Enclave. I had never imagined taking the life from another pony, let alone in such a... disgusting manner.

Looking down at myself I saw that I was still covered in blood, except now it was dried. I had spent a night covered in it, letting it dry onto me, all disgusting and slick, all over me. I could feel it on my face, and looking at my hooves I could see the thick coat of blood on them, and on my armor, which had caked. I was completely coated in it, and it was now completely dried on me. The blood of another pony was stuck to me.

The blood itself completely sickened me, and the fact that I was able to justify killing the pony whose blood it was only made me hurt worse. The justification was absolutely destroying me, and not because I thought it made me a bad pony for justifying killing somepony, but because things actually were so bad down here that I was forced to kill him. That it was so bad he had turned bad himself, as if the wastes had corrupted his very soul.

It hurt knowing things really were this terrible here, and that the Enclave knew. And we hadn't done anything to help. I knew the government had been lying, knew that they were hiding all something from the civilians. Hacking my father's terminal taught me that, told me it was bad here. But part of me didn't believe that it could be that bad, that I was lied too, and that it was even worse than I could have imagined.

And I had only spent about day here. Who knows what horrors are out there the Enclave has ignored?

So no, it wasn't the justified kill that hurt, no that wasn't it at all. Sure I hated the fact I had killed somepony, beaten them with my own hooves until they stopped flailing and screaming. Yes, at that I was quite upset, but I think the thing that hurt the most was that I was actually seeing the lie in full. I had completely pulled open the veil that had shrouded the truth, and was finally seeing what it was like down here, finally knowing fully that I had been lied too. I hated it the more I thought about it, that the Enclave could just leave all these ponies to die, and it immediately justified my being here.

Thank Celestia I left those bastards.

I laid there for a little while longer, thinking about it a bit more, and feeling sorry for myself until I finally fully regained my bearings, and realized just how uncomfortable lying on a small amount of supplies and some dirt was. I realized it was probably time to get up and start moving on, continue my travels, and my eyes slowly began to flicker open. I found myself looking up at the cloud coverage above, small beams of sunlight occasionally shooting through it.

The more I stared up at the coverage, the more I felt terrible about myself. Just knowing that I had been a part of a community that was keeping all these ponies below stuck in the hell they lived in, keeping them from ever seeing what was above made me realize how terrible we truly were, We were taking from these poor ponies who already had so little the beauties of the sunlight, the wonders of the moon, and from ever seeing the stars gently flickering over you while you stared up at the sky. Things that everypony should know, everypony should always be able to see, we were taking from them for ourselves, and keeping them from ponies who already had so little.

Up there, above the clouds, staring at the sky always provided some form of beauty. There was a whole plethora of stars, the sun in your eyes or the moon beaming down on you. Down here staring up at the sky only got you a great look at the same depressing cloud coverage, that you always knew was hiding a whole world up there, a world of safety, that you could never achieve. You weren't born right. As if the mood down here didn't already feel sad and desperate enough there was always that to make it worse for the ponies down here.

Finally after a long amount of staring I decided I couldn't handle any more depressing cloud coverage, and decided to go, sluggishly rolling over and forcing myself to stand up, pushing myself up on all four hooves and stretching out as I stood. I looked at all the supplies I had set out on the ground for the two slave ponies, and then glanced over at the corpse of the innocent pony nearby, the one who had unexpectedly been murdered in cold blood by his own brother. I stared at it for a second, but quickly looked away. I couldn't keep looking. The blood I was caked in was his. A sadness began to wash over me again, and I quickly began to pick up all my things trying to ignore what had happened.

I didn't even bother fully examining the corpse of the pony who's head I had brutally bashed in, as I already has the exact details of how his brutalized and bloodied head looked, the bloody pulp it had been turned into by the stomping force of my hooves. I knew the memory of that fight would forever be engraved in my mind, and I knew I'd always remember every last detail, right down to the screams of pain and sickening crunches.

After collecting and packing up all my things I took one more look around to make sure I hadn't forgotten anything. After looking around at the nearby surroundings, and checking through Pip-Buck inventory sorter I soon realized just how hungry I was. I looked at the clock on my Pip-Buck to check the time, and saw that I had slept from whatever time it had been last night, too noon. I had left my own home at around eleven at night, which probably meant I had slept for around ten hours if I was correct on my hunch that I didn't pass out until one.

Seeing as it was noon, I decided it was a fine time to eat, and it would probably be good for to eat a slight bit of my food and take a drink from my canteen. I began to get out some of the things I could eat without taking the time to cook, and opened the containers. I ended up hastily devouring the food and quickly drinking my water, as I was much hungrier than I had thought, having not eaten since the night before.

And I guess fighting someone to the death probably increased your appetite.

As I ate my meal (a delicious can of oats) I thought about burying the two ponies who had died. I knew that at least the innocent one deserved a proper burial, to be put into the ground with a little marking, but eventually I decided I would leave the corpses there to decay on their own. I couldn't bring myself to handle the dead, yet that wasn't the problem to me. The problem was that I didn't even know this pony's name, and leaving him out here to decay to the waste seemed like it would honor him more than putting him in an unmarked shallow grave next to his killer.

I hastily finished eating, not wanting to spend too much more time near the corpses, and I took one more swig from my canteen before slinging it back around my neck. I double checked my saddlebags with the Pip-Buck sorter, and made sure they were fully strapped into my sides. I checked to make sure my battle saddle was fully loaded in case I came into trouble (I didn't feel like beating my way out of the next fight).

I had double checked everything, and was able to leave. I contemplated burying the corpses one more time, and felt myself feeling conflicted. I finally decided to just leave the dead where they laid, and that it was time to head out and finally start traveling. It was finally time for me to truly begin my journey.

* * * * * * * *

I hadn't thought about it when I was leaving the Enclave, hadn't thought about what I would do when I got down here, but now it was hitting me. I was completely lost, with absolutely no idea where I should go, what I should do, or how I was supposed to find a single pony in this massive wasteland. I had absolutely no leads on where to find him, no idea where anything was in the wasteland, except for one location, and somewhere out there, possibly near the place I had landed was a town called New Appaloosa, and the ponies who had told me about that place had both died horrifically, one at my hooves.

Unfortunately for me I bad absolutely no idea where it was. If I knew where it was I could have probably flown there quite quickly, being a pegasus and all. But alas I didn't know where it was, so I couldn't just fly there.

So instead of aimlessly flying around the wasteland I had decided to walk. Sure, maybe I could have saved time finding the town by flying, but I chose not to. I had no idea where to even begin looking, and I didn't want to end up on the other side of the wastes entirely.

And even if I had had the slightest idea of where I was going I probably wouldn't have flown there. I liked this whole walking to places thing, it felt so... special. Sure everypony born without wings had to walk everywhere everyday, but I had hardly ever stood on solid, hard, ground, let alone dirt, and walking down here getting my hooves dirty made me feel special compared to walking up in the Enclave. It sort of let me distance myself from being a cloud walker, and right now I wanted to be as far from the Enclave as possible. Plus I figured that walking places would allow give me a higher chance of stumbling upon another pony, or find some places to explore, or an adventure to be had.

So I walked across the wasteland, not on any specific path, in hopes of finding New Appaloosa, and maybe a lead to Calamity.

* * * * * * * *

I spent two uneventful days walking by hoof, only stopping to sleep, eat, or do the occasional inventory check or maintenance. I hadn't found many places that had caught my eye, and nothing really exciting happened for those two days, except the excitement when rain came down and washed the blood off of me. Not completely, but enough to make me feel better.

I soon discovered that traveling alone absolutely sucked, as I was extremely bored with nopony to talk to. I wanted companionship, of any kind, any sort of friendly voice talking to me, and eventually I found solace in activating the Pip-Buck radio.

When I activated it I hadn't expected to find a signal to anything down here. It was a wasteland, what were the chances of there being radio? But lo and behold I found a signal, the radio show of a pony named "DJ-Pon3"(I assumed it was a stage name). In the loneliness of those two days I took solace in listening to his news reports and musical broadcasts.

As I walked along, my third day of traveling, I listened to the radio intently, as a somber lyrical piece finished, leading into a broadcast from the stallion running the station.

DJ Pon3 had been my only "friend" (I say so loosely, as I did not even know him) for the past two days of traveling, and hearing his news broadcasts instead of silence or music was like a gift to me. I was just happy to hear another (living, the music and singing didn't count!) ponies voice.

“This is DJ Pon3, and that was Sweetie Belle, singing about that one great truth of the wasteland: every pony has done something they regret. And now, my little ponies, it’s time for the news! Now you ponies remember when I told you ‘bout those two ponies who crawled themselves out of Stable Two? Well, I’ve been gettin’ reports that one of those little ponies took out the raider nest in the heart of Ponyville, and saved several pony captives -- including the beloved author of The Wasteland Survival Guide, Ditzy Doo! Hey kid, thanks! From all of us!"

The broadcast continued on, something about the weather, but I quickly shut it off right there.

My E.F.S. (Eyes Forward Sparkle, a spell on the Pip-Buck that showed a little radar indicating if anything was nearby) had lit up, indicating that somepony was somewhere behind me. The radar showed them as friendly, but if my first night here had taught me anything it was that I should be cautious of other ponies. There was also the chance it was some wild animal that hadn't seen me yet and was going to attack.

I turned around to see what it was, to be greeted by the sight of another pony standing a few feet away from me. Well what appeared to be another pony. It looked like a unicorn.

As I examined the figure standing there, I soon discovered it was no pony, it was definitely something else. Something that was a pony, but now appeared to be... a walking rotting corpse.

I screamed and jumped back several feet, afraid of whatever it was standing slightly away from me, and the rotting corpse moved forward. I quickly stood back up, and took a defensive position, mouth wrapping around my battle saddle trigger, as I activated S.A.T.S. to lock onto it.

"Whoa whoa whoa calm down, I'm not gonna hurt you." The creature said, a raspy male voice coming from it.

I stumbled back a little, even more scared now that it was talking.

"W-what are you?!?" I screamed, horrified.

"Oh come on," He said, rolling his eyes. "You're living down in the Equestrian Wasteland, and you mean to tell me you don't know what a ghoul is?"

He moved slightly forward, and examined me closely.

"Oh I see." He said, eyes widening. "You're one of those Enclave members from above the clouds. That's why you're wearing that uniform."

He examined me further, looking at my armor. He began to move forward, as if to see it better, but I moved into a defensive position again, causing him to stop.

"No need to be so defensive, I won't bite." I braced again after he said that, causing him to realize his poor choice of words. "Sorry, poor choice of words. I'm just trying to get a closer look of your uniform, and if I'm not mistaken you've got the Dashite mark sown onto it. You a runaway?"

"N-not exactly." I replied.

He took a long look at me before shrugging, and continuing the conversation.

"So you don't know what a ghoul is then?"

"Wh-what's a ghoul?" I asked curiously, still cautious of him, and frankly quite nervous.

"I guess I'll enlighten you then. A ghoul is somepony like me," He pointed to himself. "Who's been exposed to an extreme amount of radiation. Once we've been exposed our bodies start to sort of... rot and decay, like a corpse, but we can live for extended amounts of time, and are practically immune to radiation. It's got it's perks and downfalls, one of the downfalls being that someponies are bigoted towards us."

"So..." I said while lowering my guard to move closer towards him. "You're like... a zombie pony?"

He laughed slightly, and smiled at me.

"Normally I'd take offense to that, but you're new here so I'll let it slide." He said, still slightly chuckling to himself. "I'm just a pony like you, no zombie qualities to me but the walking corpse part. Now some ghouls are like me, and we're just like a regular pony, but then you do have the zombie pony types of ghouls. They've been exposed to an ungodly amount of radiation, to the point where they've lost their minds, and roam around feasting upon other ponies."

"That's..." I trailed off a bit and shuddered at the thought. The idea of losing my mind and wondering around eternally as a rotting corpse, only to feast upon other ponies was terrifying. "That's horrifying!"

"Well no need to worry!" He said laughing, smacking my back, and wrapping his hoof around me in a friendly manner. "I'm not one of those ponies! I'm quite sane as you can see, just a bit... uh rotty?"

"Well no matter Misses Runaway, I've been dilly dallying in why I approached you in the first place!" He said enthusiastically before pausing for a moment, leaning in to whisper. "That is of course if you're willing, and aren't discriminant towards ghouls."

"And why is it that you approached?" I asked looking at him quizzically, shrugging his hoof off my back. "And no I'm not discriminant toward you. Why should I be? You're an immortal pony! How cool is that?"

"Well that is good than!" He said laughing. "If I may, what is your name?"

"I'm Curiosity!"

"Pleasure to meet you Curiosity!" He said extending his hoof. "You can call me Charming Tale."

I took his hoof, and he shook vigorously.

"A silly name, I know, but I quite prefer it to my old name. Before the war I had one even sillier!" He said with a laugh.

"Now about the reason why you came up to me." I said while pulling my hoof back.

"Oh yes!" He said, his eyes lighting up. "I need help with a raider situation. But first, I'm willing to bet you don't know what a raider is since you're fresh out of the sky?"

I thought about it for a moment, trying to recall anything about raiders. I remembered that the first two ponies I had met mentioned them, and that they shouldn't even be considered ponies anymore. I assumed they were some kind of irradiated monster. (Radiation, Raider, it just made sense! Or I was just stupid?)

"Is that some kind of radiation monster?" I asked, to which he responded by laughing heartily in my face.

"Not even close young mare." He responded. "A raider is a pony, usually in a group, who goes around killing, raping, looting, and stealing. Basically ponies turned into bandits. They have absolutely no regard for the lives of other ponies, and are completely psychopathic and sick in the head, at least most of them. They torture other ponies, force families to fight against each other for amusement, rape you, beat you, anything terrible you can think of to hurt another pony, and then when all is said and done they'll end your life in some horrific manner, and probably display your entrails around their base like decorative items.

He paused for a moment and sighed.

"They really aren't ponies anymore. They don't deserve to be considered anything less than a wild, vicious animal. They're one of the most terrible lot of the wasteland, and they had me captured. They took my things, hence why I'm not wearing any armor or clothing and lacking in weapons, and were planning on torturing me for amusement. They don't like ghouls anymore than they like other ponies. I need help recovering my things from them and taking them out, and well you were the only pony around."

I was furious. The very idea that such ponies could exist disgusted me, even more so than the pony who killed his own brother for being "weak and broken". The fact that ponies, in a place that already appeared to be extremely harsh would turn to pillaging, and looting, and raping of other ponies, and torture them for fun made me see red. I was blinded by rage, a very bad thing for a pony in the wastes, especially a new one like myself.

"I'll kill the bastards who would do such things to other ponies." I said, obvious malice in my voice.

"Really?" He said, eyes lighting up with delight. "But wait, aren't you new to the wastes? Do you even know how to shoot that thing?"

He said the last bit gesturing at my battle saddle. I realized he was right, and went to respond, but before I could even answer he cut me off.

"No matter!" He said cheerily. "I would appreciate the help greatly anyway! And perhaps I could find some way to repay you in the future?"

Taking a moment to think about it, I slowly extended my hoof. I knew I should do it, but he did make me doubt myself. I thought of the terrible things he described and decided it would be for the best.

"It's a deal." I said, albeit reluctantly, and he took my hoof and shook vigorously.

* * * * * * * *

I woke up early in the morning, and started to get ready. I ate my breakfast as we went over our plan one last time, a nervous wreck the entire time as I relaized I had made a terrible decision.

I was afraid for my life, feeling completely unprepared, as I had stopped seeing red and started thinking rationally. His comment cut me down and me think about my inexperience. I mean sure, I survived one fight, but that was hoof to hoof, and only because I was lucky. The pony I was fighting was blinded by rage, like I was last night after hearing by the raiders. It seemed like anger only made situations worse for the mad pony. Better to keep your head clear.

The more I thought about it, the more I realized my acceptance was stupid. I didn't even know how to shoot, at least not very well. My father had taken me out to a shooting range once, and I was horrible at it. I assumed S.A.T.S. would account for my terrible gun playing abilities and lack of experience, or at least I hoped it would.

And as much as I realized this was a bad idea, and I didn't want to be shot or in a live fire situation I felt like it would be a crime to not help. Leaving a pony to struggle out here would be terrible. Not helping the struggling ponies down here would make me like the Enclave, and I wouldn't allow myself to be one of them again.

Our plan was simple, and the more I thought about it now that I was fully myself the more I doubted it. Charming assured me it was good, or least good enough, but I just wasn't sure anymore. The night before I was stupid and tired, and I knew that would be my downfall.

The plan was once we got near the base I would pick up Charming and fly him up to the roof of the building the raiders had made their base camp. I would proceed to give him one of the two pistols I had packed in my saddlebags, just in case he came into any resistance along his way. He would go in through the roof access on the building, and quickly get to his stolen items wherever they were stashed.

This is where the plan gets stupid, and my blind rage starts to show. While he is doing all of that I would go straight up to the front gate and attack the raiders, and most likely end up in a large shoot out. After getting all of his equipment, he would proceed to flank them with his own weapons and armor in his hooves, and we would take out the remaining raiders together, however many that was. After I finished helping him he promised that he would guide me to New Appaloosa in exchange, and either stay with me on my journeys, or go our separate ways.

The more I thought about it, the more I realized how stupid it was. Absolutely stupid.

We travelled towards the raider base, a journey that was around an hour long by hoof. I would have flown, but I didn't feel like carrying Charming all the way there, and I didn't think I would have been able too anyway. So instead we walked, and talked on the way there which made me happy. I was glad to finally be able to have a full conversation with somepony after my two days of only having DJ Pon3 as a companion, if I could even call him that. He was just a voice on the radio after all, and I would most likely never meet him.

So instead of silently listening to music I spent the hour long journey talking to Charming, and asking about his story. He seemed to not want to tell about his past too much, and I got the idea that it was a sensitive area. (Which, in theory, made sense considering that everypony he knew was most likely dead.) The only thing he let me know was that he was on official business for one of the ministry mares when the mega spells struck, and that's how he became a ghoul. He than told me that he had spent the past two hundred years since exploring the wasteland and helping ponies, like some kind of zombie vigilante. Exactly like that actually, no details, giving me the idea he wanted to stay mysterious.

I remained unsatisfied about how little he told me about his past, but I felt it would be rude to pry. For the remaining time traveling I told him a little bit about myself at his asking, and about how I had tricked the Enclave into thinking I would do their bidding as a guise to let me escape easier. He seemed to be happy with my abandonment of the Enclave, and told me of how he had met several Dashite's throughout his lifetime since the Great War, and had learned of the Enclave basically being terrible. Which, as I had recently learned, was kind of true.

After hearing of the Dashite's he had met I asked him of the chance that he knew of Calamity, just on a whim. I had left that part out on the reason why I left, and at his inquiry about why I wanted to know, I told him what it was. I didn't expect anything to come of it, but to my surprise he did know him!

Apparently Calamity dropped by around New Appaloosa occasionally, protecting caravans from raiders, and helping innocent ponies all around the area. Protecting the innocent and being a hero exactly how I had imagined.

This information made me extremely excited, and I was definitely prepared to head to New Appaloosa, as it might allow me to draw an end to my quest early. Of course I wouldn't kill him, but I would achieve my goal of meeting him, and that's all I wanted in my life, at least at this time.

I spent the rest of the trip talking about how I wanted to meet him, and that he was an inspiration to me (being a bit of a fanfilly honestly). Soon the raider base came into view, and I immediately quieted myself. A small building stood in front of us, and it appeared to have been at one point a small road stop which was now their base.

The very sight of the base horrified me.

Entrails and pieces of dead pony were strewn across the entrance, as if some psychopathic decorator thought it would be a pretty design choice for their new home. Blood and graffiti smeared the walls of the place, and I knew the inside would not look any better. I could almost smell it just by looking, and it made me sick. Sicker than my fight last night. I almost threw up again.

I looked over at Charming, and he simply nodded to me in understanding as if he knew what I was going through after seeing such a sight for the first time. He then moved closer towards me, and gestured at my bags as if to tell me to begin. I nodded back, and gave him one of my pistols along with several clips of ammo before I picked him up and landed on the roof.

"Now remember," He whispered to me. "stick to the plan okay? They should only have around ten ponies in this place, so you shouldn't have to much trouble if you know how to use that battle saddle of yours at all. I'll go in, get my things, and then help you by flanking."

I tried to protest, tell him that I actually didn't know how to use this battle saddle, but before I could even say a word he shooed me off before running into the building through the roof access, forcing me to assume my position.

I moved into position behind cover, a decent bit away from the building, but not too far away as to have to snipe at the ponies. I took in the sights of all the raiders, and noticed there were around ten of them. Ten was too many for me honestly, and I only grew more afraid.

This is stupid, this is so stupid. Why would I let myself do this? I will never let myself be guided by rage again, sweet Celestia let me live through this please!

I began to panic more and more as I realized how stupid my decision was, and through my panic decided to start trying to take aim with my battle saddle. I figured focusing on the task at hand would push the panic back, and I struggled to get a good view on the first raider pony so I could at least try to carry out the plan. After a decent bit of struggling on getting the weapon aimed at him properly, I finally had it on him, but was having immense amounts of trouble at keeping it steady on him for a clear shot. I started to panic more and more as I realized just how inexperienced I was.

By the High Council please just let me live through this!

After around another minute of frustration I finally decided to give in and activate S.A.T.S. with hope that the targeting spell would allow me to hit him. The second I activated the spell it immediately came to life, and locked right onto him, in his most easy to hit and damaging spot, which was currently his head. Even at the decent but of range I was away my battle saddle auto swiveled to the pony I wanted to hit, and locked on. I checked the Pip-Buck once more to make sure it was in him, and it informed me I had a ninety percent chance of hitting him. Practically all I'd have to do was to bite down on the trigger to take him out. Hardly any of my own aiming skill was required, and even a terrible shooter such as myself couldn't miss.

I finally felt my heart rate slowing down as I put all my focus onto keeping myself aimed on him. I felt my panic residing as I realized that I was going to be able to use S.A.T.S. to live through this. I slowly closed my mouth down around the trigger, and gently activated the battle saddle. Immediately it sprang into action, the two hunting rifles in Soarin's Revenge at my sides going off with a loud bang as they simultaneously fired at him, going straight for the head. I waited in anticipation for it to hit, knowing that the second his head burst open a full firefight would begin.

Everything seemed to slow down as the bullets went straight for his head, the fear that I would miss filling me with adrenaline, making all my senses seem more acute.

I intently watched the bullets as they went towards him, and prepared to close my eyes to look away from the blood splatter, and they were just about to reach his head and-

They missed.

The shots both missed completely, going straight past him and hitting the wall next to him with a rather loud and odd sound as it smacked into the building. The raider, clearly shocked by the sudden sound from the saddle immediately started to shout something to get other raiders' attention.

Slowly but surely many of the raiders in the camp turned to my direction, and I knew there was no way for me to do anything but fight. The raiders quickly pulled out their weapons, and they sprang to life as a hail of bullets found their way towards me.

I jumped away and took cover, trying not to be shot as bullets smacked around the ground where I had just been standing. I had missed my first shot, and not even S.A.T.S. could help me.

And now an entire camp full of angry sadists was coming after me.