Spur of The Moment

If you're going to try, go all the way. There is no other feeling like that. You will be alone with the gods, and the nights will flame with fire. You will ride life straight to perfect laughter. It's the only good fight there is.

Dizzy
Day 6, Dawn

There has been many a day when I would be feeling down on myself and would go out for a ride on my motorcycle to clear my mind. I would always pick the backroads; the meandering curves, the gentle hills, the lack of other people on the road -- they always managed to allow me to think clearly. Well, as clearly as I could anyways. Riding a motorcycle through those roads and taking turns faster and tighter than you ever could in a car always managed to give me a rush that I couldn’t get anywhere else.

Riding always just felt right -- you had to move your entire body to do anything. Leaning to turn, grabbing the clutch with your left hand, letting your right hand off the throttle, and hitting the gear shift with your left foot, every movement was like a note of an orchestra. It required all of your dexterity; it mandated that you know where everything around you was.

It made you feel alive.

Once you get good, the bike itself disappears; it’s just you and the road. Riding became a part of who I was -- who I am. Once winter came to bear and I had to put the bike away, I would always feel this sense of longing. I felt as though I had lost a part of my freedom. The same roads were always there, and yet they just never felt the same. I’d still drive the same routes, but I no longer felt like I was really living the roads, just using them. It felt like I was just waiting to live again, biding time until warm days would come and I could take my bike back out, at last becoming one with the road.

The wasteland is like the roads. You don’t just ride along them, you become a part of them. Being thrown into the wasteland was one of the roughest parts of my life, but at the same time I learned to adapt, to become one with the wasteland, open to what it had to say.

That place taught me many things, the wasteland. It taught me how to kill, it taught me how to survive, it taught me what true loss felt like. It broke me many a time. My friends were...are the only reason I am still here to tell my side of this story. You see, The wasteland is like a mess of different roads, each one belonging to a different person, each one with its own ending. The wasteland showed me that I knew nothing about what life really was...and made sure that I’d learn quickly or die trying.

***

I could have just laid there. I should have known that trying to aim a pistol under my chin with these damn hooves would be hard. My wings had probably hurt my aim more than they steadied it.

I heard hooves coming towards me, running. Sage, maybe Ash. I knew they would have heard that shot; I just never wanted them to find a living body. There was something warm running down my face.

At least you didn’t completely fail.

My mind always knew how to make it hurt worse. I could feel no real pain from it all; that was probably the adrenaline. Someone was shouting at me as they slowed their pace. I could hear the shouting, but the only words I could make out came from the voice in my head.

You put her in danger...

You couldn’t save her…

You can’t save your friends…

You can’t save yourself…

You can’t even kill yourself…

Through my watering eyes I could make out Sage’s colors. He was looking down at me, saying something. All I could hear were those thoughts ringing out again, and again. Sage started picking me up. Once I was leaning on his shoulder I could see the little pool of my blood. Sage looked worried. He shouldn’t be. Not like I could do it, I just tried.

“Dizzy? Come on, say something!” He sounded frantic, and really, really scared. I tried to say something, but I’m sure nothing intelligible came from my mouth.

You can’t even talk…

“Come on.” Sage sounded sad -- sad and angry. Just another person I managed to fail. All I could do was stare up at him as he helped me to my hooves.

He started walking back to the farmhouse. I just followed as the rain started anew. As much as I didn’t want to go back in there I really had no choice. There would be no way for me to be left alone for probably a few weeks. I took one last look out towards that dead tree hanging over the mound of dirt and rocks at its base before the house blocked my view of it. My legs took me inside not by free will but by instinct, trying to get me out of the cold rain and closer to the fire inside.

It was a small house, only three rooms. Ash was just laying next to the hearth staring at the flames, probably still in shock from hearing the shot and knowing exactly what that meant, no doubt blaming herself for not seeing me grabbing Wingnut’s pistol as we collected the gear. The whole time I could hear what Sage was doing. I knew he couldn’t leave something so valuable to rust in the dirt, but that didn’t change anything.

The camp was already set up to a degree, bedrolls spread out next to the fireplace. Ash slowly turned her head around to see us, and came slowly trotting to me, the others just remained sitting around the fire, staring at me.

I managed to look Ash in the eye. She looked like a mirror that I had just thrown a hammer at. She was trying her hardest to not accept what was right in front of her. When it finally clicked home though, her expression changed.

“What did you do?” Her voice shook, uneven with emotion.

I couldn’t speak, so Sage answered for me, “I found him by Radheart’s grave.”

“You….you tried to kill yourself.”

“...I…” there was nothing I could really say.

“You are pathetic. NOTHING BUT A DAMN COWARD!”

“Ash?” Sage took a step back, but I couldn’t move...

“NO, HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO US? HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO ME! I SHOULD FUCKING KILL YOU MYSELF!”

“Go right ahead...you know that is what I want,” I could barely hear my own voice, but Ash’s face suddenly changed.

“YOU AREN’T WORTH MY TIME! NOTHING BUT A USELESS COWARD WHO CAN’T EVEN STAND UP IN THE REAL WORLD!” I cringed as she poured salt on my wounds. “SHE’S DEAD. NEVER COMING BACK. WE ARE ALL STILL ALIVE. SHE’S GONE! WHAT NEWS!”

I could feel the tears running down my cheeks, stinging on that wound. I thought I was out of tears at this point.

“SHE SAW SO MUCH IN YOU,” Ash seemed to calm, if only a bit. “Then you pull this stunt. Now you don’t live up to what she thought you were.”

Ash stormed off out the front door, then Sage put a hoof on my back and tried to walk me to my bedroll, but I could only stumble and fall down repeatedly.

As my head hit the bedroll I saw Wingnut tuck his pistol back into the makeshift holster. He looked up at me with a disappointed look on his face, mouthing something about not touching his stuff before laying down between his gear and myself.

You failed your friends, and hurt one of them more than you will ever know…

Sage didn’t say anything as he went to his saddlebags, reaching around them to grab Radiant’s stuff for a bandage. He slowly trotted over, fighting with the bandage’s wrapper before Page helped him with his magic. I flinched at the burning feeling as he stuck it to my face. As I scanned around the room, my eyes fell on her PipBuck. Sage had managed to wash most of the blood off, but not all. Laying next to it was a book, and although it was hard to see, I could make out the glowing heart that was Radiant’s cutie mark.

“We are going to talk in the morning Dizzy, not an option.” Sage’s voice broke the momentary silence like shattering glass. He was wheezing, trying to take in air like it was the most difficult thing he’d done in his life. Good for him.

I looked up at him, and as I met his gaze, his eyes seemed to droop. Tremors ran over his face, almost as if what he was seeing pained him more than burying Radiant. He swallowed, shook his head, then gave me a firm pat on the back and stood up. I saw him trot down across the hillside as he tried to find the now crying Ash.

***

Gray, the entire world around me was devoid of color, and yet everything seemed so much more clear. A dense, swirling fog gripped everything. In some directions I could see a few hundred yards, in others I could touch the wall of mist. The ground was littered with tombstones, some broken, adding to the ash-gray ground. Every tombstone had a different face on it. Every time my vision moved to a different tombstone the faces would shift. Turning from human, to equine, and back again.

With no idea of anything else to do, I started walking. Some of the faces looked at me, some stared off into space. Still, there was no end to them. After some time I realized that the fog was seemingly guiding me, pushing me towards something. Deep in the pit of my stomach I felt something bad. I didn’t belong here, I had to get away. I started to sprint, trying to dart off to maybe hide in the fog.

I fell onto my back, the fog wall as solid as brick. I pushed myself up to my two legs. Running again I finally noticed my hands.

Behind me!

I spun on my heels, reaching for a gun that wasn’t there. There was nothing, only the wall of fog chasing me, not ten feet behind. A chill ran up my spine as I turned around once again.

This time I looked down to my hooves. The feeling came back. Something was behind me, something wanted me. I tried to fly, but just couldn’t catch any air.

I closed my eyes, straining to flap my wings harder.

I kept running -- It was getting closer. I couldn’t outrun it!

My hoof found a hole in the ground and I fell headfirst into a tombstone.

Looking up I saw her face. Gently staring at me, a sad smile adorning her lips and eyes. I reached out and ran my fingers down the cold slab.

“She really was quite a mare if you ask me.” The voice seemed to ooze out of the mist all around me.

I leapt to my hooves, spinning around. It had said that. It was standing next to a tombstone of some raider. It was completely black, even sucking the light in from around it. It looked rather equine, but my eyes refused to focus on it at all.

“You scared us with your little stunt yesterday, Terrance.” Its voice took on a tone of a disappointed father.

“Who are you, what do you mean ‘us?’” I screamed at the void, nearly falling over.

It laughed at me, like I was a child trying to understand calculus.

“How do you know my name?” I tried for a more aggressive stance, but it only laughed a little harder.

“Which name? Terrance? Dizzy?” It started to circle around me. “Which one of those names even applies anymore, I wonder? You aren’t human anymore, you are an Equestrian. However, it is not what you are that matters -- just where. And you’re here to stay, until your bones lie next to those of everyone else on this filthy planet.”

It stopped moving; the fog in the distance began to clear. The very top of a building jutted out above the fog. Its gray was far deeper than the rest of this place, but still had no other color.

“That is where you need to go. Don’t worry though, we will guide you. Hold your hand if necessary.” It stared directly at me, I couldn’t see its eyes, but I knew. “We can even pull you along if you refuse.” It chuckled, and vanished as the mist swirled tighter around me.

***

The pitter-patter of light rain hitting the decayed roof above greeted me as that short sleep, filled with whatever that was, was put into memory. The day before could have felt like part of the nightmare had it not been for the line of throbbing pain running up my face. I could feel my heartbeat in the wound. It was a constant reminder of reality. I wished more than anything to be able to reach out and hold her. I laid there for a few seconds just trying to remember the way her mane smelled, and the warmth of her coat on those cold mornings. Images of her passed slowly through my vision, and each pulse erased them as soon as they were drawn.

I looked around, trying to find what was chasing me, but there was nothing. Nothing at all. I clambered to my hooves, trying to calm my pounding heart. The others were already up, a fire going in the house’s fireplace with a steaming pot of something probably barely edible hanging over it.

I couldn’t help but notice that Ash was looking everywhere except at me.

“Let me take a look at your bandages.” Sage held Radiant’s medkit under a wing, walking towards me. All I could do was nod, sitting down. I flinched when that scab was torn slightly as he pulled off the old bandage.

It’s only a matter of time before your screw-ups get one of them killed.

“It doesn’t look infected, but you might need stitches,” Sage’s voice seemed a bit lighter. Something seemed a little lighter in his eyes when he was focused on his work.

“Too bad we don’t have a doctor to do that,” Stalemate muttered, looking down at his bowl.

I snapped my gaze up. “What did you just fucking say?” They all looked up at me, with almost matching expressions of curiosity and worry. Sage even recoiled a bit. But Stalemate knew I had heard him, and he shivered in fear.

“What do you…”

“I should rip out your fucking throat, you little piece of shit!” Sage put a hoof on my shoulder, trying to hold me back. I flared my wings, knocking off his restraint. My hooves pounded into a puddle, splashing dirty water onto my coat. Staring at that little bitch, fangs bared, I could feel fresh blood running down my face. Wingnut stopped me not two feet short, forcing me to be content imagining ripping out his fucking throat. I couldn’t get to him, so scaring the piss out of him would have to do.

“Terrance! What the fuck? Calm down or I’ll give you more stitches to worry about!” Wingnut shouted at me as Stalemate started backpedaling, his eyes darting around the room, begging for help from anyone else. He tripped on a loose floorboard, landing in another dirty puddle.

“I can hear everything you say,” I was crouched down, teeth bared, my eyes narrowed as I tried to get closer. “Every. Last. Word. If it was just you and me, I would rip you open and watch you bleed.”

Stalemate was pressed against the far wall, fear crossing his face. Wingnut gave me an extra shove pushing me back and giving me a second to calm down. I pulled my wings back to my sides, stood up, gave him the most passive look I could, turned and walked away.

“We are going for a walk, now!” Sage grabbed my wing, but I couldn’t care at that point.

I picked a direction and started walking, having no idea exactly where I was leading us, down a lone asphalt road leading from the farm toward the city. I waited until I thought we were out of hearing range of the rest of the group. The road was broken and cracked where little weeds and blades of grass had worked their way through. I wanted to hide from the cold rain in the ruined barn, but as my hooves started crunching glass I thought it would be decent cover for certain things later on. “You didn’t hear what he said.” I tried to sound bored.

“Well, what did he say?” Sage sounded pissed, couldn’t blame him considering I had nearly killed his brother.

“’Too bad we don’t have a medic.’ I don’t think he knew I could hear him.” I looked at my hooves and found a piece of glass that looked oddly like Stalemate, and proceeded to grind it into dust.

Sage sighed and rubbed a hoof over his forehead. “I know he needs a lesson in manners, but he’s probably taking it almost as hard as you are. It doesn’t make it right to--”

“Bullshit, he didn’t know Radiant like I did, I know he wanted to, but he didn’t. If Wingnut had not stopped me, it wouldn’t have been a threat.” I gave Sage the most stern look I could.

“Look, he was a total prick right there, I’ll give you that, but we’re not helping anyone by hurting him. Right now, we need to work past all of that. I know that sounds pretty rough coming from me right now of all times, but it’s what you need to hear.”

“Suddenly you know how to deal with this?”

“I know you took it hard. I...really couldn’t understand how close you two were, but just let it out. I can’t promise I’ll know the right thing to say to make it better, but this will help. We’re not going back until you tell me the whole story.”

I sighed, it was one of those horrible moments. Wanting to lay down and just say everything I could, yet wanting to push everyone away and try to make it through on my own.

“When we first got here, that first raider attack; I killed one of them. Not quickly either, I heard her scream, felt her bones break, I kept going long after she was dead…I never thought I would ever have to do that. I thought the worst of this world after that, thought all my fears were coming true. But then we met Radiant Heart, she gave me hope, showed me that there still was kindness in this world, still love. That it wasn’t just raiders, slavers, bandits, and murderers, I felt like we were going down the path to become just another outlaw gang, killing to get what we want. Then in one fell swoop she was gone. Above that I was the one to finally...”

“That was not your fault.” Sage grabbed my shoulder suddenly.

“Doesn’t stop me from thinking that way. That was only part of it though, albeit a very large part. These past few days we’ve done a lot of good, and through that we started a huge fight that Alpine may never recover from. Ponies died because I wasn’t fast enough, not good enough, or simply couldn’t do anything to help.”

“No, you’ve always been there when we needed you.”

“I’ve always been there for you, but I wasn’t there for her.” I turned back to stare at him, the rain on my cheeks feeling far too warm. “You guys are the only friends I have in this world, and I have failed you and nearly gotten you killed.”

“No. You haven’t. I don’t think you understand just how much you have saved us, just by being there, if nothing else you are one more target to shoot at.” He stopped dead-still, and put a hoof to his forehead and failed not to laugh. “Oh shit that sounded bad.”

I forced a laugh. “All this just seems so petty.”

“Sometimes it can be, but getting you thinking straight is never a petty manner. You gonna be ok?”

“Of course not, but I think I can manage.”

“Good, so long as you don’t murder anything that doesn’t need it. Now, let’s head back and finish breakfast.” Sage gave me a grimace that almost became a smile that I couldn’t meet as we walked back to camp.

As we ate, Stalemate kept his eyes on me, always looking away if I ever tried to meet his gaze. Yet for the most part I concentrated on the bowl of some two hundred year old...bean mush? Maybe? I don’t really know what we were eating, but it was edible.

Good, let him fear you.

It took us the better part of an hour to get everything packed up and on our backs. We didn’t wait for the rain to let up, I didn’t think we could have stayed in that house for much longer anyway. Built up emotions of loss, anger, and a worry of the future ahead threatened to topple that rotten building.

Sage and Ash were up front, I followed them giving about five or so feet, behind me was Page, with Wingnut almost hovering over Stalemate, perhaps trying to protect him. It didn’t matter, if I was going to kill him, it wouldn’t be in the group.

We passed through the burnt farmlands as the mountains in the distance slowly got closer to us. Even from how far away we were I could still make out the zephyrs whipping snow off the mountainside and down into the city below. While we were outside of the storm wall, sleet and rain traded off the privilege of landing on my blankets to soak me through and make the wind cut even deeper. The rain finally broke as we marched past the broken down houses of the suburbs. Each house seemed ruined in a different way, many were rotten from water damage, but the majority were burned to at least some degree by a long dead fire. After a few hours of walking the houses stopped, and the buildings or the inner city began, with the rain returning as a more fine mist, threatening us every so often to start unleashing torrents on us.

The buildings we passed were not as shitty as I had expected for their age, although the city was obviously lacking decent maintenance. There was practically no glass left in any of the buildings, bullet holes and small craters from mines and grenades were everywhere around us. Apparently since Denspur was not a very big city during the war, combined with being right next to the border with its sister city of Caspur, the fighting during the war stayed to a minimum. Until the bombs fell, then both cities became fair game. Well, at least that was the story Radiant told me on the walk over, though she freely admitted that she didn’t know too much about it.

The wasteland was doing to these cities what it did to everything it touched. Years of fighting, and hatred would eventually wear these cities down to rubble. People were even worse off. The wasteland found things that you loved, things that you wanted to hold dear and did its one and only job of tearing you apart from them. You would either lose what you held dear, or would die, casting that loss onto another, or perhaps an entire group.

For their sake then, I have to fight, have to survive. So they don’t feel what I do.

It was a small mental gesture, but something to give me hope, something to give me a purpose. Anything to keep me going, moreover to keep the others safe and sane.

***

The spent brass pinged off the ground as my ears were still ringing from the shot. Two bodies lay on the ground, still entangled, a pool of blood reaching out. My legs carried me forward as I tried to refuse what I was seeing. Radiant’s eyes locked on mine, pleading for me. I sprinted to her, dropping the rifle, immediately grabbing something to try and stop the bleeding.

Sage appeared next to me as everything started to blur.

“Those don’t fix heart wounds.” She looked back at me pulling me into a hug, before going limp.

I could only sit there, hold her, and cry. After some time Sage had managed to pry me away, sending me into the next room with Ash.

***

Thwack! Bang! “The fuck?!” A gunshot broke my chain of thought, and I walked into a shimmering red wall in the air, bonking my head with a dull clunk. My ears were ringing fiercely, and I looked around wildly. The wall was really only a circle a few feet in diameter, in-between myself and a decayed corpse, now writhing on the ground. As my hearing returned, the shield faded away, and the glow around Ash’s horn dimmed and went out.

“You almost walked right into a ghoul, what were you doing?” Ash looked at me as if I were wounded, with Sage standing next to her, picking up his spent brass.

“Thinking, apparently rather dangerous here in the wasteland.” I tried to fake a smile, but the lack of decent sleep, combined with all the stress of the past few days made it feel more like a grimace.

“You think it’s worth it to loot a ghoul?” Sage was trying to distract my woes with some forward thinking. It wouldn’t work...fully.

“Perhaps, ghouls usually have at least a couple caps on them, if you want to search through that bloody, rotten mess.”

Sage looked at the ghoul’s body. Long since insane and rabid, the thing was covered in marks and holes, apparently getting lucky in more than one fight. A black ichor that was once blood tried to ooze out of the corpse, globing down where it could to be lost within the burnt and broken asphalt of the road we were on.

I decided to actually look around for once, having been lost in thought far deeper than I had thought. We were now somewhere in the depths of the city, no longer in the suburbs. Buildings tried to stretch up all around us, some cut down by age, or war, or simply bad engineering. At the end of the street, practically framed by buildings, and shops was a large three story brick building. A sign in front of this building named it “Denspur Visitor’s Center.”

“You think that would be a good place to find a map of the city?” I asked the entire group, still looking down the oddly wide street.

“Sounds like a good place to start,” Wingnut had crept up beside me, still not quite looking in my direction.

Walking down the street was almost terrifying. My imagination was getting the better of me, I wanted to fire at any twitching shadow, and would spin all too quickly at any little noise. For some reason I was leading the group along. The others apparently saw my tense stance and aggressive demeanor, and refrained from talk. I glanced behind me every so often, they all seemed to be copying my actions, heads on the swivel, some with better weapon control than others.

Something cracked faintly inside the center, faint enough that I knew I was the only one to hear. I turned my head forward as quickly as I could, the building was only about fifty yards away now, and something was inside of it.

“You hear something?” Sage was trying to whisper, but seemed far too loud. Each word seemed to echo into the breeze, which was howling over the faint scraping noises coming from the visitor’s center.

“Yeah, there is something moving in there, possibly more than one something.” I kept trying to gauge how many there were, but that wasn’t happening. Again, the scraping slithered over my ears, punctuated by a raggedy inhale. There was something in there alright.

“Any ideas as to what?” He hefted his carbine, mirroring everyone else. Wingnut gripped his pistol in his teeth and Ash levitated hers close. Page was trying to decide between the pump-action he had brought from Alpine and the farmer’s shotgun he’d lifted from the raiders. Out of everyone, only Stalemate seemed unconcerned, idly twirling his BB gun.

“Ghouls travel in packs.” I turned around to face the group, they all wore varying faces of fear, anxiety, and determination.

“One was dangerous enough as it stood,” Sage stood in the center of a little circle we had made, “We can’t take chances anymore, you think an ambush will work against these things? If we can get them to charge out the front doors, that would work as a decent funnel.”

“Ghouls hate light, and it’s damn near noon, we might get them out if we use bait, but that is really risky.” I looked down in thought, but failed to come up with any ideas that weren’t suicide.

“We could just go in there, clear the building room by room.” Wingnut was just tossing ideas out there, but right now that just seemed like a waste of breath.

“Too dangerous, we could easily get ambushed by a horde in there.” I was getting impatient with their voices. At some point, whatever was in there would hear us, and then our discussion time would be up.

“Can ghouls fly? Send in a flier as bait, lure them out, and cut them down.” Ash threw her idea on the table.

“Too much risk, we need to get them on our terms.” Any day now!

“We have a sniper, pick a couple off until they get angry and charge?” Stalemate pointed at me.

“That might actually work, provided Dizzy can actually see anything in there.” Sage and I exchanged a glance. He looked as thrilled as I felt.

“I can take off the glasses, should help a lot.”

“Alright, we need to get ready for them,” Sage looked at his hooves. “We don’t know how many of them there may be, so we need to be ready.”

I noticed Ash’s expression, she was worried, didn’t like this plan at all. To be honest I don’t think any of us did. Combat was still something unnatural to us all, and yet the wasteland demanded blood be a currency of great value. We needed that map, if we got lost in this city we would be as good as dead.

Stalemate carefully crept up inside a building just outside the welcome center, probably laying an ambush. The rain began again as I found a burnt out sky carriage to use as cover, Wingnut stood next to me. Ash and Page were behind a dumpster about five yards away. Sage laid his gear down next to Ash, making sure his rifle was loaded.

I layed down on the broken street, kicking a chunk of rock out from under my stomach. The scope swam up to almost kiss my eye, staring into the open front door. I couldn’t make out any specific ghouls at first through the dark passage until I saw a glowing one pass through that door and stop. It stood in the doorway for a second, long enough for me to realize that I had no idea if the thin black lines were even aligned to zero or not...fuck.

One, place the crosshairs on the target.

Two, hold my breath.

Three, place hoof on trigger.

The shot stung my ears, and sent glowing chunks of ghoul to splatter against the walls, giving the foyer a sort of gory glow. There was an odd silence, I couldn’t hear anything inside the building, only the rain hitting the carriage. I looked through my scope, nothing.

I never really understood why feral ghouls traveled in packs, aside from the whole safety in numbers part. Trust me though, when you hear the cries of about fifty-plus ghouls all demanding flesh, things like that don’t matter anymore. I looked over at Sage, he couldn’t see anything either. Looking back at the building I saw a ghoul emerge and took off its head. A second came out, hit in the chest by Sage, it wasn’t outright killed, but probably a mortal wound. Five launched from the doors, then ten. I felt my stomach drop as an entire horde of twisting, rotten flesh came barreling towards us.

I kept shooting, four, five, seven, I lost count as I kept firing, my bolt hung open.

“Reload!” I shouted. Ducking behind my cover I heard a Sage’s rifle open up, and bullets ripping flesh.

“I’m out!” Sage cried, I heard the familiar sound of Page’s pyromancy and saw the glow as I threw my bolt closed.

“Fuck!” Wingnut leapt over me to tackle a ghoul, crushing it against the pavement with a sound of someone crushing a rotten watermelon.

I looked up. The ghouls were too close!

“RUN!” I screamed, taking to the air. OH FUCK! I flew backwards to keep shooting, trying to thin the undead herd.

Sage flew as well, still shooting, not even stopping to realize that being chased by a pack of hungry zombies had allowed us to do something that we couldn’t before. This time, though he opted for semi-automatic. The others ran under us, not stopping to fight back. They ran, we kept shooting. I caught a glimpse of Stalemate at the back of the crowd, somehow invisible to the ghouls.

We must have covered nearly two miles before my rifle hung empty on my last mag.

“Fuck!” I landed and dug frantically into my pack. With my second mag empty I had no choice but to single load.

An explosion rocked the earth, forcing me to dive to the ground to avoid the scrapnel. When I stopped to looked up again, there was only one ghoul left charging until a BB made an incision in its temple, felling it. That was not one of ours.

“Well, you lot poked a hornet’s nest. Good thing y’all ran here, would have been ghoul dinner for sure.” I couldn’t see the stallion beyond his outline. He was standing on some sort of dirt mound about seven feet above the ground. The bright sky made him, and his grenade launcher nothing more than a silhouette.

“Well we appreciate the help,” Sage was of course overly chipper to the point of annoying. I noticed Stalemate walk up behind the group, his mane covered in dirt, soot, and ghoul. I couldn’t hold back a small smile.

“You better, had I not come along y’all’d be stuck between a wall and a ghoul horde. And look at that, didn’t even hit yer friend there.” Stalemate in turn shook some of the dirt from his mane. “Now, way I see it, you owe me. These grenades ain’t cheap.” The stallion hopped off the mound to meet us on our level. “I hope you are prepared to give me some payment.”

Something seemed off about him. As he got closer I could smell that the only thing he had ever cleaned himself with was some homemade moonshine. He nearly stumbled towards Sage, wobbling gently from hoof to hoof. “We can pay, or maybe when can get some work.”

“Work? You lot? You have trouble with a small pack of ghouls, and you expect to make it in this city? Fuck, might as well just give over your mare for a night and call it even.”

Sage’s entire body shuddered, probably trying his hardest to explode this stallion’s head by pure hatred alone. He looked down, took a deep breath, and slowly let go of his carbine. “The only reason we were in trouble there is because we ran out of ammo. They started chasing us all the way back at the visitor’s center.”

The stallion half balked, “The visitor center, you got to be lyin’.”

“You hear that gunfire earlier?” Wingnut strode forward, looming over the stallion, “That’s how we got ‘em out and killed ‘em.”

The stallion looked from one of us to the next. After he finally picked his jaw off the ground he stared at Sage. “You ain’t lyin’, all the way from the damn visitor’s center. We been tryin’ to clear that place for weeks, how many of them were chasing you?”

“At least thirty, from the start,” I spoke up. “Killed at least twenty before we had to run.”

“Well,” He looked right at me, “What in the name of Celestia’s teats are you?”

“What he is doesn’t matter,” nice, Sage, steal my chance for a retort. “We have already paid you off, clearing out the visitor’s center for you. Bullets aint much cheaper than grenades, and we’ve saved you a lot of trouble.”

“Now, now. Don’t you get too excited colt. You killed a good few ghouls there, but nothing says you got them all. If you want to call us good, you better go there and make sure that place is empty.”

“I’ll consider it if you load our guns again. For now, a thank-you would suffice.” Sage was eye to eye with the newcomer, staring piss and venom into his eyes.

“Whoa, whoa!” Page strolled between the two, earning a growl from Sage. “What he means to say is that we need to buy some ammo before we do that, and we don’t know where we can. Would you be kind enough to show us?”

The stallion gestured behind him, “Off that-a-way, my wonderful little home, called Spur.”

With that we all started to collect ourselves to start moving on. All of us but Ash. She was near a crater standing above one of the pony ghouls, just staring down at the remains. Both Sage and I started walking towards her, trying our best to avoid all blood and parts from the ghouls, but that was rather impossible at this point. Once we got closer I could see the thing was still alive, and that Ash was softly crying, trying very hard to keep her tears back. I glanced over at Sage, he motioned to the ghoul before trotting towards Ash. He wrapped his forelegs around her, but in something I had never seen before, she pushed him away to run off into a nearby building.

“Little miss acts like she ain’t killed a ghoul before!” The stallion behind us laughed.

Sage stopped and took several deep breaths, heaving the air in and out of his body. Carefully letting his saddlebags fall to the ground, he took up his rifle. He wasn’t even paying attention to the still-crawling ghoul as it screamed and heaved itself pitifully out of the crater. Instead, he looked toward the door as if he were about to go after Ash, then turned around to look up at the stallion on top of the heap.

“The guy’s right.” I turned to look at Sage, his face contorted, debating in his mind of whether or not it was a good idea to shoot our rescuer. “We’ve been at this for a while now, and if she isn’t ready to do what she has to do to survive out here, then she might get another one of us killed. We fight, we kill, or we die.” I started moving towards him, “You know that the wasteland demands a toll of blood, and we get to decide who it comes from. Better them than us.”

“Then I’ll kill any bastard that tries to touch her. That includes jackasses who say ‘thank you’ by demanding my mare.” Sage growled then climbed up the heap. At the top, he pulled a dozen caps from his bag, and dropped them on the ground at the drunk stallion’s hooves. The next thing to hit the ground was his spit. Then he turned and started towards the building Ash had disappeared into, no longer caring about missing the hunks of ghoul littered around him, squishing one into the asphalt as he marched along.

I stared at the building until Wingnut walked up beside me. “How long are we going to wait for them?”

I thought for a moment, “You wait here, the rest of us will head to this town and start getting our shit together.”

“So you want me to stand here, alone, and wait for Sage to find his lover back in a potentially ghoul ridden city? How long should I wait? What if they get hurt or ambushed by more ghouls? What part of any of that sounds like a good idea Dizzy?”

“Boy, you’re actin’ as if this entire city is out to get you after you went and pissed off part of it. Spur is just over this hill, and down the street, not even the stupid ghouls come this close to a town. Just you and the rain right now.” The stallion turned and walked down the backside of the hill.

“Doesn’t matter,” I stood up, grabbed Sage’s bags and trotted off, Page falling in behind me with Stalemate staying with Wingnut. “If you hear gunshots, you know they are in trouble, if you need an adult, then by all means grow the fuck up.” I looked back at the stallion in front of me, “I never did get your name.”

****************************************

Stalemate
Day Seven, Noon

The single most amusing part of the whole squabble between Dominic and the local was that the super secret location of his village was all of about two blocks away. Despite all his talk, he was probably just trying to avoid getting eaten once we were out of the way. What a pussy.

Turned out his named was Dinkle Dolly, and wanted us to call him ‘Dinks.’ He claimed it was because he carried a lot of things, but seemed to object when I called him ‘Dolly.’

“I’m not a filly’s plaything!” he’d protested vehemently to my friendly jabs.

“Oh, what a pity. Must suck to not be getting any!” My retort had left him spitting in the dirt like only an idiot could. He was wrong and didn’t want to admit that his name sucked.

Still, he had a point that we shouldn’t have stuck our noses into trouble. It probably wasn’t the brightest idea I’d seen all morning to stir up a wasp nest full of zombies, but hey, we still seemed to be kicking. It really wasn’t all that bad when they stopped chasing me in favor of Dom. Seems that keeping myself from having open wounds for them to smell was an advantage. That, and not shooting at them. But no, Dom and Terr started shooting like the good little soldiers they were, and everyone else followed their lead.

Due to an endemic lack of creativity, the shithole that Dolly was leading us to had been named Spur. It wasn’t any different from the rest of the city save for that the ground floors of the shops and apartments had been boarded up and housed dirty and scared horses. Not bad for the bastion of civilization for the nearest fifty miles!

Dom wasn’t sucking up to the newest asshole we’d met, strangely enough. Maybe I needed to convince every idiot we ran into to hit on Amelia. That might just ‘spur’ a little progress. Instead, Page was following Dolly along at the head of our group, asking about supplies and services. Pfft service. I’d like a coffee, a beer, and one of your barmaids, please and thank you!

But seriously, there was nothing here. Denspur looked like Flint or Detroit after a good artillery shelling and a few dozen decades of disrepair. The asphalt was cratered and worn, and concrete chips were scattered everywhere from every third building collapsing into chunks of the stuff and rusting rebar. Charming, but it didn’t seem likely to hold the answers to escaping from this nightmare.

Ever since waking to find my hands gone, I’d striven as hard as I possibly could to find a way home, and failing that, make the best of the situation. I knew I was the smartest of the group save for Seth, who didn’t seem particularly occupied with figuring out what had happened. There wasn’t really much to go on, save for an explosion. We needed a big fucking explosion. Dom knew what kind, probably. When I’d asked him, he just said he didn’t know enough of the details to matter. When I told him that if I knew them I could figure it out, he told me that it was classified above my grade and told me to shove off.

Now I might not be the smartest person in the world, but I’m better than most, and the disconnect between ‘I’m gonna get you home, baby brother’ and ‘I can’t tell you how in case we do get home’ was a bit disconcerting. And everyone blamed me for trying to have fun here why? Terrance had even gotten laid! I didn’t see Sage scolding him for getting tail.

Radheart was pretty hot, and she had taught me how to conduct basic trauma surgery, horse-triage, and make healing potions. That was neat, I guess. Still, she should have picked me. I wouldn’t have cried over it; I would have just asked asked if she wanted top or bottom. Does that even work for horses? Guess I’ll find out sooner or later.

Terr sure took it hard over breakfast, and I’d been trying to be nice. She did just drag us through sixteen hours of forced march through a blizzard. Now I’d done half that time through a desert while sick and carrying weights, but this was something else. For a guy who usually had his head on straight, Terr sure lit up when I’d insulted his ‘abuser.’

Speaking of the softie, he was leading us all into some kind of shop. That was great, but I didn’t get to carry our money after the first time I’d tried to help go get more. On the upside, Dolly was wondering off to go do something else. I plastered on a standard friendly grin and tried to sound amiable.

“Hey there, Dolly. You know, if you need advice to pick up the ladies, I can totally help you!”

“Fuck off, you purple menace,” growled Dolly as he lumbered off. I made a point to remember him, then ventured into the shop after everyone else.

Everyone was inside admiring the pieces of scrap metal and concrete that somehow had made their way onto the shelves. It was just like somebody had gone outside and scooped up everything in a twenty square meter area and put it up for sale. Here and there something useful appeared, like a stack of moss that could have been totally appealing to someone in the end stages of starvation, or a piece of rebar cut and sharpened into a crude knife. Then again, every pony in this town seemed to be thin enough to show ribs, so moss might not be that bad of a thing.

Page and Sage were already haggling with the shopkeep, a scrawny looking...male? The voice was deep enough alright, but he didn’t look the part. He was a canary-yellow horse-thing that looked thin enough to be floating away in the constant chilly breeze. The item of discussion was a few cans of something that probably was rotted, poisoned, or otherwise dangerous for our health, and pee-stain here was trying to make sure we paid out the nose for them. Nuh-uh.

I skulked past where everyone was standing in a gaggle trying to get nothing done, appearing just like I was looking around because I actually was just looking around. Then, I found something, and ceased to look around in every way save for appearance. Well, I was looking at the ‘prices’ that were half buried under an old box of food. Guess it wasn’t worth showing to the customers.

A few dozen rusty and faded bottlecaps labeled as ‘Sparkle-Cola’ lay in a heap on the counter. Does everything have to have a faggoty name here? Seriously. Images flashed before my mind of those caps silently floating over into my bags, and just like that, they were enveloped in a indigo glow and zoomed to rest in my pack. Settling gently, they made no noise, and no one was the wiser. How could the pony trying to fleece Dom be stupid or trusting enough to leave strangers with his money? I mentally patted myself on the back: more lessons on trust and watchfulness had been delivered for a fair price.

Dom seemed almost as happy I was, and intent to try to spread that happiness all over us. A half-dozen tin cans each of something really wasn’t what I’d call cheerful, but it was food. I just didn’t want to buy the ‘yay we should be happy because of crappy food’ mantra Dom was blathering on about. Marcus and Seth were totally eating it up. Hehe...eating it up!

“Well, that takes care of food, now we just gotta get ammo and figure out where our job is.” Dom didn’t seem so thrilled at counting the remaining two dozen caps he had. Most of them had belonged to Radheart anyways. Terrance was hiding in the corner looking at the shelves like they were the only thing in the world. Weak. Everyone here was just too weak, and something had to give. Meandering around wouldn’t cut it anymore.

I waited until we left the shop to make my move.

“Hey, Dom, how much did you wind up spending on those cans anyways?”

He paused, taken aback and ready to be defensive. I could hear it in his voice. “Five caps each. Why?”

“So you spent a hundred and eighty of our two hundred caps on food? Not very smart.”

“Why? Could you have done better?”

“Of course I could have.” I paused for a moment to weigh my words. “First of all, we’re going into another city in which we could scavenge, so I don’t think we need quite that much. Second, he had price markers up which had the canned food at five caps. Granted, it was behind the register, but he was still marking you up. Lastly, I did go ahead and make sure we got fair price...and then some, to make up for his scamming.”

I showed him the small box of caps I’d liberated from the shopkeep, causing him to brighten, then frown.

“Stalemate...you stole those?”

Oh dear god please not this again. “He was ripping you off. If he’s scummy enough to rip us off, and stupid enough to leave his money out, he doesn’t deserve to have his money. Now, I have enough to actually buy us canteens, because not having those for the last two days really sucked. And if you give me some of that extra ammo you keep lugging around, I can trade it for ammo for the rest of us.”

“Are you sure?” He was reluctant. I looked to the others for approval. It was there, but buried under too many layers of cold, wet, tired, hungry, and depressed.

“Well, you can either let me do the talking, or I’ll let you keep borking it up and I’ll make sure we get fair prices anyways.”

Dom let out what had to have been a bonus sigh before handing me the rest of the caps. “Fine, but--”

“Yes, I know. Only the things we need.” Sheesh.

Sky Sage
Day Seven, 12:27 PM

The most comforting thing about having a pip-buck on hoof was I could watch the actual minutes progress during the day. It appeared to run on the same time for a second, minute, and hour as I knew, but there was no telling the time durations were identical. The same went for the length of a day. For all I knew, Equestria had a twenty-five hour rotation.

Only the clock winked at me from the depths of the saddlebags, and I could only assume that the rest of the functions would turn on after somebody put it on. Not that I’d tried that yet. I wanted to slide that metal leg-band still flaked with dried blood on about as much as I wanted to hold a nice friendly group chat session to decide who got the incredibly dubious honor of wearing it.

Dizzy won’t want it, and neither will Ash. I don’t trust Stalemate to understand how important it is, so he’s out. That leaves Wingnut and Page...and me. Who can use a map the best? And who needs the targeting software the most? For that matter, shouldn’t I put it on long enough to check how my ribs are doing?

Ever since that zebra had kicked me into the wall, breathing had hurt, and taking off hadn’t done me any favors. So long as I kept taking shallow breaths it didn’t hurt too bad, but holy sweet goodness it did when I’d hit the ground after diving to avoid the explosion. Flight was crazy enough without bullets and grenades flying, and what I really hoped weren’t broken ribs.

Those thoughts continued to knock around in my skull as Stalemate argued over a pile of caps and several plastic bins partially filled with cartridges. It was really good to know that I could let him take care of the shopping, though Stalemate seemed to think it was a good idea to kibitz and mock every shop owner we ran into. Everyone else had more or less just followed. We didn’t have the caps to spare for luxuries and nowhere better to be.

As the haggling had worn on, I sorted again through my saddlebags, now filled almost to the brim with Radheart’s belongings. I’d given the surgical kit to Stalemate, half to avoid carrying the weight and half because he was the only one with a chance to use it. And maybe a third half because I like keeping that bonesaw far away. Ick.

A simple count yielded three small, capped, plastic syringes each labeled with an ‘X’, a half-dozen healing potions, a box of clean bandages, a small bottle of something alcoholic, and dozen light-brown tablets sealed in plastic. Radheart had assured me she was carrying medex and water purification tablets, but the bottle wasn't anything I wanted to make assumptions on. Better to assume it was not ethanol and strictly for medicinal purposes. One more thing to keep away from Stalemate.

There was no telling if the bandages were magical, at least not until Dizzy took off the one I’d put on his face last night. He didn’t seem in a good way, but what kind of expectation would that be? He was stable, and seemed to think his rifle was better pointed at the bad guys instead of his own head, and so that would have to be good enough for now.

Even after having sold her saddle blanket and bags to the next pony who’d take them, the remaining gear was causing my saddlebags to bulge. At least that was enough room to hide the the little book I’d found amongst her things.

I’d never been the prying type, but she wasn’t about to stop me from reading her diary. From the short minute I’d spent flipping through the pages, there wasn’t much in there that really mattered, either. Still, I didn’t want to give it to Dizzy just yet. Not until I knew he was stable. More difficult though was the slip of paper I’d found on the dead zebra. It was written in some swirly language that didn’t match anything I’d seen before. My odds on figuring out what it meant were probably about as good as translating my life story into sanskrit, so I’d settle for giving out the PipBuck for now.

“Hey guys?” I spoke just loud enough to get everyone’s attention, save for Stalemate who was arguing in a raised voice with the poor shopkeep. Hesitantly, I’d say he was bullying the guy, but after the last store, I was just fine with that. “This is probably gonna suck, but we need to figure out who’s gonna wear the PipBuck.” Lifting the device from my bags, I sat it on the floor for everyone to see.

“Not me,” stated Ash simply before looking back out the hole in the wall that constituted a window.

Dizzy stood up and walked out the door.

“Well, I think that speaks for him,” I muttered, and turned to look at Wingnut and Page looking at me with some interest. Between us I couldn’t really say who would get it. Of course I wanted it. Who would be dumb enough to turn down a targeting computer, a map, a rad-meter, an inventory sorter, a situational awareness tool, a microcomputer, radio receiver, medical readout, and bulletproof leg cast all in one go? And memories of prying Radheart’s flesh out every time you remember that you’re wearing it. I shivered a little.

Page stared at the device somewhat intently, curled his lips in mock disgust. It still had a rusty stain on the inside, where I hadn’t been able to wash off the last of the blood. “Ick! Sage, you know there might be germs on that!”

“I think that it’ll be fine, Marcus,” Wingnut said dismissively. “It’s useless unless someone actually is wearing it. If nobody else has any objections, I’ll take it.”

“Well…” I paused to think for a moment, trying to make up my mind along with making up my words. “I’d like to be able to see where we’re going. It would make directing the...group a lot easier than it has been. Navigating off the mountains and sun and word of mouth has been fine so far, but a computer powered map would be something I’d really like to have.”

Humming a little, Page looked over the PipBuck from one side to the other. He furrowed his brows, humming higher and higher until I wanted to cover my ears. “Well, it would admittedly be pretty neat, but I don’t have too much more of a use for it than as a shiny toy? I seem to land bits of fire where I want to, and I’m fine to go wherever. It is shiny, though.”

“That’s all well and good, but I assure you that I need it. My aim is shit, and I can probably make better use of the utilities it has better than you, Sage.”

I winced, both at the name and the implication. “If this is a lieutenant joke, Wingnut--”

“It’s not just with maps,” Wingnut said assuringly. “I know the effects of radiation better than the rest of you, and how to better protect from it. I need the targeting system, and I’m quicker than you, I can make way better use of the EFS system.”

“Sure you know radiation better than I do, no questions there. And I’m pleased that you think I’m a decent shot, but I do have tactics training, you know? A lot of it. That means room clearing, squad movements, the such. And you think you can use the EFS better?”

“Yeah, I can run recon and make sure we avoid the danger in the first place.”

“Well, I can fly. You really think you can recon an area and get out faster than me? Besides, what is your desire to be the bullet sponge?” I shook my head at him.

“Well, inside a building flying won’t do you shit.” Wingnut grinned. “And I saw how you flew out there -- like a scared chicken flapping about.

Like an amused child, Page turned his head back and forth as we bickered, keeping score for us. “Oooh! Points to Wingnut. You know, Sage, you don’t really want it.”

“What?!”

“Like I said, you’re just sore that someone else would get the map. You don’t need the rest of it, and I can see it in your eyes when you look at the thing -- you don’t even like touching it. Forget putting it on.”

I hung my head and sighed, forlorn that Page had made up my mind faster than it could decide for itself. “Fine. Any chance I can get dibs on the next one? Provided we obtain it in a family friendly-ish way?”

“I assure you that if we run into another one, you’ll get no argument from me,” Wingnut smiled.

Nodding, I gestured toward the PipBuck, and Wingnut trotted over to it. He sat and cradled the device in his forelegs, looking for some way to put it on. After a few moments of examination, he slipped it up and over his right foreleg, where it slid up to just above his hoof.

Wait a second, Radheart’s leg was smaller than that.

As soon as it came to a stop, the PipBuck let out a slight mechanical hiss, then shrank to lock over Wingnut’s leg. He stared in fascination, then squeezed his eyes shut, winced, and let out a terse cry.

“Ow, dammit!”

“Wingnut!” I ran over to him, only to be warded off by his other leg.

“It’s ok, Red, I think it just needed to fit tight.”

True to his word, the screen lit up in dull green, bathing Wingnut’s now very excited face in its glow. I relaxed, and watched with interest as he began to manipulate the buttons and dial to locate all of the features.

“Hey, Sage, why do you keep using my pony name all the time?” Wingnut didn’t look up from fiddling with the buttons, but the almost-hurt in his voice told me he was more than just mildly curious.

“Well...I want this to become second nature. If I can convince myself that Wingnut is your name, and always has been, then I won’t slip up when it counts and I don’t have time to think about it.” And it will keep me from being homesick if I convince myself that this is my world until it’s time to leave. If there is a way to leave. No...that’s a poor way to think.

Such thoughts chased themselves like dogs and tails in my mind until Stalemate finished his bartering. Somehow, he’d come up with a half-dozen pre-war canteens, full of clean water. The canteens were actually the more expensive half; clean water wasn’t too hard to come by in a land hundreds of miles from anywhere the bombs fell -- at least so the merchant had assured us. Just as importantly, everyone had enough ammunition to fill their magazines and Page got a box of shells. That left just one item on my list.

“So does anyone have any idea what to do with this?” I asked as I held up the zebra note.

Page turned his head a little at the sight, and everyone else went quiet. The shopkeep pointed a foreleg toward his front door, and his voice washed over our ears, speaking with more than a little disdain.

“Tellemei’s shop is right across the street, and take your half-breed with you.”

We had everything we needed, and while I figured we’d easily win against one malnourished unicorn buck, I didn’t really want a fight either. Wordlessly I turned and ducked under the sunken second story floor, making my way out onto the street. Ash hurried out next to me, and for the briefest of moments we were side by side, our coats brushing as we picked our way around a large pothole in the street. She wasn’t so soft anymore, nor was I very sleek, but her touch still brought me a smile. I looked over, and she looked at me too, at least until I almost walked into the wall.

She broke out laughing, and I laughed to in spite of myself. Her voice was like a cheerful bell, bringing light and joy into the wet and gray land we were in. More barely suppressed laughter started filling the air as Wingnut and Stalemate joined her.

“Ya’ know that isn’t the door,” offered Page.

I bowed my head in acknowledgement, and stepped a little to the right before slinking under a roof even lower than the one we’d just left. The sudden change in atmosphere from the cool, thin air of the outside to the pungent, thick aromas inside this ‘shop’ left me coughing. Blankets had been put up all around the remains of the walls, holding in the warmth of a small fire in the middle of the floor surrounded by yet more rugs. Smoke, mixed with a dozen spices I couldn’t name, caused my eyes to water.

“Welcome, and what can I do for you?” I’d expected some kind of exotic accent out of the zebra looking us up and down, and I was disappointed. He sounded just like every other pony we’d run into in this town. No piercings, tattoos, or other odd paraphernalia adorned his body, though the walls had many bunches of plants and herbs. “Well, come on now, don’t stare. Surely you have business?”

“We do!” cheered Page, “We need a translation, and I want a story.” Wingnut huffed, and sat down in the corner to play with his PipBuck some more.

Tellemei chuckled. “Well, that depends on the story, and as far as a translation goes, I might be able to help you for a few caps.”

I looked to Stalemate, who gave me a questioning glare until I nodded. He brought the plastic bag we’d been keeping out caps in out and floated it over to Tellemei. The slip of paper was also levitated out from between my teeth, hovering in the air before the Zebra. For a few moments, his eye slipped back and forth, then widened quite a bit.

“Well, you guys certainly are the ‘accursed star-spawn’ and ‘fetid half-breed’ it mentions.” He smirked as he read, nodding to Dizzy and Page in turn. “Judging by the fact that you’re handing me the hunter’s note, you didn’t get bagged. Congratulations.” Tellemei stood up on his hind legs, to the applause of Page, and lifted five of the remaining caps out of the bag, tossing them into a pouch hanging off a table covered with open books and scrolls. “That wasn’t all. Apparently they were supposed to prevent you from getting to a mine on the far side of the city, or drag your corpses there after they killed you. It mentions the ‘City of Stars’ too, which I haven’t heard of in quite some time.”

That’s an awful lot to get out of three lines of runes.

Page sat up a little straighter, somehow. “I know what I want a story about, now!”

“That won’t cost you extra.” Taking a long breath in through his nostrils, Tellemei sat on a rug and began to narrate. “Before I begin, I should let you know I hold no stock in these old tales. They caused fools to chase their own tails and doom themselves to destruction. But, the northern tribes still hold to the old ways, and they are apparently quite serious about hunting you down and seeing you ended.

“I have heard a few stories about those mines, from both my kin, and yours. As it goes, long ago, a star fell from the sky hitting a mountain and creating a vast crater.” The shopkeeper pantomimed the event, throwing his hoof down onto a bag of something on the table. “Ponies and zebras built a city there, and covered the ceiling over to create a hidden sanctuary.” He leaned over the bag, casting a shadow down on it, until he swept the bag off the table. “Then they all disappeared, seemingly overnight.

“The thing is, this city was a legend for centuries. Both ponies and zebras forgot it even existed outside of their stories. Fast forward to the war between our kinds, and the ponies started to mine out the local mountain range for things that don’t really matter anymore. They found that city. As the pony legends go, anyone who enters into those mines never comes back out. Ponies brave enough to even go near the cave entrance even go missing from time to time, was a rite of passage for a local group of foals to stay a night out there and try to make it till morning. The sheriff quickly put an end to that.

“I don’t think I need to tell you how dangerous that place is. You should at least buy some supplies before you go.” He gestured with a flourish toward a basket filled with syringes and vials. Figures.

“You’re tell us how dangerous this place is, then encourage us to go?” growled Dizzy.

Tellemei stepped back down to the floor, to be honest I didn’t even realize he was standing on his hind legs, “You are young, full of stupid, there is no way I could convince you to leave that place be.” He sounded like that was his millionth time saying those words.

“Wow...you’re good with the ha--hoof gestures!” murmured Page.

“The what? Oh, the storytelling? Yeah, folks eat that up. Anyways, want to buy some chems?”

“I got it!” yelled Wingnut, holding his Pip-Buck-leg up triumphantly. On the screen was a map of the local area, of which I could see no more before he brought his leg back down. “There’s Denspur...there’s Caspur...why is there a coal mine marked on here?”

“Oh, and one other thing you might need to know,” added Tellemei with a smile. “The quickest way there is through Caspur, and there is a break in the wall not too far from here! I’m sure you’d make it across the wall, and through the city before sundown.”

***

Diary of Radiant Heart
Entry 41, 49th of Autumn

It’s been quite a while since the caravan was due back, at least three days. Raiders probably got to them on the way back. The folks are getting kinda worried, and I’m starting to run low on supplies. Just the other day, Copper dropped in with huge gash in his leg and drunk off his ass. He wasn’t coherent enough to say what happened, but the wound was full of colored glass. Anyway, damn near used up the last of the antiseptic I had.

I don’t know what Rainfall is gonna do about this, but we know the lights are going out in the town, and I’m not the only one hurting for things that don’t grow all the way out here. Here’s to a little more hoping.

Sky Sage: Level Five
This whole place is starving. The sins of the father do run deep.

Perk: Flight (Beginner)
Pure instinct awakened in you just in time to save your sorry hide. Don’t get a big head and try out for the Wonderbolts.
You can now fly, albeit rather clumsily.

Dizzy: Level Five
Only way left is up...

Perk: Entrenched Defender
You have learned that value of cover, and why the defender always has the advantage!
While not moving and crouched or prone you gain a 2.5% damage boost, and a 10% reduction in reload times.

Ashen Shield: Level Four (50% to next level)
He wants that hurt...despite all the help. I can’t shield him from it all.

Perk: New Spell: Shield (I)
You can use raw telekinetic energy to stop one thing from getting to or hurting another.

Stalemate: Level Five
See, why doesn’t everyone understand it’s easier this way? I can make things fly, I can explain to the locals why they need our money to not starve to death, and that they should be grateful for our business.

Perk: Purple Scoundrel
Making trouble and making money! Alright!
+5 to Barter and +5 to Sneak

Page: Level Four (50% to next level)
ZEBRA LORE! YES! The stories of my...fathers? Sure, we’ll go with that.

Perk: Magical Tinkerer (I)
You are always fiddling with what your horn is capable of doing. You have a greatly increased chance of discovering new spells or random arcane relationships. In addition, you receive a +2 to perception when dealing with situations where magic is involved

Wingnut: Level Four
Six days in, I’m conscious, and I got a cool new toy. Relatively speaking I’m pretty happy.

Perk: PipBuck Proficient
You’ve never touched one before today, but with enough screwing around you figured out how to use it well. That’ll probably serve you handy in a firefight.

Author's Note

Re-formatting thirty pages for fimfic never gets any more fun. At least I only had to write a little less than half this chapter, and Dizzy got to take the stick for a while. Hope you like the change in perspectives, because Page and Wingnut are well into writing the next chapter already. Odds are I'll merely be your musician.

As always, please drop a line with your thoughts!