Fallout: Equestria - Spectrum

by Marioaddict

Rating: mature
Tags: Gore, Original Character, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Dark, Adventure, Crossover
Length: 96938

A cowardly pegasus civilian finds himself thrown into the horrors of the Equestrian Wateland.

I never wanted any of this.

I'm... I'm not a hero. I'm no one important. I'm not a fighter, or a killer, or... I don't know, whatever those other things out there are. I'm just a painter. All I wanted was to live out my life in peace, making art for all the other pegasai to view. That's all!

But now? Now that's all gone. I'm stuck down here, down on this godforsaken wasteland, and for some stupid reason everything seems to want me dead...

Please, if you can hear me, send help. I'm scared...

Please...

I just want to go home.

Oh boy, here we go. My first ever really serious attempt at writing.

Firstly, a big shoutout to KKat and the Original Fallout: Equestria. The original fic moved me so much, that I just wanted to honor it in some way. This story will be my tribute.

Another shoutout to my friends, who helped me to proofread and gave critique as best as they could.

I hope you all enjoy. I intend to see this one all the way through to the end.

Don't like Fimfiction? Read it on Googledocs instead!

5/8/15: Alright, at the request of a pre-reader, I've altered the opening of the story. Give it a read!

5/19/2015: Thank you to Floots for making me this awesome new cover art! Fimfiction made me cut off some of the sides, but I still love it!

6/9/2015: Cover art updated to full version! Yaaay!

8/3/2015: I'm pleased to announce that Mixolidian Gray will now be helping me out as a pre-reader! Welcome to the crew, Mix!

9/26/2015: It's come to my attention that I accidentally named a minor character in my story the same thing as a minor character in Murky Number Seven. This has now been changed. Thank you for understanding.

Published 2015-04-21 20:30:02 UTC
Last updated 2017-04-01 07:19:17 UTC

Prologue

War. War never changes.

Yes, good citizens of the Equestrian Sky, it’s true! Ever since the Megaspells fell one hundred and fifty years ago, the ponies down below have done nothing but bicker and fight and kill each other! They can’t be trusted! They would turn on you in a heartbeat if anypony let them. They are savage, cruel, uncivilized beasts! Beasts we are not yet prepared to combat!

But it is for these reasons that we must always be at the ready! Ready to improve ourselves, ready to fight for this glorious land that we love! Just look around you! We live a happy life, safe from the evils that lie below! We live a life shielded from the sins of the past! Would you have us squander what we have been given? No! We must be ready! Ready to fight for the values of life above the clouds!

Because if we do not fight for what is good, if we do not fight for what is right, then who will?

So go! Enlist in the Grand Pegasus Enclave today!

We must always be re-

“Will you please turn that off, Canvas?”

I looked up at the Pegasus sitting across from me. “Oh, yeah, sure.” I reached out and switched off the radio to my side. “Sorry about that, Windspeed. I know you don’t like to hear that stuff while you’re on leave.” I paused, and let out a sigh I didn’t realize I’d taken in. “My mind’s just… been a little cluttered recently. I just thought I’d relax, try to catch up with current events, you know? Might help me clear my head and all that.”

“And? Is it nice and clear now?”

“I… I guess so?”

The turquoise Pegasus snickered at me. “Well then, if your head is ‘sufficiently empty’, then let’s get going. I didn’t come here just to sit around and talk with you, pleasant as that may be.”

Dammit. Right when I was starting to think we’d be able to just sit and catch up…

“We…” Windspeed paused, putting a hoof around my shoulder. “…have not seen each other in ages. And if I know you at all, that means you haven’t left this apartment in at least a year.”

I fidgeted under his grip. “Oh come on, give me some credit. I don’t-“

“THEREFOR,” he cut me off as he continued, “being the good friend that I am, I simply cannot leave you to rot in this dungeon that you have created for yourself.”

I glared at my friend for a moment, finally managing to shake his hoof off of me.

“I’ll have you know I leave my apartment a TON of the time.”

“Really?” he eyed me closely, the skepticism clear in his voice, “When was the last time you went outside?”

“Yesterday.” I smiled somewhat triumphantly. Hah, that’ll show him.

“Yeah? And what did you do? Go get groceries?”

My smile faltered.

“I… th-that’s not the… I mean… I…” I groaned. “No comment.”

“Ah, so I was right then.”

“…shut up.”

Windspeed rolled his eyes, letting out a sigh of his own in the process. “Oh come on, dude, you gotta live a little bit! You can’t live life trapped in a little bubble, just making paintings all day!” He paused as his eyes fell on some of my more recent artistic works. “Although I do admit the paintings look better every time I see them…”

He shook his head, as though trying to banish a bad thought. “Look, the point is, you don’t do anything fun, and that’s no way to live your life. So I’m taking matters into my own hooves. This is officially your intervention, and I’ll be damned if you don’t go outside and do something. It’s for your own good!”

“I… Windspeed, I know you’re my friend and all, but can’t we just…”

Windspeed stared into my eyes, his expression slowly becoming less intense.

“…I mean, I’d much rather we just stay here… you know… catch up on… old… times?”

Now to his credit, I didn’t think he was capable of making as convincing of a puppy-dog face as he did.

“Pleeeeease?”

I tried to rebut, I really did. I tried to hold my ground. But one look at his face, his expression, his ever eager eyes… I couldn’t. I knew it was a lost cause. I sighed in defeat. “…alright.”

Immediately he started pumping his hooves in the air. Really, dude?

“Just give me a minute to grab a scarf, it’s freezing.”

“Pfft. It’s not that cold.”

“Yeah,” I scoffed, “Says the military officer. You probably stand in colder weather than this just on guard duty.”

Windspeed let out a sharp laugh. “Yeah right, us Wonderbolts don’t have to stand guard.” He puffed out his chest, a small flash of pride on his face. “That’s what the privates are for.”

I rolled my eyes. It was good to see that the military life hadn’t dampened my friend’s sense of humor. Now where was… ah, here it is. Grabbing my scarf, I started for the door. “So where are we going, anyways? Please not somewhere where I have to… you know, interact with a lot of ponies.”

Windspeed gasped. “And exclude you from going to the best bars in town? What kind of friend would I be to do that?”

I groaned. This was going to be a long night.

~~~~~~~~~~

I didn’t know it at the time, but that night was the start of everything. For better or for worse, I let that excitement crazed maniac drag me to as many New Cloudsdayle hot-spots as he could think of. I didn’t really want to, but it had been so long since I had last seen my childhood friend. This was the first time he’d been able to go on leave for at least a year, and really, I did want to spend some time with him. I guess I should be thankful that he was stationed nearby at all. Even so, I hate clubs. All those ponies, I feel so crowded, and then one of them talks to me, and I don’t know what to say so I end up just sitting alone and saying nothing, and what if I spill something on myself and everypony starts laughing at me and… ugh, I don’t like being around a lot of ponies at once.

It didn’t help that Windspeed seemed to make a point of taking me to the most pony-filled places in the city.

That’s probably why I made an excuse to go home after about the seventh place Windspeed took me to. Like I said, I liked his company, and he was a good friend and all, but… I swear on the Council, other ponies scare me sometimes. Especially when you start boozing them up. That’s when bad things start to happen.

Windspeed was understandably disappointed, but he begrudgingly let me go. I told him he could visit me tomorrow, but he told me he had to report back to the military tomorrow morning for guard duty (I thought he said… whatever, it’s not worth questioning). He’d be heading back up to the Everfree Outpost after the partying was done. I almost stuck it out with him, just so I could spend a little more time with my friend…

…before I turned and left the bar. My social cowardice can only be overcome for so long.

~~~~~~~~~~

Ah… home sweet home.

As I folded up my scarf, I looked at the paintings scattered around my living room. I should probably organize those. Mr. Cloud won’t buy ANY of these if they’re just haphazardly lying about like this.

I guess my legs didn’t agree with me, because I only barely managed to avoid toppling over after I shut the door behind me.

…I’ll do it in the morning.

Carefully, I worked my way towards the bathroom. I wanted nothing more than to just lie in bed and sleep, but I’ll be damned if I don’t wash up before bed. I’d wake up with bed-head or something. Plus I think the bar’s alcohol-and-cigarette stench had seeped into my coat. No thank you.

As I started washing up, I looked at myself in the mirror.

Oh joy. Somepony got beer on my nice yellow coat. The offending splotch was barely visible, but I had an artist’s eye for these sorts of things. My coat went so nicely with my two-toned red-and-blue mane, how dare this putrid drink attempt to sully the sacred color trio with an ugly shade of brown.

As I turned to face the stain as best as I could, I spotted a bigger spill right above my Cutie Mark – A Palette with a Paintbrush lying on top. It almost made it look like the paintbrush had just put a glob of oddly colored paint on my rump. It frustrated me that it had taken until I got home for me to notice it, but I guess I had just missed it in my effort to get out of the club.

Oh well. Just another reason to wash up before bed, I suppose.

With the stains removed (and my body as clean as I cared to make it), I walked to my room, and went over to my bed (oh, my sweet soft bed). I laid down and pulled up the covers. I was looking forward to this. It had been a long night, and I was ready for a good night’s sleep.

Knock Knock Knock

Or not. And I was already so comfortable too.

Looking back now, I wonder what would have happened if I had never gone to answer the door. If I had just stayed in bed, let the unknown solicitor go back home. Maybe everything would have been fine. Maybe nothing bad ever would have happened. That would have been nice.

Of course, the key words there are “would have.”

Slowly, I got up out of bed to go and answer the door.

Author's Note

Before you answer the door, you may revise your character.

Edit Name
Rebuild Character

Finished – Open the Door

Chapter 1

“It’s a colt!”

The nurses gathered around, taking no time to rest as they went to work, carrying out all the necessary procedures to disconnect the newborn colt from his mother. The mare in question panted heavily. She was on the verge of tears. She gripped her husband’s hoof as tightly as she could, much to the stallion’s chagrin. But finally, after what had seemed like days of excruciating pain, it was done.

“It’s ok, honey. It’s over now. Our baby is here.”

A sharp smack was heard, followed by the distinct whinny of a baby’s cry.

“Our son… oh, our beautiful darling colt. Oh, Bullseye, I’m so happy.”

“Congratulations,” one of the Doctors said as he approached the couple. “Do you have a name in mind? I can put it on the birth certificate as soon as you have one, and it will save me some time to know up-front.”

“A name,” the mare neighed. She turned her head to face her husband. “Bullseye, what should we name him?”

“Oh no, not this time. You let me name our daughter, remember? It’s only fair that you’d get to name our son, no interference from me.” The stallion smiled at his wife. “Go on. The choice is yours.”

The mare turned, pondering the baby for a moment. He was so beautiful, she thought. Her son. A perfect trifecta of color. And she was the one who would be giving him a name…

She could see it in his eyes. A faint, far-off glimmer of the stallion he would become.

“Ma’am?”

“…Canvas. His name is Canvas.”

~~~~~~~~~~

It’s not every day that fully armored military personnel show up at your doorstep.

I’ll admit, when I first opened the door, I panicked for a brief second, and I almost slammed the door in the officer’s face. That probably would have been bad. But then I noticed the purple hair sticking out of the top of the pony’s helmet, and then the turquoise muzzle poking out the front. As I stood in slow recognition of the pony in front of me, the officer decided to stumble his way through the door.

“Hey, Canvas… dude, you… you mi- you missed out on… like… all the fun stuff…”

“W-windspeed? What are you doing here? I thought you said you had to go…” I paused for a moment as a strange odor wafted through the door. “…are you drunk?”

“Psh,” Windspeed dismissively waved a hoof in my direction, “No… no. I’m perfectly FINE.” He practically spat the last word at me, before stumbling his way to one of the chairs in my living room area. He stared at the chair for a moment, as though judging whether it were a simple chair or a dangerous beast. Then, with a heavy *THUD*, he plopped down into the seat, knocking over a painting I had resting against it. I looked down at the painting with slight dismay.

Dammit, now I’m gonna have to repaint that.

“Alright… I guess you’re okay then…” I didn’t believe it for a second, but there was no point in telling him that. “What… why exactly are you here? I thought you needed to be at the Everfree Outpost by morning?”

“I was tired.”

He must have expected that to explain everything, because he didn’t continue talking.

“…ok then, so you were tired.”

“Yup.”

Silence returned to the apartment. I shifted uncomfortably in my seat. As much as I wanted to go to bed, I could tell there was more to this story.

A few more seconds ticked by.

After a long pause, I sighed, finally deciding to bring up the biggest elephant in the room.

“…why are you wearing your Wonderbolt armor?”

Windspeed sat up as straight as he could, which in his state meant that he was slowly swaying back and forth.

“Well, y’see, after you… left, ‘n’ stuff… I saw this mare… she was cute.” His swaying slowed as he turned to stare me right in the eyes. “She was cute.”

“Ok-“

“Really cute.” He repeated again, as though still trying to convince me.

“…alright, then…” I raised an eyebrow in confusion, “A really cute mare. But what does this-”

“SO,” he once again spat out his words, “I’m thinking to myself, ‘Hey. I should go try and impress that mare.’ So I said to this cute, cute mare, I said ‘Hey. I’m a Wonderbolt.’ An-And she’s like ‘I don’t believe you.’ And I said ‘But it’s true’ and she’s like ‘prove it.’ So I went back to the… the outpost to get-”

Wait, wait, wait. Wait a minute. What did he just say?

“You went to ‘the outpost’? As… as in the ‘Everfree Outpost’?”

“Yup.”

I stared at my friend as though he had just grown a fifth leg from the top of his head.

“Windspeed, the Everfree Outpost is fifteen miles from here.”

“Well, duh. Everypony knows… *hic* …knows that.”

“But… what… then… how did you get there?”

“I flew.”

I resisted my incredible urge to facehoof.

“You flew.”

“Uh huh.”

“For a total of thirty miles. Into an Enclave base. While drunk.”

“I needed to prove I was a Wonderbolt!”

“WHY?”

“She was cute.”

Nope, no holding it back that time. That hoof was going straight into my face.

“Ok… ok… so you went to the Everfree Outpost. How the heck did you get in?”

“Well, I am an officer.”

“No, no, I mean… how did you get in without them realizing you were…”

Windspeed let out a loud, sickening belch.

“…you know what? Never mind. Just… just finish your story.”

“Anyways….” He slurred on, “I went back ‘n’ I grabbed my Wonderbolt armor. Put it right on… it was hard, but I did it… an…” He took a moment to let out a loud yawn. “…So I grabbed my… like… my Wonderbolt proof-“

“You mean your armor?”

“Well, not just my armor,” Windspeed nickered, “I also grabbed some… like… Wonderbolty things…” As he spoke, Windspeed patted a saddlebag that I hadn’t noticed he was wearing. Well, at least I think that was what he was trying to do. He missed it the first couple of pats. I wondered just what in Tartarus could be in there that would be more Wonderbolt-y than damned Wonderbolt armor, but at that point I knew asking for any kind of clarification was a lost cause.

“Then I went back.”

“To the bar.”

“Yup.”

“And… no one questioned the armored Wonderbolt suddenly walking into the bar.”

“But,” he ignored me as he stammered on, “But the cute girl wasn… wasn’t there! I was… so sad…”

“I’m sure you were,” I deadpanned. I should have been more sympathetic, I really should have, but… no. He had already kept me up until the wee hours of the morning with his entertainment hunt, and now he had decided to invade my home, keeping me up for even longer?

I mean, granted I was the one who asked him to tell me what had happened during the night, but… look, that’s beside the point.

“Yeah… so I was, like… so sad… and then I was… like… really tired… I dunno why I was so tired…”

Oh gee, tired? After flying for thirty miles? Fifteen of which were flown wearing heavy armor? I’m shocked.

“BUT!” he shouted to no one in particular. “But, but but! Then I remembered that ‘hey, Canvas lives over here! I’ll jus… just go see him!!”

There was a long, pregnant pause.

“That’s it. My story‘s done.”

Windspeed continued to sit there, a silly grin plastered on his muzzle.

And then he fell face first out of his chair and onto my coffee table.

~~~~~~~~~~

Normally, I like the sun. When the light comes in through the window of my apartment, the patterns that it can make with the light can be beautiful. I know most ponies wouldn’t notice something like that, but I can appreciate the beauty that even a simple ray of sunlight can make. So usually, I’m quite pleased when the sun shines through my bedroom window.

Of course, usually I’ve been asleep for longer than 4 hours.

I groaned as I rolled over in my bed. I tried to pull my covers up over my head, but it didn’t help much – the light just shined through anyways.

No, sure sun. You just… you just keep on shining. It’s not like I wanted a good night’s sleep or anything. Sleep? What’s that? I definitely don’t need it.

I could see that my battle for sleep was futile, so I begrudgingly pulled myself out of bed. As my hooves hit the floor, I thought back to the events that had happened the night before. After Windspeed had finally finished his story, he had collapsed onto my table, the armor he was wearing removing a sizable chunk from it, to my ever-growing dismay. I had tried to move him onto my couch, with questionable success. I had gotten his torso on the couch, at least. I think that counts.

A part of me had wanted to wake him up then and there, and berate him for being so irresponsible. But I knew better than that. Nothing would have woken him up anyways, and even if something had, he probably wouldn’t have listened to anything I had to say. He was still drunk, after all. What would I have even said to him?

I shook my head. None of that mattered. So he got drunk and crashed at my place. It happened, it was dumb, but now he was here. In my apartment. Sleeping on the couch.

As I walked into the kitchen, I heard some mumbling coming from the couch. Finally waking up, I see. I trotted over to the living room area to check on him.

“Windspeed? You alright there?”

Windspeed shifted in his place on the floor, clutching his head with one hoof as he moved.

“Ow, my head… Major? Is that you?”

“It’s Canvas.”

Windspeed’s ears slowly swiveled in my direction. Groggily, he began to sit up.

“Canvas? What are you doing at the Everfree Outpost?”

The Ever… oh, right. He was supposed to be there for guard duty.

This morning.

Oops.

“Um, you’re not at the outpost. You’re at my apartment.”

Windspeed stopped moving. He stopped talking. And while I’m not certain on this, I think he might have stopped breathing too. When he finally did resume speaking, he spoke very slowly.

“…I’m where?”

I started to back away from my friend. I could tell he wasn’t going to take this well.

“You, er… you showed up at my place late last night. I think you were drunk. You said something about a cute mare, and then you collapsed onto my table-“

“What time is it?”

“L-Look, maybe I should go get you something to eat. Do you-“

“What. Time. Is it?”

The room became deathly silent. Slowly, I glanced over to the clock in my kitchen.

“It’s, um… It’s about seven thirty in the-“

“SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT-” Windspeed bolted upright and sprinted for the door as fast as he could. Suddenly, he stopped, patting at his sides with his wings.

“My saddlebags! MY SADDLEBAGS! WHERE ARE MY SADDLEBAGS?” He suddenly turned to face me, launching himself at me so fiercely I jumped back in fear that he would tackle me to the ground. I knew he wouldn’t really, but I still put my hoof in front of my face in defense. “WHERE ARE THEY?”

“T-they’re on the couch! They fell off when-” Windspeed didn’t bother listening to the rest. He flew over to the couch, grabbed the saddlebags, and raced out the door. By the time I had managed to finish my sentence, he was gone.

I didn’t move for a good while. My mind was still trying to regain its composure after what I had just witnessed. A few seconds passed. Then, a few minutes. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, I let out a breath I didn’t realize I’d taken in. I turned my head, facing the disrupted living room area once again.

And I thought it looked disorganized before.

Windspeed’s frantic flying had knocked many of my paintings over, including one that I had hung up on the wall. The table, already in a miserable state from Windspeed’s fall last night, had what little was sitting atop it flung across the room, with one particularly unlucky paintbrush embedding itself into the wall. And, of course, my couch had suffered a casualty of one cushion when Windspeed yanked his saddlebags off of it.

That cushion was sitting pretty on the kitchen counter.

I looked over the carnage for a moment, mentally cursing Windspeed for upsetting my home. I continued to stare at the room, as if looking at it long enough would magically bring the room back into order. Obviously that would never be the case, I admitted to myself.

…I guess I should start to clean this place up.

I started getting the room back in order as best as I could. I grabbed all of the objects that had been thrown off the coffee table and put them back, retrieving the unfortunate paintbrush after a brief tug-o-war with the wall. Then I set all the paintings back to where they had been originally. A few had, to my frustration, gotten fudged from contact with various surfaces, but I could fix those later. I had to grab a towel from the kitchen to clean up some wet paint that had gotten onto the floor, so I picked up the holodisk lying on the floor and set it on the counter, before grabbing both the cushion and the…

Wait a minute.

Holodisk?

I turned my attention back towards the kitchen counter.

I don’t own a holodisk.

Setting down the towel and the cushion, I approached the mysterious object. It was a strange sight, honestly. While not the rarest objects in existence, holodisks weren’t exactly all that common either. You had to have a terminal to even use one, and terminals weren’t something a lot of pegasai could say they owned. I could see the film inside of it, all the weird technology parts that I didn’t understand. I’d heard someone say they used holograms to store a lot of information, but I doubted it. How does a hologram store information, anyways? There was a label on the front of it, with just two letters written on. I picked up the tape to get a better look.

O.D.

“O.D.?”

It wasn’t mine, that much was certain. I didn’t even have a terminal, what use would I have for a holodisk? But then who-

I froze.

“Well, not JUST my armor. I also grabbed some… like… Wonderbolty things…”

Oh no.

Oh no, no, no.

This was Windspeed’s.

This was Enclave data.

I was holding in my hooves what was most likely classified military information.

Time stood still as the significance of the disk slowly dawned on me. I could be holding top secret plans. Or missile detonation codes. Or… I don’t know, whatever it is Enclave ponies put on Enclave storage disks. So many different thoughts flooded through my mind that, for a brief moment, my brain just shut down.

And then I started panicking.

~~~~~~~~~~

“Ok… ok… you can do this… it’s only a few more miles to the Everfree Outpost. Dammit, Windspeed, why did you have to stop at my place?”

After I had managed to regain my composure, I realized that the only smart thing to do was return the holodisk to Windspeed. It obviously belonged to him, and since it more than likely had important military information on it, I had no right having it in the first place. Even if it DIDN’T have military info on it, it was still Windspeed’s... probably… so I had no right having it anyways. And so, with millions of worries rushing through my mind, I threw on my saddlebags, tucked the disk inside, put on my scarf, steeled my courage… well, what little courage I had… and began the long walk to Windspeed.

While I was in route, my thoughts started to drift to the place I was approaching. The Everfree Outpost. I shuddered at the thought of it.

Have you heard of the Everfree? I mean, I’d be surprised if you haven’t. The place was so enigmatic, like New Cloudsdayle’s own personal myth. Nopony knew just what it was, except for the Enclave ponies stationed there. The Enclave didn’t talk about it, of course, so that just left ponies to speculate as to what lied beyond the massive cloud walls they had surrounding the place. Some ponies thought there was an undetonated megaspell there, just lying in silence, waiting for the perfect moment to activate. Some ponies thought it was a massive prison, meant to hold all the traitors who’d tried to abandon the pegasai for the world below.

Personally, I believed in something even stranger.

I’d heard tales that the cloud cover just… doesn’t exist there. Any time the clouds move into range, the Everfree just grabs ahold of them, sends them wherever it pleases. One minute you’d be standing on perfectly solid cloud, but the next? POOF, it’s gone. Like trying to stand on a hurricane. And buildings? Hah, those would disintegrate before you could even get a foundation put together.

Even with all the mysteries around the Everfree, one thing was known for certain – the Everfree was dangerous. Probably the most dangerous place in the Equestrian Skies, if you asked most ponies. And here I was, headed straight there. My pace slowed as I realized just how insane I must have looked. Just some painter, casually walking into the Everfree.

…but surely all those stories I’ve heard are just stories, right? There ARE ponies staying at Everfree, after all. Sure, they’re part of the Enclave, and they’re not really IN the Everfree so much as NEAR it, but that still has to count for something, right? Th-there’s probably nothing to worry about… nothing whatsoev-

…rrrRRRROOOOOOOAAAAAAARRRRRRrrr…

I froze at the muffled sound I heard in the distance. You know on second thought, maybe this wasn’t such a good idea after all, I could just send Windspeed a letter and…

I felt the holodisk shift around in my saddlebags.

I shook my head. No. I’m giving the disk to Windspeed right now. I don’t want this… this whatever it is near me any longer than it has to be.

I broke into a sprint. The sooner I get there, the sooner I can get the disk off my hooves.

~~~~~~~~~~

Ok, note to self: don’t sprint unless you can actually see your target destination.

I had only managed to make it another half a mile before my body told me “hey, you should probably stop running.” I was panting and out of breath, but finally it was in view; the Everfree Outpost.

I had heard about the walls surrounding the Everfree, but… damn. I was shocked I couldn’t see this place from farther away, the walls looked like they went up hundreds of feet into the air. I could just barely make out some Pegasus ponies flying around near the top of it – Enclave, I presumed. If they were civilians, they’d have been shot long before getting to the wall. Just on the outside of those walls was where the Enclave had positioned their outpost. In all honesty, it wasn’t that big of an outpost… at least, compared to one of the more well-known military bases, like Neighvarro. Even so, this was still a place full of Enclave personnel…

It’s alright… I’m just here to give them back their… thing. No need to be nervous. All I need to do is… is…

I paused for a moment as I realized I had no idea how exactly I was going to do this. I’m not part of the Enclave, even if I do know one of its highest ranking members. Surely they wouldn’t just let a civilian walk in? And even if they did, what was I supposed to do? What was I supposed to say? “Oh hey, don’t mind me, I’ve just got something of yours that accidentally ended up in my house!” Even if that IS what happened, they’d never believe me. They’d think I stole it, or that I was a spy, or… I don’t know, something really bad.

Maybe this wasn’t the best idea after all...

…rrrrRRRRROOOOOOAAAAAARRRRRRrrrrrr…

NOPE, nopenopenope this was DEFINITELY not a good idea.

In the midst of my panic, I managed to calm myself down. It’s… it’s fine. I’m sure that was nothing… I continued forwards, approaching the Outpost at a slow trot, gradually picking up my pace as I grew ever closer.

I got about halfway to the Outpost when I felt something strange. I started to shake. At first I thought I was shivering, but then I realized that the shaking wasn’t coming from me, it was coming from below me. The clouds… the ground was rumbling.

Why was the ground rumbling? I was in the clouds, clouds don’t rumble… unless, of course, it’s a thunderstorm, but there wasn’t a black cloud in sight.

What… what’s going on?

What happened next can only be described as pure chaos. Over the next few minutes of my life, there came into being a series of unbelievable events, a wild barrage of things I had never seen before.

As I stood in fear, I suddenly saw a whole host of ponies fly from the Outpost. Enclave soldiers, all flying in some kind of formation. Were I farther away, I’d have mistaken the group for a flock of birds. For a brief moment, I wondered if this was some kind of training exercise, like the ones you hear about on the news… but this didn’t feel like training. The way they moved, such precision, such coordination… such ferocity…

The clouds shook again, more violently than before. I began to back away from the Outpost, when I saw the second thing I’d never seen, or even HEARD of somepony seeing in my entire life.

The clouds started to bulge upwards.

At first, it was very subtle, but the mound quickly grew to the height of a small building. I could feel the clouds beneath me begin to push up, and I started to back away faster. This was no weather pattern. No gust of wind could make the clouds do this, I’d listened to the science channel before. Something was pushing the clouds up. Something big. And then, as the clouds beneath me decided they had reached their limit, it happened.

The cloud layer tore open.

Right at the center of the mountain of clouds, the cloud cover split open. To watch the clouds act as they did was breathtaking, in spite of how frightening it was. It was like watching a giant balloon pop in slow motion. Any resistance the cover had to being pushed up was released in an instant, and I felt the clouds drop out from under me. The giant mound of fluff dissolved into nothingness, revealing at last what had pushed them up in the first place.

It was as majestic as it was completely horrifying. A beast of scales and teeth and claws. A monster larger than any building I had ever heard of. A legendary creature that I had honestly hoped I would never have the misfortune of seeing.

HOLY FUCKING SHIT IS THAT A MOTHERFUCKING DRAGON?!?

The speed and strength with which the dragon tore up through the clouds was nothing short of majestic. I was at once terrified by its sheer size and power, but mesmerized at its magnificence and beauty.

But mostly terrified. I can only ignore the “this thing will kill you” factor for so long.

RRRRRRROOOOOOOOAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRR

Before I got the chance to properly have a panic attack, I felt wind starting to rush up past me. I was still falling. It took a bit longer than I’d have liked, but I quickly managed to right myself in the air. As I treaded the air, I looked down through the massive hole that the dragon had left. In that moment, I caught a glimpse of something truly unbelievable. The final thing that day I had never seen before. And this last one… this last one topped them all.

Ground. Mountains. Plants. From my vantage in the sky I saw a great many things that simply weren’t available to the Pegasai above the clouds. I saw lakes, trees, ruined cities, destroyed remnants of civilization. I saw miles upon miles of browns, grays, dull blues, and sickening greens. At once hideous, but still inspiring in its own strange, twisted way.

The Wasteland.

I was only allowed a few seconds of awe before a number of sounds snapped my attention back to the catastrophe in front of me. Oh, shit, yeah, there’s still a dragon right there. Why the fuck is there a dragon right there? In my peripheral vision, I could just barely witness the Enclave moving in to fight the dragon, before I turned tail and started racing straight for home. No way in Tartarus I’m staying to watch this unfold. The edge of the hole was only a few more feet away… I could almost feel the clouds beneath my hooves. But just as I was about to be flying over solid clouds once more, I felt a looming darkness. The light seemed to vanish all around, as I saw a massive shadow eclipse me.

I turned around.

The dragon, in backing away from the Enclave assault, had gotten itself positioned directly above me.

I stared in horror as I saw one of its gargantuan feet moving towards me. I tried to turn and fling myself out of the way, but it was no use. The beast was faster. In one blow, the monster’s foot slammed against my back, knocking the wind out of me and scoring a direct hit against one of my wings.

My vision started to blur, and I felt my flight pattern falter. The pain searing through my wing was unbearable. I managed to keep myself conscious just long enough to feel air rushing up past me, and to see the dragon, the Enclave, and the clouds drift farther and farther away…

Before the world disappeared, plunging me into blackness.

Author's Note

Level Up

New Perk: Friend of the Night -- You are a true friend of the night. Your eyes adapt quickly to low-light conditions indoors and when darkness falls across the post-nuclear wasteland.

Chapter 2

“Sky Blossom, we’re home!”

The young filly looked up, her play time cut short from the unexpected interruption.

“Mom? Mom, Is that you?”

The filly heard a chuckle from downstairs.

“Yes sweetie, it’s mom.”

“Mom!” the filly ran downstairs to greet her mother. “Where have you been I haven’t seen you for days and dad kept saying you’d be back soon but he didn’t say how soon and now you’re back and-“ the girl paused to take a breath.

“Where were you?”

The mother reached forwards, hugging her daughter in a warm embrace. “It’s alright sweetie, mommy was just at the hospital for a little while.”

The filly let out a gasp, pushing away from her mom. “THE HOSPITAL?!? Mommy, were you hurt? What happened?”

The filly’s father spoke up, putting a hoof on the child’s soft pink mane. “Don’t worry, mommy’s just fine. She wasn’t hurt at all.”

“I don’t know about THAT, Bullseye…” the mother nickered.

The stallion rolled his eyes, removing his hoof from his daughter and instead placing it around his wife. “We were at the hospital for a very important reason, Sky.”

The filly stomped a hoof, her patience growing thin. “Well, tell me already! I wanna know!” The filly began to jump up and down “I wanna know I wanna know I wanna…” she stopped as she noticed her mother pick something up off of her father’s back.

Or rather, someONE.

“Sky Blossom, do you remember when we asked you if you would be ok with having a baby brother or sister?”

The filly’s eyes widened as big as saucers. She didn’t quite know what her mom meant, but it was apparent the gears were turning in her head. Her mother giggled, lowering a bundle of cloth down so the filly could see.

“Well, this is Canvas. He’s going to be a part of our family from now on.”

The filly took a few hesitant steps towards the ball of fabric. Slowly, she took a peek inside. Immediately, her vision was assaulted with a mixture of yellow, red, and blue. The filly turned, looking up at her parents.

“This is… my brother?”

“Do you like him?”

Slowly, the filly’s amazement turned to pure excitement as a grin grew ever bigger on her face.

“I have a brother! A brother a brother a brother!!!” The filly jumped around the room as she spoke, a sky-blue blur as she bounced along. The two parents laughing at the filly’s antics. Finally, when she was next to the baby once more, the filly stopped and smiled at the child in front of her.

“You and I, we’re gonna be the best brother and sister in the whole world!”

~~~~~~~~~~

“Ugh… my everything hurts…”

It was a long time before I managed to wake up. I could feel a breeze blowing along my back. I can’t really describe it, but something about it just seemed… off. In fact, my whole body just felt kind of off. Although that was in part due to the burning pain running over my back, and my legs, and my head, and… you know what, the pain was pretty much everywhere. As I thought about the strange feelings in my body, I finally opened my eyes, and in doing so realized a number of different things.

The first of which was that I was upside down. Welp, that explains the strange feeling.

The second thing I noticed was that I was stuck in a tree. It’s not the most ideal place I would have liked to find myself, but… no, wait, hang on, why am I in a tree? My mind was still a bit hazy, so I tried to remember what had led to me to this wooden embrace in the first place. Let’s see… I was going to see Windspeed… and then the ground started moving… and then there was a dragon…

…Dragon? DRAGON?!? OH GOD THERE’S A DRAGON NO I DON’T WANNA DIE!!!!!

As my thoughts turned to the raging, fire-breathing demon, I tried to run away from wherever the dragon might be. Unfortunately for me, all that managed to do was break the tree branches holding me up, dropping me onto the ground with a painful *THUD*.

Ow… why are the clouds so hard?

I stood up slowly, not willing to risk any further harm to myself. As I did, I finally got a clear look at where I was. On all sides of me, I was surrounded by trees. Most of them stretched up far above my head, although a rare few stood with their branches within reach. A lot of the trees had some moss and black mushrooms growing on them, while some stood with low hanging vines of different shades of green and yellow. I saw a great many plants growing along the ground, all mixing together in color patterns I’d never seen occur naturally. I saw reds and purples mixing with greens and browns and blues… granted, most of the colors were oddly muted, which gave everything a much more gray appearance that I though plant life could attain, but it was still a beautiful mixture of colors. Also, there was no dragon in sight. So that was a plus.

But none of that mattered. No, the thing that had my full attention was the place I was standing. More specifically, what I was standing on.

That’s not a cloud.

I was horrified at what I was looking at. I stood in a brownish substance, one that felt both soft and hard to the touch. It seemed to shift slightly under my weight, leaving hoof prints whenever I shifted my legs. I’d seen it before. It didn’t exist above the clouds, but I’d seen it in plenty of paintings from before the war. I knew exactly what it was.

Dirt.

I was standing in dirt.

I tensed up. If this is dirt that I’m standing in, then… then that means… The realization slowly dawned on me. I was terrified, but I turned my head upwards. What I saw was the most horrifying thing I have ever seen in my life.

The clouds were above me.

The ground was above me.

No. No no no no no, no… this can’t be happening… oh please dear god, please tell me this is wrong. Tell me this is a dream. This can’t be real, please tell me this isn’t real!

My thoughts became more frantic, more maniacal.

I’m going to wake up soon… why aren’t I waking up?

Please, somepony wake me up!

Anypony!!

PLEASE!!

WHY WON’T I WAKE UP?!?

WHY WON’T I WAKE UP?!?

I blinked a few times, then quickly turned my head, looking all around me, hoping to see some sign that this wasn’t real. Just something out of place, something so bizarre that I would know it was all a dream.

But I found nothing. Just trees, flowers and bushes. My panicked thoughts finally stopped, and accepted the truth.

This was real.

I was in the Wasteland.

I started to hyperventilate. I wanted to scream, and I almost did. But before I even managed to open my mouth, I felt a breeze blowing through my wings.

…right. I can fly. Duh.

I felt stupid for somehow forgetting that, but I breathed a sigh of relief regardless. Ok, this wasn’t a problem. I could just fly back up to the cloud layer, and everything would be fine. I’d go back home, lay down in my nice warm bed, and forget that all of this ever happened. My body hurt, but I didn’t care – the sooner I got home, the sooner I could forget about this. I got into a take-off position, and launched myself into the air…

…only for a sharp, burning pain to send me crashing back down into the ground.

No! I can’t fly! Why can’t I fly? WHY CAN’T I FLY?!?

I turned my head to get a look at the problem. A part of me wishes I hadn’t. My left wing looked like a twig. A twig that somepony had folded in half, expecting it to snap, but had somehow managed to hold together. The entire upper part of my wing bent in entirely the opposite direction of the way it should go. Hesitantly, I attempted to move my wing. I immediately regretted that decision, as the burning feeling ignited once more. I screamed, and my knees buckled, nearly causing me to collapse on the ground.

There was no doubt about it. My wing was broken. There was no way I’d be flying anywhere until it healed. Slowly, thoughts began to pass through my head, as the implications of that hit me like a ton of bricks.

I can’t fly.

I can’t fly until my wing heals.

I can’t go back home until my wing heals.

I’m…

Until my wing heals…

I’m trapped in the Wasteland…

I felt sick. I don’t know if it was from the physical pain or the situation I was in, but I felt utterly nauseous either way. My stomach churned violently, causing me to vomit on some nearby flowers. I was on the verge of tears. Part of me wanted to cry. Part of me wanted to just curl up in a ball and die. Tartarus, I was probably dead already from the poisoned air.

…the poisoned… air?

Hang on for a second. Why wasn’t I already dead? The science channel said that the air down here was poisonous. I didn’t know how long I had been passed out, but it must have been a while. So… why wasn’t I dead?

Maybe… maybe they were wrong? Maybe the air isn’t poisonous? Cautiously, I took a deep breath. It certainly still SEEMS like normal air… although I guess I don’t know what poisonous air feels like. Maybe it’s slow acting?

Maybe I had a chance. If the air didn’t outright kill me, then maybe there was a chance that I could survive. Even if it was just a miniscule fraction of a chance, there was still hope. Maybe I could get my wing healed. Maybe I could go back to the clouds! I could escape the Wasteland!

I just had to live.

~~~~~~~~~~

I took a quick inventory of what I had. I hadn’t brought much for the journey to Everfree, so my survival tools were sparse. I had my saddlebags, my scarf, two apples I had intended to eat on the road, and…

Oh yeah. The holodisk.

I stared at the device in my hooves. This thing… it was indirectly the reason I was stuck down here. I wanted to destroy it. Smash it under my hooves, break it in two, throw it against a tree, anything.

But at the same time, I knew that would accomplish nothing. It would just leave me with one less potential tool for survival.

I let out a frustrated grunt, before stuffing it into my saddlebags. I’ll destroy it when I finally get home. Who knows, maybe it’ll come in handy.

I grabbed my scarf and started looking around the forest. First thing’s first, I need to do something about my wing. I wasn’t the best when it came to medicine, but I knew a little about first aid. I need to make a splint to keep my wing from moving… I think. I scanned the area around me to see if there were and fallen branches or sticks I could use. Fortunately, my struggle to get out of the tree earlier had knocked a few loose.

I started to reach for one of the branches, but then I remembered something.

I think my wing needs to be less… bent, for this to work.

I turned my head back towards my limp, broken wing. I realized that I was going to have to bend my wing back into place before I could apply the splint. I cringed. In my head, I started trying to make excuses not to do it, but everything I could come up with faltered the moment I thought of it. There was no way around it. I shuddered.

This is going to hurt…

…

“EEEEEEAAAAAUUUUUUGGH!!”

Yup, that fucking hurt.

I could feel tears streaming from my eyes, but I managed to get my wing facing… sort of the right direction. At least it looked less obviously broken, now. With that taken care of, I grabbed a branch that seemed to be the appropriate size and, using the scarf as a bandage, tied the splint to my wing.

I looked at my hoofiwork. It wasn’t pretty, but the wing was braced between the branch and my body, so it wasn’t moving any time soon. One problem solved.

I packed up my saddlebags with the remaining supplies and threw them o-

“AUGH!”

Right. Saddlebags sit on top of my wings. I tried putting my saddlebags on again, gently this time, to much less painful results. I double checked the area around me to make sure I had gotten everything. Alright, I think that’s it. Next step: find a way out of this for…

Wait, didn’t those trees have moss on them earlier?

My eyes darted between the trees around me. Indeed, where most of them had been coated in moss and fungus when I first looked, now most of the trees were bare, showing naught but brown bark. I felt a few drops of sweat slide down my cheek. Why is the moss gone? What’s happening? Am I going to die? I felt my breathing start to quicken, but I still attempted to calm my nerves. Ok Canvas, keep it together… it’s probably nothing. Just your eyes playing tricks on you. There probably wasn’t even moss there in the first place.

I heard some twigs snapping from somewhere nearby, causing me to jump.

YouknowwhatmaybeI’lljustgetoutofhereanyways.

I turned to look for whatever seemed to be the clearest path, finally settling on the least tree-filled route I could spot and trotting in that direction. As I moved, I heard leaves start shuffling, and the forest around me made all kinds of noises that put me on edge.

Suddenly, I saw something. A figure, just to the side of the path ahead. It looked like a pony. Oh thank goodness, somepony who can help!

“Hey! Hey, you there!” I started to call out to the pony, but something seemed… off. This pony didn’t seem to be moving that much. Even as I shouted at him, he barely moved. It was starting to unnerve me. As I got closer, I noticed more odd things about the pony, like he didn’t seem to have a mane, and his coloration looked like a strange swirl of green and black, and…

…and that’s not a pony.

I finally got close enough to get a clear look at the thing in front of me. It was certainly shaped like a pony, but it wasn’t a pony. It looked more like a statue somepony had made out of whatever plants they found lying around the forest, with bits off moss and fungus falling off of it. It weirded me out. Why would somepony build a plant statue in the middle of the forest? That doesn’t-

I jumped back in shock.

The statue had turned its head to face me.

OKAY THAT’S NOT NORMAL NOPE NOPE NOPE I’M OUTTA HERE

I started to back away from the… the moss monster in front of me, only to hear more twigs snapping behind me. I turned around and discovered, to my horror, that there were more moss monsters waiting in the bushes. I heard more snapping, and realized that these things were all around me. I was surrounded, and it looked like they were starting to move towards me.

Fortunately for me, I wasn’t completely surrounded. As my eyes shot around in panic, I spied a small opening in the circle of moss things. My heart was racing. I knew that I had to take the opening soon, or it would close up before I got the chance. If I let that gap close, I was going to die.

And yet… I hesitated. My fear froze me to the spot, not even allowing me the surefire safety of running away. What if one of the monsters lashes out at me as I try to run past? What if I trip? I still have to run more or less AT these things to get through, they could still kill me as I run by… I might be dead already, maybe I should just let it end now…

The opening grew smaller with each passing second. I didn’t have time to think like that, if I was going to do something, I needed to do it fast.

…fuck it.

I took a deep breath, closed my eyes, and screamed at the top of my lungs, charging for the opening as fast as I could. I barreled through what I’m pretty sure was one of the monsters’ legs, and I felt one of them swipe at my tail, but I managed to get out of the closing circle of moss ponies.

I’ll never know if those moss creatures chased after me, because I didn’t dare to stop and check. If they did pursue me, then I don’t know how far, but when I finally turned around, the shambling creatures were nowhere in sight.

~~~~~~~~~~

Ok… I think I’m safe now.

Even after I had noticed the monsters weren’t following me anymore, I didn’t want to take any chances, so I ended up running further into the forest. Now, certain that the monsters were nowhere near (and after ensuring that none of the nearby trees had any moss or mushrooms growing on them), I was finally able to stop and catch my breath.

As I sat gasping for air, I looked at my surroundings once more. I seemed to be in a clearing, sparsely populated with flowers and dominated by random assortments of twigs and branches. There was a nice hole in the tree cover, which finally gave me a much better view of the clouds above me.

Above me… I shuddered. If you aren’t a Pegasus, then it’s hard to quantify just how mind numbing of a sight it was, especially if you’ve lived your whole life with clouds above your head. Imagine if the ground below you were to suddenly become intangible… like, you couldn’t touch it, and just fell through it instead. Meanwhile, everyone else you knew was still able to walk on it just fine. You would fall and fall until you found a way to stop yourself, and you would look up, and there’s everything you used to have… your friends, your family, your possessions. But you can’t reach them. You can’t get to them, and now everywhere you go there is a constant reminder of the good things you used to have, right above your head. Everywhere. Just barely out of reach…

I turned back to look at my wing again. Please, please heal soon… I don’t want to die down here…

I heard a snapping sound, and I jumped, my eyes darting to find the source. NO! More moss ponies? That’s impossible, there was NOTHING on the trees! How could they have found me already? But as my attention shot from tree to tree, nothing moved in my vision. No moss ponies showed up behind the bushes, and yet the snapping sounds continued. I started to hyperventilate. What’s making all that noise? And…

…and what in Tartarus is that smell?

Suddenly, I felt something moving under my hooves. My body froze. Slowly, my eyes shifted down towards my hoof, and I saw one of the twigs I had been standing on struggling to move.

Slowly, I lifted my trembling hoof, and watched as the twig jumped to life and flew to its destination.

In the back of the clearing, all of the twigs on the ground were beginning to amass together, at first forming two pairs of legs, then slowly combining to form the shape of a vicious beast I’d never seen before. It was… sort of like a pony, but it had much shorter legs, and its head was positioned at the same height as the rest of its body. But the weirdest part was its face, which looked far more elongated than a pony’s face. It almost looked more like a dragon’s face, but even that wasn’t quite the right way to describe it.

As it formed, it locked eyes with me. A fierce snarl was formed on its muzzle, teeth barred and a sickening green drool sloshing out of its mouth. It was terrifying. More terrifying than the moss ponies, by a longshot.

And I could already see three more starting to form.

~~~~~~~~~~

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA PLEASE DON’T KILL ME DON’T KILL ME PLEASE AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA…”

It should come as no surprise that upon seeing the wood beasts form up in the clearing, I screamed like a little filly and ran for my life. It worked on the moss things, so maybe it will work on these beasts too?

Sadly, that was just cruel wishful thinking. I didn’t even need to turn around to tell they were chasing me – the sounds of the forest being torn to pieces behind me was enough. And unlike the slow, shambling moss ponies, these things were fast.

THIS ISN’T WORKING OH SHIT THAT WAS MY ONLY PLAN OH GOD I’M GONNA DIE WHAT DO I DO?!?

In my panic, I didn’t pay as much attention to the path I was taking as I should have. I felt my hoof slam against a stone, and within just a few seconds I felt my entire body skid against the ground in front of me, before painfully stopping against one of the many trees around.

My chest burned from the slide, but I didn’t have time to think about that. I turned my head around and could see the wood beasts getting closer. I didn’t have time to get up and keep running, they’d be on me well before I could even stand.

They were going to kill me.

I needed to find a way to get rid of those things, and I needed to do it now. Without even thinking, I just started grabbing nearby rocks and sticks with my hooves and my one good wing, and threw as much as I could at the beasts headed my way. It was a pathetic display, and I’m pretty sure I was screaming the whole time, but it was all I could do to try and survive. At first, all it really succeeded in doing was slowing the creatures down.

Then I hit one in the leg.

With a yelp, the beast’s upper leg snapped in two, and with no more ability to support itself, it collapsed in the middle of its charge. The other three beasts must not have realized, or they realized much too late, because they all crashed into the pile of branches that had once been the first beast. The other three didn’t break apart, but they seemed to be stunned by the sudden barrage of tree bits, and paused to inspect it.

That was all the opening I could have asked for.

I stuffed a few of the nearby rocks into my saddlebag just in case I needed more ammo, and then took off deeper into the forest. It took a few seconds, but I heard the beasts start to make chase again.

WHY WON’T YOU LEAVE ME ALONE?

I threw the rocks behind me as I ran, hoping that I could get another lucky shot on one of the beasts and make the rest of them stop. I don’t think I hit any though – I didn’t look to make sure, but since I could still hear them – not to mention smell them – I’m pretty sure they didn’t even slow down this time.

Ok, new plan: HIDE.

I started scanning the area around me, looking to see if there was something I could hide in, or hide behind, or… fuck, just anywhere I could hide.

Luck must have finally decided to give me a break at that point. As I was running, I spotted a remnant of civilization’s past – it looked to be a hut, carved out of the middle of a tree. I didn’t have time to worry about whether there was anyone there or if it was dangerous, I launched myself through the door and slammed it shut behind me, throwing myself against it to keep it closed.

It took only a couple of seconds before I heard the beasts come rushing up to the hut, and then felt them ramming into the door. Their impact was enough to knock the wind out of me, in spite of the door between us. Honestly, I’m surprised the door didn’t fall off its hinges.

After that, there was silence. I was too terrified to look, but I was sure they were still there – I could still smell their breath.

I waited there, thrown against that door, petrified with fear for what seemed like hours. All the while, the ancient remains of the hut stared down at me – frightening masks, mangled sticks, strange oversized pots. As if I wasn’t terrified enough.

Finally, after a long time had passed, the beasts must have decided waiting for one measly pony to come out wasn’t worth their time, because the sounds of the creatures grew quieter and quieter, slowly drifting farther and farther away. A few minutes later, the stench of their breath finally dissipated, leaving me alone with my thoughts.

I waited a few more minutes before allowing myself to breathe a sigh of relief. I took another look around the hut I found myself in. A part of me wanted to search the place for something of use, but I decided against it. The building was more than a hundred years old, and long since abandoned, it’s not like I would have found anything useful anyways.

Besides, this was obviously somepony’s home once, it just… it wouldn’t be right to take from it.

I carefully opened the door, making sure once and for all that no beasts were nearby. When I was sure the coast was clear, I slipped out, careful to move as silently as I could. No way in Tartarus I’m gonna risk attracting any more deadly monsters today. I’m just gonna find my way out, and then find somewhere to get healed.

I saw something that resembled a path, and decided to walk along it. With any luck, THIS one would lead me out of this cursed forest.

~~~~~~~~~~

Ow, my body… my poor aching body… maybe I should have rested in that hut for a little longer…

I felt like I had just run a marathon (which I sort of had… if the marathon involved being chased by demon plants all the way through). As I trudged further through the forest, I was starting to think I would never escape.

But then, after an eternity of walking, I finally saw the edge of the tree line. It was only a few feet in front of me. I was just about ready to cry, I was so overjoyed. Alright, you made it, Canvas! Now just to find a nice, safe place to rest. Compared to everything you just went through, that won’t be too hard, right?

I took my first step out of the forest, and into the dull gray light of the Wasteland. I gasped as I took in what I saw.

…I spoke too soon.

I had gotten a glimpse of the Wasteland when I first fell from the sky, but that had been from much farther away, plus I had been a little more focused on the dragon attack than I had been on the world below. But now, with no more monsters chasing me, I got my first real view of the Wasteland, right up close and personal. The landscape was far more… vertical that I had thought. Up above the clouds, all of the land was very flat and even height, albeit very bumpy. Here, the land seemed to roll and wave, dip up and down in long stretches, with very high up mountains off in the distance. Sadly, that’s where the praises of the Wasteland end. The entirety of the land looked washed out and drained, not to mention incredibly sparse. There were dots of black and white, some tiny splashes of color on far off buildings that had long since fallen under their own weight. In stark contrast to the forest from which I had emerged, the plantlife out here was all dead, leaving only burnt roots and stumps, with the occasional dead, leafless tree clutching to its sad existence.

Were I in better circumstances, I’d have painted the scarred land then and there. It was ugly, but there was some kind of artistic inspiration there as well… a sort of hideous beauty...

…rrrrRRRROOOOAAAAAAARRRRrrrrr…

NOPE WE’RE NOT DOING THIS AGAIN

I paused for a second, admiring the scorched landscape for only a moment longer, before sprinting as fast and as far away as I could, leaving the nightmare of a forest well and truly behind me.

~~~~~~~~~~

If I was exhausted before, then it’s a wonder that I have any air left to breathe now.

I could feel my lungs starting to wear out, but I didn’t care. I was away from that damned forest, and I felt much safer. Now for a spot to rest. As I trotted down what remained of a pre-war road, I spied a ruined building just in the distance. Alright, it won’t be comfortable, but I’ll probably be safer inside. Hopefully there’s a bed of some kind still there…

I felt a shiver run down my spine. I don’t know whether it was from the cold of from the eerie feel of the Wasteland. Look at this place… there’s just nothing. Were there really ponies who used to live down here? I shivered again, almost certainly from the eerie feeling that time. I don’t like thinking about this. I want to get out of this deathtrap. Once I’ve rested up, maybe I can start looking for something to fix my brok-

BANG!!!

PAIN

I screamed and fell to the ground as a burning sensation pierced through my leg. It was the most excruciating pain I’d ever been in, worse than the broken wing. This was like someone had shoved a knife made of pure fire into my body.

FUCK THAT HURTS OH GOD WHY DOES IT HURT SO MUCH

I grit my teeth together as hard as I could, in futile attempt to lessen the pain. It didn’t work. I looked down, and saw blood starting to gush out of a hole that had suddenly appeared in the lower part of my leg.

AAAUGH… what in Tartarus just-

“Well you made that real fuckin’ easy, didn’t you?”

I turned my head towards the source of the voice. It hurt so much that I could barely keep my eyes open, but I managed to get a glimpse at the thing that had spoken.

The voice belonged to what was quite possibly the strangest looking pony I’d ever seen. Her coat was a bright shade of purple that leaned dangerously close to being called neon, with a bright red mane that was split into two mohawks, one next to each of her ears. I could just barely make out a pointed red tail poking out from behind her, separating into three spikes which bent down at a sharp angle. Stranger than that, hard as it is to believe, were the clothes she was wearing. For one, she was in fact wearing clothes. That’s not an everyday occurrence. But these clothes seemed to be made of a mishmash of cloth, metal, leather, and… is that a wagon wheel?

But the most important thing I noticed was her mouth. Specifically, the gun she was holding in it.

The mare smirked, taking the gun from her mouth and holding it in her hoof as she approached.

“Now listen here, fucker. I’d rather not waste all my ammunition on a worthless pony like you. So you’re going to stay there, shut the fuck up, and let me ‘cuff you. Make one protest, or move in any way other than how I tell you to move, and I splatter the pavement with your fuckin’ brains.” She leaned in very close to my ears, her voice barely a whisper now. “Am I clear?”

I whimpered and nodded as much as I could.

“Excellent…” I could practically feel the delight oozing from her voice. Quickly she moved around me, pulling shackles from some pouch in her clothes and securing them to my hooves.

“Alright, now let’s see what kinda loot you got on ya…”

The mare reached down and removed my saddlebags, only to drop them in what I can only assume to be shock, judging from her gasp.

“Son of a bitch… you got fuckin’ wings…” She moved around in front of me, allowing me to see the massive grin she had on her face. “Well this changes things. A Pegasus is much more valuable…”

Valuable? What are you- OHGODSHE’SRIGHTINMYFACE

“You’re gonna make me a lot of money, feathers.”

I shrank back as much as I could, the horror apparent on my face. I wanted someone to save me. Somepony. Anypony. But of course, no one came. I was completely at the mercy of this crazed purple mare. I felt tears start to stream down my face.

“You don’t have any fuckin wasteland smarts, do you feathers?” The mare laughed as she trotted around me. “No weapons, no protection, just walking down the middle of the fuckin’ road. You might as well have painted a fuckin’ target on your flank and called it your cutie mark. Are you retarded or something?”

I said nothing, the image of my brains painting the road still fresh in my mind.

This was apparently the wrong move, as the mare kicked me in the gut, knocking the wind out of my lungs. Why does that have to hurt so much…

“I ASKED YOU A FUCKING QUESTION. Now answer it, bitch.”

OhgodshesyellingandshewantsmetotalkwhatdoIsaypleasedontkillme

“I-I-I’m… new…”

The purple mare just stared at me for a minute, letting my words hang in the air. I tried to raise my hooves over my head to hide myself, but then I remembered the mare’s gun, and stopped myself. For a brief moment, she failed to conceal a smirk. Suddenly, she burst out laughing, a strange maniacal laugh that bordered on Super Villain territory, but still managed to stay within the frightening realms of reality.

“HAHAHAha… oh, fuckin’ hell… That’s the most retarded fuckin’ thing I’ve heard all day.”

I felt my cheeks flush red. I was still terrified, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t be embarrassed too.

“Well then, feathers, since you’re so ‘new,’ let me be the first to greet you.” She kneeled down, staring directly at me with massive, soulless green eyes.

“Welcome to the fuckin’ Wasteland.”

Author's Note

Level Up

New Perk: Hunter – Take that, you lousy Timberwolf! In combat, you do +75% Critical Damage against animals and mutated animals.

Chapter 3

“Canvaaas? Canvas, where are you?”

Sky Blossom flew all around the room, but no matter how hard she looked, she simply couldn’t find a trace of her brother. She grit her teeth in frustration, but she didn’t give up. It was a simple game of Hide and Seek, she wasn’t about to let herself be beaten by her little brother. That would be an insult to her honor!

“Alright Canvas, you leave me no choice. Time to get serious.”

Carefully, the filly made her way to the center of the room. She closed her eyes – this would require all of her skill, and sustained concentration. She took a few short breaths, preparing herself. This was a forbidden technique, highly risky. But if it worked, it would guarantee her victory.

She was ready. With a sharp inhale, the filly released a mighty roar.

“MOOOOOOOOM, I can’t find Canvas!”

“Hey, that’s cheating!”

Gotcha.

The filly quickly spun around, pointing a hoof towards the voice.

“Aha! Found you!”

“Wha- but- I- aw, no fair, Sky!”

A distraught colt emerged from behind one of the bookshelves (of course, the bookshelves! It’s so obvious now). The filly puffed out her chest, a smug grin on her face.

“Oh well, I guess I win again! Sorry Canvas, better luck next time!”

“W-What?” the colt whinnied, “Nu-uh, that doesn’t count! You cheated!”

The filly scoffed, the smile dropping from her face. “I did not! There’s no rule about what I can and can’t say!”

“You tried to get mom to help you!”

“So what?” Sky Blossom neighed, her lips curling into a smirk, “She didn’t help. You’re the one who left your hiding spot.”

The young colt stammered, his voice trying to form a counter-argument. But all that came out of Canvas’ mouth was a strange mish-mash of half-formed words. The filly giggled, patting her brother lightly on the head.

“There there, Canvas. We can’t ALL be the best.”

“Oh, that’s it!”

The young colt dove at his sister, valiantly attempting to tackle her to the ground. Unfortunately for him, she was more than a match for the colt, not only managing to stay upright, but holding her brother back with a single hoof, much to the colt’s chagrin.

“Let me go! I can take you!”

The filly sighed, smiling down at the colt’s futile struggle.

“Love you too, little bro.”

~~~~~~~~~~

What did I do to deserve this?

I mean, really, what in Tartarus could I have possibly done?

My mind raced with a million different thoughts as I dragged my hooves along the path. After making sure I was properly chained up, the purple mare had taken the chains and started pulling me along behind her. I didn’t put up any resistance – one gunshot wound was plenty. Even with my tail wrapped around my leg to stop the blood loss, I could still feel the hole burning as I was forced along. I wanted to cry, but I held back my tears for fear of what the mare would do to me.

Hopeless. That’s what this is. I’ve been effectively banished from my home, and now I’m locked up in the place I’ve been banished to. From what the mare had said, it sounded like I was going to be sold as a slave. A slave! How could there be something as awful as slavery down here? It’s just… barbaric! Immoral! How could anypony think so little of another pony’s life that they could just sell them, like a loaf of bread?

And now, now I was one of them. I was going to be just another commodity.

No… I can’t do this! I have a life! I have to get back to the clouds, and I can’t do that if I’m locked up in a cage! I have to get out!

I have to find a way to escape.

“Hey, what the fuck is the hold up? Get your ass moving, before I put a fuckin’ hole in your head!”

I jumped, struggling to catch up with the mare.

Why me?

~~~~~~~~~~

Ok... I think I've got it all figured out.

As the slaver dragged me closer and closer to... uh... to wherever it was we were going, I started formulating a plan in my head. Considering the mare had confiscated all of my items, my choices were severely limited. I'd either have to fight her off with my bare hooves (yeah, fat chance) or convince her to let me go.

My plan was simple: I'd offer to pay her double whatever she was getting paid for selling me. I may not have the most lucrative business selling art, but I'd been saving... I must have had at least 300 bits, surely that was worth more than a pony?

...alright, there was no way that was enough, but that’s not important. After all, she didn't need to know that was all I had. Once she let me go, I'd just run away. Problem solved.

As long as she didn't try to shoot me, anyways.

...

Ok, it was a stupid plan, but I didn't really have much choice. Who knew how long it was going to be until we reached our final destination? I didn’t want to wait to take my chances with whoever I was being sold to. For all I knew, they could have cages, or guards, or… I don’t know, something that would make it infinitely harder to escape. If I was going to get away, I’d have to do it before I was sold off. Otherwise, I wouldn’t get another chance.

So… all I have to do is talk to her. Convince her to let me go. Simple.

An image flashed through my mind. My body, lying off to the side of the road, blood rushing from a sizable hole in my head.

P-P-Perfectly simple. J-just say something…

Another image. The crazy mare, with her gun pointed towards me, smoke gently rising from the barrel, as my vision slowly faded to black.

…simple…

Before another disturbing image could enter my mind, I shook my head. No! No distractions. I have to do this… I have… to… do this… I felt my heartbeat accelerate, as well as my breathing. This was really going to suck.

Well… here goes nothing…

I steeled my courage and opened my mouth.

“Hey, um-”

“Shut up.”

I flinched at the mare’s words. Oh well, I tried, guess I’m just gonna live the rest of my days in slavery.

A new image forced its way into my mind, but this one was different. This time, it wasn’t an image of my demise. This time it was an image of my family.

I can’t give up. I have to try again.

“Listen, uh-”

The mare kicked me in the leg. I winced, holding back another shout of pain and clutching the now-bruised area.

“I said shut the fuck up! Now keep moving!”

I grit my teeth, struggling to stand as I followed my captor. I’m just trying to make you an offer, at least let me say it!

We traveled a while longer. With every step, I knew we were marching closer and closer to my prison. The silence grew tenser with every passing second.

“…if you’d just hear me out, I-”

The mare stopped suddenly, letting out what I can only describe as a primal grunt before turning to face me, her eyes seeming to pierce into my soul with a fiery hatred.

“By Celestia and Luna skull-fucking each other, do you know what shut up means? Do I have to get my fucking gun out again? Or would you rather I get my knife? It’s much slower, I’m sure you’d have plenty of time to talk while you bleed out of your fucking stomach!”

I reeled back, my mouth snapping shut mid-sentence. Suddenly, this plan doesn’t seem very good.

“Well?!? What the fuck do you want? You keep fucking talking, so you clearly must have something very important to say, and I’d like to know just what the fuck it is. Now say it, before I decide to cut your fucking tongue out!!” The mare glared at me, a fire burning in her eyes. In an instant, my fragile hope that she wouldn’t get mad at me was shattered into a million pieces.

“Or do you mean to tell me that you didn’t have anything to say at all, and just wanted to waste my fuckin’ time?” My eyes were locked onto hers, but out of the corner of my vision I could see her moving for her gun.

“No! No, wait, please! D-don’t kill me! I-I just… I thought… I thought maybe-”

“Oh for fucks sake, SPIT IT OUT ALREADY!!”

I gulped. No turning back now, here goes nothing…

“I’ll-I’ll pay you double! Look, I-I don’t know how much you’re getting to… you know, to sell me, b-but I’ll pay you double to let me go! I-I’ve got money, back at home- LOTS of money! P-please, don’t kill me, please!”

The mare narrowed her eyes, anger still apparent on her face. She didn’t pull out her pistol, though, so that was good. Slowly, she moved towards me. I could feel the sweat dripping down my face. She looked me right in the eye, looking right into my soul, like she was judging everything I had ever done. I nearly broke down and started crying, but I somehow managed to keep my composure.

Finally, she broke the silence.

“Bullshit.”

“Bull…?” I drew back as I spoke. “W-what do you-”

I didn’t get to finish my sentence. Faster than I could react, the mare rushed at me. She lifted her hoof and swung at me, impacting my face with a loud *CRACK*. I fell to the ground from the force of the impact, but I managed to stay conscious. I couldn’t see whether or not it left a bruise, but judging from the pain, I was fairly certain that it did.

“Do you think I’m some kind of fucking idiot? I’ve transported slaves before you retard, I know their mind games. You’ll lie to me, say whatever you fucking want, whatever you think I want to hear. And if I were dumb enough to let you go, you’d run off into the distance as fast as you could.” The mare sighed, putting a hoof on her gun holster.

“And then I’d have to kill you, and NO ONE fucking wins in that situation. Besides, even if you were telling the truth, there’s no fuckin’ way you’d have enough to pay me off even ONCE over, let alone twice.”

I winced at the mare’s words. She called my bluff. I’m so dead.

“Y-you don’t know that!” I was fighting a losing battle now, but I tried to stand my ground nonetheless. “I-I-I could have enough money… p-please, just… just name a price! Any price!”

“Five hundred caps.” The slaver deadpanned.

“F-Five hundred?” I sighed in relief. That’s not as much as I thought, maybe I could actually buy my way out of this! “Alright, I can…”

Wait a minute.

“Caps?”

For the briefest moment, the mare’s eyes grew wide. It was only for a second, before she facehoofed, her hoof sliding down across her face as she attempted to regain her composure.

“You gotta be fucking kidding… are you fucking serious? Caps! Moolah! Cha-ching! Money!!! You mean to tell me you tried to bribe me and you don’t even know what fucking money is?”

My eyes glazed over as I tried to process what my captor had just said.

“You… you don’t use bits anymore?”

The mare’s jaw dropped. She stared in stunned silence for a few seconds.

“Ok, fuck this, I’m shooting you. You’re too stupid to sell.”

Oh shit.

“No! Wait! I mean, uh, I-I know what caps are! I, uh… I have lots of them! Yeah, definitely! T-T-There’s a ton of caps at my place! P-Please, just don’t kill me! W-We can talk this-”

“Will you shut up already? How many fucking times do I have to say it? You’ve been talking for I don’t even know how long now, and it’s done nothing but waste my fucking time.” She reached for her pistol.

“No! No, please! Y-y-you don’t have to do this! J-just be reasonable for a minute and-”

“Oh for fucks sake, you want to talk so fucking badly? Fine. You’ve got five seconds. Spend them well, because they’re the last five seconds of your pathetic fucking life.”

I could feel my pupils shrink. I searched for something to say, something that would appease this crazy mare, but my mind went blank.

“Five.”

SHIT SHIT SHIT THINK OF SOMETHING TO SAY

“Four.”

WHY CAN’T I THINK OF ANYTHING OH FUCK WHAT DO I DO

“Three.”

OK, OK NEW PLAN: DON’T THINK, JUST SAY SOMETHING!!!

“Two.”

“I’ll join you!!”

“On-huh?”

I think that caught her off guard, because she nearly dropped the pistol from her mouth mid-count. Her face went through a myriad of expressions in a matter of seconds, shifting from surprise, to confusion, and finally settling on suspicion. Her eyes, finally having relinquished their death stare, moved to look at me in heavy skepticism.

“You fucking what?”

I… I second that, what? What the heck did I just say?

“I… I, uh… I said I’ll join you! Y-yeah, I’ll help you go and… you know, do… whatever it is you do. I-I can help you gather slaves and… and stuff, p-plus, I can fly! T-that’s gotta be worth something, like a… a-a-a strategic advantage, maybe… o-o-okay?”

What the fuck are you talking about? You’re not gonna do any of that! You’re not gonna go capture ponies to be sold as slaves! That’s… that’s just wrong!

The mare eyed me very closely. I wanted to turn away, but I held my ground. Mostly because my hooves refused to move, but there was more than that. I needed to look confident. I needed to look like I was serious. Otherwise, she’d never buy it.

Finally, the mare sighed, and (to my relief) holstered her pistol. She trotted to my side, moving in uncomfortably close, to the point where she was practically brushing up against my one good wing. She lifted one of her hooves and threw it around my neck, tightly gripping me as she did so.

“Alright, feathers,” The mare spoke, prodding me with her free hoof as she spoke. “Since you seem to enjoy talking so much, let me take a minute to explain every fuckin’ thing that’s wrong with your proposal just now.

“Problem number one: you’re a retard.” She punctuated the word by forcefully tapping on my head, much like how you would knock on a door. “Any ‘strategic advantage’ to having a pegasus on my side is negated by the fact that you’re too fucking dumb to know a thing about strategy.

“Problem number two: you don’t have any wasteland smarts. You told me so yourself, ‘newbie.’” I grimaced at the name, causing the mare to smirk ever so slightly. “I’d have to spend most of my time teaching you just to fucking SURVIVE before you could be of any use to me as a lackey.

“Problem number three: you don’t have what it fucking takes to do what I do. I can see it. You’re terrified. You’re weak. You’re not a fighter.” My captor lifted her free hoof to her head, gently massaging her temples. “As if the fuckin’ thought of training you physically wasn’t bad enough, but mentally? I don’t have that kind of time.

“Problem number four: I don’t trust you. You could fly away the second I take off your cuffs.”

Not with my wings in this state I can’t.

“You could stab me in the back while I slept. Hell, I’d have to train you to shoot a fucking gun, who’s to say you don’t just turn around and shoot me?”

Ok, I have to admit she made a fair point on those last two.

“And finally, problem number five,” the slaver mare leaned in even closer, relishing in my discomfort as I squirmed. “And you better remember this one, because this is the fuckin’ kicker. Let’s pretend for a moment I could ignore all those other problems. Let’s pretend you were the baddest fuckin’ wastelander around. Let’s pretend you could fly, do magic, were a genius, and hell, let’s say you had sworn your goddess damned life to me. I wouldn’t give a shit. You know why?”

The mare suddenly pulled my head down, bringing her muzzle directly to my ear. Her voice dropped to barely a whisper.

“Because I don’t work with anypony.”

Her words hung in the air, the moment growing tenser with each passing second. Neither of us moved. I’m not entirely certain I was breathing. Finally, the mare released me from her deathly grip and moved back around in front of me, walking down the path once more. A few feet down, she stopped, and turned to face me again.

“Hey retard, you waiting for a fucking invitation? Get your ass moving!!”

I jumped, my good wing flaring out momentarily. I scrambled to close the distance between us.

“Does… does this mean you’re not gonna kill me?”

The mare stopped in her tracks, and quickly trotted over to my left side. Without warning, she spun on her hooves and bucked me as hard as she could – right on my already broken wing. I screamed in pain, falling to the ground and clutching my side as best as my shackles would allow. I began sobbing while I writhed in pain.

“You really want to get shot don’t you? Now, I’m only gonna say this one more fuckin’ time: Shut. The fuck. Up. You should consider yourself real fuckin’ lucky I’ve stayed my gun this long.”

Before I could react, the mare grabbed the back of my neck and forced me into a standing position.

“Now get moving, feathers, and don’t ever push your luck like that again.” My captor trotted to my front, yanking my chains along with her, once more forcing me to walk the path ahead. “Even a pegasus isn’t worth shit if it’s dead.”

~~~~~~~~~~

It was hard to tell how long we had been walking, but it must have been a while, since the sun was setting. At least, I think it was setting. The carpet of gray clouds blocked any view I had of the sky proper, so I couldn’t tell for sure. But the light was starting to dim, so I figure that must have meant the sun was going down. Right?

Just ahead of us I could make out what appeared to be a town from before the war. Well, if you could even call it a town. There were very few houses, most of which were blown to smithereens, just the lowest points of the foundation still standing. There was a gas station a ways off the main road, as well as some old office buildings farther to the side. It was eerie to see all these destroyed remnants of civilization – like looking at a twisted version of a city above the clouds.

As we moved into the town, we approached a small intersection, lined with what must have been the only mostly intact buildings in the whole area. To my left were two houses, the nearest of which looked to be missing its upper floor, but had a cheesy picket fence surrounding the front lawn (well, what was left of a lawn, anyways). On my right, across the street from the furthest house was a single house, faded pink paint peeling off of the rotting wood that held it together.

As my captor trotted down the road, she slowed her pace, stopping suddenly in front of a ruined carriage, laying crooked off the right side of the road.

W-Why did we stop? What’s going on?

The mare quickly swiveled her ears around, pointing them pretty much every direction they could be pointed. After a few seconds, her ears stood still, and she started muttering under her breath.

“Fuck, I could have sworn I just heard-”

BANG!!

The mare jumped back, just as a bullet pierced the ground next to where she had been standing.

“Son of a…” the mare didn’t bother finishing her thought. She pulled her pistol from its holster and dove over the picket fence. Unfortunately, my shackles made it difficult to move, not to mention the bullet wound made it hurt like Tartarus. There was no way I was making it over the fence, so instead I rushed for a tree on the other side of the street.

The empty town exploded with activity in a heartbeat. Two ponies appeared on the upper floors of the two farther houses, while a third pony leapt into action from behind the carriage. The pony on the ground rushed for the picket house, a shiv of some kind held firmly in her mouth. The ponies in the houses shot towards my captor, but the ruined home gave her all the cover she needed. Once inside, she immediately turned and took aim at the knife-wielding attacker.

BANG BANG!!

The first shot grazed the attacker’s cheek, but the second pierced her right through the eye. The knife wielder dropped to the ground, her weapon clattering on the pavement. I stared at the pony in horror, blood already starting to pool around her body.

She was dead.

Oh my god, oh my god… I just saw…

She just killed her...

If I had had anything in my stomach, I’d have thrown it up. But food wasn’t a luxury I was given, so instead my body settled on dry heaving. Slowly, a foul stench was carried over by the wind – the smell of blood and death. I couldn’t take it, my stomach heaved once more.

BANG!!

“AGH, FUCK!!”

I managed to turn myself towards the source of the noise. My captor had dropped to the ground, and I could just make out blood spilling onto her coat from a wound in her leg. It didn’t stop her for long, though – within seconds she had darted around behind a wall, out of sight from me.

It occurred to me as I watched the battle unfold that I had the chance to get away from the psychotic mare. My captor was wounded, and she was out of sight. Maybe now I could sneak away! I’d have to find some way to ditch the chains, but that could come later. I peeked my head out from behind the tree-

BANG BANG!!

…and quickly pulled it back behind the tree. With my captor hidden behind a wall, the ponies in the buildings must have thought I looked like a nice target instead, and opened fire on me. I could see bullets whizzing past me on either side. As I braced myself against the tree, I could even feel the impact of some of the bullets against the wood.

I… I’m not gonna lie, I might have ended up “watering the plants” a little bit.

I stole one more glance over towards the picket house. From the corner of my vision, I saw my captor leap out from behind one of the walls, firing towards one of the houses. With a loud scream, the barrage of bullets stopped, and I peeked out, just in time to see one of the ponies fall from the building and impale himself on what remained of a window frame. He cried out in an agony the likes of which I had never heard before, blood spilling onto the house, giving the building a long overdue coat of red paint.

The dry heaves returned. I almost wished that I would throw up something, just to replace the smell of death with the smell of vomit. It wouldn’t have smelled good, but compared to the alternative, vomit would have been like smelling a field of roses.

I looked up to see the last of our attackers rush deeper within the building, before charging out the front door a moment later. His eyes darted between the dead bodies. He must have realized he was on the losing side, because he stayed for only a second before turning and running away down the street. I breathed a heavy sigh of relief. Finally, it’s ov-

BANG!!

The fleeing pony jolted upright, stopping dead in his tracks before dropping to the ground like a stone. I turned to look at my captor, seeing her finally start to holster her smoking pistol. I could just make out a grin plastered on her face.

“Fuck yeah! That’s what you get when you mess with me!” The mare’s grin faded as she looked around the newly-minted battlefield. I quickly pulled my head behind the tree. Maybe I can still sneak away. Hopefully she’ll start looking for me in one of the houses before-

“I know you’re behind the tree, feathers.”

Damn it.

I was too scared to cause a fuss, so I slipped out from my hiding spot, slowly trudging my way towards the crazy mare. As I moved, I spotted something behind her.

A fourth attacker was sneaking up on my captor, a spiked bat impossibly floating in the air beside the attacker (what the fuck?!?). The way the bat was moving, it looked like she was… controlling it.

I’d heard about this. The enclave talked about it on the radio all the time. Unicorns – ponies who used evil arcane magic to do horrible things to otherwise innocent ponies. Just another of the many things I hoped I’d never have to encounter. Seeing it happen, though, actual unicorn magic happening right in front of me… the unicorn mare terrified me.

And she looked ready to strike.

It suddenly dawned on me that this might be the chance I was looking for. This was my opportunity to escape. All I had to do was let my captor get attacked, and she’d… well, chances are she wouldn’t make it. Then, as long as I could run or hide from the attacker, I’d be set! Just let her die, and then I’ll be free!

…why does that make me feel wrong?

“LOOK OUT!!!”

To my horror, my voice seemed to take on a mind of its own. I saw my captor spin around on her hooves, ducking down just in time to avoid having her face smashed in. Everything else happened in such a blur I couldn’t say for certain what was going on, but by the end of it the mystery attacker was on the ground, violently twitching, blood spurting from a gash in her neck. My captor stood, a large knife held firmly in her mouth, the serrated edge dripping with her opponent’s blood.

The mare turned to face me.

Great. Good job. Good fucking job, you just saved the one pony standing between you and freedom. Fantastic.

My captor began to walk towards me, the knife still in her mouth. I flinched away, squeezing my eyes shut as her hoofsteps grew closer and closer.

All of a sudden, she stopped.

Hesitantly, I opened one eye, and looked up at her.

The mare had put her knife away. She was coated in blood, the stench alone forcing me to cover my muzzle as best as I could. But as I looked at her, she did nothing. She said nothing. And her face… it’s weird. It was only there for a second, but I was sure I saw the faintest expression. It was much less fierce, much less angry. Not even a trace of her expected hatred. I couldn’t quite place the emotion, but for once, she didn’t look like she wanted to kill me.

But like a wisp of flame, it vanished as quickly as it appeared. Soon enough her brow had furrowed once more, her lips had drawn into a snarl.

And of course, she kicked me in the stomach. Par for the course at this point.

“What the fuck are you looking at? Get over here.”

Without even waiting for me to get up, the mare dragged me over to the picket fence. Before I knew what was going on, she had managed to chain me to one of the fence posts.

“Now you sit right the fuck there, I’m gonna camp here for the night. If you try to break loose, I’ll kill you.”

Nope that’s fine no need to kill me I’ll just get real friendly with Mr. Picket here.

“Now then,” the mare turned towards the battlefield, a grin growing on her face. “I wonder how much loot you’ve all got?”

In an instant, she was gone, desecrating the dead and leaving me alone with my thoughts.

~~~~~~~~~~

NOPE NUH UH THIS IS WRONG THIS IS SO WRONG WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT

Once my captor had finally gathered all the belongings of the ponies she had killed, she had set up a campfire for warmth. Now, a sane pony would have used the rotting wood from the buildings as fuel for the fire. But no, that apparently wasn’t good enough for the crazy slaver mare.

She used the bodies of our attackers instead.

The stench of blood was bad enough, but this? This was just torture. Cruel, agonizing torture. The mare laughed with her wretched laugh as I futilely tried to cover my muzzle to block out the smell.

“What’s wrong, newbie?” she mocked, “The meat a little too strong for ya?”

I gagged, my eyes beginning to water. My captor laughed again, taking a bite from her apple – or rather, my apple which she had taken from my belongings.

“W-Why… why would you do-”

“Can it, feathers. They’re dead, it’s not like they need their fuckin’ bodies anymore.” As she went in for another bite, I caught a hint of a wince. She glanced down at her leg – her single wound from the earlier battle. I don’t know how she wasn’t screaming in pain, the wound looked nasty, especially considering the only bandage she used was a single strip of duct tape. Duct tape! Where do you even find that stuff in the wasteland?

The mare leaned back, folding her forelegs behind her head. “The real question here is why the fuck do you keep talking even when I tell you not to?”

I shut my mouth tight, eliciting a facehoof from my captor.

“For the love of- talk when I ask you a fucking question.” The mare let out a frustrated sigh. “I swear on Celestia’s clit, when I don’t want you to talk you’re a fuckin’ chatterbox, but when I explicitly ask you something, you suddenly shut the fuck up. Is your brain just completely fucking backwards?”

“I-I’m sorry, please don’t hit me again!”

“I’ll hit you whenever the fuck I want. Now answer my question.”

I opened my mouth to respond, but no words came out. I tried to search for a good logical reason that I would keep talking, in spite of the mare’s commands, but everything I thought of had a hole. Why… why do I keep talking? Why do I think I can get through to her? She clearly doesn’t care about anything. Am I just stupid? Opening my mouth to put myself in more danger?

I closed my eyes. Maybe she’s right, maybe I AM retarded.

“Hello? Earth to retard? Do I need to shank you?”

I snapped back to attention. “No, no! No shanking, please! I… I-I don’t know why I keep talking. I’m sorry, please, I-”

“Then shut up already.”

I flinched back, covering my head with my hooves, before another waft of burning flesh had me covering my muzzle yet again. The mare started to laugh, before stopping to wince, looking at her duct taped wound again.

She really should do something about that, a strip of duct tape isn’t going to help her heal at all.

I bit my lip. Should… should I say something about it? On the one hoof, it had been made abundantly clear by this point that saying pretty much anything ended with me getting hurt. On the other hoof, it hurt me just to look at her medical catastrophe, not to mention she had given me a pretty clear idea of what a gunshot feels like. I didn’t know that much about healing, but surely some basic first aid would be better than just… just duct tape.

I’m not going to like this, but… but I’ll try.

I cleared my throat, not that there was really anything in it that needed clearing. It just felt appropriate.

“Um, y-your leg-”

“See, that’s what I’m talking about. When I want you to shut the fuck up, you decide that it’s a good fuckin’ time to start blabbering.” The mare got up, starting to move towards me. But she faltered slightly in mid step, causing the mare to stop. She grit her teeth, glancing at her wound again. “What about my fuckin’ leg?”

I sighed, happy that she didn’t immediately try to kill me.

“Y-you really shouldn’t just stick tape over it. The bullet hole, I-I mean.”

“Yeah? And why the fuck do you care?” my captor nickered. “Besides, what the fuck else am I gonna use?”

“Uh…” I bit my lip again. Meekly, I suggested, “B-Bandages?”

“Pffft, don’t make me laugh, feathers.” The mare was already failing to stifle a laugh. “Bandages, sure. I think I’ll just have a nice fuckin’ steak for dinner too. And some vintage wine and cheese while I’m at it!”

Erm… ok, so… not bandages, I guess.

“W-w-well, couldn’t you at least put… I-I don’t know, some kind of cloth over top of it? Something to absorb the b-blood, rather than j-just… you know, plugging the hole.”

The mare went silent. Slowly, a grin began to spread across her face, and her eyes began to narrow.

“Well fuck me, feathers. That sounds like you’re offering me that scarf of yours.”

My whole body tensed up. Oh no, not the scarf, please. I need that to heal my wing! I turned and looked at my broken wing. The scarf was still valiantly holding my makeshift splint in place. I couldn’t afford to lose it, otherwise I might never heal, and then…

“Well don’t just sit there feathers, I’ll gladly accept your fuckin’ gift.”

I need to think of something.

“I, er… I-I don’t know that the scarf would work… i-it’s, um…” I struggled to think of an excuse, my mind racing to find something suitable to say. “It’s, it’s… too big! Y-yeah, you’d have to wrap it around your leg like… l-l-like seven times, a-and that would just make it h-harder to walk… yeah?”

“Hmm…” my captor began tapping her chin in the most overly dramatic way I have ever seen, “You know, you may be on to something there. But that’s ok, I’ve got a better fuckin’ idea.”

Slowly the mare drew out her knife. I felt my pupils shrink, and I tried to back up, only to be stopped by the picket fence. I shut my eyes tight. This is it. She’s finally gonna kill me. I’m going to die down here… oh god, why did this have to happen to-

*FWISH*

I flinched as I heard the mare’s knife swing, but I couldn’t help but notice I wasn’t in pain. Well, at least no more pain than usual. I opened my eyes, glancing back at my broken wing.

The scarf was still there, although it looked considerably shorter than I remembered. I turned back towards my captor. There in her hoof was a chunk of my scarf.

“Oh, you are a riot, feathers.” The mare smirked, starting to remove the duct tape from her leg. “I swear, I barely even have to… ah, fuck that hurts… lift a hoof to make you squirm. This is the most fun I’ve had with my victims in fuckin’ ages. I’m almost gonna miss you once you’re sold off.”

The mare stopped to look at her hoofiwork. Where once there had been a single strip of tape, now there was… well, still tape. A lot of tape. But now there was a chunk of cloth beneath it, so I guess that made it sort of like a bandage?

“There. Are you finally fucking satisfied?”

The mare turned away, trotting back to her place on the other side of the burning corpses. As I watched her go, I got my first good look at her Cutie Mark. It looked like a dagger, aimed down at the ground, blood dripping from the tip. I reeled back as much as I could. Wha… how do you even GET a cutie mark like that?

“Alright feathers, I’m done talking. I’m fuckin’ tired, so I’m gonna go get some fuckin’ shut eye. Don’t wake me up, or…” she paused, sliding her knife back into its sheath. “Well, let’s just say I get cranky if I don’t get my beauty sleep. Got it?”

I nodded furiously.

“Good.” That was all she said before disappearing into the darkness of the house.

Once she was out of sight, I turned to look at the fencepost I was chained to. I began yanking on the chains, hoping to pull myself free. This fence is old, and the wood is rotting… maybe, with the right amount of force, I could pull it apart, and then I’ll-

BANG!!

I yelped, jumping back as much as I could as a bullet embedded itself in the fence, sending wood splinters flying out the back of it.

“Do I really need to tell you why trying to escape is a bad fuckin’ idea?”

I curled up into a ball. This is gonna be a long night.

~~~~~~~~~~

As light returned to the disgusting campsite, I pulled my eyes open. In truth, I had barely gotten any sleep – I had merely shut my eyes and waited for the night to pass. To make matters worse, the fire had died out sometime in the middle of the night, leaving me defenseless from the elements, unable to go inside for relative warmth. I shivered violently, letting out a loud yawn as I tried to get up, only to fall back down under my own weight. I was pathetic. Battered, bruised, starving, freezing, and exhausted. For a moment, I almost wanted my captor to just kill me, just come out and end my suffering. But I banished the thought as quickly as I could. As long as I’m alive, there’s a chance I can make it back home.

I waited there, chained to the fencepost and too terrified of the potential consequences to try and break free. I looked up at the clouds, to try and pass the time. I wonder if the moon’s out right now. The sun lights it up so beautifully this time of day…

A long time passed before I finally heard a stirring from inside the house. Soon after, my captor emerged into the light of day (if you could even call it that – it all looked so diluted compared to real sunlight). The mare eyed me closely as she stood in the opening. I’m not sure if she was thinking deeply or just groggy. Either way, it was unnerving.

Finally, the mare started to trot towards me. I flinched back, preemptively bracing for impact.

However, to my surprise, she didn’t kick me. She moved around to my front, and knelt down. She was still eyeing me, just as intently as when she had walked out the door. I could feel sweat drops starting to run down my brow. She stared me down for a few tense moments.

“Alright, feathers,” she finally spoke, “here’s how this is going to work. I spent a good long time last night thinking, and that’s already a shit-ton more than I would normally do. But I’ve come to a decision.” The mare grit her teeth. I could tell she wasn’t fully on board with whatever she was thinking, but she carried on.

“I’ve decided that there may yet be some benefit to having a pair of fuckin’ wings on my side.”

My eyes widened. Does that mean-

“HOWEVER, let’s get one thing straight. We are not partners. We are not fuckin’ teammates. And we are definitely not fuckin’ equals. I don’t trust you. You’re not free. You are simply being promoted from being a slave, to being my slave. You will still be shot if you try to escape, you will still be killed if I deem you a threat. Do not fuck with me.”

The mare leaned in very close, the smell of her breath punctuating her every word.

“Am. I. Fucking. Clear?”

I nodded my head as furiously as I was capable of. The mare squinted her eyes even further.

“Alright. Now, I’m gonna undo your shackles. Remember, if you run, I’m putting a bullet in your head.” Oh, don’t worry, I remember.

“Don’t make me fuckin’ regret this.”

With her talk done, the mare pulled out her gun. I panicked for a second, until I saw her unlocking my shackles. Finally! For the first time since my capture, I was able to stand up and move around freely.

Well, as freely as somepony with a gun trained on them can move around. Still, it was better than being in chains.

“T-T-Thank you, miss… miss, uh…” Huh. I never did get her name. “What do I call you?”

The mare raised an eyebrow, tilting her head ever so slightly.

“I don’t know that you’ve earned the right to know my name yet.”

“B-but, uh… b-b-but what if I need to get your attention? I-I can’t just call you ‘purple mare’ all the time, n-now can I?”

She actually stopped to consider that point. Small victory, I guess?

“Fine. Call me Temper.”

Temper? Like a temper tan-

“And if you so much as think of uttering the word ‘tantrum,’ I will shove my knife so far up your ass I could cut your head off from the inside.”

Tan, tan, tan what now? I wasn’t thinking that at all. Nope.

As I stood trying to get the word-that-must-not-be-said out of my head, I heard a small *THUMP* at my hooves, causing me to jump. I quickly turned to see what it was.

Sitting in the dust was one of the attackers’ shivs.

“Pick it up, feathers. Your wasteland training begins now.”

Author's Note

Level Up

New Perk: Smooth Talker (1) – You’re starting to learn how to tell ponies only what they want to hear. Each rank you take raises your Speech and Barter skills by 5 points.

Chapter 4

“Hello? Mr. Cloud? Are you home, Mr. Cloud?”

The young colt knocked on the door, his saddlebags shifting ever so slightly as he moved. After a few moments, the door creaked open a bit.

“Yes? Who is-” a single eye peered out of the crack in the door, focusing on the young colt. “Ah, little Canvas!”

A silvery gray stallion stepped into the doorway, smiling down on Canvas as he did.

“What can I do for you?”

The colt reached into his saddlebags, pulling out a few envelopes and holding them out to the stallion.

“Oh no, did the mailmare deliver my letters to your house again? My apologies, Canvas. I was sure that I already talked to the Post Office about that.” The stallion reached out and took the letters from the colt. “Thank you, Canvas. And say hello to your mother for me!”

Canvas nodded his head, quickly turning and running back towards his house. Once he had made it a ways down the street, he sighed in relief. He never was the best at talking to older ponies. Not to mention Mr. Cloud always seemed kind of… off. With a shake of his head, Canvas started to trot back towards his house, ready to just sit down and draw with-

“Ksssh… this is the head of command, what’s going on?”

The colt stopped in his tracks. He glanced around, trying to find whoever had just spoken.

“H… hello?” Canvas said hesitantly, “Is somepony there?”

“Ksssh… sir, there’s a civilian here! He’s behind enemy lines! What do we do?”

Canvas turned once more, trying to find the source of the noise. But no matter where he looked, all he saw were houses, roads, and clouds. Lots and lots of clouds.

“Ksssh… well don’t just stand there, soldier! Go save him!”

Canvas started to step back, his heart beginning to pound a little faster.

“W-who’s there?”

“Ksssh… copy that! Commencing civilian rescue operation!”

Without warning, a greenish blur sprang from behind a nearby cloud, tackling Canvas to the ground. The colt screamed, trying to push away from the creature that attacked him, but the turquoise menace was too strong.

“Fear not citizen! For I-”

“AAAAAAAAAAHHH!!!” Canvas continued to scream, pushing as hard as he could against the vicious predator. “GET OFF GET OFF DON’T HURT ME I DON’T WANNA DIE!!!”

“H-hey, calm down!” the creature covered his head, holding his ground in an attempt to keep the colt under control. “I’m trying to – oof – to save you from evil unicorns!”

Canvas stopped screaming, finally looking at the thing that had pinned him down. He realized that it wasn’t a monster holding him down – rather, a colt, about Canvas’ age from the looks of it.

“U-unicorns?”

“Yeah, haven’t you heard? The unicorns have joined forces with the zebras, and they’re using their evil magic to take over the skies!” the turquoise pegasus stood tall, puffing his chest out and brushing aside a strand of purple hair. “But don’t worry, as long as I’m Commander of the Enclave, we’ll make sure the Equestrian Sky is safe from any zebra threat!”

Canvas stared at the colt, a single eyebrow beginning to raise skeptically.

“Really?”

The “Enclave Commander” stayed silent for a second, releasing an exasperated sigh.

“You don’t play pretend much, do you?”

The boy stepped to the side, helping Canvas up off of the ground.

“I don’t think I’ve seen you before,” the turquoise colt neighed, tilting his head as he looked Canvas over. “Do you live around here?”

“Yeah… yeah, I live just down the street from here.”

“Cool!” The colt grinned, reaching his hoof out towards Canvas. “The name’s Windspeed. Nice to meet you!”

Carefully, the yellow pegasus reached out his hoof and bumped it against Windspeed’s. “I-I’m Canvas.”

Windspeed smiled at the colt. “Well, Private Canvas, we’ve got no time to lose! The Unicorns are coming close, we’ve got to hold them off!”

“Private? I’m not-”

“Come on, work with me. I need SOMEpony to have an epic last stand with.”

Canvas rolled his eyes, but he couldn’t keep a smile from gracing his lips. He didn’t really have anything better to do, and his mom WAS telling him he needed to go out and make some friends…

Canvas turned, charging at the invading unicorn forces.

~~~~~~~~~~

“Alright, pay attention feathers. If you want to survive out here, you’re gonna have to understand a few fuckin’ things. Some… ‘Rules of the Wasteland,’ per se.”

As Temper began her lesson, I walked along in front of her, shiv held firmly in my mouth. It was a strange thing. It was like holding a big kitchen knife, the ones you use to chop vegetables. But the weight was off, more in the handle than the blade, and evenly distributed on the sides. Not to mention the mouth guard, which thankfully kept me from cutting my own tongue off.

“Now where the fuck was… ah, here, this is a good spot.”

I stopped at Temper’s command. Since she was behind me, she had to guide me to a field away from the town for my “training session.” It would have been easier to have her lead, but she insisted that I take the front, so as not to leave her sight.

And by “insisted” I mean she shot at me when I tried to argue.

“Now then,” Temper trotted around in front of me, gun still trained on me as she moved, “Let’s start with the most basic fuckin’ rule there is, rule number one: Kill, or be killed.”

Bzzzzzzzzzzzzz…

Temper’s eyes glanced ever so slightly to my side, a smirk showing even as she held the gun in her mouth. How does she manage to talk while holding that, anyways?

“For example:”

BANG!!

Without warning, the mare fired her gun, causing me to jump away, only to feel some kind of liquid spray across my back. I jumped again, spinning around reflexively to look at the source of the splatter.

Mere inches behind my head, I saw a disgusting blob of a creature hovering in the air. I only managed to catch a glimpse of the thing before it sputtered and fell onto the ground. It looked like an oozing green ball of flesh and slime, with eerie, spindly legs dangling from the bottom of it. It dropped out of the air with a *SPLAT*, at which point I noticed a pair of slightly mismatched translucent wings attached to its back.

It also had a massive hole showing its insides, but I assume that was from the bullet.

“What the-” I gagged, trying to scrape the blob’s goo and juices from my back. “What the heck IS that?!?”

Temper chuckled, trotting around to the creature and poking it with a hoof.

“Bloatsprite. Nasty little fuckers, aren’t they?” Temper turned from her prodding, facing me once more. “That’s another lesson for ya; pay attention to your fuckin’ surroundings.”

I quickly glanced around, making sure there was nothing else ready to kill me. Temper let out another laugh.

“Now, that there is just ONE of the many ways the wasteland will try to kill you. Some days it’s bloatsprites, some days it’s enemy raiders… fuck, the plants will even turn on you if you’re in the wrong place.” I shuddered, remembering the plant monsters and wood beasts from the forest.

“Point is, every fuckin’ thing you see can, and probably will kill you. The only way to live is to beat ‘em to the punch.”

“A-alright…” I shuddered, reluctantly taking in what the mare said.

“Rule number two!” Temper stamped the ground with her hoof, smirking as I flinched away from her. “Trust nopony.”

I paused, before failing to stifle a laugh. Yeah, because the ponies I’ve met down here seem SO trustworthy.

“You fuckin’ laughing at me, feathers?”

“N-n-no, ma’am! I’m sorry!”

“Shut up. Yeah, obviously ponies that jump out of the fuckin’ shadows to shoot ya aren’t ones you’re gonna have trouble with on that front. What you gotta look out for are the ones that don’t.” Temper began to trot in circles around me, her voice taking on a more and more sinister tone as she spoke.

“The ponies that try to talk to you, try to get friendly with you… those are the ponies to keep your eyes on. They’ll sell you bullshit about how they just want to help, or how you could use some assistance, and then when you’re not looking… POW!” The mare jerked her head back, her pretend gunshot causing me to jump away. “They shoot you in the fuckin’ back.”

They can’t be trusted! They would turn on you in a heartbeat if anypony let them.

“Finally, rule number three!” Temper trotted in front of me once more, looking me straight in the eye. “Abandon your morals.”

Abandon my… wait, what?

Temper smirked from behind her gun. “Face it, feathers. You’re gonna be in some real fuckin’ shitty situations down here. If you’re gonna get through ‘em without a bullet in your ass, you need to be willing to do whatever it takes to survive. Otherwise, you’re just a waste of air.”

Temper went quiet, her speech finally done. She looked me in the eye, watching me intently as I tried to process everything she had said.

“Ya got all that?”

I was hesitant, but slowly I started to nod my head.

Bzzzzzzzzz… Bzzzzzzzz…

Temper turned her head to the side, looking towards the source of the buzzing.

“Well fuck me with Luna’s horn, looks like our little bloatsprite assassin had a couple of friends.” She turned her head back towards me, eyes locked on the shiv in my mouth. “Looks like it’s time for some combat training.”

What now? Oh god, no, please don’t, oh… My body tensed up, and I came close to hyperventilating. I turned, ready to make a break for it, only to come face to face with the barrel of Temper’s gun.

“Going somewhere?”

I smiled nervously, turning back to the task at hoof. Ok, ok, stay calm. You can do this. I lowered myself down, preparing to charge the creatures. Slowly, a few blobs began to appear on a nearby hill.

Then a few more.

And more.

It was at about the eleventh or so bloatsprite that I began to question all of my life decisions that had led me to this moment.

“Well go on then, feathers.” Temper laughed, stepping to the side. “They’re all yours.”

~~~~~~~~~~

“Oh come on, feathers, stop pussying out! Put your fuckin’ back into it!”

FUCK YOU TEMPER, I’m barely managing to stay alive out- OH FUCK SHIT FUCK

My fight against the bloatsprites was going terribly, to say the least. Every time I got close enough to strike one of them, I either ended up missing my blade swing, wimping out on contact, or worse yet, dropping the shiv. And all of that was assuming I didn’t turn and flee as soon as one got close to me. The only reason I wasn’t dead yet was that Temper kept shooting the ones that came close to killing me, although she seemed to get a kick out of letting me get bit a few times.

I did get a lucky hit on one of them though, and I was honestly shocked that I managed not to vomit on sight. The moment the knife made contact, I could feel the blade sliding into the disgusting blobby flesh of the creature, and I could see its insides oozing out of the cut I had made. The cut didn’t look very deep, but I guess their skin wasn’t very thick, because the single cut split the creature open, spilling its juices all over the ground in front of me, like some kind of gory water balloon.

I stared down at the corpse of my first wasteland victim.

First… ugh, that makes it sound like I intend to have more. I hope not.

“Ok, ok, stop this fuckin’ bullshit.”

My attention snapped back to the battle of the sprites, only to notice there were no more sprites to battle. The ground was littered with the corpses of the bloatsprites, each one sporting a hole, through which their bizarre green insides were flowing out.

“All these fuckin’ bloatsprites, and you only managed to kill one? That’s fuckin’ pathetic.”

“I-I-I’m forr…” I paused, spitting the knife from my mouth as the mare approached me. “I’m sorry! I just… I couldn’t hit them! And when I did hit them, i-it felt like I wasn’t even doing anything to them! I don’t-”

“Gimme that!” Temper snatched the knife from the ground and made her way over to one of the bloatsprite corpses. In a single movement, she pulled the shiv to her mouth, reared back on her hind legs, and then slammed down, plunging the knife into the corpse, deep enough that her muzzle was practically touching the bloatsprite’s guts.

The mare let go of the shiv, reaching instead to grab it with her hoof. As swiftly as she had plunged the blade in, she ripped the blade out, tossing it to my hooves. I flinched as it landed.

“Your turn.” Temper pointed to one of the nearby corpses. “Go stab that one, over there. And for fucks sake, put some actual fuckin’ power behind it!”

I stared at the shiv, not quite sure that I wanted to grab it. They’re all dead already, why-

“NOW!”

I jumped, scrambling to pick up the blade and rushing to the bloatsprite corpse. Even though it was clearly dead, I could still see one of its legs twitching. I turned my head back towards Temper. She pointed again at the corpse, her gun aimed directly at my head.

Ungh…

I reared up on my hind legs, jabbing the shiv down into the flesh of the beast. I felt the blade resisting as it slid against the meat and organs of the creature, the feeling almost causing me to let go of the shiv as I gagged. I snapped my eyes shut, pushing against the knife as hard as I could, until I felt it stop moving. Hesitantly, I opened one of my eyes.

The blade was barely even a quarter of the way submerged.

I heard a sharp *SMACK* as Temper brought her hoof to her face.

“This isn’t working.” She neighed, “You’re too fuckin’ weak to use a knife.”

“Hey! That’s…” The mare raised an eyebrow at me, causing me to slam my mouth shut. I don’t need another injury.

“Alright then, new plan.” Temper reached down, quickly exchanging the gun in her mouth for the shiv. Without warning, she rushed around behind me and positioned the blade against the back of my neck. I started to panic, an image of my decapitated head already beginning to form in my mind. W-what are you-

I suddenly found the handle of the pistol being shoved into my mouth.

“Don’t mind me,” Temper sneered, “I’m just making sure you don’t get any fuckin’ funny ideas.” I swallowed hard, wincing as I felt the blade’s edge push against my neck. While I hoped she didn’t intend to kill me just yet, I was pretty sure she had managed to draw blood. Unless the drops of liquid I felt running down my neck were her saliva or something. Honestly, it wouldn’t have surprised me.

“This should work better. Don’t need to be strong to shoot a fuckin’ gun. You ever shot a gun before, feathers?”

“N-no, ma’am.”

Temper groaned, and although I couldn’t see her face at the time, I had a feeling she rolled her eyes too.

“Do you at least know how to shoot a gun?”

I thought back to some of the toy weaponry Windspeed and I had played with as a child.

“Fung pullth vu tfrigger, righ?”

Temper was silent for a couple seconds.

“What?”

“Fung pullth vu…” Damn it. Really, how does she talk properly with this thing?

“I can’t… fuck it, I’m gonna assume that meant yes.”

Temper began leading me further into the dead and open fields, blade pressed against my neck, searching for more innocent creatures to slaughter in the name of training.

~~~~~~~~~~

Just once, I’d like to find something here that DOESN’T look like it could kill me.

The wasteland was turning out to be a surprisingly empty place. For a while, we didn’t find anything but rocks, skeletons, and billboards (I don’t know who this “Pinkie Pie” in all the ads is, but I wish she’d stop “watching me forever”). Eventually, Temper found some beasts she deemed suitable for target practice. Large, brownish discs, which I at first mistook for polished wood. Before I remembered that I was in the wasteland. Why would anypony down here polish wood? Oh yeah, and wood doesn’t usually move. The creatures had the same kinds of spindly legs the bloatsprites had, although much shorter. Same kinds of wings too, although these wings laid along the creature’s bodies, instead of jutting out at strange angles. I found myself disturbed, and yet captivated as they scurried around.

Temper called them Radroaches.

“Looks like there’s about six of ‘em. Easy pickings.” Temper edged forward, the shiv pressed against my neck causing me to whimper in pain. “And don’t even think of pussying out on these ones. Radroaches are practically harmless.”

R… really? That seems-

“Well, usually. There was this one time, but Stitch didn’t really need that leg.”

I turned, looking at my captor in horror.

“What? The fucker had it coming.”

Slowly, I shook the implied scene from my mind, focusing back on the Radroaches. We were fairly close, but I don’t think they had noticed us yet. I took a deep breath. The weapon in my mouth almost felt alien. True, I’d held toy guns before, but holding the real thing was a different beast altogether. The toys were plastic, and most of them didn’t even have the mechanisms in place to fire anything. I slid my tongue onto the trigger, the taste of metal washing over my mouth. I could see the barrel shaking, the sights moving wildly in and out of alignment. I closed one of my eyes, pointing the gun in the general direction of the roaches.

I… I should take my time, line up my shot. If I mess up, all the roaches will notice me, for sure. I don’t want them to attack me… I need to relax, and make sure I don’t screw this-

“Shoot, for fuck’s sake!”

BANG!!

Fuck.

In my focus, Temper had startled me with her sudden outburst. As I jerked my head back, my tongue had pulled the trigger, sending a bullet into the ground right in the middle of the roaches. Soon enough, all the brown discs had started slowly shifting towards me.

“Hah! Looks like you pissed them off now!” Temper snickered. “Better start shooting, before they tear you to shreds!”

FUCK FUCK FUCK SHIT FUCK

I instinctively tried to turn and run, but Temper grabbed onto me, laughing and holding me in place as the roaches started to pick up speed. I didn’t have a lot of time to think, and with no other choices available, the next few moments of my life became a wild barrage of shots fired at the approaching mass of creatures.

BANG BANG BANG!!

The first shot missed, but the second and third punched right into the back of one of the Roaches, who fell behind the other five and, a short time later, stopped. That’s one! Maybe I can do this!

BANG!!

Shit, missed again!!

*click* *click* *click*

Crap, out of ammo!! That was the last thing I wanted.

“Houw vju…” I frantically spit the pistol into my hoof. “How do I reload?!?”

Temper said nothing, simply pulling out a long, small box and holding it in front of me. I stared at the object, a panic beginning to build, when I noticed that the same kind of box was attached the bottom of the pistol. Without even thinking, I grabbed the box on the gun, ripping it out with a sharp tug. I tossed the old box to the side, quickly grabbing the one Temper was holding out and locking it into place, shoving the pistol back in my mouth.

BANG BANG BANG BANG!!

Two more Roaches stopped dead, with another narrowly avoiding the fourth shot. That’s three! I took a second to calm myself, although my heart continued to race, adrenaline pumping through my body. My legs were trembling, nearly throwing me off-balance as I stared down the front most Radroach.

BANG!!

A lucky shot to its head caused the beast to explode in a cloud of gore. Before I could give myself the chance to dwell on that sickening event, I frantically turned my aim back towards the last two roaches, each now within a few feet of me.

BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG!!

I fired wildly, trying as best as I could to hit something, but my luck seemed to have run out. Of the shots I fired, only one hit, and even then all it did was slow one of the things down.

BANG BANG!!

Another two hits, finally dropping the wounded Roach. Only one left! He’s almost on top of me, just another couple shots!

*click*

Oh son of a-

The roach leapt at me, biting at me with fierce and vicious fangs. I yelled as the monster bit into my leg, its teeth sinking in just above my hoof. I desperately tried to shake it off, although… truth be told, I was kind of surprised by how little it actually hurt.

Well, compared to getting shot and stabbed and punched by Temper all the time anyways.

Speaking of, Temper didn’t bother trying to get it off. She just stood behind me, laughing as I got viciously mauled by a creature not even half my size. Once she’d had her fill of joy at my expense, she casually trotted around in front of me, her shadow looming over the roach. She watched the creature take another bite at me, before simply placing one of her hooves on top of the thing, pinning it to the ground. The radroach futilely writhed under her body weight.

“Well, that was better than with the knife. Although still pretty fuckin’ bad.” Temper turned, looking out at the dead roach corpses. “Seventeen bullets to kill six roaches. Six. Fucking. Roaches.”

She opened her mouth to say more, but suddenly paused, a small skritching sound interrupting from below her. She looked down. The roach had started to make a little traction, just slightly pulling away from the mare. With a roll of her eyes, Temper reared up on her hind legs and slammed down, bringing the full force of her weight onto the creature.

*crunch*

The roach practically exploded under her hoof, various liquids gushing out from it in a sudden burst. Temper stepped off of the corpse, scraping her hooves on the ground to get rid of the messy parts. I looked away, hoping that putting the scene out of sight would push it out of mind faster.

“Fuckin’ disgusting…” Temper sneered at the mess, before turning back to me, the knife still in her mouth. “Now since you went and wasted half of my fuckin’ ammo, I think we’re gonna stop there.”

Oh thank god.

“Now give me back my fuckin’ gun.” I thought briefly about making a run for it while I still had the gun, but Temper was too fast for me, ripping the pistol from my mouth before I could react. In one swift motion, she reloaded it and shoved it back into her own mouth, training the barrel on me once more. “Get moving! It’ll be dark before long, and I’d rather not fuckin’ freeze in the open wasteland.”

With no other options, I sighed, slumping my shoulders and letting Temper lead me around, searching for a spot to camp out for the night.

~~~~~~~~~~

Oh boy. My old shackles. I missed them SO much.

A fire burned in front of us, thankfully not lit by the bodies of the dead this time. Once Temper had lit the wood I managed to collect, she pulled out the slaving shackles and chained me up to an old rusted sign by the fire. I guess she didn’t trust me enough to not run away during the night.

She wasn’t wrong, but still…

At the very least, Temper did let me have my saddlebags back (“nothing fuckin’ useful in them anyways,” she said). I pulled my one remaining apple from the bag, savoring the first bite of food I’d had since my crash landing. It was a pathetic meal, one I scarfed down in just a few seconds, but food is food. I was just thankful that it was actual food, versus… I don’t know, whatever it was the ponies down here ate. Did they eat hay? Dirt? I’d always heard there was so little food down here that they’d even eat animals… Oh god, what if they ate other ponies?!?

…actually, scratch that last one. Nopony’s that morbid, even in the wasteland.

The wasteland… I looked around the hellscape, the ambient light already beginning to dim, a sight that should have basked the land in beautiful rays of orange and red, but instead just left the land an even duller greenish-gray than before. I took in a deep breath, the faint scent of dust penetrating through the air. By now, I had spent two days in the wasteland. Two full days of breathing in toxic fumes.

Is the air really poisoned? Even a slow-acting poison should have killed me by now, shouldn’t it? So…

“Why aren’t I dead?”

I heard a sharp laugh come from across the fire.

“Now that’s the first fuckin’ thing you’ve said that I can agree with. The way you were swinging that fuckin’…”

I glanced over at Temper as she talked, clenching my teeth to avoid speaking out of line again. Do I envy or pity her for being immune to the air poison? On the one hoof, that means she doesn’t die, but on the other, she has to live in... I paused in my thought, turning to look at the barred fields around me. …this.

Slowly, my mind started to wander, reflecting on some other strange inconsistencies I had noticed. Like Temper’s fangs, or rather her lack thereof. I’d always heard that the ponies stuck down here had changed and evolved, to the point where they had more monstrous features – fangs for tearing ponies apart, horns for maximum ramming damage, claws on their hooves to grab hold of their victims. I’d even heard tell of ponies that had holes in their legs, for whatever benefit that could give them. But Temper looked like any other pony. She was terrifying, don’t get me wrong, but that was for entirely different reasons. She didn’t look like a monster, at the very least.

“…not to mention your shitty ass aim. By all accounts, you should have died back…”

I tuned Temper out. If we were wrong about the ponies and the air… I wonder what else we were wrong about. Maybe some of the ponies survived down here? Maybe the waters aren’t cursed by Zebra spells? Maybe the Zebras don’t even exist! That would-

BANG!!

I yelled out in pain, tensing up as a bullet passed straight through my ear.

“Hey, are you even fucking listening?”

I snapped my attention back to Temper, our eyes locking as blood began dripping down the side of my head.

“Y-yes! Yes, I’m listening! I’m sorry, I’ll listen better, I-I’m so sorry!”

“Good.” Temper nickered, holstering her pistol. “I hate having to repeat myself.”

~~~~~~~~~~

As the night pressed on, I receded further into my thoughts. I needed to escape. I needed a plan. I needed to find some way to get away from this psychotic mare, and then find a way to get back home. But no matter what I thought, no matter what ideas came to my head, I couldn’t see a way out. Every plan was flawed, every hope slowly getting crushed.

Could I just run for it? She can’t just leave me locked to this post forever. Once she takes off my shackles, maybe I could make a mad dash to get away as fast as I could?

…no, she’d just shoot me. And there’s no cover around, so it’s not like she’d have any trouble hitting me. I’d be dead in a second.

I rolled onto my side, wincing as my injured wing brushed along the ground. If only my wings were healed, then I could just fly away. Although that doesn’t keep her from shooting at me, I suppose.

I… I could try to fight back? Stab her in the gut with the knife, or shoot her once I have the gun?

I squeezed my eyes shut, a frustrated grunt escaping my lips.

No, no, no! I can’t kill a pony! I don’t care HOW evil she is, I’m not gonna kill her! Besides, she’s obviously more experienced. She’d kill me first. And I KNOW I can’t just talk my way to freedom. All that did last time was get me chained with this psycho.

So I can’t run, I can’t talk, and I can’t fight… what does that even leave? Is this hopeless?

Am I really going to be stuck here forever?

I felt tears starting to well up. I didn’t want to accept it, the thought that I would never go home. It was too awful to be true. It had to be! In a bout of anger, I violently turned over, throwing myself back onto my other side.

*clatter*

My ears perked up, and my attention was drawn to a small clattering sound. Confused, I turned to look down at the source of the noise.

The holodisk had fallen out of my saddlebags.

I started to reach out for it, but the shackles kept my hooves just out of reach. Slowly, I began trying to pull it in my hind legs, inching the disk closer with every attempt. Eventually I was able to reach out with my front legs and grab hold of the disc, bringing it closer into view.

In an instant, the metaphorical light bulb sparked to life in my head.

This… this is Enclave data, isn’t it? Then… then maybe there’s something useful in here! Maybe there’s a, a-a scouting schedule, or a radio frequency or something! Something I could use to contact the Enclave! A smile began to form on my face as I clutched the disk tightly in my hooves. Then… then all I need to do is look at the disk! Get the data, contact the Enclave! It’s so simple!!

For a moment, I felt like I was on top of the world. I felt like I could fly again. But as I sat there elated about this sudden breakthrough, reality reared its ugly head, sending me crashing down once more.

I need a terminal to look at the information on the disk. My heart began to sink, as I looked out over the barren fields. Where the heck am I gonna find a working terminal in this place? All the electronics from before the war have probably been destroyed.

I sat there, racking my brain. This was the closest I had come to finding an escape route, I couldn’t let it slip away! I can’t lose hope!!

There… there has to be one, somewhere! If I can just find one working terminal, then I can look through the holodisk, and hopefully find some way of contacting the Enclave. Then I just have to send them a message! They’ll come find me, they’ll rescue me from the wasteland, and I’ll be back in bed before the day is done!

“ZZZzzzZZZzzz…”

I jumped, a snore startling me from my thoughts. I turned to look at Temper, the mare deep in sleep at this point.

Right. Her. If I wanted this plan to even have a chance of succeeding, I’d have to do it all without Temper noticing. How am I gonna do that? She watches me like a hawk when she’s awake, and locks me up when she’s asleep.

I sighed. There was no way around it. When the time comes, I’m gonna have to find a way to distract her… I don’t know how I’ll do it, but I’ll find a way.

It was a flawed plan, to be sure. Every piece of it relied on me being the luckiest stallion ever, something my current situation led me to believe I wasn’t. But it was still a plan. If I could find a terminal, if it was working, if I could distract Temper long enough to use it, and if there was any useful information on the holodisk… basically if I could manage to get every star in the sky to align, then it would all turn out fine.

I felt the wind rustle the feathers of my broken wing once more.

…if I can even survive long enough to attempt it.

I curled up as best as I could, trying to get comfortable as the fire slowly faded away into nothingness.

~~~~~~~~~~

“Alright, get a move on, feathers.”

Morning had come, and Temper dragged me to my hooves to lead me further into the wasteland. We eventually found an old road, and at Temper’s command, began following the path it left. God, even the roads didn’t feel right. We didn’t have that many roads above the clouds, seeing as pretty much every vehicle just flew around anyways. The few roads we did have were just clouds that had been compacted down, just to visibly mark the path. But these roads down here were hard, flat black rocks broken into pieces. It looked more like shattered glass than stone.

We approached the remains of an intersection, when Temper stopped very suddenly. Her ears swiveled, pointing down the road. I looked in the direction she was look… erm, hearing… and I spotted a vague shape moving along the road. A smile steadily spread across Temper’s face.

“Get off the road.”

Without another word, Temper ran off to the left, ducking down behind a mound of dirt on the side of the path. I stood still for a few moments. “What are-”

“Did I fucking stutter?” the mare snapped, “Get the fuck over here!”

I jumped, rushing to join my captor behind the dirt mound. Temper said nothing as we waited, instead taking the opportunity to watch the figure from down the road as it slowly approached.

“Why are we-”

“Quiet!” Temper spat as she slapped me upside the head, her voice a harsh whisper. I winced, rubbing the spot where she hit me to try to ease the pain. It didn’t help.

“S-Sorry.” I too joined in whispering, hoping that lowering my voice would appease the mare. “Why are we hiding off the road?”

“Why the fuck do you think?” Temper said, pointing her hoof towards the approaching figures. “There’s a caravan headed this way.”

“Caravan?” I think I’ve heard of those…

Temper let out a frustrated sigh, bringing a hoof to her face.

“Of course. Why the fuck did I expect the guy who doesn’t know what caps are to…” Temper rolled her eyes, shaking her head in what I think was shame. “They’re traders. You give ‘em caps, they give you whatever you want, assuming they have it in stock. Could be weapons, medicine, food, you name it.”

I turned to look at the caravan, my eyebrow raising as they entered the intersection. THIS is where ponies buy things? I was stunned by how small the whole group was. There were only four ponies, they couldn’t have that many supplies on them, especially with the big one carrying everything like he was.

…no, wait. On second glance, the big one wasn’t a pony, but some other kind of… what the fuck?!? It’s got two heads! Why does it have two heads? What IS that thing?

I turned to Temper, ready to ask her about the creature, but Temper wasn’t even looking at the traders anymore. She had her back turned to the caravan, taking some time to reload her pistol. I… I guess that’s normal then? Just another wasteland thing to deal with? Ok. Sure.

“So…” I tried to shake off my confusion, getting back to the matter at hoof. “We can buy stuff from them? Then why are we-” I barely managed to dodge another punch from Temper, a feat which seemed to surprise the mare, if only for a second.

“I wasn’t fuckin’ done.” Temper sneered. “Sure, that may be how most wastelanders get things from caravans, but raiders… well, we have a better way.”

Raiders? Wait, isn’t that-

BANG!!

I didn’t have time to cover my ears as Temper fired on the pony in front, dropping him to the ground with a single shot. As blood began to pool around him, the other two ponies scattered, one running for cover behind some rocks, and the other diving behind an abandoned cart.

“Time for your first raid, newbie!” Temper quickly pulled out the shiv, dropping it at my hooves. “Go get the brahmin, I’ll get the others!”

“The what?”

Temper facehoofed.

“The big one with two fuckin’ heads! Now go, or I’ll shoot you instead!”

With that, Temper rushed out from the dirt mound, taking aim at one of the ponies as he ran for cover.

BANG!!

The pony didn’t even get clear of the road before tumbling to the ground, blood oozing from his gut as he tried to crawl to safety.

BANG!!

The pony froze, life draining from his eyes as his body stopped moving.

As Temper began her murderous rampage, I looked at the shiv. Hesitantly, I picked up the blade, peering out at the two headed brahmin. The creature seemed to be paying no mind to the battle at hoof, continuing to mosey along the road as I looked at it. It was a strange looking creature, even ignoring the whole “two heads” thing. It was a strange reddish color all over, as though its fur had all been shaved off and then burned, and it was much bigger than a pony. Its two heads were vaguely pony-like, although much wider at the snout.

Also it had a giant… thing hanging between its legs, but… The less I know about that, the better.

BANG!!

As the brahmin moved in closer, I was startled by the sound of another gunshot. I turned to watch as Temper cried out it pain, blood starting to rush from a hole just to the side of her cutie mark. I could just barely see the third pony, now having stepped away from his hiding spot behind the cart, smoke trailing from his gun barrel.

I felt sorry for that stallion.

BANG BANG BANG!!

Temper immediately turned, charging at the pony and firing wildly in his direction. It didn’t look like any of the shots hit him, but he still dove back behind the cart. Hesitantly, I turned my attention back towards the brahmin and carefully began my approach. One of its heads lazily turned to look at me as I moved in closer. It looked so peaceful, blissfully unaware of the danger all around it. I didn’t want to kill it, I really didn’t.

“Rule number one: Kill or be killed.”

But I also didn’t want Temper to kill me.

It’s… it’s only an animal, Canvas. It’ll be f-fine. It’s not like you’re killing a pony. You can do this.

I squeezed my eyes shut, taking a few deep breaths in preparation.

Okay, One… Two... THREE!

I screamed, lunging at the brahmin, swinging the shiv as I approached.

“MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!”

I snapped my eyes open, releasing the shiv from my grip as I did. The blade had stuck into the neck of the fattened creature, even if it was only an inch or so in. Nevertheless, that was more than enough to spook the beast into a frenzy. The previously docile brahmin seemed to jump to life, kicking at me and running off the road as fast as its legs could carry it, taking the knife along with it.

“H-Hey!” I called out to the beast, hoping in vain it would listen. “Get back here!”

I broke into a gallop, chasing after the brahmin as fast as I could. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the remaining caravan pony jump out from behind the cart.

BANG!! BANG BANG!!

I heard some wood splintering as a bullet embedded itself into the cart, followed swiftly by two shots from the caravan pony. Right around the second shot, I managed to catch up with the brahmin, and leapt forward to grab onto the shiv again.

I really wish I hadn’t.

At the same moment that I grabbed onto the blade, the brahmin jerked its body to the side. The combination of my weight pulling down and the brahmin pulling up and away caused the shiv to slide down the creature’s neck, slicing it damn near in half. Blood spilled onto me as the wound split open, momentarily bathing my world in a sea or red. The creature cried out in pain, running from me as blood continued to gush out of the wound. Slowly, the beast came to a stop, before lifelessly toppling to the ground.

I stood, horrified and sickened as the creature’s blood dripped down my body. My stomach churned, and soon enough I had violently thrown up on the ground in front of me.

BANG!!

I jolted my head towards the noise. The last pony finally dropped to the ground, Temper letting out a prideful roar. Yes, she roared. As if her sanity wasn’t in question already.

“Ah, I love a good hunt!” The mare grinned as she spoke. She turned to look at me, the brahmin’s blood already beginning to dry on my coat. “You didn’t do half bad yourself, feathers. Maybe you won’t be fuckin’ useless to me after all.”

I said nothing, too mortified to even move. The image of the brahmin’s neck splitting open was still fresh in my mind, the wave of blood… I threw up again.

Temper trotter over, rolling her eyes as she approached. “Oh, get over it. It’s just a little fuckin’ blood. It’s not gonna kill you.” She paused, tapping a hoof to her chin. “Well, except fire ant blood. That stuff burns like Celestia’s shit.”

I stared at Temper, horror still apparent on my face. She doesn’t even care…

“Well don’t just fuckin’ stand there, feathers, help me loot the bodies!” She smirked as she turned towards the dead ponies. “Maybe I’ll even let you keep some of it.”

Temper left, looting the dead once more, leaving me shell-shocked and disoriented. Slowly, I trotted to the brahmin, staring at the carnage I had caused.

Slowly, without even thinking, I started pulling supplies from the corpse.

~~~~~~~~~~

I wanted to cry as I looked at items in front of me. And for once, they weren’t tears of sadness, but tears of joy.

Medicine. Actual freaking medicine. Healing potions, bandages, first aid kits. It had made me sick to take them from the dead beast, and I wish I could have gotten them without the mental scarring, but for now, I couldn’t have been more relieved to actually have a means of fixing my wounds. That alone had almost made the horrors of the battle worth it.

Almost.

I grimaced as I noticed some blood stuck to my legs, bringing a hoof to my mouth to keep from throwing up again.

While Temper was looting the ponies, I had downed about two healing potions. Immediately, I felt a soothing sensation over my entire body. The bruises faded away, the bullet holes healed over… even my broken wing realigned itself with my body, although it still hurt enough that I could tell it wasn’t completely fixed. I guessed that it would be at least a few more days until I could properly fly again, but that was miles better than before.

A short time later, Temper seemed to finish up with her looting, and started picking through the brahmin as well.

“Alright, slow down there feathers. Save that shit for the one who really needs it.” Temper grabbed a third potion, chugging it in a few gulps and stuffing the rest of the medical supplies in her pockets. “What else have we got here… beans, apples, stale bread, can of soup… ah, ammo!”

Temper tossed most of the food to me, keeping the apples to munch on while she began sorting all the ammunition the brahmin was carrying. I stuffed the food into my saddlebags, turning away from the beast as Temper cackled like the madmare she was.

Ugh, how can she… wait, what is that?

As I was turning away, I spotted a small square object, a short distance from the brahmin corpse. I approached it, noticing some hinges on it, and a latch. Once I was close enough, I picked it up in my hooves. It looked to be a small wooden cube, about as big as a horseshoe box. There was an engraved plate on the top of it.

Artisan’s Award

Presented to weapon smith

Sharpened Edge

Award? Who the heck gives out awards in the wasteland? Let alone receives them?

I was hesitant, but I cautiously opened the box.

Inside was a gun.

But there was something off about this gun. It looked like a revolver of some kind, like something from the old cowpony comics. But there were a few things wrong with it, most notably that it seemed to have two barrels, one on top of the other. The upper barrel looked like a regular barrel (I assume, anyways), but the lower one was much wider, and much shorter. Like it was intended for a much bigger bullet. As I lifted the gun from the box to inspect it, I noticed that the trigger was off too. It had the normal tongue-operated trigger, but it looked like there was a second trigger, one that activated by biting down on the grip really hard instead. As I turned the gun over, I saw an engraving on the handle, with lettering similar to the box’s engraving.

Artisan

Huh. I guess they couldn’t fit it all in.

“Hey feathers, the fuck are you doing all the way over there? Not trying to abandon me, I hope.”

I flinched, turning back to face Temper, the box still held in my hooves. She glanced at the box, eyeing me suspiciously as she approached.

“What’s in there?”

“I-I… i-it’s a, um… I think it’s-”

“Gimme that.” She didn’t wait for me to answer, snatching the box from my hooves once she was in range. She lifted the lid, peering into the box. Her eyes widened for a brief moment, before a small smirk graced her lips.

“Well what do we have here?” Temper picked up the gun, casting the box aside, dropping it in the dirt. “Looks like the newbie found himself a LePat.”

Le-What? “What’s a-”

“Pistol. The pony that made it must have been fuckin’ crazy.” As she spoke, she pressed a button, and cylindrical chamber popped out. “I’ve only ever seen two others guns like it. The upper barrel works just like your regular old revolver. But you see this second barrel? The one on bottom?”

I nodded, unsure where she was going with-

“That’s for shotgun shells.”

I reeled back, my eyes widening in shock. They’re for WHAT now?!? Temper snickered, dumping the gun’s bullets into her pockets as I tried to process how that worked. All of a sudden, she tossed the gun back to me.

“Nice find, feathers. Now I don’t have to taste Pegasus spit whenever I use my gun.”

…wait, hold on.

“You’re letting me have this?”

Temper stopped, turning to face me.

“You mean you don’t want a gun? With all the things that could fuckin’ kill you?”

“No, I…” Ok, that’s a fair point. “I just, I mean… why?”

“Well, I don’t need it. I’ve already got a pistol, and shotguns are too messy for me.” She turned, smirking as she made her way back to the brahmin corpse. “Besides, it’s not like you can shoot me while my back is turned. I’m the one with all the fuckin’ ammo.”

I looked quizzically at Temper. I wasn’t sure that I wanted my own gun in the first place, but if she was just going to let me keep it… even without ammo, I’d be an idiot to waste that opportunity.

A short time later, Temper had pulled a holster from one of the dead ponies and (to my disgust and shame) made me put it on. It felt wrong to put on a dead pony’s clothes, but if I was going to have a gun, I guess I would need somewhere to put it.

I looked down at the Artisan, now firmly strapped to my leg. Disturbed, but satisfied, I followed Temper back to the brahmin corpse, watching her loot the creature for everything it had.

Author's Note

Level Up

New Perk: Swift Learner – With each level of Swift Learner you will gain an additional +10% to experience whenever Experience Points are earned.

Chapter 5

“Give those back, Sky Blossom!!!”

The young colt raced around the room, desperately trying to retrieve the stolen goods. But it was no use. His sister was simply too fast and too big. Sky Blossom huffed, lifting the supplies with her wings, holding them out of her brother’s reach.

“Not until you apologize for getting paint on my cutie mark!”

“I TOLD you, that wasn’t my fault! You’re the one who sat down on my paintbrushes!”

“You left them on a chair!!” the filly hissed. “MY chair!!”

“Give them back!!!”

Canvas leapt forwards, tackling his sister as best as he could. Sadly, the attack did little more then give the colt a headache as his head rammed into his sister’s leg. Canvas stumbled back, rubbing his muzzle to relieve some of the pain.

“Erm… is this a bad time?”

Canvas’ ears perked up, his eyes darting towards the door as a familiar face entered the household.

“Windspeed! Quick, help me get my art stuff back from Sky!”

Windspeed cocked his head to the side, glancing at the colt’s sister. Without a word, he nodded, rushing towards the enemy at full speed. As soon as he was in range, he grinned, vaulting into the air and gliding towards the target. Sky Blossom flinched, noticing the incoming colt out of the corner of her eye. She barely managed to duck in time to avoid the turquoise blur… a motion which brought the supplies just within reach of Canvas’ hooves. With a jump, Canvas snatched the supplies from his sister, signaling up to his friend.

“Got ‘em!”

Windspeed turned, the two colts rushing for the door as quick as they could. As soon as they were away, they smiled, the two friends sharing a victorious brohoof.

“That’s no fair!” the filly yelled from across the room, stamping her hoof in frustration. “You can’t get your friends to help you!”

“Yeah, well you’re a jerk, Sky!”

“Why you… Get over here, you little-”

“ENOUGH!!”

A hush fell over the room, powerful enough that even the sound of Windspeed flapping his wings seemed to die out. A large stallion entered the room, glancing between his two children, before locking eyes with Canvas.

“Canvas, you and your sister need to learn to get along better. I didn’t raise you to go about leaving your things where they don’t belong and spilling paint on her like that!”

Canvas shrunk back, jaw dropping as his sister smiled smugly in the corner.

“But I-”

“Don’t talk back to me! I’m your father, you’ll do as I say!” The stallion approached his son, grabbing him by the ear as he pulled him in closer. “Why can’t you be more like your sister?”

“Bullseye! Quit being so harsh on him!”

The stallion turned around, glaring as he watched his wife trot into the room. Canvas immediately ran over to his mother, hugging her leg in an effort to shield himself from his father. Bullseye rolled his eyes, shifting his focus to the amber-colored mare at his side.

“Oh come off it, Brushstroke. You can’t just go defending the boy whenever he does something wrong! He’s got to know what he did or he won’t learn from it!”

“Maybe so, but yelling at Canvas simply for leaving his things someplace? Honestly, you’re going to scar the poor child!” Brushstroke turned, patting her son on the head. “You didn’t mean to get paint on your sister, now did you?”

“N-no, mom.”

“Then say you’re sorry, and then I’ll let you go play with your friend.” Brushstroke looked up, calmly waving to the turquoise pony as he stood awkwardly in the corner. “Good day, Windspeed.”

“Ma’am.” Windspeed nodded in reply.

Canvas trotted to his sister, shamefully looking at the ground as he approached.

“Sorry.” He muttered once he was close enough.

“There. See? No harm done.” With a nod, Brushstroke gestured towards the two colts. “Now run along, you can go play now.”

“Oh come on, Brush! That’s no way to discipline a child!”

“Well I wouldn’t exactly say your military discipline is appropriate for a young colt, now is it?”

“Now listen here…”

Canvas didn’t wait around to hear the rest. As soon as he had been given the clear, he nudged Windspeed towards the door, slamming it shut as he ran outside to avoid hearing yet another argument between his parents.

~~~~~~~~~~

BANG!!

“Well, if you were trying to hit anything but the fuckin’ target, then that was your best shot yet.”

I rolled my eyes, lining up the sights once again. The bottles Temper had set up were so far away, I couldn’t believe she expected me to hit them with the pistol I had. Still, this was a welcome change to the “Combat Experience” from before. Shooting at living creatures was stressful and sickening. Bottles? That was much more relaxing. It was actually kind of fun, once you got past the constant feeling of danger that came with holding a gun in your mouth. Either way, the target practice continued, without a single bottle having been felled to the Artisan.

BANG!!

“For fuck’s sake, feathers, you did a better job shooting at Radroaches! These things aren’t even fuckin’ moving!”

God, shut up. Temper had decided to sit in the back, her own pistol trained on me at all times, providing colorful commentary with every shot. As I tuned out Temper’s mocking, I looked down the barrel of the gun, lining up the sights with the center of the bottle.

Ok, that last shot was too far to the left. So all I have to do is aim a little further to the right, and…

BANG!!

Finally, downwind of my gun, I saw an explosion of glass, followed shortly by a crisp shattering sound.

“Finally! Took you fuckin’ long enough. Now try to get the other two!”

I scanned the area, searching for the next two targets. And I saw nothing. I did a double take, looking over the field once more. I KNOW she set up more than just one, so where…

A short time later, I spotted the missing bottles. They weren’t quite as far away as the first one, but Temper had set them behind a rock, leaving only the tops of the bottles exposed. How is that even fair? I heard a snicker from behind me.

“Let’s see if you can hit them without using all your ammo this time!”

You little… alright. Two can play at that game.

I aimed the pistol, carefully pointing the sights at the mid-point between the two bottles.

Then I bit down.

BOOM!!!

The recoil made me feel like I was fighting to keep my head attached to my neck, but as I brought my attention back to the makeshift shooting range, I could see that both the targets were gone, a fine mist of glassy dust left in their place. I turned to look at Temper, her eyes widened in surprise as she stared at what was left of the targets.

“Fuck, that thing has some kick to it!” Temper got up, trotting in closer, her gun still pointed at me as she moved. I shuddered, eyes locked on her barrel the whole time. I don’t think I’ll ever get used to that. It’s a terrifying thing, having a gun pointed at you every waking second. I had hoped it might start to lose its edge after a while.

“Hoof it over.”

I spat the gun out, obediently giving it to the purple mare. Within seconds, she had emptied the remaining ammo and tossed the Artisan back over to me, my good wing stretching out to catch it as I flinched away from the incoming object. I slotted the weapon into its holster, quickly double checking that it was firmly in place before looking back up at Temper.

“You better like walking, feathers, ‘cause you’re gonna be doing a whole fuckin’ lot of that.” Temper turned, looking out towards a seemingly random spot in the distance. “I know a spot to test you on what we’ve gone over so far, a few days’ travel from here.”

Test? What do you mean, “test”?

“Get a fuckin’ move on, feathers!”

“…I have a name, you know.”

“Don’t care. Move, before I pop a bullet in your ass.”

I groaned, trudging forwards down the path ahead.

~~~~~~~~~~

Oh, how I wish I could have seen the sun.

As Temper forced me to walk, I had no true point of reference with which to tell how long we had traveled. I know the light dimmed and brightened several times, but beyond that? Nothing. Nothing to track the hours, the minutes… I barely even had an estimate. Temper had said the trip would be a few days, so that was something, but had it been two days or five? Or maybe even more? I didn’t have a clue.

Needless to say, I was exhausted by the time we finally got to our destination.

Panting and wheezing, I collapsed in a heap once Temper said I could stop. With a great deal of effort, I lifted my head to get a better look at where we had been going to this whole time.

Whatever this place was, it was a surreal sight to behold. It almost looked like a town, except that there were only five buildings in it, and even then only one was a true building. Four of the buildings looked to be made of scraps of whatever had been around at the time, mostly comprising of long metal bars and rotting wooden planks. All around the settlement, a chain-link fence had been set, with large bundles of barbed-wire thrown together along the top, keeping most of the town separated from outside threat. The one intact building looked to serve as the gateway into town, with both ends of the fence entering the building from the sides. The one building had a long platform, the awning above it beginning to rot away, leaving only the half closest to the building itself still standing. From what little of the awning remained, a single sign hung:

_RAIN S__T_ON

“Rainston.” Temper said, very matter-of-factly.

I cocked an eyebrow at the mare. Surely she wasn’t that oblivious?

“I…” I gasped for air, still out of breath from the walk. “I’m pretty sure the sign’s just missing some letters. I think it-”

Temper punched me in the gut, knocking the little air I had gathered out of me.

“I wasn’t reading the sign, you retard! That’s the name of the fucking town!”

“Oh… really?” It seemed odd to me that they would name a town after a faded sign, but given some of the other things the wasteland had to offer, I suppose it wasn’t the strangest thing I’d seen.

…wait, hang on. They have towns here? Like, actual civilized towns?

I took another look at the so-called town. We were sitting a ways away from it, but sure enough, I could make out the forms of various ponies moving around behind the chain-link fence. It was bizarre, truth be told. The Enclave had always made the ponies down here out to be so cruel and uncultured, that seeing them in an honest to god town… it was…

Well, imagine for a moment that you found a town full of civilized, intelligent radroaches.

That’s about what it felt like.

I got up, eager to head into town and see if they had any food, but as I started to move, Temper bit my tail and yanked me back down.

“Where the fuck do you think you’re going?”

I turned to look at Temper, my eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

“Um… into… town?” Temper narrowed her eyes as she looked at me. “…or is that not why we’re here?”

Temper brought a hoof to her forehead, massaging her temple as she groaned.

“Oh, feathers, feathers, feathers… you need to get your fuckin’ head in the game.” Temper brought her hoof down, throwing it around my neck and pulling me in next to her. “A raider does not simply walk into town. Towns have guards. They’d shoot at us long before we made it to the gate.” Temper glanced at me, a sinister grin forming on her face. “No, if you want to get in there, you’ve gotta force your way in.”

“So…” I shifted uncomfortably under her grip. “Does that mean…”

“We’re breaking in. We’re taking everything that isn’t nailed down, burning everything that is, and killing anypony that gets in our way.”

I felt my pupils dilate. I looked at Rainston again, taking in the vague forms moving inside of the fenced-off border, ponies diligently going about their daily business. If it had been any other kind of creature in those fences, I might have let it slide. The wood-beasts, the moss-ponies, bloatsprites… Tartarus, I’d have probably been fine if it was a town of Brahmin. But these were ponies. True, they were demonic wasteland ponies, ponies who had grown up surrounded by poison and violence and misery their whole lives…

But they were still ponies.

“W-wait!” I stammered, pulling myself free of Temper’s grip. “W-we don’t need to go in guns blazing, do we? I mean… I-I don’t look like a raider…” Oh god, I REALLY hope I don’t look like a raider. “…I-I could go scout the place out, maybe… m-maybe swipe a few things without them noticing?”

“Yeah, sure you could.” Temper rolled her eyes. “Right after you warn them that some crazy raider mare has been holding you hostage and is about to rob them blind.”

Dammit. Am I that bad of a liar?

“Don’t even try pulling that bullshit on me, feathers. I told you, I know how you slaves think.” Temper cocked her gun, pointing it square between my eyes. “You’re not leaving my sight.”

“W-well then…” I sputtered, gently stepping out of the way of the gun, “What… what exactly is the plan here? Are we-”

“Plan?” Temper laughed, elbowing my in the gut as she did. “There’s no plans to this shit. You go in, you take what you want, and you shoot anypony who gets in the way. Just like any other raid.”

“Oof…” I caught my breath, an act I was getting surprisingly good at by this point. “B-but, what if… w-what if they’ve got us out-gunned? O-or if they corner us in a building while we’re… er, while we’re robbing them? W-what if they use their crazy unicorn magic on us? There’s so many things that could happen, shouldn’t we-”

“Shut up!” Temper slapped me across the face, forcefully enough that I think some of my teeth were knocked loose. Temper let out an exasperated sigh. “You’ve always got to fuckin’ talk, don’t you? Well, go on. If you think you’ve got a better plan – and I assure you, you don’t – then let’s hear it.”

A… a better plan? That hadn’t been where I was going, but now that she mentioned it… This could be an opportunity to satisfy Temper without anypony actually getting hurt! I just had to think of something good…

“Well, go on. I’m fuckin’ listening.”

“O-ok, what if… what if we wait until night? Sneak in when nopony’s awake, that way we have less resistance? As long as we stay quiet, w-we could take what we want without anypony noticing! I-it would be much easier that way, r-right?”

Temper rolled her eyes, placing her hoof lazily on her cheek.

“Oh yeah.” She nickered sarcastically. “Sneak in. Sure. That the full extent of your plan, feathers, or do you want to maybe give some fuckin’ specifics on how that might work?”

Oh. Yeah. Specifics. I-I can do that…

“Well, uh… a-alright, well we can’t go in through the front entrance. It’s too obvious, and…” I stole a quick glance at Rainston to confirm my thoughts. “Judging from how few buildings there are, there might be ponies sleeping inside. W-well, depending on how many ponies live here.”

Temper stared at me, an eyebrow beginning to raise.

“Eheh… s-so, if we can’t go in through the door, we’ll… we’ll have to go in through the walls. I’m not sure how… maybe your knife could cut through the fence, o-or we could dig-”

“Fly.”

I paused in mid thought, looking quizzically at Temper.

“Wha?”

“You’ve got wings, if you’ve somehow managed to forget that. Just fly over the fence.”

I hesitated, looking back at my wing. My scarf was still there, holding the splint as firmly as it could. There was no way it had healed already… had it? I prodded my wing, just to be sure, my suspicions confirming as a jolt of pain shot through my side.

“I… I can’t. My wing broke when I got here, and it hasn’t healed-”

“Bullshit!” Temper interrupted, “I saw you down those potions, and that was fuckin’ days ago! If you still can’t fly, then you must be a pretty shitty Pegasus.”

…ok, wow. Even for you that was completely uncalled for.

“Of course,” Temper continued, a sinister grin forming on her face, “if you really think they’re no good, I could always… get rid of them.”

Temper slowly drew her knife from its sheath.

“NO! Nonono, I’m good! I’m good- THEY’RE, good! Heheh… y-yeah, I was just kidding about the broken wing thing, I’ll…” I gulped. “I’ll be fine…”

Temper snickered, laying back in a reclined position as she listened.

“Anyways… o-once I’m ov-”

“Once we’re over. You’re carrying me.”

I started to object, but Temper brought her hoof back to her knife, and I thought better of it.

“O-of course… so once we’re over, we’ll look around, see if they have anything worth taking, take it, and leave… n-no one will stop us, since they should all be asleep, and we’ll just go out the same way we came in. S-simple!”

For a long while, Temper said nothing, although I could tell she was mulling the idea over in her head. She shifted a few times, occasionally opening her mouth to speak, but then shutting it a moment later. Finally, I heard her mutter something under her breath.

“Fuck, that’s actually not half bad…”

Temper jumped to her hooves, and I flinched away, expecting her to lash out at me.

“Alright feathers, I’ll humor you. This is your test after all, gotta make sure we test your decision making.” Temper drew in very close, staring me straight in the eye as her tone grew deadly serious. “But if even one fuckin’ thing goes wrong, then we’re doing this my way. Got it?”

I let out a small whimper, my resolve quickly fading under the mare’s intense gaze.

“G-got it.”

~~~~~~~~~~

There are few things in life that I consider myself an expert in.

That night, I was glad “stealth” was one of them.

As darkness descended upon the shamble of a town, Temper and I silently made our way up to the wall-like fence of the locale. Temper and I stood directly behind one of the buildings, lying low in case of any late sleepers.

“Alright feathers, you’re up.” Temper whispered. “Get me over this fuckin’ thing.”

I looked up at the fence. The thing easily reached up twice my height, even if I were standing upright on my hind legs. It almost reminded me of the cloud walls of the Everfree Outpost… except not nearly as tall. And also made of chain-link instead of clouds.

I turned my head, looking back at my wing. I fidgeted, my feathers shifting under the splint. I was hesitant to take it off, the fear of permanent damage ever present in my mind. If my wing didn’t heal, that was game over. I couldn’t afford that, but...

“What’s the fuckin’ hold up? Fly, unless you want to get shot!”

She made a compelling argument.

Carefully, I undid the knot in my scarf, watching as the wood branch dropped to the ground with a light *thunk* sound. The second the tension was gone, I could feel it. I needed to spread my wings. I knew it would hurt, but I just… I needed to do it.

Well, here goes nothing…

I stretched my wings out, gritting my teeth as a surge of pain shot through my body. I quickly stuffed my scarf into my saddlebags, before giving a few experimental flaps of my wings.

Slowly, but surely, my hooves lifted off the ground.

It hurt. It hurt like a bitch, but I was doing it. I was flying again.

In that moment, my entire worldview changed. I felt an elation and joy for flying that I hadn’t felt since I was a colt, lifting off of the clouds for the first time. I never realized just how… just how incredible it was. To be able to flap your wings and leave the ground behind.

I had a feeling of pity not only for the ponies who lived their entire lives on the ground, but also the pegasai who had lived their entire lives being able to fly. I had never really appreciated what it was like to be able to fly before – it’s something every Pegasus takes for granted, because it’s such a common part of life. We’ve never known ponies who can’t fly. It’s just the way things worked. But in that moment, after I had been forced to live without flight for so long… I can’t describe how amazing it felt.

You know, aside from the agonizing pain.

I looked down at Temper, her eyes locking with mine as I hovered a short distance off the ground. With a flick of her head, she motioned for me to pick her up. I wanted to fly away, right then and there. I wanted to just push through the pain, yell a big “screw you!” to Temper, and fly home. I was finally flying again, I was so close…

But I couldn’t. Even if I had managed to get in the air, it was only a matter of time before my wing gave out on me. What if it acted up while I was miles off the ground? There are only so many trees in the wasteland, and dirt doesn’t break your fall very well. And even then, that was assuming Temper didn’t shoot me out of the sky before I got to the cloud cover.

God, I hate my life right now…

I positioned myself over Temper, throwing my forelegs around her waist. A few more painful flaps of my wings, and-

“Oof!”

Even ignoring the pain, I had a hard time getting Temper off the ground with me. I wasn’t used to lifting anything heavier than an easel, let alone a fully-grown pony. I opened my mouth-

“Make one comment about my weight.” Temper spat. “I fuckin’ dare you.”

And promptly shut my mouth.

It was a struggle, but eventually, the purple mare began to lift off with me. As we started to move higher and higher into the air, I tightened my grip on Temper. I didn’t want to drop her – who knows how many times she’d shoot me if I did?

After a few moments, the two of us were level with the top of the fence. With a painful lunge, I pushed over the wall, Temper lifting her legs as she barely cleared the barbed wire.

We were in.

With the grace and beauty of a dying vulture, I brought the two of us down to the ground, my hooves once again meeting with the soft earth. I grabbed at my wing, cradling it as best as I could in an effort to relieve some of the pain. Unfortunately, just as it was starting to feel better, Temper gripped the back of my neck, pulling me onto my hooves.

“Get up, feathers!” Temper whispered forcefully. “And get your gun out. You’ll want it at the ready in case things go to shit.”

I nodded, slowly pulling the Artisan from its holster, placing the handle in my mouth. Temper did the same with her gun, pointing it at me almost automatically. Once she had her gun aimed, she reached into her pockets, hoofing me some ammo. As soon as I had loaded my weapon, she quickly jabbed her hoof forwards, pointing me towards the front of the building. With a nod, the two of us crept into the town, keeping an eye out for anypony who might still be awake. I checked and re-checked every spot in sight, determined to make sure the coast was clear before I did anything stupid. Fortunately, it seemed as though the town was fully asleep. No matter where I looked, I didn’t see a soul. I let out a quiet sigh. Maybe there’s nopony here. God, that would make all this so much easier.

As I rounded the corner, I finally got a better view of the town we were invading. As I had thought, there were only five buildings in town, the front gate included. Of those, three of the buildings stood with their backs against the chain-link fences – simple houses, from the looks of it. The last building stood in the center of town, a few crates and barrels stacked around the outsides of it. A sign hung from the roof, labeling the building as a store of some kind. Temper must have noticed that too, because she quickly started edging towards the store. As quietly as I could, I held Temper back, eliciting a look of heavy suspicion and skepticism from the mare.

“Ffave itf forr lafft.”

Temper rolled her eyes, begrudgingly leaving the store to be ransacked at a later point. I sighed in relief, returning to the task at hoof. Soon, the front door of the house we were next to came into view. I slowly approached it, reaching out with a hoof to open-

*Thunk*

Dammit.

“Itff…” I paused, pulling the Artisan from my mouth. “It’s locked, Temper. What do we do now?”

Temper rolled her eyes, reaching into her pockets and pulling out a screwdriver and… a bobby pin?

“We pick the lock, you fuckin’ retard.” Temper shoved me to the side, sticking the pin and screwdriver into the door’s lock. Within a few seconds, I heard a small *click*, and the door popped open.

“There.” Temper stepped to the side, gesturing into the building. “After you!”

With a twinge of guilt, I slipped into the building, followed swiftly by Temper. The inside was about as sparse as the outside. The only furniture in the room was a bed, a table, and a refrigerator (which, to my surprise, actually had power). All of a sudden, my body tensed up. As I was gazing around the room, I spotted the bed – a single pony sleeping atop it. I didn’t move for a couple seconds – even though the pony was deep in sleep, I was worried that somehow she’d hear my presence.

Temper groaned, sliding past me to start stuffing her pockets with the objects on the table.

As my heart rate began to normalize, I snuck over to the fridge, quietly opening it to look inside. I flinched as the door creaked open, the sound seeming like it was amplified in the quiet space. Once I could reach inside, I took a look to see what the fridge was holding. There wasn’t much – just a can of something I didn’t recognize and a few bottles of…

Sparkle Cola? Damn, they’ve got that down here too? I turned back to look at the bed, the pony upon it still blissfully unaware of our presence. I turned back to the fridge, biting my lip as I looked at the Cola… Oh, that sweet, sweet Cola…

They probably won’t miss just a few bottles…

I quickly grabbed the Sparkle Colas, stuffing them into my saddlebags as silently as I could. Without even thinking, I slipped one of them out, popping off the cap and sucking down the sweet, carroty goodness.

It was nice. A brief, fleeting reminder of home.

Even in the wasteland, I guess there’s no escaping the overwhelming presence of Sparkle Cola.

I turned to Temper, who had already cleared table and was searching through a box in the corner that I hadn’t noticed at first. She looked over her shoulder, motioning with her hoof for me to come closer. I silently made my way over, at which point Temper dumped the contents of the box into my saddlebags, much to my dismay. Once she was done, I turned to leave, only for Temper to start sneaking towards the bed. As I stood in stunned silence, Temper carefully picked over the sleeping pony, looking through the townspony’s pockets as she lay there, motionless.

I felt my heart rate begin to pick up again. Temper!!! What in Tartarus are you doing?!? Get back here!!!

A few tense moments later, Temper returned, a gun, several bullets, and some caps stuffed into her pockets. She motioned for the door, and in no more than a few seconds, we were out of the building. We didn’t quite have the carrying capacity to hold much more, so we snuck back around the building and, after a few more strained moments of flying, we were once again on the other side of the fence, ready to drop off our ill-gotten goods.

Alright, that… that wasn’t so bad. I mean, sure I just committed a federal crime, but… well, at least it’s a crime ABOVE the clouds. Maybe they’re ok with it down here… yeah, I’m sure no one minds if you just walk into their house and take their things. It’s not like THEY needed it to survive, right? Ha ha, yeah, not like… not like I feel BAD or anything… why would I feel bad? I’m just helping a psychopath rob innocent ponies blind. Nothing morally wrong about that… nope.

“I suppose that wasn’t a terrible haul for just one fuckin’ house.” Temper whinnied, although she struggled to keep a wide grin off her face as we dropped off our goods. “Ready for round two?”

I looked up at Temper, begrudgingly nodding my head before moving back towards the town.

~~~~~~~~~~

God, Temper, why are you so heavy?

With another house ransacked, I started to lift my captor off the ground once more. I cringed as we slowly gained altitude – I had hoped that I would get used to the pain as I kept flying, but it felt like the it was only getting worse the more I flew. Once we got close to the top of the fence, I started to-

“Augh!”

A sudden spike of pain shot through my wing, causing it to lock up. I struggled, attempting to keep in the air, but it was no use. As soon as the pain hit, I fell back to the ground, dropping Temper, our loot, and myself with a heavy *THUD* on the ground inside the fence. I got up, looking back at my wing, the pain still burning through. Dammit! I knew I shouldn’t have tried to fly yet, I knew it! Fuck, now I’ll have to wait even longer for it to heal, if it even WILL still heal… oh God, I hope it’ll still heal…

“What was that?”

I stopped. That wasn’t me. It wasn’t Temper either. That was very distinctly a stallion’s voice. I glanced over at Temper, the mare still picking herself up from the sudden fall. She turned, anger apparent in her eyes as she glared at me.

“Good fuckin’ job, feathers.” Temper sneered as she rose to her hooves, turning to face the sides of the building. “Now it’s my turn.”

A few seconds later, a pony appeared from around the corner. He took one look at us, his eyes widening in horror as he opened his mouth to speak.

Temper didn’t give him the chance.

BANG!!

With an ear-piercing sound, the pony’s mouth erupted in blood, his body collapsing to the ground as I watched, grimacing all the while. Slowly, I heard other ponies begin to yell in alarm, the sounds of panic and vengeance filling the once-silent town.

“Go loot the store, feathers!” Temper shouted, all pretense of sneaking thrown out the window. “I’ll get the other houses!”

I turned to Temper, alarms going off in my head with every word of what she said, but before I could say anything in reply, she had already disappeared around the corner. I stood there a moment, shuffling in place as I frantically tried to decide what to do. As gunshots began to sound off all around me, I let out a frustrated grunt, running to the corner of the building to scope out a safe path to the store.

It had only taken seconds for the tranquil town to become an all-out warzone. From where I was standing, I could see three ponies running around, and I could hear even more shouting things at us. One earth pony, eyes filled with terror as he watched the scene unfold, ran to hide behind one of the houses, while a second took cover behind some crates, firing wildly at the purple raider. The third pony, a Unicorn mare, didn’t even bother looking for cover. She casually strolled into the center of town, a determined look in her eyes, lifting a long shotgun of some kind with her terrible magic.

BOOM!!! BOOM!!!

The gun roared to life as the Unicorn fired it, sending a spray of iron down the path. I couldn’t see whether it hit Temper or not, but I didn’t really care. At that moment, I was more concerned with finding a safe and clear path to the store, since the townsponies were blocking the only way I could see.

BANG!!

The unicorn suddenly dropped her shotgun, a bloody mist spraying from the back of her head. Oh God… I averted my gaze, trying my best not to throw up. Alright, alright, that’s… that’s one less danger. I glanced around, finally seeing a few barrels next to one of the houses. It’s closer to the store than I am…

I took one more look at the battlefield before sprinting towards the barrels. Once I get there, I’ll sneak around back, and then I can rush to the store-

BANG!!

“Augh!!”

I fell to the ground, tumbling head over hooves as my front left leg started to burn. I glanced down at my limb, blood slowly starting to pool, before I heard a small *fwish* sound beside me, the dirt flinging itself up as a bullet embedded itself in the ground. I turned to see one of the earth ponies reloading her gun, eyes locked on me, a fiery rage burning within them.

In that moment, my world slowed to a grinding halt. The few seconds it took her to reload seemed to last for minutes, giving me all the time I needed for a thousand thoughts to swim through my head. But somewhere between the thoughts of confusion and the thoughts of pain, one thought screamed louder than all the others:

She’s trying to kill me.

I tried to pull myself to my hooves, tried to get behind the barrels, but I knew it was futile. They were too far away, by the time I had gotten up, I’d be dead. I started to grit my teeth, but felt the Artisan’s shotgun trigger and stopped myself.

“Rule number one!”

I looked to the mare, her gun starting to rise. She was done reloading, my time was running out. I tried to find another way, tried to see some way to survive without having to do something so terrible, something I knew I’d regret.

But this time, there was nothing. No plans, no smooth talking, no bribery. No way out.

I locked eyes with the mare for a brief moment, before pointing the sights of the Artisan at her head. As my vision blurred, tears beginning to pool in my eyes, I squeezed them shut, pulling my tongue back against the trigger.

BANG!!

I froze, tensing up as I waited for the excruciating pain of a gunshot. But it didn’t come. The mare hadn’t shot me. Did… d-did I… Hesitantly, I began to open my eyes.

There, lying on the ground, was the mare, a single bullet hole placed right between her eyes.

I didn’t move. Even as the battle raged on in the background, I felt like I was frozen in place. I killed her. I killed that mare. And this time… this time was different. It wasn’t just a radroach, or a mindless brahmin. It was a pony. She was a pony, just like me. And… and I…

I felt sick.

I vomited on the ground, the bile mixing with blood as it flowed from my leg. I started to curl up, my body rolling in the disgusting brown and red mixture. But I didn’t care. I fixated on the mare, watching as the blood continued to rush from the hole I had pierced through her head. I watched as her coat, at one point a soothing shade of blue, became ugly and mottled with oozing splotches of red. I started to hyperventilate. God, her eyes… even her eyes were turning red…

“Feathers!!”

I barely even heard the cry, but my head still snapped to attention with a mind of its own. I saw Temper running towards me, her makeshift armor riddled with bullet holes. She continued to shout, her voice an unsettling mixture of rage and pain.

“You sleeping on the fuckin’ job?!? Get to the store, now!!”

BANG BANG BANG!!

“OH WILL YOU CUT THAT THE FUCK OUT ALREADY?!?”

Temper jumped to the side, narrowly avoiding the barrage of bullets flying towards her. My mind seemed to jolt itself to life, because before I knew it I was suddenly on my hooves and making a beeline for the store. As bullets started whizzing past me, I heard a shuffling from off to the side, quickly jerking my head to look at-

BANG!!

I jumped from the sound, quickly pulling my tongue off the trigger of the Artisan as I moved. I don’t know if the shot was an accident or a purposeful attempt to kill again, but it didn’t matter to me. One dead pony was enough.

Before I even realized it, I was at the store’s entrance. I didn’t want to go in. I didn’t want to be here in this town anymore. But I didn’t have a choice. Temper wanted whatever was in this store, and more than likely wouldn’t leave until the place was empty. I hated it. I hated every stupid fucking thing about this catastrophe. But if robbing the place meant I could leave this living Tartarus behind me, then so be it. I charged forwards, bursting into the store with all the energy I could muster.

I was immediately met with a rifle held to my face.

“You’ve messed with the wrong town, you filthy raider scum.”

I looked at the stallion standing across from me. He had situated himself behind what I assumed was the store’s counter, if it could afford the luxury of being called a counter. My eyes began focusing in on the rifle, mounted to his sides with a strangely primitive-looking battle saddle. The stallion looked me over, eyes pausing as he glanced at my sides.

“I see they’ve started recruiting fliers now too. That’s a shame – it doesn’t feel right killin’ an endangered species.”

Without even thinking, I trained my gun on the stallion. I didn’t intend to hurt him… it was more for intimidation than anything. I hoped he would lower his rifle and let me go.

His eyes narrowed as he looked down the barrel or the Artisan.

“Now son,” the stallion spoke slowly, his voice an eerie calm considering the scene just outside. “This can go one of two ways. Either you stop pointing that damn pistol at me and I give you a quick, painless death, or you try to fight back and I shoot you in the gut, and you bleed out all slow-like.”

I took a small step back.

“Isf… isf vere nof an opfshun where I… y-y’no, don’f die?”

“Not for you, there isn’t.” The stallion glared at me, his expression hardening as he spoke. “You and your little buddy out there-”

“Sheefs nof ma-”

“You’ve slaughtered these ponies. Ponies I’ve known for a long while now. Some of ‘em were pretty close friends, you heartless bastards.”

“I…” the dead mare’s body flashed into my mind, blood oozing from the wound. “I-I didn…”

“You Raider scum, you’re all the same. Always murdering, always raping, always pillaging, just to take everything you can from us honest workin’ ponies. You think I’m gonna let you just walk out of here, so you can keep plaguing the wasteland with your filth?”

“I’m…” I felt tears beginning to form in my eyes. “I’m not-”

“No. I’m stopping you monsters right now.” The stallion paused, tilting his head ever so slightly to the side. “So, I’ll ask again. You wanna put that gun down, or are we gonna do this the hard way?”

I didn’t move. I couldn’t move. If I turned and fled, he’d shoot me. If he somehow DIDN’T shoot me, Temper would. If I stayed there, he’d shoot me. There was no option that didn’t end with me being shot. All I could do was stand my ground, praying that the situation would resolve itself.

After a few tense moments, the stallion sighed, cocking his rifle.

“The hard way then.”

The stallion brought the mouthpiece of the saddle to his mouth, took aim, and-

“Feathers!”

BOOM!!!

Without warning, the stallion’s head exploded, his face becoming nothing more than a fine red mist. I stood, mortified as blood began spurting out of the spot where his neck had once been, watching as the stallion toppled over onto the counter. I backpedaled, the Artisan dropping from my mouth as I failed to keep it shut. I looked down at myself, the stallion’s blood already clinging to my fur.

“What the fuck’s taking you so long, feathers? I’ve already…” Temper’s voice trailed off as she rounded the corner, looking into the store. I looked up at her, her eyes widened in mild surprise. Slowly, a grin spread to her face as she trotted up, elbowing me as I stood, still frozen to the spot.

“Alright, feathers! I didn’t think you had it in you!” Temper trotted to the stallion, retching slightly as she grew closer. “Did you really have to use the shotgun, though? I mean, fuck, we’re not savages here.”

The mare’s words barely registered in my mind. I was too focused on the stallion, watching as the blood poured out, coating the counter in red…

Red… so much red… shouldn’t… shouldn’t it have stopped by now? Why… oh god, it’s still coming… why is there so much blood?!? Why is there so much RED?!?

“…Feathers? The fuck’s eatin’ you?”

That’s the last thing I remember hearing before I passed out.

~~~~~~~~~~

Emptiness.

When I finally came to, that was all that I could see, for miles around. Just the emptiness of the wasteland. No town, no ponies… Tartarus, I couldn’t even see any rocks. All I could see was dirt. Endless, rolling hills of dirt.

“Hello?”

I called out as loud as I could, but nopony responded. I began to trot forwards, hoping to find something, some sign as to where I was.

“Hellooo? Is there anypony here?”

It didn’t make sense. Where was I? Where was Rainston? For fucks sake, where was Temper? I thought she said she wasn’t going to let me out of her sight, so how did I end up here? I continued to trot, the emptiness all around seeming to press in on me.

As I moved, a smoky fog began to descend on me from above. Fog? Oh thank god, maybe I can make a cloud from this, bring myself back home! I reached for the fog, but as my hoof drew close, the fog seemed to push away. I furrowed my brow, reaching for it a second time, but again the fog jumped away, as though there was an invisible force-field around my hoof. After a few more attempts, I gave up, continuing down the path.

As I trotted along, the fog grew thicker, limiting my view. I began to grow nervous, picking up the pace as I moved.

“Hello? Please, is there anypony here?”

Just as I started to lose hope, I spotted something in the distance. A vague form in the fog. I breathed a sigh of relief as I came closer. It was a pony. A mare, from the shape of her body.

“Temper? Is that you? Thank god, I was starting to think…”

My voice trailed off as I came closer. It wasn’t Temper. This pony's coat was a soothing shade of blue, unlike Temper’s vivid purple coat. Honestly, I don’t know how I mistook this mare for that psychopath.

But something was off. She wasn’t moving. At all. Most ponies move at least a little bit, even when they stand still – a twitch of the ear, some rustling in their mane, a flick of the tail, something. But this mare… she wasn’t moving an inch. It unsettled me more the closer I grew. I kept expecting some kind of motion, but there was nothing. It was almost like…

...wait. I recognize her.

All of a sudden, I stopped. The mare started to turn her head, slowly revealing her face to me. And as I saw it, I started to backpedal in horror. I knew who this was. This was the mare from town.

This was the mare I had killed.

The mare stared at me, her eyes greyed out and soulless. She opened her mouth to speak, blood dripping from it as she spoke.

“You… you did this.”

BANG!!

A hole appeared in the mare’s head, blood pouring out and flowing down her face, the red tint seeming to stain her grey eyes. I felt something in my mouth, and I spat it out. I stared, mortified as I saw what the object was: a pistol.

I turned tail and ran, only to bump into another pony – the stallion from the shop, his head a grotesque mutilation of what it had once looked like. The stallion’s lower jaw hung there, loosely attached to his neck by a few limp tendons.

“You Raider scum. Always murdering…”

“No!” I backed away, “No, I’m… I’m not a Raider! I didn’t… I-I didn’t mean to…”

“Raider scum… Raider scum…” The stallion began chanting, blood pouring from every open spot on his head.

“No! Stop! Get away!!” I screamed out at the monstrosities, running for my life. The fog around me had changed, tinting a sickening shade of red as I ran further and further. I tried to jump into the air and fly away, but I immediately fell to the ground, my whole body seeming to burn as I landed. I looked back at my wings, and I nearly stopped breathing. My wings were sitting limply at my sides, mangled and destroyed beyond all hope of repair. They didn’t even look like wings anymore. More like fleshy mutations, utterly useless and destroyed.

As I stood staring, the ground around me began to shift, strange undead appendages slowly rising up from the dirt. They latched on to the things that had once been my wings, ripping and pulling at them as I screamed in pain.

“STOP!!” I cried out, tears streaming from my eyes. “I NEED THOSE!!! I NEED THEM TO GET HOME!!!”

“Home?” A voice came to me from above. I looked up into the air.

“Windspeed! Oh thank god! Please, help me! Save me!”

Windspeed didn’t move, hovering in the air as the creatures ripped at my wings.

“You’re not coming home, Canvas.” Windspeed spoke, his voice an uncharacteristic calm. “We don’t allow murderers above the clouds.”

I looked at Windspeed, struggling to understand what he was saying. All of a sudden, I felt a surge of pain at my sides, as the ground things finally pulled my wings free of my body, blood gushing from the spot where they were once attached.

“Goodbye, Canvas.” Windspeed turned and flew away.

“No!” I reached a hoof up, desperately trying to grab hold of my friend. “NO, WINDSPEED!! COME BACK, PLEASE!!!”

“Raider scum…”

“Murderer…”

“You did this…”

I screamed in agony, watching my only friend in the world abandon me as the monsters grabbed my legs, pulling me into the ground.

~~~~~~~~~~

“NO!!”

I awoke with a start, sweat dripping down my face. I glanced around, taking in my surroundings. I was still inside the store, although the place looked considerably emptier than it had before. In a sudden burst of panic, I looked down at my sides.

To my relief, my wings were still there, just like they had always been.

It’s… it’s alright. It was just a nightmare…

I shivered, recalling the vivid dream. I’d had nightmares before, when I was much younger, but never anything to that extreme. Why was that one…

My thoughts trailed off as my vision came to rest on the counter, the storekeeper’s corpse still laying atop it.

Oh.

Slowly, I brought myself to my hooves, carefully approaching the stallion’s body. A very, VERY small part of me hoped he wasn’t dead… it was a terribly misguided thought, seeing as the stallion was missing his god-damned head, but I didn’t… I couldn’t accept it. I couldn’t face the thought that I had…

No. This… th-this wasn’t my fault. It… it was Temper! She called out for me, she startled me! It… it was an accident… I-I didn’t want to kill him!

An image jumped to the forefront of my mind. The mare, falling to the ground as a bullet… MY bullet pierced her skull...

N-no, no! She… she was gonna kill me! I… I-I-I had to-

“Ah, I see you’re finally awake, feathers.”

I turned my head, my thoughts interrupted by Temper’s voice. The mare was standing in the entrance to the store, her body so covered in blood that anypony who didn’t know otherwise might have thought her coat was red.

“You like the dye job?” Temper grinned, twirling uncharacteristically, like some kind of ballerina from Tartarus. “I’m thinking of keeping it.”

“Wha…” the sight of Temper put me at a loss for words. “What-”

“Town guard, real big guy. I don’t know how, but he fuckin’ snuck up on me. Had to stab him a couple times, but he got the message. By which I mean he died. Oh, and while I’m thinking about it:”

WHAM!

I practically spun from the impact of Temper’s hoof, my face hitting the counter inches from the corpse of the shopkeeper. I struggled to stand up, the impact site burning from the pain.

“That’s for fuckin’ dropping me. Now come on, help me load up your saddlebags.”

I stumbled towards the door, my brain desperately trying to function while I recovered from the blow. As I emerged from the store, light shined down into the town, presenting me with the aftermath of the previous night’s battle. Just from where I was standing, I could see four ponies that Temper had gunned down, as well as the one that I… The one Temper didn’t kill. I could see bullet holes in every surface, various objects left in splinters from the combat. Everywhere I looked, I saw nothing but death, decay, and misery.

I turned to face Temper, my body filling with a strange mixture of sadness and rage as she carefully picked through the items from the store. Slowly, I approached her.

“This… this is what you do?”

Temper turned, looking at me as though I had asked if there were clouds in the sky.

“It’s too late for you to back out if that’s what you mean. Like I told you, you’re MY slave now. You’ll do whatever I tell you to do, even if you don’t like it.” Temper turned back to her goods, stuffing as much ammo as she could into her pockets.

“How… they were…” I grit my teeth, tears beginning to pool in my eyes as I tried to make sense of everything. “They were just trying to live their lives, weren’t they? How can you just… just kill them like that?”

“Eh.” Temper shrugged. “It’s just part of wasteland life.”

I stared at Temper, mouth hanging agape. She sickened me more and more with every day I spent with her.

“That stallion in the store called us monsters.”

“I’ve heard worse.”

“He said Raider scum are all-”

“Who the fuck cares what he said? He’s dead now, not like it matters what he thinks.” Temper stopped filling up on ammo, turning to face me. “And don’t compare me to those other raiders. They’re so much fuckin’ worse than I am. Believe me, if you saw half the shit they do, you’d be begging to be my slave.”

I turned away, unwilling to look at Temper. Worse than you? I’m quickly finding that harder and harder to believe.

“Hey, you gonna help me out, or am I gonna have to stab you too?”

I shuddered, quickly turning to fill my saddlebags with whatever my psychopathic captor wanted to keep.

~~~~~~~~~~

“Alright then, that’s all of it! Let’s get out of here before anypony shows up. And we’re using the fuckin’ entrance this time.”

She didn’t have to tell me twice. I started trotting towards the front building of Rainston, whatever it was. Maybe a public transport building? There was a stand that reminded me of the map-stands up in the clouds, so it must have been somewhere ponies went to find their way around. Either way, it was clearly the only building to have been here before the war, judging from the state it was in.

As I entered the building, I noticed some pre-war bits out of the corner of my eye. An image popped into my mind: it was me, sitting at home, a rare coin collector showering me in bits as he payed me for some rare coins from before the war.

Oh sure, brain. Why the fuck not? We’ve already stolen everything there is in this town, not to mention MURDERED everypony in it, so what more have I got to lose? Let’s just steal even MORE stuff, solely in the name of greed! I’m sure that will make EVERYTHING better.

In a fit of self-contained rage, I quickly took a detour over to the table, throwing the bits into my bag.

There, I did it. I took the fucking bits. You happy, brain? Now let’s just… hmm?

Now that the bits were gone, I noticed there was something beneath them. An advertisement of some kind, from the looks of it. I don’t know what it was, but something about the ad caught my eye. Curious, I took a look.

Where will you be when the megaspells fall?

Reserve a spot in a state-of-the-art underground Stable from Stable-Tec!

Stables? I’d heard about those. Massive tunnels dug into the mountainsides, where pegasai from before the war had gone to save themselves from the megaspells. Above the clouds they were few and far between, but there were enough survivors from the vaults that pretty much everypony knew about them. It hadn’t even occurred to me that there would be other Stables below the clouds… although in hindsight, it seems silly to think that they wouldn’t have them. As I took another look at the ad, I noticed something attached to the bottom of it.

Find the nearest Stable to you, so you can know where to go!

Below the words, a small map was laid out, showcasing all the Stables in the area. I picked up the ad, taking a closer look at the map. It was ancient, so the town and city names I knew couldn’t have been accurate, but fortunately somepony from before the war had circled my current location on the map.

A location which, coincidentally, happened to be within a few miles of Stable 6.

A sudden thought entered my head. State-of-the-art… could… could they have Terminals in there? Working Terminals! If they do, then… I could look at the holodisc! I could go home! I felt a smile gracing my lips. Maybe taking those bits would make everything better after all.

All I have to do is get there, but how…

The metaphorical light bulb lit up in my head.

“H-Hey, Temper! What do you know about Stables?”

Author's Note

Level Up

New Perk: Shotgun Surgeon - Your precision with a scattergun is something to behold. When using shotguns, regardless of ammunition used, you ignore an additional 10 points of a target's Damage Threshold.

Chapter 7

“Mom? Mom, are you here?”

Brushstroke glanced away from from her painting, her ears perking up as she heard her son’s voice.

“I’m in the art room, Canvas.” She called back. A few moments later, the mare heard the soft romping of hooves on the stairs. She turned, smiling as she saw her son enter into the room. “Do you need something?”

The colt hesitated, biting his lip as he glanced at the floor. Brushstroke frowned, placing her paintbrush down as she got up.

“Canvas? What’s wrong?”

Canvas looked up, carefully taking a few steps towards his mother.

“Mom? Do… do you and dad hate me?”

The mare froze, shocked by the question her son had just asked. A moment later, she shook her head, tilting it to the side ever so slightly as she looked at her son.

“Canvas, I’m surprised at you!” Brushstroke said, a number of concerns and doubts rushing through her mind. “Why in the world would you think that we hate you?”

The colt paused, wiping away a tear he hadn’t realized was forming.

“I-it’s just… you and dad are always fighting, a-and it’s usually because of me, a-and…”

“Oh, Canvas…” the mare trotted up to her son, pulling him into a warm embrace. “You shouldn’t think things like that. I know your father can be a little… tough, at times, but he doesn’t hate you. Being in the Enclave is just stressful, that’s all.”

“And…” Canvas wrapped his hooves tightly around his mother’s neck, sniffling softly as he failed to hold back tears. “A-and you?”

“Canvas, my perfect trifecta of color...” Brushstroke nuzzled the colt, an action that led to a fit of childish giggles. “I could never hate you. You’re my pride and joy, Canvas. I’ll always love you, no matter what.”

The yellow pegasus smiled, wiping his eyes with a hoof as his mother let go of him.

“I’ll tell you what, Canvas.” Brushstoke said, an idea popping into her head. “Why don’t you help me paint this one? I know how much you enjoy painting.”

“Really?!?” the colt jumped into the air, his eyes growing wide as saucers. “B-but you never let me do stuff to YOUR art…”

“Well, just this once, I think I can make an exception.” Brushstroke smiled, picking up her paintbrush and giving it to Canvas. Canvas grinned, gripping the brush in his mouth and hopping up onto his mother’s back.

“I love you, mom!”

“I love you too, my little artist.” Brushstroke smiled, giving her son one last nuzzle. “Now then, the secret to making these big fluffy clouds is to move the brush in circles…”

~~~~~~~~~~

This can’t be right.

It had taken us long time, but we finally reached the spot on the map. I was beginning to doubt the map’s authenticity, however, because all I could see in front of me was a simple wooden door, embedded in the side of a rock formation, a sickly green water pooling around the base. This… this couldn’t be the Stable, could it? This cracked, fading door was supposed to save the ponies from the horrors of the megaspells? It barely looked like it could protect ponies from the wind.

“You sure that map’s any good, feathers?”

Temper clearly shared in my doubts, taking a few hesitant steps towards the door, like she expected it to explode or something.

“Maybe… maybe we started in the wrong spot? I-I mean, I assumed we were at the circle, but maybe that’s where the pony was going?”

Temper ignored me, finally making her way up to the door and extending her leg carefully as she reached for it. She hesitated for just a moment, her hoof lingering just in front of the handle. With a sharp tug, she pulled it open, quickly jumping back into a battle stance. I started to panic, leaping behind the nearest rock I could find. I waited. First a few seconds. Then a few more. After about a minute, I finally peeked out from behind the rock, wondering why I couldn’t hear anything.

It was probably because nothing had jumped out to attack us. I breathed a sigh of relief, stepping away from the rock and towards the door as I steadied my heart rate.

Alright… this is it. This is finally happening. Once I’m in the Stable, I can find a Terminal, look at the holodisk, and send a message for help. I felt a somewhat giddy smile grace my lips, though I hid it once I got close to Temper. The raider looked at me, her eyebrow raising for a second before she shook her head, pointing me into the wooden door with her gun. I still don’t know how I’m gonna distract Temper… I really hope… that…

As I looked past the door, I gasped, my thoughts trailing off as my voice started to echo.

Clearly, the wooden door was merely a front to keep ponies from finding the shelter, because hidden behind it was a massive open cave, far larger than the door had led me to believe. I looked around at the cool blues and grays of the stone walls, their jagged edges making the dim colors swirl in interesting patterns that I hadn’t thought could occur naturally. Columns and spikes of stone ran along the edges of the cave, almost like strange malformed teeth. A sickly greenish water even dripped from the stone spikes, pooling in a puddle near the center.

But deep in the back of the cave was the thing that truly shocked me. In all honesty, it shouldn’t have, because it was exactly what I had come here searching for in the first place.

A large circular steel door dominated the cave wall, its edges poking out in certain spots, much like the spokes of a gear. The stone around it almost seemed to blend into the hardened gray metal, melding with the door’s housing nearly seamlessly. In the center of the gear, some faded and chipped yellow paint marked the location with a single number:

6

“I think this is the place.” I muttered breathlessly.

“No shit.” Temper nickered, although I could still sense the awe in her voice.

Slowly, I approached the massive steel door, looking for a way to open it. It didn’t take me long – off to the side, a small electrical panel sat, with a single switch placed in the center. I reached out, pulling down on the switch with little resistance.

The room started to rumble. Bits of stone began to crumble from the ceiling, clattering all around me as I stood. A sudden screeching sound made me bring my hooves to my ears, Temper doing the same as the door painstakingly pulled out of its casing, sliding back further into the cave wall. A moment later, the door rolled to the side, the sounds stopped, and I got my first look at the inside of the Stable.

Behind the door was a simple metal room, a mechanical door of some kind situated in the very back. And that was pretty much it. There was a panel off to the side, presumably for opening the door, but beyond that all I could see was a table and a few filing cabinets. I honestly expected more.

I turned to look at Temper, only for the mare to gesture inside with her gun. Nervously, I trotted forwards, entering the room to get a closer look. As I stepped inside, I heard a small, continuous clicking sound. I looked around, searching for the source of the noise, my eyes eventually settling on the table. There wasn’t much there – just a clipboard, a piece of paper, and some kind of scientific device I didn’t recognize. The sound seemed to be coming from the device, so I took a closer look. Whatever it was, it had something like a microphone attached to it, with a small panel that had numbers ranging from “0” to “2K”. There was a needle on the panel as well, hovering somewhere around the “5” on the panel, clicking with every little twitch.

“Aw, fuck.” Temper groaned, looking at the machine. “I should have figured there’d be a catch.”

“Huh?” I asked, raising an eyebrow. “What? What’s wrong?”

Temper rolled her eyes, trotting closer to me.

“That’s what’s wrong.” Temper pointed at the clicking device. “This whole place is irradiated.”

“Irra… wait, like radiation?!?” I stumbled back a bit, almost knocking over the table as I did. “B-but I thought… weren’t the Stables supposed to keep that stuff out?”

“Well, they didn’t do a good fuckin’ job then.” Temper muttered, scowling slightly as she spoke. “Well, whatever. As long as we have a good supply of Rad-Away, we shouldn’t die immediately. You’ve still got the medical stuff, yeah?”

I quickly looked through my saddlebags, double checking my supplies. Back at Rainston, Temper had decided that she would divide up all the stuff we took. I kept the food and medical supplies in my saddlebags, while Temper had strapped everything else somewhere on her armor. I turned back to Temper, nodding in affirmation.

“How many bags of Rad-Away do we have?”

I stared blankly at Temper. After a few seconds, the mare groaned.

“The orange stuff.”

Oh. I looked through my saddlebags.

“Five… n-no, wait, six.”

“Well that’s enough for me.” Temper snickered, trotting further into the Stable. “You better hope we find some more for you, or you might end up with a fuckin’ third wing or something.”

I felt my good wing flare up, my cheeks flushing with warmth as I failed to hide my embarrassment. Does… does she even know what that means?

She probably did.

I sighed, lowering my wing and looking back at the table. As I did, I noticed that the paper had some writing scribbled on it. Curious, I picked up the note.

Mr. Ball-peen;

Based off of the symptoms I’ve been seeing in the residents, it seems as though there may be radiation leaking in through some point in the Stable. I shouldn’t need to tell you how serious of a health concern this is, so I’d like to see the leak fixed as soon as possible.

I’ve instructed my assistant to provide you with my Geiger counter so you can track down the source of the leak, I’d suggest starting near the main Stable door and working your way back, with extra care to check the upper floor, since it might be closer to the outside world.

Please fix this leak as soon as you can, the Stable only has so much Rad-Away. If we run out, I don’t want to think about what might happen.

See me if you find anything,

Dr. Statistic

I turned my head back to the Geiger counter, still steadily clicking away.

Clearly, Mr. Ball-peen wasn’t very good at his job.

“What’s the fuckin’ hold up? Come on, we’re on a time limit here. I can only go so long without Rad-Away.”

I jumped slightly, turning to see Temper’s gun trained on my head. I laughed nervously, stuffing the note in my saddlebags and rushing deeper into the Stable.

~~~~~~~~~~

“Fuck, this place is a dump.”

As we trotted deeper into the Stable, I couldn’t help but find Temper’s assessment painfully accurate. Every inch of the Stable’s halls had some sign that the Stable had been in a state of disrepair for a long, long time. Dust and dirt littered the ground, leaving a faint dusty cloud behind us wherever we walked. Most of the walls were covered in stains, at least in the places the flickering lights hadn’t made them fade first. All along the halls, there were doors similar to the one at the start of the Stable. Unfortunately, every single one was just a small supply closet, and even those were in terrible shape – the shelves had completely fallen off the walls, their contents scattered across the tiny room. The worst part was that most of them didn’t even have anything useful in them. No potions, no weapons, no food… but most importantly, no Terminals.

…I suppose it would be weird to have Terminals in a closet though, wouldn’t it? They must be… huh?

“W-wait, hold up, Temper.”

Even without looking at the mare, I could feel her death glare piercing into the back of my head.

“Th-th-the path’s blocked.” I stuttered, pointing a hoof ahead. “I-it looks like the tunnel caved in or… o-or something.”

Temper stretched her neck, glancing past me as she observed the massive pile of stones and dirt that had somehow broken through the walls of the reinforced shelter. The mass of wasteland had completely blocked the path ahead, leaving only a single closet door ahead of us.

“Well great.” Temper spat, approaching the one remaining door. “This whole adventure better not have been a waste of my fuckin’ time.”

Without warning, Temper spun, bucking the door in frustration. The door, clearly upset by the violent assault, retreated into the ceiling, revealing that I had been wildly incorrect about what was behind it.

The door led into a large open room, a room which was completely featureless in design except for the pillars in each corner that seemed to be holding up twin catwalks. The entire room was as much of a mess as the rest of the stable had been, with posters on the floor, stained and faded walls, and now broken wires hanging from the ceiling as well. I glanced across the middle of the room, looking over some empty tables, and-

“Grrrrraauuugg…”

I froze, mortified by what I saw in front of me.

After days upon days in the wasteland, I finally found the demon ponies I had been promised.

I struggled to comprehend the two creatures that stood on the far side of the room. Their flesh was rotting, with huge chunks of it missing and exposing the muscle structure beneath. Most of their hair looked like it had been burned off, leaving naught but a few errant strands sticking out of the monsters in random splotchy patches. Their eyes were soulless and yellow, their stares seeming to pierce through to my soul. And their teeth… they weren’t quite the fangs I had heard stories of, but even I could tell that a pony’s teeth weren’t meant to be that pointed.

I stood paralyzed, fear overriding my senses, making me unable to flee from the nightmare creatures. But these were far, far worse than any nightmares, because these things were real.

“Grrraugh… grrraaaugh!! HHeeeech!!!”

Without warning, the creatures started charging at us, giving me a minor heart attack as I scrambled back towards the door. Even the way these creatures moved seemed like a horror story… It was like they had forgotten how to use their limbs, and had to settle on flailing their legs about in the hopes that it would push them forwards. Except it was working, and against all logic, they were faster than me.

BANG!!

Fortunately, Temper was faster than both of them.

A bullet launched from Temper’s gun, piercing one of the zombies straight through the head, a sickly red fluid starting to pour from the hole. You’d think that would have killed it, but to my eternal horror the beast kept shambling forwards at breakneck speeds. Even Temper seemed slightly annoyed by this, but only for a moment.

BANG BANG!!

Two more shots, this time hitting the creature in the leg, sending it crashing to the floor. As I watched the creature skid to a stop, I realized that the second zombie was still coming, and fled to get behind a nearby table. Temper barely had a second before she realized the monster’s proximity, quickly reaching down and pulling out her knife. Just as the creature lunged into range, Temper swung her blade, expertly slicing the creature across its throat. The zombie stumbled back, but otherwise paid little mind to the gashing wound as it moved in for another strike.

It was right around then that I realized I could probably make my grand escape just by going back through the door we came in. True, we hadn’t found a Terminal yet, but my priorities were-

“GRAAUGH!!”

GAH, FUCK!!

Before I even took one step out from behind the table, the corpse of the zombie Temper killed suddenly lunged forwards, wrapping its hooves around me. I screamed, desperately trying to shake the monster off, but to no avail. I could feel its squishy and rotten skin, the muscles pulsating ever so slightly as it tried to pull itself in to bite me. As I watched and flailed in horror, the creature brought its head in close, opened its mouth, and-

BANG!!

…immediately collapsed to the floor as a final bullet pierced its eye socket. I quickly shoved the zombie off my leg, scraping my hooves on the floor to remove as much blood and zombie parts as I could.

“Fuckin’ hell,” Temper muttered, reloading her pistol as quick as she could. “I hate ghouls. They rarely go down in one shot.”

“What were those?!?” I yelled, still wiping my hooves on whatever I could find. Temper rolled her eyes, placing the last few bullets into her clip as she trotted up beside me.

“That,” Temper said, pointing a hoof at one of the corpses, “Is what happens to ponies who don’t drink enough Rad-Away. Speaking of, toss me a bag.”

Yeah, no, don’t have to tell me twice. Without even thinking, I dug through my saddlebags and pulled out two bags of the orange liquid, tossing one to Temper and downing the second as quickly as possible.

“Hey! Don’t…”

Too late. By the Time Temper had gotten those two words out, I had drained the sack of medicine, retching slightly at the aftertaste. Temper let out a frustrated groan, bringing a hoof to her face as she did.

“Great, now we only have four bags. Fucking fantastic.” Temper sighed, drinking her bag and kicking me in the rear. “Get moving, the sooner we find something good, the sooner we can get the fuck out of this death trap.”

~~~~~~~~~~

“Nothing.”

I didn’t even need to hear what Temper said afterwards – her sigh alone told me exactly how frustrated she was.

“For fucks sake, seven pony’s rooms and not one of them has anything useful? Are you sure you know what you’re looking for?”

I sighed, trotting from yet another empty room. Once again, our search for loot was turning up absolutely nothing. But that’s not what was on my mind. What was getting to me was that of the seven rooms I had checked, five of them had a Terminal in them… and not one of the Terminals worked. One didn’t have any power, one had a hole punched through, one had the circuits fried… every time I thought I had found what I was looking for, I was pulled straight back into the cruel, harsh reality of the situation.

“W-well, there’s still one more… M-maybe there’s something really good in there?” I offered.

“You better hope there is,” Temper sneered, “Because if we get too far in without anything turning up, I’m pinning it all on you.”

“B-but wh-”

*KKZZSHT-VRRRRR…*

I jumped, startled by the sudden noise. Even Temper seemed to be caught off guard, coming to an abrupt halt as she looked for the source of the sound. As I looked up towards the ceiling, I spotted a small speaker mounted to the wall, just as a voice began to cut through it.

“GREETINGS, MY LITTLE PONIES!!!”

That voice… I honestly cannot find the words to describe it. It was like… like, say you had a regular pony. But then this pony swallowed a bucket of dirt. After smoking every cigarette in the Equestrian Skies. And also possibly every cigarette in the Wasteland.

Now imagine that, but as though it were trying desperately to speak in a high pitched, soothing tone, like a mother would use to talk to a child.

Now imagine it was shouting.

That still doesn’t do it justice, but that’s as close as I can get to properly describing the voice that assaulted my ears.

“What the fuck?!?” Temper jolted around, pointing her gun at the speaker, as though she expected to intimidate whoever was behind it. “Who the hell is this? Show yourself!”

“PLEASE,” The voice screeched, “RELAX YOURSELVES!! PUT YOUR MINDS AT EASE, FOR I MEAN YOU NO HARM!! I WISH ONLY FOR YOU TO FIND PEACE AND HAPPINESS HERE IN MY HUMBLE HOME!!”

“Answer me, dammit!” Temper shouted back. “Who the fuck are you?!?”

A strange huffing sound came from the speaker. For a moment, I thought the speaker was dying. Then I realized that the mystery voice wasn’t wheezing, it was laughing.

“MY LOYAL SUBJECTS, DO YOU NOT RECOGNIZE THE VOICE OF YOUR DEAR PRINCESS CELESTIA??”

What?!? Celestia? As… as in, THE Celestia? But… I, wha… In the midst of my confusion, I started to lower myself to the ground, only to feel a sharp tug as Temper pulled me back to my hooves.

“Don’t bow, you retard!” Temper hissed at me, quickly turning back to the speakers. “I don’t know who the fuck you are, but you sure as hell ain’t Celestia. That bitch has been dead for years.”

The voice paused for a moment, a slight hum coming through the speakers in the background

“PLEASE, FRIENDS,” the voice suddenly resumed. “I KNOW YOU ARE CONFUSED, BUT FEAR NOT!! I MAY NOT BE THE CELESTIA YOU ONCE KNEW AND WORSHIPPED, BUT IT IS STILL I!! THE PRINCESS OF THE SUN AND RULER OF EQUESTRIA!!”

Temper rolled her eyes.

“I WAS REBORN, INTO THE BODY OF ANOTHER PONY!! EVEN NOW I REMEMBER THE MOMENT I DIED, THE BURNING PAIN AND AGONY OF IT ALL AS THE SUN’S FLAMES CONSUMED ME!!”

“You’re fuckin’ mental.” Temper moved around behind me. “Feathers, check that last room so we can keep moving.”

Slowly, I nodded, shaking off my confusion and making my way towards the eighth room in the area.

“I HAVE WAITED HERE, THE SUN’S ENERGY RADIATING OFF OF ME FOR MANY, MANY YEARS!!”

“Temper,” I ignored the voice as best as I could, “I can’t open it. The door’s locked.”

“Ugh, great. Move over, I’ll get it.”

“IT HAS BEEN SO LONG SINCE ANYPONY FROM THE OUTSIDE HAS COME TO VISIT!!”

“What the-?” Temper’s face scrunched up in confusion as she looked over the door. “There’s no lock to pick! How the fuck-”

“TELL ME; WHAT BRINGS YOU TO MY NEW ROYAL CASTLE??”

“Look, bitch.” Temper called out to the psuedo-Celestia. “All I want is to get whatever goods you’ve got here, and then get out. Now will you please shut the fuck up?”

The voice paused, the speakers going dead for a few seconds.

“THEIVERY IS A VERY SERIOUS OFFENSE IN MY KINGDOM.”

“Whatever.” Temper looked over the door for a few more seconds, before groaning, turning back the way we had come in. “This is a bust. C’mon, there’s bound to be some other fuckin’ rooms around here.”

“STOP!! IF YOU STEAL, I WILL BE FORCED TO-”

“SHUT UP!!”

BANG!!

I jumped away, frightened as the speaker exploded into metal fragments, silencing the voice coming through it. I turned to look at Temper, watching her quickly cock and reload her pistol.

“Fucking hell,” Temper groaned, “That has to be the most irritating voice I’ve ever heard. If I never hear it again, it’ll be too fucking soon.”

For once, I couldn’t help but agree.

~~~~~~~~~~

This looks promising.

As Temper and I continued through the Stable, I stopped, pointing up at a placard along the top of one of the doors. It was faded, but I could still make out the words “Medical Bay” printed on it.

“I’d much rather that say ‘Armory’,” Temper growled, “But I guess that’ll do for now. After you, feathers.”

I nodded, approaching the door. With a press of a button, the steel door slid up into the ceiling and I stepped inside.

The door had put me on the end of some kind of mini hallway, which looked to be a staff entrance from what I could see. As I entered the room, I looked off to the right to see a few stretchers laying on the ground, most of which had toppled over onto their sides, knocking over IV tubes and medical trays that had once been at their bedsides. Most of the room was in a similar state of disrepair as the rest of the Stable, with trash lying along the ground and paint chipping off the walls. However, as I looked around, something about the room’s layout put me off. I glanced down, quickly realizing what it was; some of the sheets were laid out not on the stretchers, but directly on the floor. No fancy padding, no mattresses, just straight onto the floor. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed an oddly shaped object under the covers of one of the floor-beds. I started to move closer to it, trying to get a better look…

It was a skeleton.

I reeled back, covering my mouth as I looked at the pony remains. The skeleton was lying down under one of the sets of sheets, completely covered save for the top of his skull. I blinked a few times, trying to rationalize my thoughts as I stared.

M… m-maybe I’m just imagining things… y-yeah, that’s just my living nightmares again, hahaha… p-probably just a-a baseball or something. I’ll go prove it…

Slowly, I reached out for the blanket, hesitating for just a moment before I flung the covers back.

It was definitely not a baseball.

I stumbled back, frantically trying to get away from-

“Gah!” Temper sputtered as I backed into her. “Watch where you’re fuckin’ going!!”

“Ack! I-I-I’m sorry, I was-”

“Grrrraaaauuugggg…”

Oh shit.

I turned towards the moaning, spotting two… what did Temper call them, Ghouls? Whatever, two of those things rushing around the corner, making a beeline straight towards us. I began to panic, turning away to run back down the mini-hall, only to realize that there was no more mini-hall left to run down. All that greeted me was another wall.

BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG!!

Before I could even react, Temper opened fire. In the span of a few short seconds, she unloaded into one of the monsters, driving every bullet straight through its head until it crumpled to the ground, its face nothing more than fleshy swiss cheese. The second creature growled, continuing to charge for Temper as-

“HHeeeecchh!!!”

I jolted upright as a third ghoul appeared around the corner. I saw the ghoul turn, completely ignoring Temper and… OH GOD IT’S COMING STRAIGHT AT ME!! In spite of the wall in front of me, I desperately ran away from the ghoul, my hooves pounding against the metal wall as I hoped in vain to find some other way out. I moved into the corner, my head whipping to look at the zombie as it approached me, its eyes vacantly staring as a greenish drool dripped from its mouth.

BANG!! *click*

Temper pulled her gun from her mouth, starting to reload as one of the ghouls edged closer to her. But she didn’t have the time. Before she could even pull a new clip from her pocket, the zombie moved in close enough to swipe at her, forcing Temper to drop her pistol and pull out her knife. As the two began to brawl, I moved into the opposite corner of the hall, pulling out the Artisan as I stared down the third ghoul. I stood, my hooves trembling slightly as I took aim at-

“You did this…”

I couldn’t fire.

I tensed up, panic beginning to fill inside of me. The world seemed to slow down around me, as I tried desperately to will myself into shooting the approaching zombie, to just bite down and trigger the shotgun, eliminating any danger. But every time I tried, my mind contorted the image in front of me, turning the brain-eating monster into a regular pony right before my eyes. I tried again but it didn’t do any good – they looked too much like ponies. They were ponies, at least if Temper was to be believed.

But they aren’t ponies! Not anymore! They’re… th-they’re just monsters! I have to-

Once again, the scene in front of me changed. But this time, the creature didn’t look like just any pony. I recognized the sky-blue coat, the pink mane that flowed down to her shoulders. And the eyes… even as a figment of my imagination, there was no mistaking those eyes that had glared at me countless times in my childhood.

Sky…

I… I can’t…

The Artisan dropped from my mouth, clattering to the floor as the zombie grew ever closer. I felt myself curl up into a ball, watching as the monster started to lunge forwards. I squeezed my eyes shut, waiting and praying that my death would be swift and-

“Hooves off my slave, bitch!”

My eyes snapped open, looking up as I saw a shadow fall over me. Without warning, Temper had jumped in front of me, blocking the ghoul as she plunged her knife down into the side of its head. With a slight twitch, the ghoul dropped to the ground, blood pouring out of a deep cut right above its eyeball.

I turned to Temper, slightly awestruck as I looked at her. I could see her panting heavily, her own blood beginning to seep out of multiple spots on her chest and legs. And I’m not certain on this, but I think there was a chunk of one of her mowhawks missing. As I watched Temper turn back towards the zombie that had first attacked her, I realized that she had just saved me.

Temper had just saved me.

BANG!!

One shot from her gun, and the last of the ghouls dropped dead on the floor. I started to get up, opening my mouth to-

“Ggrrrraaauuuggg…”

Oh for- another one? Sure enough, a fourth ghoul ran out from behind a simple curtain door, turning to face us as it growled and snarled. The ghoul started to trot in closer, only to stop and…

Wait, is that a horn?

I only had a split second to react as one of the stretchers suddenly came flying towards us. Temper quickly dove out of the way, and I moved to do the same. Unfortunately, I wasn’t quite fast enough – a fact made very clear as the stretcher slammed into my back leg, eliciting a scream of pain as I felt the whole thing force itself to bend in a way it never should have been able to. I crashed to the floor, clutching my leg and praying that it hadn’t broken – one shattered limb was plenty. I managed to crane my head back towards the unicorn zombie, watching as his horn flared with a magical energy, the glow slowly starting to envelope another stretcher and lift it off the ground.

BANG!!

The magic stopped, Temper’s bullet smashing into the side of the unicorn’s horn. It wasn’t enough to shatter it, but it did break off a large chunk of the rotted appendage. The ghoul stumbled back, hissing and screeching at us as it did. Temper smirked, trotting towards the creature, her steps slightly staggered from her wounds.

“Send ‘Celestia’ my regards.”

BANG BANG BANG!!

Temper unleashed the full force of Tartarus onto the beast. When she was done, all that remained of the unicorn ghoul’s head was a mangled, bloody mess. Satisfied with her destruction, Temper turned back to me, kneeling alongside me as I sat in agony.

“Hey, hoof me a fuckin’ healing potion, will ya?”

“B-but…” I grit my teeth, wincing as I tried to speak. “My leg, it-”

“I’m sure it’s fine.” Temper groaned, reaching into my saddlebags and pulling out a potion herself. “Quit being a pansy.”

Nearly the second it touched her lips, I could see her wounds starting to fade away, cuts and bruises healing in the blink of an eye. As she drank her potion, Temper glanced down at me, her irritated expression betraying a hint of a grimace as she spied my twisted leg. She grabbed hold of me and pulled me to my hooves, but the second she let go the pain in my leg flared up, burning so intensely that I fell to the ground. I winced, looking up at Temper as she rolled her eyes.

“Fuck, kid.” Temper groaned, “Can you even stand?”

I tried to pull myself up onto my hooves, but once again the pain dragged me back to the floor. With an irritated sigh, Temper moved around behind me, positioning herself over my twisted leg. She scrutinized the wound, eyeing it from every angle, even prodding it once, eliciting jolt of pain strong enough to make me scream. With a smirk, she prodded it a few more times, relishing in my agony as I writhed about, completely at her mercy. Finally, after she had gotten her fill of torture, she stopped, giggling somewhat maniacally as I whimpered.

“Well it ain’t broken, thank Celestia’s vag. Just dislocated.” Temper bent down, placing one hoof on my lower leg and another-

WOAH there, Temper! I yelped, blushing as Temper’s other hoof reached around to the inside of my leg. I turned back to look at her, just in time to catch the mare’s lips turning up in a sly grin.

“Maybe I should let you have a Rad-Away.” Temper snickered, “I think I feel that third wing starting to grow.”

I blushed harder. She knows. Temper laughed, turning her attention back to my leg.

“Now hold still,” Temper commanded, “I’m gonna pop it back into place. And don’t be a pussy about it – it won’t hurt a bit.”

I nodded, looking away as I fought to hold back my tears. Without warning, Temper yanked on my leg, and I screamed, feeling a burning pain course through my body, a pain rivaled only by the pain I had felt when I first broke my wing. Temper snickered as I flailed about, tears streaming from my eyes.

“Whoops, I lied.”

I grit my teeth, slowly bringing myself to my hooves, and immediately realizing that it no longer hurt like a bitch to do so. With my pain gone, I trotted over to grab the Artisan, my thoughts lingering on Temper’s actions as I did. I felt better – I really did. And that was exactly the problem.

Why is she doing this for me? She hates me, doesn’t she? So shouldn’t she-

“There.” Temper grunted. “Now that you can fuckin’ move again, help me look around this place. If I’m lucky there will be some Rad-Away hidden somewhere.”

~~~~~~~~~~

I don’t think I could have been having worse luck if I had tried.

Even after Temper and I had scoured the medical center, we had come up with hardly anything between the two of us. On my end, I had managed to find a half-empty healing potion and a magic bandage (which, as I learned from Temper’s reaction, was nowhere near as amazing as it sounded). Oh, and another broken Terminal. Temper, meanwhile, had only found a single bag of Rad-Away which (of course) she drank on the spot. That left us with four more to get through the rest of the Stable. I prayed we wouldn’t need them all.

“Son of a…” Temper groaned, kicking at the door in front of her. “I swear, all the good stuff is behind the locked doors, I just know it! Feathers, go check that other door, and don’t come out unless you find something worth taking!”

I rolled my eyes, but I walked over to the only other door in the room. Slowly, I went inside, approaching something that looked like an advanced stretcher, with mechanical parts to move it up and down, and lights all around it. I stepped in closer, trying to get a better look, when I caught something out of the corner of my eye. I turned my head, glancing over to a table along the wall. I felt my eyes widen as I looked – another skeleton, seated upright in a chair, its limbs propped against the table.

I tasted a little bit of vomit in the back of my throat, but I managed to ignore it, trotting up to the table to get a closer look at the equine remains. I could see a horn protruding from the middle of the skull, making it fairly obvious what kind of pony it had been. I started to back away, fearing that some kind of ancient black magic would still be housed within the evil unicorn’s remains, but then I saw what the pony was wearing. It was faded, tattered, and barely held together, but it was very clearly a lab coat. I could even see a little name tag, just as stained and destroyed as the rest of the garment. My curiosity got the better of me, and I reached out, hesitating for a moment before I grabbed the coat, lifting it slightly to get a better look at the name.

Dr. Variable R. Statistic

I paused for a second, coughing a few times in the silence. Slowly, I brought out the note I had grabbed back in the first room in the Stable. My eyes began to dart between the two sources, the correlation dawning on me in a heartbeat. I quickly pushed away from the skeleton, avoiding the potentially cursed remains to see if the doctor had left anything useful on his desk. To my ever-growing despair, he didn’t have a Terminal on his desk, but he did have a notebook. I looked at the pages, hoping that maybe there would be some hundred-year-old clue hidden inside to help me. With no real idea of where to start, I looked at the earliest entry I could find.

Day 8

Eight days in to our fight for survival, and we’ve gotten our first patient. Mrs. Morning Dew, our resident school teacher if I recall correctly. Fortunately, there wasn’t much wrong with her. Mild nausea, coughing – typical symptoms of the flu. Nothing a little bed rest won’t fix, although I must admit I had hoped we’d be able to keep diseases like that out of our enclosed Stable. Then again, I suppose I wouldn’t have much of a job if that were the case. I’ll check in with her in a few days.

Dr. Statistic

I coughed. Well that was a dud. I flipped forwards a few pages, skimming over some minor patient reports until I found some more interesting passages.

Day 13

Something is very clearly wrong. I’m beginning to suspect that the disease currently spreading around the Stable isn’t flu at all – the symptoms don’t match up anymore. If the overmare would get someone to retrieve my proper medical equipment then I could have a better idea what was going on… although, now that I think about it, there is one thing it could be… I’ll have to see if I kept that Geiger counter of mine. I sincerely hope my suspicions are wrong.

Dr. Statistic

Day 16

I’ve given my Geiger counter to Mr. Ball-peen, with any luck he should be able to find the radiation leak. Until then, I’ve decided to ration our Rad-Away, to make sure that it will last until the problem is solved. I only pray that Ball-Peen is a fast worker.

Dr. Statistic

Day 27

I do wish Mr. Ball-Peen would stop being so stubborn when there are so many lives at stake. It’s been over a week since we discovered the problem, but still he insists that the whole Stable is intact. I’ve tried to tell him, show him that simply can’t be the case, but he ignores me, telling me it’s my fault for not healing the patients. I suppose, in some respects, it is partially my fault for not noticing the problem sooner… but I must keep on. There are lives to save, and I hardly have the time to keep writing.

Dr. Statistic

Day 30

We lost one.

Little Sandy didn’t make it through the night.

Dr. Statistic

I paused for a moment as I read. As I glanced over at the final page – the one that had been open when I entered the room – I saw tiny red splatters and smears over top of the words, faded remnants of some kind. A took a breath, and continued reading.

Day 41

The nurses keep trying to get me to drink some Rad-Away. I’ve told them I’ve had my fair share, and that the patients need it more. With any luck, they’ll continue to believe me.

All the medical records show that I’m nearing the limit for exposure to Radiation. Seeing as I won’t have much longer, I guess that makes these my final words.

To all the patients here, to all of you who have suffered under my care and cried for those who continue to suffer under my watch, I am sorry. I have failed you in the most basic aspects of being a doctor. I onl

I scrunched up my muzzle, looking as the words abruptly stopped, only to pick up one line later with much cruder hoofwriting.

It looks like my magic’s starting to fade. My apologies to whoever tries to read this – it’s been ages since I held a quill in my mouth.

I only hope that you can find it in your hearts to forgive me. I’ve messaged the overmare, and she’ll be taking control over the medical inventory, effective immediately. My nurses are well trained, they should be able to take care of you in my absence. Even if I don’t die tonight, I feel I am no longer fit to take care of you wonderful ponies.

Don’t worry, Morning. I’ll make sure Sandy’s feeling alright.

Dr. Statistic

I pulled away from the notes, looking back at the skeleton in his chair. As I looked him over, my eyes lingered, focusing on the pony’s horn. For a moment, my thoughts conflicted, trying to juxtapose the image of the caring and concerned doctor with the image of unicorns that I had been warned about for years and years. Something simply wasn’t adding up. This wasn’t a monster. This wasn’t a pony who was going to use evil magic to destroy you and everything you loved. This was a doctor. A wise, intelligent doctor, one who dedicated his life to healing the sick, and one who felt deep sadness when he couldn’t.

This doesn’t make sense… The Enclave has had historians looking into this stuff for years, so they can’t be wrong. Yet, this looks like… I snuck another look at the Doctor’s journal. Yeah, this is a private journal. Written hundreds of years ago, no less! It’s not like he’s gonna lie to himself, so his notes can’t be wrong either… but then who’s wrong? Did the Enclave make a mistake? I don’t-

“For fuck’s sake, what’s taking you so long?”

Eep!

I whipped my head around, Temper standing angrily in the doorway.

“I, uh, I… I-I’m sorry, I got distracted, a-and I-”

WHAM!

My vision momentarily blacked out, my head slamming against the wall as Temper roundhouse punched me.

“We don’t have time for fuckin’ distractions.”

I pulled myself from the wall, the room spinning around me as I tried to regain my balance. In my confusion, I stumbled into some kind of switch mounted to the wall. I turned to look at the switch, just in time to see a small panel on it change from “locked” to “unlocked”. I turned back to Temper, the mare grinning as she looked at the switch.

“On second thought,” Temper snickered, “Maybe your distractions aren’t that bad after all. C’mon, let’s check the fuckin’ door.”

Slowly, I made my way out of the room, leaving the doctor to his tomb as Temper followed right behind me.

~~~~~~~~~~

“Jackpot!”

Temper grinned as she looked around the room, and I couldn’t help but smile a bit myself. The room we had entered wasn’t all that big, but the tiny space made up for it with piles upon piles of all the medical supplies I could have ever wanted. Healing potions, magical bandages, antivenom… even some supplies I’d never seen before, like little needles labeled “Med-X”.

Unfortunately, there was a significant lack of Rad-Away, something my churning stomach was not too happy with.

“You go sweep the left side,” Temper ordered, a slight spring in her voice as she spoke. “I’ll nab the center aisles.”

I nodded, coughing as I moved to gather the supplies. As I began placing items into my rapidly-filling saddlebags, I glanced over at Temper, a slight nagging sensation washing over me as I looked at the mare. My mind was lingering on that last battle, what Temper had done afterwards. I tried to push it to the back of my mind, but my curiosity got the better of me.

“Temper?”

The mare paused, slowly craning her head towards me.

“What?”

I flinched as Temper spat the word at me. Still, I pressed on.

“…why did you save me back there?”

“You’re not worth shit to me if you’re dead.” Temper scoffed. “That holds true regardless of whether or not I end up keeping you around.”

I went quiet, the two of us returning to taking items from the shelves.

“…what about my leg?”

“What about it?”

“I-I just…” I faltered slightly in my speaking, a few coughs erupting from within me as I stopped. “Why did you fix it?”

“Why wouldn’t I?” Temper countered. “You’re just slowing me down if you can’t walk.”

Temper went quiet for a moment. Out of nowhere, my stomach heaved, nearly causing me to vomit on the shelf in front of me. I managed to hold it back, with just the faintest taste of bile reaching the back of my throat.

“I wouldn’t have had to fix it anyways if you had just shot the damn things.” Temper said, raising an eyebrow as she glanced towards me. “The fuck was that about, anyways? You didn’t have any problems shooting other wasteland creatures.”

I tensed up, thinking back to the fight, watching as the ghouls shifted and changed in my mind’s eye.

“Th-they…” I let out a sigh. “They look too much like ponies. A-and after Rainston, I-”

“Oh for fuck’s- are you still thinking about that?!?” Temper groaned as she ceased looting, instead trotting straight up to me and staring me in the eyes. “This isn’t even remotely similar to Rainston! These things aren’t even ponies!!”

“But they were!” I countered. “You said that was what happened to ponies when they get too irradiated, so they were ponies at some point!”

“But they aren’t ponies!!” Temper seethed. “Not anymore they aren’t. They don’t have any fuckin’ brains or personality left in them, they’re just mindless fuckin’ creatures. No better than a radroach or a bloodwing or a bloatsprite.”

“I… b-but-”

“Look, feathers.” Temper spoke, her voice taking an unnaturally calm tone for her. “If it helps you not be a pussy in fights, then look at it this way. Those ghouls? They’re already fuckin’ dead. They just don’t quite realize it yet, so a couple a bullets through their head should make it pretty clear. You get what I’m saying?”

I coughed, reluctantly beginning to nod in agreement.

“Good.” Temper muttered, starting to turn away. “You know, one of these days, you’re gonna have to kill another pony. That’s just the way it is down here. Rule number one, remember?”

As I started to rebut, I felt another surge of unease in my stomach. I took a few deep breaths, hoping to stop the inevitable vomit, but it was no use. Before I was quite aware of it, I had expelled my lunch all over the floor.

Temper paused, her face taking on an expression I couldn’t quite identify… it wasn’t quite disgust, but it didn’t look like she was irritated either… at least until she rolled her eyes. I held still, leaning against one of the shelves in the room as I tried not to focus on the taste in my mouth. As I wiped the vomit from my mouth, I felt something smack against my head, my hooves flailing in mild panic as I tried to grab it.

A bag of Rad-Away.

“Found it in the corner.” Temper muttered. “You need it more than me right now.”

I clutched the bag in my hooves, staring at Temper as she trotted back to continue looting her side of the room. Slowly, in-between coughs, I started to smile. I sucked down the orange liquid, the disgusting aftertaste a relatively pleasant replacement for straight vomit. Almost immediately, I felt my nausea begin to fade away.

“Temper?”

The mare turned back, raising an eyebrow as she looked at me.

“Thanks.”

Temper scoffed, turning back to the task at hoof.

“You owe me 40 caps for that.”

~~~~~~~~~~

With the Medical Center looted, Temper directed me towards the opposite end of the room, leading me into what looked like it had once been a lobby of sorts. I walked through the veiled curtain that separated it from the rest of the office, taking in the layout of the room – lots of benches, an overturned table… I think I even saw a toy train in the corner.

Slightly more noticeable, however, was the makeshift barricade in front of the door. Whatever it was the ponies in here had been trying to keep out, it had managed to get in, judging from the shifted couches and broken tables (one of which, to my discomfort, had a skeleton hanging limply off the side of it).

“Good, the door’s clear.” Temper commented. “Now I don’t have to waste my fuckin’ time making you clear the debris.”

I stepped around the debris, carefully moving towards the door. With a deep breath, I poked my head through, looking around the corners to make sure there were no ghouls. Once I was sure the coast was clear, I nodded back towards Temper, who forcefully pushed me out into the hall.

Almost immediately, I spotted another door, not too far down from where we were. I moved in closer to take a look, noticing that the door was already open. I looked up, spotting another sign, marking the location as a Repair Station.

“Seriously, where the fuck is the armory?” I turned back towards Temper, her face scrunching up in frustration as she talked. “I swear, if there are no guns in this place I’ll-”

“AH, THERE YOU ARE!!”

Temper’s eyes shot wide open, her teeth grinding together as the unwelcome voice pierced both of our ears.

“GAH!” Temper shouted. “Fucking hell, not you again!”

“PLEASE, MY SUBJECTS, CALM YOURSELVES!!” the voice continued to screech. “I MUST INSIST THAT YOU CEASE YOUR VILLANOUS WAYS!! THIS IS NOT-”

“Shut up, you fraud!” Temper yelled, finally finding the speaker “Celestia” was speaking through. “And stop calling us subjects!”

The voice paused, some indistinguishable murmuring echoing through the halls.

“Ugh, c’mon feathers, there ought to-”

“I AM SORRY IF I HAVE OFFENDED YOU-”

BANG BANG BANG BANG!!

The voice went dead as the speaker exploded under a hail of bullets.

“As I was saying…” Temper seethed, my ears folding flat against my head as I looked at the furious expression on the mare’s face. “There ought to be something in there. You better hope it’s something good.”

I nodded nervously, frantically trying to open the door. With a slight stutter, the steel barrier slid away, revealing a room filled with tables. All sorts of tools, screws, and little machines littered the tops of them, almost like some kind of mad scientist’s lab, but if the scientist was a mechanic instead. Off in the back of the room, I spotted another door, seemingly leading into a separate room. I stepped towards it, trying to see if there was any indication of what was inside. Fortunately, there was another sign running along the top of the door. Unfortunately, this one was faded beyond recognition. The only word I was able to pick out was “Auto,” which didn’t really tell me much. Temper stepped beside me, scratching behind her ear as she looked at the sign.

“Maybe it’s a separate workshop?” I offered meekly.

Temper responded by smacking me upside the head.

“I don’t care what it is, retard.” Temper said, her voice a slight growl. “Just get in there and take whatever looks valuable. I’ll sweep over this room.”

“Why do you-”

*click*

“Sorry, what was that?” Temper asked, tilting her head slightly as she held up her gun.

I shuddered, quickly opening the door. With a smirk, Temper turned away, and I carefully stepped inside, seeing if I could find anything that “looked valuable.”

I found something even better.

The inside of the room was small, barely big enough for four ponies to stand in comfortably. The walls were lined with shelves holding all sorts of tools, from simple hammers to mechanical drills, even a few stranger things I couldn’t identify. The center of the room was dominated by a large device I’d never seen before, a big mechanical arch shape with a large hole built into the side of it. All around the inside of the arch, little robotic claws and tools sat at the ready, waiting for some unknown purpose.

But none of that interested me. The thing that caught my full attention was a table, shoved off to the side of the room. More importantly, what was on top of it.

A Terminal.

And from the look of it, a working Terminal.

I glanced behind me, double checking the door. From this angle, Temper would never see me. Could… could this be it? Is this my chance? I could almost feel the planets lining up, it was too good to be true. Before I got my hopes up too high, I maneuvered myself in front of the Terminal, sitting down in a strange chair and barely holding back a squeal of delight when I saw that it wasn’t smashed and destroyed.

With the press of a button, the device sparked to life, the screen glowing a faint green as various words appeared on the screen. I reached forward, my hoof trembling as I began absentmindedly looking through the various options. This was it, I knew it! I was finally going to go home! I reached into my saddlebags, pulling out the holodisk as quickly and quietly as I could. With almost surgical precision, I slotted it into the machine, waiting as the disc’s information booted up over the existing programs.

Before I even knew it, the words on the screen blinked away, new words being written overtop of them.

PROPERTY OF THE GRAND PEGASUS ENCLAVE

CLASSIFIED INFORMATION NOTICE

Enter Passcode 1

Passcode? Shit, I didn’t think about that… I don’t know what the passcode would be… With no other choices available, I selected the first option.

CLASSIFIED INFORMATION NOTICE

The information contained within this disc is classified Enclave information, clearance level delta. If you are not Enclave personnel, cease all operations with this disk and contact your local authorities. If you are Enclave personnel and you do not have clearance level delta or higher, please return this disc to your commanding officer ASAP. Any unauthorized ponies found accessing or attempting to access this data will be detained and tried in military court. Unauthorized Enclave personnel found accessing or attempting to access this data will also be subject to court martial and may be dishonorably discharged from the Enclave.

I bit my lip as I read the words on the screen. There’s nothing here… I could get in so much trouble for looking at this… should I?

I quickly shook my head, backing out to the main menu of the disk as I selected the second option. This is my only chance. I have to take it, no matter the cost.

Enter Authorization Passcode 1

[]

I looked at the blinking cursor for a few seconds, racking my brain as I tried to think of something Windspeed would use as a password.

Hmm… “WONDERBOLT”?

Passcode incorrect. 3 attempts remaining.

Damn, I thought… wait, what?!? Three attempts? I only get three more tries at this?

“Find anything yet?”

I tensed up, Temper’s words startling me from the screen.

“Ah, no, no…” I laughed nervously. “N-nothing much yet. Just some old tools.”

“Well keep looking. I don’t have all day.”

“G-got it! Heh heh…”

With Temper satisfied for a short time, I turned my attention back to the screen. It suddenly dawned on me just how much was riding on guessing this password. This wasn’t just trying to guess what my friend was thinking of. This was my one shot at freedom. This was my nice warm bed, my family, my friends. This was an end to the nightmares, an escape from the constant fear of death. This was never having to kill anything ever again, pony or otherwise. In many respects, this truly was life or death.

All of that, hanging by a thread from a few buttons on a keyboard.

Ok, I need to take this much more seriously. It’s not “WONDERBOLT”, but what else would Windspeed use as a password? It would have to be something that only he would use, something memorable to HIM specifically. “SPEED”? “FLYING”? “ENCLAVE”, maybe?

No, those are too generic. It would need to be something important to him, even if it wasn’t important to anypony else. Something he really values…

I paused for a moment as a weirdly touching thought entered my head.

“CANVAS”.

Passcode incorrect. 2 attempts remaining.

Fuck. I’m not sure why I expected that to be his password, but a part of me felt wounded that it wasn’t. Alright, words aren’t doing it… I’ve gotta think this through harder. Let’s see… maybe I’m looking at this wrong. It’s an Enclave disk, maybe the passcode is something THEY set up, not Windspeed specifically. It could just be a random number, couldn’t it? But what?

Maybe it’s a date? Some important date in Wonderbolt history, perhaps? It was a longshot, but I typed it in anyways. I had to try something, and I didn’t have any leads to go off of.

Maybe it’s the date they were founded? I’ll try that… “120894”.

Passcode incorrect. !!! Warning: Lockout imminent !!! 1 attempt remaining.

I could feel sweat starting to pool on my brow. I was so close now, I had made it so far. Everything was leading up to this moment. I had to get into this holodisk. There wasn’t another option. I only had once chance left, I couldn’t afford to fuck it up.

My hooves trembled as I held them over the top of the keyboard. I tried to think of other things that could be the password, numbers, words, anything. But each time I typed one in, I deleted it immediately. What if I was wrong? This was my last chance, if I entered the wrong password, then that was it. Game over. I racked my brain, trying to narrow down every possibility. I tried to think over everything I knew about the Enclave, every single detail that could help me discern a password.

Finally, I narrowed it down to one word. The key ability of every member of the Wonderbolts, the move that Windspeed had trained for his entire life to be able to pull off.

“RAINBOOM”

I typed the password in, hesitating as I looked at the “enter” key.

If… if I’m wrong, then… n-no, no, I can’t think like that. I have to be right. It’s simple, I just press the enter key, and then I’ll be in… right? B-but then again, if it’s not right, then I’m done for. I’m as good as dead.

I… I should back out. Make absolutely sure I’ve got the right password. I started to pull my hooves away, already going over all my-

“Feathers! What’s taking you so long?”

I jolted upright in my seat, my hooves slamming down on the keyboard as I reacted to Temper.

Slamming right down on the enter key.

Passcode incorrect. 0 attempts remaining.

“No!” I screamed out at the Terminal, desperately pressing buttons on the keyboard in an attempt to undo my last action. “No, no no no no! Please, no! Don’t-”

Lockout Sequence Activated. Please wait 24 hours or reinsert holodisk into a separate Terminal to try again.

I froze. I stared at the words on the screen, my mind completely and utterly numb. I knew that things were still happening around me. I could tell that the holodisk was being automatically ejected from the Terminal. I knew that Temper was yelling at me from out in the hall. But none of it mattered. My mind locked on the Terminal, the holodisk’s words already blinking away.

I lost.

I felt tears well up in my eyes, blurring my vision as I looked at the Terminal. I blinked a few times, unsuccessfully trying to clear them out. I could feel them, continuing to pool around my eyes. When they couldn’t pool any more, I felt them start to streak down my face. I didn’t even bother to stop them or wipe them away. I had wasted my time. I had wasted every second I had been down here on the wasteland floor. Every word I had said to Temper, every bullet I had fired from my gun, every life I had reluctantly taken… all of it had hinged on this, on finding a terminal, getting into the holodisk, trying to find something, just one little thing that could help me.

And I had failed.

I cried. I couldn’t afford to wait a whole day to try again. Temper would have dragged me out of the Stable by that point, and I doubted I’d live long enough to see another. And finding another working Terminal? It had taken me days just to find this one. Who knew how long it’d be before I found another?

That was it. I was stuck here, forever trapped in the Wasteland. I’d never go home again, never feel the soft clouds under my hooves again, never see my mom again… oh God, I might never have a chance to paint again!

An image flashed to my mind. A familiar turquoise pegasus, snickering as he jabbed a hoof at me playfully.

I’ll never see Windspeed again.

I felt my chest tighten up. My only friend in the world… the pony I’d known longer than practically anypony else… he was gone. In that moment, I realized how much I missed him. Even with how little we saw each other nowadays, we still did go and see each other when we could. We’d talk about what was going on, laugh about stupid things. Even when we couldn’t see each other, we’d still send each other letters, just talking about life. I realized that I’d never get another letter from him, never see his smiling face again, never hear his laugh again…

I broke down, my loud sobs filling the room. I didn’t care if Temper saw me. I didn’t care if I got beaten. I didn’t even care if I got killed. I almost wanted to be killed, right then and there. Just have something put me out of my misery. I had made it through poisoned air, radiation, bloatsprites and a homicidal maniac to get back home, to be able to see my old life and my only friend once again. And it was all useless.

I-I’m… I’m stuck here… forever...

I placed my hooves on top of the keyboard, folding them together as I accepted defeat. I buried my head in my hooves, trying my best to hide my sobs as-

*Kssh* “hhoooELLO!”

My ears perked up, disturbed by the strange voice. I glanced up at the Terminal, one of the functions flashing on the screen. I must have pressed something by accident. In spite of everything, I still felt my head lift up, trying to locate the source of the noise. I found it in the form of a speaker mounted to the side of the unknown machine in the middle of the room.

“Welcome to the Automated PipBuck Repair Station!” The voice continued with a soothing, feminine tone. “Here for all your PipBuck needs!”

Just another remnant of the past. I lowered my head back to the table, barely even listening as the machine started talking about scientific who-really-cares.

“Please wait while we scan your PipBuck for necessary repairs! Scanning…”

A node on the machine suddenly illuminated, bathing me in an eerie blue light as I sat at the table. I turned, trying to move away from the light, only for the light to follow my movements.

“Um… n-no, no thanks. I don’t need any-”

“ERROR. ERROR.” I jumped slightly, the soothing voice suddenly being replaced with harsh, robotic tones. “SUBJECT DOES NOT HAVE A PIPBUCK.”

“Uh, yeah...” Slowly, I started getting up from the chair, the machine’s light following me with every little movement. “Don’t really need repairs if I don’t have a pip-thingy.”

“Hey!” Temper’s voice came in from the hall. “Who the fuck are you talking to in there?”

“PIPBUCKS ARE REQUIRED FOR ALL STABLE RESIDENTS WHO HAVE THEIR CUTIE MARKS.” The robotic voice spoke, ignoring my denial. “YOU ARE IN VIOLATION OF THE OFFICIAL STABLE RULES.”

“Look, voice thing?” I spoke up. “I’m sure you’re just doing your job, but this isn’t a good time. Please, could you just leave me alone for-”

“INITIATING AUTOMATIC PIPBUCK APPLICATION.”

…wait, what?

Without warning, the chair tilted back, knocking me into the seat as the armrests latched onto my hooves. I snapped out of my stupor, panicking and pulling against the restraints as much as I could. Unfortunately, it was no good. They were simply too strong for me.

“Hey! L-let go of me!!”

“ERROR: SUBJECT IS RESISTING. TIGHTENING GRIP. ALL STABLE RESIDENTS MUST WEAR A PIPBUCK.” The robotic voice suddenly shifted, its tone switching back to the soothing voice recording. “Please, sit back and relax while your PipBuck is automatically attached!”

“T-Temper!!” I started screaming as the chair started moving towards the mechanical arch. “TEMPER, HELP!!!”

“What the fuck’s going on in there, you…” Temper’s jaw dropped as she entered the room, watching as the chair dragged me around. Slowly, she started to back away, stepping out into the hall as carefully as she could.

“TEMPER!!” I started to hyperventilate, screaming incoherently as the chair situated itself under the machine. Slowly, the arch’s robotic arms began to spring to life, bending away from the arch and towards my left hoof. My mind filled with images of my leg getting mutilated as the claws continued to poke and prod at me with their little metal pinchers. For a moment, the claws retreated, leaving me to strain against the robotic menace, only to return a moment later carrying strangely shaped pieces of metal.

“Please remain calm while your PipBuck is applied. This process has been proven to be safe and painless with 93.6% of tested subjects! Please speak to your Stable’s doctor if you experience swelling, throbbing, nausea, cancerous lumps, or momentary psychotic episodes.”

I felt a sharp stinging sensation as the claws clamped the metal around my hoof, followed by the sounds of mechanical whirring and sparking electronics. I braced myself against the chair, closing my eyes as I prepared for one final push.

Ok, on three… one… two… thr-

“Application complete. Thank you for choosing the Stable-Tec Automated PipBuck Repair Station!”

Instantaneously, the restraints released, causing me to fall forwards mid-tug, collapsing painfully onto the ground in front of me. I groaned, picking myself up as I looked down at my leg, finally seeing just what all that insanity was about.

Clamped onto my leg was a device I’d only seen a few times before – a PipBuck. It was sort of like a terminal, only the screen was shrunk down to about the size of a postcard. It was designed to be attached to a pony’s leg, with all sorts of strange dials and buttons along the sides of the screen for ease of use. At first there wasn’t anything on the screen, just an empty black background. No prompts, no commands, nothing. Hesitantly, I reached out and poked one of the buttons with my hoof.

In an instant, the PipBuck screen flickered to life, and my vision was suddenly invaded by strange symbols and measuring gauges.

And no, I don’t mean on the screen. I mean on the edges of my actual fucking vision, regardless of where I was looking, there were symbols and meters of various shapes and sizes feeding me all sorts of strange information.

Naturally, I started screaming.

~~~~~~~~~~

WHAM!

“Get a fucking hold of yourself, feathers!”

I gasped, my seemingly eternal scream finally done for the time being. I looked up at Temper, the strange symbols still present in the corners of my sight. I looked around, a slight nausea washing over me as the meters followed my gaze around the room, locked in place as though they were attached directly to my eyes.

“Finally!” Temper sighed. “About fuckin’ time you shut up. What the hell happened in here?”

I didn’t say anything, instead electing to hold up my newly Pip-Bucked leg. Temper gazed at the technological marvel, her eyes widening as a low whistle escaped from her lips.

“Well shit, feathers.” Temper said, lifting my hoof to get a better look. “You just find all the cool stuff, don’t you? Where was this? I hope you brought enough for the rest of the class…”

“Th-the arch thing… it put it on me.”

Temper paused, slowly turning around to look at the large mechanical arch. She looked like she was thinking about something, but I could still catch the faintest hint of discomfort on her face.

“I-I mean, if you really want one, I c-could probably-”

“Forget it.” Temper said rather suddenly, pulling me to my hooves as she trotted for the door. “I don’t want one badly enough to go through all that shit. Let’s just keep moving.”

I sighed, nodding as I followed the mare back out into the hall. With the insanity done, I tried to ignore the meters now floating in my face, my focus instead being drawn back to the Terminal situation.

I… I-I can still salvage this, right? Sure, my only reasonable hope for rescue is completely dead to me now, but that doesn’t mean I’m completely done for… r-right? I’ve just gotta think of something else, th-that’s all.

But what else was there? I still couldn’t fly, I was still saddled with Temper, and now I didn’t even have a means of getting a message back home. I closed my eyes, the PipBuck display blinking away, quickly being replaced by a view of my home. I could see every painting inside, almost as clearly as when I had first envisioned them, back when each one was nothing more than a white sheet on an easel.

Slowly, the image in my mind began to change. Dust started to cover the furniture. The colors slowly started to fade as unknown strangers came in and took my artwork away. I saw my mother walk through, a black veil covering her face. I could hear her soft weeps as she turned away, burying her face in her hooves, unable to look at the room any longer.

I wanted to say something to her. Even though it was just a figment of my imagination, I wanted to yell out to her, tell her that I wasn’t dead. I almost did. But before I could even open my mouth, I opened my eyes, the scene in my mind fading back to the dull, repeated grays of the Stable. As the PipBuck’s lights invaded my vision once more, I felt my ears droop, my whole body sagging ever so slightly as my walking slowed. Tears started to pool in my eyes, masking the world in an ugly, blurry filter.

“Hey, keep moving.” Temper spat, shoving me from behind. “We don’t have forever, feathers.”

I looked back at Temper, locking eyes with her for a moment before continuing forwards.

Sh-she’s right… I can’t waste time thinking like this. I… My thoughts stopped as I let out a cough. I have to at least make it out of this Stable. I can gather my thoughts once I’m safe… well, SAFER. There’s… I have to stay strong, for now. I’ll make it through this alright. I-I know I will.

I didn’t believe it for a second. Every instinct in my body wanted to just sit there and let the radiation slowly kill me. Maybe I’d turn into a ghoul, still alive, but free from-

“PLEASE, MY SUBJECTS!!”

I jolted upright, my ears turning up towards yet another speaker high up on the walls. Temper wasted no time in pointing her gun directly at the speaker.

“I UNDERSTAND YOU ARE FRUSTRATED,” the voice screamed. “BUT I WISH ONLY FOR PEACEFUL RELATIONS BETWEEN US!!”

I heard a small clicking noise come from Temper’s gun as she swore, reaching for a new clip of ammo.

“TO ASSIST IN THIS, I HAVE SENT DOWN MY MOST TRUSTED DELEGATES TO SPEAK WITH YOU PERSONALLY. I SINCERELY HOPE THAT YOU WILL GIVE THEM A CHANCE, FOR THEY MAY SUCCEED WHERE I HAVE FAILED. ONLY THROUGH PEACEFUL DIMPLOMACY MAY WE BE LED TO UNITY, SO LET THEIR WORK STAND NOW AS A SHINING EXAMPLE OF MY KINGDOM’S PROSPERITY!!”

“Grrraaaauuuuug…”

I froze.

“OH, WONDERFUL!!” the voice cheered on. “IT SOUNDS LIKE THEY’VE ARRIVED!!”

~~~~~~~~~~

BANG BANG!!

I didn’t bother to look back. I didn’t know how many were chasing us, and I didn’t care. I just ran, Temper right behind me as she fired wildly at the approaching monsters. I flinched, hearing something crashing into the ground behind me – probably a unicorn throwing some unseen object.

As I raced down the hall, I spotted an open door off to the side. At first I ignored it, galloping straight past to keep up my running speed-

“Heech!”

At least until another ghoul came into view from the hall ahead of me. I skidded to a stop, turning as fast as I could to get into the open doorway.

“Temper! Right!”

BANG!!

As Temper banked for the doorway, she fired a shot at the new ghoul, a shot which sadly ricocheted harmlessly off of the stable wall. The ghouls started moving in closer, rapidly approaching the door. As quick as I could, I rushed over to the door control panel, mashing the buttons as fast as I could. Just as the ghouls reached the door, it slammed shut, sealing them outside.

I took a second to survey the room, a large cafeteria of some sort with all the tables and chairs mounted directly to the floor. I could see a counter that lead to a kitchen area off to the right, as well as some high counters off to the left. As I looked across the room, I spotted another door leading out into the hallways.

Which was good, because there were three more ghouls in the cafeteria.

The ghouls outside started pounding on the door, causing me to jump as the ghouls in the cafeteria noticed us. I started to reach for the Artisan, but before my hoof even touched the gun, nightmarish images jumped to my mind. I shook my head, instead simply pointing across the room. Temper glanced at the door, nodding and immediately charging for it.

BANG BANG!!

…after firing a few shots at the ghouls, of course.

If the creatures hadn’t noticed us before, they certainly did now. In an instant, they started to shamble towards us, one going for a straight charge while the other two – both of whom were unicorns – decided to hurl whatever they could grab at us instead. I yelped, narrowly avoiding one of the projectiles as I swerved around it.

“Fuckin’ unicorns!” Temper shouted, spinning around in mid-run. “Check the door, feathers!”

BANG!! *click* *click*

Temper swore, pulling out a new clip of bullets as fast as she could. The one shot she did get off passed straight through the one non-unicorn ghoul in the room. She must have gotten some kind of lucky hit though, because that one bullet somehow popped the ghoul’s head clean off, sending the monster toppling to the floor.

“PLEASE REFRAIN FROM DECAPITATING MY SUBJECTS.”

“Shut up!” Temper shouted at the air. “What are you gonna do about it anyways?!?”

Almost immediately, the door we had come through shot open, releasing all the ghouls from the hall into the cafeteria. As I rushed to get to the door, I heard Temper shout in pain, followed by a crashing sound as something hit the floor. I didn’t bother to look back – I was more focused on the tables being thrown at me. With one final leap, I made it the door, frantically pressing buttons to try and open it.

BANG BANG BANG!!

I turned my head back in time to see Temper waste one of the ghouls, slowly starting to back up towards me as she fired.

“Feathers, how’s that door looking?” Temper yelled back, a hint of worry betraying her normally vicious tone.

As if on cue, I heard the door slide open behind me. I whipped my head around, ready to make my escape-

“Grraaauuuugg…”

OH COME ON!!

“T-Temper?” I stammered, coughing as I backed away from the door. “I-I don’t think this way’s any good!”

“What do-” Temper turned back to face me, stopping mid-sentence once she saw the additional ghouls. “Oh, for fuck’s... how many of these things are there?!?”

“I HAVE MANY SUBJECTS IN MY KINGDOM.”

“There’s too many!” I called out, flinching back as another table flew past me. “Get to the kitchen!”

As the creatures continued to move in closer, Temper hesitated, clearly wanting to stand and fight more than she wanted to flee. With an irritated shout, she rushed alongside me, holstering her pistol as the two of us followed the walls towards the back of the room. The zombies continued their pursuit, slowly starting to close in on us as we made our way to the kitchen door.

*CRASH*

As we ran, one of the unicorns grabbed a jukebox out of the corner of the room, flinging it at Temper with blinding speed. Temper ducked down, sliding along the ground just as the box sailed over her, her only casualty being a small tuft of hair. The jukebox smashed into pieces as it hit the wall to my side, showering me in painful metal debris.

As I tried to shrug off the pain, I finally reached the kitchen counters. I jumped around behind them, quickly making my way towards the kitchen door. Temper, on the other hoof, pulled out her pistol again, standing behind the counter for cover as she opened fire on the ghouls. For a brief moment, I thought she’d be able to fight them off.

Then I remembered how many ghouls there were.

I didn’t even bother waiting for Temper. I mashed my hooves against the door control panel, opening the door as quickly as I could. The second the door slid open, I charged through, looking around to make sure that the coast was clear. It was cluttered with appliances of all sorts, but thankfully there weren’t any ghouls. I turned back to-

“LOCK DOWN THE KITCHEN!!”

What?!?

Faster than I could react, the door in front of me slammed shut, leaving a very confused and enraged Temper on the other side of it. I heard her start shouting expletives as I frantically tried to open the door. But this time, the door refused my commands, stubbornly remaining closed as Temper shouted at me.

“What the fuck, feathers?!?”

“Th-that wasn’t me!!” I tried to look at Temper, but there weren’t any windows on the door. “I-it just shut by its-”

“OPEN THE FUCKING DOOR OR I’LL-”

All of a sudden, Temper’s voice cut off. Over the next few seconds, more sounds started to die down, until the cafeteria finally went completely silent.

“Temper?” I coughed, practically choking on my own voice at this point. “T-Temper, what’s going on?”

The room remained silent. No talking, no fighting, not even the growling of ghouls or the tapping of hooves on the metal floor. The only sound I could hear was my own coughing. After a long time, I heard a door opening, and a slow trotting sound came from the cafeteria, accompanied by a soft green glow sneaking through the edges of the kitchen door.

“AH… ALONE AT LAST…”

The voice hadn’t come through the speakers.

I started banging my hooves against the door, trying to draw attention to myself in the hopes that I would be let out.

“IT’S SO MUCH EASIER TO TALK TO PONIES ONE ON ONE, WOULDN'T YOU AGREE?” the voice shouted. “FRIENDS, KINDLY ESCORT THE PURPLE ONE TO THE THRONE ROOM.”

At first nothing happened. After a moment, I heard a gravelly sigh, followed by a soft whistling I’d never heard before. All of a sudden, I heard a distinct shuffling of hooves, slowly fading away with every second.

“AND DON’T WORRY, YOUNG PEGASUS.” I froze as “Celestia” addressed me through the door. “I’LL SEND DOWN SOMEPONY TO RETREIVE YOU IN A MOMENT.”

“W-wait! Please, let me out!” my cries were ignored, as I heard “Celestia’s” hoofsteps moving farther and farther away. “P-PLEASE!! DON’T LEAVE ME HERE!!”

Through the cracks in the door, I saw the green light start to dim, growing fainter and fainter. Finally, after a gruelingly long time, the light blinked out. I tried to listen for something, but all I heard was my own coughs. I felt my pupils shrink. For the first time in many, many days, there were no monsters. No other ponies. Not even Temper.

I was alone.

Author's Note

Level Up

New Perk: Rad Resistance – You are better able to avoid radiation, and the bad effects radiation causes. With this perk, your Radiation Resistance improves by 25%.

Quest Perk Added: Buck Up – Thank you for choosing Stable-Tec! You may now use PipBuck related actions, including SATS, EFS, mapping, inventory management, and more!

Chapter 8

“Take that, zebra scum!”

The turquoise colt dodged to the side, firing his toy blaster at the imaginary forces, currently represented by a sole yellow pegasus. In an instant, the “evil zebra” went down, collapsing in a heap on the ground.

“N… noo!!” Canvas yelled, his voice slowly fading away as he fell in defeat. A moment later, he let out a final breath and rolled over, dead. He then very quickly became not dead, jumping to his hooves and brushing himself off. “Windspeed, why do I always have to be the bad guy?”

“Because I’m the Commander of the Enclave!” Windspeed proclaimed, his lips turning up in a smile as he puffed out his chest. “The Commander of the Enclave can’t be the bad guy!”

“W-well yeah, but…” Canvas said, trying to find the right words. “Couldn’t you, y’know… NOT be the Enclave? Just once?”

Windspeed looked at Canvas as though he had just kicked a baby.

“How could I NOT be the Enclave?!?” the turquoise colt asked, rushing forwards to get in Canvas’ face. “They’re the coolest of the cool! The strongest of the strong! They’re the best ponies ever!”

Canvas shrunk back, bringing his wings in front of him to shield himself from his friend’s enthusiasm.

“And someday…” Windspeed smiled, looking up at the sky. “Someday, I’m gonna be one of them! I can see it now… Captain Windspeed! Or General! Ooh! Maybe I’ll even be a Wonderbolt!”

“I, uh…” Canvas let out a nervous cough, tilting his head to the side as he looked at his friend. “I thought soldiers had to work really hard to be Wonderbolts?”

“Yeah, if you’re most ponies.” Windspeed replied, a sly grin donning his face. “But when I join, I bet they’ll be so impressed by my skills that they’ll promote me on the spot!”

Canvas rolled his eyes.

“I can’t wait to grow up.” Windspeed sighed, “When I do, I’ll be the best soldier the Enclave has ever seen!”

“I dunno if you’ll be the BEST, Windspeed.” Canvas teased. “But I’m sure you’ll be great, whatever you do.”

“Well, what about you?” Windspeed asked, turning his attention back to his friend. “What do you wanna do when you grow up?”

“M-me?” The yellow colt stammered. “I-I don’t know, Windspeed. I don’t even have my Cutie Mark yet, how should I know what I’ll do when I’m grown up?”

“Well, what do you WANT to do?”

“I… I-I dunno.”

“Really?” Windspeed raised his eyebrow, scrutinizing his friend. “You can’t think of ANYTHING you want to do? Out of like, a bajillion things you could do? You can’t think of anything?”

“I, uh… yes?”

“Ugh,” Windspeed facehoofed, letting out a groan, “There must be SOMETHING you like doing! You like playing, right?”

“Well, sure,” Canvas muttered, “Of course I like playing. But to do that forever? That’s a lot of playing. When would I paint? When would I sleep? When would I-”

“Jeeze, Canvas, you think too much.” Windspeed said, rolling his eyes. “This isn’t that hard, just pick whatever you like most!”

“Well… I-I like painting, but-”

“There! Then it’s settled!” Windspeed proclaimed with a grin. “You’ll be the greatest painter the world’s ever seen, and I’ll be the best soldier in the whole Enclave! I can do cool things, and you can paint cool pictures of my battles!”

Canvas rolled his eyes, but still couldn’t keep a smile from gracing his lips.

“Whatever you say, Windspeed.” Canvas said, starting to stand up. “I need to go soon, my mom wanted me home by six. By the way, I call being the Enclave next time.”

“No problem,” Windspeed said. “See you… hey, wait a minute!”

“Too late, I called it!” Canvas yelled over his shoulder, darting off down the street as quickly as his legs could carry him. “Later, Windspeed!”

“I, but, wha… DANG IT, CANVAS!!”

~~~~~~~~~~

Alone.

I sat there, locked in the Stable’s kitchen, that one word echoing through my mind with every passing second. Alone. No Temper. No ghouls. No radroaches. No crazy immortal ponies. Just me, sealed in an underground metal box, waiting for death’s embrace.

My eyes darted around the room, my coughing slowly beginning to etch away at the silence within. I tried to see if there was a way out, some exit I hadn’t noticed. But there wasn’t. There were only three doors in the room, and I’d already tried each of them earlier. All locked.

This is it. I’m finally gonna die, cold and alone in an underground kitchen. I coughed a few times, flinching as I saw droplets of blood come out with each cough. Radiation… I guess this is the poisoned air I’d been warned about. I always imagined it would be a much quicker death than this.

I closed my eyes, trying to conjure up a happy image – something nice to remember in my final moments. I started to think about my family, the last time all four of us had been together. It must have been ages ago, but I could still make out every detail – Sky’s vibrant mane, my mom’s graceful movements… even my dad seemed to have lost his usual edge, smiling and laughing heartily. I felt a few tears roll down my cheek as I remembered it. What was it we had been celebrating, again? I want to say it was Sky’s birthday, but I know that’s not right…

My eyes opened, the happy image blinking away as I felt my stomach begin to churn. Oh yay. Vomit. Another reminder that my death was inevitable, and that it would be slow and painful.

And alone.

God, if only there were somepony here with me… Windspeed would know what to do. He’d bust down the wall, crack jokes as he helped me get back home. Or even Temper… I pictured her in the room with me, a steady stream of “fucks” flowing from her mouth as she tried to get out. I just wanted somepony there with me, anypony to suffer with. Tartarus, I’d have settled for a mindless ghoul. At least it would have killed me quickly, and I’d have somepony to talk to until it did.

But no. As I sat on the verge of death, I was completely isolated, unable to escape, and waiting for a deranged pseudo-princess to decide she wanted me retrieved. Assuming I even survived long enough to-

*BLEEAUUGH*

Theeere it is. I paused in my self-pity, wiping bits of vomit from my mouth. I could have taken a Rad-Away if I wanted – I did have four bags of it on me, and now there wasn’t anyone to tell me not to – but that would have just been delaying the inevitable. As it stood, it seemed much easier to sit there, staring at the vomit as I waited for death or capture. Just staring at the orange, slimy puddle, the scent slowly wafting-

I gagged, quickly turning my head from the puddle to keep from throwing up again. Dying or no, vomit is still pretty disgusting. As I looked away, my vision passed over a kitchen stove, and I paused for a moment. Not so much because of the stove, mind you. My attention was drawn more by the object lying on top of it. I got up, slowly making my way to the stove as I looked at the object. It looked like a large thin grate of some kind. I hadn’t noticed it before, simply assuming it was some kind of cooking implement, like a cast-iron griddle, or something. But looking at it now, I realized that couldn’t have been the case. It was too big, plus there was a dent in the stove, the same size and shape as the grate itself. It must have fallen then, but… I tilted my head back, looking up at the ceiling to find the grate’s origin.

There was a hole in the ceiling.

I stared at the hole for a few moments. I hadn’t noticed it when I had been looking for escape earlier – the sides of the hole were masked by some random piping, hiding it from anypony who wasn’t standing directly in front of the stove. It must have been ventilation of some kind, though I wondered what it was doing directly over the stove. Maybe it was supposed to get rid of the smoke if something burned? That seemed overly complicated, but it was the only thing that made any sense to me.

Wait a minute… if that’s a vent, then…

I hardly even hesitated, pausing only for a quick sip of Rad-Away. In an instant, I was on top of the stove, jumping for the hole. The ceiling was a little hard to reach, but even my terrible jumping was up to the task. I climbed inside, but just as I pulled my hind legs through, I heard a sliding sound, one of the kitchen doors suddenly opening. A green glow filled the room, along with a low growl, as one of the floating PipBuck symbols lit up with two lights, one red, one green.

“ALRIGHT, MR. PEGASUS, WE’RE HE…”

Celestia’s voice trailed off, the ghoul’s hissing becoming more prominent as it walked through the room. I didn’t bother waiting for the mare to start talking again. As quietly as possible, I slipped through the air vents, a small feeling of hope finally starting to return to me.

Maybe I still had a chance.

~~~~~~~~~~

*CLANG*

I flinched, worried that Celestia would hear the falling grate from wherever she was. Fortunately, as I waited in the vent, I didn’t hear any sign of the mare. I let out a sigh, sipping down some more Rad-Away before dropping down from the vents into a new room. At least, I think it was a new room. It looked just like the bedrooms I had looted through earlier, but it couldn’t have been – I had left all the drawers open, just to make sure I didn’t go over the same one twice. But all the drawers here were closed, so-

I smacked my head with a hoof. The locked room! After everything that had happened in the Stable, I’d completely forgotten about it. This must have been that one room I couldn’t get into. For a brief moment, my mood dropped – if this room was locked too, then I was right back where I started.

Although… maybe not! I trotted to the door, looking at the opening mechanism. Sure enough, I located a switch on the underside of it, currently labeled “Locked.” I smiled, quickly flipping the switch and testing the door, which obediently slid open, eliciting a sigh of relief from me. Slowly, I started to go through the door, glancing back into the room for-

My heart skipped a beat. There, sitting on a table along the back wall, was another Terminal.

I backpedaled, closing the door as I rushed to the machine, carefully looking it over for any signs of damage. To my amazement, it was completely untouched (I guess the locked door kept anyone from coming in to destroy it). I felt my heart start to race. Here, hoofed to me on a silver platter, was a second chance at freedom, mere moments after I had screwed up my first. A wide grin started to form on my face, and I was barely able to stop myself from jumping and screaming for joy.

Ok… ok, keep it together Canvas. I’ve got this. I calmed myself down, taking in a deep breath and letting it out. I can do this. I powered the machine on, quickly reaching into my saddlebags to find the holodisk. I won’t screw this up. I have to be more careful this… time… or… huh?

My brows furrowed in confusion as I turned to look into my saddlebags. For some reason, I couldn’t find the holodisk. I started pushing objects around, maybe I had just missed a spot? I searched again, but still no holodisk. I felt my motions become a bit more erratic as I frantically looked through the bags, again and again. The disk had to be here, it had to! I had another chance at being saved, but I needed that disk to do it! I couldn’t have lost it! Where else would it even be, any…

Oh God damn it.

I left it in the Repair Station.

I wanted to slap myself. I had been so distracted by everything that happened that I had left the damn disk behind! Great. My epic second chance, practically gift wrapped and hoofed to me by God himself, all thrown down the drain. Stupid, stupid, stupid!!

Ok, calm down Canvas. I closed my eyes, attempting to steady my breathing as I thought things through. This isn’t a problem. Just… just go back to the Repair Station and get the disk. Simple, right?

“ATTENTION ALL CITIZENS!!” I jumped, banging my good wing against a shelf as the voice screamed through the speakers. “ONE OF OUR GUESTS HAS GOTTEN LOST WITHIN OUR GREAT UTOPIA!! PLEASE KEEP ON THE LOOKOUT FOR A YELLOW PEGASUS!! I HAVE SENT SOME HIGHLY TRAINED GUARDS OUT TO AID IN THE SEARCH, SO DON’T BE ALARMED!! ONCE MORE, BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR A YELLOW PEGASUS!! THAT IS ALL, AND THANK YOU FOR YOUR UNDERSTANDING!!”

…maybe not.

Before I turned away from the terminal, I took a look at the commands already on-screen. I doubted there would be anything useful, but you never know, right? Unfortunately, all the commands were just simple text files written by one miss Morning Dew, a name I recognized from Dr. Statistic’s journal. My better judgment told me not to, but I selected one of the first entries anyways, reading through the ancient words.

Day 8: Students were fighting

I’ll need to schedule an appointment with Bobby Pin’s parents as soon as possible. Near the end of class, one of the students told me that Bobby was picking on Sandy. When I approached the two, they started fighting, and it got more out of hoof than I’d like. I don’t want to admit it, but… I had to use my crowd control spell. Oh, how I hate using that spell! It feels unethical to just invade a pony’s mind like that. But if it calms the students down, then… well, I suppose it was for the best.
I went to see Dr. Statistic today. I was feeling a little under the weather, and I didn’t want my students getting sick because of me. Goodness, that would be quite backwards, wouldn’t it? The doctor told me I simply have a case of the flu, and that I should get some bed rest. Of course, there aren’t really any substitutes around here, so I‘ll have to find a way to teach anyways. Maybe I’ll just wear a mask to class?
I’m quite worried about Sandy. She’s always done fine with her classes, but now, being down here, she doesn’t seem as interested in schoolwork anymore. I truly hope she cheers up. I hate seeing her so down in the dumps. I don’t like living in a metal box either, but compared to the alternative… well, this seems far better. Still, let’s hope for the best in the coming weeks.

All the other entries were fairly similar, each one dated and given a brief title, most of which were simple notes like “Feeling a little sick” or “Worried about Sandy’s grades.”

Most of them. A few of the later entries had no dates, the second to last had no title, and the last one simply read “survived”. With extreme hesitation, I opened the title-less file.

…

I think I’m safe for now
I hear them groaning and scratching, outside the room
How did this happen? First my daughter, and then the attack…
They didn’t even have time to move the doctor’s body, the things showed up too quickly!
I don’t want to die
Everypony else is gone. I’ve tried finding them on my PipBuck, but their signals are all dead. Satin, Crystal Quartz, my students… all of them, torn apart by those things…
I have to stay strong. The Overmare will fix this. She’ll contact Stable-Tec, and they’ll send somepony to come clear out the poison
I just have to hold out for a little bit longer. This will all be over soon, just a distant memory.

I felt a shudder run down my spine. Slowly, I opened the last entry, a creeping sense of worry starting to crawl through my body.

survived

it burns
every day it burns
but im still here
the scratching stopped
that was ages ago
ive been chosen
like a goddess
its been so long
but i made it
the pain isnt too bad
time to rebuild

For a little while, I didn’t move. I simply stared at the screen, letting the words burn into my mind. I turned, glancing up at the corner of the room, a single speaker sitting quietly on the ceiling.

I stood motionless for a few moments, staring at the speaker as the seconds ticked by. After a bit, I shook my head and moved for the door. I could feel bad for her later. Right now, I had a holodisk to find.

~~~~~~~~~~

“Grrraaaauuuuugggg…”

I ducked down, hiding around a corner as the zombie roamed the hallway. After fumbling with the PipBuck for a few moments, I’d figured out how to use the map function, and the Repair Station wasn’t all that far away from the living quarters. Unfortunately, getting there was proving to be slow going, as I was forced to hide in every closet and corner that I could find before one of the ghouls noticed me. Celestia wasn’t kidding about her “guards” – whereas the Stable had been relatively empty before, it was absolutely crawling with ghouls now, a fact that was made even more evident by all the red bars moving across my vision (another PipBuck function I had pieced together, some kind of enemy locator). I had to stay hidden at all costs. I couldn't fight the ghouls off. Not just because of my issues with shooting them, either. Temper had all the bullets on her, and that left me with only four pistol rounds and a single shotgun shell. I wouldn’t stand a chance.

I stayed behind the corner, tracking the ghoul’s movements through the red indicator in my vision. After a few moments, the red light blinked out of existence. I think that means it’s gone. I glanced around the corner, confirming my suspicions and silently thanking my sister for the countless games of Hide and Seek we played as kids. I could see a door up ahead – the Repair Station, according to my PipBuck.

As quietly as I could, I snuck over to the door, slipping inside and shutting it behind me. I started to sigh in relief, only for the distinct growling of a ghoul to make me shut my mouth. In an instant, I was on the ground, ducking behind a table as I glanced at the enemy-locator-thingy. Two red lines. I guessed that the enemies were in the room – the PipBuck didn’t indicate enemy distance, but judging from how the lines moved, they couldn’t have been far. Out of curiosity, I poked my head up to see where-

God damn it. One of the ghouls was just sitting in front of the PipBuck Repair Station, it’s back turned to me as I watched it. I only barely managed to stifle a groan at the sight. Meanwhile, the ghoul continued to sit, facing the door as its body moved in the subtlest ways. I need to get that thing to move, but-

“Grraauug…”

I flinched, ducking back down as I tried to move away from the noise. Right, there’s a second ghoul. And judging from the red line, he wasn’t content just staying in one place. My whole body tensed up, and I felt my own movements become constricted and tight. I perked up my ears, trying to listen for the creature’s movements. I held my breath, watching the red line slowly move across the indic- OH FUCK HE’S RIGHT THERE

I scrambled around the corner of my cover, trying to get out of the zombie’s potential line of sight. I saw it out of the corner of my eye, just barely edging into view. I stole a glance at the first ghoul, a gasp escaping my lips as I realized that my new position gave me absolutely no cover from it. If the monster’s head so much as turned, I’d be caught.

A few beads of sweat began to trickle down my face, my heart pounding in my chest as I waited. One step to the left, I’d be seen. One step to the right, I’d be seen. One wrong move from the sitting ghoul, I’d be seen. I started to hyperventilate, every second that I was unable to move becoming an agonizing experience in and of itself. God damn it, move already!!

Finally, I heard a shuffling sound, and the ghoul retreated to some other part of the room, allowing me to slip back behind the table. I should have felt relieved, but instead I was just annoyed. I was right back where I started, the only difference being that now I was scared shitless.

This is getting me nowhere. I started to steady myself, bringing my breathing back to normal rates as I kept my eyes on the moving red line. I peeked around the corner, watching as the ghoul turned and examined one of the tables in the middle of the room. I glanced past the ghoul, spotting a work bench on the wall opposite me. Perfect cover from the sitting ghoul. I took another look at the roaming ghoul. Whatever it was looking at, it must not have been that interesting, because only a few seconds later the beast turned away, hissing and shambling around to the back of the table. I kept my eyes on the monster, carefully making my way across the room-

THUD

-and walking straight into the wall.

“Grrau?”

I dropped to the floor, ducking below the work bench just as the sitting ghoul turned towards me. My eyes shrunk to pinpricks as I stared, looking at its hooves through the table legs. The ghoul stared back, looking just above me with its soul piercing eyes. I started to sweat, praying that the work bench was actually giving me the cover I needed. After a painfully long few seconds, the monster turned its head away, returning its focus to the wall in front of it.

I started to sigh, but I suddenly noticed the roaming ghoul starting to make its way over to my side of the room again. My heart pounded in my chest, kicking my brain into overdrive as I formulated a plan. As the ghoul grew closer, I reached into my saddlebags, grabbing the first thing I could find. My hoof returned with a couple healing potions, and with a quick toss, I launched them to the other side of the room. I winced, hearing the bottles shatter, spilling their beautiful healing liquids all over the ground.

Fortunately, it had exactly the effect I had hoped for. In an instant, both the ghouls ran over to the source of the shattering sound, hissing and growling all the way. As soon as the coast was clear, I rushed into the PipBuck room. Quietly, of course.

I shut the door behind me, finally relinquishing a sigh of relief I had been holding in for I-don’t-know how long. I looked around the room, flinching as my eyes passed over the PipBuck machine. I shuddered, slowly glancing back down at my PipBuck.

“…huh. My PipBuck.” The words felt strange as I said them. It was weird, to think of it as being mine, instead of just a device mounted to my leg. But it really was mine now, wasn’t it? I didn’t know how to get it off, and I doubted anypony really did… I suppose that made it a part of me, didn’t it?

I shook my head. I can worry about that later. I looked past the chair, my vision stopping as I saw my prize: The Holodisk, laying right on the table, just where I had… left…

Wait, what? I furrowed my brows as I glanced over at the Terminal. I never pulled the Enclave disk out of the machine, and either way, this disk was on an entirely different table. Carefully, I moved towards the Terminal, looking it over for… yeah, here it is! As I had thought, the Enclave holodisk was still wedged into the side of the Terminal, the familiar “O.D.” facing me as it waited to be pulled out. I grabbed the disk, stuffing it into my saddlebags as I turned back towards the other table.

So then what are you? I picked up the second disk, turning it over in my hooves as I looked for an indication of its contents. The only word adorning the cover was “Rant,” giving me a pretty good idea of what was on it. As I continued, examining it, I realized that it wasn’t a holodisk, but rather a holotape – an easy mistake to make, since they both look so similar.

I took another quick look at my PipBuck, absentmindedly wondering if it had a way to play the tape. Surprisingly, it did – just along the top, I was able to spot a long, holotape-shaped hole. As I inserted the tape, I was startled by a new vision-invading indicator, one which only briefly flashed the words “Note added: Rant” in the upper left of my peripheral vision.

Note? I think I saw a note menu somewhere on this thing. I looked back down at my PipBuck, pulling the tape out and stuffing it in my saddlebags. Sure enough, off to the side of the map, there was a tab labeled “notes.” With my curiosity piqued, I navigated to the menu, selecting the “Rant” tape and-

“I don’t know why that asshole keeps bothering me about this shit!”

I jumped, squealing like a little filly as I was startled by the sudden voice. My eyes darted around, trying to find the mystery speaker, but the room was completely empty, save for myself. It took me a lot longer than I’d like to admit to realize that the raspy voice was coming from the recording, and by that point the stallion was flinging out so many swears that he honestly gave Temper a run for her money. I briefly wondered how I was hearing the tape, since the PipBuck didn’t have any speakers, before eventually deciding to chalk it up to some magical so-and-so. I started to pay attention, listening to the rest of the pony’s rant.

“…fuck’s sake, I’ve looked through this damn stable from top to bottom, front to back, at least five times now, there’s no fucking radiation leak! It’s not my fault his damn patients are getting sick. He’s the Celestia-damned doctor, maybe he should, I don’t know, DO MORE FUCKING HEALING and stop blaming the fucking maintenance pony! I swear on the Goddesses, if he comes to me ONE more fucking time, I’m gonna lose it. Damn medical types.”

I paused as the recording ended, my mind starting to turn over the information I’d just received. I’m going to guess that was the maintenance pony… Ball-peen, right? I frowned, a cough escaping my lips as turned for the door, ready to make my way back to Morning Dew’s room (after I made sure I had the Enclave disk, of course). I peeked back into the main room of the Repair Station, and to my relief the ghouls had left, leaving me with a nice empty room to move through. As I started to sneak my way back to Morning’s Terminal, I started to think more and more about the Stable. I didn’t like it. Something was up, and a part of me kept wondering just what had happened.

But then again, a part of me was afraid that I’d find out.

~~~~~~~~~~

Well… here we are again…

I stared at Morning’s Terminal, the door shut and locked behind me as I held the holodisk in my hooves. This was my second chance, and probably my only other chance. If I messed up again… no. I couldn’t mess up again. Once I put the holodisk into the Terminal, it was password or bust.

But I hesitated. What was to stop this from going the same way it did before? I had no more information on the Enclave than I did the first time I tried, why should I expect anything different to happen? I let out a frustrated sigh. My odds were no better, and if I couldn’t figure it out this time, then that really was it.

…fuck it, I have to try.

I shoved the holodisk into the Terminal, watching as the commands were once again replaced with those of the disk. I selected the second command, my heart pounding in my chest as I hit the Enter key.

Enter Authorization Passcode 1

I took a deep breath. Four more tries. I can knock out the ones I tried before, not that it narrows down the pool much. God, if only I could get some kind of feedback on my guesses, that would make this so much easier.

I started to think back, recalling as much as I could about the Enclave. I really should have remembered more, considering both my family AND friends had strong ties to it, but I was drawing a blank.

Alright, let’s start simple… what are some of the things dad used to say? I think he mostly just went on scouting missions, didn’t he? Come to think of it, Windspeed talks about scouting a lot too, so maybe… “SCOUT”?

Passcode incorrect. 3 attempts remaining.

Fuck, that’s strike one. God, this could be anything, couldn’t it? It could be complete gibberish for all I know, how in Equestria am I supposed to figure this out?

Ugh, I need to think… is there anything they say a lot in the Enclave? Something… oh, maybe that enlistment commercial on the radio! They’re always playing that thing, there could be something there! What was the motto that guy always said? “We must always be ready,” I think? Although that would be a really long password… maybe the acronym then? “WMABR”?

…well, it’s better than nothing.

Passcode incorrect. 2 attempts remaining.

Strike two… augh, I can’t do this!

I backed out, ejecting the holodisk and pulling it from the machine. This was my only way back, I couldn’t risk getting the password wrong again. What if I screwed up and locked myself out of the Terminal again? What were the chances I’d get it right? 10%? 5? 1? How would I ever beat those odds?

Then again, if I didn’t try at all, the odds of success were a resounding 0%.

I have to take this chance. I pushed the holodisk back in, reopening the password command. I know I won’t get another one.

2 attempts remaining.

Still just…? Damn, I was partially hoping that ejecting the disk would refill my tries… I guess not.

I need to retrace my thoughts. What’s something that might be valuable to the Enclave? Something they would consider important? I mean, they consider the safety of Pegasai important, I guess, but I somehow doubt that “PEGASAI” is the passcode. Maybe it’s more tangentially related then? But what else would they use to…

…“CLOUD”?

There was no way. It seemed way too obvious for that to be the password. But the more I thought about it, the more sense it started to make – it encompassed not only the thing that kept us safe from the wasteland, but it was a good means to describe the Equestrian Skies themselves. But it couldn’t be that easy… could it? Slowly, I entered the word, practically forcing myself watch the screen as I hit the enter key.

Passcode Correct. Accessing Data…

I felt my heart skip a beat as the words moved across the screen. I-I did it! Holy shit, I actually did it! I’m probably gonna get put on a watch list or something, but I don’t… Ok, I care immensely about that, but I still did it!

Moments later, the commands on the Terminal vanished, a new set appearing in their place.

BIRD CAGE DEBRIEFING

Enter Passcode 2

I… wait, Passcode 2? There’s more?!?

I swear to God, that debriefing better have something useful in it. I’m not going through all that shit again.

BIRD CAGE DEBRIEFING

Operation Bird Cage was a complete success. At 0015, Falcon Squad arrived on the wasteland floor and prepared the ambush. At 0100, to avoid another Snare Trap incident, the primary comms channel was changed from 300.65 to 303.05. At 0347, the target entered the target area and Falcon Squad commenced with the ambush. After the skirmish, at 0355, several Magical Apparatus were obtained and stored for transport. At 0400, the mission was complete and Falcon Squad returned to the Everfree Outpost as per orders. With the Magical Apparatus obtained, we should be ready to begin Optic Delve as soon as you give the orders.

A grin plastered my face as I read over the words. I felt something start to well up inside of me, a feeling of warmth and energy unlike any other, just waiting to burst out. The kind of emotions most ponies only feel when they get their cutie mark. Finally, I had found what I was looking for: an Enclave Radio Frequency. A means to get home again. Now I just needed some way to send a message, but compared to getting this far? That should be a cakewalk.

With no way of writing the frequency down, I burned it into my mind, making sure I memorized every digit before I shut the Terminal off, ejecting the holodisk and putting it in my saddlebags. Just in case.

303.05. Get out of the Stable. 303.05. Find a radio. 303.05. Message the Enclave. 303.05.

Quickly and quietly, I started to sneak back to the entrance of Stable 6, stopping occasionally to hide from a ghoul or two. Every step of the way, repeating the number in my mind.

~~~~~~~~~~

303.05. Gotta get to the exit. 303.0-

“MR. PEGASUS???”

I jumped, nearly fleeing from my current hiding spot as the voice seemed to fill the room around me.

“I KNOW YOU CAN HEAR ME, MY NEW SUBJECT.” She continued, “WHY DO YOU HIDE?? HAVE I DONE SOMETHING TO OFFEND YOU??”

You mean besides locking me in the kitchen to let the radiation kill me?

“PLEASE, ANSWER ME. I MEAN YOU NO HARM. I ONLY WISH FOR PEACEFUL-”

“I don’t care!” I shouted at the air, finally far enough from the ghouls that I could ignore stealth altogether. “I-I don’t want to be your subject! I want to go back home to my nice warm bed and forget that any of this ever happened!”

The voice of Celestia remained silent for a few moments.

“I AM SORRY YOU FEEL THAT WAY.” Celestia shouted. “I HAVE DONE EVERYTHING IN MY POWER TO MAKE THIS A PERFECT WORLD, BUT… YOU HAVE DONE NO WRONG, SO I HAVE NO RIGHT TO HOLD YOU HERE AGAINST YOUR WILL.”

Didn’t stop you befo... wait there it is! I smiled, finally seeing the main Stable door, still rolled away like it had been when we got here. I started to run, a smile forming on my face as I imagined flying above the clouds again, painting pictures and-

“ALTHOUGH I MUST ADMIT THAT I’M SURPRISED YOU DON’T WANT TO COME SAY GOODBYE TO YOUR FRIEND FIRST.”

I came to an abrupt stop. My wha-

“Fuckin’ hell,” I heard a second voice come through the speaker, punctuated with so many coughs I could hardly understand her. “I already told you, I’m not his fuckin… ugh…”

“T-Temper?”

Her voice stopped, a distinct vomiting sound coming from the speaker in its place.

“YES,” the voice confirmed, “THE TWO OF US WERE HAVING A NICE DISCUSSION. UNFORTUNATELY, IT WOULD SEEM SHE HAS GOTTEN SICK, BUT WORRY NOT!! IT’S PROBABLY JUST A CASE OF THE FLU. NOTHING A LITTLE BED REST WON’T FIX.”

An image flashed to my mind. Dr. Statistic, rushing around trying to save ponies as they died around him.

“Wait! Sh-she’s not coming down with a cold, she’s irradiated! You need to-”

“OH, THAT’S JUST SILLY.” The voice laughed. “THIS PLACE WAS BUILT TO BE COMPLETELY RADIATION PROOF. FEAR NOT, SHE’LL BE PERFECTLY SAFE HERE IN MY UTOPIA!!”

No she… wait.

“You’re…” I let out a cough of my own. “You’re keeping her here?”

“MR. PEGASUS,” the voice spoke slowly, “DO YOU REALIZE JUST HOW MANY OF MY SUBJECTS SHE HAS SLAUGHTERED? I MAY WISH FOR HER TO JOIN US AS A VALUED MEMBER OF OUR SOCIETY, JUST AS I WISH FOR ALL PONIES TO JOIN ME IN MY UTOPIA. HOWEVER, THAT DOES NOT CHANGE THAT FACT THAT SHE HAS COMMITTED A VERY SERIOUS CRIME. I CANNOT ALLOW A CRIMINAL SUCH AS HERSELF TO GO FREE UNTIL SHE HAS BEEN PUNISHED TO THE FULL EXTENT OF THE LAW.”

I stared forwards, an image of Temper locked up in a jail cell springing to mind.

“AND,” the voice continued, “EVEN IF SHE WERE NOT GUILTY OF MURDER, SHE IS STILL IN NO CONDITION TO GO ANYWHERE. I TRUST THAT YOU TOO CAN HEAR HER??”

On cue, Temper’s raspy coughs started to echo through the speakers.

“BUT FEAR NOT FOR YOUR FRIEND!!” Celestia said, her voice regaining its vigor as Temper groaned in the background, “ONCE SHE HAS SERVED HER SENTENCE AND GOTTEN OVER HER ILLNESS, SHE WILL BE FREE TO WALK AMONGST MY PONIES AS ONE OF MY LOYAL SUBJECTS, JUST AS YOU ARE NOW FREE TO LEAVE THIS PLACE BEHIND AND NEVER LOOK BACK ON IT AGAIN.”

“W-wait!” I stammered, “But-”

“NOW THEN, IF YOU WOULD BE SO KIND AS TO EXCUSE ME, I AM A BUSY PONY, AND I HAVE SOME IMPORTANT DIPLOMATIC ISSUES TO TAKE CARE OF!! GOODBYE AND GOOD LUCK, MR. PEGASUS!!”

For a while, I stood there motionless, all kinds of thoughts swirling through my mind. The door was in front of me. Escape was in front of me. I had the radio frequency, I was away from Temper… I had everything I needed. I could see the muted daylight seeping into the cave, only a few more steps and I would be free.

And Temper would die.

I… No, no! I-I don’t care! Let her die! She’s a horrible, despicable pony, she’s done nothing but beat me and force me to kill, a-and…

My thoughts started to trail off, my imagination taking hold as I saw an image of Temper, retching and puking blood as she lay in a jail cell, unable to escape as she slowly died from the very air she breathed.

Well… well, good! She deserves to be in jail, she deserves every bad thing coming to her! I-I don’t care!

Another image. Temper’s corpse, her skin peeling off as it sat crumpled on the floor. Slowly, it started to stand, looking around with the same soulless eyes of the ghouls she had fought off.

Sh-she deserves that too! W-why should I care, anyways? She’s never done anything good for me, that-

A number of images flashed through my mind, this time not imagination, but memory. Temper saving me from the ghouls. Temper giving me leather armor. Temper fixing my leg. Temper tossing me a pack of Rad-Away as I sat vomiting on the floor. Every image, showing Temper helping me in some way that she really didn’t need to.

B-but… but she… no! I-I don’t care! I don’t!!

I paused, a final thought floating into my head.

Then why am I thinking about this so much?

I looked up at the Stable entrance again, peering out into the cold blues and greys of the cave. Slowly, I looked through my saddlebags.

3 more bags… if I ration it out right, I could get to her with at least a bag to spare. I glanced back up at the Stable door, and then down at my PipBuck. I know how to get back here if things go wrong. I have a good idea of where to start looking, too.

I blinked a few times, stunned by what I was implying.

I… I could actually save her. Slowly, I turned my head, looking into the dark and aging steel tunnels of the Stable. And if I don’t, who else will?

I closed my eyes, wondering if I had gone crazy, before turning and charging back inside.

~~~~~~~~~~

Alright, daring escape… I guess first I’ll need to find out where Temper is… I can’t believe I’m doing this…

My mind flooded with hundreds of doubts as I made my way back through the Stable. This was suicide, pure and simple. I had only barely managed to escape from Temper once, and she hardly even locked me up, the more I thought about it. This was like a prison break. And yet, there I was, trudging through the empty halls, ducking into closets to avoid ghouls, all so that I could save the pony who had tormented me for days on end.

I must have been insane.

I-I should probably retrace my steps. The map says the kitchen is just ahead, which means the cafeteria is… here! I stopped, looking at the door to the cafeteria. I would have opened it if not for the amount of red lines I could see behind it. Clearly, the vast majority of the Stable’s ghouls were taking a lunch break.

I decided it was probably best not to disturb them.

Ok then… cafeteria’s out. Now what? I kept walking along the hall – now that there weren’t ghouls chasing me (or at least, not as many), I could see a lot more pathways that had been otherwise unavailable in the heat of the moment. For example, a hallway just past the cafeteria. I followed it down, and after hiding from the occasional “civilian,” I ended up at a door set in between two very large windows.

Windows showing a room filled with, of all things, trees.

I trotted up to the window, completely baffled as I looked through it. A bright light poured out through the windows, remnants of what I could only guess was an artificial sun. Like I said, the room itself was filled with trees, a farm of some kind if the sign above the door was to be believed. But the trees didn’t look normal. They didn’t look like the apple trees we had above the clouds, nor did they look like the spooky plants of the Everfree Forest. They weren’t even dead, like most of the trunks I had seen throughout the wasteland. They looked twisted and black, the trunks making strange spiraling patterns in the bark as they moved their way up towards the branches. The leaves were nonexistent, instead replaced by multitudes of shriveled, rotten apples, each one a strange reddish gray color. No matter which way I looked at them, the trees just felt… wrong.

I shuddered, continuing past the door in hopes of finding a different way to go. Unfortunately, all the other hallways were either collapsed or dead-ends, leaving me with only three options – the cafeteria, the farm, or back to the Stable door. For a brief moment, I considered going back to the Stable door. My brain then took a minute to flood my mind with images of Temper dying, reminding me why that wasn’t really an option. I didn’t like it, but between the cafeteria and the farm…

Well, those trees probably aren’t dangerous, right?

…who am I kidding? This is the Wasteland. EVERYTHING is dangerous.

I took a few deep breaths, before slamming a hoof on the door-opening mechanism. The steel barrier slid away, immediately exposing me to the smell of rotting wood and food, a smell that resulted in a lot of gagging on my part. I pulled away, taking a deep breath of fresh (well, fresher) air before entering the room.

It was eerie, walking through those trees. Every step I took, I thought something was going to shoot out at me, tree roots bursting out from the ground or branches reaching down and ripping me in two. But the trees remained motionless, rotting apples hanging down below them. Were they unable to move at all? Or simply waiting for the perfect moment to strike? I prayed that it wasn’t the latter.

“Heeech! Heech!”

My whole body jerked to attention, my eyes darting towards the source of the noise – a lone ghoul. For a moment, I thought I might be able to outrun him, or even take to the air and painfully fly past him. Then its horn flared to life, and I knew things wouldn’t be that easy. The ghoul hissed, grabbing hold of a steel barrel and launching it at me.

Well, not exactly at me. For some reason, the ghoul decided that it didn’t want to crush me while I was a sitting duck, instead hitting a tree to my left. In an instant, all the rotting apples fell from the tree, showering the ground with a spray of goo I only barely managed to hop away from.

And then the goo started sizzling.

I stared in bafflement for a moment, only to make a panicked jump back to avoid a second barrel, this one aimed straight at my head. As I did, I bumped into a tree, knocking one of the apples loose. The apple splattered on the ground beside me, a drop of it flinging up onto my wing and-

“AUGH!!” I brushed my wing against the tree as quickly as I could, trying to scrape the goo off. It had only been a tiny drop, but HOLY FUCK did it hurt. Even after I was finally rid of the offending splotch, I could still feel a burning pain where it had hit.

All of a sudden, it dawned on me that I was standing directly below hundreds of flaming time bombs, just waiting to be shaken loose.

And this ghoul was in just the right mood to shake them.

I turned, making a frenzied sprint for the opposite wall as the ghoul fired again, another tree becoming an acidic death trap as the barrel slammed into it. As I flung myself out of the way of the deadly splatter of apple mush, a few errant drops landed on my right saddlebag strap, quickly eating through the fabric. Instantaneously, the bag fell down, and I winced as all the healing potions I’d gathered spilled out, shattering on the ground. I turned in dismay, hoping I could salvage some of the bottles, but the ghoul was too close, hissing and picking up the barrel for another shot. I dove to the right, hoping to lose the monster in the rows of trees. Sadly, this resulted in me running straight into a wall. I pulled away, stumbling slightly as I staggered away from another barrel shot. The whole room seemed to shudder as the barrel slammed into the wall behind me.

I tried to keep moving, but before I knew it I was stuck in the corner of the room. I turned around, staring in abject horror as the ghoul grew ever closer. The creature’s horn flared to life, but this time it didn’t pick up the barrel. Slowly, the ghoul’s magic reached out, wrapping around nearly every tree in sight. I felt my eyes shrink, watching as hundreds of apples were simultaneously plucked from the trees. The apples floated around behind the monstrosity, and the ghoul hissed, preparing to launch them all. At me.

For a brief moment, I glanced down at my gun holster, a short debate going on in my head over whether or not to use it. Much to my own surprise, I grabbed the Artisan in my hoof, squeezing my eyes shut as a plethora of disturbing images came to mind.

“You did this…”

“Stop it!!” I screamed, trying to drown out my thoughts. “Get out of my head!!” I shoved the pistol’s grip into my mouth, snapping my eyes open as I took aim at the ghoul’s head. I felt tears begin to stream from my eyes. This was Rainston, all over again. My own death stared me in the face, and there was no Temper to save me. The sights of the gun shook, wavering in and out of alignment as the massive wave of apples started to move towards me. For just a moment, the ghoul transformed in my mind, replaced with a beautiful pegasus mare.

“Canvas,” the mare cooed. “You’re not a killer, are you? Come on, put down the gun, and we can go home. Ok?”

Time slowed to a grinding halt as I stared at her. I wanted to listen to her. I didn’t want to be a killer. I wasn’t a killer, was I? But then what about all the things I had killed? Where did that leave me? What was I?

“You’re right.” I admitted. “Mostly.”

The mare’s eyes shrunk, her ears folding back as I pointed the sights at her head.

“I’m not a killer,” I said, steadying my aim. “I’m a survivor.”

BANG BANG!!

The ghoul froze, the illusion dissipating as the first shot hit its eye and the second lodged itself into the zombie’s neck. Its magical grip faltered, but didn’t die out, sending several apples splattering to the ground as the ghoul tried to regain its focus.

OH FUCK IT’S NOT DEAD

I started to hyperventilate, realizing that the only way out was past the ghoul. With a few quick breaths, I steeled my nerves and rushed forwards, screaming as I slammed into the fleshy monstrosity. The ghoul stumbled back, trying to regain its balance as it hissed at me.

Then it stepped on an apple.

I ducked out of the way, the ghoul letting out a primal scream as its hoof melted away to nothing. The pain must have finally broken its concentration, because all at once, the apples dropped from the air, showering the ghoul in a deadly spray of acid mush. The ghoul let out a blood-curdling screech, forcing me to cover my ears as I stumbled away. When the sounds finally died out, I spared a glance at the impact site.

There wasn’t even a trace of the ghoul left. Just a bubbling, apple-scented pit of death.

I shuddered, a wave of nausea washing over me as I looked at the puddle. I turned away, just in time to vomit on the floor instead of the apple pit. I sat there for a few moments, heaving up my insides as my mind played the ghoul’s death on repeat. Finally, I ran out of things to throw up, and I was able to shut the image out of my head. As I moved for the exit, I picked up my fallen saddlebags and reattached them to my body. I started to grab a Rad-Away, but I hesitated, eventually deciding to leave it in my bag.

I had a feeling it wouldn’t have helped anyways.

~~~~~~~~~~

Second floor… for fuck’s sake, how much more of this place is there?

I continued through the halls, passing by a couple labeled doors, leading to a classroom and a “Recreational Area.” I spared a look into the classroom, but forced myself to look away at the sight of several children’s skeletons sprawled across the desks. I felt my stomach churn, threatening to spew my insides across the floor, but I closed the door before it got the chance, composing myself and continuing along.

The third door I came to was slightly more interesting. The door was plain enough, a sign labeling it as a simple storage area, but what had my attention was the sheer size of the room behind it. As the door slid open, I stared forwards into hundreds upon hundreds of crates and barrels, some piles stacked all the way up to the ceiling. Other boxes were spread across the floor, creating large plateaus of tiled steel. A looter’s paradise.

Were she not dying in a jail cell, I imagine Temper would have been drooling at the sight.

I slipped into the room, closing the door behind me, and then immediately regretted that choice as the room became pitch black, save for a faint greenish glow from my PipBuck. It only served to make the room even creepier. I started fiddling with the device, trying to turn the glow off. All of a sudden, a blinding light filled my vision, a flashlight activating on the PipBuck. A flashlight pointed directly at my face. I backpedaled, my vision becoming a kaleidoscope of swirly colored after-images even well after I had shoved the beam out of my eyes. I had to keep blinking, trying to regain my sight as I stumbled further into the room.

The deeper I went, the more the boxes seemed to pile up around me. Soon enough, I wasn’t so much walking through a room as navigating a three-dimensional maze in the dark. I kept bumping into boxes, unable to see them until they were a few inches from my face. I think I cut my leg climbing on top of a crate – the corners were way sharper than they had any right to be. I honestly expected something to jump out at me, even though the enemy-locating-PipBuck-thing (jeeze, that thing really needs a better name) was coming up empty.

Well, for a while anyways. While I was in the middle of climbing on top of a large box, a couple of red lights showed up in the corner of my vision. A moment later, the room suddenly lit up, light pouring in from the hall as a door opened. The sudden brightness made me momentarily go blind again, sending me falling back to the ground with a thud. I heard the ghouls starting to move, their low growling starting to converge on my location. My heart rate shot through the roof, and I raced to shut off my flashlight before they had a chance to find me. Just as my flashlight went out, I heard the door close, and the entire room was plunged into darkness once again.

My whole body tensed up. My movements became slow and stuttery, as did my breaths. My wings twitched at every sound, threatening to bump against something and reveal my location. I couldn’t see the ghouls, but as far as I could tell they couldn’t see me either, at least as long as I covered my PipBuck. The only thing I had to reference where they were was the three red lines floating in my vision. And I watched those red lines like a hawk, following their every twitch, pause, and movement, desperately making sure they didn’t come anywhere near me.

As I sat in silence, I started to feel something in my throat. A sort of pressure, slowly building up. My eyes widened. I squeezed my mouth shut, placing my hooves around my muzzle for added support. My throat started to tickle, the pressure continuing to build up until… nothing. Just as suddenly as it had come, the pressure seemed to go away. I relaxed, removing my hooves and-

*cough*

I froze, seeing the three red lines start to scurry about as they tried to converge on my location. I scrambled away, panicked thoughts rushing through my head as I tried my best not to run into any crates, my eyes continuing to adjust to the darkness. Just as I got away from the grouping of ghouls, I brushed up against a barrel, the object teetering dangerously as I tried to get past. I reached out to steady it, only to accidentally bump into another barrel. I rapidly unfurled my good wing, just barely managing to catch the container before it crashed into the ground. I held my breath, sparing a glance at the red lines.

Not a single one had moved.

I let out a sigh of relief. I quickly fumbled through my saddlebags, finding a Rad-Away and downing it as fast as I could to soothe my throat and stop the coughing. I grimaced, the aftertaste seeming to eat away at the inside of my mouth, but I managed to avoid retching.

I started to turn my head, but as I did, one of the red lines sped across my vision, almost moving in sync with the motion of my head. I blinked in confusion. Is… is the PipBuck broken? I shook the PipBuck a bit, holding my breath as I tried to listen for rattling pieces.

I could still hear breathing.

My eyes widened, and I resisted the urge to scream. I covered my PipBuck screen with my hoof, suppressing the faint glow it gave off as much as I could. Slowly, I placed one hoof behind the other, carefully making my way backwards until I felt my rear end brush up against a wall. Cornered.

I could see the creature, faintly. It stood there, only a few hooves away from me, looking off to the side. Slowly, the creature turned, walking straight in my direction. My eyes shrunk as the ghoul came closer and closer, before stopping right in front of me. I held my breath. I leaned back, desperate to avoid being discovered. I could smell its breath, the pungent scent of death and decay. Even in the darkness, I could make out every feature on its face. Every shriveled wrinkle, every patch of missing skin, every hair on its face… and its two massive, soulless eyes.

“Grraaauuuuggg…”

I didn’t move a muscle. The creature stood there, just staring at me. D-does it see me? Oh God, it can see me, can’t it?!? My eyes darted around, trying to find an escape route in the darkness. But a moment later, the ghoul turned, growling as it trotted a few steps away from me. My shoulders relaxed, the tension in my body finally starting to ease off.

The ghoul suddenly stopped, pausing for a moment. Its head turned back towards me, my eyes going wide and my body tensing up once more. It sniffed at the air, my wings twitching as I kept my eyes on the ghoul.

“ATTENTION ALL GUARDS!!” I jumped as Celestia’s voice rumbled through the room. “THERE HAS BEEN AN INCIDENT IN THE FARM AREA!! I REPEAT, ALL GUARDS TO THE FARM AREA!!”

The ghoul in front of me hissed, shambling off into the darkness. A few moments later, I heard the sound of a door opening as the room filled with light once again. Slowly, the red indicators in my vision blinked out of existence one by one, until the door shut again, leaving me alone in the darkened room.

I finally let out a breath I had been holding for who knows how long.

Please, tell me I’m almost there. I don’t know how much more of this I can handle.

~~~~~~~~~~

I had been too nervous to turn the PipBuck flashlight back on, which lead to several minutes of blindly stumbling through the storage room as I looked for an exit. Eventually, I managed to make my way to a new door, breathing a sigh of relief as I opened it and walked through into the halls… wait, scratch that. Not the halls. The door just opened directly into another room, one with various machines and devices strewn about, much like the Repair Station. But unlike the Repair Station, the devices in here seemed more refined, less crude. Some of the contraptions I recognized, like microscopes and test tube arrays. The sides of the room had a few refrigerators, once pristine and white, but now muddled and brown with age.

I even saw a few Terminals, to my surprise. Almost by instinct, I started to check them to see if they were working, but I quickly stopped myself – I already had my data, Terminals meant nothing to me anymore. I walked through the room, careful to step around the broken glass and fallen objects, when I heard the sound of a door opening, followed by two red lights on my enemy radar thing.

“Grrauuug…”

Shit! I ducked down, quickly slipping behind a table as the ghouls entered the room. I started to prepare myself for more sneaking, quieting my breaths, making slow movements, and-

*crackle*

-immediately stepping on a test tube, shattering it beneath my hoof.

“Grrauug… Heeech!! Heech!!”

SHIT SHIT SHIT- I stopped thinking and started running, making a beeline for wherever the ghouls weren’t. Unfortunately, that led me away from the exit and into a wall. I turned my head, watching as the ghouls started to give chase, one charging forwards and the other channeling magic to fling a microscope or three at my head. I quickly leapt behind another table, hesitating as I glanced down at the Artisan. I started to debate whether or not to use it, but the sound of science machines smashing against the table made that decision for me. I grabbed the gun, ignoring the images flashing through my mind as I aimed the sights directly on the charging ghoul’s head.

BANG!!

The sound echoed through the room, but the ghoul hardly even slowed down, screeching as blood started to flow from the hole in its head. The monster continued to charge after me, and I kept running, a few thrown beakers smashing against my armor and leaving some minor cuts on my neck. I turned back, the gun shaking as I lined up for another shot.

BANG!! *click* *click*

Oh fuck. The first shot had been right on target, piercing through one of the ghoul’s eyes and dazing it for a second. Unfortunately, that was my last bullet, which only left me with the shotgun shell, and even if that killed the first ghoul (which I had a feeling it wouldn’t), that still left me with a unicorn to deal with.

In other words, I was screwed.

I ducked under another projectile microscope, bolting for the far side of the room as the charging ghoul gave chase. At first, I managed to keep a good distance between us, but the ghoul was starting to catch up, and why is that table glow-

WHAM!

I cried out in pain, the table slamming into me right as I passed it, knocking me into a wall. I fell to the ground, struggling to stand as the world started to swim in my vision. Slowly, I regained awareness of the ghouls, now very close as I tried to stumble away from them. I brought a hoof to my head, hoping I’d be able to form some semblance of a plan if I could clear the haze from my mind.

All of a sudden, I found myself falling to the floor again as the charging ghoul finally caught up to me, tackling me to the ground. I screamed, trying to push the creature off of me as it lay there, biting and gnashing at my face with barely an inch of space between us. I started flailing my hooves, trying to punch the zombie for what little it was worth. I could feel my hooves sink into the ghoul’s mushy skin with every blow, but I don’t think it even felt my attacks. It just kept biting at me, determined to rip me to shreds with nothing but its pointy, demented teeth. The beast screeched, blood dripping down its face as I continued to wrestle with it. My ears folded back and my eyes shrunk to pinpricks, my gaze locked on the ghoul as it lunged at me.

Then it bit me.

I screamed, feeling the monster’s teeth sink into my shoulder as it started to rip off chunks of leather armor, followed by chunks of my skin. Tears started streaming from my eyes as I cried out, still unable to get the ghoul off while my own blood started to pour down my side. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the unicorn ghoul, its magic slowly starting to wrap around a nearby refrigerator, lifting it off the ground.

I felt a surge of adrenaline shoot through my body as time seemed to slow all around me. In one swift motion, I brought my rear hooves under the ghoul and bucked upwards as hard as I could. For a brief moment, the zombie sat there, no longer lying on me, practically suspended in midair by my kick. That was all the time I needed to roll out from under it and towards the unicorn. I covered my head, watching as the fridge sailed over top of me, flying directly at the other ghoul.

The thing didn’t even have time to flinch.

The fridge smashed into the ghoul, sending bits of blood and muscle in every direction. I got up, trying my best to ignore both the pain and the mess as I barged towards the door. If the unicorn ghoul realized it had just flattened its own ally, it didn’t seem to care. Instead, it reached out with its magic, picking up the refrigerator for another throw. But this time, I was faster. By the time the ghoul had gotten the fridge off the ground, I was at the door, and with the press of a button the metal slid out of the way. I slipped through, watching the unicorn prepare its throw as I tried to close the door.

The door stayed open.

I pressed the button again, but still the door remained open. I felt my breathing speed up, my hooves frantically slamming on the door button as the fridge started to fly towards me. Just as the fridge was about to reach the door, I spun around and bucked the button, causing the door to finally slide shut again.

A resounding crash echoed through the hall, the door denting out towards me as the fridge made impact. I stared at the door, my jaw dropping as I gaped at the bulge. Something told me that door wasn’t going to be opening for a long, long time.

With the battle done, I relaxed a bit, wincing as I regained awareness of the stinging in my shoulder. I reached into my saddlebags, trying to grab a potion, but my hoof returned empty. Right. I lost those things back in the farm. Perfect. I groaned, pulling out my scarf and wrapping it around the wound instead. It didn’t ease the pain, but it did stop the bleeding. Satisfied with the makeshift bandage, I moved on, leaving the science lab as far behind me as I could.

~~~~~~~~~~

That must be the place.

I stared out from the hall, looking across a bridge that connected two balconies. Just on the opposite balcony was a single door, two large windows adorning either side of it as a faint green glow seeped through the aged glass. A single word sat above the door: “Overmare.”

Slowly, I made my way across the bridge, sparing a glance down at the room below. I started to look away, but I did a double take, and on second glance, I recognized the area below as the atrium. The very first room in the Stable. I mentally kicked myself – I could have gotten here much earlier by just coming back to the atrium and flying up here. That would have saved me hours of sneaking, shoddy combat, and mental trauma.

Ugh, of all the stupid… no, I don’t have time to think about that. I’m here now, and I have something to do. I approached the door, biting my lip as I reached out a hoof, before hesitantly opening it. The metal door slid away, immediately bathing me in a green glow as I stepped inside.

The inside of the room looked… strange. It was fairly sparse, to be honest. The back wall had a machine with four terminals on it, and a single cabinet occupied the back right of the room. On the wall opposite the cabinet, a relatively undamaged couch sat, a couch currently occupied by a recognizable purple and red mare. But the center of the room was the most noteworthy, dominated by a large circular desk, flanked on either side by two ghouls, one earth, one unicorn. A hole had been cut from the middle and back of the desk so that whoever sat there was in the center of the circle at all times.

I should hardly need to say who was currently occupying that chair.

Now that I could finally see the mare, I was a bit surprised by what I saw. As was made evident by her rotting skin and practically nonexistent hair, she herself was a ghoul. Unlike the other ghouls, however, Celestia’s skin glowed – yes, glowed – with an eerie green light, explaining the strange color that seemed to accompany her presence. I could see a horn protruding from her head, just as mangled and melted as the rest of her body was. Slowly, the mare turned to look up at me, a smile slowly gracing her decaying lips.

“MR. PEGASUS!!” Celestia shrieked, in what I can only assume was meant to be a welcoming tone. “I’VE BEEN EXPECTING YOU!!”

“I… w-wait, you have?”

“BUT OF COURSE!!” the mare chuckled, getting up from her seat to approach me. “I HAVE EARS ALL AROUND MY KINGDOM!! DID YOU THINK I WOULD NOT BE ABLE TO HEAR YOUR PROGRESS??”

I honestly didn’t.

“I’M GLAD YOU’VE DECIDED TO RECONSIDER MY OFFER, MR…” Celestia stopped just in front of me, tilting her head and smiling as she seemed to think. “OH, LISTEN TO ME!! ALL THESE TITLES ARE UNBECOMING OF POLITE CONVERSATION!! WHAT IS YOUR NAME, GOOD SIR?? I NEVER DID GET TO ASK.”

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Temper stir, coughing continually as she started to look at me.

“I, uh… i-it’s Canvas…”

Temper somehow managed to scoff amongst her retching.

“VERY WELL THEN, CANVAS.” Celestia reached out her hoof, grabbing hold of mine as she shook it vigorously. “IT’S A PLEASURE TO FINALLY MEET YOU IN PERSON!!”

“Graaauuuugg…”

“OH! HOW RUDE OF ME!!” the mare turned, gesturing to the ghouls at her sides. “THESE ARE MY TWO MOST TRUSTED GUARDS, CLOUB SLOGLER AND GRIBY DWIF. SAY HELLO, CLOUB.”

The ghoul on the left growled, making a slight lunge in my direction.

“AH, THAT’S CLOUB FOR YOU.” She chuckled. “HE’S ALWAYS BEEN A HUGGER.”

“R-right…” I took a step away from Celestia, edging just a bit closer to Temper as she heaved bloody vomit onto the floor. “What, uh… w-what interesting names…”

“YES, YES.” Celestia affirmed, “BELIEVE ME, I’M FULLY AWARE OF HOW PECULIAR THOSE NAMES ARE. BUT THAT IS WHAT THEY SAY THEIR NAMES ARE. GO AHEAD, ASK THEM YOURSELF!!”

“Uh… alright, then…” With extreme hesitation, I approached the leftmost ghoul. “So, uh… w-what’s your name, m-my good... sir?”

“Grraaauuuuggg…”

“THERE, YOU SEE?” Celestia stated, pointing to the ghoul. “HE VERY DISTINCTLY SAID ‘CLOUB SLOGGLER’.”

“You’re…” Temper coughed, threatening to throw up her lungs as she spoke. “You’re fuckin’ mental…”

“SO, CANVAS,” the mare continued, ignoring Temper as she returned to her place at her desk. “FOR WHAT REASON HAVE YOU DECIDED TO STAY?? HAVE YOU SEEN THAT YOU MADE AN ERR IN JUDGEMENT, AND COME TO LIVE WITH US IN PEACE??”

“Uh…” I glanced over at Temper, her ears perking up ever so slightly. “N-not exactly. I… w-well, I came to, uh…”

Celestia remained silent, her eyes trained on me as she waited patiently for me to continue.

“I-I came to sav… er, escort my good friend Temper back home.”

Temper did a spit take with her own blood.

“Y...” Temper barely managed to get a word out between her retches. “You what?!?”

“CANVAS,” Celestia spoke, her voice growing very serious once again. “I APPRECIATE YOUR CONCERN FOR YOUR FRIEND, BUT I ALREADY TOLD YOU. SHE CAN’T LEAVE. SHE’S A CRIMINAL. A MURDERER.”

“W-well…” I stammered, “I-I understand that, but-”

“FOR THAT MATTER, YOU TOO HAVE ASSAULTED SEVERAL OF MY SUBJECTS.” Celestia stated, her soulless eyes narrowing slightly. “HOWEVER, FROM WHAT I COULD TELL, IT SEEMS LIKE MOST OF THAT WAS SIMPLY UNFORTUNATE ACCIDENTS AND MISUNDERSTANDINGS, SO I’M WILLING TO LET YOU GO WITH A WARNING. BUT HER?? SHE WAS DELIBERATE. SHE KNEW EXACTLY WHAT SHE WAS DOING.”

“P-Please, wait!” I shouted. “I don’t care what she’s done, y-you can’t keep her here! This whole place is toxic! I-if she stays here, she’ll die!”

“ARE YOU FEELING ALRIGHT?? YOU SEEM TO HAVE PROBLEMS WITH YOUR MEMORY.” Celestia walked over to Cloub (or was that one Griby?), throwing a hoof around his shoulder as she chuckled. “THERE IS NO POISON HERE!! MY SUBJECTS AND I HAVE LIVED IN THIS PLACE FOR OVER A HUNDRED YEARS, I THINK WE WOULD HAVE NOTICED IF IT WAS POIS-”

“Listen to me!!”

The mare paused, her eyes widening at my sudden outburst.

“Celestia… no, Morning Dew, isn’t it?” I caught a slight twitch in the mare’s eye as I continued. “Look around you. Look at your subjects. Can’t you see that something is wrong? Where are their coats? Their manes? For crying out loud, where are their skins? Don’t healthy ponies usually have skin, Morning?”

“I’M NOT SURE THAT I LIKE YOUR TONE, CIVILIAN.”

“And what about you?” I asked, stamping a hoof on the metal floor. “Don’t you think it’s odd that your skin is glowing? Not to mention you’re missing as much skin as the rest of your subjects are. Have you even looked in a mirror lately? You’re as mutated and corpse-like as the rest-”

“ENOUGH!!” Morning shouted, my ears folding back as her voice boomed through the room. “I DON’T NEED TO LISTEN TO THIS!! DO YOU THINK I’LL JUST SIT HERE AND LET YOU MOCK MY APPEARANCE?? THERE IS NO POISON, AND MY SUBJECTS HAVE BEEN HEALTHY FOR MORE THAN A HUNDRED YEARS!!”

I stared at Celestia as she stared at me, her eyebrows furrowed and her teeth bared for me to see. There was no convincing her, I realized. I could stand here for days, trying to tell her about the radiation. But it was too late. The pain and time had already ruined her.

“I’m sorry, Morning.” I sighed, approaching Temper and trying to lift her onto my back. “Come on, Temper. We’re leaving, even if I have to carry you out. I’m not letting anypony die here.”

“Fuck that.” Temper muttered, forcing the words out of her mouth. “I’m not letting you drag me around. I’d-”

“We’re not debating this.” I interrupted, kneeling down next to the couch as Temper stared at me. “Get on. Unless you really, really wanted to die puking up your blood on a sofa.”

“HOW DARE YOU!!” Morning shrieked, my legs threatening to buckle as Temper hesitantly crawled onto my back. “I OFFER YOU PEACE AND KINDNESS, A CHANCE TO LIVE IN MY UTOPIA, A PERSONAL AUDIENCE WITH ME, AND THIS IS HOW YOU REPAY IT?? BY SLINGING INSULTS AT ME AND BREAKING OUT A RUTHLESS CRIMINAL?? I WILL NOT TOLERATE SUCH AN OFFENSE TO MY MAJESTY!! CLOUB!! GRIBY!! SIEZE THEM!!”

The ghouls remained motionless as I started to make my way for the door. With a groan, Morning’s horn lit up, her magic slowly starting to flow out of it and into the head of both ghouls. Suddenly, the zombies sprang to life, rushing at me as fast as they could. I pulled out the Artisan, thinking quickly and aiming the gun at the point between the ghouls.

BOOM!!!

The Artisan roared, the shotgun pellets ripping into both of the ghoul’s faces as they stopped in a strange daze. Morning screamed, and rightfully so – her desk was between her guards, meaning the brunt of the shotgun spray hit her, tens of bullets smashing her horn to pieces and leaving the rest of her face an undead, bloody mess. She let out a stream of curses, flailing to hit some buttons on the terminal behind her as I slipped out the door, Temper in tow.

“Fuck, feathers.” Temper spat, drops of blood spattering my coat with every word. “You really fucked her up!”

“Don’t remind me.” I grimaced, fighting back the urge to throw up. “Let’s just get out of here.”

“Not-” Temper paused, and suddenly I was sprayed with warm liquid as Temper vomited on my neck. “Not without my shit.”

EW EW EW “I, uh…” WHAT THE FUCK TEMPER “I-I think…” WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT “We don’t-”

I stopped, feeling a light thump on the back of my head. A few moments later, I realized that was Temper, attempting to punch me in her weakened state.

“Ugh, fine.” I relented. “Where is it?”

Temper said nothing, pointing across the bridge at a room labeled Armory.

“Alright.” I said, hoofing a Rad-Away to Temper. “We’re grabbing your stuff, and then-”

“ATTENTION CITIZENS!!”

Oh god damn it.

“ALL CITIZENS, BE ON HIGH ALERT!!” Morning’s voice screamed through the speakers. “I HAVE JUST BEEN ASSAULTED BY A YELLOW PEGASUS ASSASSIN, WHO ESCAPED MY THRONE ROOM WITH A NOTORIOUS CRIMINAL IN TOW!!”

Assassin? Me? I ignored the voice, making my way to the Armory and opening the door. Immediately, I saw a footlocker on the ground with Temper’s armor poking out of the top. As Celestia continued to preach about the dangers I posed to her citizens, I helped Temper off my back and left her to put on her clothes. I waited, watching Temper fumble with the mish-mashed armor, various pieces clattering to the floor as they slipped from her hooves. I started to turn away, when I spotted something on the floor near the back of the room.

A holotape.

Slowly, I walked over to it, picking it up and looking it over. No label. No indications whatsoever. Hesitantly, I slotted it into my PipBuck, an indicator flashing to read “Note added: The Truth.” How straightforward.

I selected the note on my PipBuck, staring at it for a moment, not actually playing it. I really shouldn’t have cared. The events that had transpired over a century ago were none of my business, after all. But I did care. Terrible things had happened in Stable 6. Ponies died. Ponies mutated. Only one pony survived, and it had driven her insane.

I have to know. I reached out, my hoof hovering over the button for a brief moment, before I pressed play.

“Those- *cough* -those bastards!!” The voice was unmistakably Ball-peen’s.

“They’ve been letting it in!! All- *cough* -all along, through the damn vents!! They’ve been killing us since- *cough* -the moment we got here!! And oh, the over- *cough* -the overmare tried to deny it, but I saw the- *cough* -mechanisms myself!! It was all on purpose!! I know she’s in on it!! I’ll- *cough* -I’ll bring proof!! I’ll expose that bitch for the coward she really is, and then she won’t be able to deny it!!

“Are you happy, Stable-Tec? You’ve killed us all!! You’ve killed the only hope equinity has for survival!! You… *cough cough* …bastards will-”

The audio cut out abruptly. I sat there, stunned silent. That couldn’t have been true. Even after the war, everypony had heard about the great things Stable-Tec had done. They were practically a household name. And they… they did it? They let radiation in? Deliberately? That can’t-

“The fuck are you doing, feathers?”

I turned back to look at Temper. The mare was lying on the ground, still struggling with the last pieces of her armor. I started to rebut, but just as she was getting her leg through the last strap, a siren started to blare throughout the Stable.

“GUARDS!!” The speakers screeched. “THE ASSASSIN IS IN THE ARMORY!! ALL GUARDS, CONVERGE ON THE ARMORY!!”

FUCK FUCK- “Temper, can you stand?”

The raider rolled her eyes, got to her hooves, and immediately collapsed on the ground in a coughing, vomiting heap.

“G-great.” I stammered, helping the mare onto my back again. “C-can you still shoot?”

BANG!!

I yelped as a bullet passed through my ear.

“That-” Temper retched, threatening to drop the gun as she did. “That answer your question?”

“P-perfectly.” I turned towards the door, putting the Artisan away as Temper readied her pistol. Almost immediately, I saw several red lines starting to dart across my vision. I took a few deep breaths, before opening the door, bursting out of the room and leaping over the balcony.

I only remember the next couple moments as a blur of images. So much happened in so short a span of time, I didn’t have time to commit the details to memory. The only thing I remember with absolute clarity was that I kept running, and Temper kept shooting, mowing down every last ghoul that got in my way as I rushed for the exit. Beyond that? I remember my hooves hitting the floor, my wings flaring up to keep Temper from rolling off my back. I remember rounding the corner into the last hallway, and seeing the massive steel door of the Stable start to roll closed in the distance. I remember leaping over several ghouls, their bodies squishing and skulls smashing beneath my hooves as I raced for the exit. I remember exhaustion sweeping over me, and a stiffness in my joints that threatened to send me crashing to the ground. I remember reaching the entrance room, struggling to stay in motion as the Stable door came within seconds of sealing shut. I remember a sudden kick of energy, my vision focusing in and my body forcing itself to move. I remember just barely slipping out the door, a dull thud shaking the cave as it slid into place behind us.

And while I don’t remember how long, or how far, I remember running. Running as fast as I could, as far as my legs would carry me, until by the time I had turned to look back, Stable 6 was nothing but a vanishing speck in the distance.

~~~~~~~~~~

“Alright, that’s far enough.”

My ears perked up and I turned my head, looking at Temper as she sat draped across my back. Now that we were away from the Stable, my pace had slowed down, and I had simply kept walking. Even now, as Temper commanded me to stop, I felt compelled to keep walking.

“Hey, I said…” Temper coughed. “I said fuckin’ stop!”

“No.”

“What-” Temper paused, vomiting off to the side before she continued. “-what’d you just say, you little bitch?”

“I said no.” I replied matter-of-factly. “We need to find somewhere safe first. Somewhere that isn’t out in the open. And besides, right now? You’re not really in a position to make me do anything.”

“Like hell I’m-” Temper let out several coughs. “-I’m not! I’ve still got my gun, I can shoot you whenever I-”

Temper yelped as I bucked my rear end into the air, jolting her enough to drop her pistol on the ground. Before she could reclaim it, I scooped it up in my good wing, holding it just out of reach as she strained to grab it.

I felt a slight smile grace my lips. I have to admit, it was kind of fun to toy with Temper in her weakened state. After a while, she stopped struggling, finally accepting that it was a lost cause.

“…Canvas, huh?”

I tensed up, but slowly nodded in confirmation. Temper let out a slight huff in response.

“Figured you’d have a pansy-ass name.”

“You’re one to talk.” I replied, smirking ever so slightly. “Ms. Tantrum.”

“I will end you.”

I rolled my eyes, ignoring her threat as we continued along the road. For a while, neither of us said anything, the silence growing tenser with every passing second.

“So-” Temper finally broke the silence, stifling a cough as she did. “-so now what?”

“Huh?” I tilted my head as I looked back at her. “What do you mean?”

“Don’t be retarded, dumbass.” Temper spat, coughing at nearly every word. “What are you gonna do to me? You gonna abandon me on the side of the fuckin’ road? Leave me for dead? Maybe you want to shoot me yourself, feel the satisfaction of revenge flowing through you? Or maybe you’re one of the sick fucks who wants to ‘have your way’ with me first?”

“Temper,” I said, disgust starting to wash over me, “What the heck are you talking about?”

“Revenge, you dumbass!” Temper yelled. “Do you think I’m an idiot? I know I’ve lost, and this is your big daring escape. You could have just left the big bad slaver in the radiation to die, but noo, you fought your way back inside so you could finish the job for yourself! So what’s it gonna be? Murder? Torture? Rape? What’s your fucking plan?”

I stopped walking, turning my head back to stare at Temper. Staring back at me was a face of rage, her eyes were widened and her face scrunched up, contorted into a menacing scowl.

But that wasn’t all. Even though she tried to hide it, I could see the little details. A few drops of sweat on her forehead. Her eyes, briefly darting around whenever I moved. Her whole body, for that matter, giving the slightest twitch whenever I so much as ruffled my feathers. This wasn’t the normal Temper. This was something else.

For a while, I just stood there, simply watching the mare as she bathed me in pure, unadulterated rage. Finally, I sighed, turning back and continuing to walk.

“My plan…” I could practically feel the words rolling off my tongue. “The first thing I’m going to do is find a secluded cave. Somewhere no one will find you until you’re prepared.”

“Prepared?” Temper spat. “You need to fucking prepare my corpse for being found? Fuck, I’ve been slaving a psychopath.”

“Then, I’ll… wait, this looks good.” I stopped talking, spotting a large hole in the ground. I looked down, and to my relief the hole opened up into a decently sized cave. The opening was at the top of a stone wall, one that wouldn’t be too hard to climb out of… unless, of course, you were severely weakened by radiation poisoning. I shimmied my way down, wincing as Temper fell off my back halfway down, crashing into the stone floor with a groan.

As I continued down, Temper started to crawl away from me.

“So you’re…” Temper paused, choking on her words. “You’re just gonna kill me now? Rip me apart and ‘prepare’ my corpse for the world to see?”

“No.”

Temper stopped, raising an eyebrow as she looked at me. Slowly, I reached into my saddlebags, pulling out the last bag of Rad-Away, about half of my healing supplies, and most of the food on me. I trotted further into the cave, setting the supplies down close to the back of it. I also pulled out Temper’s gun and knife, setting them down on top of one of the taller rocks.

“There.” I said, satisfied with my work. “That should be enough to get you on your hooves again, once I’m far enough away.”

“Wh-what-” Temper paused, fighting back another wave of puke as she arched her eyebrows. “What are you doing?”

“I’m…” I paused, stopping to think for a moment. What was I doing? I was helping a criminal. I was saving the worst pony I had ever met. I was giving her the means to go out and keep perpetuating her evil. And yet… I couldn’t shake the feeling that killing her was somehow worse.

“I’m trusting you to do better.”

Temper stared, her eyes widening as she sat there, stunned silent. I started to climb out of the cave, but I hesitated for a moment, climbing back down and approaching Temper. She tried to pull away, but in her state she was no match for me, and I quickly pulled half her caps and several hooffuls of bullets and shotgun shells out of her pockets.

“Sorry, but I might need these.”

I turned around, Temper spewing curse after bloody curse at me as I climbed out of the cave and into the muted light of day. I smiled, closing my eyes and savoring the moment for a bit as I walked away from Temper, the sounds of her rage slowly fading off into the ambient noise of the wasteland.

Finally, I was a free pony again.

Author's Note

Level up

New Perk: Travel Light – Get out of there, Canvas! While wearing light armor or no armor, you run 10% faster.

Chapter 9

“Son? Can we talk for a moment?”

The young colt tensed up, turning back to look at the entrance to his room. In the doorway, the looming shadow of the colt’s father stood.

“I just… well, you know my leave ends tomorrow. I just wanted to have a little… one on one time with my boy before I go. A real stallion-to-stallion talk.”

“Yes, sir.”

The stallion nodded, walking in and taking a seat next to Canvas’ bed.

“So, uh…” Bullseye rubbed his neck, struggling to find the right words. “I saw your friend earlier today. Windy, right? He was asking me if I could give him some sharpshooting lessons. Truth be told, I’m not sure he needs them, but…”

Bullseye stopped, noting his son’s lack of response. For a moment, the two remained silent.

“I was talking to your mother earlier.” Bullseye finally stated. “She told me that… well, that you asked her if I…”

The stallion stopped, his words seeming to die in his throat. All of a sudden, he leaned forwards, placing his hoof on Canvas’ shoulder.

“You know I don’t hate you, right?” the stallion asked. “I know I’m rough on you, and your sister, but that doesn’t mean I hate you. I just… I know you could do great things, Canvas. You’re a good kid, with a lot of potential for greatness, to go out in the world and do great things. I just feel like somepony needs to give you the right push, like my father did for me.”

“I-I don’t want to be a soldier, if that’s what you mean.”

“I know, I know.” Bullseye sighed. “You don’t really like fighting. There’s more to the Enclave than just fighting, you know. There’s the feeling of being a hero, the adoration of countless others, and…”

The stallion paused, watching as his son started to bury his head in his bed sheets.

“…of course, there’s also some non-combat roles.” Bullseye added. “There’s, uh… there’s the R&D division! The techies pretty much never see combat. Or the PR guys! They make all the posters and commercials for the Enclave – your painting could be very useful there.”

“R-really?” Canvas sat upright. “I-I could paint for them?”

“Absolutely!” the stallion responded. “You’d be painting great pictures, pictures of the soldiers getting ready for battle! Pictures of the Enclave battleships! Pictures of the Wonderbolts, doing all kinds of aerial maneuvers! You’d like that, right?”

“That…” Canvas smiled. “Yeah, that’d be alright, I guess.”

“Great.” Bullseye smiled back, standing up. “I have to go pack up my things, Canvas. It’s close to your bed time, so you should start getting ready for bed.”

“Yes sir.”

“Okay.” The stallion paused for a moment, before backing out of the room. “Goodnight, Canvas. I… I love you.”

“I love you too, dad.”

With that, the stallion closed the door, leaving Canvas alone once again.

~~~~~~~~~~

I have no idea what I’m doing.

So there I was. I had finally reclaimed my freedom, and as soon as I found a radio transmitter of some kind, I’d be on my way home. But as I walked along, I realized I didn’t have any clue how to do that. Where would I find a radio? How? Temper had been the one making the decisions on where to go before, but now I was free. Where I went was my call. But I didn’t know the wasteland, how should I know where to go? It almost made me dizzy just thinking about it.

M-maybe I should take a moment to get my bearings. Where exactly am I, anyways? I started fiddling with my PipBuck, getting back to the map screen a moment later. Now that I was outside, I had expected the map to be completely useless, but to my surprise, it did actually show a decent map of the Wasteland. It had even marked the areas I’d been to before this – the Everfree Forest, Stable 6, even…

…

It called it the “Rainston Ruins.”

I shuddered, pushing the memories out of mind as quickly as possible.

Unfortunately, that was all that had been marked. Even though the map showed miles and miles of wide open space, not one other city or town or whatever they had down here was marked, except the places I’d already been to. Some good that did me.

Well, I might as well pick SOMEwhere to go. I took a quick look at the area around me, a generic slice of wasteland, complete with hills, dead plants, and what might have once been an old shack, but had long since been reduced to nothing more than a pile of rotting wood planks. I looked way off into the distance, trying to find some kind of landmark to go towards. There were a couple ominous white towers around, but if they were what I thought they were… no. I’d heard enough enclave horror stories about those. Maybe one of the mountains? I’m no mountain climber, though. I’d rather not misstep and go tumbling off a cliff. Still, it wasn’t like there were a lot of landmarks still standing, so between the mountains and… those, I’d rather try my chances with rock-climbing.

Mountains it is. I paused, taking a brief moment to survey what I had on me (a task made incredibly simple thanks to a PipBuck feature that somehow knew everything in my saddlebags). It seemed I’d gotten better at keeping supplies now compared to when I first left my house, though not by much. On the health side, I only had a few miscellaneous things, like bandages and the Med-X stuff. I had a couple cans of beans to eat, plus at least four Sparkle Colas. I had the Artisan, but as far as ammunition went, I’d only grabbed twenty-five pistol rounds and seven shotgun shells. Add in about a hundred caps, and that was all my supplies. Well, and my armor. And the Holodisk, of course.

It wasn’t much, but it would be enough to get me most of the way there, I figured. I’d probably have to stop and rummage for more supplies along the way, or else just ration what I had really well. With a plan in mind, all that was left was to pick a mountain. I stood up, turning my head to find a- GAH!!

At some point during my inventory management, a large flying robot somehow managed to sneak up behind me, and was now staring me in the face. I screamed, jumping away and rushing for cover behind a rock. With very slow movements, I peeked out from my rock, taking a closer look at the robotic thing.

Whatever it was, it was weird. It looked a lot like the bloatsprites, with a large spherical body and spindly mechanical legs. However, in place of the large bulbous eyes of the bloatsprites, this robot had something more akin to shutter shades covering the whole front of it. The robot hovered on large mechanical wings, drawing nearer with every flap.

“Sorry.”

I jumped again, startled by the robot’s tinny voice.

“Back off!” I yelled out, quickly grabbing the Artisan and taking a hesitant step away. “I-I don’t want to fight you!”

“God, I hope not!” the robot replied with a laugh. “That’d be a poor way for us to meet.”

“Uh… r-right…” I said, more asking than stating. Slowly, I returned my gun to its holster. “Wh-who are you?”

“A friend.” The robot answered. “You can call me Watcher.”

“Watcher?” I said, tilting my head to the side. I felt myself relax a little bit. It wasn’t shooting at me, so I felt inclined to believe it. “I’m… I’m Canvas.”

“Well then, it’s nice to meet you, Canvas.”

“Y-yeah…” I replied, standing awkwardly for a moment. I thought about asking for directions to a town, but suddenly, another idea popped into my head. “Hey, uh, do you know if there’s a radio transmitter somewhere around?”

Watcher paused, his body fluttering in the air with a mechanical hum.

“I just, uh,” I said, laughing awkwardly. “Well, I’m not really from down here. I-I was trying to see my friend, and-”

“You fell from the sky.”

I blinked a couple times.

“Y-you know?”

“I’ve been watching you for a while, Canvas.” Watcher replied. “Uh, not in a creepy way.” He quickly added. “I see everything that goes on in the Wasteland, and it’s not every day that a pegasus just falls out of the sky. I’ll admit, I lost track of you for a bit, but I’ve been watching at least since you left the Everfree. It took me a-”

“Wait.” I interrupted. “Back up. You’ve been watching me since I left the forest?”

“Yeah.”

“So…” My eye twitched ever so slightly. “So then you saw me get captured by Temper?”

Watcher paused.

“I, uh… yeah, I saw that…”

“And you didn’t try to help?”

Watcher’s voice went dead silent.

“I mean, you did just say you were a friend.” I continued. “And if you are, then you must have done something to help me get free… right?”

“I…” Watcher’s voice was hesitant, the robotic orb slowly edging backwards. “You have to understand, robots like this aren’t as durable as they look, and other ponies… well, they don’t tend to help as much as they used to.”

“So you just left me?!?” I shouted. “You saw me get captured, watched me get dragged around by a psychopath, watched as she forced me to murder creature after creature after pony after pony, and you didn’t try to help once?!?”

“I get that you’re upset,” Watcher responded, “But please, be reasonable! Terrible things like this happen in the Wasteland all the time, I can’t afford to help everyone. It’s not like I was specifically ignoring you. I’ve seen hundreds of ponies get captured before-”

“How is that any better?” I snapped. “What, now I’m just the most recent victim of your inability to help? Did you tell all of them you were their friends too?”

“Don’t act like you know better than me!” the robot snapped back, lunging forwards slightly. “I have my reasons! If I could save every last pony who suffered here, don’t you think I would? But I can’t. I just… can’t.”

I turned around, looking away from the robot as it floated silently behind me.

“I’m sorry.”

“Whatever.” I muttered. “If you’re not going to help me, then go ‘watch’ something else.” Slowly, I started to trot away from the metallic creature.

“You were wondering about a radio transmitter, right?”

I paused. Slowly, I swiveled my ears back towards him.

“Yeah?”

“There’s an old airship, from before the megaspells fell.” Watcher explained. “It crashed down northeast of here, up by an old lake. All those old ships used radios to communicate, so it’s likely they have a transmitter there. It’s not far – just over those hills.”

I turned back to face Watcher, my eyes slowly widening. For all the shit I had gone through, things were finally looking up for me. I mean, I had gotten free, found an Enclave radio frequency, AND there was a radio transmitter nearby! And all in one day! Even with my irritation for Watcher, I couldn’t help but feel a smile gracing my lips. It’s about time luck finally decided to cut me a-

“You should probably expect a fight, though.”

“Huh? What-”

Before I could get my question out, Watcher made a violent popping sound and started to fly away, a steady polka tune coming from the robot instead of the tinny voice I had been speaking to. I stared in bewilderment, watching as the robot slowly disappeared on the horizon.

Well… that happened. I sighed, looking down at the map on my PipBuck. To my surprise, there was a new marker – “Hummingbird Wreckage.”

Wha, but… oh, forget it. I sighed, looking off in the direction my PipBuck was pointing me. Just over those hills, huh? I can manage that.

~~~~~~~~~~

I was a little surprised when I finally got to the wreckage. The mass of metal and tarp was sitting next to a lake of some kind, the land sloping down towards the tilted machine, the back end of the ship sunk into the ground and the once air-filled balloon now limply hanging off the side, partially submerged in the eerie waters. But that wasn’t what was surprising.

See, when you think of an airship, you usually think of one of those massive cruise blimps, the ones built for thousands of ponies, or one of the Enclave’s Cloudships, the gargantuan battleships they have at the ready for once they’re prepared to take the fight below the clouds. In other words, you tend to think of airships as being… well, big. But looking at the wreckage… let’s just say “hummingbird” was a pretty accurate name.

I paused for a moment, glancing down at my gun holster. Watcher said something about a fight, didn’t he? I’d rather avoid fighting but… well, with any luck it’d just be animals. With a sigh, I pulled out the Artisan, gripping it in my mouth and slowly started making my way towards the flying machine.

As I carefully maneuvered around differently sized chunks of the wreckage, I tried to imagine what it must have looked like in its heyday. The paint was faded and chipping now, but I imagine those purples and whites must have looked gorgeous. I could even make out some faint golden detailing – such regal colors! Off to the side, I spotted an old flag fluttering in the breeze, trapped beneath a wayward piece of wreckage, further highlighting the gold/purple/white motif. Oh, what I wouldn’t give for some paint and a brush right now! I’d-

BANG!!

“AUGH!!” A sudden pain in my wing snapped me out of my imagination, and I sprang for the nearest cover I could find (in this case, the rotting husk of a tree). I took a look at my wing, gritting my teeth as I felt the bullet wound burn. I glanced at my radar, trying to find the source of the gunshot. The radar pulled through, showing a single enemy, positioned directly opposite my cover. I focused on my wound for a moment, and with no potions left, I instead pulled out a bandage, wrapping it around my wing to stop the blood as best as I could. It wasn’t pretty, but it would do for now. With the bleeding stopped, I turned my attention back towards the Hummingbird. I risked a quick look at my attacker, barely poking my head out from behind the tree, only to pull it back as another bullet grazed my ear, a whizzing rush of air following with it. I didn’t see much, but I saw enough. The gunner was in the blimp’s cockpit, taking potshots through a hole in the window.

“HEY FUCKER!!” The pony hollered, a stallion from the sound of it. “BEEN A WHILE SINCE I’VE HAD SOME TARGET PRACTICE!! COME ON OUT, I’LL MAKE IT NICE AND QUICK!!”

If it’s all the same, I would much rather your aim NOT get better.

I racked my brain for a moment, trying to collect my thoughts. This seems hopeless. How am I supposed to compete with a sniper? Maybe I should just leave, find a transmitter somewhere else. Yeah, there’s gotta be other places with equipment like that, right? Like… this ship isn’t the ONLY place in the Wasteland with a radio transmitter… right?

“YOU THINK THAT THING’S GONNA KEEP YA SAFE?” The sniper called out. “YOU’VE GOTTA COME OUT EVENTUALLY!! LET ME GET A FUCKIN’ SHOT IN!!”

I clenched my teeth, trying my best to ignore the sniper’s quips. But he did make a good point: I couldn’t keep hiding there. Even if I decided to look somewhere else for the transmitter, I’d have to leave my cover, which put me in just as much danger as trying to get closer did. Dammit… well, in that case I might as well stay here. And if I’m staying, then I need to come up with a way to get past that sniper. I obviously can’t shoot him, he’s too far away. And if he could hit me from that far, then I probably can’t sneak away either.

“THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING BACK THERE? JUST COME OUT, GET IT OVER WITH!! I PROMISE IT’LL BE QUICK!!”

Grah! What do I… Suddenly, an idea popped into my head. I reached into my saddlebags, pulling out the first thing my hoof touched. I looked at the object in my hooves, and then immediately put the holodisk back and reached for the second thing my hoof touched. A can of beans. Much better.

In one fluid motion, I tossed the beans out to the left of the tree, and hesitated for just a second before running out to the right.

BANG!!

The ground was showered with muck as the can of beans exploded, the bullet tearing into the can and covering the area with soupy, delicious slime. I spotted the stallion again, his gun slowly shifting its aim back on me, but before he could get another shot in, I had already made it behind more cover (thankfully, the wreckage provided a lot of that).

“Mother-!!” the stallion cursed. “YOU THINK YOU’RE REAL FUCKIN’ CLEVER, DON’T YOU? TRY THAT AGAIN, COCKSUCKER!! I DARE YOU!!”

I looked around, careful to keep my body behind cover all the while. I glanced over to the side, spotting the trapped flag I’d seen earlier, still desperately trying to escape its hundred and fifty year imprisonment in the wind. Wind that I suddenly realized was blowing directly towards the sniper.

Maybe it was time to free it.

I wouldn’t be able to get close enough to release the flag by hoof, so I slowly lined up the Artisan’s sights on the fluttering cloth.

BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG!!

In an instant, I unleashed hell on that flag, puncturing the cloth in a vague grouping near the base. I heard the stallion laughing, a cackling laugh that filled the air around me.

“YOU MISSED, FUCKER!!”

*rrrrip*

The flag suddenly tore free of the wreckage, sailing through the air and directly into the window of the cockpit. The stallion’s laughing stopped, and he cursed, trying to pull the sheet away from him. With the sniper blocked, I made a mad dash for the side of the Hummingbird, searching for some way inside. It didn’t take long – a large portion of the hull was missing, offering free passage to the ship’s interior. Quickly and quietly, I slipped inside.

Ok… ok, I’m in. Th-that wasn’t so bad. Next step: find the radio transmitter. Easy… right?

I snuck around inside the blimp, hiding behind a couch built into ship’s hull. I glanced around, taking in my surroundings as best as I could. From the looks of it, the ship had once been a private luxury ship. At least, I’m pretty sure normal ships don’t have bars built into them. The walls were lined with couches, once covered in pretty red leather, but now mucked up with blood, grime, and something I desperately hoped wasn’t semen (although the stench made me strongly suspect it was). The floor of the ship had bones of various sizes scattered across it, some with bits of rotting meat still clinging to them. Along the center of the room, a few tables stuck up, bolted into the floor and covered with the same filth as the couches.

“Hey Crackshot, the fuck’s going on out there?”

“Leave him. Nopony ever comes out here. It’s probably just another bloatsprite. So as I was saying…”

I tensed up, quickly glancing towards the voices. On the other end of the room, I could see two ponies, dressed up in armor much like Temper’s. In fact, they both looked like Temper – not exactly like her, obviously, but the same sort of motifs. Haphazardly thrown together armor, wild hairstyles, plus added scars for good measure. The two of them, a unicorn mare and an earth pony stallion, seemed unaware of my intrusion, if their conversation was anything to go by. With an extremely quiet deep breath, I started to creep forwards, careful to stay out of sight whenever I could.

Then I noticed the cage.

Right next to the raiders (I assume they were raiders, anyways) sat an impressively sized cage, sort of like the ones pegasai would keep their pet birds in. Except this one was much larger, easily able to fit a fully grown pony inside. I could tell because there was a fully grown pony inside.

I paused briefly, staring at the mare in the cage. Instantly, a number of images flashed through my mind, some showing the mare being thrown into the cage against her will, others showing her struggling to break free of it. However, amongst those images, I saw one imaginary figment that stood different from the others. An image of me, unlocking the cage, freeing the mare from captivity.

Were I not trying to stay hidden, I’d have sighed. I didn’t want to take any unnecessary risks, but… well, I couldn’t just leave her there!

“Ugh, why are we even waiting here? Nopony comes this far out of town. Besides, I’m hungry. Can’t I just eat her already?”

The caged mare froze, her face taking on a confused expression as she slowly processed the raider’s words. Suddenly her eyes widened, and the mare started backing into the corner of the cage as far as she could.

“Fuck no!” the unicorn spat, slapping her partner across the face. “You already ate the other one. I think I’d like to spend a bit of… quality time with her first…”

The unicorn raider grew a disturbing grin on her face, causing the caged mare to whimper and turn away.

Then the caged mage locked eyes with me. I froze, the two of us staring at each other for a moment while the disgusting conversation continued in the background. Her eyes widened, and she started to open her mouth, but I quickly brought the tip of my wing to my mouth, signaling her to keep quiet. She stopped, closing her mouth and glancing between me and the raiders. Hesitantly, she gave me a subtle nod, her eyes pleading with me to get her out. I gave her my own nod in reply, slowly making my way from hiding spot to hiding spot as the mare’s captors continued their conversation.

“What good would fucking her even do you?” The earth pony asked, “Neither of you’ve even got the dicks to fuck with!”

“We’ve got horns, dipshit.” The unicorn countered, tapping hers with a hoof. “Have you seen this beauty? I could fuck a deathclaw with this, and I bet hers could do me wonders.”

The caged mare whimpered again.

“Why do you even need her?” The stallion groaned. “I’m hungry as shit, and you’ve got two ponies who actually have dicks right here, ripe and ready for fucking.”

“Hah!” the mare let out a loud laugh, wiping away a tear from her eye. “You two retards? I’d rather soak my head in brahmin piss.”

“Well,” The stallion spat, stepping dangerously close to his partner, “Who’s to say we’d give you a choice?”

Oh God they’re talking about… no, no, don’t think about it. Just keep sneaking, stay out of sight…

“Back off, Muscle.” the mare practically growled, pointing her knife at the stallion. “You forget, I’m the one calling the shots around-”

*crack*

I froze, my eyes darting down at the floor, spotting a few bits of a shattered bone under my hoof.

“Huh?” The stallion’s ears flicked in my direction. He stood up, grabbing a baseball bat at his side. “Who the fuck is that?”

FUCK- Plan B! Plan B!

“D-don’t move!!” I shouted, jumping away from my cover and aiming the Artisan at the earth pony. “I’ll… I-I’ll shoot!!”

For just a moment, the two ponies held still, their eyes slowly beginning to widen. Then they both burst out laughing, the mare practically falling onto the ground as she struggled to breathe. I felt warmth flush through my cheeks, glancing over at the caged mare. She winced, groaning and putting a hoof to her face as she watched my pathetic holdup attempt.

“Get… oh, fuckin’ hell, gimme a second…” the unicorn laughed, slowly getting back to a standing position. “Get him, Muscle!”

The stallion wasted only a moment for chuckling, and then immediately lunged at me with the bat. I flinched, jumping back to avoid the attack. All of a sudden, I felt something under my hoof, and before I could readjust, I slipped, falling to the ground with a *THUD*. I groaned, trying to pick myself up, but as I looked forwards, I saw the raider stallion looming over me, reeling back with his bat. I felt my breathing accelerate, my eyes focusing on the weapon as it began to swing towards me. In a panic, I tried to line up my aim, and-

Welcome to SATS!

WHAT THE FUCK- Time suddenly slowed down to a crawl, the world around me going in slow motion as I struggled to move. All of the PipBuck indicators disappeared from my vision, instead being replaced with a text box that filled most of my field of view. With little other choice, I quickly read over the text, catching something about a “targeting spell” and “chance to hit.”

A-alright… so this is some kind of PipBuck combat thing then? I let myself relax slightly. I must have activated it by accident, since this… spell thing… hadn’t shown up during Stable 6. The text box went away, and as I looked over the raiders, a few indicators appeared, highlighting their individual limbs, giving each limb a different percentage. With time slowed down to a crawl, I took a few moments to figure out how exactly this SATS thing worked.

A few prolonged seconds later, and I’d managed to piece together the basics. By looking at a certain limb and thinking about shooting it, the spell would prepare that limb to be shot at. I could prepare multiple shots, but the spell only had a finite amount of... “AP”… whatever that was… anyways, a finite amount of AP it could use, and every bullet used a bit of AP. Furthermore, I could ready shots on multiple opponents if I wanted to.

All that is to say, it used freaky dark magic to slow time and help me aim. By all accounts, that should have been the coolest and most useful thing ever – I’d be able to think through any attack I made, waste less bullets, and just all-around be better able to survive the Wasteland.

Unfortunately, none of that changed the fact that it was still me pulling the trigger. Even if this spell could put a bullet in the head of anyone I saw, I still had to want the bullet put there. The magic didn’t make me any less of a murderer, did it?

I stared for a moment, watching the two raiders slowly inch closer and closer. I glanced over, looking at the mare in the cage. The conversation between the two raiders played back in my mind. Images of the events they were describing started to play on loop, first of the caged mare being torn apart and eaten, then of the unicorn, plunging her horn repeatedly into the caged mare’s-

If not for the SATS time-freeze, I’d have shaken my head to clear the images. I stared down the raiders, a fire building up in my chest. I finally made my choice, readying a shotgun blast on the stallion and two bullets on the mare. Just before I activated the spell, I hesitated. Did I have to do this? I could try to just hit their legs, incapacitate them. They didn’t have to die, did they? Could I really kill these ponies?

The image of the unicorn violating the caged mare sprang to mind once more.

…yeah, this time, I think I can.

I’m not sure how, but I released the spell, and the effects were almost instantaneous. I automatically bit down on the Artisan’s trigger, releasing a spray of iron shrapnel into the stallion’s face. As he careened to the side, I locked my sights on the mare and fired two successive shots into her chest, each one scoring a direct hit around her shoulder.

As soon as the second shot hit, time sprang back to normal, the stallion collapsing in a heap as the unicorn cried out in anguish. I glanced at the stallion, struggling not to vomit as one of his eyes rolled across the floor and brushed against my hoof.

“Oh, you’re dead now, fucker!!” the unicorn shouted, causing my attention to snap back to-

Gah!! I barely had time to duck before a kitchen knife flew over my head, taking a few strands of my mane along with it. I tried to bring up SATS again, but then realized I had no idea how to actually do that. Ducking below another knife swing, I lined up the Artisan’s sights the normal way, aiming for the mare’s chest.

BANG BANG!!

The unicorn flinched back, one bullet bouncing off her armor and another piercing through the gaps in said armor, embedding itself deep into the mare’s chest. As the blood started flowing from the wound, the mare stumbled forwards, the knife dropping from her magic and clattering to the floor. She made a lunge at me, but I sidestepped out of the way, and the unicorn collapsed on the floor, twitching for a few moments before she went completely still. I turned away from the corpse before any bad thoughts could enter my mind.

“Woah…”

I flinched at the noise, spinning around and pointing the Artisan to defend myself. Then I realized the speaker was the caged mare. I blinked a few times, then lowered my aim as it slowly dawned on me that I almost shot the pony I was trying to save. That would have been bad.

The mare shrunk back, obviously put off by being held at gunpoint. But she quickly composed herself, letting out a sigh of relief. In an instant, she rushed up to the bars of the cage and gestured to the lock.

“Please, help me!” the mare pleaded, clutching the bars. “Get me out of here!”

I was hesitant for a moment, but slowly, I nodded, holstering the Artisan and approaching the lock.

“Where’s the key?”

“The stallion had it, I think.” The mare replied. I turned, starting to pull items off the raider as the caged mare watched. “You’re not with the Enclave, are you?”

I paused for a moment, thrown off guard by the question.

“Uh, no… why?”

“Well, you’re a Pegasus, and most of them…” the mare trailed off, seeming to lose herself in thought for a moment. All of a sudden, she gasped. “Are you that pony DJ Pon3 mentioned?”

“I, uh…” ah, got it! I finally found the key, grabbing it and approaching the cage again. “I-I don’t know who that is, sorry.”

“Oh...”

I put the key in the lock, feeling a satisfying *click* as the key turned. I pulled open the cage door, and the mare slipped out. Once she was out, she stopped, a smile gracing her lips.

“Thank you,” she said, the relief clear in her voice.

“Uh…” I coughed, “Y-you’re welcome. Look, y-you should get going, I don’t know how many more Raiders there are here. I-I’ve got… other stuff, I have to do, alright?”

The mare looked at me, tilting her head slightly and furrowing her eyebrows.

“Just go, miss.” I repeated, walking forwards and going through the door to the cockpit. “I’ll be fine, I-”

“Gotf yu, fucka!!”

I spun my head around, staring in horror as the sniper jumped at me from around a corner. I panicked, quickly trying to reactivate SATS, but the sniper was quicker, ramming into me and knocking me back against a wall. I grunted, trying to get back to my hooves, but as I did, the sniper jumped on top of me. With a swing of his head, he lunged, plunging a knife deep into my shoulder. I felt a sudden surge of pain shoot through me, screaming as I collapsed onto the ground. The sniper grinned, painfully ripping the blade from my body. For a moment, he just stood there, seeming to relish in my agony. My breathing became ragged, and I glanced at the wound, wincing at the outpouring of blood.

I blinked a few times, struggling to stay focused through the pain. I looked to the side, and just to the right, I could see what I had been looking for – the Radio Transmitter. So close…

“Habve fun in hewll, yu- ack!!”

All of a sudden, the knife jerked from the stallion’s grip, a faint purple-y glow surrounding the weapon. I turned my head, watching in fear as the caged mare lifted the stallion’s knife through the power of her magic. The stallion, finally turning his attention away from me, charged at the caged mare instead, murder filling his eyes.

To my surprise, the mare proved a much more able fighter than she looked. Even though the raider got a couple good hits on her, the majority of his attacks seemed to miss entirely, with the mare simply jumping out of the way. Within moments, the ex-captive had turned the knife against him, and within a few moments more, his body was sliced to ribbons. I started to stand up, but the pain was too great, and I stumbled back to the floor. I tried again, desperate not to leave the girl in danger, but it was no use. I was too weak, I couldn’t help. Slowly, I looked to the side, my eyes stopping on the transmitter.

303.05. I placed a hoof on the machine, deftly tuning the device to the channel I had gotten from the holodisk. Instantly, I could hear voices coming from the other side of the line, nameless soldiers reporting various things to each other. I reached up with my other hoof, my breathing heavy and ragged from the pain, and pulled the microphone as close to my mouth as I could.

“H-hello?” I asked, “Please, i-is there anypony there?”

The voices on the other end of the radio went silent for a moment.

“P-please,” I begged, “Is this the Enclave? I-I need help!”

“Who is this?” a voice suddenly spat. “Identify yourself at once!”

I’m not sure whether it was joy or fear, but my heart skipped a beat at the words of the soldier.

“M-my name is Canvas.” I said, the words struggling to escape my lips as I fought against the knife wound. “P-please, I need help! I-I was trying to return something to Windspeed, but-”

“Civilian,” the soldier interrupted, “This is a private Enclave channel. You are not authorized to use it. If you do not get off this frequency we will be forced to place you under arrest, and-”

“W-wait!” I yelled, getting straight to the point. “I-I’m trapped in the Wasteland!”

That shut the soldier up.

“W-Windspeed left this disk at my house, a-and I went to return it to him, b-b-but then there was this dragon, a-and… my wing’s broken, I… I-I can’t fly! P-please, help me! I-I can’t get back home!”

The soldiers remained silent. I winced, falling to the floor as my body grew weaker. I glanced back at my knife wound. That’s a lot of blood…

“Please…” I pleaded. “H-help me…”

“Citizen,” the soldier replied slowly. “Remain calm, and stay where you are. We’ll send someone down as soon as we can.”

I smiled, my body losing all feeling as I collapsed in a heap. I did it… All I have to do is wait... wow, I’m still bleeding… didn’t know ponies had… that much blood… but it’s fine… I’m going home… I’m just… gonna… rest for… a…

~~~~~~~~~~

Uunngh…

“Is he going to be alright?”

Ssshh… five more minutes, mom…

“Please, Miss Shell. I deal with injuries like this on a daily basis. Now if you’ll excuse me…”

Hey, I said ssshhh… Slowly, I opened my eyes, blinking a few times as light started to flood my vision. As my eyes started to adjust to the light, I immediately noticed a number of things. The first of which was pain. Well, maybe pain isn’t quite the right word. Soreness would be more accurate. Just this mild discomforting soreness all around my body, though a few spots hurt much worse than others. Primarily at the base of my left wing.

The second thing I noticed was that I was lying face down on a table. Why was I on a table? Ponies don’t go on tables. Tables are for food, or papers, or... I don’t know, but certainly not ponies. And I was definitely a pony, not papers.

The third thing I noticed was that my clothes were gone, a large number of bandages covering my body in their stead. I felt like a mummy, but that was silly. Everypony knows mummies are dead. And I wasn’t dead. I hurt far too much to be dead.

The fourth thing I noticed (and really, I should have noticed this first) was that I wasn’t in the Hummingbird anymore. I wasn’t quite sure where I was, actually. The room I was in looked like it had seen much better days, with light seeping in through the walls and cracked drywall shoddily trying to hold the whole room together. The floor was made of some kind of tiling, a faded off-white color that had been littered with cracks and scuff marks over time. As for the contents of the room, there really wasn’t that much. On one wall, a chalkboard sat with diagrams of bones and organs drawn onto it. Off to my side, a small roll-away cart sat with various medical tools on it, but that was just about all the room had to offer (well, and the table).

I turned my head, groaning as I tried to bring myself to my hooves. It took me a couple tries, but I did eventually get into a standing position, albeit one that made my head swim. I could see a door in the corner, so I started making my way towards it. At least, until a unicorn stallion in a lab coat stepped through it. That startled me enough to stop.

“Oh good, you’re awake.” The stallion said, adjusting some glasses at the bridge of his muzzle. “Don’t move too much. You should probably lie back down, unless of course you enjoy being in agonizing pain. Wouldn’t surprise me, seeing how much of a beating you seem to have taken.”

“Where…” I groaned, rubbing my head and keeping my eyes on the stallion. “Where am I?”

“In my clinic.” The stallion said, very matter-of-factly. “Three Arrows Clinic, to be precise, Mr…?”

“Uh, Canvas.”

“Mr. Canvas.” The stallion nodded, scribbling something down on a piece of paper. “I’m Dr. Serum. I’m sure you-”

“Doctor?” I cut off Serum, a light bulb suddenly turning on in my head as I shifted to face the stallion. “C-can you fix my wing? Please, I’ve been-”

“Calm down, calm down.” Dr. Serum said, raising his hoof defensively. “Please, allow me to finish. As I was saying, I’m sure you have a lot of questions. However, I’m a very busy pony, so let’s deal with this quickly, hmm? Now please, lie down on the table. And try to keep your wings still.”

I paused, my eyebrows furrowing a bit as the doctor moved around me. All of a sudden, the doctor’s horn started glowing, and I jumped back. From across the room, he levitated a piece of chalk over, quickly drawing a few images on the chalkboard. Slowly, I crawled back onto the table, laying down on my stomach as per the doctor’s instructions.

“You’re quite lucky, Mr. Canvas.” Serum said, pointing to a drawn diagram of my body (well, I assume it was my body, anyways). “If Miss Shell hadn’t carried you back here, you’d likely be dead right now. Multiple skin lacerations, internal hemorrhaging, bone fractures, severe blood loss, startlingly high levels of radiation… it seems like you’ve been held together by rad-away and healing potions alone.”

As Dr. Serum explained the multitude of problems with me, he circled various parts of the chalk diagram, and within moments there seemed to be more circles than pony.

“A-and my wing?” I timidly asked.

“I’m getting there.” Serum erased the diagram, muttering something about “impatient bastards” under his breath. I started to retort, but all of a sudden, the doctor lit up his horn. I froze, my vision locking onto the horn. I shook my head, attempting to listen to the doctor. But no matter how much I tried not to, my eyes kept drifting upwards, focusing their gaze on that horn.

W-what’s he doing? My thoughts started to run wild with images of blackened energy, flowing from the unicorn’s horn and entering my body. Is he… h-he didn’t use magic on me when I was asleep, did he? He did, didn’t he? Th-that can’t be good… what happens to ponies who’ve been touched by dark magic?

The doctor raised his eyebrow, scribbling a few more things on his notepad. Slowly, he floated a large photograph of bones of some kind in front of the chalkboard, gesturing to it with his hoof.

“To be perfectly candid,” he continued, “It’s a miracle that wing is still attached to your body. You somehow managed to break nearly every bone in it, and the ligaments at the base have been all but torn to shreds. One wrong move, and you might never fly again.”

I froze at the doctor’s words. All of a sudden, I became very aware of every single twitch and movement my wing made, each one feeling like it would pop my wing right off my body.

“W-well, can you fix it?”

The doctor smiled, floating the picture away.

“I’d be a piss poor doctor if I couldn’t, now wouldn’t I?” I smiled at that, though my smile vanished a moment later, my eyes widening as the doctor lifted a few tools and bandages in his evil magical grip. The tools slowly lifted into the air, as if possessed by demons, the doctor acting as their demon lord. In my mind’s eye, I could see the doctor’s face, his eyes glowing with an eerie yellow light. The demon tools slowly floated towards me… I shuddered. The way those things were moving, it was… unnatural. Like they were watching me, waiting for the perfect moment to gouge out my eyes, rip up my organs, and-

“Sir, is something wrong?” The doctor asked, snapping me out of my self-imposed trance. “Apart from your physical health, I mean. I’m well aware how much is wrong with that.”

“N-nope.” I responded meekly. “I’m f-f-fine.”

“Right…” the doctor squinted at me, but nevertheless went on. “I already took care of your more immediate health concerns while you were unconscious, and I managed to set the most recently broken bones. However, a few of the bones seem to have broken much earlier, and were set improperly.”

I cringed, recalling my momentary first aide in the forest.

“Unfortunately, that’s going to require a bit of correctional surgery.” Dr. Serum said, beginning to fill a syringe with a small, purple fluid. “I’ll have to set them properly before a healing spell will have any further effect. And yes, that means I’ll need to re-break the bone.”

“What?!?” I yelped, jumping up and clutching my wing in my hoof. “A-Are you sure that will help?”

“I know what I’m doing, sir.” The doctor stated, rolling his eyes and suddenly injecting me with the syringe. “Please, lie down. Now, count backwards from ten, and I’ll answer any other questions you have when you finish.”

“Wha… uh, a-alright.” I furrowed my brows, placing my head down on the table. “Ten, ni-”

~~~~~~~~~~

“-ne, eigh… whahuh?”

“Never gets old.” I heard the doctor chuckle. “The surgery’s done, and was a perfect success, as usual. You should be safe to fly in just a few days.”

Damn, that was some powerful anesthetic… wait…

“Th-the surgery’s done?” I stammered. “You were… y-your magic was… i-i-inside me?”

“Well yes.” The doctor responded, raising his eyebrow. “That is how surgery usually works. Wouldn’t be much of a point if I just stared at your wounds. Don’t worry, I made sure everything was put back where it was supposed to be. Assuming you pegasus folk have the same anatomy of us normal ponies, anyways.”

All of a sudden, I felt nauseous. What all did he do to me? Oh God, he might have rearranged my guts! I quickly brought my hooves to my belly, feeling around as best as I could. Well… I-I guess they don’t FEEL rearranged, but… I paused, taking a moment to look over my body. Nothing looked out of place… nothing felt out of place either... actually, I felt better than I had in weeks. Maybe… maybe he didn’t do anything bad?

Slowly, I let out a sigh. Ok, not evil then. J-just scary as all Tartarus. Like most doctors. But with magic.

“The exit’s to the left, your belongings are in the closet next to it.” The doctor stated, gesturing to a door off to the side. “Try not to get too beaten up again. Or at least don’t waste my time with it again.”

“What?” I stared at the doctor in confusion for a moment. “B-but I’m still confused. How did I get here? What happened to that mare in the cage? And now that I think about it, don’t I need to pay you? I’m-”

“I know I said I’d answer your questions,” the doctor interrupted, “But truth be told, I couldn’t care less. As far as payment, Miss Shell, for whatever reason, decided she would cover the cost of your surgery. You should probably ask her about the rest of your issues, she’ll know more about it than me. Now get out.”

I started to protest, before giving up, sighing and grabbing my stuff from the closet. Geeze, whatever happened to good bedside manner? With my belongings recovered, I pushed through the door, the doctor’s parting words rattling in my head as I left. Miss Shell? How am I supposed to… find… woah.

Ok, I wasn’t quite expecting what I saw when I exited the clinic. Instead of stepping out into an open patch of Wasteland, I was instead greeted with the interior of a much larger building. Judging from the sheer size of the room the clinic had opened into, it must have housed something big at some point – large machinery? Maybe storage crates? Well, whatever it had held, all that remained now were a bunch of catwalks, spanning from wall to wall in a fairly uniform pattern. I turned around, realizing that the entire clinic had been built into a single room of the building as a whole. In fact, looking around the rest of the area, there seemed to be a lot of that motif going on. All along the walls, doors and entryways stood, with multitudes of stylized and cobbled-together signs marking what the room had been repurposed as. Cafés, a bar, general store… aside from how worn, depressing, and broken it all looked, it was nice. Like a tiny Wasteland version of New Cloudsdayle.

Oh, and of course, there were ponies. Throughout the building, a number of earth ponies and unicorns milled about, going to the stores, chatting with each other, or just walking around. I looked off to the side, spotting a few colts kicking a ball around some tin cans. For a moment, I just stared, watching the kids play with their ball and listening to the adults conversing in the background.

It was surreal. I’d seen a Wasteland settlement from afar back when Temper had me in her clutches. But now I was in one. A proper town. In the Wasteland. One bigger than Rai… that other place. And aside from the post-apocalypse décor, it looked… normal.

Focus, Canvas. I shook my head, venturing further into the town. I need answers, so I need to find this Shell lady. I glanced around, looking at the variety of ponies and rooms-turned-buildings, without so much as a clue for where to start. Slowly, I approached one of the townsfolk, who smiled and nodded at me.

“Uh, excuse me?” I asked, the pony stopping in place as I spoke. “I-I don’t suppose you could help me out for a moment? I’m looking for somepony, the doctor said her name was Miss Shell, but I don’t-”

“Ah, that’d be Kernel Shell, I imagine.” The pony interrupted, nodding his head. “Nice filly, that one. We were all so worried when we heard the Raiders got her! Glad she’s back safe and sound. She works at the repair shop, over on the west wall. Can’t miss it.”

I blinked a few times.

“O-oh, uh… thank you!” I replied meekly.

“No problem.” The pony smiled, waving a hoof at me before continuing on his way.

A civilized area AND somepony helpful? Am I really still in the Wasteland? I sighed, glancing down at my PipBuck map to… huh. Just like with the Hummingbird, now there was a marker pointing me towards the repair shop. Even though the stallion had only given me vague directions, and not even a name or description of the place.

Magic... I just don’t get it.

I shook my head, focusing on the prospect of answers and heading towards the repair shop. It didn’t take long to get there, and the stallion was right – I don’t think I could have missed it if I tried. Various bits of gray sheet metal and rusty brown scrap had been mounted around the outside of the shop, making the outward facing wall look more like a machine than a building. A few of the pieces of metal had even been shaped into fairly cartoony depictions of common tools – hammers, wrenches, a few screws – each one placed somewhere eye-catching. And to top it all off, a large sign hung above the door, proudly proclaiming the store’s name; Fixer-Upper (“for all your mechanical and technical needs!”).

Impressive, at least as far as the Wasteland was concerned. Hesitantly, I made my way through the entrance, stepping inside the shop. Immediately, I felt a sense of déjà vu – the place looked almost exactly like the Stable 6 repair station, down to the tables of junk and the lifeless, faded gray walls.

“Hello, welcome to Fixer-Upper, what do you want?”

I turned, the gravelly voice startling me as-

“ACK!! GHOUL!!” I jumped back, quickly ducking down behind a table. Slowly, I peeked out, staring at the monster. The monster who was standing behind a counter. And not attacking me. And giving me a deadpan, irritated expression.

“Well fuck you too, breather.” The ghoul said, keeping his gaze locked on me as I stood up. “Did you need something fixed, or are you just here to sling racist insults at me?”

For a moment, I simply stared at the ghoul. It slowly dawned on me that it didn’t seem intent on eating my brains. Which didn’t make any sense. Why wasn’t it trying to kill me? I mean, technically “Celestia” didn’t outright try to kill me either, but she wasn’t really… all there. And this ghoul didn’t seem to be crazy, from the look and sound of it. He seemed… normal.

“Well?” he spat. “If you don’t need anything, then it’s fully within my right to kick your ass out of here.”

“I-I, uh…” I felt my cheeks flush with warmth, a picture flashing to mind of myself in a dunce cap. “S-sorry, I didn’t mean… I-I’m looking for a Miss Shell? Uh… K-Kernel Shell, I think?”

The creature stared at me, his eyes narrowing to the point where I doubted he could even see out of them. I started to sweat, trying to give him a polite smile. For a few moments, I thought he was about to eat me whole. Finally, he groaned, pointing a hoof deeper into the room.

“In the back.” The ghou- uh, I mean… the nice, civilized stallion grumbled.

I nodded, giving another meek “sorry” before trotting to the back of the shop. Once I’d passed a few more tables of junk, I found myself at a door-less entryway, currently decorated with a number of multi-colored wires, all tangles together to make oddly hypnotic patterns around the opening. Above the door frame, the wires converged to spell out the word “technician.” Or at least, I assume that’s what it was saying. The second “c” had come undone.

“H-hello?” I called into the room, taking a hesitant step forwards. “Miss Shell?”

“Just a moment!” a mare’s voice called back. “I’ll be with you in a second, I just need to… ah, there we go!”

The sound of rustled objects and humming electronics echoed around the workspace as I stepped inside. Like the rest of the store, the room had tables of junk all around, except the junk in here was all more electronic looking, with wires and circuit boards sticking out. The room was significantly smaller than the outside store, too – barely even half the size, if I had to guess. It almost looked like it had been repurposed from a simple maintenance closet… although, the more I thought about it, it probably had.

“Now then, how can I…”

I turned my head, finally spotting the owner of the voice – a cream-colored unicorn with a long, sepia mane. Wait… I know her! The mare in the cage! I hadn’t really paid too much attention during the rescue, but there was no mistaking it. The same hair, coat, those lavender eyes… it was without a doubt the same mare.

For a while, the two of us just stood there, eyes locked on each other, neither one of us willing to break the silence. I tried to think of something to say, but my mind went blank, unable to even think of where to start.

“You’re…” the mare started, taking a step forwards. “You’re the one who saved me, right?”

“Um…” I fidgeted, ruffling my feathers a bit. “Yes?”

Slowly, she nodded, letting silence fill the room once more. With little else to say, I stole a look at her cutie mark – strangely, it looked more like writing than a picture, forming a sort of semicolon and parenthesis, like… well, like this:

();

All of a sudden, she lunged at me, and I flinched away at first, thoughts of evil unicorn dark magic rushing through my mind. At least, until I realized I wasn’t in pain. The mare threw her forelegs around me, squeezing me in a tight hug. I froze, my brain shutting down for a second as I tried to figure out how to respond.

“Thank you!” the mare said, a hint of relief in her voice. “I know I said that before, back when you actually got me out of the cage, but still, thank you!”

“Ah, I, uh, y-you’re, uh, welcome?” I stammered. “I-it’s no big deal, really.”

“No big deal?” The mare laughed. “You practically killed yourself, just to save me! I’d call that a pretty big deal.”

“So, uh…” I coughed, pushing the mare off of me. “I-I’m guessing you’re the ‘Miss Shell’ I’ve been looking for?”

“Yep!” the mare beamed, taking a step back. “Kernel Shell, at your service! Mind if I grab your name as well?”

“Uh, sure…” I paused, furrowing my brows, “Wait, no, I mean no… I-I mean, like, no, I don’t mind, not like no you can’t...” I sighed, reaching out my hoof. “Canvas. It’s Canvas.”

“Pleasure to meet you, Canvas!” Kernel replied, grabbing hold of my hoof and shaking it for all it was worth. “How can I help you?”

“Well, I-I was hoping you could tell me what happened after…” I paused, unsure if mentioning the raiders would trigger any bad memories. “Uh, after I passed out.”

“Eh, not too much, to be honest.” Kernel shrugged, turning and beginning to fiddle with some piece of electronics at her side. “Once I killed the last raider, I came back to check on you, and you were lying on the ground by the radio. And I figured since you saved me, I could at least return the favor by saving you.”

“Alright…” I nodded, flinching back as Kernel suddenly levitated a screwdriver past my head. E-easy, Canvas. She seems nice, so… sh-she wouldn’t use dark magic for evil things… r-right? I kept my eyes on the screwdriver, just in case.

“So yeah, I put you on my back – you’re much lighter than you look, by the way – and carried you back here.”

“Got it…” I replied. “Oh, uh, thanks for doing that. I… well, I’d probably be dead if you hadn’t.”

“Like I said, it only seemed fair.” Kernel laughed. “I’ll be honest, I wasn’t sure you’d last the trip to Three Arrows, you were in pretty bad shape. But you did, and it looks like the doc fixed you up pretty well!”

“Yeah…” I muttered, recalling the rude doctor. “W-what is this place, anyways? I’m, uh… I-I’m not really from around here.”

“I could tell.” Kernel replied, giving me a playful smirk. “A real Wastelander would never think they could hold up a raider.”

I blushed, quickly trying to hide my face with my wing. Kernel giggled, turning back to her work.

“Well anyways, this is Three Arrows, probably one of the nicest small town settlements left in the Wasteland.” Kernel said with a grin. “Most of the ponies living here are ponies who don’t want to deal with the harsh realities of the Wasteland proper. At some point way back, one of those kinds of ponies found this recycling center, and since it’s both big and easy to defend, that made it the perfect spot to set up shop. Oh, hey, could you pass me that circuit board?”

I continued nodding, listening to Kernel’s explanation. And then a moment later realized she had asked me something.

“Oh, uh yeah.” I reached out, grabbing hold of the circuit board in question and hoofing it to Kernel. “Here you-”

“Oooh!” Kernel suddenly let out a squeal of delight, ignoring the circuit board and instead grabbing my hoof itself and examining my PipBuck. “A PipBuck! Oh boy, I haven’t seen one of these things in ages! Why didn’t you tell me you were a Stable pony? Which Stable did you grow up in? How recently did you come out of the Stable? Oh, I have so many questions! Did-”

“Ack!” I tensed up, finding myself suddenly pulled forward as Kernel took my PipBuck – hoof still attached, mind you – and, after magically clearing away some junk, placed it on the table in front of her. “S-slow down! I-I’m not a Stable pony, alright? I was exploring Stable 6 and… well, there was this big machine, and long story short, now I have a PipBuck.”

“Fascinating…” Kernel cooed, looking over the PipBuck as best as she could.

“I, uh…” I coughed, watching as the mare tried to turn over the device without twisting my foreleg. “I don’t suppose you have any way to take it off?”

“Afraid not, sorry.” Kernel sighed. “Removing a PipBuck takes special keys, ones I haven’t been privy to for a long time.”

I let out a sigh of my own. I guess it really IS a part of me now.

“Hey, how come your PipBuck doesn’t have a Geiger counter on it?”

“Huh?” I blinked a few times.

“Well, the PipBucks I’ve seen all have a Geiger counter on them, to warn you in case you get super irradiated.” Kernel explained, casually starting to fiddle with a small piece of my PipBuck. “But yours doesn’t. There’s just this little metal cap thing where it’s supposed to be, see?”

I looked at the piece Kernel was fiddling with. I didn’t have as good a knowledge of what PipBucks should look like as her, but I did have to admit, it did seem like it was designed for something to be put there.

“It’s so odd,” Kernel continued. “Why would they just take out something like that?”

Are you happy, Stable-Tec? You’ve killed us all!!

I shook my head, suddenly remembering the last words of Ball-Peen.

“I, uh…” I coughed, “I did find a holotape, inside the Stable. The pony on it… h-he said something about Stable-Tec letting radiation in through the vents, but-”

“Oh, of course!” The unicorn said. “The Stable experiment! They must have disabled the Geiger counters then! I mean, if the ponies realized they were being irradiated, that defeats the purpose of the experiment, doesn’t it?”

“Yeah…” slowly, I nodded. “Yeah, I-I guess that makes sense.”

“Hmm…” Kernel tapped her chin thoughtfully. All of a sudden, she levitated a screwdriver over to my PipBuck, causing me to flinch away. I kept my eyes locked on the tool, watching in silent fear as her dark powers maneuvered it into position. With seemingly precise motions, she started tapping the screwdriver along the base of the metal cap. Then, with a quick and forceful pound, she hit the end of the screwdriver, jamming it directly into the high-tech wristwatch. I jumped, starting to protest, but just as I opened my mouth, Kernel grabbed the metal cap in her magic, and with a sharp tug, popped it clean off, revealing a small numbered dial.

“Aha, I knew it!” Kernel grinned, tossing the metal cap deeper into the room. “The Geiger counter’s still there! They didn’t completely remove it, they just hid it! Say, Canvas, I don’t suppose you’d mind holding your hoof still for a few minutes, would you?”

“Huh?” I sat there, blinking a few times. The way this mare worked, I felt like reality was whizzing past me, and I had a hard time keeping up. “Uh, what for?”

“I can’t get your PipBuck off, but I think I can re-enable the Geiger counter.” Kernel explained, already grabbing some more tools in her magic. “If I recall correctly, I should be able to access some of the inner workings without removing it. It’ll be tricky, to be sure, but possible. That is, if you’re okay with it.”

An image flashed through my mind. Myself, slowly transforming into a ghoul as I obliviously wandered through a cloud of radiation.

…wait, why would that happen? I’m going back home soon, when would I even get the chance to-

The ghoul-me suddenly lunged forwards.

“Yes! Yep, go ahead, fix it, I don’t mind, do it quickly if you can.”

With one last grin, Kernel pulled out all her tools, floating them around me as she went to work, tinkering with the device.

~~~~~~~~~~

It was something else, watching that mare work on my PipBuck. My knowledge of technology was pretty much limited to basic operation of Terminals and, more recently, how to guess a password. But even as I tried to pull away from every unnaturally floating tool, wire, and electrical thing, I was able to see the mare’s movements, and it was clear that she was on entirely another level.

“Aaand… done!” the unicorn stopped, screwing a panel back in place and setting her tools down. “Give it a test, let me know if it works!”

“Um, how?” I tilted my head to the side. “There’s not any radiation in here.”

“Hmm… oh!” Kernel lit up, her horn flaring to life as- GAH!!

“Sparkle-Cola Rad!” she smiled, levitating a bottle right in my face. “Now with extra radiation!”

Jeeze, don’t… wait, really? Hesitantly, I reached out and grabbed the floating purple-red bottle of soda in my hooves. Sure enough, right there on the label – made with “an invigorating touch of radiation.”

“They really sold this stuff?” I asked Kernel, slowly taking the cap off. “And they didn’t get anypony killed?”

“It’s not lethal.” Kernel rolled her eyes. “Well, no more lethal than alcohol, anyways.”

Point taken. I shrugged, sipping down the drink, unsure of what to expect. The first thing I got was the flavor of radishes filling my mouth, a flavor that thoroughly convinced me to stick to non-rad cola (seriously, ponies drank this stuff?). The second thing I got was a little clicking sound, accompanied by a floating-in-my-vision display similar to the one on the Geiger Counter in Stable 6, warning me that I was taking in about 10 rads.

“It’s- ech, hold on.” I turned away, wiping my tongue on my foreleg to try and get rid of the taste. “I think it’s working.”

“Awesome!” Kernel cheered, giving a slight laugh. “It’s funny, I was prepared to have to reroute power, hack a bit to enable the Geiger Counter functions, maybe even have to reprogram the visual displays myself if the code had been deleted, but all I had to do was solder a couple wires and uncomment a few lines! Never expected for Stable-Tec to be so lazy with something like this, you know?”

I blinked, slowly nodding at the mare’s words.

“I love playing around with advanced tech like that. Thanks for letting me toy with it!”

“No problem.” I smiled, turning and starting to trot away. “I, uh… I guess I should probably go-”

“Oh, wait!” Kernel yelled after me. “Let me show you around town! I could really use a break anyways, and it’s the least I could do for you after you saved me and all, so…” Kernel trailed off, smiling at me expectantly.

“Thanks, but I don’t…” I started to decline the offer, wanting nothing more than to leave behind Three Arrows (as well as the rest of the Wasteland) and get home as quickly as possible. But the more I thought about it… the doctor said my wing still needed a few more days to heal, and even then, I had to wait for the Enclave to send somepony down to rescue me. One way or another, I still had an unknown amount of time that I had to stay down here. Why not enjoy that time safe and sound in the one place in the Wasteland that wouldn’t kill me on sight?

“...you know what? Sure.” I replied, smiling. “I’d love to see more of this place.”

Kernel gave me a big grin, quickly putting away all the tools around her and rushing towards the store’s entrance. I followed behind her, my pace slowing as I passed by the ghoul at the front of the shop.

“Lugnut, I’m taking my lunch break!”

“Whatever.” The ghoul replied. I’m not even sure he heard her – his attention seemed to be taken up giving me an intense death glare. I shuddered, quickly exiting the store, and giving a few more sorrys, just for good measure.

“Kernel?” I asked, once we were a good ways away from Fixer-Upper. “W-why is there a ghoul in that-”

“Oh, Lugnut?” Kernel replied, cutting me off. “He runs the store. He can be a bit gruff at times, but trust me, he’s got a heart of gold underneath that mushy exterior.”

“That’s… that doesn’t really answer my question.”

“Hmm?” Kernel looked at me, cocking her head to the side. “What do you mean?”

“Well, the last time I saw a ghoul, it was kind of…” I struggled to find the right words, momentarily worried that Lugnut would appear from thin air if I said the wrong thing. “Trying to eat my flesh.”

“Ooooh, I get it.” Kernel nodded in understanding. “You’ve only seen feral ghouls.”

“Feral?”

“Well sure!” Kernel smirked. “I’m sure you’ve already figured this out, but when ponies take on too much radiation all at once, their bodies deteriorate very quickly, to the point where they look like the ghouls we know today. Now, for most ghouls, that’s where the story ends. Sure, they’ll still look a little gross and nasty, but on the mental level, they’re no different than any other pony.”

“But then-”

“BUT, for some ghouls, their bodies aren’t the only things affected.” Kernel continued. “Their minds also rot, and over time, eventually they can’t think like a normal pony can. They start acting more like animals, attacking anything that moves, eating other creatures, you know. Like zombies! Actually, they might be better than zombies – they get healed and strengthened by radiation, which is probably the best advantage you can get here in the Wasteland. See, ghouls tend to hang out in radiation dense areas, and as far as I'm aware, the amount of radiation absorption of ghouls is theoretically infinite without any loss of bodily function. I'm not sure if the absorption is proportional to the healing, but then again, I'm-”

“Ok!” I interrupted. “Alright, I get it. Some ghouls are good, others are bad. Got it. Thanks.”

“No problem!” the cream-colored mare said, smiling as she started to pick up speed. “Come on, there’s a lot of Three Arrows to show you.”

I sighed, following after the mare as the tour of Three Arrows began.

~~~~~~~~~~

“But yeah, long story short, preservatives last a lot longer than anypony thought they would.”

The next few hours of my life were, for the most part, confined to a formula. Kernel Shell would show me something, I’d ask her a question about it, and then she’d spend a good couple minutes explaining some aspect of the Wasteland to me. After Kernel had shown me pretty much every door on the north and east walls, I’d suggested we try getting something to eat, a notion which led us to a restaurant of sorts on the west wall, not to mention a whole lesson on what kinds of food were available in the Wasteland, and why most of it was still edible after more than a century of sitting in magical radiation.

“And, uh…” I coughed, shifting slightly in my seat. “Y-you don’t eat, uh… meat, do you?”

“Well, not usually, no.” Kernel replied, awkwardly rubbing the back of her neck. “Most ponies can’t digest it properly, so we tend to avoid it, but… well, I’d be lying if I said most ponies haven’t tried it at least once.”

Kernel suddenly glanced over her shoulders, looking both ways before motioning for me to lean in closer.

“Don’t tell anypony,” the unicorn whispered. “But I don’t think I could live in a world without bacon.”

I leaned back, my jaw dropping as I tried to imagine Kernel tearing into a pile of meat. I couldn’t, and every time I tried I just made myself slightly more sick.

“So what about you?” Kernel asked, relieving me with a change of topic. “I’ve been talking so much, but most of what I’ve said is fairly common knowledge. If not a Stable, then where are you from that you don’t already know all this?”

“Ugh.” I groaned, placing my head down on the table. “That’s a long story that I’d like to end soon.”

Kernel cocked her head to the side, sipping on a Sparkle-Cola the restaurant owner had brought her.

“See, like I said before, I’m not from around here. I live in New Cloudsdayle – up there.” I said, pointing a hoof up towards the ceiling. “Above the cloud layer.”

“Really?” Kernel asked. “What’s it like up there?”

“It’s…” I paused, unsure of how to respond. To me, above the clouds was nothing remarkable. It was civilization, nothing more. But I realized that the pony sitting in front of me had likely never seen anything like that. To her, civilization was this place we were sitting in – a broken mess, but a functioning one, relatively safe from the dangers just outside. How do I even begin to describe normal life to somepony like that?

“It’s like…” I struggled to find the right words for what I had in my head. “It’s like the war didn’t happen. Nothing is destroyed. No one walks out their door wondering if they’re going to get shot. No one worries about being safe when they go to sleep.”

“Your food.” The restaurant owner interrupted us, hoofing over two plates of what was very obviously half a box of Yum Yum’s Deviled Eggs and a few potato crisps. I gave my plate a blank glare.

“And we get to eat food that hasn’t been sitting in a cardboard box for a hundred years.”

Kernel giggled, grabbing a couple potato crisps and popping them in her mouth. I sighed, taking a few bites of the food in front of me.

“That sounds so nice…” Kernel sighed, taking another quick sip of soda. “So why are you down here?”

“Not by choice,” I nickered. “I was visiting a friend of mine, but through some crazy act of Tartarus itself, the day I decided to visit him was the day a fucking dragon decided to attack the clouds. While I was trying to get away from it, it kicked me in the wing, and I ended up falling-”

“I knew it!!” Kernel interrupted, slamming a hoof on the table and startling me into choking on a deviled egg. “You ARE the pony DJ Pon3 mentioned!!”

“W-what?” I sputtered, coughing up the food in my throat. “W-who’s DJ Pon3?”

“Hey Crabapple!” Kernel called out to the restaurant owner. “Turn on Pon3’s station!”

The pony running the place nodded, and a moment later the area was filled with the beautiful sounds of violins and a mare’s voice. I sat still, entranced by the soothing music as it played. I hardly paid attention to what the mare was singing about, but her voice… if I had just sat in a room listening to her voice for all of eternity, I’d have died a happy stallion. As the song started to draw to a close, I felt sad. Don’t go, miss pretty voice… Can’t you just sing a little more? I’ll-

“HELLOOOOOOO WASTELAND!!”

I jumped, startled by the sudden intrusion of a brash, male voice cutting through the music.

“This is DJ Pon3, bringing you the latest news from the world outside!”

Kernel laughed, eliciting a grumble from me as I picked up my own Sparkle-Cola and took a few sips, my newly fixed Geiger counter clicking steadily with every gulp.

"Now, before we get on to the juicier stuff, I've got a quick update on last week's report. You all remember, the one about the pony that fell from the sky?"

I spit out my soda, showering the table with a sticky, carroty mess. I was on the radio. Why was I on the radio?

"Well, if you don’t remember, that happened. Anyways, seems our fallen angel was recently spotted heading towards a raider den north of Three Arrows. Now angel, if you're listening, I usually recommend staying AWAY from Raider holes, especially if it’s your first time in the wasteland. And that goes for the rest of you listeners out there, too! Raiders are bad news, so don’t go looking for them just so you can play hero. But if you do, at least make sure you can handle yourself in a fight, alright?"

"And now, on to the good stuff! First off, it looks like the self-proclaimed Raider King Ironsights has set his sights on..."

The DJ continued his news report, but I couldn’t focus on that – I was too stunned at what he had already said. That radio host… talking about me. Me. Why was I important?

“Wow, speak of the devil, huh? That was you, right?” Kernel asked, her eyes practically glimmering with amazement. “You’re the pony that DJ Pon3 was talking about?”

I was barely able to manage a response. She wasn’t wrong, but… me? I was still having a hard time believing it, it seemed so… bizarre. Slowly, I gave Kernel a nod.

“Oh, that’s so exciting!!” Kernel tried to keep herself from squealing. “I heard about that last week, but I never thought I’d actually meet the fallen angel himself!”

“P-please don’t call me-”

“So what was it like?” Kernel interrupted. “How did you fall down here? I mean, ponies fly down from up above a lot, for better or worse, but you’re the only pony I’ve ever heard of falling down here! How did you survive? Did it hurt? Oh, and I heard you fell into the Everfree Forest! Is that true? How did you get out of there alive? That place is a deathtrap!”

“H-hey, slow down! I-”

“Sorry, I just… ah, I have so many questions! What have you been doing since you fell? I mean, the report was a week ago, so you must have been doing some cool things in the meantime! Fight any cool monsters? Nab any treasures? Meet any interesting ponies?”

“I… well, ‘interesting’ wouldn’t be my first choice of word to describe her, but-”

“Ooh! It was a mare? Even better! Was she pretty?”

What.

“What was she like?” Kernel went on. “Did you like her? Did she like you? Did you kiss? Did you fu-”

“Okay!” I interrupted, my cheeks flushing red. “That’s enough about me, don’t you think that’s enough about me? I think that’s enough about me. Why don’t we talk about something else? I’m sure there are lots of fascinating subjects that have nothing to do with me.”

“Huh?” Kernel blinked a couple times. “But-”

“Please?” I begged. “I’m here, safe in Three Arrows, and that’s all that matters right now. The last thing I want to do is think about all the horrors I’ve seen these past couple days.”

“Oh, fine.” Kernel pouted, plopping back into her seat. “But I still want answers to my questions later, alright?”

“Sure thing.” Not on your life.

“Great!” The mare quickly magic-ed her food out of the way, leaning forward and propping her hooves on the table. “So, anything in particular you want to talk about?”

I paused, taking a moment to consider the question. Is there? Kernel had already told me pretty much everything there was to know about Three Arrows, so nothing on that front. Maybe more about the Wasteland? Some potential threats? But I was on the verge of returning home, and most of the Wasteland’s horrors don’t apply in the Equestria Skies. But then-

“Kernel!! There you are!”

My ears perked up, drawing my attention to- ACK, GHO… wait, no, bad Canvas. That’s Lugnut. He’s not a zombie.

“Oh, Lugnut!” Kernel gave a slight wave at the ghoul’s approach. “You on break too?”

“Kernel, you’ve been gone for an hour!” Lugnut hissed. “You said you were only going on a Lunch break!”

“Well yeah!” Kernel smiled. “I am at lunch, am I not?”

“Ugh…” Lugnut turned, his gaze suddenly shifting towards me. “You! Are you wasting my employee’s time out here? Who are you, anyways?”

“I, uh, C-Canvas, Mr. Lugnut, sir.”

The stallion glared at me, with a look that gave Temper’s stare a run for its money.

“Listen here, Color. I run a business. Businesses need employees. And employees can’t do their job if you sit around here wasting their time. Got it?”

“G-got it.”

“Good.” The ghoul grumbled, turning his head to the side. “As long as I’m here, did you fix the electrical panel yet, Kernel? I get that you were… gone for a little while, but a lot of ponies have started complaining.”

Kernel froze for a moment, pausing mid-bite. Slowly, an awkward smile crept onto her face.

“Oh, yeah, that thing…” Kernel forced out a laugh. “Of course I finished that already! I wouldn’t forget something like that. That’d… that’d be irresponsible. But, uh, don’t worry! It’s already done!”

“Hmmph.” Lugnut grunted, “Finish your lunch, and then get back to work.”

“Yep, uh, bye Lugnut!” Kernel replied hastily, waving the stallion off. With a final glare, the ghoul turned, trotting off into the town. Kernel kept waving until Lugnut disappeared around a corner, at which point she suddenly leapt away from the table, tossing a few caps on top of it.

“Ok, quick detour from the tour.” Kernel spat out. “I need to go fix a thing that I probably should have fixed earlier, once I’m done we can go right back to the tour. It’s just on the outside wall of Three Arrows, it won’t take long.”

“Oh, uh…” I backed away slightly, getting up and setting a few caps of my own on the table. “Th-that’s fine. I’ll, uh… I’ll just wait in here until-” OH GOD WHAT’S HAPPENING

Before I could finish my sentence, I felt myself being lifted off the ground as a shimmering purple light surrounded me. I started to panic, my wings flaring out – Augh! That still hurts! I jerked my head to the side, looking at Kernel and watching her horn produce the same colored light.

“You’re coming with me,” Kernel replied, “I already got captured once this week, I’d rather not make it twice. Besides, I need somepony to talk to while I work.”

“Wha- gah!!” All of a sudden, the mare started walking, and I was hastily pulled along in her magical embrace. “Wait!! Please, uh, stop? P-put me down? Kernel?!? PLEASE?!?”

It was no use. Escape was futile, leaving me to writhe in terror as I was pulled away from my food, back towards the harsh wasteland outside.

~~~~~~~~~~

“Damn, they really did a number on you, didn’t they?”

I’d flailed and flapped around in a panic, but ultimately no amount of struggling made Kernel let me go. After a while, I gave up, simply letting the mare pull me outside and to the electrical panel, where she finally released me from her evil magical grip. A part of me wanted to just run right back inside, but I figured Kernel would just grab me and hold me in place again. So instead, I simply waited, watching quietly as the unicorn pulled out a few tools, preparing to go to work. Soon enough, she had started tinkering with the electrical panel, all sorts of wires and circuits poking out from the rusty box of metal as she worked.

“S-so, uh,” I said, breaking the silence. “You’re a technician, huh? What’s that like?”

“Yup!” Kernel smiled. “It’s pretty fun, if mostly uneventful. Usually, if something in town is broken, the townsfolk get Lugnut to – oh, Lugnut’s a mechanic, I should mention – anyways, they get him to fix it. And he’s really good at fixing stuff, but some things are a bit too complicated for him. Mostly anything with wires or a screen. So if one of those breaks, that’s where I come in!”

“You seem to be good at it.” I smiled, watching in fascination as the mare magically soldered some wires together.

“Thanks! I’ve been working with tech like this ever since I was a little filly.”

“Seriously?” I raised my eyebrow skeptically. “In an irradiated wasteland?”

“Trust me, there’s a lot more working technology than you’d think. Robots, magic weapons, PipBucks, you name it. Heck, I’ve yet to find a vending machine that doesn’t still have power.”

“Really?” I said, my eyes widening a bit. “Not a single one? It’s been over a century since the megaspells, how do they still have power?”

“That’s what I want to know!” Kernel sighed. “I swear, it’s like they’re taunting me! Taunting me with their sweet, beautiful inner workings… But one of these days, I’ll get them! I’ll figure out the source of their power! And then… oh, just think what I could do with that knowledge…”

“I guess.” I muttered, rolling my eyes. “Uh… you know, I was wondering… if you don’t mind me asking, how did you get… captured? By those raiders?”

“Oh, that.” Kernel sighed, gesturing to the electrical panel with her tools. “You can thank this little guy for that wonderful experience. Did I already mention what this thing does?”

I shook my head no.

“Well, it’s nothing super important on its own. Just a circuit breaker, a relay point for some of the town’s power.”

I blinked a couple times as Kernel paused to focus on her work.

“That sounds incredibly important!” I neighed.

“Not really,” Kernel shrugged. “It only controls the lights, and even then only the lights for the north wall. We have a secondary generator inside the building for the more important stuff. Anyways, one of the townsfolk said their lights were on the fritz, so I went and checked it out. The switch wasn’t working, but the lights seemed fine, so I figured the problem was with the panel.

“Turns out, I was right! I came right out here, and there was this huge gash across the front of the box – you can still see it here, see?” I nodded, looking at the torn covering for the panel. “For a moment, I thought some kind of animal had attacked it, but before I could think about it too much, WHAM! Something hit me in the back of the head, and I blacked out.

“I don’t know how long it took me to wake up, but once I did, I was – hey, pass me that screwdriver, will ya? – I was locked up in this cage. I started looking around, and there was another pony there too… well, at least, parts of another pony. Mostly just his body. Naturally, I started to panic, looking at the room outside the cage, and I saw those three raiders. The big guy… what did the girl call him, Muscle? Well, he was chowing down on what looked like a pony’s legs. Then I realized the body in the cage with me was missing its legs.

“I remember I started screaming, trying to use my magic to get free, but the other raiders kept shooting at me – not hitting me, mind you, just shooting at me – and eventually I stopped. I didn’t want their aim to suddenly improve, you know? Plus, in all my flailing, I’d tired myself out, so I couldn’t even use my magic to steal the keys. Well, not without them noticing, anyways. And then…”

Kernel paused, tapping her chin for a moment.

“Well, after that you showed up.” Kernel said. “I guess you already know the rest.”

For a moment, I stayed silent, unsure of how to properly respond.

“I-I’m sorry you had to go through that.”

“Don’t fret about it.” Kernel replied nonchalantly. “I got a hell of a story out of it, huh? Oh! I wonder if I could get my story on the radio too! That’d be so cool!”

I blinked a few times.

“You know,” I said, furrowing my eyebrows, “For somepony who just went through something most ponies would consider traumatizing, you seem pretty, uh… chipper.”

“Do I?” Kernel tilted her head slightly. “I hadn’t noticed. Besides, how should I act? Scared? Sad? There’s not a set of rules for how a pony is supposed to feel after certain events, is there?” Kernel paused, giving a quick gasp. “Oh jeeze, I didn’t break any emotional rules, did I? Nopony told me!!”

“I-I, uh…” I sputtered, confused by the mare’s sarcasm. “N-no, there’s no rules, but… w-well, those ponies, they were… they were planning on doing terrible things to you, right? A-and you seemed pretty scared at the time, so… why aren’t you shaken at all? Why are you so… happy?”

Now it was Kernel’s turn to blink emotionlessly.

“Why wouldn’t I be happy?”

“Huh?”

“Well, I’m not in danger anymore, am I? I mean, sure, when I was locked in the cage, I was scared, because I didn’t have a way out, and I might have been killed, eaten, or… worse.” Kernel gave a slight shudder. “But now I’m not. I’m safe and sound, back in my home, and just a little bit smarter for having lived through it. So why shouldn’t I be happy?”

“Because… ok, I’m not saying you shouldn’t be happy, but you must have some bad thoughts and memories still floating around your head, right?”

“Well sure, but why does that matter? Am I supposed to dwell on the bad memories? Retreat into a corner and never come out? That’s silly. If everypony acted like that, nothing would get done. We’d all sit at home, worrying and feeling sad about everything that has happened to us, and everything that could happen to us. I can’t think of a much worse existence than that.”

I sat still as Kernel smiled, returning to her work. For a little while, I just stood there, silently staring as Kernel worked. It was almost funny. With maybe the exception of Windspeed, I don’t think I’d ever met somepony with as cheerful an outlook on life as Kernel. And in the Wasteland, no less! A part of me wanted to laugh, acknowledge the irony of the situation.

“Hey,” Kernel spoke up, “I know you said you didn’t want to talk about yourself any more, but there was one last thing I was curious about.”

“What’s that?”

“Well, you’re not from Three Arrows, or any other Wasteland settlement. If you’re from above the clouds, then you’re probably not a mercenary either. And yet, you snuck into that airship and saved me. Why?”

“Well…” I started to rub the back of my neck. “Truth be told, I wasn’t really there to save you. That just kind of… happened. Along the way.”

“And I’m glad it did!” Kernel smiled, turning from her work for only a second. “But that only tells me why you weren’t there.”

“Yeah,” I nodded slowly. “So, I mentioned that I broke my wing right? When I fell out of the sky?” Kernel gave me a nod as she worked. “Well, with a broken wing, I wasn’t able to fly, which meant I couldn’t get back home. Fortunately for me, this… robot, thing, told me that there was a radio transmitter on the airship, which meant I could send a message to the Enclave to come and save me. Lucky, right?”

Kernel stopped, a frown forming on her face as she took in my words.

“The Enclave?”

“Yeah…” I raised an eyebrow at Kernel’s reaction, but then it hit me. “Oh, duh! You probably don’t know who they are! See, up above the clouds, we-”

“No, no, I know who they are.” Kernel cut me off. “Most ponies in the Wasteland know who they are.”

“Oh.” I blinked a few times. “Really? That’s surprising, they-”

“And everypony who does hates their guts.”

…what?

“Those bastards…” Kernel hissed, her voice losing all of its usual cheery demeanor. “They harass us honest-working Wastelanders on what may as well be a daily basis. Wiping out smaller settlements, warring with the Steel Rangers… always claiming they’re gonna ‘make Equestria better’ while they slaughter anyone they don’t like. Bunch of self-absorbed cowards, if you ask me. I can’t believe you pegasai live with those monsters.”

“W-what are you talking about?” I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion. “The Enclave hasn’t been on the surface in years! They only ever send scouting squads down below the clouds, and they’ve certainly never made contact with the ponies down here.”

“Yeah, sure they haven’t.” Kernel rolled her eyes. “And I’m sure all those outposts they have down here, all the ones that indiscriminately murder Wastelanders on sight, those are just scouting squads too?”

“Indiscriminate… what?” Now I was thoroughly lost. “Are we even talking about the same Enclave? Our Enclave is focused on the betterment of ponykind! All ponykind! They wouldn’t just go around killing Wastelanders for no good reason. Th-this must be some kind of misunderstanding.”

“If you say so.”

“I know so.”

For a few moments, the two of us just stared at each other, neither one willing to say anything else. It irritated me that Kernel would so casually slander the Enclave like that. I may not be as Enclave gung-ho as Windspeed, but I still had my national pride. And to say such awful things… it was ludicrous! Killing Wastelanders? Setting up Outposts? The Enclave know how dangerous it is down here, with the monsters and the raiders and the pois… ok, not the poisoned air, the Enclave scientists had clearly been misinformed on that front, but still! None of Kernel’s accusations even made any sense.

The silence held for a long time. Finally, the mare let out an annoyed sigh, shrugging her shoulders as she finished up work on the panel.

“Well,” she hesitantly responded, “If you do intend to have those guys find you, then you probably shouldn’t hang around Three Arrows for too long.”

“I… huh?” I furrowed my eyebrows, pulled off track by a new line of thought. “B-but Three Arrows is nice, and safe. Why-”

“If they’re as good as you say they are – and they aren’t, by the way – but if you think they are, then they’d be looking for you around where you sent the distress call, not all the way out here. You’ll probably want to camp out back around the airship, and soon, or you risk missing them entirely.”

“I… but…” I struggled to form an argument as Kernel quickly packed up all her tools, stuffing them in a pouch at her side. Finally, I relented. “Dammit, you’re right.”

“I usually am.” Kernel nodded, taking a few steps towards me. “Listen, opinions about the Enclave aside, I’ve got nothing against you. You did save me, after all, so you can’t be too bad. But I’m telling you, those guys coming to save you? They’re not as nice as you seem to think they are. So, if you change your mind and decide to stick around, I’ll make sure there’s a place for you here in Three Arrows.”

“Thanks,” I replied, trying my best not to rekindle the argument. “But I don’t intend to stay here for even a second longer than I have to.”

“Suit yourself.” Kernel shrugged. “I mean, if I had someplace as nice as you claim to go home to, I guess I wouldn’t live down here either. Just… stay safe, alright? And thank you again for what you did.”

I nodded, waving Kernel off as she trotted back inside Three Arrows. Slowly, I turned, looking back out into the hills of the Wasteland. With one last look at my PipBuck to make sure I was going the right way, I started walking.

~~~~~~~~~~

God damn, how far away WAS Three Arrows?

Three Arrows had turned out to be much farther from the Hummingbird wreckage than I’d thought. I’d been walking for a few hours, and if my PipBuck was to be believed, I was still a good couple miles from the wreckage. As I climbed up dusty hill after dusty hill, I hoped I wouldn’t have to find some place to set up camp before I could get there – every moment I wasted not at the Hummingbird was now a moment that I could squander my rescue.

I wish I could have waited in Three Arrows, I thought with a sigh. I turned my head, glancing back in the direction I had come from – the town was well out of sight by this point. As I started to look away, I spotted some movement out of the corner of my eye. I stopped, turning to face the movement, as a surprisingly familiar face approached. Or rather, a familiar orb of metal.

“Oh. You.” I turned away, eager to leave the robot behind.

“Hey, don’t be like that!” Watcher called out, floating up alongside me. “I said I was sorry, didn’t I?”

“You did.” I groaned. “Right before you sent me to infiltrate a raider base.”

“I also said to prepare for a fight.”

“Oh, so you knew it was a raider base.” I nickered. “And yet you still sent me there.”

“I did.” Watcher replied. “But that was all. You were the one who actually entered the ship. I never made you do that.”

“Huh?” I furrowed my brows. “What are-”

“At any point, you could have turned around, walked away, found a radio transmitter somewhere safer. And yet, you didn’t. You fought your way in, you saved that mare, and you got what you were looking for, while getting rid of some of the filth of the Wasteland.”

“I… wait, saved…” slowly, I felt a few puzzle pieces begin to click in my mind. “Watcher, did you know that Kernel was being held prisoner there?”

“I see many things in the Wasteland.”

“I choose to take that as a ‘yes’… then, you… did you send me there to save her?”

Watcher remained silent, a steady mechanical hum coming from the flying metallic orb.

“Thank you, Canvas.” Watcher finally responded. “That’s all I wanted to say. You may have helped secure Equestria’s future.”

“What do you-”

Too late. Before I could finish, Watcher once again made his dramatic exit – a loud “pop” followed by polka music. As the robot once again vanished into the distance, I nickered softly. Dammit, does he always do that? I mean, seriously, in the middle of my question? What a-

KRA-KOOM!!

I jumped, starting to rush for cover as a loud, thunderous boom filled my ears. My eyes darted to look towards the source of the sound, when I saw… something. At first, it just looked like a small dot, moving against the backdrop of clouds in a line. Slowly, though, the dot started to get bigger, more details revealing themselves as it did. The distinct pony shape first, then the stark blue colors…

I felt a rush of air as the pony flew past me, and I covered my face with a wing to keep dust from entering my eyes. I looked back up at the figure, now skidding to a halt along the Wasteland floor, kicking up even more dust as it landed. Through the dust, I saw a pony-shaped shadow turn towards me, moving forwards with slow, deliberate steps. As the dust began to settle, I finally saw the pony, my eyes widening as I took them in. Blue armor, lightning bolt detailing… but more importantly, a messy purple mane and turquoise muzzle.

“W… Windspeed?”

At first, the pony said nothing, cocking his head to the side ever so slightly as he looked at me. But slowly, I saw the corners of his mouth turn up in a smile.

“When I said you needed to go outside, this isn’t quite what I-”

He never got the last word out. By the time he had reached the end of his sentence, I had already thrown my hooves around his neck, squeezing my friend in a tight hug. In an instant, every tear I had held back came flooding out, and all I could do was stand there, crying on Windspeed’s shoulder. Every pony I’d killed, every wound I’d sustained, all the torment of Temper’s training… all of my pain and sins poured out of me in one long, sustained moment of relief.

Windspeed paused, momentarily stunned by my action. Slowly, I felt his legs wrap around me, accepting the hug as I continued to cry. For a moment, I felt like I didn’t deserve it. After everything that had happened, I didn’t deserve to be saved. I started to push away, but that only made Windspeed hold me tighter.

“I…” I sniffled, tears still flowing from my eyes as I tried to form a sentence. “Th-the things I did… I-I didn’t mean to… I-I-I had to, Windspeed, I-I just-”

“I know.” Windspeed said. “It’s alright.”

I couldn’t be certain, but amongst everything, I thought I heard Windspeed crying too.

~~~~~~~~~~

I don’t know how long the two of us stayed like that. Windspeed continued to console me as I let every emotion pour out of me. Eventually, I stood up, relinquishing Windspeed from my grip as he did the same.

“Canvas,” Windspeed asked, watching me try to compose myself. “What the fuck happened to you? Your mom only reported you missing a few days ago, and then suddenly we get a distress call from the Wasteland? What, did you just decide you felt like dying as painfully as possible?”

“I-I can tell you about that later.” I chuckled, wiping my tears away. “C’mon, I’ve been down here more than enough for a lifetime. It’ll be nice to sleep on a real bed again.”

Windspeed didn’t move. My chuckling started to die out, turning into awkward laughter at my friend’s silence. Suddenly, Windspeed’s mouth turned up in a smile again, and he let out a short laugh as well.

“Heh, yeah…” Windspeed coughed, folding up his wings as he motioned over his shoulder. “Uh, hey, can we walk? Just… just for a little bit?”

I stared at Windspeed as if he had suddenly grown three heads.

“Really?” I said incredulously. “You want to walk here?”

“W-well, I, uh…” Windspeed coughed again. “I’m sure you have quite a story to tell, right? We could just walk for a bit, talk about-”

“Windspeed, there will be plenty of time to talk once I’ve got clouds below my hooves again.”

“Yeah, but… I thought you'd like a chance to just talk.”

“Well yeah, I would.” I replied with a laugh. “But not when something could come along and kill me at any moment.”

“Canvas, I-“

“Seriously, Windspeed, can't this wait? C'mon, lets-”

“CANVAS!!”

I froze, my ears folding back as I looked at my friend. His lips had drawn up in a snarl, his wings flaring out for just a moment. The area went silent, my eyes locked on Windspeed as he tried to compose himself. A few seconds later, he gave me an uncomfortable smile.

“Canvas, please...”

I stared at Windspeed, my eyebrows furrowing in confusion. This isn’t like him.

“...alright…” I said, more asking than anything. “Let's just, uh... walk.”

Windspeed nodded, slowly starting to trot as I followed beside him. We were both quiet, waiting for the other to break the silence, neither of us willing to do it ourselves.

“Canvas,” Windspeed finally spoke up, “I, uh... I have to ask you something.”

“Y-Yeah?” I stammered, “What's that?”

Windspeed paused, rolling his hoof as he tried to find the right words.

“What do... I mean, where...” Windspeed sighed, turning around so his whole body faced me. “How did you find that radio signal?”

Oh.

“Uh... w-well, you know how it is, dude, you-”

“I'm not asking as your friend.” Windspeed interrupted. “I'm asking as an officer in the Grand Pegasus Enclave.”

I flinched, my ears folding back again. It wasn't like Windspeed to be this serious, even on duty. I sighed, ready to own up to my actions.

“I-I'm sorry.” I blurted out, “I... I looked at your holodisk. Th-the one with O.D. on the front. I didn't want to, and I-I knew it would get me in trouble, b-but I had to! I-I had to get a message to you, because my wing was broken, a-and then I got captured, and... I-I'm sorry, Windspeed!”

“You read the debriefing.” It wasn't a question.

“I'm sorry.” I repeated. “I know that’s breaking some kind of law… I-I'll go quietly, I won't cause any trouble.”

“Right...” there was a slight waver in Windspeed's voice, one I couldn't quite place. “Uh, could you... just, just wait here for a moment, alright?”

Slowly, I nodded, and Windspeed forced a smile. He trotted away from me, bringing a hoof to his ear as he started talking. I could only barely make out Windspeed's side of the conversation from where I was.

“Sir, I've made contact... yes... yes, he...”

Windspeed went silent for a few moments. I thought back to the holodisk, recollecting the warning. “Any unauthorized ponies found accessing or attempting to access this data will be detained…” I-I don’t wanna go to jail…

“Sir, I don't... but...”

I started to shift uncomfortably. M-maybe Windspeed won’t even turn me in. We’re friends, right? He wouldn’t…

“Please... don't...”

More silence. W-well… well, maybe the Enclave will cut me some slack… i-it was just survival, you know? Wrong place, wrong time… I-I didn’t really have a choice. As I watched, Windspeed lowered his head ever so slightly.

“...yes… yes, sir.”

Windspeed lowered his hoof, turning to face me once more. His helmet covered most of his face, but I could still tell he was looking at the ground rather than at me.

“So, uh...” I coughed, reaching a hoof behind my neck. “A-are we all set to go?”

Windspeed said nothing. Slowly, his head tilted up.

“Do you know why I'm here?”

For a moment, I furrowed my eyebrows, before laughing nervously.

“What kind of question is that? Y-you're here to save me, right? I-I sent a distress call, so-”

“Canvas.” Windspeed interrupted. “By order of the High Council of the Grand Pegasus Enclave, my mission objectives are as follows: Locate the pegasus who sent the distress call, find out if they know anything related to Operation Optic Delve, and...”

Windspeed faltered, his voice cracking ever so slightly. A moment later, his voice returned.

“And eliminate them.”

I felt my pupils shrink. In an instant, twin magical rifles extended from the sides of Windspeed's armor, each one aimed directly at me. I stared at Windspeed, confusion overwhelming me as I saw a few tears start to leak from underneath his helmet.

“I was sent here to kill you.”

Author's Note

Level up

New Perk: Quick Draw – Stick ‘em up! Quick Draw makes all of your weapon equipping and holstering 50% faster.

Chapter 10

“Well, look who it is, boys! The flightless wonder!”

Canvas tensed his body, turning around to face the pony who had addressed him. The pony was a portly one, a bit on the short side, perhaps not too muscly, but what he lacked in stature he seemed to make up for in the respect he commanded amongst his goons.

“J-J-Jettison!” Canvas stammered, backpedaling away. “L-l-leave me alone, I-”

“Goin' somewhere, chump?”

With no time to react, the yellow pegasus found himself shoved forwards, thrown to the ground by one of his tormentor’s lackeys.

“Look at you, lamebrain!” Jettison snickered, shoving his hoof at Canvas. “Such a waste of a pegasus! All of us have been flying for AGES now, but you? Hah, you can hardly even get yourself off the ground without falling back down!”

“Wait,” one of Jettison’s goons murmured. “I thought Jet couldn’t fly neither.”

“SHUT UP, NIMBUS!” Jettison snapped, the area growing quiet as the goon flinched back. “I can TOO fly! I… I just choose not to!”

“W-what do you want from me, Jettison?” Canvas began to cry. “I-I didn’t–”

“Hey, what’s going on over there?”

The bullies turned, their leader looking particularly unamused at the intrusion. From around the corner, a young turquoise pegasus had stepped in, quickly spotting his friend on the ground.

“Canvas?” Windspeed called out, quickly turning to stare down the head bully. “Jettison, what are you doing?”

“Back off, Wind.” Jettison muttered. “I’m just making sure this turd knows his place.”

“Jettison,” Windspeed seethed. “That ‘turd’ is my friend. Get your hooves off him.”

“Or what?” the bully smirked. “You gonna go tell on me?”

Before he could say anything further, Windspeed launched himself at Jettison, approaching the bully with a sudden burst of speed. The boy’s cronies were quick to act though, and they managed to latch themselves on to Windspeed, keeping him from moving any further.

“W-Windspeed!”

“Shut up, dodo!” Jettison hissed, kicking Canvas in the face. Canvas reeled back in shock, staring up at Jettison. Before he could say anything further, tears started to stream down his face.

“Aw, you gonna cry?” Jettison laughed. “Hah! You’re such a lame piece of crap, you–”

He never got the last word out. While he had been mocking, Windspeed broke free of the boy’s minions. In a burst of speed which would be the talk of the playground for many weeks after, Windspeed flew directly at Jettison, tackling the bully into the clouds. Canvas stared in awe, watching as the two boys fought, exchanging blow for blow and bite for bite.

It took a while for the adults to show up, and when they did the bully’s goons were nowhere to be found. The teachers were the first ones there, quickly stepping in and pulling the two boys apart. Soon after, the parents were called in, and once brought up to speed, each began blaming the other child for instigating the attack.

“How dare you let that colt harm my boy!” Jettison’s mother lashed out. “My darling little Jettison, beaten to a pulp by your savage bully of a child! I’ll see you in court for this, I swear!”

“Your child is the menace here!” Windspeed’s father retorted. “Everyone here seems to know it except you! I’ll bet he started this whole mess!”

“Lies! My precious child would never…”

As the adults continued to bicker, Canvas looked over at Windspeed, the latter standing in the toughest-looking pose he could muster as he nursed his wounds. With a quick glance to make sure no one was looking, Canvas slipped away, sneaking over to his friend.

“W-Windspeed,” Canvas whispered, startling Windspeed for a moment. “Th-thank you.”

“No problem,” Windspeed smiled, attempting to give a hoof bump before reeling his leg back in pain.

“I-if you don’t mind me asking, though… why?”

“Huh?” Windspeed screwed up his face. “What do you mean?”

“I-I mean…” Canvas muttered. “Y-you got hurt. A-and you’re friends with Jettison, I thought. S-so… why fight him like that?”

Windspeed paused, the young colt trying to gather his thoughts in response.

“Because it felt right.” The colt finally said. “It’s what the Enclave would do. They help weak ponies, ponies in need. Even if they could get hurt, they help.”

Windspeed paused, puffing out his chest with pride.

“And if I’m gonna be in the Enclave someday, then I want to help ponies stay safe, no matter what!”

As Canvas began to reply, something caught his attention. A sparkling, shining light, coming from vaguely behind Windspeed. Curious, the yellow colt turned his head, and instantly his eyes grew wider than he had ever thought they could. He quickly grabbed Windspeed, silently pointing at the turquoise colt’s flank.

Where there had previously been just bare fur, a trio of sea-green wind spirals had appeared.

Windspeed had earned his Cutie Mark.

~~~~~~~~~~

“W-what?!?”

I’m surprised I even managed to get that much out. I misheard him. I had to have misheard him. That was the only explanation. Windspeed, my best friend in the world, he… he wouldn’t kill me! That’d be insane! He couldn’t…

But then why is he pointing his guns at me?

“I’m not repeating myself.” Windspeed stated, lifting a mouthpiece trigger to his muzzle. “I know you heard damn well what I said.”

“Th-this isn’t funny, Windspeed!” I stammered, my legs and wing frozen in place. “Y-you’re usually pretty funny, b-but this isn’t one of those times!”

“This isn’t a joke, Canvas!” Windspeed snapped, before looking down solemnly. “God, I wish this was a joke, but it isn’t. To think, of all the soldiers in the Enclave, and all the ponies in the sky, that it’d be us two standing here right now... It’s got the makings of a cruel joke, that’s for sure.”

“B-b-but why?!?” I shouted. “I-I’ve never done anything wrong! You know I’ve never done anything wrong! I-I mean, yeah, I looked at the holodisk, b-but that thing said I’d face jail time for this! N-not execution!”

“I’m sorry.” Windspeed sighed. “They told me you stole the holodisk. They… they think you’re a terrorist.”

I froze at the word.

“W… w-what?!?” I sputtered, reeling back from the Wonderbolt’s revelation. “T-t-terrorist?!? Th-that’s insane! Windspeed, you know I wouldn’t do anything against the Equestrian Sky! This… th-this has to be a misunderstanding!”

“That’s what I said, too.” Windspeed muttered, a dry laugh escaping his lips. “You don’t really have the spine to do anything like what they were suggesting. And even then, why would you? You’ve got no issues with our country. But they seem to think otherwise. Bastards didn’t say much, but they swore they had ‘reason to believe you were plotting against us.’ Wouldn’t give me the full reason, but it sounded like it had something to do with your sister.”

“My… what?” I screwed up my face, completely caught off guard by the response. “Sky Blossom? W-what does she have to do with any of this?!? Windspeed, please, n-none of this is making any sense! Y-you have to believe me, I’m not plotting against anyone!! I-I just want to go home, please, please let me come home with you!!”

“I wish I could.” The Wonderbolt muttered, choking slightly on his words. “I so badly wish I could, Canvas. But this is straight from the High Council. They’re counting on me. If I don’t succeed, I… I don’t even want to think about what they’ll do to me.”

“P-please,” I pleaded, my heart beginning to pound in my chest. “Think about this. Y-you don’t have to do this, do you? You can-”

“Do you think I want to do this?!?” Windspeed snapped, barring his teeth in a snarl. “You think I just woke up this morning and decided, ‘Oh gee, I think I’m gonna go kill my best friend today! That sure seems like a good idea! That seems like a fun way to spend my afternoon!’ Is that what you think is going on here?!? I’m a soldier, Canvas! Or maybe you forgot? I don’t have the luxury of refusing. I don’t get to ask why. It doesn’t matter if my target is a stranger or my own mother, if I’m ordered to shoot, I fucking shoot. And you’re not exempt from that.”

I flinched backwards, my mouth agape as I felt tears form in my eyes. It finally sunk in what was happening. I was going to die. Windspeed was going to kill me. I was going to be gunned down, slaughtered on the Wasteland floor. And my best friend was going to do it. My knees buckled, and I collapsed onto the ground, only barely managing to hold myself upright.

“Windspeed…” I sobbed, tears streaming down my face. “Please… don’t kill me…”

Windspeed paused for a moment. His mouth contorted into a wince, and for a brief moment, he started to lower his weapons. But as quickly as he had lowered them, he raised them again.

“Orders are orders.” He said morosely. “I’m sorry. I’ll try to make it as quick and painless as possible.”

Slowly, Windspeed put the trigger in his mouth, and I saw the rifle barrels start to aim for my head. In an instant, a primal instinct surged through me. My body regained the ability to move, and with all the force I could muster, I launched myself to the side – right as the rifle fired twin magical energy beams right where my head used to be.

“Wha…” Windspeed groaned, turning in my direction. “Canvas, please don’t make this harder than it needs to be.”

“Are you kidding?!?” I spat. “I-I’m not gonna let you kill me! Th-there has to be something wrong with your orders, I didn’t- ah!” I yelped, my sentence cut off by another beam of energy, this one so close to hitting I could feel the heat from the shot along my body.

“Canvas.” he repeated, his voice taking an authoritative, commanding tone. “Quit resisting. I know it’s difficult, but I have to do this.”

“P-please, think about this!” I cried, desperation beginning to set in. “Th-there has to be some other option here! Y-you could leave me alive, but just tell them you killed me! O-or you could try to convince your superiors that I d-don’t need to die! Or you could, uh… y-you could stay down here, w-with me!”

Windspeed froze, his movements completely halting for a moment. For a few seconds, he stayed that way, completely unmoving, like he’d been turned to stone. A moment later, he tilted his head downwards ever so slightly, but he didn’t say a word. A few beads of sweat dripped down my face. I squinted just a bit, hoping to make out some kind of expression on his muzzle, but his mouth was as stoic as he was.

Did… did I do it? Did I get through to him?

Hesitantly, I chose to believe that I’d succeeded, and one throat clearing later, I pressed my advantage.

“Y-yeah, we could… w-we could work something out! Y-y’know, this place isn’t that bad once you get used to it… heh…”

I paused, a frown teasing at the corner of my lips as images of ghouls and radroaches and wood beasts raged through my mind.

“O-okay, it’s pretty bad, there are monsters basically everywhere… b-but you’re a Wonderbolt, so it’s n-nothing you couldn’t handle… e-either way, there are some safe places we could stay, m-maybe not quite New Cloudsdayle quality, b-but much nicer than you’d expect… p-plenty of mares around, I know y-you like to be a mare’s stallion, heh… a-and hey, the air isn’t as poisoned as we thought, s-so it’s not like-”

“Canvas, stop.” Windspeed interrupted. “Do you even have any idea what you’re suggesting? Disobeying the counsel is treason of the highest order. If I did that, I’d be no better than a Dashite. I’d lose everything, Canvas. My position, my home, my friends, my family, everything I have ever known. I can’t just throw that all away! Even… even if it means that I have to kill you.”

Just like that, my glimmer of hope faded, my ears drooping and my heart sinking in turn.

“B-but-”

“This is your last warning.” Windspeed threatened. “If you keep resisting, I’ll be forced to fight you. If we fight, I will win. You know I will. I don’t want it to come to that, and I know you don’t either. So hold still, and let me… let me finish this. I promise, you won’t feel a thing.”

I stared at Windspeed, my whole body trembling as he stared back. What do I do now? I needed to do something, but what? As far as I could tell, I had two options. I could stand there and accept it, let Windspeed shoot me, and have that be the end of it. I’d die, Windspeed would go home scarred, but successful. My attempts to get home would all be in vain, and my life would end, right here, and right now.

Or I could stand and fight.

I don’t quite know what compelled me to do what I did. I’d always imagined that, were I ever to find myself in a situation like this, I’d have given up. I never expected to be put in a situation like this, mind you. It was just one of those idle thoughts, the kind you have when you’re alone in your room and have nothing to do. And yet, there on the Wasteland floor, I did something I never thought I would do in a million years.

I drew the Artisan and pointed it at Windspeed.

Windspeed faltered, taking a very slight step back. I imagine his eyes widened a bit, too. Slowly, silently, the Wonderbolt lowered his head.

“So that’s how it is.” Windspeed sighed. “Well, don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

In an instant, Windspeed flared out his wings and thrust them downwards, kicking up a cloud of dust all around us. I flinched back, coughing through the dust, when all of a sudden, I heard two shots fire. I cried out, a stinging pain slicing across my back as the magical energy grazed my skin. I stumbled backwards, quickly trying to escape from the cloud and regain my vision, but just as I got out of the dust, I heard another sound – the thundering sound of galloping.

Before I could react, Windspeed had rushed up to me, firing another shot in my direction with his approach. I yelped, my heart pounding as I turned and ran away from him. Instantly, an array of thoughts fought their way to the forefront of my mind, the internal struggle causing my thoughts to rapidly volley from one idea to the next. Somewhere between my ideas of running away and fighting back, I managed to turn around, trying to lock the sights on my attacker…

My friend…

I couldn’t do it. I wouldn’t shoot my best friend. I just stood there for a moment, unable to see him as my enemy even though he was literally trying to kill me. Windspeed paused too, and though I couldn’t see his eyes behind the helmet, I had a feeling they were widening. But the moment passed in an instant, and the Wonderbolt charged at me in a speedy zig-zag to throw off my aim. The artisan wavered in my vision, the sights unable to settle on anything, and-

WHAM!

I spent too long thinking. Before I could decide, Windspeed was upon me, and he didn’t hesitate to ram into me with the full force of his charge. I yelled, tumbling backwards, head-over-hooves from the force of the blow. I finally stopped as my body slammed into a boulder, but I didn’t get to rest long – another round of energy blasts was fired at me, one shot hitting me square in the leg, evaporating a patch of armor that covered it. I scrambled to my hooves, crawling around behind the boulder as quickly as I could. As Windspeed readied another shot, I tried to use what little time I had to think of a plan.

Ok, ok, I’m not gonna shoot him. Even if he’s wearing armor, I can’t shoot him. But then what? What do I do? Maybe… maybe shoot his guns? Yeah, the guns. I’ve done that before. God, I wish I knew how to use that S.A.T.S. thing, that would-

In the middle of my thought, the rock I was hiding behind erupted into rubble, a shot from Windspeed’s guns all but vaporizing it in an instant. I yelped, quickly crawling my way behind another rock. No more time to think, I just had to act. I risked bringing my head up from cover, and to my relief Windspeed looked to be reloading his guns. Perfect! With a few deep breaths to steady my nerves (as well as my aim), I closed one eye and lined up the shot…

BANG!!

No good. To my dismay (and, conflictingly, somewhat to my relief) the shot sailed clean past him, a long ways off from my mark. Before I could line up another shot, Windspeed finished reloading and unleashed a magical volley of his own. I ducked down behind cover again, only to hear a loud whooshing sound. I looked up, and before I knew it Windspeed pulled into an aerial loop, launching up into the air, and then back down behind me in the blink of an eye. Had I not been hyperventilating, I’d have let out a low whistle – it may not have looked impressive to a Wastelander, but any pegasus knows that a perfect loop is difficult to pull off.

It almost kept me from realizing that I was now on the wrong side of my cover. I yelped, leaping over the rock and making a mad dash away from Windspeed. The Wonderbolt pursued, firing another volley of shots at me. I grabbed the Artisan again, the sights shaking wildly as I tried to line up another-

Augh!! Fuck!! One of Windspeed’s shots hit me square in the side. Thank God I had armor, otherwise I imagine my body would have been disintegrated. As it was, the armor had been burned away, crackling and sizzling off in a cloud of ash. All that was left was an intense heat, as though someone had directly lit my coat on fire. I tried in vain to fan off the scalding spot with my wing, to no avail. To make matters worse, the shock of getting hit caused me to drop the Artisan, the gun tumbling into the dirt below me. For a brief moment, I tried to return for it, but another magical energy shot smashed into the ground next to me, swiftly forcing me into running the opposite direction of the weapon.

“Canvas, stop!” Windspeed called out. “You’re just making this worse on both of us!”

I refused to respond, my hooves pounding against the wasteland floor as I willed myself to keep moving. All of a sudden, I heard a loud *THUD*, and a cloud of dust kicked up in front of me. I only got a small glimpse of Windspeed in the middle of the cloud before I made the dumbest decision of the fight.

I squeezed my eyes shut, clenched my teeth, and rammed straight into the Wonderbolt.

With all the armor he was wearing, it was like ramming into a brick wall. My body slammed against him, my head ricocheting off the metal plates, disorienting me to the point that I swear the PipBuck indicators moved out of my line of sight for a minute. Fortunately, in spite of the pain, I still had enough weight and momentum behind my charge that I toppled him to the ground, knocking the rifle trigger out of his mouth. For a split second, Windspeed didn’t react, most likely a bit dazed from the impact. But he quickly got over it, and before I could react he grabbed hold of me, bringing me down to the ground with him.

In a panic, I tried to pull away, but Windspeed had a tight hold of me. I saw Windspeed reel back for a punch, leaving me only a split second to react. With escape not being an option, I wrapped my hind legs around him as best as I could and started slamming my forehooves into the one weak spot I could see – his muzzle.

We tumbled along the Wasteland floor, locked in a brawl for what seemed like eternity. I pounded my hooves against his face as hard as I could, Windspeed retaliating with punches of his own. His, of course, had much more force behind them, aided both by his superior strength and the metal armor encasing his hoof. With every blow, the wind was knocked from my lungs, forcing my breaths to become wheezing gasps. I struggled to keep from seizing up, my whole body wanting to curl up into a ball to lessen the damage. It hurt so much… like being hit with a sledgehammer. Repeatedly. I screamed, trying to ignore the pain as I continued to beat down on Windspeed as forcefully as possible. For a moment, I saw blood on my hooves – I wasn’t sure if it was his or mine.

Eventually Windspeed managed to get his hind legs underneath me and, with a single buck, threw me from his body. I wheezed, flailing my one good wing, trying in vain to keep myself upright as I arced through the air. I failed, and within seconds I slammed into the ground, coughing up blood and breathing heavily. Struggling to my hooves, I stole a glance at Windspeed – if not for the ragged breaths and the blood dripping from the corner of his mouth, he’d have looked like he walked straight off a Wonderbolts poster, standing straight and tall, barely a scratch on him.

Painfully, I got to my hooves, scrambling away as best as I could. Windspeed fired another shot at me, causing me to change direction. He fired again. And again. And again. I kept trying to evade his shots, but my weariness got the better of me, and I collapsed on the ground by a husk of a tree. Slowly, I grabbed onto the tree, propping myself up and turning to face the Wonderbolt.

“I guess I win.” Windspeed muttered breathlessly, turning and spitting out a mouthful of blood. “I told you this would happen. I don’t want you to suffer, alright? I really don’t. So please, please, Canvas. Hold still, close your eyes. It’ll be like… like pulling a tooth. A second of pain, and then it’s all over. Ok?”

I sobbed, staring at my friend through watery eyes.

It’s over. I’m gonna die. I’m never gonna go home, never gonna see mom again, never gonna do anything ever again, because I’m gonna die right here. My only friend in the world is gonna kill me, put me down like I’m just some sick bird.

Slowly, I curled up into a ball, squeezing my eyes shut.

“Ok…” Windspeed sighed, readying his guns. “Ok. Now just… just relax. Think about painting, you like painting. Think of a nice, beautiful landscape painting. Just think about that, and before you know it, it’ll all… be… ov-”

“Don’t make a fuckin’ move.”

Windspeed stopped. My ears perked up at the voice, my eyes snapping open and darting to the side. There, my gaze focusing on a lone, purple-coated earth pony. A purple-coated earth pony with a gun up against Windspeed’s head.

“T-Temper?!?”

Windspeed cocked his head slightly to the side.

“You know that thing?”

“Fuck you.” Temper groaned. “I am a ‘her’, not a ‘thing’. Don’t treat me like a fucking animal.”

“I- but- wha-” I stammered, finally losing what little grip that I had on what was going on. “W-what are you doing here? H-how did-”

“You can’t cover your tracks for shit, feathers.” The mare smirked. “Might have been behind you by a day or two, but it wasn’t hard to follow ya.”

“Look, ma’am,” Windspeed seethed, “We’re a bit busy right now, alright? And it’s a personal matter, so can you-”

“Shut up, soldier boy.” Temper interrupted. “Oh, and I’d suggest you stop shooting at my… acquaintance, or else I’ll blow your fuckin’ head off. ‘Course, I might do that anyways, seems like it’d be a heap of fun. But you’ll just have to wait and see.”

“Uh huh.” Windspeed deadpanned. “Perhaps I wasn’t clear. Stand down. This doesn’t concern you-”

“Hey, I said shut the fuck up!” Temper spat, shoving her gun into the back of Windspeed’s head. “Or did you miss the part where I said I’d turn your head into paste?”

“Oh, can it, wasteland scum.” Windspeed growled, a hint of a smirk gracing his lips. “This armor’s standard military issue. Completely bulletproof, or didn’t you realize?”

Temper frowned momentarily, before giving a smirk of her own. Slowly, she shifted her aim down.

“I bet that neck joint isn’t.”

Windspeed’s smile faltered. For a moment, he remained perfectly motionless. I could feel beads of sweat running down my face. A part of me wished he wasn’t wearing a helmet, if only so I could get a better read on his expression. With that helmet on, it was almost impossible to tell.

“Well?” Temper grinned. “What’s wrong, soldier boy? You don’t sound quite so hot now.”

“Alright.” Windspeed sighed. Slowly, he retracted his guns back into his power armor. “You win, he’s all yours. But before I go, might I have a word with my friend here?”

“Yeah,” Temper rolled her eyes. “‘Cause you two seem real buddy-buddy. Maybe I should-”

“W-wait,” I interrupted. “Temper, l-let him talk. He’s not lying.”

The mare raised her eyebrow, her gaze flickering between the two of us for just a few moments. Finally, she groaned, edging Windspeed forwards with her gun.

“Make it quick.”

Windspeed nodded, pausing only briefly to brush the dust off with his wing. Once he was close, he leaned down, whispering right into my ear.

“That little shit behind me is wrong, just so you know. The joints are lined with bullet-resistant fabric. It might not stop a sniper round or a high-caliber rifle, but it would certainly stop that pea-shooter.”

I felt my heartrate accelerate again, my eyes remaining locked on Windspeed. The helmet made it hard to tell, but it looked like he was keeping his gaze locked on me as well. For a few moments, we remained like that, neither of us saying a word, thoughts running rampant in my mind as I tried to figure out an escape route, in case things escalated again.

“You know I don’t want to kill you.” Windspeed admitted, lowering his gaze slightly. “Even if I have to, I don’t want to. Fortunately for both of us, she’s giving me an excuse to put it off. I still can’t abandon this mission completely, but here’s what I can do for now. I’ll walk away. Tell the heads I had to make a tactical retreat. You actually did a good bit of damage to me, so with any luck they won’t question it.

“I can’t stay away forever, though. Sooner or later, my COs will make me come find you again. So… let’s say you have two days. Forty-eight hours of safety. I wish I could give you more, but command wants you dealt with quickly, so that’s probably all I can get away with. Should be enough time for one last painting, yeah? Or at least enough to say your goodbyes, not that I can imagine there’s anypony down here you’d want to say goodbye to. After that… I have a mission to complete. And I can’t let friendship get in the way.”

Windspeed pulled back, ruffling his feathers a bit. With one last look at Temper, he started to trot away, Temper’s gun trained on his neck the whole while. A few paces in, Windspeed paused.

“You know,” he called back, hesitating for a second before he continued. “When you do finish your goodbyes... it’s not an easy decision, I know, but… well, if I come to find you and my mission’s been done for me, it’d make this all a bit less… complicated.”

I stared at Windspeed, his words slowly sinking in as he unfurled his wings.

“Just something to think about.”

In one swift motion, he crouched down, and then shot up into the air. Before I knew it, he was nothing more than a dot on the horizon, and an instant later, he was entirely gone.

Author's Note

Level Up!

New Perk: Run ‘n Gun – With this perk, you have a reduced accuracy penalty with mouth-held Firearms and Energy Weapons while walking or running. Now you can fight on the go!

Chapter 6

“What was all that about?”

The two colts dashed out of the house, leaving behind the shouting match that was sure to follow. Once they had gotten far enough away from the building, Canvas groaned, trotting along beside his friend.

“I don’t even know.” The yellow pegasus muttered, kicking a tuft of cloud as he moved. “I swear they’ve been fighting since I was a baby. I’m just… it’s so… I… GRAH!!”

In one swift, forceful kick, the tuft of cloud exploded, poofing away into the ether.

“Yeah, I can bet that’d be annoying.” Windspeed nickered, jabbing a hoof at Canvas playfully. “I wouldn’t worry about it though. Parents are s’posed to fight, I think. My parents do, and I’m pretty sure Jettison’s parents do too.”

“C’mon, Windspeed,” Canvas pleaded, “I’m already upset, the LAST thing I want to think about is THAT jerk!”

“Hey!” Windspeed huffed. “He’s not that bad…”

Canvas rolled his eyes, bringing a hoof to his forehead. All of a sudden, he stopped, a stray thought coming to mind. Windspeed turned, curious as to why his friend had fallen behind.

“Canvas?”

“It’s me!”

Windspeed raised an eyebrow at the yellow Pegasus.

“Um, yes. It is you. What do-”

“No, no! I mean it’s my fault! I’m the one making my parents fight!”

“What?” Windspeed scoffed, looking at his friend like he had grown two heads. “That’s stupid, Canvas. Why would they fight over you? That doesn’t make any sense.”

“Are you kidding?” Canvas snapped, looking at Windspeed in a growing panic. “It makes too MUCH sense! Th-They always seem to fight when I’m around, and it’s always because of something I’ve done, and Dad’s always liked Sky Blossom more, and… a-and they’ve been fighting ever since I was younger, so it must be… it must be m-me who’s…”

Windspeed stared, watching silently as Canvas knelt down to the ground, tears beginning to pool in his eyes.

“What did I do wrong, Windspeed? A-and what do I do now? I’ve tried to be good, I really have, but… I-I don’t wanna make mom and dad mad… oh jeeze, they must hate me-”

“Hey, stop that!”

Just as Canvas began to start sniffling, he looked up, only to get startled as he saw Windspeed standing a few inches in front of him, his wings flared out to the sides.

“B-but… but I don’t-”

“Stop!” The turquoise colt neighed. “Don’t you say that sort of stuff, Canvas! You’re an awesome guy! I mean, not quite as awesome as me, but still pretty dang awesome. Your parents don’t hate you, I know it.”

Canvas looked up at his friend, his eyes beginning to widen in surprise.

“I… Windspeed, it doesn’t-”

“Listen to me, Canvas.” Windspeed reached forwards, grabbing Canvas’ face in his hooves and forcing the colt to look directly into his eyes. “You’re not a bad pony. You’re my friend, and you’re awesome. Nopony hates you.”

“Nopony?” Canvas wiped away a tear.

“Nopony.”

“Not even Jettison?”

Windspeed paused, frowning slightly as he searched for the right thing to say.

“Well… I mean, he’s… ok, maybe Jettison does. But he hates a lot of ponies, so right now he doesn’t count.”

Canvas glared at his friend, although a chuckle still escaped from his lips as he wiped away some more tears. Slowly, as Windspeed released Canvas from his face-hold, the yellow colt reached forwards, bumping his hoof against his friend’s.

“Thanks, Windspeed.”

“What are friends for?” Windspeed smiled, pulling Canvas into a hug. “Look, if they ever start fighting again, you can come over to my place until they stop, ok?”

“I don’t think they’d let me. But thanks, anyways.”

“Eh, it was worth a shot.” Windspeed conceded. “Now c’mon, I’ve had enough of this mushy stuff. Let’s go play already!”

Canvas smiled, running forwards to meet his friend in what would surely become another epic battle from a pony war from the distant past.

~~~~~~~~~~

“I’m surprised you think you’re ready to tackle a Stable, feathers.”

I was thankful at how easy it was to convince Temper to go to Stable 6. The second I said the word “Stable”, Temper had rushed to my side, eager to see what I had found. As her face had begun to contort into a silly grin, she grabbed hold of me and, both figuratively and literally, began dragging me out of Rainston to begin the journey to the underground structure. No, the hard part had been convincing her to stop long enough to make sure everything was in order.

That had taken a lot of arguing and about three kicks to the gut.

“I’ve been meaning to loot through one for a while now, don’t get me wrong.” Temper continued, sorting out a few new weapons she had acquired. “But they don’t exactly have a reputation for being the safest place in Equestria. I’ve heard tell that some pretty fucked up shit goes on inside ‘em.”

As I stood, attempting to refasten my wing-splint, I raised an eyebrow skeptically. Stables? Dangerous? They were designed to keep ponies safe, how bad could they possibly be?

“Of course, I’m more than ready to deal with that kind of shit, I just haven’t been able to fuckin’ find one.” Temper paused, carefully picking up a rifle she had found stashed in one of the homes. “Damn, should have grabbed the battle saddle off that guy whose face you blew up…”

I froze at the mare’s words, tensing up as the unpleasant memories rushed back to my mind. I could see the storekeeper’s face, chunks of his head flying off in slow motion as I bit down on the shotgun trigger… his blood, pattering against my coat like a splash of water… I think one of his eyes might have hit me as it flew, bouncing off my chest and…

I shook my head, trying my best to get rid of the thought before I threw up again. I felt a few drops of water begin to pool in my eyes, wiping them away before any true tears could form. There must have been another way… God, why did I have to do that? I should have tried to talk with him, or put the gun down, or… I stopped, frozen in place as my mind started to go deep in thought. I didn’t have to kill him… I didn’t have to kill him or that other mare… did I?

“But fuck, if you think you can…” Temper paused, her eyes narrowing as she stared at me. “Hello? Equestria to feathers? You even listening to me?”

I snapped back to attention, quickly resuming my splint-work.

“Oh, y-yeah! Sorry, I was just-”

WHAM!

I gasped, struggling to stay upright as I spit some blood from my mouth.

“I already told you, I hate repeating myself.”

“…wait, but you just-”

I flinched away from Temper’s punch, wincing as one of her hooves barely scraped my cheek. With a grimace, I turned back and started tightening my scarf once more. Finally, my splint was reattached, possibly even more firmly than it had been the first time around. I looked to Temper, grimacing slightly as I saw her.

“Er… Temper, don’t you think maybe you should wash off the blood on you?”

Temper paused, glancing down at her blood-stained coat for a brief second, before making an exaggerated pouty face at me.

“Aw, what’s wrong? Wittle feathers doesn’t wike a wittle bwood?” The mare snickered, striking a pose as if to show off the hideous dye job, the hardened blood looking more black now than red. I squeezed my eyes shut, once again forcing out memories of the night before.

“I, er…” I struggled to find something to say. “I-I just don’t think it goes well with your mane, that’s all! I-I mean, come on now – red and black? It’s a bit, uh… cliché, don’t you think?”

Temper stared at me for a few seconds, one of her eyebrows raising skeptically as she did. A few moments later, she rolled her eyes, scoffing as she trotted over to a water puddle nearby.

“Whatever. It was starting to reek anyways.”

As Temper sat down to bathe, I breathed a sigh of relief. I can’t believe that worked.

“We’re heading out for the Stable the second I’m done though, you hear me?”

I nodded, just as eager as Temper to get to the Stable. Even if my motive was slightly different than hers.

“Loud and clear.”

~~~~~~~~~~

“You’ve gotta be fucking kidding me.”

Temper began spewing all sorts of profanities as I stared at the obstruction in front of us. I would hesitate to call it a mountain, given the size and scale of the mountains I could see in the distance, but damn did this thing give them a run for their money. The outcropping of rock and earth before us towered far above my head – easily a good five times my height, and that’s on the lower end. On top of that, the base of the mound stretched to the very edges of my vision, with the ends of it slowly transitioning into rocky walls and cliff faces, leaving a pretty big pile of wasteland sitting in front of us.

Oh, and the map claimed that Stable 6 was behind it.

“There would be a fucking mountain in my way, wouldn’t there?” Temper groaned, straining as she looked up towards the top of the mound. “I swear on Luna’s sweaty vagina, there’s always fuckin’ something in the way.”

I trotted in closer, craning my neck back while I looked at the obstruction. I glanced back at my sides, ruffling my feathers a tad under the scarf.

“Um, can’t I just fly us over?” I mean, yeah, I don’t want to destroy my wings any more, but damn it I need to get to that Stable.

“No!” Temper spun around, glaring at me as her lips formed a nasty snarl. “The last time you tried to fly me over something, you dropped me! And that thing wasn’t even half the height of this pile of shit! I’m sure as fuck not gonna fall to my death today, if I can avoid it.

“Can’t even fly without your fuckin’ wing acting up,” Temper muttered, turning back towards the pseudo-mountain. “I’m starting to think you’re not as much use to me as you claimed you’d be.”

I didn’t know whether to feel relieved that I didn’t have to fly, or insulted that Temper thought I’d drop her again. Although… if I could get her up high enough, then an ‘accidental’ fall could-

I froze, slightly mortified at the dark path my thoughts had started to tread. What was… no, it’s not important. I’m not going to kill her. I’m… An image of the dead ponies from my nightmare flashed into my mind. I can’t kill somepony again.

“I’m gonna try to find a way to climb over it.” Temper trotted over to me, and before I knew it I was chained up to a tree. “Wait here.”

“Uh…” I started to voice my concerns, but Temper had already turned away. “I don’t think you can… Temper?”

The mare completely ignored me, crouching down a bit before leaping onto one of the lowest rocks on the mountain.

~~~~~~~~~~

“Augh!”

As Temper picked herself off of the ground again, I found the courage to speak up.

“I don’t think you can make that jump, Temper.”

“Shut up!” Temper yelled back, once again climbing onto the lowest rock. “This is an easy fuckin’ jump. I just keep slipping, that’s all.”

“Must be a really slippery rock, then. I think you’ve fallen about seven-”

BANG!!

I ducked, the bullet flinging up a small cloud of dust at my hooves.

“It’s an easy fuckin’ jump.” Temper nickered. “Just a couple more tries, I’ll make it.”

~~~~~~~~~~

“Fuckin’ hell!”

“Temper, I really don’t-”

“I almost had it that time! The next ledge was right there, I could feel it in my hooves!”

I rolled my eyes, watching her approach the rocks again as she grit her teeth.

“It’s the damn rocks! They must keep breaking apart as I try to grab them! I swear to fuck, I’m getting over this thing!”

~~~~~~~~~~

As light began to dim on the horizon, Temper mounted the rocks for another attempt at getting past the impossible jump. I could practically feel the determination radiating from her body as she looked at the gap in front of her. Temper crouched down, closing her eyes as she let out a slow breath. In one swift movement, her eyes snapped open, she took a few running steps forwards, and she bounded into the air with the grace of a pegasus lifting off for high speed flight.

And then tumbled down to the ground, her body bouncing off the side of the mountain as she dropped onto the floor of the Wasteland.

“LUNA SHIT DOWN MY THROAT!!” Temper screamed out in anger. “WHY THE FUCK CAN’T I GET PAST THIS BULLSHIT PILE OF CRAP?!?”

As Temper began to stand, her legs buckled beneath her, eliciting a small yelp from the mare. She turned to look at her leg, letting out a groan as she saw the scrapes and cuts running along her thighs.

“Augh… fuck it.” Temper spat out. “Fuck this mountain, fuck those cliffs, fuck that bullshit jump. Get up feathers, we’re going around this fuckin’ thing.”

Finally.

“I can’t believe this shit…” Temper muttered as she trotted over to unchain me. “It’ll take days to go around this thing, and it’s all because the rocks won’t let me fuckin’ climb them.”

With the cuffs off, I rose to my hooves, stretching a bit while Temper pointed towards the edge of the roadblock.

“Follow the cliffs. There should be a spot where we can climb up, eventually. With some luck, it won’t be too far.” Temper pulled out her pistol, and I did as she said, the two of us starting to go on our way. As we left the mountain behind us, Temper scowled, spitting on the ground in disgust.

“Fuckin’ roadblocks.”

~~~~~~~~~~

Once again, I started to lose my sense of time as we walked along the cliffside in search of a place to climb up. Light was shining down through the clouds, and I found myself lost in my imagination, hoping to replace the drab and dreary world down here with something more bright and cheery. I tried to imagine what the land must have looked like before the megaspells. Lots of rolling green hills, maybe, and a clear blue sky. I glanced up, noticing a dead tree on top of the cliff, and tried to think of how beautiful it must have been back in the day. The rotting wood replaced with a sturdy trunk, beautiful leaves forming a pillow of green around the top. The shopkeeper standing next to it with his face-

I shook my head, trying to force the thought out of my mind. I started over, imagining the beautiful past of the ugly land around me. But every time I started to find something nice, memories of Rainston would invade my mind, like some kind of cruel joke. The more I tried to forget about it, the more it decided to rear its ugly head. I slowed down as I walked, horrible images and words coming into my head with every-

“Ok, what the fuck is wrong with you?”

I was abruptly pulled out of my train of thought, stopping mid-trauma to look back at Temper.

“Huh? What do-”

“This is the fifth fuckin’ time you’ve slowed down.” Temper spat. “Why?”

“I…” I hesitated, holding back my thoughts for a moment. “I-it’s nothing. I’m-”

“Bullshit it is!” Temper interrupted, circling around in front of me as she spoke. “If there weren’t something going on we wouldn’t stopping every few fuckin’ feet. So I’ll ask again, what the fuck is wrong with you?”

I stared at my captor, one of my eyebrows raising as I cocked my head to the side.

“You wouldn’t care.” I countered. “It’s emotional stuff.” Something you CLEARLY know nothing about.

“I don’t care.” Temper stated very matter-of-factly. “On its own, ‘how you’re feeling’ is literally the one thing I care about less than anything else in the entire goddesses-damned Wasteland.”

“Exactly, so-”

“What I do care about is getting to the Stable. And I can’t do that if you don’t move your fuckin’ ass,” Temper spat, gritting her teeth for emphasis. “So if your little ‘problem’ is slowing you down, then I fucking care.”

I glanced down at the ground, my thoughts conflicting with one another. Why should I say anything to her? She’s crazy, rude, arrogant, uncaring… she won’t help, and she doesn’t-

As if on cue, the shopkeeper’s mutilated face flashed into my head.

It… it might help to just let it out… clear my head, even if she doesn’t listen to me.

“I mean, I could also just shoot you every time you slow down. It’d waste a lot of ammo, but if it’ll get you moving-”

“Wait! Wait!” I let out a sigh. “Alright, fine, I’ll… I’ll talk. Not that you’ll be any help.”

“Good.” Temper grunted, edging me along with her gun. “Just walk while you do. The sooner we get there, the sooner I can get my Stable loot.”

“Ugh…” I rolled my eyes, continuing to trot alongside the cliff. I guess I just start talking. No different than usual, right?

“It’s just… back at Rainston, I-”

“Shit, newbie, you’re still thinking about that place?” Temper interrupted. I turned back, staring wide-eyed at the mare.

“Wha… what do you mean, ‘still’? That happened yesterday!”

“Hey, keep walking!” Temper pushed me, startling me into moving a few steps forwards. “I tend to forget about regular old raids pretty fuckin’ quick.”

I turned my head away in disgust, closing my eyes and focusing on the real issue before continuing.

“It’s just, I’ve… well, I…” I shuddered, images of the event continuing to flash in my mind despite my best efforts to shut them out.

“You what?”

“I’ve never killed somepony before!”

There was a long stretch of silence. As the two of us walked, neither Temper nor I spoke a word. Finally, a few tense moments later, Temper’s voice pierced through the silence.

“And?”

“‘And’?” I blurted out in shock. “What do you mean, ‘And’? I shouldn’t need to say any more than that! I killed a pony! Tartarus, I killed two ponies! I killed them in cold blood, two living, breathing ponies! They… th-they had lives, they might have had families, or jobs even! And I… I-I just killed them!”

I felt tears begin to form in my eyes, my vision slowly beginning to blur and waver as I saw Temper look at me. All of a sudden, I heard her begin to snicker, holding a hoof to her mouth in an attempt to contain it.

“Fuck, is that all?” Temper laughed slightly as she spoke. “Little baby feathers had his first kill, and now he’s feeling sad. Hang on, I think I spilled some milk over here too, let me cue the fuckin’ violins.”

That was the breaking point. With that one line, days of abuse, brutality, and mental torment finally broke free, a fiery rage filling my chest as I looked at Temper.

“What the fuck is wrong with you?!?” I snapped, my ears folding flat against my head as I felt my body burn with an anger unlike any I had ever felt before. “How can you care so little for another pony’s life? Most of these ponies have done nothing to you, and you’ll mow them down in a hail of bullets, just for a few pieces of food and medicine? That’s the most fucked up thing I’ve ever heard! How can you live with that? How can you live with yourself? How can you be so God-damned cruel?!?”

Temper stopped, her eyes widening slightly as she stood, evidently startled by my outburst. The sentiment didn’t last long, though – in only a few seconds she had regained her usual fearsome demeanor. She trotted up to me, staring me straight in the eye with every step. As soon as she was close enough, she cocked her pistol, resting the end of the barrel right on my muzzle.

“Don’t. Ever. Yell at me.”

I locked my eyes on the barrel, my rage slowly beginning to subside as fear took its place.

“And didn’t I go over this shit already?” The mare rolled her eyes as she pulled her gun away, returning to her position behind me. “Rule number one: Kill or be killed. I don’t know what kind of pansy-ass paradise you grew up in where you’ve never had to kill a pony before, but down here, we live in a fucked up hell known as the Wasteland. Ponies kill each other every fuckin’ day. Some do it to get supplies. Some do it to protect the supplies they have. Some just do it because it’s damn good fun. Some of us have killed hundreds of ponies, and some of us are the unfortunate victims of another pony’s rampage. But not a one of us bats an eye at it. Maybe we’ll lose a bit of sleep, but usually we shrug it off and keep fuckin’ moving along. That’s way it works, and that’s the way it’s worked for the last hundred and fifty years.”

With her position taken, Temper pointed her gun right between my eyes, smirking as she watched me struggle to comprehend her words.

“If you’re gonna survive down here, I suggest you grow some balls and get over it.”

For a moment, I just stood there, unsure of how to respond. With a final sigh, my rage burned out, and I turned and continued down the path.

It’s strange. I should have still been furious. I should have still been seething with rage. I should have wanted Temper to go jump in a pit, and rid the world of her filth. But somehow, in spite of my outburst, in spite of her callousness, in spite of it all… I felt better.

Somehow, some way, Temper had actually managed to help.

~~~~~~~~~~

“Wait.”

Temper paused in her tracks, her ears beginning to whip around in all directions before pointing themselves further down the cliff face. I cupped my hoof over my eyes, attempting to find whatever Temper had spotted. It didn’t take long – off in the distance, I made out the forms of a couple ponies, although I couldn’t quite tell how many there were.

“Um…” I hesitantly spoke up. “W-we’re not gonna rob them too, are we?”

“Not with that attitude.” Temper snarked, already checking her pistol to make sure it was fully loaded. “But yeah, that was the fuckin’ idea. C’mon, we need to get in closer.”

Temper lowered herself down, quickly moving towards the figures while I followed behind. As we got closer, the voices of the ponies slowly faded in from the ambient background noise of the wasteland. Whoever they were, they seemed to be talking to each other… although I quickly realized that, to hear it from where I was, they had to have been yelling. Are they having some kind of argument? I started paying more attention, and I managed to pick out a few words here and there.

“Fuckin’… trader… goods…”

Another caravan? Alright, I… I think I can handle that. I’ll just take the brahmin ag-

“…have you surrounded…”

Wait, what?

I listened a little closer, my attention now completely locked onto these ponies. As Temper and I snuck behind a nearby rock, I took another look at the scene. We were close enough now that I could fully make out about four ponies, one of whom was pressed against the cliffs while the other three stood on all sides of him. Slowly, the surrounding ponies started closing in on the one in the middle, who began frantically trying to scale the wall of stone behind him, to no avail. I glanced to the side, spying a brahmin kneeling on the ground beside them, as well as a second brahmin’s corpse lying a short distance away from the rock we were hiding behind.

“I’ll only say this one more time, old timer!” One of the surrounding ponies, a pink mare with a brown mane, continued to shout. “Give us the goods, or I’ll have these two rip your fuckin’ head off!”

“You won’t kill me!” The old stallion in the middle spoke, fear wavering through every word. “I-I’m the only one who knows where to get these things! I-if you kill me, I’ll… you’ll never find them!”

“Then I guess we’ll be torturing it out of you first.” The mare turned, nodding to the ponies at her sides. They both moved in, grabbing hold of the elderly pony, pinning him in place. The mare rushed forwards, spinning around at the last second and bucking the stallion in the stomach. I nearly doubled over in pain myself, just from the sight of the blow.

“Ugh, damn it all.” Temper groaned as she stood up straight. “Come on – if we can make our way to those trees without being spotted, we should be able to avoid them.”

“Alrigh… wait, now we’re not robbing them?”

“You see those ponies?” Temper muttered, gesturing to the ponies in front. “It sounds like chem junkies, and I hate dealing with chem junkies.”

I glanced back at the scene as it unfolded, watching the stallion as he was attacked. I could hear the terror and the pain in his voice as he stood, pleading for his life. I felt sorry for him. A small part of me wanted to help him, to save him from the ponies harassing him.

But a bigger part of me was satisfied with getting the heck out of there.

“He still ain’t talking, Thorn.” One of the attackers said to the mare in the lead. “What now?”

“You’ll…” the elderly stallion coughed, drops of blood flinging from his mouth. “You’ll never get them. I’ll never talk.”

“Whatever.” The mare, apparently named Thorn, scoffed. “Let’s take him back to Ironsights. I’m sure he’d like to have a word with you.”

Temper suddenly froze. I barely managed to keep myself from running into her, watching as her ears suddenly jerked back in the direction of the attack scene. I just managed to glimpse her lips moving, mouthing some unheard word as she listened to every word the ponies said.

“Hah! Y-You think I’m scared of him?” The elderly pony spat, one of his teeth falling onto the ground as he did. “Ironsights is a damned fool, that’s what he is!”

It was a good effort, but I could see the sweat on his brow, the slight jitter in his hooves and tail, every movement of his body betraying his words. Thorn smirked, clearly picking up on the stallion’s unsubtle body language as well.

“Well, I’m sure he’d love to hear you say so.” Thorn motioned to her fellow attackers. “Grab him.”

“Um… Temper?” I spoke quietly, hoping not to enrage the mare, but she didn’t move a muscle. Hesitantly, I reached out a hoof to prod her, try and snap her out of it. All of a sudden, Temper started to slowly turn around, causing me to yank my hoof back in surprise.

“Ironsights…”

“Er, Temper?”

“Is the LePat loaded?”

I stared at my captor, my eyebrows furrowing as I tried to make sense of what was happening.

“No… wait, what are you-”

That was all I managed to get out before I had to jump to the side, flinching as some ammo was thrown my way.

“Load it.”

BANG!!

Temper’s gun roared to life, the bullet impacting the cliff face mere inches away from the pony on the right, sending several brownish gray pebbles flying at his face. The stallion stumbled back in surprise, all four ponies suddenly looking to see where the shot had come from. I could see Thorn grit her teeth, her eyes narrowing as she stared directly at us.

“Get them!”

The two stallions turned and charged for either side of us, while the mare in the lead ran off in a different direction, diving for cover behind the brahmin corpse. The elderly stallion scrambled to hide behind his one living brahmin, cowering in fear as the battle began.

BANG BANG!!

A few bullets whizzed past Temper, flinging up the dirt in a small cloud around her. She turned her head, catching sight of one of the approaching ponies. All of a sudden, against any inkling of common sense, she put away her gun, reaching for her knife as she stared down the charging attacker.

“Feathers, cover me!”

I froze up, watching in terror as Temper roared, dashing towards the pony in front of her. Temper jumped up into the air and plunged her knife down into the pony’s back. The two wrestled, trading blows and stabs, kicking up a cloud of dust that swirled all around them. It looked like a demented comic strip, with curses and blood being flung from the dust cloud at every moment.

I turned to look at Thorn, watching her reload her gun a few steps from the brahmin. In a mad scramble, I grabbed the Artisan, shoving the bullets in the chambers and pulling the weapon to my mouth. I took aim at the mare-

“You did this.”

I stopped, locking my eyes on the mare as she finished reloading her gun. I tried again to aim the pistol at her, but my mind forced me away, the soulless and blood-stained faces from my nightmare returning at every opportunity. Even as she pointed her pistol at the dueling ponies, I couldn’t bring myself to shoot her. I’m… I-I can’t…

BANG!!

“FUCKING-!” The fight slowed down as a bullet whizzed through the dust cloud, a streak of red emerging from the opposite side. “I SAID COVER ME YOU FUCKIN’ PIECE OF SHIT!!”

I didn’t know what to do. I stood there, my brain kicking into overdrive as a myriad of thoughts raced through my head.

I… I-I can’t kill her, I can’t kill another pony! I felt a few tears begin to form as the words of my nightmare echoed through my head once more. I’m not a monster, I won’t… but then what? Do I let Temper die? Do I turn and flee? What can I…

Wait, I’ve got it!

As the attacker readied for another shot, I took aim at the mare’s chest… and then turned, positioning the sights just to the right of her.

BANG BANG BANG!!

I fired off several shots, each one missing her body by only a few inches. Just like I had hoped. The mare jumped, putting down her gun and rushing further behind the brahmin corpse-

BANG BANG!!

And promptly firing at me. Panicked, I turned tail and booked it as fast as I could to get behind the rock, yelping as I felt a bullet just barely graze my back. I leapt behind the rock, readied myself to give some more cover fire, and-

WHAM!

I fell to the ground, struggling to see straight as I started to get up. With a surprising amount of speed, the third pony attacker jumped on top of me, knocking the Artisan from my mouth, grinning devilishly at me as his horn sparked to life. I tried to push him off, but it was no use – the stallion was simply too heavy and too strong. He laughed, glancing down at my sides as he brought a sledgehammer into view with his magic.

“Rare treat, this is…” The stallion licked his lips. “I ain’t never tasted roasted pegasus wings before! I’ve heard they’re delicious!”

I felt my eyes narrow, thoughts of my flesh being cooked up burning into my mind as I watched the stallion pull the sledgehammer back, ready to strike. In a moment of panic, I reached down to untie my scarf, struggling with the knot for a moment. Just as the stallion brought down his weapon, the scarf dropped, and I flapped my wings, yelling in pain as I shot out from under the attacker. I only barely managed to clear the impact site, wincing as a few of my tail hairs got caught and ripped out. I groaned, reaching back to massage my broken wing. At least, until I caught my attacker out of the corner of my eye. He stood up, lifting his hammer high into the air above him, stamping the ground as he prepared to charge for the killing blow.

BANG!!

“AUGH!!” The stallion screamed in pain, his magic faltering as his horn shattered from the bullet’s impact. As he reeled back, I caught his eyes widen in horror. Before I could even look away, the sledgehammer fell, smashing into the stallion’s head with a sickening *crunch* before embedding itself into the ground. The stallion’s body toppled over, his skull caved in so far that it looked like it had been turned inside out.

Somehow, I managed not to vomit, a fact which almost disturbed me more than the death itself.

I shuddered, pulling myself to my hooves as Temper reloaded her gun. I started to look around, searching for other attackers, but I quickly realized that the sounds of battle had gone away, leaving the relatively peaceful sounds of the wasteland to replace them. With a sigh of relief, I picked the Artisan back up and reached around to tie my scarf once again.

“This isn’t over!!”

My ears perked up, and I turned towards the source of the noise. I only managed to catch a glimpse of the pink and brown mare, before she darted off into the distance, vanishing behind the rolling hills and scattered debris of the wasteland. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Temper turn, preparing to give chase, only to stop and grunt, blood pouring from, spitting the smoking pistol from her mouth and shoving it into its holster.

“You… you saved me!”

I felt my whole body tense as the elderly voice drifted into my ears. The old stallion cautiously emerged from his hiding spot, approaching us with eyes widened in surprise. My eyes, however, were widened in horror.

No, you fool! Temper’s insane, she’s going to kill you! Run! Run while you still can!

I opened my mouth to shout at the stallion, flailing my legs in an attempt to warn him in some way, but Temper beat me to the punch.

“Whatever you fuckin’ say, gramps.”

I watched the scene unfold, covering my eyes as I prepared for the worst.

“No, truly!” the stallion persisted, trotting up next to Temper to shake her hoof. “Nopony’s ever done something like that for me, and kindness is so rare these days. Please, is there anything I can do to thank you? I have many wares, maybe there’s something you could use?”

“We can deal with that in a bit.” Temper spat. “First I want you to tell me something.”

“Oh, yes! Of course!” The stallion tipped a hat he was wearing. “What do you want to know?”

I covered my ears, I couldn’t bear to keep listening. As my mind conjured horrible depictions of the trader’s death, I lifted one hoof from my ear, my reluctant curiosity forcing me to listen.

“Those ponies said they were working for Ironsights.” Temper growled as she said the name. “Where the fuck is he?”

“Woah woah, calm down there missy.” The stallion chuckled. “I don’t know where that bastard is. He always cowers behind his minions, I don’t deal directly with him. I’ve only ever personally met with Thorn and her goons, he seems to like having them harass me.”

For a few seconds, Temper stared at the stallion.

“That was a pretty shit answer.”

The stallion shrank back, reaching around behind him and rubbing the back of his neck.

“Sorry, ma’am. It’s all I have. I know that’s not what you want to hear, so lemme make it up to you. Here, look through my wares. Take something, as a gift from me!” Temper began to reach out, but the stallion stopped her quickly. “Er, just one item, if you’d be so kind. I still have to make a living, after all.”

Slowly, Temper brought out some of the guns she had gotten back in Rainston.

Here it comes… I squeezed my eyes shut, unable to watch as I listened for Temper to shoot him.

A few seconds passed.

Then a few more.

Every second that passed felt like pure torture, as I sat in agony, waiting for the inevitable-

“Feathers!”

I yelped, jumping from the sound of Temper’s voice. I glanced up, and couldn’t help but notice that the elderly trader was not dead. I looked at Temper, just in time to catch her lifting a pile of some kind of fabric from her back, before tossing it at me.

“Put this on.” Temper told me rather flatly. “It’s no raider armor, but fuck it, you clearly need whatever protection you can get.”

Temper started to trot back, leaving me sitting in a mild stupor. A few steps down, she stopped, scowling as she turned to face me.

“Well don’t just sit there! Get dressed already.”

I looked down at the clothes in front of me, lifting them with my good wing to get a better look. I didn’t recognize the material – it looked padded and soft at first glance, but as I prodded it with a hoof I was surprised by how hard and sturdy it felt. Putting on clothes for no real occasion was weird, but Temper was right – I really did need the protection. Once the shirt and pants were on, I was once again surprised by how comfortable the whole thing felt. Well, except for my wings. Whoever had made these clothes clearly didn’t have somepony of my physiology taken into account.

Well, at least that’ll keep my broken wing from moving.

“Now come on, feathers. The old guy’s letting us use his brahmin to climb up to the cliff.”

I blinked a few times, slowly following Temper as we made our way towards the stallion. The old trader nodded at me, smiling as he looked over my new armor.

“How’s the fit on that?” The trader asked, “I hope it’s not too tight or anything, that’s the only set of leather armor I’ve got. I’d hate to repay your actions with clothes you can’t wear.”

“Um…” I watched the stallion, my mind a bit of a confused haze. “Yeah, yeah it’s fine. There’s no wing holes, though.”

“Wing… oh, how rude of me!” The stallion chuckled, trotting over to my side. “Didn’t realize you were a pegasus, sorry! I just assumed you were an earth pony, you know? Here, let me see what I can do.”

Just like that, the stallion pulled out a pair of scissors and went to work. It took a few moments, but once he was done, a new set of openings had been cut into the cloth. Carefully, I pushed my good wing through one, freeing it from its confinement.

“There, that should do it!” The trader smiled, returning to his pack brahmin and patting it on the side. “Your friend said you needed to get up, so I’ll have Bessie here give you a lift. C’mon, I’ll help you onto her back.”

Slowly, I nodded, climbing up onto the brahmin’s back with the stallion’s assistance, followed soon by Temper. Once we were on, Bessie stood up, and Temper reached up for the ledge of the cliff, but her hoof was just out of reach. She frowned, crouching down to jump, only to stumble as Bessie shifted. Once Temper had gotten her balance back, she turned to me, motioning for the cliff.

“C’mon, boost me up!”

I crouched down, allowing Temper to stand on my back, while I struggled to balance atop the brahmin. I tried to imagine what this must have looked like from the trader’s perspective. We must look like some kind of messed up totem pole, I mused. Soon enough, Temper had pulled herself up onto the top of the cliff, taking a moment to catch her breath before reaching down to pull me up.

“Alright, old timer. We’re up. Now get out of here!”

“You don’t have to tell me twice! Thank you again!”

Temper nodded, turning from the stallion to trot away. She stopped suddenly, her ears perking up ever so slightly, as she turned back.

“Wait!” Temper shouted down at the trader. “What did those raiders want from you?”

“Sorry, trade secret.” The stallion nodded back. “But let’s just say I’ll sleep a whole lot better knowing that Ironsights doesn’t have ‘em.”

And with that, the stallion turned, trotting off into the distance from the ground down below. As he slowly became nothing more than a speck in the distance, I followed Temper back in the direction of the Stable, a single thought rattling through my head as we walked.

What the fuck just happened?

~~~~~~~~~~

With Temper and I once again making our way back towards the elusive Stable 6, I tried to wrap my head around everything that we had just gone through. Just when I had thought I was starting to understand the wasteland, now I was back in a sea of uncertainty, trying to make sense of the world around me.

“What…” I hesitated, trying to make sure I found the right words before I continued. “What exactly was all… that, back there?”

“Just another fight.” Temper shrugged, brushing off the question. “What, do you want me to explain fighting to you now? I really hope you aren’t that retarded.”

I rolled my eyes, groaning as I lowered my head.

“That’s not what I mean.” I persisted. “First you said we were going to raid them, then you said you didn’t want to deal with chem junkies, whatever the heck those are, and THEN you ended up attacking them anyways!”

“They weren’t junkies.” Temper said, raising her hoof as she corrected me. “I fucked up on that.”

“That doesn’t-”

“Why do you fuckin’ care anyways?” Temper interrupted. “You didn’t even fight, you useless pussy!”

“I care because none of that made any sense! You’ve never shied away from senseless murder, so why didn’t you want to kill them at first? Why did you change your mind and kill them anyways? Tartarus, why didn’t you kill the old guy? The way things go around here, I thought for sure you were gonna kill him! And who the heck is Iron-”

BANG!!

“SHUT THE FUCK UP!!!”

My mouth snapped shut, eyes widening in fear as I looked at the pure rage on Temper’s face. The mare’s lips drew into a snarl and her eyes narrowed, piercing me with her soul-shattering glare.

“I think you’re forgetting your place, slave.” Temper made sure to draw out the last word, my ears folding flat against my head as I heard it. “At what fuckin’ point did I make it seem ok to question me like that? And yes, I’d like you to give me an answer this time.”

I opened my mouth, stammering as I tried to find the right words, but even my voice seemed to be hiding from Temper’s wrath.

“Earlier?” I managed to squeak out. “W-With the… Rainston… thingy?”

“Listen here, you little shit.” Temper stepped forwards, edging in close to me. “I may have humored your little bitch-fit about Rainston, but don’t dare mistake that for weakness on my part. Unless you’ve forgotten, I still own you, and even then the only fuckin’ reason I’m keeping you around is because you might be useful to me. Although if that last fight is anything to go by, you might not have much use to begin with. If you decide to start questioning my actions on top of that, I think your usefulness might wear thin real fuckin’ fast.”

Temper brought a hoof to her forehead, massaging her temples as I looked on in fear.

“I never should have taken your fuckin’ shackles off.” Temper groaned. “You can’t even kill a fuckin’ pony without being brought into some kind of retarded stupor about ‘oooh, this is so awful’ and shit.” I cringed as Temper started to mock my voice, her own version of it a high and whiney squeal that grated my ears more with every second.

“I ought to chain you back up and forget about this whole adventure.” Temper muttered, turning away. “Five hundred caps is quite a bit…”

My heart skipped a beat as I heard Temper. Suddenly the stakes had been risen all the way to the cloud cover, all the way to my home. All the work I had put in, all the abuse I had taken, all the times I had risked injury to push Temper where I needed her to go, all the training and all the terrible things I had done… everything had led to me getting to the Stable, and now it was only a few wrong steps from being all for nothing.

“W-wait!” I sputtered, desperate to change Temper’s mind by any means possible. “Y-you can’t… w-we’re so close to the Stable!”

“So what?” Temper spat. “I’ve got a map now, with every Stable on it. Not like I’ll have a hard time finding them again.” Slowly, I saw Temper reach into her pockets.

“B-But… y-you’d really turn back now? A-after all the time w-w-we spent t-trying to get up here?”

Temper said nothing, pulling out her slaving shackles as she turned towards me. I felt my eyes shrink to pinpricks. In an instant, the world began to crumble around me, images of my family and friends turning to dust in my mind.

“No! No, please don’t…” I broke into tears, lying down on the ground as I sobbed. “I-I’m sorry, Temper, I’m sorry! P-p-please, please don’t sell me into slavery! I’ll never question you again, I’ll do whatever you say, I’ll… I’ll do anything, please! I-I’m so sorry!!”

Temper paused, watching me in my pitiful state. For a while she didn’t say anything, simply content to watch me wallow in my misery. Eventually, I heard her hoofsteps moving towards me, and I started to scramble, trying to back away from the mare. But before I could, Temper grabbed hold of my mane, pulling me to my hooves, her muzzle so close that she probably could have bit me if she wanted to. I struggled not to cough as the stench of her breath wafted through my nostrils. And all the while, her gaze pierced into me, like needles of fire as I cowered under her rage.

“You will never question me again. You will do anything and everything I tell you to do. You are my bitch, for me to do with as I please. And if you ever question my authority again, I will give you a full demonstration of why everypony in the wasteland should know and fear my name.”

I wanted to whimper. I wanted to shrink back. I wanted to do something, anything to make her stop. But I couldn’t. In that moment, all I could do was look on, paralyzed from every word my captor said.

“Got it?”

Like a spell being broken, I regained the will to move, and I nodded my head furiously, a stream of apologies starting to pour from my mouth as I begged Temper not to lock me back up and kill me. With a smirk, she leaned in even closer, slowly, silently, sweat dripping from my face with every-

“BANG!!”

I jumped away in a panic, bringing my hooves over my head as my good wing flared out. Temper tried to hold in a laugh, but failed miserably.

“Pfft… fuckin’ hell, feathers, you’re too much fun to screw with!” The mare finally trotted away from me, leaving me flushed red with embarrassment. “I’m fuckin’ serious, though. Don’t ever pull that shit again.”

Slowly, I began to compose myself, my cheeks still burning slightly as my embarrassment faded.

“And for the record,” Temper spoke slowly as she turned away from me. “I didn’t want to kill them because I don’t like getting involved in other ponies’ feuds. You don’t survive in the wasteland as long as I have by butting into the middle of a fuckin’ gang war. I didn’t kill the old guy because he was literally giving his stuff away, didn’t leave much point to kill him.”

“Th-the armor?”

“That and the money he gave me for that town’s weapons.” Temper smirked, grabbing a bag from her pockets which rustled with the sounds of bottle caps.

“And as for changing my mind,” Temper continued, “That’s not something you’ve earned the right to know. For now, let’s just say it was because they were working for a… certain pony.” Temper stopped, gritting her teeth as she finished her sentence.

“Y… you mean Ironsi-”

“And,” Temper interrupted me, her voice suddenly becoming a low growl. “You are not to utter that name. Ever. Don’t even ask about him. In fact, if you finish that question, I will shoot you where you stand and let you bleed out. Painfully.”

I immediately shut my mouth.

“Now, if there are no more fucking questions,” Temper seethed, trotting forward to continue the journey to the Stable. “Let’s go. Night’s falling, I need to find a place to camp.”

I nodded, hesitantly following after the mare. That had been far too close of a call. If something like that happened again, then that was it. I’d be done for. I’d fail.

If I can’t get away from Temper at Stable 6, I won’t get another chance.

I have to be ready.

I have to escape.

~~~~~~~~~~

“Ungh…” I rubbed my head, my body hardly rested from the night before. I had tried to sleep, but every time my eyes had shut, images from my nightmares popped into my mind, and my eyes would shoot open again. Once again, my imagination had seemed to be tormented by my nightmares as well, so decided to take the opportunity to finalize the plans for my escape.

Alright, this shouldn’t be too bad. First, I have to… my thoughts paused, a yawn escaping from my lips. …have to find a Terminal that’s working. That’s the highest priority, because if none of the Terminals work, then I’ve just been wasting my time. Second, I have to get Temper to let me use it alone. But how…

I considered a number of different approaches to the problem, but none of them seemed particularly good. I could shove her away and then lock myself in the room with the Terminal… but that requires the terminal to be in its own room. And a door that locks. And there would need to be a second entrance so I could escape without Temper killing me.

Maybe I could distract her with loot? Have her go get something while I get the info I need.

…and then she would shoot me for trying to boss her around. Ugh, think, think, think!

…maybe if I get a giant butterfly net-

“Mmmm…” I glanced up, looking over at Temper as she rose to her hooves. “Mornin’, feathers.”

A few boxes of Yum Yum’s Deviled Eggs (trademarked) later, we were on our hooves, and once again headed for our destination. As we walked along, I spotted a familiar shape in the distance. A mountain of rock that stretched up higher than I could reach. Temper scowled as she saw it.

“Fuckin. Roadblocks.”

We kept moving. Stable 6 was close, I could feel it.

All I had to do was get there, and my living nightmare would finally be over.

Author's Note

Level Up

New Perk: Gunslinger – Nice shooting, kid! With this perk, your accuracy when using firearms is increased.