“Thank you for saving my life” I smile thanking the unicorn for her random act of kindness but my smile goes blank when I remember the loss of her filly friend. “…And I’m sorry about your loss”

“To be honest, it was an opportunity for me to interrogate an alicorn, so I jumped at the opportunity that was bestowed upon me” Kinertra replies, wiping a tear from her eye.

“So what if I wasn’t an… alicorn… would you still have saved me?” My heart sinks and my ears flop.

“That’s not what I meant at all” Kinetra swiftly replies as she notices my face droop “Now… let’s try and get that bullet out of your flank”

“Wait…what?” I question, as I look at my bandage covered flank.
Kinetra unravels the bandages, my flank had a big black and red mark above my blood stained cutie mark.

“Now I’m not going to soften this up for you… this is going to hurt… A LOT” She seriously points out. “On the count of 3” She says, her horn was glowing, a strange feeling occurred in my flank.

“Wait a minute, she isn’t going to…” I think.

“One…Two…”

“WHOA, WHOA, WHOA WAIT!” I shout. Kinetra doesn’t listen, I scream as the bullet is pulled from my flank by the magic of Kinetra, causing blood to pour from my flank once again. I’ve never felt so much pain in my life. When the bullet is finally removed Kinetra wraps my flank back up in new bandages.

“I told you it was going to hurt…here drink this” She says, levitating a bottle of red liquid over to me. She snaps the top off.

“What is th-?” Before I can even finish, she forces the drink down my throat.

*Cough Cough* I choke, gasping for air.

“Health potion” she smiles “You should feel much better in a couple of minutes.

“Thanks” I say, rolling my eyes. “Do you have my stuff?” I kindly ask Kinetra.

“Sure do” she replies, levitating my gear down from the second floor of the barn. “That…Bow you have, rather strange looking isn’t it.” She says looking at my bow “The arrows seem to be made out of the same material”

I pause looking down at the bow and arrows which Kinetra places at my forehooves.

“I…never really noticed”

“Throughout my entirety of wandering the wasteland I’ve never seen any material like it” Kinetra states, levitating one of the arrows up to eye level.

“I also took a look through your stuff, you look exactly like your mother” She complements, pulling a smile.

“Thanks” I reply, rolling my eyes once more.

Suddenly we hear the door to the barn open slightly; I turn to look towards the door.

“Hello?” I say hoping to get a reply from a friendly pony and not another raider of slaver. “Is anyone there?”

Suddenly the head of a light grey, almost silver, unicorn mare appears from around the corner; she looks very young, younger than me in fact.

“Hey there” I smile and wave at the mare. She smiles and waves back.
I hear whispering round the corner of the barn, the grey mare turns her head to the right. She disappears round the corner of the barn door for a second, only to return dragging another grey mare by her tail into the barn, this one is an earth pony, a darker colour grey, wearing a black leather jacket and a golden locket around her neck. The dark grey coated mare doesn’t seem amused by the situation.
I walk up to both the mares “Allow me to introduce myself *cough cough* my name is Tessia Sta-“

*PUNCH.*

I swiftly get a buck to the face by the dark grey mare sending me onto my back; my face becomes a look of horror. The buck causes me to bite my lower lip drawing a small amount of blood

“Yeah, no” The dark grey mare blankly states “We’re not doing this”

“Great you haven’t even met before and she already judges you” I think. I wipe my bottom lip as the dark grey earth pony gets levitated up to Kinetra.

“WHAT IN THE WASTELAND DID YOU DO THAT FOR?” Kinetra ask, trying to keep her cool, as she stares into the eyes of the mare.
She shrugs her shoulders, still with the same blank expression

“I don’t really play well with others”

The light grey unicorn walks up to me, hoofing me a wet tissue.

“Erm… thanks” I sigh, wiping my bottom lip.

I open my saddlebag to get one of my bottles of water, but it is levitated out my bag before I even know where it is. It is placed in front of me by said unicorn.

“…” My mind is lost for words. I take a sip from my bottle and look at the unicorn, she smiles at me.

“How did you kn-” Before I can even finish my sentence she points a hoof at the earth pony still in the levitation field of Kinetra, they are having some form of argument.

“So…what’s your name?” I ask. I don’t get the reply I was hoping for, instead she levitates a book from her saddlebag and places it at my hooves. I open the book, it was mostly empty except for the back page. There were multiple names crossed out except for one at the bottom of the page.

“Silent Silver?” I question, the grey mare smiles and clops her forehooves together.

“And your friend’s name…what is she called?”
Again I don’t get the direct answer I was hoping for. The mare scrunches her nose as if she was thinking, then, tapping her hooves three times on the floor, she looks back up at me and smiles. Silent Silver levitates a piece of paper from her saddlebag with a pencil, she points to a name at the bottom.

“Stealth Strike?” Once again Silent Silver clops her hooves together. I’m stunned by the intelligence of this one unicorn “For one who doesn’t seem to know how to communicate with other ponies she sure has her way around it” I think.

“…Not much of a talker are you”

*Shoulder shrug.*

“Do you know how to speak?”

Silent Silver slowly nods her head.

“Then why don’t you?” I think I caught her slightly off guard, she starts to make lines in the floor with her forehoof, then after a good 15 seconds of line drawing she shakes her head and levitates a flower from her saddlebag up to me.

“…” Once again I’m stunned by this one light grey mare. Kinetra and Stealth Strike walk up to the both of us.

“Not much of a talker is she?” Stealth Strike says “As you have probably already discovered”
“I explained your alicorness to Stealth Strike. Oh Stealth Strike, this is Miss Starbow…she is a stable dweller, isn’t that exciting?” Kinetra smiles.
Stealth strike walks up to me one more time.

*PUSH*

“That’s for being a stable dweller”

I gather my thoughts and face back towards Stealth Strike.

“So…what’s your story then?” I ask the arrogant mare.

“No” Stealth Strike replies, walking up to Silent Silver, taking her by the foreleg, and dragging her toward the barn exit.

“Wait…what?” I question. I’ve not really known a mare this eager not to say anything about themself, me and Sugarcube always told each other about our daily lives.

“Like I said earlier, we’re not doing this” Stealth Strike replies, struggling to get a resisting Silent Silver to leave “I have better things to do then sit around the campfire and trade stories with ponies who’ll be dead in a week, if they’re lucky”

“Silent Silver seems pretty eager to sh-”

“Would you move already?” Stealth Strike interrupts, trying to push Silent Silver through the barn doorway.

“For a mare who doesn’t get on with others you sure seem to be forcing yourself upon her” Kinetra snickers, pointing at Silent Silver.

“Forcing myself upon her?” Stealth Strike repeats, a hint of anger and embarrassment in her voice, as she stops pushing Silent Silver “No, just no. You’ve clearly misunderstood the… relationship this mute mare and I share…You know what? Fine” Stealth Strike sits down on the barn floor, an action Silent Silver copies “I’ll tell you how Silent Silver and I met and how we ended up here, nothing more than that. Then you’ll see who is ‘forcing’ them self on who”

Silent Silver seems pleased by this turn of events, and shuffles closer to Stealth Strike. In response, Stealth Strike shuffles further away from Silent Silver.

“See what I mean?” Stealth Strike sighs, turning her head toward Silent Silver, only to see that she had once again shuffled closer “… Whatever” Sighing again and putting a hoof to her face, Stealth Strike begins to tell use the story of how she met Silent Silver.

***
Sometime earlier

“I don’t want to set the world on fire… I just want to start, a flame in your heart… In my heart I have but one desire… and that one is you… no other will do”

The static-ridden song plays quietly in the background from the radio behind the counter. Apart from that all is quiet. Makes sense, with at least 4000 caps to be won on the next hoof, a fascinated crowd is naturally drawn. I look at the face of the only other player left in the game, an elderly stallion, at least in his fifties, reddish fur, brown mane, a unicorn. His face is completely expressionless.

“Nice poker face” I think “Not going to help you though”

I myself am currently sporting a smug grin, the kind I’ve been holding for the entire game, and why shouldn’t I? Ace of Spades, Ace of Diamonds, Ace of Hearts, Ace of Clubs and a Joker, the Wild Card, I’m not losing anytime soon, in fact I’m about to make a healthy profit. Speaking of which…

“All in” I say, pushing my caps into the centre of the table, putting the pot at 5000 caps

The stallion’s right eye twitches slightly, only enough for a veteran player, like myself, to catch it, but it tells me exactly how the game is going to end. Fortunately for me, the liquor he’s been heartily drinking convinces him to call, putting the pot at 6000 caps.

“Well little lady, you’ve played a good game, particularly for a mare, but only one of us is walking away with those caps” He laughs, revealing his hoof, 9 of Diamonds, 10 of Diamonds, Jack of Diamonds, Queen of Diamonds, King of Diamonds, a Straight Flush “And I’m thinkin’ it’s gonna be me”

“Oh how I love this part” I think to myself, forcing my smug grin to change to a look of disappointment “I can see what you mean, a Straight Flush is pretty tough to beat, particularly since you almost have a perfect one, shame you couldn’t get the Ace though, huh?”

“Well the Ace certainly would have pushed it up, but I think I have a good enough ho….” The stallion stops, realisation sets in.
“Ya know, I could always lend you one” I smile as I reveal my cards “I have plenty”

I leave the bar with my caps packed away just as the obnoxious jeering begins.

“It’ll be awhile before the stallion lives that loss down” I think to myself as I make my way towards the city limits, eager to get out of town.
Just as I’m about to leave however, a small, rundown store catches my eye.

“Hmm… I should still have about five minutes before they start a mob” I think as I enter the store.

The inside of the store was nothing remarkable, the majority of shelves were lined with various pieces of junk, one shelf on the right was filled with food, one on the left was covered in scrap metal and technological components, to the back was a small shelf lined with books, this is what catches my attention. I quickly scan the titles of the books, as time is most certainly not on my side, finding only one that had a vague chance of being interesting. I pick it up using my mouth and drop it on the counter. Almost immediately a young earth pony filly, no older than 10, emerges from a door.

“That’ll be ten caps please, Miss” The filly says, smiling happily.

“Using kids to sell your goods? Pulling at the ol’ heart strings? I like it” I think to myself “Here you go” I say as I hoof over the ten caps, then, in action fueled partly by the euphoria of winning 6000 caps and partly from slight drunkenness, I hoof over an extra twenty caps “Buy yourself something nice, kid”

“Thanks Miss” The filly thanks as I take my leave.

Not wasting any time, I run towards the city limits of Dodge Junction. Ten minutes later I’m there, and heavily tired.

“Tiring work, but worth it” I think to myself “Better find a cave, I need to get some sleep”

Another ten minutes later and I’ve found a rather nice cave, vaguely warm, not damp, and low enough to avoid some of the harsher wasteland winds. I pull my blanket out of one of my saddlebags and lay it on the cave floor, I lay my saddlebags and self upon it and then begin to look through the bags’ contents.

“Time to take stock” I think.

“6000 caps won from the Poker game, plus 400 caps worth of goods stolen from bar patrons… minus the 1000 caps I put into the pot, minus 138 caps spent on food and drink, minus 300 caps getting my pistol repaired, minus 100 caps for ammo, minus 10 caps for that book and lastly minus 20 caps for that now regrettable act of charity leaves me with a profit of… 4832 caps, not a bad day’s work… scratch that, forgot one cost… minus 2 caps for one copy of the Ace of Diamonds, Ace of Spades and the Joker”

A small laugh escapes from my mouth as I look at the multiple copies of Aces and Jokers contained within my bag.

“They’re probably only now realising that they got played, I wish I could see that stallion’s reaction” I laugh to myself, picturing the upturned Poker table and broken glasses that usually follow my games of Poker “Serves him right for looking down on me. He’ll probably tear Dodge Junction apart looking for me, he won’t find me though, they never do”

Satisfied with the material and immaterial results of my felony, I close my saddle bags, pull the blanket over myself and begin to fall asleep.

“Sometimes I just can’t decide what I love most about my career” I yawn, the stress of cheating at Poker and avoiding inevitable mobs having taken its toll “The caps, the Poker, or that warm fuzzy feeling I get from making fools out others… who am I kidding? Caps are nice, but scamming a chauvinist unicorn out of his rightful winnings, and no doubt knocking him down a peg in the process? That’s priceless”

The light of day just manages to reach the entrance of my cave, alerting me to the start of a new day. I yawn, wanting another hour or two of sleep… so, ignoring all the amazing possibilities a desolate wasteland offers, I go back to sleep.
After what I assume to be an hour I am once again awoken, though this time it is by hunger. I search through my saddlebags and pull out a daffodil sandwich.

“Not much, but it’s probably better than most ponies will have today” I think as I begin to eat the sandwich “I really need to find a higher quality of store to buy my food from, after all, thanks to a no doubt outraged stallion, I can afford it”
After finishing the sandwich I reach back into my saddlebags looking for a bottle of water, I don’t find one.

“Buck you Past Drunk Stealth Strike” I mentally curse myself, banging my head on the cave floor “You had ONE job, get water, that’s the only reason you went there, but NOOOO, you had to play Poker… admittedly that turned out well… but still, because of you I now have no water”

Angry at myself, I quickly throw my blanket into my saddlebags and put them on.

“You actually went into a store as well, and what do you buy? A book. Great, I’m sure I can drink that” I shout, kicking an innocent nearby rock “And it’s not even like I can go back to Dodge Junction, they’re probably already putting up my wanted poster. You know, sometimes I think you do this on purpose, take me out and then you’ll have all the caps for yourself, well it’s not going to work Drunk Past Stealth Strike, I’m…. I’m talking to myself…. And not in the sane way…. I really need some company…. No, that wouldn’t work, I hate other ponies, they only get in the way”

I fall onto my back, causing a slight amount of pain, and try to plan out my next course of action.

“I guess I’ll make my way to Ponyville. Hopefully I’ll come across a settlement or pool of stagnated water before I die of dehydration” I sigh, getting back on my hooves and exiting the cave.

My wasteland wandering is fairly uneventful for the first hour, no sign of raiders, slavers or radroaches, unfortunately there is also no sign of water.

“Over 10,000 caps and nothing to buy” I sigh, dropping down onto my flank “I guess dehydration isn’t the worst way to die, though I’d always hoped I’d die taking o-“

My death fantasies are interrupted by the sounds of a distant struggle, barely audible, but my hearing’s always been good. Curiosity taking over, I follow the sounds. The noise eventually takes me to the edge of a nearby ravine, that’s where I see a rather amusing sight. A female unicorn, no larger than myself, is dodging the various attacks of a radscorpion, significantly larger than myself, terrifyingly so in fact.

“Ah the wonders of radiation” I think, observing the struggle “I doubt she can keep that dodging up forever, probably won’t be long before that radscorpion gets a meal… good for him”

I begin to walk away, deciding anything of value the unicorn may have isn’t worth fighting the radscorpion for, when something highly detestable stops me, my conscience.

“No, no, no. Rule one of Stealth Strike’s book of wasteland survival; don’t be a hero” I argue “Besides, she’s a unicorn, I hate those things”
Convinced by my own arguments, I continue on my way… only to be stopped once again.

“But… Mom always said ‘something something do the right thing something karma something oatmeal’… I really should have listened to her more” I think “She’s not even here anymore, yet she’s still making me do things I don’t want to” I sigh, turning back towards the unicorn and the radscorpion.

The unicorn swiftly dodges the radscorpion’s stinger, only to be knocked down by one of its claws. She winces and grits her teeth as she tries to get up, only to fall back down. The radscorpion prepares to deal what would be the final blow, were it not for my timely intervention. Acting on impulse, I ram into the monstrosity, knocking it into the ravine. Unfortunately for me, my momentum begins to take me into the ravine as well… but… something stops me. I soon realize I’m covered in a magical aura, one that’s stopping my imminent death and bringing me back over solid, and close, land. Before I can react, I’m dropped, surprisingly gently, in front of the unicorn I had just saved.

“I guess that makes us even” I sigh, annoyed that gravity had robbed me of the fun of bragging about saving this unicorn’s life to said unicorn “Well, see y-“

My disinterested farewell is interrupted by the unicorn dragging me into a rather tight hug. I quickly push her off me, and push her over.

“Yeah, no” I say “I don’t do hugs”

The unicorn picks herself up and, rather than being angry at the slight physical abuse, smiles at me, producing a strange squee noise.

“Dear Luna that’s creepy” I think to myself “I should just get out of he-“

I’m interrupted by the unicorn hoofing me over a piece of paper. Confused, I take it from her and read it aloud.

“Dear valued customer, this contract certifies your ownership of this slave and serves to represent your deal with Southern Servant Services Inc. We hope you are, and remain, satisfied with your purchase and look forward to dealing with you in the future. Yours sincerely, Free Range” I mutter, taking in the details of the note. At the bottom of the contract is the signature of Free Range, and what I assume to be the buyer of the apparent slave, a Mr Grey Outlook. I quickly fold the contract up and hoof it back to the unicorn

“While that was a fun read, is there any particular reason you wanted me to read that?” I ask, my less than impressive patience quickly running out.

The Unicorn offers no verbal response, but instead unfolds the contract, produces a pencil (From where I’m not sure), scribbles something on to it and then hoofs over both the pencil and contract to me. I look again and see she had crossed out Grey Outlook’s name.

“You want me to sign this?” I ask

The unicorn smiles happily, stomps her hooves lightly, and nods.

“No thanks” I say, turning around and tossing both contract and pencil over my shoulder “Like I told Free Range last time we met, I’m not one for slaves, I don’t enjoy spending time with other ponies as it is, I’m not going to pay for the experience”
I take about two steps, only to feel a tugging at my tail. I turn around and find the culprit of the tail tugging to be the unicorn, who quickly forces the contract and pencil back into my hooves.

“A bit slow on the up take aren’t ya?” I ask, frustration slipping into my voice “I don’t want a slave, all I want is to be left alone… and a bottle of wa-“

Before I can finish my rant, a bottle of water, pure water upon closer inspection, is put into my hooves by the unicorn’s magic.

“… Thank you…” I eventually say, basically stuck for words.

My thirst outweighing my confusion, I quickly drink the contents of the bottle. The moment I finish, the bottle is levitated out of my hooves and into the unicorn’s saddle bags, a second later both contract and pencil are back in my hooves.

“Look” I sigh, closing my eyes and putting a hoof to my nose “I appreciate the water, but I’m not looking for a slave”

The unicorn tilts her head slightly at this.

“So… um… bye” I say, hoofing her back the contract and pencil and turning away. Much to my pleasant surprise, I’m not dragged back.

Rehydrated, my journey to Ponyville goes much more smoothly. By nightfall I’ve made at least a third of the journey, and, while I still lack water, I have enough food to suffice for the rest of the trip there. Deciding to rest for the night, I look around for a place to sleep. I eventually find a fortunately abandoned house.

The exterior of the house, like the exterior, is rundown, as to be expected, what’s unexpected is the lack of stairs to the upper floor.

“If I had just been born a pegasus” I sigh, deciding to settle with sleeping on the bottom floor.

I eventually settle on sleeping in the kitchen, as it is the least exposed of the rooms on the bottom floor, and looks to have the comfiest floor.

“Well it beats a cave, but what I wouldn’t give for a bed to sleep in”

Suddenly, I hear a faint humming, the kind produced by unicorn magic. I turn around and find a lightly damaged, king-sized mattress being levitated in front of me. As it is lowered to the floor, I can see the one levitating it, that unicorn from earlier today. She smiles at me and points to the mattress, nodding as she does so.

“You… you followed me?” I ask, the shock I’m feeling clear in my voice.

The unicorn simply nods.

“Why?”

From her saddlebag the unicorn produces an all too familiar pair of items, a pencil and a contract.

“… You’re not going to give up until I sign that, are you?” I ask, impressed by her persistence, but confused as to why exactly she seemingly wants to be my slave.

The unicorn nods again.

“Fine” I sigh, far too tired to argue with my silent stalker. Taking the pencil and contract in hoof, I sign my name next to the crossed out name of Grey Outlook “There, happy?”

Her response comes in the form of a very tight hug. I push her over.

“NO HUGS” I shout.

The unicorn picks herself up, seemingly processes my complaint, then smiles and nods.

“Good” I say as the contract and pencil are taken from me and put back into the unicorn’s saddle bag “So… Um… I’m going to go to sleep now… You can take a break… Goodnight” I slowly say, not really sure what to say to a slave.

The unicorn nods and makes her way toward one of the corners of the kitchen.

“Aren’t you going to sleep on the mattress?” I ask.

The unicorn shakes her head in response, then points at the mattress, at me and then back at the mattress.

“She got it for me?” I think to myself “Just what’s with this mare?”

I look at the bed and then back to the unicorn and, for the second time that day, a personal record, my conscience takes over.

“We can… share the bed… if you want” I say, blushing slightly.

The unicorn shrugs her shoulders, smiles, and makes her way over to the mattress, taking the right side of it.

“Dear Luna, what am I doing? I say no hugging, but sharing a bed? Yeah, that’s perfectly normal” I think to myself as I pull my blanket out of my saddlebag, which I then lay in one of the kitchen’s corners, lie on the left side of the mattress and place the blanket over the two of us “You know what, I’m sorry Past Drunk Stealth Strike, I was too harsh on you, the dehydration you caused is much more preferable to the awkwardness caused by Present Moral Stealth Strike”

I sigh and make myself comfy on the mattress, or at least as comfy as I can get with another mare sharing it. Said mare seems to have made herself quite comfy and is staring at me intently, unnerving me quickly.

“Not much of a talker are you?” I say, trying to take my mind off the current situation.

The unicorn shakes her head in response.

“Got a name?”

A simple shoulder shrug and head shake is her only response.

“Well, if you’re going to be my slave, gotta have something to call you” I sigh, not quite believing the words coming out of my mouth “…Silent Silver, that name okay with you?”

The unicorn smiles, producing another squee, and nods her head quickly, she also reaches over to hug me, but quickly corrects herself.

“Well at least she’s learning” I think to myself, appreciating the lack of hugs “Silent Silver it is then… I… um… look forward to working with you… I guess… goodnight”

Silent Silver smiles and nods in agreement, then turns around, presumably to go to sleep. Tired, and wanting to be put an end to this situation as soon as possible, I begin to fall asleep, making sure to stay on my side of the mattress.

“The things I get myself into” I think “I think I actually miss that stallion… although…” I pause, looking at the sleeping form of Silent Silver “I guess having a slave won’t be the worst thing in the world… though this sleeping arrangement is definitely going to be changed”

Author's Note

I'd like to give most of the credit to my partner in crime here the original Silent Silver.

Give Silent Silver some nice feedback as well as myself, I'm sure Silent Silver shall reply one way or another.

Here is Silent Silver's FIMFIC

http://www.fimfiction.net/user/Silent%20Silver