Fallout: Equestria - My Mother the Heroine

Chapters

Ch. 1: Rain
Ch. 2: First Steps
Ch. 3: Into Darkness
Ch. 4: Encounters
Ch. 5: Reunion
Ch. 6: Revelations
Ch. 7: Regrets
Ch. 8: Recovery

Ch. 1: Rain

Good Morning children! This is DJ Pon3 speaking with some special news coming right up!

I know many of you are always excited to hear something from our dear Lightbringer, Littlepip, even if it's just three or four words. But this one, let me tell you, is a very special announcement.

You know, during the past months I've heard a lot of whispering here and there – rumors and gossip about something that clearly can't be real.

You guessed it, my little ponies, what I'm talking about are the rumors about Littlepip having returned from her sleep in the Single Pegasus Project and straying through the wasteland again like in the old times.

So far I've never addressed these rumors, but now it's time to finally bring some light into the darkness like our dear Littlepip has done it so often before.

Now perk up your ears 'cause ol' DJ is gonna tell you the truth about the condition of our Lightbringer.

The rumors about her leaving the SPP and wandering around the wasteland are ... all made up. Horseapples. Complete and utter nonsense.

...

Hey now don't you look at me like that, fillies and colts, I'm not done yet.

Truth is, of course Littlepip is still safe and sound up in the SPP and guarding over us all together with Princess Celestia by her side. If she wouldn't be up there, and you can trust me on that, children, you all would have noticed long ago. I'm sure most of you should still remember how cruel the Equestrian weather can be when it's not controlled.

Now DJ, some of you might be asking, are all those ponies who insist that they've seen Littlepip with their very own eyes just storytellers? Good-for-nothings looking for another cock-and-bull story? Or just downright insane?

Well children, the answer is no.

I suppose you all can imagine just how much of a mammoth task controlling the weather for a single pony is, even with the help of the SPP, so it's a no-brainer that keeping an eye on the sky takes up the lion's share of Littlepip's time, so that she has to spend day and night up in the SPP.

**But, while all this does take up a major amount of her time and concentration, it happens every once in a while that Littlepip can bring up a timespan of a couple of hours in which the weather is stable and the SPP doesn't require her full attention.

And what does she do? What does a national heroine do when she ends up with a few hours of free time?

Well, Littlepip wouldn't be Littlepip if she would just sit on her flank in this stuffy chamber up there all day. No children, this is where it gets interesting: every once in a blue moon, she can actually bring up the time to leave the SPP for a few hours and see the product of her work with her own eyes.

That's right children, the rumors about the Stable Dweller herself wandering around the wasteland aren't made up at all. I have no idea *how she does it, but somehow she manages to leave her new home up in the SPP and pay us old wasteland-dwellers a short visit - something I think we all should be grateful for.*

So if one of you happens to see a certain unicorn-heroine walking around the wasteland the other day, don't lose your mind; you're not seeing things. If you're in the mood, feel free to walk up to her and give her a big peck on the cheek from ol' DJ-Pon3.

But I think I'm digressing here ... that's just about everything I have to say for today, folks. I know this must be big news for you all, so here's some Sweetie Belle to calm you down while I take a short break.

Rain.

I knew there was no reason to be upset about it - the area around Ponyville had been a little dry recently so I had decided that it could use a little shower in the afternoon.

However, I might have been a little too excited about finally being able to leave the Single Pegasus Project again, might have been a little distracted and might have ordered a doomsday-style downpour instead of a little rain shower.

But I didn't mind. What mattered was that I was finally out of the SPP and taking in the scent of Equestrian air again. Sure, I appreciated Princess Celestia's company, but every now and then -provided that the weather would allow it- it just felt good to leave the house and clear my thoughts.

It hadn't been possible all the time. Especially in the beginning, the SPP had required my full attention - 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.

It wasn't easy, especially during the first couple of months, but it was a sacrifice I had to bring for the bigger good - I had made my peace with that long time ago. Besides, Celestia did a good job in keeping me company, comforting me when the longing for my friends got the better of me, and generally giving me advice about my new appealing.

Nevertheless, especially the first weeks had been a real ordeal - the absence from my friends; from the whole outside world were something I never had to put up with before, which made it all the harder for me to bear. But it got better with time - with the Gardens of Equestria activated, the overall situation in the wasteland improved rapidly, including the weather, which had become more and more stable throughout the years.

And so I had sometimes found myself with some free time - once the weather was stable and the condition promised not to change for the next few hours, I had ended up sitting around with nothing to do.

In the beginning I would mostly just take a break and have a talk with Homage, sometimes even invite her up to me, but I soon got hungry for more, especially as those periods of nothingness grew longer and longer with the years that passed.

It was Celestia who had first asked me why I didn't leave the SPP for a few moments to look at the product of my hard work. In the beginning I was skeptical about the idea of leaving, knowing how quickly the weather could change and cause chaos in all of Equestria. But Celestia had assured me that it was fine, and after talking to my friends about that matter, I soon found myself setting a hoof outside of the SPP for the first time after what must have been at least a whole decade.

These trips were some of the most exhausting of my entire life - the wasteland, with all its radiation, taint and whatnot had taken its toll on my health, and resting in a comatose-like state inside the SPP didn't really help me stay in shape either.

However, while during the first couple of times, something as simple as standing up and walking had felt like a physical impossibility, things had gotten easier with time, and the time I could spend outside of the SPP had increased with every visit to the outside world I took.

Still, in the beginning, my excursions had been very short - most of the time I would stay in Tenpony Tower and spend time with my friends or Homage alone if our friends were willing to leave us some time together, but it hadn't taken long for my curiosity to re-awaken.

This feeling; this ... tingling in my guts that told me to go out there and find myself a new adventure was back. I hadn't had this feeling ever since I had set hoof into the SPP, but now it had returned, and I could swear that it was stronger than ever.

So had I decided to leave Tenpony Tower during my next period of free time. Calamity and Velvet Remedy had accompanied me on my first excursions, staying with me and making sure that I wouldn't get myself in trouble - which was utterly pointless, considering that those 'missions' were not much more than short walks around the immediate surroundings of Tenpony Tower.

But I was hungry for more. I wanted to go on an adventure - I wanted to see this new Equestria with my own eyes; see what has become of the wasteland that had threatened my life so many times before. So I expanded my journeys, travelling through the less dangerous areas of the Equestrian wasteland, always with my friends by my side, until finally they decided that it was safe for me to travel alone again.

And that's what I did. Equipped with nothing but a replica of my old stable barding -my friends had offered me a wide variety of other, 'better' armor to choose from, but I had decided to keep it simple for the sake of nostalgia- Little Macintosh, and my good will, I started off to explore this new land.

And there sure was a lot to see. Thanks to the Gardens of Equestria, the wasteland hadn't been completely restored, but it had gotten a lot safer without the radiation, the taint, and the dead soil. Right now it was a huge scar in the process of healing - ten, fifteen years after the fall of Red Eye's army and the Grand Pegasus Enclave, the country was slowly starting to return to its old glory - new cities were founded; old cities were cleaned out, rebuilt and led to a new beginning. But most importantly, above of all that, a new generation of foals had been born.

Those foals ... those innocent things. As soon as the thought of a new generation had struck me, I had known that they would grow up in a world of recovery. The cruelties and horrors of the Equestrian wasteland were almost completely gone - the land was lying in debris, but the true horrors -the slavers, the raiders, and all the mutated abominations- were now just remains from the past; material for horror stories young fillies and colts would tell each other after bedtime. A still existent and painful memory for those old enough to have witnessed them, yet a distant and unrealistic piece of imagination for the generation of foals that were born after the events had taken a drastic turn.

Many parents would try to hide this gruesome past from their children, believing that they had the right to grow up in this new, reformed world without being reminded to the horrors that had once dominated their parents' everyday lives. So it happened that these foals were virtually the most innocent beings on the surface of Equestria. They didn't know what it meant to suffer; to be enslaved; to stand face to face with death, and to fight for one's life, every day, over and over again. Truly, those foals were the epitome of the word innocence. They were-

"Where are we going again, mom?" My thoughts were interrupted by the excited voice of the young colt trotting alongside me. I shook my head, clearing my thoughts, yet before I could reply, he quickly added, "Wow, is this this 'Ponyville' Auntie Velvet has told me about?" he asked and cast an excited glance at the silhouette of the city that appeared in the distance.

The light red colt in the blue stable suit gasped with disbelief, "That means we're close to Stable Two, right?" his head shot around, his big, grass-green eyes beaming with excitement as he focused me, "Are we going to Stable Two? Are you going to show me your and auntie Velvet's old home!?" he jumped in the air, his dark brown mane bouncing up and down and the smile on his face growing bigger with every second, "Oh my gosh, I can't believe I'm finally going to see the place where you and her grew up! Can you show me what it was like to live in a stable?" another, even more excited gasp followed, "Can you show me your old rooms?"

I waited a few moments until I replied, giving the colt time to finish his tirade of excitement and calm down, giving me an expectant look as he -now silently- trotted next to me. I drew a short breath, then looked at him with a serious face before cracking a smile and replying, "You know, life in a stable wasn't as exciting as many ponies nowadays think it was." My grin turned into a weak frown as I thought back to my foalhood, "It was ... boring. Sure, it provided shelter from all the cruel things the Equestrian wasteland had to offer, but spending your entire life in a confined vault, dealing with the same things, the same ponies, and the same problems every day really takes its toll on your nerves with time." I blinked, the memory of my final days as a stable dweller flashing past my mind's eye, "It was Velvet Remedy who first left the stable, and it was because of her that I ended up leaving it too."

"Because you wanted to search for her and bring her back." he concluded the story with a smile, "I've heard that story a hundred times by now, you know?"

I hesitated for a moment, but then smiled back. "Yeah. Yeah, you're right. I get carried away easily when it's about the old days. You see, back then I didn't know that there was anything beyond the walls of Stable Two." I looked up to the rainy sky to emphasize my statement, "I didn't know of ... all this."

His eyes began to shine as he started to understand. "Wow..." he muttered like thunderstruck, but quickly freed himself from his trance and instead gave me an asking look, "But you're still going to show me Stable Two, right? Pretty please?"

A narrow smile found its way onto my mouth as I looked into the colt's shining eyes, then deadpanned as I turned my head and looked into the distance where our destination was awaiting. "Yes..." I said with a weak nod, "Yes, I'll show you Stable Two. We're heading there right now, actually."

"Really?" The colt's face turned into a beaming smile, "Yaaaay!" he shouted with joy and started bouncing up and down next to me.

I hesitated for a moment, then stopped abruptly, making the colt bounce a couple of feet ahead of me before stopping and looking back at me. "What's wrong, mom? Why did you stop?" he asked me with a look of anticipative curiosity.

I could feel how a light sensation of bitterness made its way up my throat as I gulped, then drew a short breath and said, "There's ... something you should know before we get there, though."

"What is it?" the red colt said and cocked his head to the side.

"You see ... Velvet Remedy has told you about the stable being evacuated long time ago, right?" I asked carefully.

The colt nodded affirmingly, "Yes, of course. Auntie Velvet said the stable dwellers didn't like it down there anymore and just needed a change of scenery, so they moved out."

I frowned. This wasn't the first time that Velvet Remedy had told him 'foal-oriented' stories about the things we had been through so long ago. Sure, there was no need to make the past appear more gruesome than it already was, and I agreed that there were some things not everyone needed to know about, but bending the truth or telling him things that simply weren't true 'because he's still a foal' just didn't seem right to me.

Our children needed to know about the dark times that lay behind us; they had to know how unfair and cruel life could be, and what kinds of brutal and merciless savages ponies could become when there was nothing left to hold on to.

This was the only way that they could fully appreciate just what kind of luxury they had, living in this healing world ... most of them, that is.

Life in the big cities, especially in Manehatten and Fillydelphia, had changed drastically throughout the years of my absence - after the threats coming from Red Eye and the Enclave had been removed, life had slowly but steadily begun to become regulated - debris had been removed, homes had been rebuilt, and a small but strong bond had formed between the survivors of the many years of terror, providing at least basic amounts of safety and confidence.

However, despite all efforts, some of the more rural areas still had a couple of flaws in them - small groups and tribes of raiders who were unwilling to abandon their savage lifestyle and instead kept on stealing, murdering and, well, being raiders.

But looking ahead of us, I knew that Equestria was about to get cleansed of one of these flaws.

Leading my thoughts back to what lay ahead, I looked back at the colt and said, "Yeah, that's ... that's what happened. ... Anyway, what I meant to tell you is, Stable Two isn't what it used to be. It's a dangerous place nowadays."

The colt's face seemed to deflate ever so slightly as he cocked his head to the side and asked, "What do you mean?"

I let out a weak sigh as my look went down to the ground. "Raiders." I muttered and looked back up to see the colt giving me a slightly frightened look, "Once the stable was empty, they invaded it like the mindless animals they are, and settled down like filthy hermit crabs."

I paused for a moment to let my words sink in, allowing the reddish colt to speak up with innocent confidence. "So," he said with an insecure smile, "they made the stable their new home." his smile became more confident as he continued, "They found a place to stay where other ponies didn't want to be anymore. ... That's good, isn't it?"

"No!" I harshly cut him off, placing a hoof underneath his chin and turning his head to make him look me in the eyes, "Those are raiders, Nova!" I said with a stern voice, "They kill ponies! They ... they do things you wouldn't even dream of!"

Nova backed off, the confidence on his face replaced by insecurity, yet he didn't manage to bring out a word.

"I don't want you or anypony else to become a victim of those ... those monsters," I continued, my voice calm but emphatic, looking him in the eyes with a look that betrayed a touch of concern, "So I will do everything in my power to put an end to their inhumane actions and make the wasteland the safe and harmless place you and everypony else in Equestria deserve."

Nova continued to look at me with big eyes, but seemed too stunned to give a reply.

Breaking free from my stiffness and assuming a more relaxed position, I continued, "I've received word that those raiders in Stable Two have abducted a stallion from Ponyville. Broke into his house in the middle of the night and took him with them for reasons only they understand." I looked at my son with a look of new determination as I added, "And we are going to bring him back."

The colt gulped audibly as his ears folded back and he looked at me with fear in his eyes. "A-are you sure about this, mom?" he asked with quavering voice, "I-I don't think I-"

"Of course." I cut him off with a re-assuring smile, "Homa- uhm ... mommy told me about how you always say you want to be a hero. This is your chance."

Nova looked to the side, a blush of embarrassment on his face, "Y-yes, but ... you said those ponies are dangerous." His legs began to shiver ever so slightly, "W-what if they get me?" I could see tears welling up in his eyes as his young voice began to break, "What if they... What if they..."

"Hey, shhhh..." I gently placed a hoof on his shoulder, sitting down on the soaked soil and pulling him into a tight hug. "Don't worry..." I whispered into his ear, feeling his sobs against my shoulder, "they won't get you. I won't allow them to."

I pulled back, breaking the hug and looking into the colt's tear-stained eyes as I said, "I promise, I will never let any of these monsters harm you." I placed a soft peck on the colt's forehead before adding, "Your mom will always be by your side. Never forget that." I finished with a soft pat on his shoulders and got back to my hooves, my voice filled with new determination as I said, "Come on, it's not too far anymore."

Ch. 2: First Steps

Nova looked up to the sky - the rain had stopped, finally. His stable suit was drenched, dripping with water; his body was cold, shaking ever so slightly, yet he was happy ... kind of.

Sure enough, he had felt like jumping for joy when his mommy had told him that his other mommy would be back from her job soon. And it goes without saying that he had felt all the happier when she had invited him to go on a mission out into the wasteland together with her. Those times when his mother came home to visit him were rare, but a memorable experience every single time.

Truth be told, he probably wouldn't know his mother very good if it hadn't been for the other members of their family - his auntie Velvet, his uncle Calamity, and of course his mom ... well, his other mom.

He couldn't help but notice that many ponies seemed a little confused when he told them about his two moms. Some ponies even said that having two mommies wasn't physically possible; that a foal needed a mommy and a daddy to exist, and that anything else was against nature. Not only that, but there were a couple of ponies who pointed out that it was impossible that his moms were legitimately related to him, seeing as both of them were gray unicorns and he was a red earth pony.

But Nova didn't care about those neighsayers - what he knew was that he had the two best and most awesome moms in all of Equestria, and that he could be proud of.

His mommy was probably the coolest pony in all of Tenpony Tower - she was funny, always in a good mood, and seemed to do just about anything that came to the little colt's mind. Besides, she worked for a stallion called DJ Pon3; Nova had never actually met him, but his mom sometimes allowed him to play in his studio - something that caused him great fun since there was a lot to see, a lot of open space to play, and -most importantly- a lot of colorful buttons to press.

His mother ... well, Nova normally didn't get to spend too much time with her. His mommy and auntie had always told him that her work took up a lot of time, which was why she was hardly ever home to spend time with him.

They did, however, tell him a lot of stories during her absence - stories about her travelling the wasteland together with his auntie and uncle; about her fighting against dragons, hellhounds, zombies, and just about anything else the world would throw at her. His mom was, as he figured out from early on, a real hero.

And so it had happened that, despite her nearly constant absence, Nova had developed quite the admiration for his mother - with every story his mommy, auntie, or even uncle Calamity would tell him, he would be more impressed by his mom's heroic deeds. By the time he turned five, he had turned into a die-hard fan of his mother, and he still remembered the day he found out about Tenpony Tower's very own Littlepip-fanclub - an organization which he had gladly joined and -thanks to his, say, special relationship with the Stable Dweller herself- become the leader of after only a few weeks.

However, regardless of all that, Nova still wished his mother would be there to spend time with him more often. Sure, his mommy was great too, and he appreciated all the time his auntie and uncle spent with him -almost as much as the awesome stories they told him- but nothing compared to those days on which he would come home from school to find his mother standing in the doorway and asking if he wanted to go on an adventure with her - hearing stories was one thing, experiencing them firsthand a whole other.

And so it had happened that he had found himself giving a spontaneous jump of joy when he had found his mother in her usual spot this morning, dressed in her old stable suit which he knew she only wore on adventures, and with this kind of 'let's do this!'-look in her eyes that only she could have. In that moment he had known that the day would be awesome, no matter what.

Well, truth be told, it hadn't been as exciting as he thought it would be thus far. Surely, the pure anticipation of going on an adventure with his mom had managed to brighten up his day, and the short ride in uncle Calamity's sky wagon had -as always- been a really exciting event for the colt, but after Calamity had dropped him and his mother off practically in the middle of nowhere, the day had taken a rather ... boring turn.

He couldn't put a hoof on it, but his mom was ... different today. She didn't tell him any stories about her adventures in the wasteland like she normally did when they were on tour, neither did she ask him about school, his friends, or anything else. She was just walking next to him - silently, as if she wasn't there at all.

Not only that, but Nova could swear that she also looked different. Her mane looked unkempt, her eyes were glassy and had dark rings under them, and she wouldn't stop chewing on her under lip. If he wouldn't have known better, he would have said she was nervous about something.

"Mom?" Nova finally ended the long period of silence, "Is everything alright?"

"Huh?" his mother shook her head as if breaking loose from a trance, then looked at the colt. "Yeah, sure." she replied with a weak nod and a thin smile, "I'm happy to be with you again."

"Me too mom, but ... uhm ..." Nova hesitated, not sure if he should address her strange condition or instead ask the one question that had been preying in the back of his mind ever since his mom had told him about where they were going.

"What is it, Nova?" she asked; her voice had a certain edge to it that Nova couldn't help but to flinch at.

"I, uhm, I ... I ... w-what are we going to do about the raiders?" the colt finally forced out, "I-I don't think they'll just let us walk into their home and free their prisoner."

"Probably not, no." His mother admitted briefly.

"S-so are we just going to ... kindly ask them to let us in, or are we going to ... to..." he felt a shiver running through his body as he thought of 'the other way'.

He knew that, despite his mother's efforts, there still were a couple of places in Equestria that weren't as peaceful as Tenpony Tower - places where ponies weren't as kind and understanding as they were where he had grown up - places where ponies were mean to each other; where they would fight, harm and even kill each other for reasons he didn't understand.

His family had told him about those ponies - auntie Velvet always said that those ponies were just 'misled'; that they should be approached peacefully and led back into a civilized life; being 'reformed' - whatever she meant with that.

His uncle Calamity, however, had a slightly different opinion on these ponies. Raiders, he said, were nothing but remains of a dark past, and -just like anypony else who was acting harmful towards others- had to be fought - simple as that.

His aunt didn't seem to delighted about that point of view, saying something about modern times not having any place for such kinds of "barber-ism" - whatever that meant. It had happened several times that Nova had walked in on the two of them arguing about that topic, and he still remembered the day when his auntie had caught his uncle giving him lessons in combat techniques - what had ensued was a lecture neither of them would forget anytime soon.

Still, Nova didn't quite know what to make of all that - on the one hoof, he agreed with his auntie that violence didn't solve any problems - a lesson he had been taught in school from early on and found to be quite useful when it came to dealing with bullies in Tenpony Tower.

On the other hoof, hearing the stories from his mother and uncle -which admittedly were a little more graphic than those his auntie told him- just made him really, really angry at those raiders. He couldn't understand how somepony could do ... those kinds of things, but he knew from his mommy that those ponies had to be stopped, one way or another.

Littlepip sighed, turning her head away and looking at the approaching silhouette of the farm in front of them. "You know, Nova..." she said after a long pause, "There are some things that simply need to be done. We may not like them, but they serve a greater good, and that's all that counts."

Nova knew what that meant - he had heard enough stories to know what his mother was talking about when she was like that. He wanted to say something, yet all he could bring out was a sigh.

He didn't want to kill anypony. It didn't bring him any joy or satisfaction. The mere thought of it made him cringe.

He had killed before - every once in a while, his uncle would take him down to Tenpony Tower's basement for some shooting practice, mostly on radroaches or molerats that were unlucky enough to cross their way. He never liked it, and he would have quit, hadn't it been for his uncle's encouragement everytime he would actually manage to hit one of the critters with his uncle's rusty rifle.

His auntie and mommy were, to put it lightly, not amused by this whole thing. His mother, however, said it was a good thing and that a good shooting skill was one of the most important things for surviving out in the wasteland. Why he still needed to be good at shooting, even though he was in Tenpony Tower and not in the wasteland was beyond him, but he continued to practice since it seemed to make his mother proud.

Nevertheless, he couldn't help but feel bad for the animals he killed. Surely, they were far from innocent, seeing how it was them who attacked Nova on sight, but then again, it was him who had trespassed into their territory, so technically they were just defending their homes from invaders.

But since neither his mother nor his uncle seemed to understand his concerns, he had soon learned to simply do like he had been told. After all, he wanted to become a wasteland hero just like his mother one day, and if invading others' homes and shooting them for no apparent reason was part of being a hero ... well, then that simply was the case.

The two ponies continued to silently walk alongside each other, until Littlepip stopped abruptly, making the inattentive Nova almost bump into her rear. Startled, the colt looked around and spotted a hole in the ground in front of his mother. It seemed to be an entrance to something; some sort of cellar perhaps. An open door revealing a set of stairs that seemed to lead right into the ground itself; its lower end was shrouded by darkness.

Nova gulped, feeling his pulse rise as he realized that their real adventure was just about to begin. "Is that ... it?" he asked his mother, unable to look away from the open door.

The unicorn replied with a nod, a thin smile finding its way onto her face as she stepped to the side, facing her son with a look that made it seem like she knew something he didn't.

Nova looked at the entrance in front of him, then to his mother.

"What?" he couldn't help but to ask, "A-are you waiting for something?"

The smile on his mother's face turned into a smug grin as she said, "You know, actually, I was thinking..." her horn lit up, loosening something from her flank and levitating it in front of the colt's face, "How about you take the lead today?"

Nova's legs seemed to turn to butter as he stared at the revolver floating in front of him - it was big, very big. Nova didn't need to look twice to know just what weapon it was - the dominant scope on top of the barrel, as well as the three apples painted onto the weapon's ivory grip made it easy for him to know that he was looking at his mother's first and trustiest weapon - a revolver called 'Little Macintosh'.

The colt opened his mouth to say something, but all he could bring out was a breathless gasp.

His mother seemed slightly amused by Nova's disbelief. Letting out a weak chuckle, she then turned the weapon in front of the colt's face so that the grip pointed towards him. "Here," she said encouragingly, "see if you can hold it."

Hesitantly, reluctantly, Nova obeyed. His head leaned forward, his mouth reaching for the gun. The taste that spread across his tongue once his mouth made contact with the handle was retch-inducing. It tasted like ivory, with a touch of really, really old metal mixed to it - no real surprise, given the gun's nature and age.

Still, the taste made Nova want to spit the gun right out again, but he pulled himself together, not wanting to disappoint his mom.

However, what he noticed right after the weapon's horrid taste was its ridiculous weight - he had known that guns tended to be heavier than they looked, but this one just seemed to burst all limits. Since he was an earth pony and, while still quite young, had a rather bulky frame for his age, he had managed to lift and handle his uncle's rifle without any major problems. However, this absurdly obese abomination of a gun seemed far too heavy for anypony to properly carry in their mouth. For a second he wondered how his mom had fought so many battles with this forlorn thing, but then his look fell onto her horn and his thoughts came to a halt.

He let out a grunt as Little Macintosh's weight continuously pressed against his teeth - the muscles in his jaw were beginning to ache from having to bite down so fiercely, yet he tried to play it cool, wanting to show his mom that he was capable of carrying her gun just like her. ... Well not entirely like her since he didn't have a horn or levitation magic, but he was sure she would appreciate the effort.

And indeed, Littlepip seemed happy. Not only happy, she seemed proud - very proud. Wearing a smile that seemed to reach from ear to ear, she took a slow step back, admiring the little colt in the stable suit with the revolver in his muzzle. Struggling with his jaw muscles to not drop the weapon, Nova could hear a light sob coming from her direction as she lifted a hoof to wipe away a tear of joy from her eye.

"If everyfing awright mom?" Nova asked with noticeable difficulties due to the revolver in his mouth.

"Yes..." she replied weakly, her voice barely louder than a whisper as she wiped away another tear, "My little wasteland hero."

Nova cocked an eyebrow. He ... didn't really know what to say to that. Surely, he felt fluttered; happier than he had felt in a long time to see his mom being proud of him.

On the other hoof, he couldn't help but to wonder ... was it Little Macintosh? He had never seen her this proud, not even when he had presented her the custom-made and -thanks to a little help from his uncle Calamity- true to his mother's original stable suit he was still wearing right now.

He squinted, looking at the ancient piece of metal in his muzzle - was this what made him look like a hero? Carrying a gun with him? An instrument that seemed capable of easily killing a pony with just one shot? Was this what made heroes?

Nova didn't have time to answer that question. Finally freeing herself from the state of trance his mother had seemed to be in, she now shook her head and cocked her head into the direction of the gaping opening in front of them. "Come on, lead the way." she invited him, the beaming smile still on her face, yet a little weaker than before.

Nova gulped, feeling how the discomfort in his jaw was growing stronger. Holding back a whimper, he then looked from the cellar door over to his mother, and back to the door. He didn't like where this was going, but something told him that there was no turning back now.

Even if he would tell his mother about his discomfort, he was sure she would eventually convince him to ignore his worries and lead the way. After all, there was only one pony in Equestria more capable of convincing him to do things he didn’t like than his mother, and that was his auntie Velvet. One time she had even talked him into tidying up not only his room, but his mommy’s entire apartment. Though he had wondered if this was somehow related to the fact that some … mysterious intruder had played ‘the floor is lava’ in that very same apartment earlier that day – before getting caught by his auntie, that is.

But Nova quickly interrupted himself before his thoughts could drift too far off, the harsh reality overtaking him as he remembered the rather disappointing day so far, as well as the disturbing lack of knowledge of what lay ahead of him. But he knew that there was no way back; that he had to face whatever … interesting activity his mother had chosen for their mission today.

And so he found himself taking in a short breath –which was admittedly hard thanks to Little Macintosh still blocking most of his mouth- before taking a step forward and setting hoof onto the old wooden stairs that would soon take him down into the darkness of his mother’s old home.

Just as he was about to set his other hoof onto the stairs, he felt the re-assuring touch of his mother’s hoof on his fur as she gently tapped his back. “Time to make my son a hero.” She cooed, happily, and with a touch of excitement to her voice.

Nova didn’t reply – he didn't know what to say; he didn't know what lay ahead of him, and he didn't know what to make of his mother's strange behavior.

All he knew was that he didn’t want to do this.

He didn’t want to be here.

He wanted to go home; to snuggle up on the soft couch of his mommy’s apartment and listen to his auntie’s happy and light-hearted stories of old Equestria. Of how his mother had saved a poor stallion called Monterey Jack from losing his cheese shop in Tenpony Tower by clearing up a big misunderstanding with the policeponies, or how she had turned all the friendly ponies in a town called ‘Arbu’ into vegetarians by showing them how bad eating meat is for their health - not to think of the poor, innocent animals.

This was what he used to think a hero would do, but now … well, he was sure he would know how a real hero would act by the end of the day, at least concluding from the look of determined anticipation on his mother’s face.

Once again, Nova gulped – Little Macintosh was starting to pull his head down to a noticeable extent, and the feeling of discomfort in his jaw was slowly but steadily turning into an aching pain.

He could feel his skin creep as he walked down the long set of stairs and the dim but noticeable daylight more and more vanished from his field of vision.

What had he gotten himself into?

Ch. 3: Into Darkness

Little Macintosh hit the ground with a loud clank. Nova seemed frozen. Standing stiffly where he had stopped on the spot moments ago, his legs locked in place, immobilized by his overwhelming fear, he stared at them, and they stared right back.

Raiders.

Two stallions, a dark brown, noticeably muscular earth pony and a slightly shorter blue unicorn. Both were wearing what looked like makeshift bardings made from dirty rags, and looking at him with wide open, bloodshot eyes, their looks filled partly with shock, partly with fury. Their manes –dirty blonde and pitch black, respectively- as well as their coats looked like those ponies hadn’t showered in months, the horrid stench that met Nova’s nose shortly after suggested just the same.

Nova wanted to run – to turn on his tail, cry out and scream for his mommy to come and save him from those unkempt monsters, yet his body seemed stiff in shock, not obeying his mind’s commands. He struggled to move, shouted at his legs to run, yet he could only hear his heart beating inside his chest as none of his limbs obeyed their master’s orders – time seemed to stand still.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, Nova got torn out of his trance by something bumping into his back. “Ouf.” He could hear a huff coming from behind him, “What’s the matter, Nova?”

A part of him was surprised that he didn’t feel relief upon hearing his mother’s familiar voice, yet the majority of his mind was still in an uncontrolled state of panic, thus too horrified to think or feel anything at all.

“R-R-Ra-Ra-Ra-Raiders!” the little colt finally managed sputter out, much to the amusement of his mother, it seemed, who trotted up to him with a light chuckle. “Don’t worry, Nova.” She said after a moment, with a surprising light-hearted-ness in her voice, as she stopped next to him, “I don’t think these raiders are still posing a threat to us.”

Nova did his best to lightly nod his head; his whole body seemed to be shivering. Indeed, he was sure the ponies in front of him weren’t about to attack him – their weapons –a deformed assault rifle and a rusty shotgun- seemed to be loaded and were pointing right at him, yet lying on the ground, right next to their owners in a small puddle of red liquid.

Two small but noticeable holes in either side of their heads indicated that the ponies in front of him were indeed not posing a threat anymore -even in its state of shock, Nova’s mind had caught up on this rather quickly. However, what had sent him into his state of shock and was still keeping him from moving was the integrity of things that offered itself to him.

He had never seen a dead pony before – in movies and on pictures, yes, but not in real life. So the sheer realization that he was looking at a dead body had been enough to petrify his innocent mind; the fact that he wasn’t looking at two ponies who had passed away peacefully, but murdered, it seemed, in cold blood, probably without even knowing what was going on just added its part to Nova’s horror.

His mother, however, seemed rather unaffected by the gruesome sight in front of them, as she only did so much as to give her petrified son a soft nudge with her muzzle and say, “C’mon, there’s a captive waiting to be freed. … And don’t forget your gun.”

Nova looked down at Little Macintosh lying in front of his hooves – he had dropped it out of shock when he had seen the two dead raiders and now was hesitant to pick it back up again, not only thanks to his still aching mouth.

Instead, he looked at the bodies in front of him, then at his mother. “Who … who could have done that? I mean … is … is anypony in there already?”

To his somewhat disappointment, his mother only replied with a weak shrug. “Dunno.” She said, then –Nova cringed- walked up to one of the bodies and placed a hoof on the stallion’s neck. “Hmm.” She looked over to Nova with a raised eyebrow, “His body’s still warm, so he can’t be dead for too long.”

Nova fought to hold back a flinch at the thought of who or whatever had killed those ponies so deviously still being nearby, yet couldn’t keep himself from cringing, gaining a weak smirk from his mother.

“Don’t worry Nova,” she said calmingly, “Those ponies had it coming.”

“How do you want to know!?” Nova shouted out in a sudden outburst of dismay, tears forming in his eyes, “You … you didn’t even know them!”

His mother's smirk vanished, and her face became dry, emotionless. “They’re raiders. That’s all that counts.” She clarified dryly. Nova opened his mouth to protest, but was cut short as his mother raised a hoof, silencing him, “You don’t know raiders like I do, Nova. You don’t know what they’ve done to other ponies … what they’ve done to Equestria. You don’t know what horrors they’re capable of, and why they need to be stopped by all available means.” Her deadpan face turned into a look of determination, “But that’s the reason why we’re here today.”

“Wha- what do you mean with that?” Nova was almost too afraid of the answer to ask, yet still forced himself to sputter out the question.

But his mother only replied with a brief “You’ll see.” Before turning away from him and nodding her head into the direction that led deeper into the cave-like vault the two had found at the bottom of the set of stairs, “Come on, let’s go.”

Nova hesitated.

He didn’t like this.

He didn’t like this at all.

This was nothing like the adventures he would normally experience with his mother – this time there were no packages to deliver, and no lost pets to retrieve. No, this ‘adventure’ just seemed … different.

His mother seemed strangely absentminded today and wouldn’t stop talking about how bad raiders were. Sure, they were evil ponies, but why was she suddenly so focused on them? And why did she make him go ahead despite knowing what dangers lay ahead of them?

Nova normally didn’t mind taking the lead on their missions after his mother had told him where to go, but so far she had always insisted on going ahead when they had come close to wild animals or other potential threats. Why this sudden change of mind? And why had she given him Little Macintosh? A weapon that quite obviously was far too big and heavy for him to handle.

Nova shook his head, clearing his thoughts. Surely, there were a couple of irregularities with their adventure so far, and Nova wasn’t sure if he liked where it was going, but he found solace in the thought that it was his mom who had taken him here – and his mom would never allow him to do anything dangerous or anything that wouldn’t turn out to be a great experience in the end … right?

He couldn’t help but notice that there were still traces of doubt in his mind, but he quickly swiped them away with another shake of his head – his mom had never disappointed him with their excursions, why should this one be any different?

Bucking himself up, Nova leaned his head forward and picked up Little Macintosh, holding back a grunt as the weapon’s weight pressed against his upper jaw again.

Following a confirming smile from his mother, Nova got under way again, venturing deeper into the dark abyss that presented itself in front of him.

He couldn’t keep his eyes from the dead raiders as he walked past them. He still didn’t know who had killed them or for what reason, but something told him that he would find the pony responsible for this massacre inside the stable they were heading at. Even though he still wasn’t sure if he wanted to meet this pony anyway.

A few moments passed. The absolute darkness within the cave was no problem for Nova - his eyes had gotten adjusted to the darkness rather quickly, allowing him to at least take a rough guess at where he was going.

All the while, his mother was surprisingly silent. Every now and then, Nova had to cast a short glance over his shoulder to check if she was still with him at all. Again, Nova wondered if there was something she was keeping from him. From the way she had acted when they had found the raiders, it almost seemed like she had expected to find them lying in their way. Maybe she was trying to...

Nova's thoughts came to an abrupt halt as his eyes spotted what must have been the entrance to Vault 2 - a huge, round metal door, easily four times his size lay ahead of him, opened up to reveal a big hall that seemed to be completely lined with metal. Somewhere in the darkness, Nova could make out a small set of stairs leading up into the unknown. However, what caught his eye as he took a closer look at the door caused another wave of sickness to arise from his stomach, making the colt turn his head away and retch with tears in his eyes.

"...oh." he heard the slightly saddened voice of his mother coming from behind him, "Nothing we can do for this one."

Nova gasped for air, a small sob escaping his throat. "W-why ... why would somepony..." he had to interrupt himself as the sight of the pony in the door caused him to dry heave again. It was -or better used to be- a light brown stallion. His body was malnourished; worn out from weeks of abuse. His face was petrified, showing the stallion's last expression before he had died from his injuries - a grimace, contorted to a silent scream that merely suggested the pain he must have been feeling in his final minutes. His two forelegs were broken, concluding from the twisted angle in which they were facing away from each other; his body showed several deep cuts and bruises, while his legs ... Nova felt tears welling up in his eyes yet again as he looked at the two bloody stumps. From what it looked like, the poor stallion's legs had been sown clean off, just above his heel. Concluding from the trail of dried blood behind him, whoever had mauled him like this had given him the chance to escape his horrible fate - something he had tried, but failed rather tragically.

Nova whimpered silently, pressing himself against his mother who had stopped next to him and hugging her foreleg tightly.

"See?" His mother replied softly, pulling her son into a hug, "This is what raiders do. This is why they need to be stopped."

"W-why?" he cried into his mother's shoulder, "Why do ponies do this?"

"They're raiders." His mother replied soberly, "They don't know anything else. You can't negotiate with them, you can't even talk to them. All you can do is shoot them before they shoot you."

"B-But there's got to be a different way!" Nova sobbed.

"There isn't." she replied briefly, "I've tried before, but it's to no use." Before Nova could reply, she broke the hug, placing her forelegs on his shoulders and looking him in the eyes, "Now, I know this must be unsettling for you, but you want to be a hero, right?"

Nova hesitated, looking to the side, "I ... uhm, maybe?"

"Then come on, lead the way." His mother said, giving him a soft tap on the shoulder.

The two ponies' venture into the darkness went on for a few moments, leading them through an awe-inspiring entrance-hall and up a short set of stairs before the tunnel-like hallway in front of them parted - a set of signposts located right in the middle of the intersection might have provided some directions some time ago, but it seemed the last couple of years had rendered the yellow-ish signs completely unreadable, leaving them scratched, sprayed-over with graffiti, and ... sweet Celestia, Nova hoped this was just strawberry marmelade splotched all over the wall.

A shiver ran through his body, and he forced himself to turn his head away, instead looking behind himself and back into the entrance hall where his mother had turned around and was looking at the opened stable door with a somewhat wistful look on her face, a barely audible sigh escaping her lips as she let her gaze wander over the devastated hall.

If things had been different, Nova might have wondered what his mother must have been thinking - what thoughts must be running through her mind now that she had returned to her home after so many years, and how much it must hurt her to see it devastated like this.

However, given the current circumstances, all he felt was sickness, discomfort and disappointment.

He had often pictured this day in his mind - the day his mother would finally take him back to where it all began and show him this place he had heard so many stories about. He had imagined Stable Two as a literal treasure chest - a long-abandoned place filled with hundreds, maybe even thousands of artifacts and memories. He had imagined his mother accompanying him through the deserted halls, telling him interesting stories about life in a stable, about her foalhood, and the day of Velvet Remedy's great escape.

But the further the two ventured into the vault, the more it dawned upon Nova that this day would be nothing like he had imagined it.

"Sorry, got a little carried away there." The voice of his mother interrupted Nova's thoughts as she turned away from the entrance door to face him again, "Come on, let's go."

The colt could feel tears welling up in his eyes as he looked at the mare in the stable suit - he didn't want all this! He wanted to ask her to call this whole thing off; to have uncle Calamity pick them up and bring them back home, so that he would never have to think of this horrible place again, but something ... something in his mother's look caused him to stop.

He couldn't tell what it was, but somehow it told him that there was no way he could talk himself out of this; not this time. She would do this, and he would come with her. He loved his mother. He looked up to her; admired her for everything she had done, and if she was so determined to see this through, he couldn't just back off. He just ... couldn't.

So it happened that he forced himself to swallow that big lump of tears that had formed in his throat and turned around again, looking at the fork ahead of him and reluctantly asking, "W-which way do we go, mom?"

His mother's answer seemed to drain each and every kind of motivation that was left in his body, and Nova could feel the desire to cry rising up inside him all over again as she just shrugged innocently and said, "Why don't you decide? You're the wasteland hero, after all."

Nova sighed deeply, casting a begging look at his mother. A look that managed to sum up just how terrible he felt, and how badly he wished for this ordeal to be over.

But his mother seemed completely oblivious to it. The only sort of reply Nova received was an encouraging grin and a light nod of her head.

Feeling his skin creep, he turned back again, and instead looked at the weathered signposts. Leaning forward and narrowing his eyes, he could see that the way to his left would lead him to 'Mai...nance' and 'Clin...', while on his right he would find the 'Over... office' as well as the ... it seemed somebody had used black spray paint to turn 'Atrium' into 'Asstrium' - hadn't it been for his current situation, Nova was sure he would be rolling on the floor laughing about this.

He took a few seconds to look at all the signposts, then cast a questioning look at his mother who -to his very disappointment- just replied with another encouraging smile, before asking, "Umm ... I guess that," he pointed a hoof at the top left signpost, "means 'maintenance', right?"

"Mm-hmm." His mother replied curtly, either unwilling or unable to give him more information.

"A-and ... didn't you work there too?" Nova questioned hesitantly.

"I did, yeah." She replied casually.

"So ... shall we head there first?" Nova continued to ask insecurely.

Once again his mother shrugged, replying with not more than an encouraging, "You're the leader."

And once again, Nova could only let out a helpless sigh at the wrong-ness of this whole situation.

However, keeping in mind that there still was somepony being held captive somewhere in this Stable, Nova decided to delay the thinking-part to later on, shook his head, turned to the left, and reluctantly ventured deeper into the darkness of his mother's old home.

Ch. 4: Encounters

Nova was trembling - shivering from head to toe as he carefully set one hoof in front of the other. The inside of the stable didn't look much better than its entrance: obscene writings and dirt were adorning the walls - and these were only the things Nova dared to look at. The rest of the ... decorations ... another shiver ran through the colt's body ... strawberry marmalade and ... things that looked like dead, disemboweled bodies hung from the ceiling, but actually were ... something totally harmless like ... models! Yes! Mannequins like those they were using in Biology class in Tenpony Tower!

Surprisingly lifelike mannequins and lots of strawberry marmalade - just what one would expect to find in a raider-infested stable, right?

Nova's insides seemed to disagree, as they continued to squirm and churn, causing the colt to stop and dry heave every time he would pass by one of these ... decorations.

However, what surprised him was the lack of living ponies. Aside from the gruesome decorations, the only ponies he had seen were two unicorns that had been laying spread out on the floor shortly behind the fork.

Though, just like the two at the stable entrance, these ponies -albeit being armed with two heavy-looking shotguns- didn't seem to pose a threat; at least concluding from the two bloody holes in their heads and the big, red puddle they were laying in.

Trying not to look too closely at the dead bodies, Nova had given them a wide berth -which had turned out to be quite the challenge, considering that it had been in a narrow stable-hallway- and once again told himself that these were just two mannequins laying in a puddle of strawberry marmalade or ketchup or ... something. He just tried to not think too much about it.

"Hey! Hey, is anyone there!?"

Nova stopped dead in his tracks at the top end of a flight of stairs as he heard the shout. It sounded hoarse; exhausted, but at the same time cautious, and with a touch of hope in it. He looked behind himself where his mother was catching up with him, ears perked up and look directed at him - not exactly what he had been hoping for.

"I-I'm down here! Help me!"

"S-should we..." Nova asked with a hesitating look, "Go down there?"

Once again, all his mother did was shrug innocently as she curtly replied, "You decide - you're the leader."

Nova sighed, giving his mother another begging look which he hoped would let her know how much he did not want to be the leader -or do any of this, for that matter- but then shook his head and turned around as the mysterious pony shouted for him once again.

With slow, shaky steps, Nova walked down the darkened set of stairs - the stable's weak emergency lightning wasn't necessarily a floodlight, and he had yet to receive a replica Pipbuck, so for now all he had was the flickering, weak lightbulbs that were fixed on the wall next to him to see where he was heading.

The stairs led him around a corner, then around another one until finally he found himself in a dimly-lit, narrow room. The variation of tools that lay spread-out across the floor, as well as two deserted workbenches on the walls led to the assumption that Nova had arrived in one of the stable's maintenance rooms. However, in this moment he didn't exactly have eyes for details like this, as his eyes were locked with those of the pony in front of him.

Another dirty, unkempt mare - another bloody hole in the side of her head - another red puddle of blood and brain matter - another fresh, dead body. Looking at her assault rifle leaning against the wall next to where she was laying, she probably hadn't even seen the attack coming.

Feeling tears well up in his eyes once again, Nova shook his head and quickly looked away. How could somepony do this? How could they just ... murder somepony in cold blood? Sure, she probably was a raider, but ... still!

"Over here!" The shout interrupted Nova's thoughts and he forced himself to think straight for once, remembering why his mother had brought him here in the first place.

Carefully, he walked through a door that divided the room he was in from a separate backroom which, based on the two hammock-like beds on either side, was the bedroom of whoever used to be working here when the stable had been still in use.

Nova stepped into the room, and his eyes widened.

It weren't the sticky, red splotches all across the floor that made him freeze in shock, neither was it the retch-inducing stench -a seemingly perfect mixture of blood, fear and feces- that filled the room like a cloud of toxic gas.

No, it was what presented itself to him that made him lose his rather short-lived composure and let Little Macintosh drop to the floor with a loud clank.

There, in a corner of the room, right next to a set of two beds, chained to the wall was ... something. It took him a few moments to identify the ... being as a pony. A stallion, it seemed, though barely recognizable as such.

Most of his fur had probably once been pearly white, but was now missing, either shed or ripped out or ... burned away or...

His body was -to put it lightly- malnourished. What was left of his belly was filled with scars and wounds of all sorts, and Nova could clearly see his ribcage which -now that he looked closer at it- also seemed to include a few broken ribs.

His legs weren't much better off - his forelegs were tied to the wall with thick, rusty shackles and a big padlock, while his rear legs ... well, his rear leg, since his left leg was nothing more than a bandaged stump about half the length of a normal leg, were laying loosely on the ground in front of him, either broken or simply too weak to carry the buck's weight.

His ... eye -his left eye was covered by a dirty bandage, so only his right eye was visible- widened as he spotted the colt walking through the door, and he shook his shackled forelegs as if to shake himself free as he shouted, "Hey, you! Little one! Tie me loose!"

Nova stared at the stallion with wide eyes, remaining silent for a few seconds before stuttering, "A-are you the ... the prisoner?"

"Kid, I'll be Princess fucking Celestia for you if you free me!" the stallion barked at him, once again shaking his bound forelegs, "All the guards are dead! I'm gonna starve if you leave me here!"

"I ... um ... okay." Nova muttered as he hesitantly took a step forward, "M-mom?" he asked with a look over his shoulder, but noticed with horror that the gray unicorn was no longer with him, "Mom!?"

"What are you waiting for!?" the stallion asked impatiently, "God knows who else might turn up!"

"I ... let me just..." Nova tried to excuse himself, frantically looking around the room and searching for his mother, "M-my mom, she's ... she was..."

"Come on!" the tortured stallion half-shouted, half-begged the desperate colt, "Free me and I'll help you search for your mom!"

That brought Nova's movements to a sudden halt. Looking at the stallion with new hope his eyes, he asked, "R-really?"

The prisoner hastily nodded his head. "Yes, now come on!" he shouted with his one eye wide in despair, "There's a few bobby pins and a screwdriver on the workbench in the room behind you! Hurry up!"

Hesitantly, yet facing a severe lack of alternatives, Nova turned around and hurried back into the first room. Indeed, aside from a bunch of single parts that looked like they belonged to his mother's Pipuck, Nova also found three bobby pins and a rusty screwdriver laying on one of the workbenches. Feeling the adrenaline rush through his veins, he then hurried back into the back room where the stallion was gazing at him impatiently, carrying the tools in his mouth.

"And you'll really help me look for my mom when I free you?" Nova asked as he meekly walked over to the stallion's shackles and carefully inserted the -unsurprisingly unpalatable- screwdriver into the slightly rusty lock - just like his mother had shown him a few months ago.

Once again, the stallion nodded impatiently. "Sure." He assured Nova confidently," Just set me free and-"

*click*

Nova felt a wave of disillusionment hit him as he looked at the broken bobby pin that loosely hung in the still tightly sealed lock.

"Come on kid, it's not that hard!" the stallion snarled at him.

"I-I know!" Nova whined as he grabbed another bobby pin and inserted it into the lock, "It's just ... my mom could just open this with her magic and-"

"But your mom isn't here!" the stallion once again reminded him harshly, "And if you want to find her, you better untie me, or-"

*click*

"God Fucking Damnit, kiddo!" The stallion's smelly breath brought tears into Nova's eyes as the next bobby pin broke.

"I'm trying!" Nova tried to justify himself as he grabbed the third and last bobby pin, "I've never tried to open a lock this hard before!"

"Then just try harder!" the prisoner shouted at Nova, "And you better not mess this up, or else I'm gonna-"

He silenced abruptly as another, much more satisfying click came from the lock, and with a loud clank the shackles fell off the wall, causing his weak forelegs to drop to the floor like a sack of potatoes.

The two ponies exchanged unbelieving looks for a second, until the prisoner looked at his now untied shackles, and cackled, "Heh, you actually did it. Thanks kiddo."

"You're welcome." Nova said with a warm smile as he too realized his achievement, "Now you're going to help me look for my mom, right?"

The stallion smirked as he slowly got to his hooves with a long groan. "Sure kid." He said as he was back on all of his three hooves. He placed a hoof on Nova's shoulder, "How 'bout you start looking right over there!" And with that, he gave Nova a powerful shove, sending him sliding into a corner of the room and took off at a speed Nova never thought him capable of.

"Hey!" Nova shouted in dismay as he realized what was happening, "You promised!"

"Sorry kid." The stallion shouted over his shoulder as he passed the first door, "But we all gottaaaargh-"

The fugitive was cut off mid-sentence as an aura of green magic had formed around his hooves and caused him to fall over and slump right onto his mutilated face.

"Where do you think you're going!?" The sharp question came from a thankfully familiar voice, and Nova could feel a severe weight falling off his mind as he saw his mother slowly coming walking from the set of stairs that marked the room's entrance.

Letting out a long groan, the buck lifted and shook his head before turning around to face the pony who had stopped him. His eyes widened in horror. "Y-you..." he gasped breathlessly; his weak body began to shake ever so slightly.

"This brave colt here has freed you from your torment, and this is how you thank him!?" Littlepip asked sharply, pointing a hoof at Nova who was still standing in the corner and staring at the two ponies like petrified, "By running away!?"

"I ... I..." the stallion panted, not looking away from the mare looming over him like a predator about to strike, "I'm sorry!" he finally forced out with wide eyes, "I didn't know that ... he ... you ... I ... please don't kill me!" he finally shouted with tears in his eyes.

Littlepip stared at him with narrow eyes for a few moments, then the thinnest of smiles formed on her face. "Don't worry. We're the good guys." she said calmly.

"I-if you say so." the stallion rasped hastily, "S-so ... you'll let me go ... right?"

"Sure." Littlepip replied curtly, and the stallion promptly tried to jump up, but realized somewhat disillusioned that the magic field around his legs had not yet vanished. "Just tell us where the raiders' leader is so we can bring him to justice." Littlepip added calmly.

The prisoner gazed at his captor with wide, unbelieving eyes. "Why ... you..." he stuttered unbelievingly, "You know where their leader is! For god's sake, you kil-"

He was shut up by a gray hoof placed firmly on his battered mouth. "Where. Is. Their. Leader?" Littlepip repeated herself with clenched teeth, not breaking eye contact with the white stallion.

"He ... he's in the atrium!" he gasped fearfully, "All of them are! Please ... please don't kill me!"

Once again, Littlepip gave him the thinnest of smiles, yet her eyes remained narrowed. "Don't worry. I told you we were the good guys, didn't I?"

"Y-yes! Yes, of course ... ma'am! I'd never question that!" the stallion hastily affirmed with wide eyes, "But now you'll let me go ... right?"

"Of course." Littlepip said, still with that cold smile on her face. However, another attempt to get up from the stallion came to nothing once again as the magic field around his hooves still hadn't vanished, "But ... don't you want to thank your savior first?" Littlepip added with a look at Nova who slowly, hesitantly, came walking towards the two, "After all, you would have probably died if he hadn't come for you."

The prisoner blankly stared at the colt for a few seconds before forcing out a laugh and saying, "Y-yes ... yes, of course ... buddy. Sorry for ... running away and all. Here." He shook his head, and from one of the few bushels that were left of his mane fell a small yellow box which the stallion promptly picked up with his mouth and threw into the direction of Nova, causing it to slide over the floor and come to a halt right in front of the colt's hooves, "They've helped me through the past weeks, but I guess you can have them. As a sign of my ... appreciation."

"Huh?" Nova asked as he looked at the small package and curiously picked it up with his hoof, "Party Time Mint-als? What's that?"

He was cut off as an aura of green magic formed around the box in his hooves and tore it away, throwing it into a corner of the room and out of Nova's sight.

"What do you think you're doing!?" Littlepip snapped at the stallion, her teeth clenched in anger, "Giving my son drugs!? I should tie you up and leave you to rot here, you damned piece of-"

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" The stallion shouted, cowering in front of the angry mare like a frightened foal, "That's all I have with me! I ... I can give you more once I'm back in Ponyville, but right now I..." He looked up at Littlepip with tears in his fearful eyes, "P-please! Please let me go! I can't stand being here any longer! The ... the things they did to me, I ... I can't..." he cut himself off, breaking into muffled sobs and lowering his head.

The unicorn mare just looked at him silently for the longest time, but then left out a soft sigh and released him from her magical grip.

Without hesitating, the stallion jumped up, looked at the two ponies with wet eyes, and then said, "T-thank you! I ... I ... I gotta go."

And without another word, he ran off, and was gone within seconds.

The two ponies silently looked after him for a few moments, none of them seeming to know what to say.

"Mom?" Nova finally spoke up, looking at his mother who was still looking into the direction of the exit.

"Y-yes?" she asked and turned around. Nova could have sworn he saw a tear somewhere in her eyes, but before he could look any closer she quickly shook her head and repeated herself, "Yes, dear?"

"Why ... why was that stallion so terrified of you?" Nova asked as he slowly walked over to his mother, and sat down next to her. "Do you know each other?"

His mother took an uncomfortably long amount of time before she replied. "No. No, why should we?"

"I ... don't know." Nova admitted, a shudder running through his body, "I mean, he seemed to recognize you, and he was ... so afraid and..."

"Hey," His mother interrupted him as she comfortingly put a hoof around him, "Yes, he was terrified, but think about what these ... these monsters put him through." She turned around, pointing a hoof at the wall where the prisoner used be tied up - aside from a wide variety of stains, it also appeared to have several small holes and scratches in it - Nova could only guess what had caused these.

"Raiders are unpredictable when it comes to these things." His mother explained him bitterly, "They use their prisoners as their personal punching bags, sex toys, stress reliefs, targets for shooting practice, just about anything you can think of. So it was no surprise that he was acting this horrified, even though he knew that we were saving him."

Nova couldn't quite understand that. The stallion had, after all, been far from horrified when he had been alone with Nova, but considering that his mother had never been wrong with what she had told him before, he decided to just leave it at that and said, "Alright, mom. ... If you say so."

"I do." she assured him with a warm smile, then took her hoof off his shoulder and said, "Come on, let's finish this."

"You mean ... we're going home?" Nova asked with new excitement, and jumped back to his hooves, "Back to Mommy and Auntie Velvet?"

"No." His Mother's reply was just as brief as it was disappointing for Nova - in an instant, he could feel the smile slip from his face and his shoulders sink.

"Hey, don't look at me like that." his mother said, cracking a thin smile, "There's still work to be done."

"Wha- what do you mean?" Nova asked meekly, not making an effort to hide his lack of excitement about the extended trip into the stable.

"Don't you want to get the leader of this pack?" she explained him matter-of-factly, "Face the pony who's responsible for all this and bring him to justice?"

"No!" the little pony inside Nova's head seemed to shout, telling him how wrong all this was; begging him to put an end to all this and just leave, regardless of what his mother might think of him.

And yet, all Nova could bring out was a whimpered, "I-I'm not sure about this, mom. I mean ... what if they're dangerous?"

"Pff," She put him off with a flick of her hoof, "You've just marched into a stable full of raiders and freed a prisoner - all by yourself. There's nothing you need to be afraid of." she assured him with a wink.

"But everypony we saw is dead!" Nova shouted back, "What if ... what if whoever killed them all is still down there!?"

"Nova." his mother cut him off, looking him in the eyes, "There is nothing to be afraid of, trust me." she assured him with a determined look, "I am with you, and as long as we're together, nothing will happen to you, you hear?"

Nova sighed, looking to the side and breaking the eye contact with his mother. "Can't I just go home and leave the whole 'justice'-thing to you?" he asked her sullenly.

His mother replied nothing, just looking at her son in silence. Then, slowly, her look left him and wandered around the room they were in. She blinked, turning her head away from the colt and looking at the wall where the prisoner used to be tied up.

For almost a whole minute, she stood there. Not moving, not saying a word, just looking at the neglected, dirty corner and the pair of rusty shackles laying in it. Nova wanted to ask if she was alright, but didn't want to interrupt whatever it was she appeared to be doing.

"Come on." she finally broke the silence, her head still turned away from Nova. Her voice was trembling and barely louder than a whisper, "Let's finish this."

"But I-" Nova wanted to protest, but cut himself off as his eyes met those of his mother. That look was back in her eyes. The same look she had had earlier, only that it felt a hundred times stronger now.

Nova wasn't entirely sure, but it seemed like she was dead-set on revenging what had happened to the white buck. She had probably imagined what he must have gone through while being tied to this wall and now wanted to find and confront the ponies responsible. Why she suddenly felt so sympathetic to a complete stranger; a pony she had cursed no five minutes ago was unclear to Nova, but what he knew was that she wanted justice - and that she was expecting him to help her achieve just that.

And really, who was he to say no? All his life he had wanted to be a wasteland hero, and as much as he didn't want to spend one second longer than necessary in this hellhole, he couldn't shake off this feeling that he would regret it all his life if he would leave now and pass up on this opportunity.

So Nova gave another long sigh, lowered his head and reluctantly said, "Okay mom. If you say so."

"That's my boy." Littlepip said, and a weak smile appeared back on her face as she turned her head towards him. "Come on, the atrium isn't far away. Do you want me to lead the way?"

Nova looked up at the unicorn, then slowly shook his head and said, "No, mom. I'll go ahead."

"Alright." His mother said with a pleased smile, "And don't forget your gun." she added as her magic picked up Little Macintosh from where Nova had dropped it minutes ago and floated it over to him.

"No mom." Nova replied as he bit down on the gun's mouthpiece, "Thanks ... mom."

Ch. 5: Reunion

Despite everything - despite the horrible things he had seen, despite the overwhelming will to go home and hide in the safety of his bed, and despite his ever growing doubts about whether he could still trust his mother when she said that everything was okay, Nova couldn't help but to feel impressed as he stepped through a withered doorframe and into what must have been the stable's ostentatious main hall. He had arrived in the atrium.

Having spent all of his life in the safe halls of Tenpony Tower, he was more or less used to seeing buildings of impressive size, though this very hall he was in had something ... extraordinary to it.

He could literally see this place how it must have been when his mother had still been living here - he imagined it to be a busy place; filled with all sorts of stable ponies, all eager to go somewhere and do something. Yes, if he closed his eyes, he could see it right in front of him: suddenly, all the horrors were gone; all the blood and the dirt; all the filth and the grease, it all disappeared in his mind's eye, and suddenly he was a regular colt living in Stable Two and going after his everyday life - maybe he was on his way to school; maybe he was seeing some friends, or maybe he was...

His illusion faded away abruptly as he slowly opened his eyes again and his look fell onto something he hadn't spotted before. There, in the middle of the massive hall on a slightly elevated platform, was something. It took him a few seconds to figure out that it was the light cone of a big spotlight mounted on a balcony at the opposite end of the atrium that illuminated the dusky hall, and shone righlt onto...

Nova felt another wave of sickness crawling up his throat as he spotted the reddish figure laying on the ground in the middle of the light cone.

"Another body?" a voice in his mind asked the inevitable question, but was cut short as Nova saw that the pony-shaped form was still moving. A wave of adrenaline shot through his body, and without thinking further, he took off, for once forgetting about his reservations and running over to where the wiggling figure was laying on the ground. This pony was still alive and might need his help, and he sure as hay wouldn't allow somepony to die because he was too cowardly to act on his own behalf.

Within a few seconds, Nova had reached the platform and quickly approached the pony. As he came closer he could make out the forms of a stallion - a noticeably big and muscular stallion, as he noted shortly after. Looking at his filthy, scarred light red fur and sticky dark brown mane indicated that he was either a really experienced wastelander or a part of the group of dead ponies Nova had seen laying on the ground before.

However, what caught Nova's attention even more than his unkempt appearance was the thick rope around all of his hooves, leaving the big, fear-inducing stallion laying hogtied on the ground like a captured goat.

Nova slowed his gallop to a careful walk as he slowly approached the stallion. He was laying with his back facing Nova, so the colt wasn't sure if he had seen or heard him coming.

"H-hello?" Nova carefully spoke up and stopped a few feet away from the tied-up stallion, lowering Little Macintosh so that he could speak properly.

The red earth pony let out a deep grunt, then wiggled on the ground before rolling over in a surprisingly swift motion. His bruised face turned to Nova, and his deep green eyes looked the colt over.

The two ponies remained silent like this for a few moments, but just as Nova was about to open his mouth to ask the pony about his wellbeing, something unexpected happened.

The stallion looked Nova in the eyes, then, slowly, a grin formed on his face, revealing his yellowed, rotten teeth.

Then he started laughing.

It wasn't that sort of laugh that made Nova want to join in. It was raspy, hoarse, and if anything it sent a shiver through Nova's spine as the stallion continued to look at him with a somewhat malicious-looking glance and the weakest of smiles on his face and just raspily laughed away.

"A-are you okay, mister?" Nova asked, noticeably insecure, and took a step back.

"He he he." the stallion cackled once again before he stopped, drew in a short breath and said, "So that little stable mare stuck by her word, huh? Guess I owe Rocky fifty caps now. If she hasn't killed him already."

"W-what?" Nova asked bewildered, "What are you talking about?"

The stallion replied nothing for a second, just mustering the colt silently, then grinned and said, "So I guess you're her 'son', huh?" Once again, he gave a raspy cackle, "Guess it's true what they say - you do always meet twice."

"What!?" Nova repeated himself, his confusion growing by the second, "What are you talking-"

"You do indeed." the familiar voice cut him off mid-sentence, and he looked behind himself to find his mother walking up to the two ponies with slow, deliberate steps, "But I'm afraid this is the last time we'll meet - raider." she announced coldly, spitting out that last word.

Nova looked at her, then back at the stallion, confusion written across his face.

"Everypony deserves a second chance." His mother contined, stepping closer to the captured stallion, "But you've taken yours and just continued where you left off. And now it's time for you to pay for what you've done."

"What are you talking about, mom?" Nova asked with growing impatience, "Do you ... do you know him?"

"This is the pony we're here for." His mother explained him soberly, "The leader of the pack of raiders, and the one who's responsible for everything that happened here."

Nova's eyes went back to the captured stallion, and horror entered his face. "Y-you are..." he gasped fearfully.

"Name's Bonecracker - at your service." the stallion said with a sly grin on his face, "I'd take a bow, but I'm a little ... impeded at the moment."

"You ... you are the one who caused all this?" Nova asked unbelievingly, "That was you!?"

"Guilty as charged." he replied, still grinning weakly, "Pleasure to meet you, little one."

"W-why!?" Nova asked in shock, apparently only adding to the stallion's amusement, "Why? H-how? For ... for what reason would you-"

"That's enough." His mother chimed in decisively, stepping between the two, "Come on Nova," she said, adressing the horrified colt, "You've seen what this pony has done to innocent ponies. Now it's time to make him pay." she said, lifting Little Macintosh off the ground and holding it ready for the colt.

"Wha- what!? No! No, I can't..." Nova gasped, taking a step back from the gun floating in front of him, "I can't just ... kill him!"

"Think of what he's done!" his mother told him bitterly, "Think of the pony we've freed! The pony laying in the entrance hall! Heck, look at what he's done to the Stable!" she continued, getting more energetic by the second.

"I know!" Nova affirmed desperately, tears starting to form in his eyes, "I ... I know what he's done. And I remember all the ... all the bodies." A shudder ran through his spine, "All the ponies murdered in cold blood. ... But I ... I just can't! We can't just ... execute him!" he concluded, shoving Little Macintosh away.

"Heh." the stallion said with a cold grin, "I knew you couldn't do it, kid. You just don't have what it takes to be a killer." He seemed to lock eyes with Littlepip for a second, and his grin seemed to widen ever so slightly as he added, "Guess murder doesn't run in the family after all."

"Wait ... what?" Nova asked - this one had caught him completely off-guard, "What are you talking about?"

Bonecracker's grin grew into a malicious smile; his yellow teeth seemed to shine in the glaring light that came from above. "So she's never told you?" he cackled dryly, "Did I ruin the big surprise?"

"What!?" Nova repeated, "I ... I don't know what you-"

"Enough!" His mother stepped in once again, turning towards her son, "Don't you see what he's doing? He's trying to distract you; he wants to talk himself out of this!" once again, she lifted her trusty revolver and held it ready for the colt, "Come on, finish this and we can go home!"

"I ... what did you mean with 'runs in the family'?" Nova asked the stallion, ignoring the gun in front of him.

"So nopony has ever told you about your ... origins?" the stallion asked with a compassionate look on his face, then sighed, "What a shame indeed."

"What do you mean?" Nova asked with growing impatience, "I was born in Tenpony Tower! And I still live there - with my two moms and my aunt and uncle! There is ... there is nothing wrong with that!"

Once again, Bonecracker chuckled, focussing Littlepip this time, "Tsk tsk." he said, shaking his head, "Heroine of the wasteland, savior of Equestria, and still she's made this poor colt grow up living a lie. Not very heroic, I would say."

"Shut your filthy mouth!" Littlepip burst out with anger, levitating Little Macintosh over to the stallion and pressing it against the side of his head, "I've had enough of your shit!"

"Go ahead. Kill me." Bonecracker replied, his face cold as stone, "But do me a favor and tell that colt the truth. He deserves to know."

"He will find out when he's old enough!" Littlepip hissed back; Little Macintosh began to tremble in her magical grip, "He's not ready for it yet!"

"Mom," Nova stepped in, surprised himself at how sharp his voice sounded, "What are you talking about? What am I not ready for?"

His mother's head shot around, her wide eyes focusing on him as if she had forgotten that he was there at all. "N-nothing, Nova. Don't listen to what he's saying. Let me just..." she focused her attention back on Little Macintosh, and the gun's hammer slowly slid back, getting ready to put a bullet through the raider's head.

Given the circumstances, the raider seemed surprisingly calm. In fact, he seemed completely relaxed, as if he was just having a casual conversation with a good friend. His face seemed almost smug as he bared his teeth and said, "You can kill me. But you can't kill the truth." Looking over to the petrified colt, he added, "He will find out one day."

"He will." Littlepip replied coldly, clenching her teeth, "But that day is not today."

Even before she had finsihed her sentence, Little Macintosh went off. An ear-shattering bang echoed throughout the atrium of Stable Two, and the big light above the three ponies' heads died with a hiss and the sound of shattering glass.

Time seemed to stand still for a few seconds as she shot rang out, and dead silence hung over the entire stable.

"What are you keeping from me, mom?" Nova asked reproachfully, looking past the smoking barrel of Little Macintosh and into the surprised eyes of his mother.

She replied nothing, just silently looking at her son, then at the shattered remnants of the lamp that hung above their heads. The colt had stepped in at the last second, punching his hoof against Little Macintosh just as his mother had pulled the trigger and sending the heavy pistol falling onto the ground. The shot that had been supposed to kill Bonecracker had instead hit the spotlight above their heads and caused the entire hall to fall into an uncomfortable twilight.

Nova could hear the raider smirk behind his back and give a short chuckle. "You really want to know, kid?" he asked the colt confidently, tapping the ground in front of him as good as his bound hooves allowed him to, "Have a seat, I'll tell you."

Nova hesitated. Under normal circumstances, he was sure he would have done the right thing: turned on his tail and taken to his heels - this pony was a raider, and probably one of the most dangerous creatures he had ever met, and he was sure that -if it weren't for his legs still being tied up- the raider wouldn't have hesitated to kill him - for fun, if nothing else.

However, this situation was far from normal, and so it wasn't too surprising that Nova slowly, hesitantly walked over to the stallion and sat down in front of him. Surely, he knew that he was dangerous, but the adrenaline still shooting through his veins from what had happened just a few seconds ago did a good job at drowning out these worries.

Besides, this stallion seemed to have answers - answers to a question Nova hadn't known about until a few minutes ago; a question he didn't dare ask himself.

"There we go." Bonecracker said with a pleased grin as Nova lowered himself to the ground, "About time you get some answers, right?"

"Nova, you-" his mother wanted to protest behind him, but was cut short as the colt shook his head and muttered, "No, mom. I want to hear what he has to say."

"Nova, he is-"

"No. Mom." Nova hissed over his shoulder, "Let me hear him out."

Bonecracker looked at Littlepip with a triumphant smirk, then back at Nova. "So, you see, little one ... Nova, wasn't it?"

The colt silently nodded his head.

"Right. Nova. You see, this isn't the first time I've met your 'mother'." he spat out that last word, "In case you didn't know, she grew up in this very stable. Just a few decades ago."

"Yes..." Nova muttered absentmindedly, "Yes, I know."

"So, as you can imagine," Bonecracker explained, the sly grin never leaving his face, "she and her little stable-friends left this place long time ago, and left this prime-location stable behind to silently rot away. So me and my ... friends decided to settle in here. After all, this was a perfectly intact stable, and it would have been a shame to just leave it to nature."

"They invaded it like the mindless animals they are, and settled down like filthy hermit crabs." His mother's words echoed inside Nova's mind, but he remained silent, looking at the raider with tired eyes.

The grin on Bonecracker's face widened as he continued, "And, well, things were running pretty smoothly from then on. There were plenty of rations left in here, and often enough a caravan would pass by and give us a chance to stock up on rations and..." he gave a short chuckle, "guests."

Nova could feel another wave of sickness hit him as he thought back to the mutilated ponies he had seen, and he could only imagine what the white buck they had freed must have gone through.

"But of course, this little mare over there," Bonecracker nodded his head into the direction of Littlepip who was standing by with a somewhat helpless look on her face, "wasn't too happy with what we've made of her old home when she returned a few years later. Fell into a bloody fit of rage and killed each and every single one us - save for me. She left me like this - tied up and helpless - and said that if she'd ever catch me doing this again she'd flay me alive."

He took a moment to let out another dry chuckle, "Well, my name wouldn't be Bonecracker if I would let a little nipper like her intimidate me. That pathetic rope she used to tie me up was a joke, and once I was free I rounded up some new ponies and continued where I left off - life was pretty good again from then on."

Nova looked behind himself, facing his mother with wide eyes at the thought of her killing off an entire stable full of raiders - he wasn't quite sure if he should be horrified or proud of her.

"But of course, that little stable-cunt had to return sooner or later." Bonecracker continued with a growl, "And as fate willed, she marched in here once again just yesterday, killed my whole crew again like a sentinel-bot gone crazy, and left me like I am now, saying that she'd return soon with a 'special surprise'." he looked up at Nova and grinned sinisterly, "Guess that surprise was you."

Once again, Nova turned around to face his mother who was staring at Bonecracker with a grim look on her face. "You?" he asked with his mouth hanging open, "It was ... you? You killed all these ponies?"

"They were raiders, Nova." Littlepip defended herself grimly, "They deserved nothing better."

"B-but..." he stuttered dumbfounded as he slowly started to understand, "All this time ... all this time you knew exactly what was going on!? You ... you sent me through all this just for ... for kicks and giggles!?"

Breathing heavily, Nova could hear Bonecracker chuckle behind his back. "Hehe, trust me, kid, if you think this is the big surprise, I got some news for you." The raider announced with his raspy voice.

"W-what?" Nova squealed, "There's more?"

"Sure is." He affirmed with that sly grin again, "Take a seat and I'll tell you all about your ... 'mom'."

"Nova, this really is enough." Littlepip said and placed a hoof on Nova's shoulder to hold him back, but he flicked it away. "Don't touch me!" he shouted with wide eyes, "I wanna know what else you've been keeping from me."

"I-it's nothing Nova." she assured him with growing despair, "Come on, we'll go back home and I'll ... I'll buy you a new toy!"

The colt just looked at her, then slowly shook his head and sat down in front of Bonecracker again.

"You see, little Nova, killing all of my crew wasn't everything that mare did when she came here for the first time." the raider continued to explain, "No, she also freed all of our slaves - and murdered a slave mare and kidnapped her foal."

Nova's eyes widened abruptly. "No." he said unbelievingly, "No, she'd never do that."

"Afraid to tell you she did." Bonecracker explained with a compassionate shake of his head, "Poor Morning Mist went into labor shortly before the 'heroine' arrived and fucked everything up. That poor mare barely survived the birth of my foal, then this cunt came, put a bullet through her head and took her newborn colt. Just like that."

"N-no..." Nova gasped unbelievingly, and turned around to face Littlepip, "You ... you can't ... you didn't..." but he cut himself off mid-sentence as his mind started to put one and one together, and another horrible, horrible thought crossed his mind.

Turning back towards Bonecracker, he asked, "Wait. When ... when was that?"

The raider took a moment to reply, then, with a knowing grin, asked, "Say, how old are you now, Nova?"

"I ... turned ten last week." the colt replied numbly.

"Well, then it must have happened about ten years ago. Shortly after you were born." Bonecracker explained, his grin slowly widening.

With pounding heart, Nova shook his head, but then slowly let his look wander over Bonecracker, looking at his light red fur, his dark brown mane, and his grass-green eyes - the raider looked like an older, unkempt, battle-scarred version of him. Heck, he could be his brother. Or rather ...

The colt's eyes widened.

"I see you're finally starting to understand."

The raider locked eyes with the colt, then grinned.

"Welcome home ... son."

Finally, it became clear to Nova, and he could feel how the world around him seemed to collapse. Everything he had taken for granted; everything he had believed in ever since he could remember ... it all seemed to shatter to pieces in this very moment. He could feel how his legs gave in beneath him, and he fell to his knees, then to his belly as even his legs failed him. His ... his whole life he had been living a lie!

"Hmmm..." Bonecracker sighed as he mustered the beaten colt with a compassionate look on his face, "I know this must hurt pretty badly now. Realizing that your whole life is a lie. But don't worry..." he tensed the muscles in his legs; the ropes restraining him snapped in two with ease, he rolled to his hooves in split-seconds, and a blood-thirsty grin appeared on his face. "I'll make it quick."

"Nova!"

Ch. 6: Revelations

Emptiness.

Emptiness was everything he could feel.

A couple of months ago, he had found an old pre-war book in a trash bin somewhere in Tenpony Tower. Wondering why somepony would throw away this -at least somewhat intact- book, he had picked it out of the trash and cast a look inside.

It had been a scientific novel - loads and loads of thickly printed pages with lots of funny terms and expressions Nova had never heard before - and not nearly enough colorful pictures to keep his attention on the book for longer than a few minutes before putting it down again and devoting his attention to more important things like the little radroach that had just crawled past him.

However, the short partition of the book he had tried to read had said something that had somehow managed to survive in the depths of his short-term memory. It had said that sometimes, when a pony's mind is faced with an 'abundance of information', it would sometimes just fail - go into standby mode, so to speak.

Nova hadn't quite understood this at first - ponies were smart beings, why should they suddenly lose their mind because of some sort of abundance? What did that mean, anyway?

He had told his mommy about that book the same evening and asked her what it could have meant, and what could cause this sort of 'standby mode'.

His mommy had replied nothing at first, just looking at the colt for a few moments, before shaking her head and saying that things like these were often related to a sudden, unexpected revelation. He could have sworn he had also heard the name 'Arbu', but when he had asked his mommy what turning ponies into vegetarians had to do with losing one's mind, she had just muttered something about his auntie handling him with Remedy gloves ... or was it Velvet gloves? He couldn't remember.

However, he had not yet forgotten about the book, and right now he felt like he was starting to understand just what the author had meant with his statement.

That is, he would have felt this way if he had been able to feel at all.

His mind felt empty - in the truest sense of the word. Blackness, void, darkness - there were dozens of terms to describe what the inside of his head felt like in this moment.

Petrified might have been one of these too.

His whole body felt numb; every sort of movement seemed utterly impossible in this second - even if he could have brought up the willpower to tell his legs to move, he was sure they would have failed him out of pure weakness.

And so he kept still - without a movement; without a single thought on his mind.

Time seemed to stand still as the colt just sat there - and stared right at his impending demise.

At the raider coming pouncing towards him. At those two green eyes that looked just like his. Torn wide open, bloodshot, and gleaming with blood-thirsty glee, they stared at him - a stare that, Nova was sure, he wouldn't forget for the rest of his life - even if that wouldn't have been just a few split seconds away.

Under normal circumstances, Nova was sure his survival instinct must have been screaming at him; telling him to get to his hooves and save himself - he could still escape the raider if only he would act fast enough!

But now, after everything that had happened ... he couldn't do it. He couldn't bring up the power to move. Heck, he didn't want to bring up the power to move!

Everything seemed so meaningless in this moment; felt so hollow, so ... pointless.

Why bother moving? Why bother screaming? Why bother thinking at all? He would be dead in less than a second, so why waste the last remains of his lifetime doing something so ... useless?

Instead, he decided to do the only thing that would make his demise a little easier to handle.

He held his breath, lowered his head, and closed his eyes - waiting for the end to come.

...

Nothing.

Nothing at all.

Silence was all he could perceive - dead silence, as if the world had stopped turning.

"Is it ... over?" Nova asked himself after a long period of stillness, keeping his eyes closed. If this was what it felt like to die ... well, he wouldn't want to do it again, but it sure wasn't as bad as he had imagined.

Slowly, he opened an eye again, taking a careful peek at his afterlife.

He saw the dimly-lit, blood- and dirt-smeared walls of Stable Two. Dusty, abandoned tables were standing on a moldy, sticky floor that hadn't seen any water or a mop for several decades, and a gust of cold, sticky air that blew over his back fur sent a shiver through the colt's body.

Not exactly what he had expected.

Moderately confused, Nova opened his other eye, and lifted his head off the ground. Noticing a strange, static-like noise in his head, he led a hoof up to his ear and gently scratched the sensitive organ.

With a soft pop, his hearing returned, and his ears promptly perked up.

He couldn't tell what exactly it was he heard - scrambling, slapping sounds, accompanied by the occasional groan and curse. For a moment he felt reminded to that one time when he had walked in on his auntie and uncle doing that special embrace together, but this just sounded a little more ... aggressive.

Slightly confused, Nova shook his still dizzy head and looked around. His eyes widened.

His mind was still feeling drowsy, and he barely remembered a thing from what had happened since he had entered the stable's atrium, but right now he knew only one thing: his mother was in danger!

She was rolling on the ground, her hooves locked firmly around the neck of a pony easily twice her size, her face contorted in stress and anger as she struggled with the stallion, both of them trying to get the upper hand. It took Nova a few seconds to remember who it was his mother was fighting with, but when he did, a new wave of fear shot through his body.

"Heh..." Bonecracker growled with a toothy grin as the bundle of two ponies came to a halt, Littlepip resting on top of the raider as she tried to hold down his bulky front legs, "You've gotten stronger than last time. Impressive."

Littlepip replied nothing, clenching her teeth as her horn lit up, holding the stallion's legs in place.

"But not strong enough." Bonecracker added with a grin, and before Littlepip's magic could form around his limbs, his right hoof shot up, sending a powerful punch against the unicorn's cheek, and gaining a pained yelp from her in return as her magic imploded. The raider didn't hesitate to take advantage of this short moment of distraction - placing both his forehooves on Littlepip's chest, he shoved the unicorn off his body and caused her to fall on ber back, exposing her unprotected belly.

Frozen in shock, Nova watched how Bonecracker then pounced onto his mother, standing above her, placing two hooves at each side of her head and looking into her eyes with a look of deadly determination. Littlepip wanted to struggle, but Bonecracker just replied with a hard stomp of his big hoof onto the unicorn's abdomen, and Littlepip ended her struggles with a breathless groan as the air was pressed out of her lungs.

Her horn lit up once again, forming a green aura around the raider as a last resort, but another quick punch to the face caused her concentration to falter with a sickening crunch, and her head fell back against the ground with a powerless gasp.

"Still a stable pony." Bonecracker said with a superior smirk, firmly placing a hoof on Littlepip's chest, who groaned and spat out a chunk of bloody saliva before focussing the raider with a hateful look. "Still weak and fragile."

"Die in a fire." Littlepip hissed at the stallion with clenched teeth. And once again, her muzzle was met with Bonecracker's hoof with another crunch - his blows seemed to get stronger every time.

"No!" Finally, it seemed Nova had managed to break himself loose from his state of shock. His heart in his mouth, the colt jumped to his hooves and ran over to the two ponies in a tear-soaked frenzy, "Get away from her you filthy monster! Get away from her!"

He came to a halt right next to Bonecracker's massive form just as the raider was about to launch into another strike at Littlepip. Getting to his rear legs, he punched his hooves into the stallion's side, trying to stop him from beating his mother to pulp.

However, to the colt's disappointment, Bonecracker seemed completely unaffected by Nova's attack. In fact, he barely even deigned to look at him as his hoof hovered dangerously over Littlepip's bleeding nose. "Don't worry, junior," he said over his shoulder, smirking, "I'll be with you in a second."

And with that, he turned his hoof away and with an almost casual ease delivered a powerful backhanded blow against the side of Nova's head, sending the colt flying a few feet backwards before landing on the filthy ground and sliding to a halt.

"You fucker!" Littlepip screamed in horror and once again punched her hoof into Bonecracker's chest with all her power - the raider didn't even flinch.

"Ouch..." Nova groaned, caressing his burning cheek as he felt tears forming in his eyes once again. He had never felt this sort of pain before, and if he hadn't been sure that adrenaline had completely replaced the blood in his veins, he would have probably cried out and called for his mommy.

However, his mommy wasn't there; she wasn't even somewhere nearby. And the only other pony he trusted was still involved in a mortal combat with a blood-thirsty raider - a raider that had -by a hair- killed Nova without hesitation just moments ago.

Said raider had meanwhile focussed his attention back on Littlepip. While her teeth were still bared in anger, and her eyes promised all kinds of pain and suffering for Bonecracker once she was free, her battered body seemed too weak to fulfill these promises; her torso was still immobilized by Bonecracker's hoof resting on her chest; her short legs barely reached the tall stallion, and her horn -while giving the one or other green spark every now and then- didn't seem capable of freeing her from the raider's grip.

Both ponies seemed to know about the balance of power, based on the look of horror that was starting to make itself noticeable in Littlepip's eyes, and that of calm, pleasant anticipation in the eyes of the raider.

"I should've killed you the first time you were here." he growled with a grin as he slowly lifted his right hoof, and placed it right on Littlepip's neck, "But better late than never, right?"

And with that, he pressed his hoof down; Littlepip's eyes widened abruptly as she gasped for air, yet all that escaped her mouth was a muffled choking sound. Her hooves shot up, reaching for her throat, and trying to shove the red hoof that was blocking her airways away, but to no avail: without her magic, Littlepip was completely at Bonecracker's mercy - and it didn't seem like the raider planned on leaving her a chance to change anything about that.

With pounding heart, Nova sat and watched as the pony he had known as his mother for his whole life was slowly suffocated by the pony who, by his own admission, was his actual father - a cold-blooded and merciless murderer.

Tears were running down his cheeks, and his whole body began to shiver as he started to recall single parts of what his alleged parents had been arguing about before the events had taken a drastic turn.

However, these thoughts quickly were upstaged by the realization of just what was happening right in front of his eyes: this pony was being killed! And he was just standing aside and watching! He had to do something!

His look shot back to the raider looming atop the Stable Dweller; the toothy grin on his face seemed to grow with every second as he pressed his hoof deeper into the mare's neck. Based on his prior experiences, Nova knew that running up to him and trying to shove the raider away from her would be futile: the stallion was easily four times Nova's weight, and he had already proven to have quite a strong hoof when it came to punching little colts.

With growing despair, Nova's look shot around the room, well-knowing that every second he wasted could mean a certain death for Littlepip.

He had to act, and he had to act now! He didn't stand a chance against the raider in close combat, and calling help would be futile, as the next settlement was miles away.

No, it was up to him to save her, and it was now or never!

With trembling legs, the colt hastily turned around, searching the dusky atrium for something, anything he could use against the raider, and his tear-stained eyes spotted something laying on the ground not too far from him.

No. No, there had to be another way!

His ears perked up, and a shudder ran through his spine as he once again heard the Stable Dweller choking on the raider's deathly grip.

There ... there had to be another way! There was no way he could...

"Relax." He heard Bonecracker's disturbingly soothing voice coming from behind him, barely drowning out Littlepip's chokes, "It'll be over soon. And I promise I'll take good care of the colt."

Another tear ran down Nova's cheek as his teeth began to chatter - he couldn't do this! He just ... couldn't! He had to find another way!

The colt's heart seemed to stop as the choking sounds coming from behind him slowly faded away, and the sounds of Littlepip's hooves flailing around and trying to free herself became weaker and weaker.

There ... there was no other way.

The hunger for blood was burning in Bonecracker's eyes as he looked into those of Littlepip. Struggling against his stranglehold with all of her power, yet without success, she stared at him, eyes wide in a mixture of horror and fury. Her lips formed curses, death threats, and just about anything else that came to the mare's mind, yet all that escaped her mouth were the repetetive sounds of choking.

"Relax." Bonecracker cooed, enjoying the power he finally had over the mare that had killed his whole crew; the only sort of friends or family he had ever had - two whole times. He had sworn himself that he'd make this mare pay for everything she had done the day she had left him tied up in between the dead bodies of his friends, and finally, finally this day had come. "It'll be over soon. And I promise I'll take good care of the colt."

All in all, things had gone a lot better than expected. When she had left him in the atrium the day before, he had originally wanted to break himself free right away like he had done last time. However, remembering what she had announced, he had decided to wait and see what 'surprise' she had in store - after all, if things were to become hairy he could break free and overwhelm the Stable Dweller anytime.

When the colt had walked into the atrium, he had known what to do - he might have been a raider, but he sure as heck wasn't stupid. He had had a suspicion that the stable mare hadn't told the colt anything about his roots, and once this suspicion had turned out to be true, he had known exactly what to do - why jump up and attack them right away if he could make the colt suffer a little more first - and make her watch helplessly.

Once the cat was out of the bag, taking care of the distressed colt was an easy feat - that is, if the little stable-cunt hadn't intervened and lunged at him before he could reach the colt.

Originally he wanted to kill the colt first and make her watch, but he wouldn't let this little change of tactics put him off his stride - so he got to kill the stable mare first; he sure wasn't going to complain.

He bit his lip in ecstasy as he saw how the mare's eyes seemed to become wider and wider - how resistance turned into despair, and despair into hopelessness. He could have ended this minutes ago - a quick stomp to her neck and that stable mare would have been gone for good - his name wasn't Bonecracker for nothing, after all.

Sure, she might have overrun him and his crew two times already, but she had merely used the element of surprise back then, and only with her non-equine magic powers had she been able to overwhelm him at all. Now, however, all her fancy magic used her nothing at all, and she was completely at the raider's mercy - killing her would be like stopming a bug.

But he didn't want to make it too easy for her - he wanted to see her suffer; to watch her in struggle with death, and witness how she slowly, painfully departed her life.

So he merely increased the pressure on her neck a little further - and promptly got rewarded with a jerk going through the mare's body as her airways were crushed. With pleasure, he watched how her choked breathing slowly became weaker; how the grip of her hooves on his leg faded away, and her eyes became glassy.

He licked his lips, looking into the half-lidded eyes of the Stable Dweller, and whispered, "Time to die - hero."

But just as the raider was about to launch into the finishing strike that would end the Stable Dweller's life once and for all, another ear-shattering bang echoed throughout the deserted halls of Stable Two - and was followed by nothing but dead silence.

Almost unconscious from the lack of oxygen, Littlepip looked up at the raider still looming over her, surprised to feel that the pressure on her neck was slowly fading away.

Looking at her with an unbelieving, empty gaze, Bonecracker let out a weak groan, before going limp like a sack of potatoes and collapsing to the floor, burying Littlepip's hind legs under his body as he did so.

Breathing heavily, slowly regaining her consciousness, the Stable Dweller lifted her head, then looked at the collapsed raider - and at the hoof-sized hole in the side of his head.

Little Macintosh fell to the ground with a loud clank, a good ten yards away from where the light red colt was sitting on the ground, his sobs barely audible over the breathless gasps of the recovering unicorn mare.

Eyes torn wide open and staring blankly into the darkness, legs stiff as a poker and trembling like aspen leaves, he sat there.

He didn't know what had just happened. He didn't want to know what had just happened. His beathing quickened; his sobs became more and more stifled as the colt started to hyperventilate, his eyes never leaving the spot where a raider had tried to choke his mother to death mere seconds ago - and where the buff stallion was now laying on the ground with a bullet in his head - a bullet he had fired.

Nova could feel the taste of copper in his mouth, as well as the feeling of something warm running down his neck. After picking up and firing Little Macintosh in the heat of the moment, the revolver's recoil had literally blown the colt off his hooves - his head had jerked back, his occiput hitting the ground -hard- while the gun had literally jumped out of his mouth's hold, knocking out a tooth in the process.

The pain this had caused was hardly describable, but Nova barely even noticed it. He barely noticed anything.

He just sat there - sobbing, crying, wailing like the little foal he was; hoping that all this was just a terrible nightmare, and that his mommy would wake him up any minute now.

But nothing happened; nothing at all. For a whole eternity, he was just sitting there - surrounded by nothing but darkness and dead silence, and accompanied by nobody but his own thoughts.

And there sure was a lot to think about.

"Hey..." Maybe it were several hours that had passed until Nova could hear hoofsteps slowly coming closer, maybe just a few seconds - lost in his thoughts, he had lost each and every sense of time.

Everything felt blurred; his legs were still trembling and he was still sobbing heftily, but he had stopped crying some time ago - perhaps his body had just run out of tears.

Still breathing a little heavier than normal, Littlepip walked up to him, comfortingly putting a hoof on his back.

Nova didn't react.

"You ... really saved my hide back there." she said slowly, "Just a few seconds longer and I would have..."

She abruptly cut herself off as she saw the red stains on her hoof and the blood running down his back. "You're injured!" she noticed with horror, looking at the small but noticeable laceration at the back of his head, "Sweet Celestia, was that..."

Hastily, she walked around the colt, bowing her head down to look into his glassy eyes - and promptly noticed the thin trail of blood that was running out of the corner his mouth. Nova, however, didn't move in the slightest, just continuing to look into the emptiness with a thousand-yard stare and sobbing.

"Hey. Hey..." Littlepip said, placing a hoof under his chin and looking the colt in the eyes, "You did the right thing back there." she assured him, softly, but with emphasis, "He would have killed me if you hadn't stepped in." she said emphatically. Despair more and more entered her face as she saw that the colt still didn't react.

"Come here..." she said, putting a hoof around Nova's neck and pulling him into a hug.

She was stopped by a red hoof placed firmly on her chest. Still trembling and breathing heavily, his eyes red from crying, Nova looked at her, his face contorted in a mixture of anger and pain. "Is it ... true?" he asked with trembling voice, not breaking eye contact with Littlepip.

"Nova come on," she put him off, leaning forward and starting another attempt to pull him into a tight, tender hug.

Oh how desperately he wished to hug her; how badly he wanted to snuggle into her soft chest fur, close his eyes, and pretend that nothing of all this had ever happened.

But he couldn't. Not until he had a clear answer.

"Is it true?" he asked, his voice sharper this time; the one hoof that kept Littlepip from hugging him had not left its position.

She placed her hoof on his, gently trying to push it down, but it didn't move by an inch. "Nova please," she tried again, her voice almost begging with the colt, "we really don't need to-"

"Is. It. True!?" Nova hissed through clenched teeth, throwing a glare at his mother that almost looked as threatening as that of Bonecracker. "Is it true that you've made me grow up living a lie? That you're not my real mother; that my father is a..." he drew in a sharp breath, "a murdering, raping monster, and my mother his poor slave?"

Littlepip just looked at the colt, the expression of despair on her face slowly turning into one of hopelessness as she listened to what he had to say.

"Is it true..." Nova continued, his trembling voice gaining more and more anger to it, "That you arranged all this-" he pointed at the stable around them, "brought me here, knowing what was going on, put me through all this..." he had to pause as his voice was about to break, but then cleared his throat and continued, "And made me kill my own father - just because you wanted revenge for what he's done to your stable!?"

"These ... these were raiders, Nova." Littlepip tried to defend herself, "You've seen what they've done to innocent settlers - think of the white stallion we've freed!"

"How do I know that you didn't bring him here!?" Nova shouted angrily, tears in his eyes, "After everything you've done..." he sobbed, breaking eye contact as he looked to the side and let his hoof slide off her chest, "It wouldn't surprise me."

"N-Nova..." Littlepip stuttered helplessly, "You ... you know I'd never do something like this!" she assured him with growing despair, "Everything I've done I've done to help ponies!"

Slowly, the colt lifted his head again, silently looking her in the eyes; his whole body was still trembling.

A moment of total silence passed.

"...It's true ... isn't it?" he asked with quavering voice, "That you've killed my mother..." he spat at her, "and kidnapped me right after I was born!" he burst out, tears running down his cheeks. But he didn't look away. He didn't break eye contact. He wanted to look into her eyes - and see if she was being honest or not.

"Nova..." she looked at him, pain in her eyes, "It's not like-"

"Tell me. The truth." he said; his voice was slow, tensed to the maximum, never breaking eye contact with Littlepip. "Did you kill my mother?"

Littlepip looked back at him - from the look in her eyes, it seemed like she wanted to break out in tears on the spot, but she did her best to keep herself together. "It's not what it sounds like!" she assured him, her voice at the verge of breaking, "She was about to-"

"Little-pip." Nova hissed sharply. This was, as far as he could remember, the first time he had called the unicorn by her real name and not adressed her as 'mom'. But this ... this pony didn't deserve to be called his mom any longer. "Did you kill her?" he asked her with wide open eyes, "Yes, or no?"

"I ... I..." she stuttered helplessly, then closed her eyes and lowered her head; a single tear ran down her muzzle.

"Yes..." she said, her voice weak and barely louder than a whisper, "Yes, I did."

Before Nova could reply, her head shot back up and she added, "But it's not like you think it is!" she assured him with desperate eyes, "Your mother ... Morning Mist, she..." a shiver ran through the unicorn's body, "She barely survived the birth. When I found her, she was lying on the ground, covered in her own blood, and cradling you in her arms." she looked at the colt, wiping her tears from her face, "I tried to help her, but she'd already lost too much blood - and her body was weak from months of abuse. I knew that she wouldn't make it - and she knew it too."

She looked away from Nova, a heavy sigh escaping her lips, "She asked me to put an end to her suffering; begged me to take you with me and give you a chance for a better life." her eyes went back to the colt, and a new tear ran down her face, "So that's what I did." she finished with a sorroful look on her face, "I put a quick and painless end to her suffering." Another tear formed in her eyes and ran down her cheek, "And I took you with me and raised you like my own son - hoping that you would grow up in a better world than your mother."

She finished, and dead silence settled between the two ponies. Nova looked at her, his eyes big as he let her words sink in. The anger in his face seemed to vanish, making way for an expression of understanding, before the colt closed his eyes and let his head sink.

"And everything I've done since then," Littlepip continued softly, gently placing a hoof on Nova's shoulder, "I've done for your own good." her voice broke, and she let out a sob, "Because I love you like my own son - and I always will, no matter what."

The colt sighed heavily, the tensed muscles in his face relaxing for a moment.

Then his whole body tensed again; his head shot back up, and his tearstained eyes focused on Littlepip.

"Liar!" he shouted with all of his remaining power, shoving Littlepip's hoof away, "You're a liar! Everything you say is just ... just an excuse to make everything you've done sound acceptable!" he shouted, pointing an accusing hoof at her, "But it doesn't!" he yelled, his eyes going wide again, "You've lied to me! All my life you've been lying to me! You've killed my mother, and made me kill my father! You ... you're a monster!"

His words hit Littlepip like a punch to the face - each and every muscle in her body seemed to go limp and she could feel herself reel as she stared at the colt, her mouth hanging open.

"I ... I can't..." Nova sobbed, looking to the ground, "I can't believe you did this to me. All this time, you just ... just..."

"Nova..." Littlepip whispered, taking a step forward and placing a comforting hoof on the colt's back.

But he smacked it away with his hoof. "Don't touch me!" he yelled at her with eyes wide in horror, "You monster! I..." he sobbed again, rubbing a hoof over his running nose, "I never want to see you again!"

He jumped to his hooves and started running, running right past Littlepip and back into the direction the two had come from earlier.

"Nova please, I..." She raised a hoof, wanting to protest, but couldn't get herself to follow the running colt, "I ... I..." tears were blurring her vision, and she could feel herself sink to her haunches as she watched the reddish figure disappear in the twilight of the stable - running away from the pony he had looked up to; had admired, and trusted blindly for his whole life.

"I ... love you."

Ch. 7: Regrets

Shock.

Shock, sorrow, and above all: hate. These were the emotions that dominated my mind.

Shock because nothing had worked like it was supposed to work: this was supposed to be a small excursion; a staged rescue mission to make my son feel like a hero and give him the chance to be seen as one by somepony other than his family.

Sorrow because ... well, this should be obvious. From the day I had found him and his mother in the 'prison cell' of Stable Two, it had been clear that this day would come. He was a smart colt; a smart colt that questioned a lot of things. So I knew that it was only a matter of time until he would ask about his 'two mothers'.

Homage, Velvet Remedy, Calamity and me had spent a lot of time talking about this day; discussing about whether we should tell him upfront or let him find out by himself. In the end it had been Velvet and Homage who had prevailed, so that we had collectively agreed on not telling him anything and waiting until he would get on to it by himself. I would have preferred to tell him right away, but Velvet just seemed to have a smooth tongue when it came to arguing - the fact that Homage mostly shared her point of view, and Calamity -while originally agreeing with me- seemed to dread Velvet's 'methods of persuasion' (read: "Agree with me or no more pony-rides for you.") didn't really help me prove my point.

Well, now he had found out. And all things considered, his reaction hadn't been too surprising. But we all would have hoped for him to find out under regular circumstances - on a regular day in Tenpony Tower; better yet, on a weekend or during his holidays, so that he would have a clear mind and enough time to come to terms with the truth.

But now ... I could feel a tear running down my cheek.

It had hurt. It had hurt so damn much hearing these words coming from him; seeing him suffer; knowing that there was nothing I could do to help him - and it hurt even more to know that I was the reason for all this. If I had just killed this damned raider before he could have said too much! If I had just ... not taken a little colt into a raider-infested stable in the first place! Everyone in this world knew that this wasn't a place for foals! Why couldn't I have just listened to my common sense for once? Why did I have to come back here? Why did I have to bring him with me!?

My look went over to the dead body of Bonecracker laying in a puddle of his own blood a few feet away from me, and I could feel how the seething anger inside me turned into a boiling rage.

"You..." I growled, feeling how my body began to tremble with anger, "This is all your fault!" I shouted at the dead body, walking over to where he was laying, "If you could have just kept your fucking mouth shut!" I planted myself in front of him, "It would have all been good!" I yelled at him, my voice at the verge of breaking from the anger I felt.

The dead stallion didn't move by an inch. But I swear to Celestia, that was a grin on his crusted lips - a smug, shit-eating grin. Even in death he was grinning at me; mocking me with this fucking grin.

"You worthless, miserable piece of shit!" I cussed, one of my hooves shooting forward and giving him a hard kick into his testicles - a part of me was hoping he would flinch or at least gasp in pain.

But nothing happened; his heavy body barely moved at all.

In turn, I could feel a sharp sting of pain shooting through my leg. To be fair, I wasn't the fittest anymore, and while I had been outside for only a few hours, I could feel the wasteland draining my power reserves. My legs were getting weaker, my eyelids heavier, and I was sure it was only a matter of time until standing itself would be a challenge. I would need to get back to the Single Pegasus Project shortly if I didn't want to pass out.

Panting, blinking to stimulate my tired eyes, I looked down at Bonecracker. The bullet that had killed him and saved my life had gone straight through his head. As much as I disliked it in that moment, a part of me felt proud that my so- ... Nova was such a good shot. I didn't dare think about what would have happened if this one shot had missed.

My thoughts went back to him, and I could feel how the pain in my heart flared up again ... only that this time it was accompanied by a sudden realization: Nova was still out there - in the wasteland; unarmed, and all by himself - an easy target for ... just about anything out there!

And all of a sudden, all these negative emotions were gone: all the sorrow, all the anger, all the exhaustion and all the self-hate were suddenly replaced by one single alarming thought: my son was in danger!

Feeling how adrenaline shot back into my veins, I span around on the spot, not hesitating a second as I took off, running into the direction Nova had disappeared into, and leaving the dead body of Bonecracker behind to rot in the dusky atrium of Stable Two - not like he deserved anything better.

"Nova!" I shouted as I passed the doorframe we had come through earlier, hoping that he wasn't too far away yet and could still hear me.

I stopped for a moment, perking up my ears.

Nothing.

"Damit." I cussed and pressed on, passing a narrow, dusky hallway and dashing up a set of stairs. The darkness around me seemed to become more and more intense the further I went, but I ignored it - turning on my pipbuck light meant to stop, and I did not have time to stop! Nova was somewhere out there - or maybe he was still in the stable! Damnit, what if he would get lost!? He was just a little colt - being all alone in this horrible place must be terrifying for him!

My legs stiffened abruptly, and I slid to a halt just as I had passed another set of stairs. My breath caught in my throat. He was ... just ... a colt.

A faint sensation of weightlessness settled into my guts as I stood there, blankly staring into the darkness. Had I really ... made him do all this? Had I really taken a colt who had spent his whole life growing up in the safe and stable environment of Tenpony Tower into a raider-infested hellhole? And had I ... I ... really told a colt who wouldn't harm a fly to execute another pony?

I could feel my eyes glazing over as the integrity of things started to come crashing down on me.

How ... how could I have ever done that? How could I have ever let that happen? One of the most cheerful and innocent souls in all of Equestria, and I had put him through ... all this!

I felt my heart becoming heavy and tears forming in my eyes, but quickly caught myself - I could think about what a terrible mother I was when I had found him and made sure that he was alright, but for now his wellbeing was everything that counted.

And with that I freed myself from my stiffness, shook my head, and got under way again.

Now wasn't the time for thinking or feelings; now was the time to save my son.

Nothing. Absolutely nothing! No hoofsteps, no signs on the walls, not a single trace of Nova!

I didn't know how long I had spent running through the innards of Stable Two - half an hour? Maybe two? I had lost each and every sense of time.

But I hadn't found him. Either he had found the way to the exit at one go and already was way out of my reach now, or he was hiding from me somewhere here in the Stable. Either way, my hopes to find him slowly crumbled away: even when assuming that he wasn't out there -alone, all by himself, and completely helpless- I probably wouldn't find him down here - he was excellent at hiding, and if he didn't want to be found I wouldn't find him.

Besides, I was sure that I had already passed through every single of the stable's rooms, searching for him, calling him, asking him to make some sort of noise.

That is...

I took in a shallow breath as I stopped in front of the dark set of stairs.

Every room but one.

I bristled as I looked down into the darkness. I didn't like being down there. I despised being down there!

Ever since I first made contact with the raiders, this room just ... made my skin creep - in more than just one way. I felt a feeling of sickness making itself noticeable in my throat at the thought of going down there again. It just ... hurt so much seeing what they had made of this room. And every second I spent in there just seemed to make it worse.

But I gave myself a mental kick and shook my head. What if Nova was down there? The chance was vanishingly low, but I couldn't just ignore it!

Drawing in another breath and feeling how my legs began to shake ever so slightly, I stepped forward, and walked down the two flights of stairs - into the pipbuck technician's room.

"Nova!" I shouted for the colt as I stepped into the room, trying not too look too closely at ... everything. It had been hard going back in here for the first time, but now... I held back a sob, pressing my eyes shut to stop the tears that were forming within them from getting out. This wasn't the time to get all sentimental about my old home. I ... I never liked this place anyway ... right?

I shook my head, directing my look back onto the devastated room in front of me. I had to blink again as it fell onto the abandoned workbenches at the side, and before I could help it my thoughts drifted back to the one day that had started it all - the day I had been standing on this very workbench. The day Velvet Remedy had come in here and asked me to replace the padding on her PipBuck.

I closed my eyes for just a second, and immediately saw myself standing in this very room so many years ago. Back then the only thing I had to be afraid of was dying of boredom - and the only thing on my mind was the gray wall in front of me.

Slowly, I opened my eyes again. That exact same wall was now punctured with bullet holes, and plastered with stains - blood, bile, and just about any other fluid a pony's body could produce.

But I quickly turned my head away, feeling the anger within me rising up again - that sort of anger that I knew would never fade. These raiders had broken into my home; had mutilated and devastated it beyond repair. It hurt seeing what they had made of it, and it hurt even more knowing that it would never be the same again; that I would never see it the same way again.

Trying to clear my thoughts, I shook my head again, looking away from the wall and once again shouting "Nova?"

But there was no reply.

Holding back a shiver, I looked over to the darkened doorframe that led into the backroom. There was no way he could be in there. Why should he be in there? Based on his reactions, this should be the last place he would want to go.

I wanted turn away, but hesitated.

Yes, the chances that he was in there were vanishingly low, but ... what if he was? Yes, this was one of the places I wouldn't expect him to go to save his life, but ... what if he had?

As much as my heart, my head, and just about anything else disliked the thought of going in there again, I knew that I would be cursing myself for the rest of my life if it would turn out that he had been hiding in there and I hadn't looked for him.

I swallowed, opening my mouth again and hesitantly repeating, "N-Nova? Are you in there?"

It was a vain attempt, and I knew it perfectly well. Even if he had -against all odds- decided to hide in there, he surely wouldn't have replied to me calling for him.

"Only one way to find out..." I muttered to myself before reluctantly stepping forward, and entering the darkness of what used to be my private quarters.

A new wave of sickness hit me as I stepped into the room. Even without any proper lighting I could see the stains on the floor, the markings on the walls ... and an emaciated white mare laying in a corner of the room, covered in her own blood, and holding a newborn foal in her arms.

I blinked as the flashback image slowly faded away, revealing an empty room - the stains on the walls and floor were still there -some probably even leftover from this day- but the mare was gone. So was the foal.

Trying to ban the images of what had happened in this room ten years ago from my head, I looked around and once again asked, "Nova?" though I already knew the answer.

Nothing but dead silence.

I sighed, dropping my head. He wasn't here; he wasn't in the stable. He was gone.

"I'm a terrible mother." I said to myself, ignoring the stains and puddles my hooves were standing in.

If only I had listened to him when he had said that he wanted to go home! If only I hadn't brought him here to begin with!

My look went back to the room behind me, and I remembered what had happened earlier: he had asked me if he could go home. He had begged me to just blow this all off, and I had just ignored him!

I numbly shook my head - I had known that he didn't feel comfortable doing this. I had known that it would have been the better choice to just go home, but ... it had made me angry. It had made me so damn angry seeing Stable Two; the place I grew up in; the place I used to call my home for almost half of my life like this! These raiders had mutilated my home; had turned my room into a prison cell where ponies were abused, raped, and Celestia-knows-what! I wanted revenge! These ponies had to pay for what they had done!

A sensation of coldness seemed to run over my back as the harsh reality caught up with me once again.

Yes, I had gotten my revenge. But it had cost me my son.

At once, I felt like cussing, screaming and breaking out in tears all over again, and I could already feel my legs giving in, about to break into another fit of anger, tears and rage.

But I caught myself this time.

Yes, this world wasn't fair, and yes, I was the stupidest, most incompetent parent Equestria had ever seen, but all this seemed almost ridiculously unimportant in this moment.

Nova was still somewhere out there. Somewhere. Probably miles away.

I sighed, knowing that my chances to find him were vanishingly low. The Equestrian Wasteland was huge, and while it was likely that he would try to head back to Homage and Velvet Remedy in Tenpony Tower, he was more likely to get lost than anything else. We might be able to search for him with the help of the MASEBS, but even that would probably end up taking several days. Homage could inform the wasteland about him as DJ-Pon3, but that also wasn't too promising, seeing how the area around Stable Two was sparsely inhabited.

And I didn't even want to think of the lecture that would await me once I would set hoof into Tenpony Tower. Homage and Velvet never liked it when I went on 'adventures' with Nova, and Calamity was the only one who knew about us heading to Stable Two today, so the surprise when they would find out that I had not only brought him into a devastated and raider-infested stable, but also put him through all this didn't promise to be so pleasant.

But none of all this mattered now! First I had to find him and make sure he was alright, then I could worry about the consequences of my actions.

I turned around, casting one last look over my shoulder at the room I used to call my home. This ... this was wrong on so many levels. For a moment I felt myself wanting to lock this place up forever; to seal it with concrete, or just burn it down entirely; find some way to erase all these atrocities that had been commited in this place for good.

But I couldn't. Not now. Not while Nova was still out there.

I had to find him. I knew that he probably was gone by now, but ... I couldn't just give up.

I had to find him.

I had to try.

I stepped outside, and the glaring sunlight blinded my eyes.

The rain had vanished, and so had the clouds. It was a magnificent day in the Equestrian Wasteland - bright blue skies, almost-green grass, and the distant scenery of a partly re-constructed Ponyville greeted my eyes as I left the stable.

Indeed, it seemed the day couldn't have been better; all it would have taken was an obligatory rainbow over the horizon and the impression of a perfect world on a perfect day would have been complete.

And yet, all it seemed to do was fuel fuel my anger. Everything around me; the shining sun, the blue sky, the peaceful and harmonious atmosphere, everything seemed to taunt me; make me feel like it was all smiles and sunshine and everything was fine, while in reality...

I could feel another pang of pain shoot through my heart.

"Nova!" I shouted, breathless and exhausted, but still with some hope left within me. "Nova!" My head shot around, searching my environment, hoping to find the red colt sitting somewhere and ... somehow making everything alright again.

But there was nothing - a big, dull, gray rock to my right, the abandoned ruins of Sweet Apple Acres half-hidden behind it, and nothing but deserted wasteland to my left. No signs of the pony I was looking for.

But I couldn't just stand there! I had to do something! Go somewhere! Just ... find him!

Ponyville! Ponyville was the first thing that came into my mind. He would head for the nearest bit of civilization, right? So what better place to start my search than there, right? He probably was already there and waiting for me, right?

Right?

"Nova!" I shouted again as I started to run, my voice hoarse, weaker, and about to break as I was nearing the verge of tears. Walking through the stable with Nova had been exhausting; fighting with Bonecracker had taken a serious toll on my health, and spending the past hour running through the ruins of my former home had drained any power I might have had left in my bones. If adrenaline hadn't replaced all the blood I had in my veins, I was sure standing upright would have been a near impossibility, let alone running like I was right now. "Nova, if you can hear me, I'm so-"

I cut myself off. My run slowed down to a canter, then to a walk, until I finally stopped, looking at who had just stepped from behind the rock in front of me.

I could feel my heart pound inside my chest. A hundred questions and even more emotions were running through my mind, but the look in his eyes managed to silence them all at once.

The black desperado hat on his head was lowered, granting me only a limited look on his eyes. But even then I could see that he didn't look reproachful, neither was there any trace of anger or disappointment in his eyes. No, he just looked ... regretful.

A few moments passed in silence as the two of us just stared at each other.

Finally, I looked away from him as my look went back to the big rock next to him. Perking up my ears, I could have sworn I heard voices coming from the other side - one of which sounded awfully similiar to that of Velvet Remedy. That meant they must have come after us after Velvet had found out where we had been headed - guess Calamity wasn't so good at keeping secrets after all.

And listening to the second voice -a colt's voice, apparently- quickly brought up a new suspicion in my head.

Counting one and one together, I looked back at my friend, then softly asked, "I-is he...?"

The pegasus slowly nodded his head, and I promptly stepped forward to walk around the rock.

But a hoof on my shoulder stopped me abruptly. "Pip..." Calamity said, his voice barely louder than a whisper, "Leave him alone. He needs some time to think."

I turned my head, looking back at him with wide eyes, "But..."

"He's with Velvet." my friend explained calmly, "He'll be fine. But he needs some time to come to terms with it all." Looking me in the eyes, he added, "An' Ah think you do, too."

I stood still for a moment, fighting with myself, but then let out a heavy sigh, dropping my shoulders.

I wanted to go to him! To see him! To hold him close and tell him how sorry I was for everything I had put him through!

But Calamity had a point. He probably wouldn't listen to me anyway. Not now, at least.

"You're right." I muttered numbly, softly shoving his hoof off my shoulders, "I think some alone time would be good for both of us." I lowered my head, a strong feeling of shame rising up within me as my worries began to fade, "Thanks for ... keeping an eye on him. I don't know what would have happened if-"

"It's fine." he cut me off briefly, mustering me from underneath his hat, a deadpan look in his eyes. "That's what family's for."

Despite everything, I could feel a ghost of a smile hushing over my face for just a second, before I shook my head, sighed again and said, "I ... I'll catch up with you later. Don't wait for me."

A brief “Mm-hmm.” was all I received in return before I turned around and walked off, hoping that, somehow, things would be better by the time I would arrive.

I passed by the rock after taking a few steps, stopping for a moment as I heard the awfully familiar voices again.

"Canni-balls?" his voice sent a shudder through my body. It sounded hoarse; beaten, exhausted from what lay behind him, but at the same time still sounded so harmless, so ... innocent. "I-isn't that a brand for snacks?"

A second voice let out a long, pained sigh. "No..." that was Velvet Remedy's voice. Just like Calamity, she didn't sound angry or reproachful. No, in this moment, all that was in her voice was pain; pain and a tad of regret. "No, Nova. Cannibals aren't snacks. They're ... they're ponies that ... that eat..." she cut herself off, swallowing.

The next part was muffled, so I couldn't hear what exactly she was saying, but Nova's reaction left little to be imagined.

"W-what? What!? They eat ... what!?" His voice, high-pitched from his horror, made me want to hug him; comfort him and tell him that everything would be alright, but I controlled myself - it was better to not interrupt the two at the moment, "B-but how ... how can they? I mean ... this is ... this is just wrong!"

Another heavy sigh came from Velvet, followed by a moment of silence. I knew how wrong this was - eavesdropping on my friends while they were doing what I had failed to do. But as much as I fought with myself, I couldn't get myself to turn around and walk away.

"This was her reaction too." she finally brought out, her voice weak, melancholy. "We all were shocked, but she..." she drew in a short breath, "Even more than us."

"What do you mean?" Now the innocence in his voice was gone, replaced by mistrust, dread and anger. "W-what did she do?"

Another uncomfortably long moment of silence followed.

"You see, when your mo- Littlepip ... when she found out about their ... secret, she..." Velvet started, but cut herself off, "She just ... lost control. She wasn't herself anymore. And she had no control over what she was doing."

"She killed them, didn't she?"

The question was obvious, and given the context nothing more than a logical conclusion, but it came with such coldness, such sobriety, that it left me and, based on the awkward silence that followed, Velvet as well, speechless.

"I knew it." Now his voice just sounded plain deadpan, "She does that often, doesn't she?"

I turned away, covering my nose with a hoof to hold back a sob. I couldn't take this anymore. How could one mare fuck up so badly? How could I ruin everything we had been working on in just one afternoon?

Shaking my head in pure disbelief, I started walking. Somewhere. Away from where Velvet Remedy was trying her best to do damage control.

But I couldn't stand hearing this anymore. I just ... couldn't. I needed some time to come to terms with the fact that I had ruined everything; that my own son took me for a cold-blooded murderer!

Numbly trotting over the dusty ruins of Sweet Apple Acres, I slowly lifted my head, and my eyes spotted the decaying remains of the farmhouse up ahead - the first place I had visited after leaving Stable Two.

My head sank again.

Maybe back to the roots was the right way to go.

Looking at my surroundings, it was the only way to go as well.

Ch. 8: Recovery

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