Betrayal

15 Years later. Tenpony Tower. Manehatten.

It had been a long time since I almost got murdered by ghouls, which by the way, they still suck. If the ponies who ran the tower would have let me, I would have gone back and killed every one of the stupid things. Okay, well, maybe not right now because I had just finished my guard training, but still. I'd always hated ghouls ever since then. I mean sure, Ditzy was okay and non ferals were fine, but those stupid zombie bastards needed to die. Like, all of them. Fuckers. Oh, and this view sucked. All the eye could see from atop Tenpony at night were black broken sillouhettes of destroyed buildings, like the corpses of the old world. Sometimes they'd even trigger a flash from the past for me... or was it a vision? Anyways those still happened but i'd gotten used to it as they were pretty damn useless. They'd put me on night guard, since apparently trying to do guard duty with a hangover all the time was frowned upon. It wasn't my fault that pretty mares came through often and guards were well paid. I mean, Tenpony had a great nightlife! But that's all beside the point and my thoughts are rambling. Night guard was usually pretty boring, and since I was one of the few pegasi around, my watch was primarily at the top of the tower. I had to fly down and run a short route around the tower periodically. Ninety-nine percent of the time it was incredibly boring because nothing happened. According to everypony, nothing of interest happened to Tenpony since the "heroes" all came through. By heroes, I mean Littlepip and Blackjack, but I'd read of others in "new" books which were mostly mouth-written on old paper and tied together with something that may have been hair, but I really didn't want to think of where it could have come from.

But still, all those stories had always pulled me in. What with being filled with action, adventure, romance, and booze. It had actually earned me the nickname "Rossjack" from some of the guards, but they only called me that when I showed up in places drunk. So, I got called that a lot. Again, not my fault that the biggest adventures I could have were getting hammered and attacking bloatsprites, radroaches and the occasional lone feral around the tower. Things remained boring most of the time, as I said earlier. According to the more senior guards, they hadn't had any raider activity in at least five years, which was why this particular night I was very interested to see a fire off in the distance accompanied by faint screams.

"Oh fucking finally. Celestia fucking shit, I've been waiting for some action."

I adjusted my battle saddle, with its shiny new .50 caliber Anti Material rifle. Then pulled my 12 gauge shotgun from its holster on my side, checked the chamber, the rounds and wiped some dust off of the bolt. Last, I checked my pipbuck to make sure I had ammo. Yeah, I have a pipbuck. Mostly, because I'm the only pegasus guard in the whole tower, usually Tenpony only gave important ponies pipbucks, but still it's awesome.

"Hell yeah!"

Red wings spread wide and I took off into the night air. Fuck what the other guards said about taking off without calling in, that'd take too long and they could be gone by then. So I went for it. Because reasons. Plus, it felt so good to put some speed under my wings. I loved the way it felt, it felt like home. I could almost feel the air currents in my blood, the precision of controlling the air and the urgency in the way my wings beat. Buildings and billboards all whipped by so quickly they were a grayish black blur. The small caravan fires I couldn't see from my perch on top of Tenpony flashed by silently in the night. I could faintly smell the smoke as I flew past each barely stirring wisps of smoke that lingered that high up. Soon however, I had reached my destination and perched on top of a building near the fire with all the shouting. I was close enough to see them but hopefully far enough away to remain undetectable.

I could see three or four ponies milling around with their heads down. There were four others making that eight in total. Unless my count was off and I had miss counted. See, I'm getting excited and not thinking already. Okay, deep breaths Ross. I counted a second time. Eight. Definitely eight. Four seemed silent and reserved, almost as though they were dead on their feet. The other four were screaming, laughing and drinking, and it looked like a great time. Now that I had a head count, I had to be epic about this. So I shifted my saddlebag and drew out that little figurine I'd found in my pod so long ago. I looked at it for a few moments. It was still in remarkably good condition. Scratch that. It still looked new, but then, it always did.

"Be Awesome, Ross"

I stowed the figurine back in my saddlebags and leapt from the roof to glide down and land in the middle of everypony. When I did, I instantly regretted doing it, for at that very moment I got a very good look at the barrel of a .357 revolver, and to my left there was even another 12 gauge. (Yay! We have something in common!)

"So, what are you guys doing out here?" I spoke confidently which may or may not have been a mistake. I couldn't tell yet.

"The fuck are you doing here? Who are you? Give me one good reason not to end you right now!" Oh, well wasn't that polite. I guess confidence was a mistake.

"Uh...ah...I'm from...Tenpony?" I said, like an idiot.

Good job Ross. Real fucking confident. You're so dead now. The one who had spoken was a unicorn stallion with a dirty brown coat and emerald green mane. His eyes burned like fire. They almost glowed in the flickering light of the campfire. Leader, judging by the way he instantly seemed to take charge. The one holding the shotgun to my left was a mare, blue coat with a purple mane. An earth pony. The other two had hidden while the polite stallion holding the .357 to my face had been speaking, but I thought I could just make out the barrel of a high powered rifle behind some rubble directly behind him. As for the other, I had no clue. But my assesment was interupted once again by Mr. 357.

"OH! Tenpony! Well I guess we should just leave you alone since you came all the way from your cushy tower, and we wouldn't want to upset those fearsome ponies, but you know our buyers would pay very well for a pegasus. Hard to come by seeing as all you flying fucks went and hid, Celestia knows where."

This was going badly, but at least I knew they were actually bad ponies. So, there was that. Fuck slavers. But now that the "leader" was talking I got a better look at the four defeated looking ponies in shackles. There were three mares and a colt. The mares had to have been related because their coats were all the same color. Pink, but it was a varying shade from dark to light, the colt was pure black with a bright pink mane. Poor kid. Also I had apparently taken too long examining them because the next thing I heard was the sound of a hammer being cocked back to fire. Unnecessary because the revolver looked like a double action. Idiot slaver jackass.

"Alright birdie. Get in the shackles nice and easy and I'll take that gun and saddle." Oh, so he thought I was giving up, but what he failed to realize is I'm fucking stupid.

"How about instead, you just shoot me before I become a slave. Just let me have a few last words and you can do whatever you want."

I feigned confidence, because honestly if I hadn't gone earlier I would have no doubt pissed myself right then and there. I had to do something though, or at least try. I never did anything. I mean all there was for me to do was chase mares, get drunk, and fly around a stupid tower. Now I had a chance to make a difference. Like a hero. Otherwise I'd be sold, I'd be a slave, and probably die one. The thought of not being free nor being able to taste the air in flight scared me more than anything.

"Have it your way you stupid fuck. You got two seconds and you're dead." His voice was dark and menacing. I got the feeling he was getting sick of my stalling. So I spoke.

"Make it count."

Just like that, I brought my shotgun to bear as quickly as possible. Without even leveling it, I bit down on the trigger. Perks of being a pegasus is the agility I guess. Time seemed to slow to a crawl as I made my first true kill. I watched the slug rip through his head directly under his horn. Every piece of bone, brain matter and blood seemed outlined as it exploded from the back of his head. The flames in his eyes were instantly extinguished as his head snapped back from the impact. Blood spattered my face and it made me instantly want to puke. Sweet Celestia I just killed somepony. But there was no time to dwell on the fact that I had just fucking murdered somepony. In what seemed like a split second, my left rear hoof rose and I hit Miss twelve gage in the face with my most powerful buck, before snapping my wings out and down and launching myself into the air. I heard three shots pass my face and felt the still hot air of each round as it spun past. Fuck. The sniper. I had initially planned to land behind shotgun mare but with the sniper firing, I had to retreat. So, instead of going back down I launched myself backwards with another snap of my wings and straight into a building. Well, it was a window in the building, so I got lucky.
Had I taken a second to notice, I'd have seen that it was nothing more than an office building. Filled with boring cubicles and shit I won't explain. All that mattered was the desk I dove behind, despite the obvious damage to my wings, and hid out of view of the now shattered window. It stung way more than they make it sound like in books. I still I had slaves to save, also me. I had to save me and now the sniper had foolishly given me distance to use my anti-material rifle. That's right, Tenpony has some pretty sweet guns. I rose from behind the desk and flipped the scope over my right eye. The sniper was no longer hiding, and he was a Zebra! I had thought ponies and Zebras still hated each other but apparently even they could coexist if there were caps and blood involved. Who knew? Although, that wasn't what caught my attention the most. In front of the Zebra stood the lightest of the pink slave mares. His barrel pressed into the back of her head. I knew how acurate I was and this shot would would be simple, inhale, exhale, bite. My shot rang clear in the night just as the Zebra hooked his foreleg around her right rear leg. She moved backwards straight into the flight path of my round. I watched my bullet tear through her face.

"MOMMA!" The colt screamed into the night air.

Oh fuck no. No. Fuck! I snapped. This fucker was so many different kinds of dead. He made me kill an innocent mare, she didn't do anything and now her colt was an orphan! For what? Fucking caps? Who cares about caps, I had thousands, fuck, I'd give him mine if he wanted them so damn badly. I charged straight out the window I had broken and became airborne once more. Only this time, I snapped my wings to my sides and went into a dive. Like a living projectile, I hit the zebra head on. I heard something crack, but I couldn't tell if it was me or him. It didn't matter. The fucker was so dead. As soon as we stopped tumbling across the ground, I found the barrel to my AM rifle was close to his face. I could have shot him, but that would have been merciful. I wasn't feeling merciful. Instead, I shoved the barrel of my rifle down his throat and pushed. I could hear him start gasping for air, his eyes pleading, but he was met with no such mercy as I glared into the constricted pupils of the Zebra. I pushed harder and saw the pleading on his face turn to fear. My eyes never left his as I watched the light die. The last thing the Zebra stallion saw was a small smile on my lips. Now to take care of the fucking slaver mare. I turned and saw her and the fourth slaver getting ready to flee.

"Not today." I said to myself.

The AM Rifle rang out once again and two more heads were demolished. Two more lives claimed. Two bodies felled. Two dying breaths. Turning to where the slaves were, I let out a breath I didn't realize I'd been holding.

"Get to safety." I told the remaining slaves.

Then my eyes started taking in the carnage. Seeing the eyes of the dead, and even the living as they raced passed me. There was no gratitude in their eyes, only fear, and that was fine with me. Maybe it would drive them to a safe place. But that wasn't for me to give a shit about. I had killed ponies and that was not okay. They deserved it. They were slavers. Even the two that ran away deserved it all. But did you have to like it? The thought stopped me in my tracks. I hadn't enjoyed that had I? It was satisfying to watch the slavers die. They deserved to be dead for selling ponies but I didn't actually like it did I? No. I didn't want to kill anyone, but they shot first didn't they? I thought they had. Did the last two shoot first? This time my head turned to the last two bodies that had fallen. They hadn't fired one shot. I'd shot them in the backs of their heads in cold blood. It was adrenaline. The whole thing had been fueled by adrenaline. I was afraid for my life! The lives of those others. I looked down and saw my chest and hooves flecked with still wet blood. I may have puked pretty violently at being covered in another's blood. I wasn't that bad right? I knew about all of the pain the wasteland had to offer, but there was no way it had affected me that much. No. No I wasn't a killer. It just wasn't me. I was just a partier and a constantly hungover guard. That's all.

"Ross you fucking idiot!" What? My pipbuck was talking to me?

"You don't think I can access the MASEBS towers and watch you? You think Homage wouldn't have taught me that or that I wouldn't notice your pipbuck tag left the tower?"

Now it was my turn to reply to the stupid voice in my stupid pipbuck.

"I don't know. While we’re on the subject of shit I don't know, I don't know who the fuck you are!"

There. That should do it. Stupid bitchy voice in my Pipbuck. Now it'll think twice before messing with Ross, the master of comebacks.

"Dawn Star you dipshit." Came the reply.

Oh really? Oh fucking really!? Before I go any further I should explain. Dawn Star was the closest thing I had to a real friend at Tenpony. She was a huge pain in the ass but you couldn't find a more loyal mare. She was also quite attractive, but she was always a little too out of my league and would take more than a bunch of drinks or some smooth lines to woo her and fuck that I’m just too lazy to give it that much effort. So anyways, she was being a bitch.

"I'm the dipshit? Well at least I don't spend all my time locked up in that stupid hub you guys have. That seems pretty stupid to me. Now leave me alone."

It's almost as if the universe had decided that at that precise moment, after killing a bunch of ponies, that I needed to have the whole world dropped right on my head. Which was great. Who doesn't like finding out you're good at killing? Only to be bitched at by an annoying hornhead and being on the verge of an existential crisis all at once? Of course she had to keep pouring it on.

"I will not leave you alone. I just watched you kill ponies. I need to know my idiot friend hasn't lost his idiot mind. So with that said. Are you okay? Idiot."

Yeah I was totally cool. Had just killed two terrified ponies (even if they were slavers) and an innocent mare. A mother at that, and a hoofful of slavers. I was just peachy.

"Yeah I'm fine now. Drop it." I replied.

There was silence for a moment.

"Okay…I'm sorry. About the mare I mean. I know you didn't mean to but....well, the higher ups want to talk to you when you get back. I'm sorry."

There was a click, then nothing. She was gone, and I was once again left alone. I tuned to the radio on my pipbuck. A favorite station of mine was playing, it was apparently new, judging by the way the DJ shoved it down my throat when there wasn't any music playing. Luckily, a song had just started. It was from a group called The Pony Mob. It was a slow, heavy, electronic beat that matched my thoughts, hoof steps, and heartbeat perfectly. I wasn’t going to fly back to Tenpony. I didn't feel like being airborne right now. I took one last look at the gruesome scene I'd left behind, and I retched a few more times. Nothing came up and I started the long walk home.

Everything had happened so fast I hadn't had any time to think. Yes, the guard training had kicked in as far my knowledge of how to move and react to the shooters and other hazards, but how had I been so willing to kill? Like it was just second nature, yeah it was either them or me, but it came so effortlessly. Was it just circumstance or did I really enjoy that kind of thing? I mean, I was always hot tempered. I got in fights, usually bloody, and liked to buck the system every chance I could get. So, maybe there were some more violent tendencies there but murder without question? Why not catch the last two and question them? I knew none of their names. I knew no reasons they may have been doing a thing like slaving. Even if it was wrong I could have at least tried to spare one. It's hard to come to grips with the knowledge that killing is effortless. Even more so when your family history is over 200 years old and you have no idea if there’s even killer blood in your veins or something. I just felt like it shouldn't have been so easy. My thoughts made the walk back to Tenpony entirely too short, which sucked because I hadn't even thought of what to say, or how to explain myself. I'd be lucky if I didn't get kicked out, or just... you know, not let back in.
So, with a heavy sigh, I clicked off my pipbuck and stepped up to the gate and knocked three times. (Because you just HAVE to know exactly the number of times I knocked apparently.)

"Arial Guard Ross, reporting!" I called in deflated voice.

"Fly over feather brain we know it's you!" Came the response.

Wonderful. They were waiting and I knew that was already a bad sign. It meant they had been tracking my pipbuck tag from the moment they realized I wasn't in the tower. So with another sigh, I flapped a few times and carried myself over the gate. There before me was the head guard. "Watchdog" he called himself, but I couldn't blame him. His fathers had named him cinnamon swirl because of his caramel and red mane. Those guys were a little...strange to me. I mean, I knew there were ponies who liked to keep it with the same gender, but they were very, very proud of that and just...I don't like watching stallions nearly screwing on a table in the bar every night that they're both off from their respective jobs okay? So shoot me. Also yes, he was adopted from the wasteland, so don't get any weird ideas about stallion anatomy. Also, apparently he was talking to me because he looked annoyed.

"Speak you idiot!" He spat.

"What? I'm sorry, I've uh...I've had a long night." I really had no energy for this.

"I said, you moron, what in the actual buck are you doing running around in the wasteland at night and why are you covered in blood?" He repeated, apparently.

He censored himself and I found that to be pretty funny so I chuckled a little. Judging by his face, that was pretty stupid, so I figured fuck it.

"Oh you know, just had to go on a murderous rampage. I get so bored here." I'm sure I won't get raged at for that.

I didn't. Huh. That was strange. Instead Watchdog let out a sigh and rubbed a hoof on his forehead.

"You know what? I'm taking you to the Twi-uh. Council."

Kay. That was weird. I have no idea what he almost just said, or if it was important, but I seriously didn't have the energy for this. So, instead of thinking up a witty comment or pondering what was almost said, I simply followed as he led the way into the tower. It was nicer than it used to be, or so I'd been told. The grimy, dirty floors and halls had eventually been somewhat cleaned with actual clean water from rainfall, the previously grimy carpets had been scrubbed and the walls, and everything anypony could reach so it wasn't actually too bad to look at, you could almost forget the wasteland. The small shops were now much better stocked thanks to the "new" trade lines. Everypony called them new still, but they had to be at least 10 years old. However when one looked closely, the windows still held the wastelands visage and the walls were still cracked. But speaking of all the shops and vendors, a dark brown earth pony stallion, very large and with a deep black mustache and mane was approaching me with...oh sweet relief a bottle of Wild pegasus. The stallions name was Slackjaw, an ex-raider turned merchant. He had made enough caps and got far enough from his past to wind up here, running The Number Seven bar, but you'd never have known what he was in the past as he trotted happily up to myself and Watchdog.

"Rossjack! You look like shit! I owe you this bottle from cards the other night, and I thought you looked like you could use it now."

Well he was right. I probably looked like shit, and I could totally use a drink. (I was owed it apparently, must have won a drunken game of cards for a bottle.) But, I never got said drink because puppydog, I mean Watchdog, snatched it before I could grab it.

"Sorry Ross, you too Slackjaw, but there'll be no drinking for this featherbrain until he's seen the council."

This brought an astonished look from the brown stallion. One which I decided to dignify with a response.

"Oops?"

But before the conversation could continue, Watchdog had me herded into the elevator leaving a shocked slackjaw behind and we were suddenly waiting for it to reach the upper levels of the tower. This gave me a very good look at myself in the mirrors placed on every wall of the little box. Everypony was right. I did look like shit. I mean, my usually spotless red coat was unusually matted and dirty. You could see the darker spots of dried blood, some of it mine from the window while some of it was .357's. Speaking of the window, I could see what looked like thousand cuts on my body. Two of them were still bleeding, which was probably not totally okay but i'd deal with them later when I could get to a healing potion. But lastly, my mane looked awful. I mean it was normally unkempt and windswept, but now it was totally matted and clinging to my face. The light security barding I wore was also shredded, which I could care less about. However my cutie mark was exposed now. It was a pair of wings. One was feathered, like mine only it was white, the other was black and leathery, like a bat’s. Also, no. Don't ask. I have no clue what it means either. I just remember getting it. There was bully picking on Dawn Star and I had beaten him up. After the fight was over and the bully was carried off to the infirmary (oops) she told me that she saw the white wing appear when I initially stepped in to defend her from said bully, but when I didn't stop hitting him and she had to pull me away, the black one appeared. The bully, well, it was Watchdog. He had never really forgiven me for breaking his jaw and cracking his ribs. You could tell by the disdain he always held for me in his gaze. He had never bullied again though, and he learned restraint that I didn't have. Which was why, even though he was only three years older than me, he was my superior by a massive margin. Suddenly the elevator halted with a small bounce and the doors opened, revealing a part of the tower I'd never seen before. It was clean. I mean, really clean. Like, spotless and I had no idea how to react other than.

"Oh....shit"

But the last thing I expected was a response. The voice sounded…very...very proper and addressed me as though I were beneath whoever the owner was.

"Now, is that any way for Tenpony's security forces to be speaking? A young Stallion of your caliber should be much more...astute in his speech. After all, you are the head of the fliers in the tower are you not?"

You could almost hear the smirk in the voice as the owner finally emerged from a shadowed doorway. Ooh dramatic. I bet he has mare parts. He was actually very tall, but that was due to the cybernetics he wore. All four legs were painted in a glossy black enamel to match his hide, contrasting with his purple eyes and dark-grey and purple mane. The longer I looked, the more I noticed. Aside from the obvious augmentations, his eyes were also cybernetic, they had a slight unnatural glow, he also had a strange exo spine looking thing that ran the length of his back. Its purpose? I didn’t have a clue.

"My name is Rutherford the third. I’m Head of the New Twilight society. If you will follow me, your hearing will begin."

New Twilight Society? What even was that and why was I going to a hearing? The atmosphere was heavy and serious. I was very confused as to what in Equestria was going on. I knew that there was once a Twilight Society, but I had no idea that they were still around. Or remade, or whatever. I only knew that Tenpony was run by a council. A council I never saw, nor did I ever hear anything about them other than if you saw them, you were either important or you were a dead pony walking. I guess that would explain why I didn't know anything about them. However knowing the events that had transpired earlier, I had a bad feeling that I was the latter, which really sucked, but I walked in silence. We passed pristine paintings, our hooves echoed loudly on the beautiful ornate marble floors, there were detailed sculptures of ponies passed as we trotted through the hall. When we reached the end of the hall, I was very shocked to see my figurine. Or well, the gigantic marble equivalent. I saw the same proud pegasus, wings flared out and with the same expression on her face, but next to her were the others. By now I knew who each of them were, I did actually go to a school and learned the history of equestria... or... what it once was. The statues were all of the ministry mares. This must have been a hub! I could pick them all out. There was Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, AppleJack and Twilight. The odd thing is, in all the stories I'd read, I had never heard this part of the tower described. Maybe it was recently fixed up, or recently renovated?

All of my thoughts came to crashing halt as we entered a chamber with several ponies sitting in a semicircle silently, all shrouded in darkness and nearly invisible, there was a single light was bathing the center of the room in a dim glow. Watchdog stepped backwards and shut the door as Rutherford took his place in the center of the semicircle which was farthest from the center of the room.

"Enter, Ross. Tenpony Arial Security."

Oh. Oh shit. I slowly approached the center of the room and everypony seemed to fade into blackness leaving only the faitest outline of Rutherford directly in front of me. This wasn't good, I felt as though I were a criminal on trial for a horrible murder, though all I had done was eradicate slavers. That couldn't have called for a criminal trial could it have? But as I was trying to make sense of the situation all of the assembled ponies spoke seemingly in unison, which made it even more unnerving.

"You stand accused of the murder of an innocent mare, and the murder of four other ponies of unknown origin."

Wait what? They were acting like the others were innocents as well! They had to have watched from the MASEBS like Dawn Star had, but wouldn't that have cleared things up? Why would they instanty act so accusitory towards me. I knew I had to defend myself, or at least try. For the second time tonight, I took a breath and let everything spill out.

"It was an accident! The Zebra pulled her into the flight path of my round and those other four were slavers! They were going to sell them all! They were going to shackle me and sell me too! There was a colt in chains for Celestia's sake! I know we're all safe here in this tower but I still know it's not right to let others suffer while we stay holed up and cozy! I cant stand by and let that happen if I can stop it!"

The silence following my words was deafening, and it was almost like the room was getting darker. The longer I stood in silence the darker the room seemed to be and the more I thought I was going to sentenced to death, and I really didn't want to be that.

"Your primary duties were to protect Tenpony and you have failed. In doing so you have become a murderer no better than a raider. You have failed the tower and you shall be punished."

They all responded in unison once again, but the verdict only confused me further. Punished for trying to save lives from slavery? They weren't even hearing me out! What the fuck? Something was wrong. It had to be. I knew it had to be, but what? Tenpony didn't have slaves or slavers so why would they be so adamantly against me? There was no reason for them to bring down any kind of harsh judgement upon me, or at least anything worse than cleaning the latrines for a month or something. I never got to figure out why because at that very moment they spoke again.

"You are sentenced to death. Take him and execute him."

Oh. Fuck. That wasn't nice of them. As if on command, no less than fifteen ponies came through the door that had just been closed as the New Twilight Society faded into the blackness. I was surrounded by half of the Tenpony security force, all wearing scowls. Then I was beat senseless. Batons and hooves all struck out at me. I felt my bones fracture, I wouldn't fight though, I knew these ponies as my friends, they were my coworkers, I drank and laughed with them and couldn't understand why they were so willing to do this to me, so I just let them do it. I could feel my own blood pooling around me as my consciousness began to fade. It felt like everything had been a lie. Like my life here had been a lie. I thought they cared about me to at least a small degree, I mean sure we weren't good friends, but as far as I knew they only thought of me as hotblooded and a drunk. I had grown up in this tower. I was raised by its inhabitants. I had been the poor orphan from the wasteland that nopony wanted to adopt because I was so troublesome. But it was always small offences. I never stole, and never went out of my way to hurt anypony who didn't deserve it. So why would they do this? Then I felt the rope being looped around my midsection. My wings were pinned to my sides along with my shotgun, saddlebags, and AM rifle. All of this just aggravated my now broken or fractured ribs after they had been kicked repeatedly. I felt blood in my throat and mouth as I coughed a few times.

They started dragging me and I was hauled up the stairs, I only know that due to the brief flashes of consciousness punctuated by severe pain. Soon, between the flashes of pain we were on the roof. I was bloody, broken, and alive enough to wonder what now. There were three other ponies at this point, two of which I couldn't recognize mostly due to the fact that my eyes were mostly swollen shut, but the third I knew well. Watchdog or Cinnamon or whoever the fuck was very, uncomfortably close to my face, and he was smiling.

"Well Ross. I'd say I'm sorry about this but I'm not. You never would play by the rules and you never will. Too bad, because you're such a fine specimen. We could have had a lot of fun you and I."

Wait, wait, wait. What was he doing? OH! Oh Celestia no, I am not that kind of stallion. I could feel him touching me. Oh no. No, no, no. Just throw me off. This was so very weird. I didn't even like stallions and he knew that, or he should at least. I thought he didn't either because of all the mare friends he had but apparently he had a taste for more. I coughed out some words to the tune of "what are you...?" but before I could close my mouth I felt his on mine. As soon as he started doing... that... there was a kick in a very sensitive part of my body and I was rolled off of the tower. I fell. I fell feeling betrayed, broken, and violated. (eugh)

The top of the tower seemed to inch away and the last thing I heard was a very familiar voice.

"WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU ALL DOING?! NO! ROSS!"

Everything turned black and I never even felt the ground. Mostly because I never hit it, but that's beside the point, or rather, it is the point. But still, I wasn't dead yet. What I was, was very much in pain. I don't know how long I was on whatever mattress I wound up on, but I was out most of the time. I do remember it being a small house, boarded up from all sides save for the top. I only knew this because I heard a winged thing come and go several times, which I assumed was another pegasus as I also heard hooves. The memories would become foggy as I'd lost consciousness shortly afterwards. In between each bout of pain there was the soothing blackness of sleep, only I kept hearing the same words repeat in the silence.

Be awesome! Make it count.

It was all I had to hold on to for the time I was ... recovering? I think? I knew I wasn't dead, so we will go with recovering.

When I did finally come to, I had a chance to take in my surroundings. An old decrepit radio playing the sounds of Velvet Remedy, sat on a crate next to me against a wall with its paint cracking. It was one of her jazzier tunes which at any other time I'd be tapping my hoof to while drinking wild pegasus at The Number Seven, which reminded me I needed to go back to Tenpony and kick the shit out of Cinammon for several things, including but not limited to, taking my fucking Wild Pegasus. However at the moment I couldn't even think about trying to move without pain. I simply turned my head from the radio and inspected the rest of the room. There was a fairly normal amount of ruined furniture and the only things that seemed out of place were my saddlebags and my guns. There was also a slightly dirty glass of what appeared to be clean water next to me. So I actually had to move, dammit, seeing as I was thirstier than I was in pain. With several grunts and a few soft cries, I heaved myself onto my side and took my wing and...oh...it was bandaged and had a splint on it. Okay, hooves it is. So with that decided, I slowly moved the covers off of me and checked myself over. I am happy to report that my...ehem uh...setup was still in one piece. I was basically coated in bandages almost everywhere else that all seemed fairly clean so whoever patched me up had to have been good at it.

"Hey Doc! He's up!" Who the hell is that? Also who is this "Doc"?

The voice belonged to a stallion of roughly my age who walked in as if to answer my internal question. He was a grey coated earth pony with a pitch black mane, pure blue eyes and crosshairs for a cutie mark. From behind him, in walked a griffin and had I anything in me besides a single glass of water I would have pissed myself. I had never seen a griffin up close and they were much bigger than ponies and this one looked extra terrifying. His head was cocked to one side and he was inspecting me very closely with one eye. Which let’s be honest, I was very uncomfortable with after Tenpony until I caught sight of his....well....her flanks. At least I didn’t need to worry about having another stallion uncomfortably close to sensitive areas. Plus if she was that kind of griffin I guess it wouldn't be entirely unpleasant. Not that I'm really into that kind of thing but it was still a "she".

"Well he looks okay. The bandages are looking well and his wounds are no longer bleeding. Safe to say he'll live." The she griffin said with a surprisingly rough voice. "The name's feather. Doc feather. Finest griffin doctor in the whole damn wasteland. Never worked on a pony before but I got lucky and came across you. Had been wanting some practice. Oh, the stallion over there if you're wondering, is Icewind. Just healed him up from mild radiation poisoning."

Uh...excuse me? Wouldn't that be the kind of thing you wouldn't want to tell your patient? There had to be some kind of rule against telling a patient you'd never performed a single medical task on their whole species. Don't get me wrong I was grateful but still, that put me in a little bit of shock. Understndably I might add. Apparently my shock had been transparent because she suddenly had a slightly annoyed look on her terrifying face. (Not like... ugly terrifying, but more like "Oh shit I've never seen a griffin before" teriffying.)

"Oh don't look at me like that! I saved you. What does it matter if I've never worked on a pony before? No harm, no foul. I could always bind your wings and throw you off another tower if you want to try your luck a second time."

Well that cleared that up, I was plenty grateful. So very grateful, just call me mister grateful, I was the gratefullest pony in the whole of gratefuldom.

"I'm sorry. It's just a lot to take in right now. First of all, thanks Doc. I appreciate it. I really do. Is there anything I can do to repay you? Oh yeah, also, Icewind your name is weird."

Wait why would I say that? Then I became acutely aware of warm numbness spreading through my body. So naturally I started giggling at Icewind...what a stupid name. He didn't look like ice or wind. Heh Icewind. Stupid. I'm gonna die, this griffin has drugged me and now I'm gonna die feeling all warm and fuzzy. Yay for death, I can't even move my legs, sweet, maybe I'm made of rubber now. RUBBER BONES!

"Oh I see you've had the water I set out for you. There’s a magic little pill I've put in there so that you can sleep comfortably. You could only take it now that you're fully conscious, wouldn't go shoving my chems into a pony if they're going to die anyways. It's not harmful in any way now that I know you're going to pull through. It's just to take the pain away. Med-x in pill form... Although I may have given you too strong a dosage. Hmm, that usually just numbs griffins."

The sexy griffin replied with her sexy rough voice, and I thought it was sexy. Don't judge me. I'd never taken a single chem in my life so I was a lightweight in the first place without the addition of Ms. Sexygriffon scaryface's crazy strong whatever this was. Now if it had been alcohol, they would have needed more than one drink. We would have had to make a day of it. Which I could use, I really wished I had my Wild Pegasus right now, I bet it would go really well with this. But Icewind approached with a scowl as if to ruin all of my fun, what a dick.

"They named me Icewind because of my eyes and agility. Jackass."

Well, that's not very nice. I thought as the light once again slipped away, this time more comfortably than it had all the other times. Yay for drugs!

Author's Note

Level up! Gained strong back perk: you can now carry an additional 25 lbs of gear. Icewind is available to be your companion for whatever reason. Plot I guess.

So I actually had a lot of fun writing this so far, it's been about a month since I started. Hope you all enjoy it, leave a comment, let me know if you guys like it! Once again thank you Kkat for writing the original Fallout Equestria and to all other authors for your various contributions to the universe. Again thank you Vihuff for helping me edit this!