Fallout: Equestria - Last Legacy

Chapter Four: Two's Company

"Stupid!"

I woke up in another one. Another different bed.

For a moment, I was sure I'd died. The ceiling was of a dull plaster, the same for the walls, and the bed only continued the trend. A swarm of dancing motes gathered around the window, casting the tiniest of shadows as I lay awake and confused. Around the bed were empty drawers and cabinets, with one sporting a peculiar sack inside. It was zipped shut.

"Enjoying yourself?"

I jumped so hard I was sure I'd snapped the headboard upon impact. "AH! What the —" My voice trailed off at the stallion before me. Toned, tall, and darkened by the sun, he was like something from a fantasy. His long, powerful legs were a sight to behold, and the curvature of his neck was superseded only by the wide, chiseled jawbone that rested atop. And that horn. I could put that to good use.

"I had to be sure before I brought you," he said.

"... hay," I finished. "Er... what?" I then looked down, noticing he'd removed all my clothes. A blush crept into my cheeks. I stood up, feeling rejuvenated.

"Listen," he said, "I don't like repeating myself, so I'm only going to say this once: I don't owe you answers, so don't bother asking questions. I've given you the medical supplies needed to keep you alive, and I've treated your more serious wounds in the ways that I can." Wounds? Upon closer inspection, I noticed a few pieces of jagged skin along my legs and sides—scars, I believe they were called—as well as a few bandaged areas that felt oddly numb. Below all of that, underneath my new PipBuck, was a fleshy pink hoof. The skin zigzagged and protruded in the oddest fashion. And it was sensitive. But I looked at it with a sense of optimism. At least it'd make for a good story when I got back home.

"O-Okay. Thank y—"

"In exchange for this, you are going to take me back to wherever you got... that." He pointed down at my leg.

"Wait, this?" I held up my hoof.

"Once I've done what I need to do, we're going our separate ways. No bullet holes, no broken bones, just a calm walk from one place to another and you're free to go."

No holes? No broken bones? Were those the costs of noncompliance? Either way, I had a bad feeling about hoofing the device over. "Oh, this is nothing! It doesn't even work."

"Don't lie to me."

"No, really! It doesn't!" I pleaded. "I've tried to turn it on a bunch of times, but it doesn't do anything."

"It doesn't matter," he said.

I blinked. "Then what are you planning to do?"

"I don't like repeating myself," he repeated, dangerously. Oh... right. No more questions. "Now. Tell me where you got it." I hesitated, backing up a little. He was a big stallion. I probably couldn't run. Probably couldn't fight either. Even with my newfound strength... he looked stronger, somehow.

The idea came like a flash of light. "Brigmound," I almost shouted, excited by the prospect of something going off without a hitch. "A little town by the name of Brigmound. Heard of it?" He considered the question, deciding it was worth answering.

"No. But we can fix that." He walked to the door, holding it ajar just long enough to direct my eyes to the cabinet nearby. "Your clothes are in the bag. Once you're dressed, come outside. Don't make me wait." The door shut, and the thought occurred to escape through one of the windows. It seemed plausible for a moment, but there was a distinctive feeling in my gut that warned me against it.

Slipping into my heavy leathers and adjusting a few straps, I was ready to go. Only... one thing: the PipBuck on my leg was uncomfortably tight beneath the sleeve of the fabric. I decided to roll up, buttoning the sleeve higher up on my leg to go for the cleaner look. There was a mirror in the room. Not bad, me. Not bad at all.

Stepping outside felt like sticking my head in a refrigerator. The air was crisp and cold, stinging at my eyes as I was hit with a chilling blast of wind. I shivered as it dug down deep into the folds of my jacket, the door closing with a heavy wooden thunk behind me. The stallion was standing just outside, at the bottom of a small flight of stairs leading up to the front door.

There was something unusual I noticed about the town straight off the bat. A heavy fog crept along the banks of every building around me, meeting the sidewalks and connecting to them through a sifting white haze. I did a double-take. The only thing beyond the little huts that met side-by-side with my own and the buildings near us was the cool blue of the sky. No mountains? No hills? Not even so much as a rock beyond the stout little houses covered in shimmering morning fog? Another gust of wind hit me, giving way to a shiver.

"So you brought me... somewhere," I said to him. It technically wasn't a question.

"It's a quick stop before we hit the road. Stay on the walkways. Don't stray," he answered, gruffly.

"Okay?" I replied, unsure of what he meant. "Why is there so much —"

He turned, staring me down.

"... There sure is a lot of fog."

He just kept walking now, leading me down the sidewalk, which had rope guardrails on either side of it. I followed him past several lines of buildings before we reached a marketplace. It was tiny, compared to what I'd seen in Hornstead. The few vendors that were out had mostly trinkets to sell, although most of them offered food at half-price, a deal that I would have gladly taken... if I'd had any of these ponies' currency.

Instead, he brought me to one of the merchant stands on the corner, parting the swinging doors and slipping behind a curtain at the back of the selling space. He hadn't told me to stay outside, so I accompanied him in. We sat down, the pony who looked like the store owner spoke to my stallion captor, and we left with a few more wares than we'd come in with, including a gun that the stallion wedged into his saddlebags.

According to him, we were headed towards the docks. I was about to ask when the sidewalk suddenly... ended. Only the heavy fog remained ahead of us, with the rising sun to our left. The ropes that attached to wooden beams on either side of the edge swung loosely in the cool wind. Only fog laid ahead.

"I know this town has a name," I told the stallion, who was now patiently waiting for something.

He considered me. "The locals call it Barewood."

"Barewood," I repeated. "Seems like a nice town."

"No more small talk," he said frigidly.

And that was that. I shuffled my hooves until I heard a bell somewhere off in the distance, somewhere deep beyond the sliver of sidewalk we were waiting on, in the fog. I looked to the stallion, and he kept his gaze forward. I felt my cheeks heating up a little. Goddesses, why did he have to be so cute?

The bell sounded again, echoing eerily as the haze in front of us shifted and parted for a dark shape. It was getting closer, I realized. Whatever it was, it was big. Really big. Really big! I stepped back as the towering object hovered closer still, at last revealing a shape not unlike that of a boat. It looked like it was attached to some sort of larger, circular body that loomed overhead, casting a great shadow.

In spite of my uneasiness, the stallion next to me simply stared expectily onward. I pranced in place, wondering if I should get out of the way of the behemoth figure.

“Calm the hell down, mare.”

The object stopped just short of our slice of sidewalk when I noticed that it was indeed a boat, although less like the ones at the docks in Tranquility and more like the ones from library books—ships, they were called. It had several ponies on-board, most of whom looked to be somewhere between bored and exhausted, and a few others who were up and about, doing what seemed like chores.

The ship pulled up in front of us as I noticed something odd. The bottom didn’t seem to be touching anything. It wasn’t so much rocking as floating. The stallion next to me unhooked one of the ropes.

“You need to stick to me,” he said. “Got it? No straying, and no talking. Just get on and be quiet.” I thought about making a snide remark, but he might’ve gotten angry. I settled for nodding.

A platform lowered down to meet us as the previous group of passengers departed with their luggage items and saddlebags. The stallion waited before boarding, as if he’d already done this a million times. Meanwhile, the boat looked almost threatening in all its bulk. A part of me warned that this might be a bad idea. The other half reminded of what I might lose if I didn’t go. At that, the dilemma was cut short. I had a promise to keep.

The moment my hoof touched the bridge between the sidewalk and the ship, it wobbled. The boat was moving, and to make matters worse the wood of the platform was slippery. I put all four hooves up, squeaking as I shifted balance, but it was no use. It just wasn’t steady enough. And that wouldn’t do. I got down on the sidewalk, charging up and vaulting over the side of the ship. When I landed, I spotted the stallion near the mast. He was scowling at me.

“What?” I asked, approaching him.

This only made him angrier. “What did I say about sitting still? Unless you want to get us thrown off the ship, you’ll stop jumping around like that. Ponies in these parts are trigger-tongued as it is. They don't need some mare causing trouble.”

“Trouble? Don’t you think that’s a little bit of a stret—”

“What did I say about talking?” he interjected. Once again, I settled for nodding. “You’re lucky to even be here, so start following orders, or this is going to get a lot less pleasant.” A burst of wind caught his mane just right as he turned, giving me sight of a particularly nasty scar just below his ear.

“Fine,” I told him, “Have it your way.”

A bell at the back of the ship—the same as before—rang out before the wooden boarding platform to the sidewalk was lifted. On the other side of the ship, one last pony crossed over before we detached from the site completely. Once again, I noticed how unusually still the boat seemed. Having been on the lake in Tranquility thousands of times, I knew the rocking of water. This one seemed to wobble and occasionally shudder, as if it were more hanging than floating.

I got the chance to look around again, peering up to the mast which had been cut in half so that the larger circular body above the ship could comfortably connect by some means of rope and intricate wiring. A puff of smoke curled past my face, alerting me to the pipe in my new companion's mouth. It smelled. I wanted to ask about it. Wanted to ask about a lot of things. As far as I knew, he may not have been taking me to Tranquili—er, Brigmound, at all! Did that store owner even give him a map? I probably should have paid more attention.

The entirety of the ship pivoted one way as we left the little sidewalk to disappear into the mist. I looked over the bulwark of the boat, and noticed the fog starting to clear, when suddenly, it just... opened up. Dammit, something felt wrong about...

... about...

Oh dear Goddesses.

I could only gasp and tremble as the cloud opened up to reveal the drop. It must have been a mile down to the surface. My stomach lurched, ears spontaneously going deaf, eyes showing me stars, knees locking in place. What felt like a million goosebumps pulsed throughout my body, somehow getting under my skin and settling in my organs. I didn't dare check to see if I'd wet myself.

"First time flier, I see."

I gulped. My world spun. A warmth spread throughout in my gut. And then I passed out.

**  **  **

A cold splash of water met my face, and my ears rang as if I'd just been smacked. My head was tossed to one side, then the other. Somepony was trying to get my attention. I sputtered, my eyesight still a blur as a set of hooves shook me. With a squeal, I was finally awake.

"Wake up, mare," the familiar voice said, "This is our stop."

"Ugh," I felt my cheeks. "Did you slap me?"

...

"Come on. We have places to be."

I wiped a bit of drool off my chin before standing up. The stallion was waiting for me at the boarding platform. I followed. The stop we got off next was on the ground. I thanked any deity that could have heard me.

The sand was like the beach in Tranquility, but coarser, drier. A little town stood just in front of us. Not like Singe. This was rustic, old. A harsher narrator may have called it decrepit if it hadn't been for the fair amount of ponies walking around. The town was surrounded by a steep cliff, with a little trail that wound down toward the mainland countryside covered in trees. We were sitting on a mesa. In the middle of a forest.

The stallion looked around before setting off in a straight line. Leading me through the town, we almost seemed to dodge in between the buildings. Line of sight with other ponies was mostly kept to a minimum, and any kind of straying triggered a harsh whisper. Was he hiding?

We disappeared within the deepest alleys of the buildings and my little friend took me down a flight of stairs to what appeared to be a cellar door. But he didn't open the door. Instead, he slipped past a steaming vent opening nearby, now bringing us both to sit under a pair of grates. Leaning up to a hole hidden behind pieces of trash, the stallion grabbed something out and set it on his forehoof. A PipBuck. I looked at him incredulously. "You already have one?"

He fixed it in place, adjusting a few of the knobs and dials. His screen booted up instantly, switching between different colors as he reformatted it. It had nowhere near the level of wear and tear mine did. The buttons below the screen also looked to be in better condition. As did the screen itself. And the attachment mechanism. And... everything else about it.

"I'm not obligated to explain anything to you," he replied. "You, on the other hoof..."

"What?" I asked. "What else do I need to —"

He suddenly stopped, ears perking up. "Shh!" he ordered, listening around us. The silence parted to allow an entire host of noises. Water dripping, a steady rattling from inside the cellar next to us, and... a set of hoofsteps approaching. They got closer and closer, until they stepped over the grates above us. A mare was struggling against a group of stallions, who laughed and mocked her as they led her to the corner and got very close. She sounded distressed.

What were they going to do to her? Was I really going to sit here and wait while they did it? My hooves moved toward the exit of the hidey space when my captor stopped me. He shook his head, looking back to the group. I could barely make out their features as I tried to angle myself underneath the grate.

“Stop!” she told them, and I heard her breath shudder as one of them whispered in her ear. “No! Please, no!” she said, this time with more zeal. They were doing something she clearly didn’t appreciate.

“Let. Me. Go,” I hissed to the stallion holding my leg. He didn’t budge, keeping a firm grasp on my leg as the group continued their antics. I remembered Preacher’s trick to the weights. What my body had been able to do. I figured I could throw this stallion a lot further than I could trust him. I made a move to fling him off my hoof, but he stayed grounded. I tried again, harder. No use. Okay, I knew he couldn’t weigh that much. I tugged again, and he put himself behind me so fast I could hardly process it. Holding my legs back and leaning up against the concrete, he spoke clearly into my ear.

“Don’t trust it.”

A voice broke my concentration.

“Hey, leave her alone!” Everything stopped. A stallion stood at the far end of the building, just past the staircase. I could see his hooves packed tightly together. He was scared stiff. My captor let me lean forward to get a better look.

“What did you say?” one of the thugs asked.

“I said...” I could practically hear the gulp. “Leave her alone.”

The group sat in silence, until the (presumable) leader chuckled. “Fine. You want her? Have ‘er!” She grunted as she was pushed to the ground in front of them, running over to the stallion for safety. I breathed a sigh of relief at seeing her hooves join his.

“Just wait,” I was told.

Looking back to their hooves, she suddenly knelt down, holding a small metal rod. It was raised out of view, and I watched as the stallion’s legs buckled out from under him. His face hit the ground, limp as his eyes frantically searched around him. The mare pulled his saddlebags off as the group approached. One of the stallions whistled. “Good hustle, Dew. Still not enough to buy you a better performance though.”

The mare was silent, but lifted a hoof and did something that prompted them to laugh. “Still not something your ugly mug could ever get.”

“Come on,” the leader prompted, walking away beyond our grate’s view.

Dew leaned down to the stallion, kissing his cheek. “Nothing personal, love.” And she was gone.

My hooves were let go of.  I waited until the sounds of their hoofsteps faded into the background before I leapt up those steps. The stallion was skinnier than he had looked. He watched me with a keen eye. His chest picked up pace as a muffled grunt escaped his lips. My first instinct was to pick him up and see if he was alright. After all, that mark on his neck looked painful. But the pony I was travelling with disagreed. I had already been deceived before. Perhaps it was best to just walk away.

I left him lying there. “I’m sorry.” He just stared.

**  **  **

By now, I was starting to wonder who my captor was. He had evidently saved my life, so I guess I owed him the quiet he asked for. He got his wish as we descended the mesa’s trail amidst a small throng of other ponies. We reached the woodlands, broke away from the trail, and hiked between the many rows of trees and brush that led into the countryside. This took a good three hours. But as we came across a small indent in the vegetation, no thicker than a body’s length but deep enough for three of me, he jumped down. Pulling out several old wooden stakes, we settled inside for a brief bit.

He offered me water from a canteen, which I gladly drank from. I took it as a chance to speak up.

“Nice hole we're in,” I commented, taking another sip. It felt strange, the canteen. Not like the one I’d found in the desert—this one hugged my mouth, like the opening was designed for lips.

I heard him snort. “The first thing you've said in hours, and you chose that.” Good, Everdawn, good, he's talking back!

"What? Nothing wrong with a little conversation." I started to lay back on the moss. That's right. Casual, cool...

"It's not that."

We sat there for a moment. "Then what is it?" I asked.

"I prefer silence over small talk. But I just wasn't expecting something so... earnest. By now, most ponies have either resorted to bargaining or shooting when running doesn't work. Kind of refreshing that you haven't tried any of those things."

"And the ones who shoot?" I'd imagine there would be a few.

"It doesn't end well."

"You sound like you take a lot of mares on these kinds of dates."

"Funny. The last one said that." I looked up, concerned, only to see a hint of a smile. Was that a joke?

"Heh," was all I muttered.

"Anyway, we need to get moving. Consider this conversation your only reward for good behavior."

I sighed. "Of course."

"It's only a day's walk or so. Come on." And with that, we packed up and left. At least he wasn't barking orders anymore.

**  **  **

The walk was, for the large part, uneventful. The trees were trees, the brush was brush, the dirt was dirt. Everything seemed to be in order, and for once, it was starting to remind me of the forest back at home.

The only thing that concerned me was the weather above. In a short enough time, I'd witnessed a serious change in the tone of the sky. The white puffy clouds became a blanket of sinister, dark grey, hovering eerily over our heads. The forest turned dark as we reached a small clearing, where some particularly strong winds were whipping the tall grass every which way.

My companion stopped me. "The storm came faster than anticipated. We're heading to a shelter about a mile north of here. If you plan on staying dry, we need to pick up the pace."

"Storm?" I asked, having to raise my voice above the sudden winds.

He stared for a moment. "You really don't know what that is, do you?" I shrugged apologetically. "I'll explain later. We need to go." For a moment, he looked around, and then set off through the field. His legs carried him faster than I could've kept up with if Preacher hadn't done what he did. Our race through the field was cut short, however, by a brilliant flash of light, followed by a crackling boom that shook the very earth.

I stopped dead. "What the heck was that?!" The look he gave me was cause for serious concern.

"We need to make it to the trees, now!" He turned and booked it for the treeline.

I followed as closely as possible, making headway through the tall grass as something cold hit my cheek. "Um, something just hit me!" I called out. Whatever it was slid down my face coolly. I touched a hoof to the spot. Was this... water? That's right. Back in the town library. Rain. A few of the stories mentioned it, but we'd never had anything beyond a cloudy day or two. Was this a place where rain existed too?

My running had slowed to a trot as I looked up, noticing a few of the little droplets coming down. They were really falling. From the sky, no less. I suddenly felt the urge to jump and shout. Of all the things I'd seen here in just these short few days... this had to be my favorite. More and more of them started to come down into the field, and despite the frantic gushing of the wind against the trees, I found myself actually prancing a bit. I looked ahead, seeing the stallion standing at the edge of the treeline, shouting to me.

"Getotherees!"

I ran a little closer to him, "Huh?!"

"Get to the damn trees! Now!" He looked somewhere over us, and I followed his sight. Just above, sitting there, was the darkest cloud I'd ever seen. It was massive. Big enough to dwarf any of the little puffs that had been there before. The wind suddenly stopped, and the only sounds were the drops of water hitting the high grass. Then, from out of the blue, the entire field was nearly crumpled flat from a blast of wind that knocked me a good body length into the air.

"Run mare, RUN!!"

He didn't have to tell me twice. My hooves threw me into a full-on sprint toward him, throwing up debris from the soft earth of the field behind me as I fled toward the trees. Another onslaught of wind hit me from the right, threatening to topple me over. The grass was getting slippery by now, the raindrops heavier and harder. My companion kept looking to the sky behind me. And a moment later, I understood why. I got close enough to hear him mutter, "Oh shit..."

I stopped when I reached the trees. I was about to ask what he meant, when I felt something in my mane. I went to touch it, when I noticed the fur on my leg. It was standing straight up. My mane followed suit as I watched the stallion's do the same. Without warning, he turned high tail for the depths of the forest, leaping and bounding through the bushes. "Hey, wai—"

The sound of a sizzle got my attention as I turned back to the field, only to be bombarded with a bolt of light that nearly blinded me and set brilliant fire to a small tree that dared to jut out from the high grass. Within seconds, I was galloping through the trees in the same direction as my companion, sprinting for dear life as the smell of smoke faded. My heart throbbed in my chest as I pushed past low hanging branches and thick meshes of twigs, finally spotting the stallion running up ahead. It took all I was worth to catch up to him.

He was saying something that I couldn't hear, probably because of the rain and the combined sound of our running... or my ringing ears. Then, another flash, followed immediately by a crack that made my knees knock together. The ground shook again, and I suddenly got the urge to vomit. "Where are we going?!" I yelled between breaths.

He didn't answer, keeping his eyes forward and leading the way. I took the opportunity to slow down a little, just as a great howling wind resounded through the trees to swipe at our flanks. Another crack in the distance was enough to jumpstart my legs back into full gear. I was ahead of him by a nose length as the downpour continued to soak everything.

"Aren't we far enough away?!"

CRACK-BOOOOOMMMMMM!!!

It struck the tree directly in front of us, snapping the trunk three-quarters of the way up and leaving the rest to fall in a flurry of embers. I screamed, kicking and flailing for a moment before diverting around the roaring pyre. We moved past more and more trees as the forest around us began to bend and curve at awkward angles from the rushing air. Finally, I saw the structure we'd been looking for. It was an old stone home, without any sign of being inhabited. We reached the door in a hurry, but my partner was cursing.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck!" The house had no roof, and the entire back half was charred and black. "We have to find somewhere to hide!" I looked around desperately for a hole, a tunnel, anything. Under a tree? No. Maybe the house had a cellar! Running in a full circle around the structure, I found nothing. Our luck was running out. I could feel something moving towards us. The storm was getting worse and worse by the second, rain becoming more like pellets than droplets. My fur was drenched through and through, although it didn't seem to be soaking into my jacket.

Just then, I heard a beep from somewhere. Turning around, I saw the stallion clicking desperately on his PipBuck. The beep returned, louder this time. It was coming from my leg. Looking down I held up my foreleg. There was a small arrow on the screen that pointed at my 2 o'clock, at a wall of branches and twigs. When I glanced back at the screen, the arrow was gone.

"This way!" I called out to my companion. He ran over, spotting the twisted dead lattice that now stood between us and a small cave entrance. Thank the Goddesses! "Come on!" We dug and pulled at the tangled mess, stopping only for a brief second as something began to happen.

My senses exploded into clarity as my mane lifted into the air.  It was coming. One last strike.

We both looked up to see the swirling clouds above, a single light dimly shining in the eye of the vortex.

"Get inside!" We scrambled past the twigs and crooked limbwork into the darkness, just as my ears picked up another sizzle and the entire world turned white.

**  **  **

"Mom and Dad would have loved to see this." I was sitting at the mouth of the cave. There was barely enough room for both of us, but we found a way to get comfortable as the worst parts of the storm faded into the distance. A few of the raindrops occasionally sprinkled in, but it wasn't like before. The rain was softer now, more like tidal mist than a downpour. Easier to think with.

The stallion whose name escaped me sat with his head buried in his hooves. A strange air was about him. He didn't sleep, he didn't move. He just... sat, eyes squinting. After the first thirty minutes, I began to wonder if he may have somehow died. Until he met my gaze.

I breathed a sigh of relief. "Was beginning to think you..."

"No. Sorry. I drift off sometimes."

Sorry? We stayed silent for a while. The heavy mist just kept blowing. The trees rocked back and forth in the harsher winds.

"How did you do it?"

I looked to him. "Do what?"

"Do you know what this is?" He held up his forehoof, showing me the shiny black device. The screen glowed a soft purple.

"A... PipBuck?"

"SmartBuck," he corrected. "The most versatile tool in the Wasteland. State of the art mapping systems, enhanced detection nexus, S.A.T.S. 2.0... hell, even a translator. Everything a pony could possibly need to survive. And it couldn't find a cave that yours could twenty hooves away."

We stared at each other a moment. "Guess we just got lucky," I shrugged.

"No. Ponies don't just 'get lucky'. Your PipBuck has something on it that we could use later, without the risk of it crapping out. I'm going to need to run a manual scan." He scooted up to me, pushing my hindquarters (!) around so that my front right leg was nearest him. He popped open a small casing unit on the back of my PipBuck, exposing a few holes labeled 'Ports'. A thin cord deployed out of his device, allowing him to link the two. There was a sudden, sharp beep from his.

"Not even the first date yet," I rounded. He ignored it.

A frustrated look grew on his face as he swiped and scrolled on the SmartBuck's screen. "Whatever's inside your PipBuck doesn't want me getting access to it." More clicking and tapping. "Could be classified." He glanced up to me, face betraying suspicion. I must've had the stupidest look on my face. Goddess, why was he so damn cute?! In all his seriousness and pushiness and ordering me around all day, he was still just a giant piece of eye candy. I quickly looked away, cheeks nearly ablaze.

"Any chance you know when we'll be able to head out again?" I asked, face turned to the rain.

"It should be letting up here in a couple minutes. We need to keep dry until we've found this little town of yours." Another beep erupted from his SmartBuck, leading to a labored sigh. "You know, for somepony with all these scars, you sure don't seem to have the experience to back them up."

I gave him a telling look. He wasn't the first pony to say that.

"You might as well learn from them," he said with his head still buried behind the screen. It reminded me of Dad with his books. "But speaking of which, I need to change your bandages. It doesn't look like I'll be able to access your files with the tools I have anyway." He unhooked the cable and it withdrew into his SmartBuck. Then looked at my jacket expectantly. No need to tell me twice! With a tight squeeze and a push later, my jacket slumped to the side, and the wrappings around my stomach and my upper legs were slowly removed. They were stained red near the middle, and some stuck to my fur like glue. But as he detached them, one by one, in the cramped space of the cave entrance, I stopped feeling so... disjointed.

Truth be told, I hadn't thought very much about the fact that I was somewhere so very far away from home. Don't get me wrong, I missed my parents more than anything, and Tranquility was where my heart was. But the things here... in the Wasteland... they didn't seem to be like any of that. And that scared me, but even more than that, it made me feel... alive. It was a little exciting running for your life. Feeling scared. I'd only been here for a few days, but more had happened in that time than the rest of my life in Tranquility. Finally, I had something to pique my curiosity. Finally, I didn't have to stare at a clock every day! But my mom... and my dad...

I still had to get back.

He pulled away the last bandage and squinted. "One moment." He reached his hoof just outside the cave, filling it up with water before pouring it on the bloodied, matted parts of my fur. There were only a series of scars. He rubbed the areas down and checked again.

"Looks like the healing potions worked."

"Well, at least I've got that going for me, right?"

"It's not much, but I won't try and spoil the optimism."

I hadn't even noticed that the rain had stopped. He moved past me in the cramped entrance, and I was left alone. I grumbled to myself before putting my jacket back on and forcing my way past the branches. I ended up with a bit of my mane hooked. I yanked and pulled until the limbs gave way and tangled within my hair. To make matters even worse, my travel companion was nowhere in sight.

"Fine." I retorted. "Leave me then." The many dripping droplets around me became a symphony in the quiet dampness of the woods. Every noise, including my breath, was amplified.

Crack! The steady trickle of water from the canopy was unsettling when it broke branches.

"Noble?" Nothing. "Hello? Is anypony there?"

The forest around me became cold and constrictive with the coming silence. My legs grew twitchy as my eyes darted all around. More bad ponies? Had they finally found me? What if they'd followed me here? I remembered a few of the things they said they'd do to me. My breath ceased as the ground below me seemed much less stable.

"Mare."

"BALLS!" My hooves launched me in another direction. My stallion had returned. "Don't do that!"

"Are you coming or not?"

I sighed, walking over to him. I could've sworn he stifled a chuckle. "Jerk." With that, we began our trek again. Some more time passed as I looked down to the ground. It took a little time, but I noticed that his hoofbeats were off. He stumbled a bit every time his left hoof bent back. I wondered about that for a little bit, before a more pressing question emerged.

"So... you seem to be lightening up a little."

"Noble."

"... What?"

"Noble. You don't need to know anything about my motives or my mission, and I'm sure as hell not about to open up and have a one-on-one with some ditzy mare. But I can at least tell you my name. So... mare... it's Noble. Noble Shield."

I smiled. Progress. "Well, Noble. It's nice to meet you. Where I come from, ponies nuzzle a nose to say hi. But... I'm guessing you're not into that sort of thing, so... I'm Everdawn."

"Well, Everdawn... it's nice to meet you too."

**   **   **

There was something about walking through these damp, muddy woods that had me crying on the inside. Maybe it just reminded me too much of Tranquility. Maybe it was the fact that I was finally walking alongside somepony I could trust.

I wasn't completely sure the pieces of the puzzle were ever going to come together, but the longer I spent out here, the more I wanted to get home. All along the way there were signs of wildlife, from footprints to... other leavings. Admittedly, it was a lot scarier when the prints were twice the size of my body. And sure enough, it wasn't long before I had an entire repertoire of questions for Noble. But alas, I quickly found that he didn't dedicate too much of his time to small talk. For the most part, he listened to my little comments and just kept walking. At least he wasn't telling me to shut up anymore.

At some point, we hit a spot in our path that diverged from what I would call okay.

The holes were everywhere. In the trees, in the ground, in the ponies.

In the ponies.

In the ponies!

My breathing skyrocketed as I backed away. They were all dead! It was Hornstead! They were dead! Dead, dead, dead! Ukulele's smile, Preacher as he lay still on the floor, even the desk pony trying to crawl away. It all came back at once, and I sunk to the cold, damp forest floor, just holding my head, shaking.

A hoof on my shoulder shook me hard.

"Hey, snap out of it!"

I broke out to see Noble standing there with a knife. Upon my noticing, he sheathed it. The look on his face told me that I wasn't acting like a pony should. I felt a bead of sweat go down my face before standing up. "... Sorry."

"Is this kind of thing normal with you?"

"I'm not sure," I answered. "I hope not. What were going to do with that knife?"

No answer. And the bodies were still there. The brown, decaying mess with an unusually foul scent. And the holes. The holes were everywhere.

I almost became absorbed in the thought again before my stallion companion knelt before the remains. The SmartBuck on his leg scanned one of them. For a moment, it almost looked like he was crying. But then, I saw his hoof reach into the folds of one of the pony's attire, only to appear a second later with a small, leather pouch... just like the one Jack had given me to deliver to Marmalade.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"Do you ever stop with the questions, mare?"

"No, alright, I don't. What is that? What did you pull out?"

He hesitated a moment, striking some sort of taboo. "We need it more than they do."

"Need what, Noble? Need what?"

"I'm taking their caps, mare!" he shouted. "And any other possessions that we find valuable enough to sell later!"

I couldn't believe my eyes. Here lay a group of dead ponies, and he was leeching off of them like some kind of a... a leech! "That's terrible! How could you even think to do something like that? Just who in the haybiscuits are you?"

"I. Do not. Have to explain myself. To you. Or anypony else! I am just another soul in the Wasteland, so if you have a complaint, take it up with whoever the fuck invented scavenging! Or whoever the fuck cares!"

I grit my teeth. This big, dumb... I was about to say something my parents would have disapproved of, when Noble shushed me.

"Did you just—"

"Shhh!"

My jaw dropped. "Okay, no—" He covered my mouth with a hoof and got us low to the ground, into the knee-biting brush. "What are you doing!" I whispered.

"Trying to save your life."

I barely had a moment to realize what he'd said, but I heard it. The rustling. Something was moving nearby. Actually, a whole lot of somethings. Underneath the sound of raindrops hitting leaves, it was like the entire side of the forest was moving straight towards us.

"Stay low. Keep quiet. We're heading back."

Heading back? To what?! I shook my head. "They'll see us!"

"Did you hear me? We're going back."

"Mm-mm."

"Mare, so help me..."

Snap!

We stopped dead. It was less than a body length away. Close enough to feel its steps. Close enough to smell. It kept moving past us. Through the cracks in the underbrush, I saw the dark, mysterious shape of... a pony. But it had thorns. Spikes. Horns that curved at wicked angles from the many edges of its armor. It continued on its path, sneaking, as a hoof stepped right next to me. I turned.

"What?" I whispered.

But it wasn't Noble. Not even close. The set of red, glistening, wooden claws affirmed it. I hid a shriek as the gnarled hoof came out from the leaves, before being replaced by another. This one held more scratches, and somehow the bloodied talons looked even darker than the first.

Noble. Help.

My entire body screamed for me to run. But then I saw the real trouble I was facing. An entire wall of hooves was coming right at me. Even if none of them managed to find me, I wouldn't have anything else to hide under. I was a goner. And my "companion" had run off to hide somewhere else. This is what I got for talking so much. He abandoned me because I was too stupid to listen. And despite the knowledge of what would surely be a horrible death, my mind didn't go to my parents this time. It didn't go to Tranquility. It just went to the fact that I had made a mistake. One that I wouldn't get to make up for.

Until I heard a shout over to the right. The voice was deep, and hoarse, and for whatever reason, it was panicked. The wall of legs stopped, and as if the voice had ushered a command, the ponies all ran in separate directions, one or two even going past me.

There was a shot to the left. Then another one. And another. More shouting. And just like that, the world around me really was Hornstead. The rotting bodies, the gunshots, the guttural yelling. An explosion or two, just like the ceremony.

And screams. Wait... these ponies were shooting at something. And they were scared.

I was no longer surrounded by hooves, but rather, the heavy breathing and screams as a hail of gunshots rained from all around me. I wasn't in danger of being caught anymore, but it didn't stop the icy chill from coursing through my veins as I stood and saw what I did.

A black mass was drifting through the trees, like a single column of rolling smoke. Ponies that had gone ahead were being tossed left and right as the sound of tearing and popping filled the air in a sickening chorus. They screamed as a few of them were outright ripped apart, little yelps and whinnies coming out of each.

I backed up, away from the scene, when I made eye contact with another mare. Our eyes met as she turned to flee, and the realization hit her that I wasn't part of their band. Almost without a beat, she made a mad dash in my direction. I was paralyzed for a moment before my legs kicked into gear, catapulting me in the opposite direction. I tore through the many shrubs and bushes that adorned the woods. The same strategy didn't hold up to the next tree I met... head first.

Laying stunned against one of its roots, the mare's hoofsteps got closer. She drew her bone club and raised it high above her head to strike. With a fire in her eyes, she swung. Or she almost did. The weapon got airborne as a hoof connected with her face, knocking her out cold before she even hit the ground.

I was picked up roughly. "You're an idiot!" By a stallion. A handsome stallion.

My head still swam as I mumbled, "Noble? What's going on?"

"Shut the fuck up, and come on!" The guns were still firing a little ways away. It was as good a time as any to run alongside him.

He kept us moving through the forest until we were long out of earshot. After a few minutes, the guns had slowed down, but the occasional sharp crack still rang. At some point, we—and the shots—stopped. As always, I was the first to speak.

"What was that thing?"

"Shut up, you!" He flipped around with a stomp, breathing heavily as his nostrils flared. "Do you have any idea what you did back there! Do you even know who those ponies were! No! Of course you don't! You don't know anything! And yet you must know more than the pony who actually has a clue as to what he's doing!"

I made myself as small as possible.

"You're lucky that thing showed up when it did! Because if it hadn't, you'd be a dead mare! And then I would have to be held accountable for what's going to happen to all those innocent ponies!"

"B-But they would have killed us, right?" I spoke up, like an idiot.

"Not those ponies, you dimwit!" He parted a nearby bush, revealing a town no bigger than Singe. Sitting snugly between two hills, it looked like the happiest place in the world. "Those ponies!"

I stared for a second, trying to decipher what he meant. "What do you mean? What's wrong with those ponies?"

"Well, mare..." he sat down, rubbing a temple as he regained his composure. "Little do you know, those Dire Straight's Scavengers. And now, when the rest of them come looking for their lost group, guess which town is most likely to have any info."

...

"Guess, mare!"

"Th-That one?"

"That one! So congratulations, Everdawn, because you are now personally responsible for telling each and every pony in the town of Pepperseed that they're about to be targeted by one of the worst Scavenger parties on this side of Low Rock!"

**   **   **

"But you can't make me do this! I don't even know how to talk to these ponies, much less tell them any of that!"

"Too bad. This is on you now. If you had just stayed with me and listened, you wouldn't be having this problem."

"Isn't there any other way? Anything?"

"No. This is the way it has to be."

"What if they try to hurt me?"

"You're the reason they have to evacuate their homes. You really think that's undeserved?"

"How! It wasn't my fault! That thing came out of nowhere and I —"

"Mare!"

"NO!" I stomped my hoof, blasting a small cloud of dirt from the ground beneath me. "I won't do it!"

He looked down at the missing piece of earth, and then back up to me. His eyes seemed to follow a direct path from my legs up to my face. "Are you...?"

"Am I what?"

Without skipping a beat, his magic emptied my pockets. But there was nothing to be found. "Where's your stash?"

"Stash? Of what?"

"It's no wonder you were able to keep up with me in the forest..."

"Hey!" I swung at the aura, hooves only passing through it. "Cut it out! I don't have any 'stash', alright!"

He finally came over, grabbing at my leather jacket and checking certain parts. I tried to push him away, but to no avail. He was like some kind of a rock. I heaved with all my strength. "Why... isn't... it... working!"

"I have certain countermeasures in place for ponies like you. So whatever you're hiding from me, it isn't going to help. You're going into Pepperseed, and you're going to tell them what happened. And after that, you're going to hoof over the drugs." Upon hearing this, I froze. He was crazy! The pony was crazy! I pushed harder and harder, stressing myself more than I should have. But he just stood there, as if all the strength in the world meant nothing. He finished checking my jacket before letting me go. "We're going. And that's final."

There was a rustle behind us, and then a click. "What do you mean? Leaving so soon?"

The mare—the one from before. She stepped out from the bushes, with a couple of friends, breathing heavily. One side of her sweaty face had a notable bulge, courtesy of Noble, so guess who she was pointing the gun at. I finally caught a glimpse of her cutie mark: three spikes. "These two were there when the monster appeared," she said to the stallions behind her. "She was trying to flee, and he gave me a headache when I was about to kill her. I'll be damn sure he suffers for that," she gritted.

"We don't want any trouble," Noble bargained at gunpoint. I was about to come over and take a bite out of the thing when I saw the look in her eyes. She was real. The hole would be in my head if I tried to do anything. Plus, I didn't feel like spitting out teeth shards.

"I don't give a fuck what you want, pretty boy! In fact... why don't we just make amends now?"

She grabbed the mouthpiece and aimed it at him. It fired.

Something came out of it. A small cylinder of metal. It moved quickly, but just slow enough for me to push Noble aside before it glided past. It made a hole in the tree behind us. The hole. The holes. That's what they were? A stupid shard of metal?

I looked back to the mare with the gun. She was still aiming, still standing there, still squinting.

"Um... hello?" They all stood motionless. Upon closer inspection, none of them even seemed to track my movements. I checked all around me. The wind had died. The trees were silent. I took the opportunity to grab her gun and throw it into the forest, zero resistance given. But after all that, something caught me off guard: Noble was still falling. I looked down at my PipBuck to see the last of an eerie green fading away.

Everything sped up. The gun popped. Noble hit the ground. And the look on the mare's face when she realized that her mouth was no longer holding a trigger...

She stumbled backwards, tripping over her own hooves. I knew little more than she did, but that little bit of difference meant that I had the upper hoof. And I was tired of distractions. A firm punch landed on one of her shoulders and elicited a solid snap. It was wholly accidental, believe me; I didn't mean to really hurt her! But with the trouble we'd had, all the guns that had been pointed at me, paired with the fact that I was about to evict an entire town's worth of ponies, it just kind of built up into that one little... jab.

Whoever she thought she was, she wasn't for long. The force of my hoof sent her sprawling backwards toward the open grass while the two stallions beside her rushed me, knives drawn. One went for my leg, and the other lagged behind. In an effort to dodge the first, I leaned up on my back legs, when the second pony appeared out of nowhere. The rusted steel dove toward my side. There was nothing I could do! There was no way I could move fast enough!

There was a desperate look in the pony's eyes for a moment, where nothing else in the world mattered but the thrill of the kill, where taking my life was the one thing he'd been born for. To top that off, the first had gunned it for me again. I was, for lack of a better term, spit out of luck.

Or so I thought.

From my right, all I saw was a wave of black. A column... of smoke. It engulfed them, hitting hard enough to bend their blades and leave a spray of red in its wake.

I screamed, when Noble appeared behind me and put a hoof over my mouth. My body tensed up in horror, but the glow from his horn told me the whole story. It was his. The smoke column appeared in front of us, dissipating with a flick of his horn. The lying stupidhead that was my traveling companion let me go, knowing that I'd figured out his little secret.

"What the horsebiscuit, Noble! You said—!"

"I know what I said."

"Why! Why would you lie to me like that? You were going to put the blame on me! We're supposed to be partners!"

The look he gave me would have been death if a certain saying held true. "No, mare, we are not partners! And you listen to me right goddess-damn now." He came forward, prompting me backwards. "We. Will. Never. Be partners! I am not your little adventure buddy! I am not your friend! I am not your companion!" Another step forward meant another step back for me. "Not your amigo, not your compadre, not your pal, not your chum," his hoof stomped on the next step, making me fall against the tree, "and I am not your fucking foalsitter! The only reason that I saved your ass TWICE back there is because that thing on your leg is more valuable than you can imagine! That is why you're still alive! So get that through your head right now, or so help me I'll cut off your leg and leave you for the forest to take care of! Are we CLEAR?"

I just bent my head in shame. I felt like a child... thinking he could be more. Who was I kidding? He was my captor, after all.

"Now, we're going into town, and you're going to explain yourself."

He was right. It was all my fault. He'd cast the smoke column to protect me... to protect the thing on my leg. And he wouldn't have had to do that if I'd just followed orders and gone with him. "Okay."

"Then come on."

The mare was limping down the hill toward the town, and had discarded a smaller weapon that looked more than rusty. "Help me!" she screamed at the houses. "Help me, or we're coming back! We'll kill every one of you!" She was hardly in a position to make threats, but she sounded sure enough to be intimidating. Her hobble gave way to whimpers and groans as she dragged herself away from us.

Noble began walking after her. "What are we gonna do with her?" He didn't answer. "Noble?"

His long strides were a running pace in their own right. It was barely enough for me to trot. "Can you please tell me? I'll listen the next time you boss me around, I promise!" The look in his eyes was tired. His horn began to glow as the mare turned around panically.

"You get the fuck away from me!" she shouted. "You don't know how deep the shit you're in is! You're dead, colt," she laughed, "you're dead!"

"Come on, Noble, she's already hurt. She isn't a threat anymore."

"She's going to tell her boss. And I can guarantee he'll have ponies out here by dawn."

"So? We can just run at night!"

"And leave a trail of blood with the ponies we pass?"

"No, we can... I don't know, do something! We can take her with us!"

"That's enough, Everdawn."

"But—"

"THAT'S ENOUGH!"

The shout stopped me dead in my tracks as he cemented me with a glare. Stepping right up to the mare as she made her last attempts to get away and yell for help, he pressed his horn to her temple, and she fought for a half-second before her eyes went blank. She flopped onto the grass. Noble got up, and began walking toward Pepperseed again.

"What did you do?" I asked when I caught up.

"Would it make you feel better if I called it a memory spell?"

"A memory spell? So, like, you made her forget to tell her boss. Smart move!"

"You could say that."

"Well, what else is there to it?" I inquired.

"You can't change some ponies' minds. Sometimes you have to use other methods."

"Like what?" There wasn't an answer at first.

"Like making her forget how her own heart works." There was a sort of deep sadness in his eyes. And then I understood.

"You... you killed her..." My eyes went back to the odd patch of orange on the hill, lying still amid the swaying grass. "You killed her! And all those other ponies! You just wiped them out!"

"And if I hadn't? Let me ask you something. Where do you think they were headed? Do you know?"

"Why does it matter?"

"Do you know! The only time Scavengers travel this far south is when there's a rival faction taking up room. That war party was on its way to kill ponies, Everdawn. Probably a lot. Do they deserve that? Do they?"

"I don't know," I barely got out.

"And what of the ponies who are now about to be evicted? Do they deserve that?"

"N-No..."

"No, they don't. And if you'll remember our little chat just a couple minutes ago, you'll remember whose fault this is. So don't be so quick to question what I do. Just do as I say, and we can go our separate ways."

The walk to Pepperseed was hardly bearable. Each step closer just made me feel sick. I'd wanted to go back for the mare to check, but a part of me knew it wasn't worth it. The sky should have been turning orange by now, but the grey of the distant clouds botched any hope of seeing it. I wondered what the ponies in Tranquility were doing. Were they watching a sunset right now, like me? I would have died to know.

The buildings stood low and humble as the cloud covering began to clear, casting dull shadows in their wake with the subtle light of the midday. The road was soft, pounded dirt, with puddles of mud here and there. Water gathered in mason jars and pots littering the streets.

"It looks abandoned." I went to one side of the main road, checking various vendors and shops. Nothing. The windows were boarded up, some even going as far as boasting a few painted words.

Noble stopped. "This doesn't feel right. Get behind me."

"But there's nopony here."

"Do as I say." I obeyed, falling in behind him and keeping a close eye on our surroundings.

"What is it?"

He was preoccupied with his SmartBuck. There was a rotating line around the central point of his screen. "I still don't trust it..."

"Maybe there's nopony here? Just like I've been saying?"

"It's too quiet to be abandoned. Can't you check your PipBuck?"

I tapped the button, the screen, even the edges. "It doesn't work."

"Dammit, mare, aren't you useful for anythi—"

Beep!

We looked at one another.

Beep! It was his SmartBuck.

Peering closer, Noble's head went on a swivel and flicked at (almost literal) breakneck speeds. Every which way. Every single direction. "We're surrounded."

"What? By what!" I whispered.

"Stay close. Keep your PipBuck safe."

I curled my hoof up as instructed, tucking it into my belly. "Don't you have a weapon or something?"

"Not at the present moment." Beep... beep... beep, beep!

"A spell?"

He'd stopped answering, instead bending down and readying his horn.

Beep, beep, beep, beep beep beep beepbeepbeepbeeee... "On top of us..."

My heart nearly burst out of my ribcage as we got flank-to-flank, eyes darting all around. Nothing. Nothing!

"Shit..."

I turned around, only to see his horn emit a light-bending orb that traveled outward from the tip until it had formed a radius around us. It was only when I looked back that I was met with a gun. Right on the tip of my muzzle. The rest of the long cylinder materialized out of thin air as Noble's spell traveled further. Soon, there was a head. And a body. And another next to that one. And another. We were surrounded.

"Stay right there," the voice of a stallion said. The voice was filtered. Metallic even. "What is your business here?"

"We're just spending a night," my captor answered levelly. "No harm meant."

"Hard to believe with all those shots we just heard, not to mention the body laying out on the hilltop." The deep voice grew threatening as the guns pushed us closer together. "Are you with the rebellion?"

"Not presently."

"... You will be searched for hazardous items, and anything deemed worthy of notice shall be confiscated."

He didn't like that. "Then we will find somewhere else to stay." My captor made a move to push past the soldiers, but they didn't budge.

"That will not be necessary. Hoof over any hazardous items. Anything deemed worthy of notice shall be confiscated."

"Get down," Noble told me.

The guns all clicked simultaneously, the rooftops lining up with a few extra ponies. "I wouldn't do that." For the first time I'd seen Noble, he looked unsure of himself. "That means you should stop trying to hide whatever it is you're holding," the voice addressed me.

"I said get down!" The ponies all looked down their sights at us, taking aim at once. I couldn't duck fast enough!

"Don't move!" the voice boomed.

"I—"

"Now!"

"Open fi—"

"WAIT!!"

There was a moment of silence as all eyes turned to the back of the regiment, toward one of the buildings as a door opened up. A mare stepped out, black mane highlighted with a silver streak as she recognized my attire.

"Everdawn?"

Hoofnote: Level Up

Quest Perk: S.A.T.S. — The mysterious device on your hoof is now capable of an ancient targeting spell. Not so defective after all!

Soundtrack Unlocked: Barewood

Storm