Fallout: Equestria - The Ranger of Seamane

“The Five is the lifeblood of Cascadia. Without it, well, what little ponies out here would be far worse off.”

• Interview of a caravaneer on the Five.

Another two days went by before we left Four Corners. In the meantime, the Hydra hadn’t shown any of its heads ever since I bombed it. Anyone I talked to about it said it was dead and I accepted their assessment as I wasn’t a regular monster slayer. Plus if anyone knew when a hydra was dead, dead it would be those who have spent their lives living in its shadow.

Back at the carriage, Crash and his partner had just finished loading a certain steel coffin.

“Listen, you two can keep looking into that... Thing.” I explained to the two. “However, I want to see it as little as possible. It fucks with something deep in my mind.”

“We understand and we didn’t get much out of it hence why we’re shipping it to the University.” Care sighed. “The testing we did came up… inconclusive. We know it’s not a changeling at least.”

“In less gloomy news, take this with you, Moonlight.” Care went on, pulling out a notebook. “It’s a copy of our notes on all of you and… It. You should have a copy. Maybe you’ll eventually want to read it.”

I took the notebook into my magic and regarded it for a moment. It held not just that thing’s medical information but also Riptide’s and mine along with our mutations. It struck me that it also gave me a baseline for Sil so I could keep an eye out for mutations or any sicknesses.

All in all, it would make treating us easier. I would want to hold onto this for documentation in case anything happened to us or changed us within or without.

“Thank you, I might be able to read it in a while,” I said as I tucked the notebook away in my saddlebag. “I’m just glad Ocean had already put that thing down before I showed up.”

“We understand. It was an extremely strange entity and an extremely strange situation; we didn’t get much out of it.” Crash said. “It is an interesting topic and that’s where we’ll leave it.”

“I can imagine. If I was in your horseshoes I’d be intrigued as well. Just, being so close to the situation was more of a horrifying experience.” I admitted with a shudder. Curiosity remained but my horror would curb its influence.

“Entirely understandable.” Care replied. “Anything more we can do for you before you leave?”

Nothing came to mind.

For the moment I didn’t really anticipate any more trouble. At most, I was expecting someone asking for a toll at gunpoint but there weren’t any rough and tumble hoof-to-hoof fights, big shootouts, or monsters to contend with.

As it was, I was thanking the Stars and Princesses that small miracles did happen in the wasteland. One of which happened to be the fact that the stagecoach hadn’t been damaged in all the conflict; no mortar hits, no vipers had tried to nest in it and nothing was stolen in the ruckus.

Everyone was also healed up, mostly. Enough to travel at least and after yesterday’s check-up with Sil, I was ready to get going. Four Corners had been nice but our stay had been longer than desired and now with things calmed down it was time to move on.

“There you three are,” Ruby said in a tired but cheerful voice as we approached. “Everything is loaded but you lot. Unfortunately, Winter and Ocean beat you here so, Sil and Moonlight, you both are going to be up top with the box.”

I let out a groan of frustration. “Well, at least everything will soon be loaded. Come on Sil, let’s get up top.”

“Try to not think about it,” Ruby said as she caught my gaze. “It’s just going to eat at you. Instead, think about how much good you did here in just a couple of days. Imagine the cap’s you’ll be swimmin’ in if you take up some contracts and pull off repeat performances up in Dockland.”

“You five managed to do a whole heck of good in no time.” She went on, smiling. “Heck, the way I hear it you, Moonlight, were a one pony wreckin’ crew.”

I frowned and shook my mane. Whatever had happened here had mostly run on its course. I had just given it a helping hoof. There was no doubt in my mind that the same result would have come to pass with or without me. The numbers would’ve just been different. One stone dropped into a raging current makes very little difference after all.

Regardless of how I felt about our actions, we had become something of local heroes, at least in the locals’ perception. In that regard, I realized we were beginning to shape up like how Buckshot and his group did; an exceptional group of friends who could do the impossible as far as many were concerned.

The reality of it, as I had experienced when I had worked alongside Buckshot and the others, was that good planning and a lot of skill did the heavy lifting.

Maybe I was just being humble but I knew that without the townsfolk or my friends, I couldn’t have pulled it off. Maybe I could have gotten past the raiders to assassinate their leader but without fire support from the walls, I would have probably been in a far more sorry condition after.

I had taken him down regardless without backup but then there was the matter of rallying the remainder of the former raiders. Without their unorthodox support, the town might have fared much worse.

We had played a pivotal role in protecting the town certainly but even so, I was under no delusion that someone else wouldn’t have stepped up and done the same without us.

Of course, I could never really sit by when there was work to be done. The only way I could ever be certain something was done right was to do it myself. Someone else might have gotten it wrong. Or I would have to live with I got someone hurt by not doing it myself.

“Well, it would be nice to get some more caps. It’ll make staying the winter in Dockland a lot easier,” I giggled as I helped Riptide into the stagecoach.

Our non-essential luggage, including all my reading materials, went in with those three. Not like I could do any reading while up on the roof of the coach. Once that was done, I hopped halfway up the coach and bounced off of a telekinetic sheet. Sil meanwhile pouted until I lifted her and set her down beside myself.

The two of us did our damndest to ignore the pony-sized metal box closed shut with straps and locks.

“You must be used to taking fewer passengers at a time,” Sil commented.

“Yeah, but we make do,” Dusk replied. “Keep yourselves lying down and you’ll be fine.”

I sighed as Sil and I lay on top of the stagecoach together. It was less comfortable than inside the cabin but at least we weren’t walking out in the open. We had some cover and could focus on keeping an eye out for threats while the pullers kept us moving.

We were on our way again, finally.

As the stagecoach rolled down the streets I was able to get a good view of the repairs being done to the walls. A new secondary wall and trench were also being built by very busy crews of workers.

Other crews were working on hauling the severed, still unrotting hydra heads. One of the heads we passed even had the end of its neck healed over with scales though it wasn’t moving. I guessed it was just dormant without the rest of its cardiovascular system.

At least I hoped it was for the sake of Four Corners or they were going to have a massive hungry snake on their hooves. Ugh, snakes... At least it isn’t my problem now.

Half an hour later Four Corners was behind us.

-=O=-

We would be stopping in some place named Hoofview that was along the Five right after it crossed the Willmanemette. I gazed to the east as we rolled north and saw Mount Hoof rising to the northeast; its foothills covered in green, its peak white with snow before the clouds cut it off.

It was different from what I was used to. On the coast, we had no mountains that tall. It just seemed to rise in such a contrast to the rest of the range.

Further to the north, I saw what looked to be a smaller mountain. Its name eluded me but it was certainly flatter. I leaned back and saw a few more peaks clustered together to the southeast and two more even further south, their peaks shrouded in clouds.

To a degree, the world was recovering. It was just society that was lagging behind. I didn’t know why but that wasn’t my problem, at least not today.

For now, there was one objective: get to Dockland. From there? Keep my friends alive while we get them back to their families. After that? Honestly, I just wanted to keep things going wherever we ended up living, be it back home or somewhere else.

Fixing the world was for someone else. Protecting my friends and family was all that I could do right now. Even if I wanted to do more there wasn’t any real place to start at the moment so no point in worrying about it beyond a mental exercise.

Fixing Equestria, let alone the world was a job far bigger than one pony or her four friends.

What gave me solace was the thought that, with time, Equestria would recover as we found ways to work around what was left as the ponies we’ve run across were already doing. In a way things were coasting from the inertia of the Last Day, ponies afraid to branch out from their little prepper communes for anything more than trading the essentials. Eventually, you’d run out of leftovers to pick through and begin cultivating and innovating once again.

Isolated survival was impossible to sustain after all, which was the case even before Equestria existed with three desperate tribes having to turn to one another to survive, their infighting bringing forth Windigoes.

Though that always made me wonder, given how shitty the situation was now, where the fuck the Windigoes were? Did ponies defeat them for good in the past? Or were those spirits shattered and new spirits of strife started to form to replace them? If so, that would explain a lot about the weird weather that rolled through from time to time. It couldn’t all be rogue clouds and the Enclave above causing it.

Farmland returned and the city fell away as the coach continued to roll further north, signs of life returning as well. Sil pushed herself against me to stay warm, respecting my silent thinking as she kept an eye out to our west.

The untamed crops rustled in the wind, ancient trees and husks of their burned-out ancestors bowed together. There was new life growing out here, away from the ruins of the cities. The scene was calming to watch as each thicket of trees passed by, the long grass blowing in the breeze.

Despite this, as the carriage kept its even pace between overpasses and small towns, I was already mentally preparing for the worst but also praying for the best.

After the shattering of the raiders under Venture, I figured many of the stragglers had been dislodging, absorbing, and fighting other smaller ne'er-do-wells. There simply was no other place for those ponies to go but north towards Dockland, Seaddle, Vanhoover, or push east out through the Dulls. The south was already getting too cold to transit to warmer places like the valleys of Applewood.

I shook my mane and looked back towards the west, towards the Seamane Range.

Towards home.

My thoughts turned to how things were going back home. There was little doubt in my mind that things were going well for them. With those weird ritualistic raiders routed and outposts established for the early warning, it would be difficult for such a siege to happen again. Regardless, I knew there was likely a good deal of mourning and grieving after we left, for those who had died in the battle or shortly after from injuries. No matter how well-fought a battle is, there are always casualties. Something we all learned unfortunately at a far too young of an age.

My thoughts drifted back to Winterwatch and Ocean Spray. How had their absences been felt? I knew how my family felt about me leaving but those two still had a bit of family remaining on the ship. I wondered what the watch commanders would be doing to fill the gaps in guard duty due to casualties and having sent us off. Well, I would get to ask when I got back.

If.

A shudder ran through me at the memories of how many times I had gotten badly hurt so far in this short trip. How easy it would’ve been for me to have met my end already. Part of me struggled to push the morbid thoughts out of my head while the rest of me knew I had to process them to stay sane. Let them flow through me, and address them. Suppressing feelings had only ever gotten me hurt in the long run.

At the same time, I also knew when to squash such thoughts, when there was work to be done. Right now I had no task on hoof, no plans to make or enact. So instead my mind had only one task to do, process how close my tale had come to an end.

Mentally I swallowed that bitter pill. If I make it back home.

At the same time, I focused on what Sil and Riptide had talked to me about; how I was neither suicidal nor doing things out of the desire of pain-induced penance for some mistake made recently or long ago. Nor were my actions fueled by the need for adrenaline.

That willingness to toss myself into harm’s way was trained, not natural. I’ve seen it with others in the past; the fear many of my kind have towards violence, towards pain, towards death. Things that I had been taught to unlearn because when you are protecting others there is no space to fret about your own life. Duty was to protect others, not yourself but you were protected through the duty of others to protect you so it usually worked out.

Hours into our cart ride, Sil had come up with other ideas than introspection for how we would spend our time going north. Primarily sleeping and with me as a pillow, a bump caused her weight to shift and make her slump gently against my left side. Given the box containing don’t think about it was securely strapped down to my right, I wasn’t going anywhere anytime soon.

This was unfortunate because the coach had slowed down a bit, having to be pulled around long-abandoned carriages on the Five. One would’ve thought somepony would’ve cleared them by now.

They would have if it was safe. Or…

Nothing happened for the next half hour as I waited with great anticipation to be shot at, maybe even an explosion or the sounds of some horrible beasts assaulting us. Perhaps I was getting used to this interior wasteland nonsense with the growing paranoia.

… Or nopony was around because sitting out in the cold waiting for a caravan to come up the Five for your scrap sucks as an occupation. Caravans probably never bothered either due to how dangerous of a position it is. Talk about a convergence of nopony giving a shit.

To disarm the tension within myself I let out a sigh. Like, sure it was a good thing to be paranoid but Ruby would have told us to be on alert if it was that dangerous; this wasn’t her first trip through here.

Come on, Moony you’re just overthinking, again. Just relax, and enjoy riding in safety while having a cute mare sleeping with her head on your shoulder. Even if she’s drooling and talking in a language you can’t fully understand.

Wait, talking? My right ear flicked and twitched as I tried to parse what Sil was saying in her sleep. I gave up after a bit realizing it was her tribe’s tongue and as such I could only understand one out of three words, though those I could understand were making me go between confused and distracted. That reminded me that at some point during winter, I had wanted to have Sil teach me more of her tribe’s tongue. More so now given we were dating instead of just being best friends and neighbors.

What did those old trashy romance novels say? The filly next door? And I always thought myself to be said filly to some handsome stallion but look at where I am now; I’ve got two mares deeply in love with me. Guess I really was the filly next door but for some very cute mares instead of a strapping stallion. Then again… I guess Winter fulfilled the stallion role. It’s just that things didn’t work out in the sequel to that story and now I’m with mares. I wonder how scandalous that would have been in old Equestria.

My thoughts focused on the situation at hoof with my lovers. It was going to be a while until I saw Majar again and had to go through whatever trials of possession he’d have me do for his only daughter’s hoof. And then there was Riptide. I was going to see what remained of her family soon and that was mildly terrifying.

I’m going to be seeing Riptide’s extended family for the first time and I’m her mate now. Oh Sisters, help me... Cadence if you are watching please give me strength for handling inlaws. And during their time of mourning too. Well if there is ever a time to meet and show I’m here as someone who cares and isn’t using the situation for easy sex…

At least she had gotten to meet mine already. My family, upon meeting her, seemed to already know that we would fall in love and be lovey-dovey partners. Then again maybe that was just familial teasing. I hung my head.

My family knows me pretty well but there was no way they could have known I would fall in love with Riptide. I mean that’s just silly, right? Did they know that I was going to fall for Sil someday? That Sil was pining for me all this time? Fuck. How out of the loop was I to the feelings of those around me?

I just sighed as the coach bounced again.

This was going to be an interesting couple of days. I think when we made it to Hoofview I would talk to Riptide about what I could expect from her family. Surely her parents had said something to her about them. Okay, I was nervous about this whole meeting with Riptide's family. Why couldn’t I have followed the simple rule of bodyguard details and not become involved with my client?

That just made me sigh again. Not wanting to wake Sil up nor worry those driving the coach, I decided not to vocalize my frustrations. I felt like a fool but why shouldn’t I? I had been a bit of a fool, and that was fine. I just needed to deal with the consequences as they came up.

Was that how I was viewing this, consequences for hooking up with Riptide? For falling for her? That wasn't the right way to think about the situation or her.

I gave my mane one last shake before leaning my head against Sil’s. I needed to get my headspace sorted and thankfully I could rely on those around me to support me.

As we traveled north the land turned ever greener, contrasting with all the browns and yellows along the way. I even heard birds for the first time since we left the coastal range. I hadn’t noticed how quiet the towns were and devoid of wildlife that wasn’t horrifically twisted by radiation or taint.

Crows were the most common bird that I saw. Smart buggers, a bit bigger than my pre-war books said they should be but radiation and taint could account for that. That or their food sources were possibly bigger now.

I let the sounds of various birdsong fill my ears, hoping they would help me to clear my head.

-=O=-

At some point, I had fallen asleep and was rudely awoken by a bright light cast onto the stagecoach from a watchtower. I shook my head roughly, blinking away the blurry vision and letting out a groan as I heard the door below us open up.

Hearing hooves clattering out, I gently shook Sil awake.

“Looks like we got to Hoofview. Got some kind of checkpoint.” I muttered. Sil replied with a yawn.

Dusk motioned for us to get down from her side of the coach and we followed after her soon after. The guards looked over us and through the stagecoach. Thankfully they didn’t look in anything we had. It seemed they were more interested in finding someone over something.

Something must have happened recently if they’re looking for someone. Princesses, please don’t let whatever shows up delay us again. I’ve had enough of the delays.

Regardless, I just waited. There was no reason to make fellow security ponies stressed out. I knew how it was to be on the other side of this job after all. A few minutes later they finally finished tearing apart the vehicle for any stowaways.

“Sorry about that, we’ve had some issues with somepony sneaking in at night and stealing things.” The stallion said, turning off the flashlight on his helmet. “We didn’t intend to dump you on the street. This has just been going on for a month.”

“It’s fine,” Riptide groaned. “It’s just been a long week for me.”

I trotted over. “Fellow guard pony here, just a bit away from home.” I started. “What have they been taking?”

“Food and fresh water, a few bits of junk too. Thankfully it isn’t drugs.” Flashlight stallion replied, then nodded to the mare with him, a unicorn with a baton on her. “Regardless they leave no tracks which are driving us up the walls. Thankfully they don't seem to bother caravans. Guess they know that if they hit traders then the town would wither. Or they’d get a bigger bounty on their head.”

I nodded.

The thief was smart and they were taking more than just food and water. Not chems so it wasn’t medical in nature or an addiction. Instead, they were stealing items of some minor interest. How… strange.

I couldn’t put my hoof on what it meant. I felt the conclusion was on the tip of my horn.

“I bet it’s a pegasus,” Baton mare said after helping Riptide up into the coach. I didn’t need any empathic special abilities to feel the anger flowing from her.

“Why do you say a pegasus? There’s like what three in the wastes that aren’t ghouls? Rest are above the clouds if they didn’t all die from the rising ash getting stuck in their precious clouds.” I spat. “What about a gryphon? Wouldn’t that make more sense? You know, they can fly and have those dextrous claws.”

“Maybe, but no gryphons out this side of the Columbmane,” Baton replied. “Most are northwest and the other side of the river, hence the idea of a pegasus, or one of them bat ponies.”

I shook my mane. They were right where the closest communities were of gryphons.

Batponies? Nopony had heard from them since they had their first above-ground colony in centuries sacked in the war. Well that was what I knew anyway and as I’ve come to learn my information is hardly reliable anymore.

Collecting my thoughts I replied. “Well, we’re here for the evening before going up to Dockland.”

“You mean Portlandia.” Flashlight interjected. I just looked at him confused.

“Er, what? I thought it was Dockland. At least, well, it's where she wants to go.” I explained nodding to Riptide. “I know that part is named Dockland due to all the, you know, docks.”

“Oh, right.” Flashlight said. “Well keep safe going near the docks, I heard there was some big dust-up recently on the west side along the river. Some folks tried to cross the river and other ponies didn’t take kindly to it.”

Oh joy, nothing is ever simple with this fucking trip.

“Sounds like this winter is going to be a fun one,” I replied.

“Staying for the winter in the city?” Baton asked, waving Ruby forward as another pair of guard ponies opened the gate for us.

“Yeah, no point in trying to catch a boat back to Saint Clover,” I replied as we walked in with Flashlight and Baton. “No fucking boats running this late in the year and not going to pay the rates for an emergency run.”

“Ah, well then Pioneer Square is your best bet, University is a bit south of it, you’ll cut through it on the way up.” Baton started explaining as we passed through the gate into what remained of Hoofview. “Pearl District is pretty safe though, that’s the area around Pioneer. The east side is still pretty fucked but there are a few safe places that have been taken back.”

“It's still pretty hot out there. We didn’t get knackered like some of the bigger regions but those bombs still left their craters hot. I swear they weren’t just big bombs but a curse on our lands, which would fit with everything else the ghouls talk about.” The mare went on. “Still surprised Pearl District didn’t get wiped out given all the ministry buildings. The industrial part of town got a near miss too; hit the hills above instead, the rads over yonder make it dangerous scavin’.”

Behind us, I heard the gate close with a loud clatter.

“Unless you’re doing mercenary work, probably just stay in the Pearl.” Flashlight piped up. “Lots of ponies out there willing to snatch up any ponies wandering about.” He then nods his head at the coach before looking back at me. “Though you two are lucky, being Unicorns and all. Won’t get much bothered by the Family, a bunch of Unicorn supremacists. Just don’t believe what they say.”

I frowned, I knew who the Family were from prior experience, but I didn’t know they had made it into Dockland.

“Well, that’s pretty easy to do, seeing as plenty of Earth ponies are smarter, stronger, and better in other ways than Unicorns,” I said with a laugh and a shake of my mane. “All I have over an earth pony is I can directly do magic but ponies can, you know, target it. They always aim for my horn from experience.”

“Anyways, it also helps that my dad raised me to think and work like an Earth pony first, then use magic to augment my actions.” I went on, giggling. “Sometimes I forget I even have a horn, well, when I was growing up at least. I’m learning to use it more often.”

“Then he raised you right.” Flashlight smiled before waving a hoof at the small compound amongst the ruins. “Alright, you lot are going to be sleeping here. Food is just a bit further up the street.”

“Thanks. We’ll get ourselves set up and grab something to eat. Hope things stay quiet tonight.” I thanked Flashlight and Baton with a nod. They returned it and soon returned to their post, leaving us to move further into town.

What remained of the pre-war town was quaint. There were a few two and three-story buildings but most of the town was residential as was expected, including a strip mall of convenience stores. It had been a decent-sized town but nothing special even before the War. The local supermarket had its roof collapse at some point which explained why the town wasn’t set up there.

Instead, ponies had set themselves up post-war a good quarter mile away from the overpass of the Five at an intersection. There looked to have been a multitude of restaurants, pharmacies, convenience stores, and other small shops pre-war, with a hotel to the north and regular houses further west behind walls of skywagons, carriages, and rubble.

It had its charm, I admitted to myself. It was rather open to the air but many trees still retained their lush greenery, though the scattered deciduous trees that weren’t already barren still retained their orange leaves at this point. Given the number of leaf piles around town, it was easy to tell they were alive.

While none of the street lamps were lit up, there were strings of small electrical lights hung from post to post in places out of view of the Five. The town had likely learned not to be a brightly lit beacon from the most obvious attack vector. I shook my mane, trying not to overanalyze the nice town and see how these ponies had adjusted to the disharmony of the wasteland.

Enjoy the tranquility while it lasts, Moony.

The whole town had a vibe that it had seen less struggle. I felt this with the way the ponies here walked, how they looked around and talked to one another. In Wayhill, Four Corners, even back home there was a level of guardedness from years of struggle. Here? Here it felt almost uncomfortably relaxed as if things had sailed relatively smoothly for them. Even the way the homes were set up told how different things were here in Hoofview from the prior towns I had been to.

There was politeness, kindness, warmth, more than just the oppressive grey that seemed to fill every other town. It was a spark of Equestria that had survived the war, the bombs, and the horrors after it.

It honestly made my heart ache.

I wished Saint Clover had been so warm and happy. It had been warmer than the survivalist nature of Four Corners or the -- well I hadn’t paid much attention to Wayhill, but the place was a fortress against both the elements and the wasteland. The Wayhill University campus inside of the wall, while alive, was just that; it hadn’t felt like it was thriving, not like this.

Here I saw not just ponies but goats, sheep, cows, and even their mutated cousins known as brahmin for some strange reason. Looking around I even saw a yak and pony couple. Neither gryphons, pegasi, bat ponies nor the more mythical creatures that had only been spoken of like Kirin or Deer. Regardless, this was still the largest spread of species I had seen in a good while, some of whom even helpfully set out to help us set up our temporary encampment for the night.

-=O=-

Riptide approached Sil and me after we had helped set up the camp for the rest. “Your dad raised you like an earth pony?”

“Yeah, though not just him. Majar, Sil’s dad, did as well.” I replied as I busied myself with setting up our tent. “My dad, if you didn’t notice, likes to wear a hat to hide his horn. It’s due to a bad experience of ponies trying to break it off when he was a colt so he learned how to live without magic after that.”

“Yeah, and my dad found it amusing when they first met,” Sil added. “Both of them got in a verbal sparring match over buying goods, for the same group. But when things got heated and they both explained who they were trying to help they laughed at the whole situation and agreed to work together instead.”

She giggled and then went on. “They ended up doing more and more work together. Moony’s dad didn’t have any direction at the time so he ended up living with my mom’s tribe for a while. Honestly, it’s lucky that Moony isn’t half-zebra.” Sil teased.

I snorted as I set down our sleeping bags. “Pfft, I mean with how our dads taught us how to fight I might as well be. Just paint some stripes on me.” I laughed.

“You two really are sisters.” Riptide shook her head, laughing with me.

“I guess, though, things between Sil and I have always been different from that of my brother and I.” I snorted. “Of course, I don’t have a sister so I can’t rule out that, that’s how sisters act.”

“And yet you know the filly next door and her lover’s act.” Sil pointed out teasingly.

I bit my tongue to not answer. I must have made a face anyway because Sil stifled a giggle as she stared at me expectantly.

Luckily our stomachs growled at us, reminding us of how little we had eaten today and giving us a way out.

Getting food was easy but this time there wasn’t just a town canteen like I had expected, which made sense since this place hadn’t been run by former members of the military at its founding. Instead, there were three competing restaurants for us to choose from, which honestly baffled me as this was just at one street corner.

This town was smaller than Four Corners, maybe four or five square blocks, and yet there was so much variety. It must have gotten to me more than I thought given Riptide looked at me with a worried expression before brushing my cheek with a hoof.

“You’re crying, are you okay, hun?” Riptide asked. Her eyes looked so pretty and inviting now that I felt the gloom of the wasteland lifted for once.

“I think it might be how alien this place is,” Sil replied, her voice betraying how she felt a bit uneasy with how different the town was.

“It’s just so beautiful,” I replied with a sniffle. “I’m just so used to so much less that it hurts.”

Riptide hugged me as I sat on my haunches and let myself cry a bit into her mane. It was best to just let the feelings roll out. These were not emotions worth tucking away to process later. These didn’t put me in danger or scare me. They were good, healthy emotions, happy emotions. It felt good to let them out.

“I hope you didn’t wipe your nose in my mane.” Riptide teased as we finally ended the embrace.

“No, sorry, it was just overwhelming after everything,” I replied as I sniffled a bit, using my magic to wipe away the tears. “To see something so… wholesome, so unphased by the wasteland.”

“Yeah, it’s a bit… overwhelming.” Sil agreed.

“So about dinner: spicy, plain but healthy, or mystery?” Riptide asked, pointing to each of the three buildings she did.

One was a pre-war Pinto Burro, its mascot now sporting a distinct difference of wasteland wear. The next was a plain-looking building with a sign labeling it as Veggie Grille. The last one was Pony Joe’s. The O’s on the Pony Joe’s made me think of doughnuts.

I looked at the three options as my stomach rumbled and thought about when and what I had last eaten. Finally, I mentally said fuck it and started for the Pony Joe’s. We had skipped lunch and instead fell asleep two hours into the trip. Now it was late, the Pinto Burro looked dark, and the Veggie Grille looked mostly empty and might be about to close. Meanwhile, the Pony Joe’s looked reasonably busy.

Well busy for a small town of Sisters knew how many folks. Enough for small raiders to not try to mess with them at least.

“Mystery it is.” Sil giggled.

“So it is. Dusk said you two slept the whole trip, so maybe make up for lost calories?” Riptide stated.

“Yeah, we did, and probably.” Sil giggled back. “I can hear her stomach from here.”

“So that’s what that was.” Riptide mused.

I let out a groan as I trotted further ahead of the two and entered Pony Joe’s.

Upon entering Pony Joe’s I was greeted with the all too familiar smell of coffee. Coffee had overwhelmingly been the drink of choice in the guard. Personally, I never could handle that much caffeine. One time I had it I started hearing and seeing things. After that signs were put up warning others to never let me have black coffee again.

Frankly, I agreed with them. I had ended up nearly defenestrating the lead of the Nightwatch at one point. At another I froze two fellow patrol ponies to the ceiling by their boots; thankfully they didn’t get frostbite. Nightwatch had not been pleased, to say the least. I couldn’t remember the rest but I did wake up the next day strapped down in a medical bed.

At least I knew I could have alcohol and so I was encouraged to drink that instead as it helped me mellow out and loosen my lips. Not that I was the strong silent type. Instead, I tended to just not talk much unless I had something to share at which point I wouldn’t shut up. Drunk me also found things far too funny and was willing to jump into talking with new social groups.

The sign on the pay stall said to seat ourselves so Riptide guided us to a nice corner booth where the circular seat allowed us to sit together without it looking like we were waiting for somepony else to show up.

Pony Joe's menu was, unsurprisingly, very pastry-based and coffee-focused. I fiddled with my bag and counted out caps as I figured out what I wanted to order.

A green earth pony mare rolled up to us on roller skates. “Evening fillies, what can I get for you?”

“Coffee, black, and an assorted dozen doughnuts.” Riptide answered as she folded her menu and slid it over to ‘Skates’.
.
“For you, ashen?” Skates then asked, looking at me after scribbling down Riptide’s order.

“I’ll go for some milk, a dozen powdered holes, and two maple bars,” I said, sliding the menu over as well. Given they had milk, the town either had a cache of powdered milk or were good friends with cows. I mused that the latter was more likely given the cows I saw earlier.

“And.” Our server started, looking over at Sil. “What will our Zebra cake have?”

Well, for a moment I was worried there but I’ll take a pastry joke. Of course, I then totally missed what Sil had ordered due to the intrusive thought.

“Alright, we’ll have that out in a few for you mares,” Skates said before she headed off with our menus, scooping them up with her tail.

“Okay, I’ve seen Earth ponies grab stuff with their hooves but I thought dextrous tails were like a gryphon thing,” I pondered, watching Skates go with bemusement.

“Powdered holes? Here I thought you preferred them wet.” Riptide whispered suddenly into my ear, ignoring what I said and intent on turning my face bright red.

I swore I could have smelled smoke.

“Wow, I didn’t think it would be that easy to turn you that shade.” She giggled. “I guess it really is easier to do it out of the left field.”

“Oh, that’s a shade I haven’t seen in a while.” Sil joined in on the teasing. “I think I last saw that when I first caught her and Winter.”

“Oh, you’re going to have to share stories.” Riptide purred.

I was caught between the two conniving mares who were plotting my death by self-immolation sparked by embarrassment.

“I swear upon the Stars, when we get to Dockland and have some time alone I am going to make the two of you the brightest shade of red that a pony can turn. And then.” I hissed. “Then I am going to make certain you can’t sit for a week.”

Riptide paused and regarded me for a minute before giving me a sly smile. “You’re on.”

Oh merciful Sisters, what is she?

“Moony, you know better than to swear upon the Stars.” Sil huffed, then giggled. “Sounds like fun,” she added, both of them smirking at me before kissing me on either side of my muzzle.

This is getting out of hoof. Now there are two of them?! I’m doomed.

The situation had to be stopped before it devolved any further. They had to be stopped before I achieved a criticality of embarrassment and burned right through the seat.

Thus I did the only thing I could think of. With a deftness trained over years of swift hoof-to-hoof training against my fellow guards, I booped both of the giggling mares on their cute noses.

Riptide gave me a confused look in return then snickered. Sil on the other claw just went cross-eyed and stuck out her tongue at me. With the situation disarmed due to strategically timed and placed nose boops, we leaned against one another and relaxed listening to the DJ Pon3 station play.

I had expected to be served resurrected pre-war doughnuts. Instead, these were, while probably baked in the middle of the day given the toughness, relatively fresh. It was a nice break from two-hundred-year-old snack cakes.

Riptide had an interesting reaction to the coffee a few minutes after she had her first sip. I felt her tense up next to me and, looking over her, seemed to be regarding everything around her once again. Maybe I should have intervened by not letting her have coffee this late at night.

Her eyes suddenly met mine and I saw that they were narrower than before, more slits than pinpricks. I found myself stuck looking into them. There was a muffled thud of the doughnut hole I was grabbing falling back to its brethren as my magic lapsed and I felt the world shrink around me. I felt like I had been dropped onto the ocean bottom, the weight of the water around me crushing the air out of my lungs as darkness blanketed everything but Riptide’s bright, yellow eyes. Things swam in my vision that I couldn’t recognize.

Then with a shiver, it was all over and Riptide looked away with a blush on her face as she went back to having her coffee and pastries. I closed my eyes and slowly took one deep breath after another. This continued for several minutes until I realized I hadn’t felt my heart racing, quite the opposite; my heart was barely beating.

I opened my eyes to see my EFS filled with medical alerts and warnings about my cardiovascular system. My heart had apparently stopped and I was pinged dead for a few seconds. That… probably wasn't a good thing for my overall health. I thought for a second about using my magic but decided against it, instead opting to use my hooves to eat.

I knew one thing with certainty: I didn't trust my magic when I was in an unfamiliar mental situation, and oh Sisters I was in one now.

Riptide finished before I did and I shared some of my holes with her without a word as I shifted to the maple bars. Sil for her part ate something reasonably healthy: haycakes with some eggs and a cinnamon roll. Nopony could escape the grasp of pastries here.

While I was certain I was overdosing on sugar for the next month it was worthwhile. I mean by the stars, it’s a wasteland, unless you have a town that you know you’re going to be living in you have no way of knowing you’re going to make it the next hour, why not enjoy myself?

“Hey, Sil? Here are the caps for our meal. Could you go up and pay for it? I’m going to go use the little filly’s room before we go back to Ruby and the rest.” I said after finishing my share of the meal. Sil nodded and got up with the caps I had sorted out to pay for the meal, with a little more if a tip was required. I had no idea if post-war interior ponies had kept that stupid custom alive or not.

As I trotted past a table I saw a few ponies playing what appeared to be poker. The dealer shifted his head as I was moving past them. “Care to join?” He asked me.

“I don’t really do cards,” I replied, waving him off.

My eyes were still blurry, most likely from whatever happened with Riptide as I couldn’t make out the features of those at the table. One was brown, the other was white with a red and black mane. They had enough players that I didn’t need to join in to avoid a guilt trip. I heard an indecipherable noise of either confusion or amusement at my refusal and I scoffed before proceeding to the restroom. It wasn’t like this was a casino. I came here to eat, not to play cards.

Once I locked myself inside, I stared into the mirror, looking deep into my own eyes as I got some water to run. I looked mostly fine, a little tired but fine. I closed my eyes as I put my face in the sink and splashed hooffuls of water over my head, letting the water run through my mane and coat hoping to dispel whatever was hanging over me.

When I looked in the mirror again, I appeared just as exhausted. The water hadn’t helped and if anything I looked worse which made me wince.

I could see all of the new scars on my muzzle. My horn would never be the same, though my magic was coming back to full strength without much delay. I had made it out pretty lucky. I hadn’t gotten any new barding so I was left bare to the wasteland and any more punishment it wished to deal out to me.

What punishment is waiting for you?

I paused. The voice hadn’t been vocal, but sounded like it was in my mind. Usually, I just thought to myself in my mind, good old internal monolog, but this was different. Quietly I looked around and saw nobody casting a spell, nor anyone in windows who could have cast one to explain the strange intrusive mental voice. It wasn’t the first time I had heard things in my life and I doubted it would be the last time I hallucinated. Given how my face looked, I was probably suffering from the effects of built-up exhaustion.

I just need to catch up on some rest. That’s all.

I left the restroom and saw that the poker game had broken up. The same, old stallion was there alone, shuffling a deck.

“How about I tell you your fortune?” The Dealer said with a toothy grin. “You seem to be traveling, maybe it will put your mind at ease. After all, you do look out of sorts and in need of some good news perhaps.”

I giggled a little and smiled at him. “Yeah, sure.” I humored him.

I didn’t have much stock put into cards predicting the future but then again everypony could do some kind of magic. Now that I was up close to the Dealer I could see he was a well-weathered and aged stallion. His worn, grey coat showed the number of trails he had been down. He kept his head down so I could only see his muzzle. The flare for being dramatic was alive and well within him.

“Are you familiar with Luna’s deck?” The dealer asked as he shuffled the deck again with his hooves and then had me cut it. Even without seeing my face, he knew I didn’t and went on. “Ah, an old tradition. One that was renamed after her fall and restored when she was. Each card frames a different thing, an outcome, an option, or an event. It can tell things that have happened or will happen and what you can do. We can also ask the cards questions if you wish, but, I will tell you now, wait for the explanations to be done before reacting.”

It was bullshit I decided. Maybe in the hooves of a Princess, it was a tool for divining the future but in the hooves of some buck? Well, at least he wasn’t asking for caps and was just trying to make me feel better so I wouldn’t be hard on him.

“So which do you wish to do? Ask a question or a general reading?” The dealer asked as the deck sat beside him.

We ask, but what? That’s a fair point. Let’s get a feel for what he’s doing with his cold reading.

“Let’s go with a general reading. Life has been chaotic as of late.” I answered.

The Dealer nodded and drew three cards face down. He flipped the three cards over. The first was the tower, then the moon, and finally the hermit. Drawn on the cards were characters I recognized from history; Chrysalis, Nightmare Moon, and Luna reformed, all of which seemed to almost move. That didn’t seem right.

“The tower is reversed. It seems whatever is going on you should embrace whatever changes are happening to yourself.”

That was pretty broad. Annoyingly I can map it to my mutations.

“The moon is upright, and in the second position is telling you how to care for yourself in these times, by your intuition.”

Right, I was already doing that. I’m still not buying that this is accurate in any way.

“The hermit is upright and at the end, telling you when you are lost. Introspection is your guide for finding yourself in these times.”

Right, the moon and hermit were saying the same thing. How useful.

The Dealer looked at me, almost annoyed.

“Moony, you ready to go?” Riptide’s voice suddenly cut in.

I blinked and was staring back into the mirror in the restroom. A glance at the time readout in my EFS showed a few minutes had gone by. In the mirror, I saw a blurry-eyed mare staring back at me, and for a moment a toothy grin in the window that sat behind me. I spun around quickly but the grin was gone, as well as its bearer.

With a quick shake of my mane, I banished the whole thing as just another hallucination. Then, as I turned back to the mirror to straighten my mane, I saw the three cards. The Tower, The Moon, and The Hermit.

Well, that is not encouraging to see.

A feeling of being watched crept over me as I stowed the cards in a pouch and left the restroom.

“There you are, everything alright?” Riptide asked before giving me a nuzzle.

“Yeah, just a bit more out of it than I thought. Guess it’s time to get some sleep.” I deflected.

My eyes landed on the table that the Dealer had been at. It was vacant but as we trotted past I heard the shuffling of cards, sending a spike of anxiety through me.

Quest Perk Added: Unwelcome Oversight. Sometimes things do not rest well in the wasteland and reach out to touch the lives of those who still live. These things are best left alone. They may be good or bad but they often are unsafe, dangerous, and unhealthy.