Fallout: Equestria - The Ranger of Seamane

“Many of the walking wounded in the wasteland have no visible injuries, the wasteland psychologically wounds deeper than anyone could have ever imagined.”
-Wasteland Doctor’s Field Guide

We returned to the gift shop over the sea lion caves a few hours later. Riptide had ended up resting in the back of the cart. The whole affair had left her emotionally drained which reflected in her physical state.

As one would expect, the drive up the hill was harder than going down. The mist that began to settle over the area didn’t help as the cart’s wheels were slipping on the now wet moss. The whole affair made me silently whisper a thank you to the princesses for the body I had.

Thinking about myself my mind drifted to comparing Riptide and myself. She was a head taller than I but then again I was about average for a wasteland pony. Malnutrition, minor constant radiation, and the general stresses of the wasteland meant most of us were smaller than those before the bombs. Regardless, ponies were hardy things so while we might have been a bit smaller we were just as tough if not tougher thanks to how things were now. One thing I was happy about was that I still had all of my teeth. That was one thing Saint Clover had two centuries of, friggin toothpaste.

We left the cart with the ponies at the tourist shop. Winter, Ocean, and Sil were ready to head out when we arrived. We took a bit to rest while I let my legs recover and got Riptide to eat and drink something. That seemed to help her a little. Four hours was a bit of a trip, but if need be I knew I could carry a pony for a while. Part of the medic training was being able to carry a pony twice our weight for long distances.

Searose was, as Winter had said, abandoned; a burned out, quiet, husk of a town. We didn’t go through the heart of it; there were too many ways we could be ambushed and my gut agreed with that assessment.

The caw of birds and the rustle of critters in the bushes made us jumpy. Winter and Ocean took the lead while I minded Sil and Riptide. Searose, as we trotted around the outskirts of the abandoned town, was host to signs of recent temporary habitation. There were fire pits, fresh tracks, well fresh enough to still be around, detritus from staying a night. My gut told me this had been the staging grounds by the looks of it for the assault on home.

Nothing jumped out at us as we continued to go, our guns were at the ready though. After getting north of the ruins I trotted backwards with Sil guiding me with her tail. Trotting backwards wasn’t something ponies were really meant to do but with enough training I could manage and we weren’t going terribly fast, given we wanted to be careful. Riptide one time when I looked over my shoulder was looking at Sil and I as we had locked tails with a slight hint of amusement.

Riptide’s look I ignored and dismissed, Sil and I had trained together in the guard, and having somepony watching your back was damn important. Princesses knew that I had been on the bad end of an encounter more than a few times due to lacking somepony watching our withers.

The trot north of Yachats was fine, after we had cleared the abandoned town I relaxed a bit but kept throwing a glance back to check that nothing was following us.

An hour later we arrived at Grogar’s Cauldron, our approach was met with the smell of rotting flesh. When we drew closer to the ancient shore that was host to a mysterious offshore hole. What bit I knew about this place was nopony was certain where the offshore hole went, but water constantly flowed into it and vanished forever. On the rough rocky ground soaked in ocean spray, we saw numerous rotting corpses left to rot. From fallen Raiders to ocean creatures, from bare ponies to brahmin. This was a site of slaughter, and the air was heavy with the smell of it.

Riptide couldn't bear to even look at the sight so I guided her over the uneven rocks as she cried into my mane. Winter and Ocean kept a dutiful eye out for signs of trouble ahead of us as we headed inland along a smaller dirt road. Sil took up the rearguard.

With a few hours behind us, we had made it quite a ways inland. Here the road turned to mud, the air filled with the buzz and rustle of life just out of sight. The road followed a creek inland, both cutting a path inland through the thick forest around us. The more natural greens surrounded us as we pushed ever-forward away from home.

As the road went higher along the narrow valley we were trekking through we got a good view of the valley ahead. Through Winter's scope, we both agreed on an area of dry ground ahead of us as the road neared the riverbed. It would make for our campsite tonight, a far better alternative than the abandoned scenic overlook which was little more than a muddy pit of gravel and sucking muck.

Winter and Ocean had their own tent which was a small blessing for me. The rest of us set up the larger tent to share. Once camp had been made we got down to making a fire. Said fire sat under a makeshift cover of old tree bark and branches to keep the rain out and diffuse the light. The first watch landed in my lap. Ocean and Winter would take the other two.

The watch was dull, cold, wet, and dark. After the previous week, it was a nice break from the gunfire, smoke, dull orange glow of fire, and being drenched in fear.

One thing I can safely say is that even after being through combat many times before it never stops being as scary as Tartarus. Then again that’s why the guard is important, those few of us who carry the scars of taking the life of another so not everyone has to. Not like everyone who went through the guard had to do what we did over the past week.

My mind wandered to thinking about the combat I had done. It certainly feels a lot different between being up close and firing rounds down range toward where you see shapes. Sure I had killed some through a long-distance scope but I never saw their faces, not like when I was at medium range or… I shivered as memories of ending lives with a knife brushed against my mind. That terrible feeling of taking the life of another will never leave me. I really hope it never does, because if it does oh I am not going to feel good reflecting on that.

My thoughts continued to wander for the three hours of my watch, at which time Ocean joined me under the cover of the rain shield of old tree bark. She looked like she wanted to say fuck it and crawl back into bed with her mate. I couldn’t blame her given I knew that feeling, especially considering it was concerning her buck. Why did it have to be those two with us? Oh well, skill is skill, even if it stings.

“Hey, Moony.” Ocean began before stifling a yawn. “You look like shit. How about you get some sleep? I can imagine Sil will feel a lot better with you in the tent with her.” That got me to raise my eyebrow at her. “You know, because this is the first time she’s going this far from home, where we’re going I mean.”

That made me sigh, a deep tired sigh. Ocean was just looking out for me, for us, as she should given she was our leader.

“I guess the past week has been exhausting so I would look like shit.” I agreed with her. “Do you need anything before I hit the sack?”

“No, I’m good. Well as good as I can be.” She answered truthfully as she used the embers I had kept warm to heat a drink.

The gentle rain had turned into a blanket of mist by the end of my watch, leaving things nice and quiet save for the gentle babbling of the creek next to us.

Crawling into my tent I found the other two mares still fast asleep. Sil's familiar and comforting gentle snoring was present, ready to ease me into slumber while Riptide's breathing was uneven as she lay facing away from me. Once more my heart went out to the mare.

Sil’s forelegs wrapped around me as I crawled in beside her, muttering something in her sleep. Her warmth was comforting and so I snuggled into it, what comfort I could have given to Riptide I felt would make her startled and backfire. So I let myself drift off holding my foalhood friend.

With frustration in my heart I awoke in the morning without coaxing, well before Sil given her hooves were still wrapped around me. Her warmth against the cool damp air clinging to my eartips made me briefly snuggle into her grasp. Her familiar scent, gentle breathing and heartbeat kept me company as I continued to awaken; being in the Guard had ruined my ability to sleep in. Begrudgingly I disentangled myself from her clinging hoove, though I had little desire to leave the warmth of the zebra.

Once outside and telling Sil to get a bit more rest I joined Winter under the makeshift cover as I restarted the fire. We then proceeded to heat some water and make a warm breakfast. Mash wasn’t ideal but it would do; I didn’t feel like eating any of the other options we had on us.

Half an hour or so rolled by then Ocean had decided to join us, quietly leaning on her stallion as they shared a cup of hot tea. Riptide joined us not long after, her eyes unfocused. I offered her my tea and she absentmindedly took a sip only to spit it back out, blushing furiously. Apparently, my tea did its job in waking her even if it wasn't to her taste.

“Well I guess she thought it was something else.” I giggled to Winter.

“Ugh, how the fuck do you drink this?” Riptide asked as she sent the canteen back to me. I took a sip of it. “It’s foul, I expected water.”

Winter spoke up before I could “Moony needs her caffeine in the morning but doesn’t like coffee.” He explained and gave me a grin. “She can get really cranky if she has to be doing things early after a night watch. Caffeine helps her not shoot first and ask questions later in those situations.”

I snorted. “Just don’t give me too much caffeine or I’ll go back to shooting first and asking questions later.”

“And that’s why she doesn’t get coffee.” Winter nodded sagely.

“Even if it would have saved our asses a few times.” Ocean teased.

Riptide warmed up some water and got out some seaweed to go with the mash. “I’ll just not ask about that. Point being, no feeding the grey unicorn coffee for the sake of not unleashing a living storm of violence upon the wasteland.”

“Correct.” Ocean giggled at my expense while I just rolled my eyes, chortling.

Winter turned to look at me, smiling as he unfurled a map of the region. "So Moony, you weren't around when we laid out the path. Let me fill you in."

And there was that confused storm of feelings in me. Whatever, breakfast and planning over these feelings.

Winter meanwhile continued with the explanation, ignoring the flashes of emotions across my muzzle. “So we’re cutting in here so as to not get closer to Hayshore. We’re going to let the others handle checking out the other towns along the shore.” He explained as he pointed to spots on the map as I held it up in my magic. “We’re going to hit the small town of Fisher and from there to Alsea. Once there Alsea it’s north onto Wayhill and then we hit the old Five and go north. We’ll deal with what we find as it comes up.”

Once his explanation was done I took a moment to magically mark our path out and where we planned to stop for the night each day. “Alright, that’s easy enough and we got a number of alternative paths so we should be good.” I said, folding and stowing the map. “We’ll have a decent view of what’s ahead of us coming out of the hills into Wayhill. I like it, things should be pretty calm until we get to the Willamanette valley.”

Riptide piped up having listened in. “So how long do you think it will take?”

I rocked my head side to side as I thought about how fast we had managed to go so far.

Ocean answered for me. “Probably three days to Alsea, another three to Wayhill. We should get to Fisher tonight.”

Winter nodded at that. “Plus Wraps said it was clear through here. It’s a bit surprising that there aren’t any raiders out here.” Winter said with a dismissive shake of his mane.

Riptide nodded digesting the information. “So it’s just going to be a nice quiet trot through the backwoods?” She asked.

Her question made me giggle. “As far as I can tell, yeah.”

We took our time getting ready for the trot ahead of us. Winter bid me to wake Sil so I did, or at least tried to; she dragged me back into the warm confines of her sleeping bag in her half-asleep stupor for cuddles. The warmth and comfort defeated my will to go on a cold wet march through the hinterlands.

Half an hour later Winter poked his head in then giggled when he saw Sil with her head against my chest fluff. My cheeks flushed as he gently shook his head at us.

A few minutes later Sil was out of bed and leaning on me, sipping her tea while the rest broke down the camp. While I kept an eye out for trouble and minded Sil, I pondered on why she was suddenly glued to me. Then again we had grown up together so I was as close to an anchor for her out here in the ocean of the unknown we waded through.

An hour later we were several miles inland. Thankfully the roads had mostly dried out over the night. The weather had continued to hold with a gentle mist, the heads of hills were stuck into low lying clouds Through the narrow valleys the wind still rustled through the branches of the conifers, de-leafing the deciduous trees around us. The buzz of the life around us had quieted the further we had gone inland.

A whine steadily built up as we continued to trot further inland, existing over the buzz of the forest life. The noise made me flick my ear as if to bat away a fly buzzing around my head. Without asking I got acknowledgement from Winter by way of a simple look as his own ears flicked instinctively.

Before we could take more than a moment to start scanning our surroundings something slammed into my side. The edges of my vision darkened and my hearing blanked out as I felt the sensation of sailing through the air. Suddenly I could hear that whine again, only louder this time. When I regained my sight again all I could see was chitin.

This was definitely not how I desired to experience flying given I was now in the many-limbed grasp of a giant pony eating insect. The nightmarish vespidae had its massive stinger lodged into my side through a saddlebag and while I couldn't feel it I knew the lack of pain wasn't a good sign. I tried to worm my way out of its grasp but that only made it push its stinger deeper in, its limbs closing on me harder. It was then that I saw movement within what I now knew was the parasitic wasp's abdomen.

Fuck, fuck, fuckity fuck, it's laying eggs! Well those will take a bit to hatch but I need to escape. Now how to-

That train of thought was quickly derailed when the sound of gunfire rang out. The insect foalnapping me staggered and I used that moment to tempt fate by lighting my horn to cast a spell. This proved futile as it acted like a moth to a flame and clamped its mandibles onto my horn, causing my eyes to water and my spell to fizzle out.

Thankfully it proved to be enough of a distraction for my captor, its body shuddering as many more shots cracked into its chitin making it falter in its flight. It was then that I noticed the rapidly approaching trees lining the valley's wall.

“Oh this ain’t good.” I whimpered to myself as I braced for a crash landing.

Our struggle came to a very abrupt end when the massive wasp slammed into a tree. Having grown up watching other fliers like gryphons and hippogriffs earn either a one way trip to the infirmary or an early grave from such a crash I knew the wasp was done for. We tumbled down to the ground and, as my luck would have it landed with the bulk of the insect on top of me, knocking the air out of my lungs.

With only a brief moment to gain my bearings I drew my pistol and flicked the safety off in my magic as the wasp twitched and buzzed, attempting to get back into the air. I unloaded an entire magazine into the underside of the critically injured creature until it stopped moving; even if it was trying to parasitize me with its young I wouldn't let it suffer a slow painful death. Unfortunately this meant I now had to carry its dead weight on my shoulders as I frantically tried to get out from under the damn thing.

Grunting and panting, I managed to make my way out of the demon spawn insect’s deadhand. Pain coursed through me as I laid in the underbrush and caught my breath. Looking at the dead insect and its stinger I remembered the violation of my form caused by it and then immediately checked my side. To my relief I didn't find any wounds though I couldn't say the same for my saddlebags. Examining the contents of the saddlebag I found my busted up tea box filled with small translucent eggs. I froze, my mind failing to comprehend the disgusting sight before I snapped, using my magic to launch the eggs out of sight into the forest.

A minute later my mind recentered itself. “The… The fucking wasp was after my tea? MY TEA?! Why in the actual fuck would a wasp want to lay eggs in my tea?!” I swore as I double checked for a hole on the other side of my saddlebag before giving the insect corpse a glare. "I fucking swear Discord made this thing specifically to deprive folks of caffeine!"

If it had managed to lay any eggs in me I didn't see any. A quick detection spell over my body and the lack of exit hole on the other side of the saddlebag had me feeling relieved. I spared another glance at the insect and pulled out my knife, stalking towards it to make sure the likely dead wasp wouldn't be getting back up. Now that I had a moment to examine it outside of fighting for my life I could see it was a long orange and yellow wasp with horrifyingly long and flexible stinger-ovipositor. The shell of the insect was cracked with it’s ichor leaking out around the exposed flesh.

The distant calls of my friends dragged my attention away from my would be foalnapper. I trotted off in the direction of their voices, pushing through the underbrush till I got to the bank of a river running through the bottom of the gully I was in. My friends were looking down at me, waving but I couldn't make out what they were saying.

I made an executive decision. “I’m fine!” I shouted up and made pointing gestures with my hooves, hoping they would understand. “Keep heading for Fisher, that road and this creek go the same way!” Their response was faint and unintelligible, and soon they began to head in the direction I pointed.

Sparing a moment of time, the pellet sized hole in my saddlebag was patched with a bit of tape. I lacked the time to do more but at least it wasn’t going to split apart any time soon. The trek upstream was easier said than done at a number of points; algae and moss covered rocks made me lose my hoofing and the stream itself was bitterly cold which drained me while keeping me painfully awake. The only upside I could see was that I got a lot of practice of squeezing my coat out with my magic to dry off. Unfortunately it wasn't as effective as I had hoped for as unlike Argent’s method as my technique didn't add any warmth.

Two hours later I finally made it to Fisher. I could see Sil sitting at the top of the thankfully low slope that led down to the creek. She waved a hoof at me and I waved back. A few minutes later I was hugging her as we took a moment to relax in each others' company; the solo trot had been nerve-fraying and given the way Sil looked she was about as distressed as I was.

Before I could strike up a conversation with Sil I was distracted by the scent wafting from Fisher, the smell of rot. Taking a moment to gaze around our new settings I could see a few homes, many covered in what I could only describe as a diverse colony of fungi. Nature was in the process of consuming the town. My eyes slid to what lay outside of the homes; fields untended for who knows how long had grown wild and left to grow and die as the world decided.

Sil noticed where I was looking and gave me a comforting nuzzle, slowly leading us to where the others were.

Winter caught sight of us first. “Oh hey Sil, just in time. We found a terminal for you to take a crack at. I have no idea how it still has power but, eh whatever it means you can have your way with it.” Winter said before he trotted up to me and hugged me. “The hell was that thing?”

Sil gave me a nod and trotted off to deal with the errant terminal. I nodded back to her, my eyes following her for a fleeting moment before I answered Winter’s question.

“It was some kind of fucked up giant wasp," I recounted. "Honestly fuck if I know what the bastard really was but I do know that it was a toss-up between my tea or me and I got fucking lucky it liked how the tea smelled more." I shook my head. “Thankfully my saddlebag tricked it into thinking it had penetrated my side and it deposited its eggs there instead. I returned the favor by depositing bullets into it and tossing away said eggs.”

He nodded at my explanation. “Well, you don’t smell too different from the other mares so it must have been the tea.” He explained as he ended the hug with a sigh. “As it is, Sil got the shot that made it go to ground. She’s remembering pretty quickly what her dad taught her. So how banged up are ya?”

That got me to roll my eyes, the thought of how I smelled compared to the other mares long gone. “Thankfully not that badly. Some bruises and a bit stressed out from the event followed by trotting up through cold water.” I answered and rubbed my chest to emphasize the bruised part before continuing. “Anyways, what have you found, anything interesting or of use?”

“Not much, Ocean and Riptide are checking a house right now to see if it’s safe to sleep in given, you know, the circus of fungus growing on a few of them.” He sighed. “Right now it is looking like the barn is our best bet for a place to bed down. Somepony stored some hay in there and I have no idea how it's still good.”

The idea of still-good hay made me curious as to how we could augment our supplies. “Well the barn sounds good, folks are more likely to check houses instead. Not that I don’t find it curious as to what happened here, but given how everything is right now--” I said before being cut off by a yawn.

“It's likely nopony has been around for a good while," he finished for me before turning to look at the sky. "It's getting close to nightfall. How about you go keep Sil company, I’ll keep an eye out for any trouble.”

I gave the stallion a smirk and giggled. “Yeah, more giant insects.” I snorted. “Out of everything the end of the world could have given us why is it so common that insects got stupidly big?”

He chuckled at that. "To teach us of our hubris in thinking we ruled the world for one," he said. “And two, because something like giant snakes would make us unable to think straight.”

The notion of a giant snake made me shiver in fright. “Okay, maybe.” I groused as I headed in the direction of the barn.

Upon entry to the barn, the noise of Sil tapping away at a keyboard made it easy to navigate to where my striped friend had squirreled herself away. I was mildly worried at her lack of reaction to hearing me coming in when I realized I had forgotten to announce myself. Regardless, she could've done with a bit more awareness overall so instead I settled down on the seat of an old tractor and watched her work. There I lay looking over her shoulder like a lazy cat, reading the logs along with her as the minutes dragged on.

Sil finally noticed my presence and cried out. “Fuck! By the stars, Moonlight, you scared me.” She squeaked as she held a hoof to her chest while she caught her breath.

I felt a sense of amusement at her given I had done nothing but exist near her. I wasn't even watching her this time, instead gazing out a window to check for the rest of our group.

After a short giggle fit at Sil’s expense, I answered her. “I’m sorry, Sil, I really didn’t mean to scare you half to death I just don’t care about the terminal.” I giggled. “Figured I should keep an eye out for trouble given you got a little too engrossed in that terminal.”

“Thanks, but you should have told me you were there earlier. I mean sure I would have still jumped, but...” She gave me a soft smile and then rolled her eyes.

I returned the smile. She was a cute zebra I had to admit to myself, never understood why she didn’t have a mate already even if she did once complain to me about finding the right one for her. She was one of two I had known and both had brown stripes, which was odd given the ones I had seen in old Pre-Last Day posters were more varied, with different coat patterns akin to crystal ponies.

“I know, Sil, I get engrossed in work as well.” I giggled. “Next time wait for one of us to be around before you dive into something otherwise it might not be one of us biting you on the flank.”

She grumbled under her breath. “I wish you would.”

I turned my attention back to her, having not heard what she said. “What was that?”

At that moment she hopped up on the tractor with me and poked a rib making my eyes water a little.

“Just that I was going to get you for that, so now we’re even.” She giggled before she leaned against me to wait for the rest of our entourage.

This got a giggle from me as well. I shook my head before turning to more pressing matters. “So I guess you had no joy with the terminal?” I asked her.

She turned her head away from me to the terminal. “Eh, nothing of use.” She sighed.

With that I gave a shake of my mane. “Was a long shot that anything out here would be.” I said.

She was looking at me again. And I chalked it up to her being worried about the whole being dragged off by a giant insect thing.

Time moved along like a…

Slow moving body of water, bayou? I needed more words to describe low moving flows. Okay let’s try again.

As a slow moving evening crawled upon us like a sleepy beetle, the other three eventually showed back up, the mountain mists rolling in behind them. We made camp and with some clever use of cans and string we set up an early alert system; if the doors to the barn were ever opened in the night, the contraption set into the hinge would fall out and make a commotion. We then settled in out of view of the windows before making a small fire on the concrete. For tinder we used some of the excess dry hay. Without much effort I used my magic to ignite our campfire and Winter took to tending the weak flame so it could keep the damp cold out.

First watch was once more in my lap but I was used to that. Ocean and Winter somehow managed to function off of split sleep and I had no idea how since neither were caffeine fiends. Whatever the case may be this meant that I had the painful, psychologically tortuous task of watching the others sleep while also being tired.

Three hours into my watch I was startled by sudden noises. Out came the gun as I let my ears twitch and start to home in on the source of the sound. As I panned my head left to right I suddenly locked eyes with Riptide’s who looked embarrassed and scared. With an exhausted sigh I holstered the pistol and took a moment to collect myself with breathing exercises.

“Sorry, I’m just jumpy.” I apologized to Riptide while keeping my voice down.

She shook her head. “No, it’s alright.” She replied as she recomposed herself.

“So, do you need anything?” I asked as she trotted over to me.

“Um, could I have some company?”

I gave her a nod. “That I can do that.” I said as I let her lean against me.

There was no need to ask what was wrong. I knew those familiar eyes, I had seen them often enough in the mirror. Trauma was a frightful predator, one that haunted one's dreams oh so vividly long after the events that inflicted it; like a partially healed scar that left its mark forever. Gently I brushed her mane while she let out quiet sobs.

With myself indisposed and the three hours of my watch over, I used my magic to prod Ocean awake to take her watch. She took one look at me comforting Riptide and gave a tired knowing smile before settling down in the chair before the terminal to start her watch. Riptide continued to use me as a body pillow and handkerchief, letting all her feelings bleed out as tears and quiet sobs into my chest fluff. Tired as I was, I soon drifted to sleep beside the mare.

-=O=-

The beginning of awareness was marked by the smell of bread. I cracked my eyes open to see Winter cooking haycakes with the excess hay that was here. I had no idea where he procured the other ingredients but I had long learned to stop asking as the answers invariably made my brain hurt. Upon seeing that I was awake, he wordlessly offered one and in return. I gave him a tired smile as I floated the haycake to my mouth. I had no desire to move with the poor mare by my side fast asleep, actually looking at peace for once. Ocean for her part was sipping a hot drink and making more for the rest of us.

Thank the Princesses for magic, otherwise I’d wake Riptide up.

This morning was less strictly paced than the past two; instead we decided to take it slow for once, letting the general feeling of tiredness settle over us.

Upon waking, Sil saw my predicament and just silently giggled before sticking her head out the door. The way her mane ruffled told me a gentle eastward wind had settled in with a light mist. She joined me with food of her own and sipped at my tea as always. Riptide woke up from the noise of movement around her and the smell of food and caffeine. The mare took a good few minutes before letting go of me with a small blush on her muzzle. Not like I minded the possessive hugging she had given me in her slumber. It wasn’t unusual for folks to grab onto an anchor in a tempest, emotional or weather.

Once Sil and Riptide had their morning routines done we headed out. A light rain mixed in with the mountain mist for our trot, the pitter-patter of the rain on our barding and surrounding trees was ever-present as we trekked through ever more muddy trails. The groaning from the trees grew louder as the wind picked up, adding to the cacophony around us. After yesterday all of us bristled at the sound of life in the underbrush. The day was far more anxious than was warranted but none of us felt like having an unexpected flight courtesy of things that couldn’t be reasoned with.

When lunch came around we decided to stop under the cover of a turned-over autocarriage. As we ate we saw a few birds and heard of what could have possibly been squirrels or mice running in the underbrush. We even saw proper-sized insects flitting about. It was as if nature had simply ignored the end of our civilization and continued on without us. In a way it was soothing to sit back and bask in the tranquility, even making my mind drift to thoughts about the future. That maybe one day our world would be like this if peace was not found between the remnants of our civilization, only the most sturdy of ruins reminders of the foolishness that had once marred the healed world.

Then again, for some reason, most of Equestria had never healed like it had out here. Did we have clean soil, or did the proximity to the coast mean something? Could it have been the lack of balefire contamination since the only important coastal cities were far to the north and south of us?

Our reality bugged me. It wasn't that folks had gotten so angry at one another that they turned our world into ashes in a fireplace. What bugged me was that islands of nature remained with clean water and farmable land, and yet for a hundred years we had done nothing to improve our nation. Hopefully one day someone will figure out the intricacy of things, the hows and whys, and leave the past well alone. After all, anyone who had been remotely responsible for the blight on our world had probably long atoned for their sins either from horrible undeath or radiation.

With less than an hour of daylight left we crested the last hill separating us from Alsea. The rural town was less green than the hills, almost as if pony settlements were a blight. Worryingly Alsea had some lights on, unlike Fisher, and thin trails of smoke rose from many buildings. All of the signs of life that did little to fill me with ease.

While we were still well within the Seamane range we could now see the valley where our highway out to the Willmanementte rested. Ahead of us was the inevitable interaction with interior ponies as well as the threat of dealing with whatever politics existed out here. Regardless we had accomplished the first step of our journey; we had made it to the interior, kinda.

I shook my mane and refocused on the issue at hoof, Alsea. We needed shelter for the night and with no idea as to who or what was within this town, I turned the safety off on my guns as we made our descent.

“Let’s uh, keep away from ponies here," I announced. "Maybe have a moment to rest and recover before we have to deal with the locals and, if possible leave before any trouble finds us."

Winter nodded in agreement. “Right, let’s keep an eye and ear open for any trouble.”

Ocean nodded too and added. "Remember, our first priority is finding a proper shelter."

As we moved slowly into the empty suburbs around the town, a song started playing on my internal harp of distress. Strings of apprehension tensioned by stress and plucked on by every little noise and movement out of the corner of my eyes manifested as jitters and twitching externally.

To our fortune and my relief, no further signs of life showed themselves. The mists helped cover our entrance and quiet the sounds our hooves made but I still felt the twinges of panic as we toured the dead quiet suburb. The lack of bodies, traps, or movement frustrated my mind. The place screamed trap yet nothing came. I had learned to trust my gut feeling when it came to these things and despite all my anxieties, all evidence pointed to the contrary, that this part of town was dead.

We pushed into an open building, some of its lights still flickering with life. We were in what looked like the main living area. A sofa rotted away to its metal frame, a working radio sat at a table spitting out static and the walls showed markings of mold. We pushed on out through the back door and moved to another house. Reasonably enough we weren’t willing to stay in a building with such an obvious mold infestation.

Finding more houses with working radios, we did a little investigation and found the radios tuned to the same frequency. Said frequency was a local radio station set up in the town, likely an emergency broadcast system for the community. Given the lack of music, chatter, or anything but static, it must have been abandoned. The working lights left on were also a curiosity. The place had been hit at some point during the evening or night. Maybe hit was the wrong term, but something had made those who lived here bug out in a hurry. Hopefully whatever that was wouldn’t bother us tonight.

Two centuries ago this would've looked like we were touring the neighborhood house shopping. We just had different priorities. As the hour dragged on we hurriedly tried to find a place overlooking Alsea. We had also decided it was best to cut off as many routes of approach to us while also giving us overwatch on the throat of the valley while securing the ass end of it.

Eventually, we found a neighborhood close to the edge of the hill watching over Alsea. The lack of working lights gave us ease of mind, as did the absence of random radio static.

Our trail was a series of lawns, removing fences so as to keep out of sight if anyone was watching the road. Between careful hoofsteps on damp grass and keeping buildings between the large road and us, we kept our presence to a bare minimum. Unfortunately for us every house we wandered past we found caved-in roofs, terrible water damage, standing water, and a few times bloatsprites and other festering insects were feasting on whatever was left. More than a few of the still-standing homes were home to the remains of ponies. The brittle state of the remains spoke volumes as to the age.

Before the end of the neighborhood, we found a mostly intact home whose front door was still locked. Luckily for us, the back door wasn’t and we soon found ourselves in a home lost to time that was welcoming of new residents.

While we had before lived in a rather well-kept home it was nothing like pre-war homes. I wasn’t the only one of us to find it amusing that we randomly stumbled upon a temporally displaced house given the end goal for Seamane was to restore the town to a state like this. Searching the place we found the calendar had stopped being updated a few weeks after the Last Day which told us everything we needed to know. The prior residents had moved out fancying their chances somewhere else.

The first floor still had furniture throughout, none showing signs of distress from folks fleeing or fighting and some even had covers draped over them. What was probably the most telling thing was the lack of any long-dried blood. The dichotomy between clean and abandoned messed with my nerves but then again I was also used to the time-worn homes where the age of the building couldn’t be missed. I was also used to living on a ship with spots of rust, scuffs, and scrapes with the thrum of ventilation.

Regardless this wasn't our home yet and we took our time doing a sweep of the entire house. Half an hour later and having cleared the house of any possible hazards in hiding we had our sanctuary for the night.

We divided the house among us. Ocean and Winter agreed to take the guest room while the rest of us decided to share the master bedroom on the other side of the floor to give them some privacy. Between us we had access to two bathrooms and what was once someone’s office. The upside to this arrangement was not only that we were near but also had the edge of the second-floor platform letting us see anyone who came inside.

Finally having some proper downtime for the first time in days, I peeled off my equipment and tested the water. Whatever heating element existed Pre-War continued to function as did the fresh water supply. Oh, the wonders of old-world plumbing please wash the wasteland off of me.

Wiping at the steamed-up mirror, I went about tending to the rest of my hygiene after a well-deserved bath. It was funny brushing with somepony else’s toothbrush, but I doubted any mouth bacteria could've survived over the centuries.

Refreshed, cleaned, and with my barding cleaned off of the grime I had gotten from the past few days left me feeling warm and fuzzy. Dinner wasn’t long after and was a short, quiet affair that was followed up by curling up with the two mares under my guardianship. To that end, my pistol and rifle rested on the wall, as were the other weapons we had in our care.

My last thought before drifting off was silly but apt given our situation.

I really wish I had packed a shotgun. Guess I’ll nab one whenever I find one next.