Chapter 4) Deity

"What we are is what we must be! Radiation and taint will only spread. We must adapt to survive!"

Rusted Bit turns away from the mangled corpse of a ghoul and looks at me with questioning eyes. "You're not gonna loot them?" He asks sardonically, dropping a hoofful of pistol rounds into his saddlebags.

"I think I'll pass." I sighed, my eyes slipping to view the cloud covered sky.

Bit halts his looting for a moment and follows my gaze. "You're not a wasteland pony, are you?" He queries, a touch of uncertainty in his voice.

I close my eyes and see the cloud rushing towards me, shivering at the now distant yet fresh memory. "I'm from hoofington, served four tours in the military as an assault unit."

He froze and stepped away from me, staring blankly into my eyes and questioning me further. "Hoof? How did you wind up in Canterlot?"

I breathe deep and begin to explain. "I was born in upper Canterlot but my father moved us out west when mother died. He helped build the town, and when it came time for it, I helped defend it."

Bit nods and quickly changes the subject, sensing my apprehension. "I get that, but you said he helped build it. You saying that you're prewar?" He asks, intrigued.

How am I suppose to explain this when I don't know myself? "Got trapped in a stasis pod, woke up a little while ago." I lied, not breaking eye contact.

The rusty stallion nods once more and turns around, pointing a hoof at the road. "Don't know about you, but I'm not keen on sticking around to see if there are more ghouls around."

I scuff the ground with a hoof and sigh."Well, I'm trying to track down Dj Pon3. If anypony can help me, she can." I offer, hoping that he'll come along for the ride.

"She? Pon3 is a buck." He corrects, confusion in his voice.

"That's a voice alteration spell, it changes the caster's voice to what they want it to sound like. Pon3 was actually a mare named Vinyl Scratch. I'm guessing that she's either a ghoul, or the spell has been passed down to keep pon3 'alive' over the years." I state matter-of-factly.

That earned a wide eyed stare from Rust. "You know an awful lot about magic for an earth pony." He manages, his eyes still as large as saucers.

"What's with the look?" I chortle, noticing the stallion's sustained disbelief.

He stutters something that sounds like 'Bad thing' before falling to his side and vomiting blood, his legs kicking wildly as his eyes held their frightened gaze.

What the fuck just happened!?  "By Celestia, what is happening?!" I yell, tearing around in his bags for a healing potion but finding only bottle caps and scrap metal.

"Lum olway!" He insists, staring up at me, then at something behind me casting a very big shadow.