My sleep was dreamless. No vivid images of my life back in pre-apocalyptic Equestria. No good memories to be watched. Only darkness filled my vision.

I had woken up to the sound of my saddle bags being emptied. I sluggishly sat up to see the mare frantically going through my bags. As if she was looking for something. I was surprised that she got them from me without me noticing.

"Wh-what are you doing?" I yawned, rubbing one of my eyes. She jumped and gave off an "eep!". Her silver eyes gazing at me with fear.

"N-n-nothing!" she stammered with a voice much younger than I anticipated.

"Well, it doesn't look like nothing." I said, "You're going through my bags."

"W-well... I-I..." I could hear and see her gulp. She was terrified to even speak.

"It's alright." I assured her, "I'm not with those dead ponies back there."

I had motioned behind her. When she looked I knew that she was shocked. She probably assumed that nopony was going to save her. She even looked back at me with a friendly face.

"I'm sorry..." she said, pushing my bags to me, "You cant be so sure about everypony in the wasteland. Especially when it comes to raiders."

"Raiders?" I asked, "What are raiders"

"Crazy and dangerous" She explained, "Can't trust them for even a moment..."

"I see... So what happened to you?" I asked curiously

"I was on my way home to new appleoosa..." she paused for a moment, "But then I was jumped by those two raiders. By the time the guards noticed, the raiders had knocked me out and took me to where ever this place is."

There it is again, New Appleoosa. It's not a town I'm not familiar with. I wanted to know more about it. A place of somewhat safety sounded promising. Then I had an idea.

"How about I help you back" I offered to her, raising my pipbuck, "I got a map, all you have to do is point to where it is. In return, I'll let you keep what you were looking for."

She rubbed her chin. I'm sure she knew where to go if she had a moment to look around. But if she went alone, she would get attacked by more raiders. We both knew what her answer would be in the end.

"Alright," she sighed, "You got yourself a deal."

I smiled and stood up, putting my saddle bags on and stretching my wings. I noticed her walking to me and I raised my pip buck to her to show my poor excuse of a map. Lucky enough she was able to point out her destination, witched turned out to be the settlement I was going to already.

"Now before we go." she started, "I want my shotgun. Including the shells for it."

"Always good to plan ahead, huh?" I commented, pulling out the shotgun out of my saddlebags as well as the ammo for it. I had already had a wing onto my 10mm, in case she was going to betray me right then and there. She gladly had put the gun on her back... Well sort of.

The mare had this frame on her body with a piece of metal close to her muzzle. When the mare had put the gun away, it had moved to her side ready to be used. She smiled happily to be returned to it.

"For a stable dweb, you're pretty trusting. That sort of thing will get you killed." she said coldly

"It's better to trust something than nothing. Even its with a pony I don't know." I countered

"And if you were wrong?" she asked

"Then that's on me. Simple as that." I replied. She must have thought of that to be amusing because she chuckled a bit. I crouched down and smiled, opening my wings.

"Hop on." I told her

"I'm sorry?" she sounded confused at what I said

"I said hop on. We'll get there faster if I fly us there."

She was hesitant at first. But she climbed onto my back in the end. Shortly after she did, I flew up and out west. She couldn't be more scared then when she thought I was a raider myself. I could feel her front hooves almost choke me as she held on for dear life. This flight looks to be a long one...

It didn't take long for the mare, which I learned her name was Apple Kettle, had calmed down and loosened her grip. Not by a lot, but enough for me to breath normally. I already knew that this was Kettle's first time flying, so I didn't blame her for being so scared. If anything, this could be a learning experience for her. Back before all this had happened, it was usually pegasi and the princesses that could be in the sky. But that was then, now is a different story. If it meant survival, anything goes.

I was knocked out of my thoughts as I feel a bullet enter my right hind leg. I let out a cry of pain and wabbled. Doing this had only made Kettle tighten her grip on me. The pain from my bullet wound felt like Celestia herself was digging a dagger made with the heat of the sun into my leg. More bullets wised by us as I tried to fly straight. I couldn't breathe and I was getting shot at. The situation wasn't looking good already.

Another bullet had hit its mark as I fell it go through my left wing. I had gritted my teeth this time, taking the blaze of hell its self inside my lungs as I flew faster. My body couldn't keep up any longer. I could feel myself losing altitude as I began to black out. We were going to crash land and there was no avoiding it no matter how hard I tried. One bullet had grazed my flank and another landed into my shoulder. I was being bomb barded with infernos as my decent went faster and faster. My vision went dark just before I had hit the ground.

The tv was producing static as I wake up inside my house. Was it all just a dream? Did I just imagine it all? My head was pounding, aching with pain. I had already placed a hoof on my head, hoping that would dull the pain where it wasn't as bad. Everything looked normal, but something was off. I just couldn't put my hoof on it.

As if my migraine couldn't get worst, there was a knocking on my door. The sounded had amplified the pain ten- no twentyfold. I let out a groan of pain as I get up and walk to my door.

"Hello?..." I said as I opened the door. But as soon as I opened it, I was met with my mother, a mane stylest named Hover Snips. Her face was filled with sadness and despair.

"M-mom?!" I said surprisingly, tilting my head, "Whats wrong?"

"Why did you leave us?" she asked quietly

"Leave you?" I questioned, "What are you-?"

"Why did you leave us?!" she asked louder. Her words had started to echo in my head, growing louder and louder as more voices, voices of my friends and siblings, joined hers. I had taken a few steps back as my mother disappeared into the darkness.

I covered my ears with pain as I crouched down. It was as if the voices were weighing me down with guilt. Darkness had begone to surround me as they didn't let up. My friends, my family, all of their voices were screaming in my head and growing louder.

"I-i didn't know!" I shouted, tiring to fight back, "I didn't know what was going to happen!'

It was fruitless. The voices had continued to grow forever louder and louder. There was no stop to their rath. I finally let out a cry of pure terror as I collapse onto the ground. Darkness had engulfed me completely.

I had jumped awake with a scream, sitting upright. A cold sweat had formed as I panted heavily. I just had a nightmare... Or was it a night terror? I don't know. I had never experienced one before. It had felt so real. More real than my normal dreams.

It had taken me a full minute to realize that a mare was trying to talk to me. This mare was completely different then Kettle. This one was a unicorn, wearing a nurses uniform from what I could tell. If that uniform bore Fluttershy's color and her cutie mark on the shoulder.

"I-im sorry," I said to her, "I... I had a bad dream."

"Sorry doesn't cut it!" she shouted, "The kind of fall you and Apple Kettle had taken at least a month to recover from! Let alone the bullet wounds you had taken!"

"Apple Kettle?!" I asked surprised "She's here too?!?"

I had just about stood up from the bed to have the mare push me back on it with her magic. Either I was very weak at the moment or she was surprisingly stronger than any unicorn I've seen. Then again, the only unicorns I've encountered were from before the spells and those raiders I killed.

"That's enough Silver," a stallion said from behind the nurse, "go check on the other patients."

The nurse gave a shallow sigh and released me from her magical grip. Then she walked to help other ponies in the room. I had just sat up again, feeling completely sore, as a stallion walks towards me. His get-up shouts "I'm the boss around these parts" to a high degree. A scared face that hid years worth of a troubled past, weapons where he could get them with his magic, even wearing some sort of badge on his tattered leather jacket.

"Don't mind Silver Stich," he said, " we haven't had any other medical ponies in a while. Shes just trying to do the job alone."

"Alone?" I asked as I looked around. Sure enough, inside the room I was in, Silver was the only one trying to mend all the ponies with me. Ranging from children to fully grown ponies. No other medical ponies to help her. Just how long has she been doing this for?

"Eyup," the stallion said, "Ever since more ponies had shown up here we've been getting attacked by more and more raiders. Innocents get hurt, killed, or worse."

"I don't mean to be rude," I interrupted, " but where am I?"

"You're in New Appleoosa," he said, "you can call me Sheriff."

"A-alright Sheriff," I said, "I'm Lightning Flash. Nice to meet you."

"Likewise," sheriff said with a nod

"How did I end up here?" it seemed like I had a million questions to ask him. But I wanted to know the important things first before asking anything else.

"Well..." sheriff paused, scratching the back of his head with his hoof, "When the guards saw you flying close to town, they thought that you where an Enclave hunter. So they decided to shoot you down. If it weren't for Apple Kettle, they would have killed you when the two of you crashed landed."

I let that sink in for a moment. A pony that only decided to go with me to avoid getting captured, and yet she stopped the guards from killing me when I blacked out. I had no idea what the Enclave was but they must be bad enough that they got me shot and nearly killed. After a moment, I stood up from the bed. My body had racked with pain.

"Can you take me to Kettle?" I asked, " I want to thank her for saving me."

Sheriff nodded and motioned me to follow him. I did so, my entire body was slower then I wanted to. From how badly my body wanted to stop and rest, I must have been out for either a few hours or a few days. I had hoped that it was a few hours.

I was taken to a room down the hall. Kettle was the only one inside, unconscious in the bed she was put on. Her breathing was slow but noticeable. It was my fault that she was there. But it was better then what the raiders had in mind for her.

"It's only been three days since you and Kettle arrived." The sheriff said, "I didn't expect you two to wake up until next week. Your pretty tuff for a new survivor"

"Three days?!" I exclaimed, "Was it that bad?"

"It would have been worse if Kettle didn't defend you before blacking out." Sheriff commented

I had already known that I would have died if Kettle blacked out as soon as I did. I had to repay her eventually, but now she needed to rest and recover. I wanted to apologize that she was in that bed and thank her for saving my life. I owed her a lot for it. It doesn't matter if she didn't want me to owe her.

After my visit with Apple Kettle, Sheriff took me on a tour of New Appleoosa. Surprising enough, there was also a library as well as a variety of shops and restaurants. To my added shock the ponies of the wasteland went to using bottle caps rather than Bits. I had learned this when Sheriff gave me 100 caps for retuning Kettle to town. Bits, however, didn't lose all of its value. They were, of course only good to get more caps. Either to get them from vending machines or from merchants. The whole concept was just absurd to me. But if it meant survival, I would have to get used to it.

After the hole tour was over, The sheriff went out to do whatever he did. I took this time to see if I could get something better then just a jumpsuit. Everyone that I asked for barding all pointed to the library. Apparently, the pony who worked in there also did barding. But they also warned me that I needed to be careful with her. I wasn't sure why they warned me. But as long as I get something decent to protect myself, it didn't matter to me.

The library was like any library in the wasteland would go. The books were old and tattered, save for a section of books called "Wasteland survival guide" by a mare named Ditzy Do. I assumed that this mare wasn't my best friend Dizty Do ponies called Derpy Hooves. I was sure that she was out doing deliveries when the spells fell. There would have been no way that she would survive the number of spells that exploited in the time I was frozen for. Although, the sound of a survival guide for this world peeked my interest. Helpful tips on surviving the unforgiving wasteland could save my flank more than anything. I decided to grab a copy of the guide, with full intention to buy it, and continue my search for better barding.

My search came to an abrupt stop when I saw what I could only assume was a zombie pony behind the counter. Her back was turned, working on something. I was frozen at the sight of the zombie, afraid that she was going to jump out and eat my brains when she saw me. But when the zombie did turn around, she only smiled and beckoned me to come closer with her hooves. I was hesitant, but I eventually broke free of my fear's grip and confronted the zombie. She seemed happy that I had shown up as if nopony had come in for days.

"D...do you own this place?" I asked more shakey then I wanted. The zombie simply nodded in response. It didn't seem like she was a talker.

"O-oaky," I said holding out the book to her, " I'd like to buy this, please."

She nodded again and pulled out a notepad and pencil. She then began writing on it. I assumed that she was writing me a receipt but then the zombie showed me what she wrote. It read, "that'll be 30 caps please". She couldn't speak. Was it because she was rotting away? Or was it because she was born mute? I pushed the image of her tongue falling out to the back of my head, pulling my pouch of caps, which already had 15 caps inside before placing the one's sheriff gave me and placing 30 of them on the counter. I had just noticed the zombie's left eye was off center from her right eye. Almost exactly identical to Dizty's eyes. But I decided not to put too much attention to it. I'm sure that she already had ponies poking fun at her for it.

"Also," I said, causing the zombie to look at me, "can you also make me some sort of barding? I sure I'm gonna need it if I go back out there."

"Of course," she wrote, "Can I get your name?"

"Lightning Flash," I told her

"Lightning?" she wrote, taking a moment to nod a bit, "Got it. It'll be done by the end of the day"

Author's Note

Sorry this took so long. I've been lazy on this one. also a happy new year to me. I may be four days late but that's alright