Author's Note

I know, I know, this Chapter is WAY over due. almost a year of inactivity. I am so sorry about that, I can use excuses of life bending me over or things like that, but regardless, I am so sorry its been so long. I do hope you enjoy this chapter, and I promise it won't be another year before the next one. Thank you all for your continued support.

Ain't that a kick...

Book Three

Chapter 16

Ain’t that a kick…

“I got it!” I exclaimed as Cherry strained her magic to levitate up a Feral Ghoul pony. From the looks of it, he had been a unicorn at some point, but now he had no magic to speak of. I charged in, and slammed both forelegs into its ribs, my ballistic hooves firing and knocking the monster from Cherry’s magic. I had just swapped in a few shells of more conventional buckshot when the monster set upon the crimson mare. Small beads of lead tore through its squishy hide, pulping its insides. It slammed against a still standing shelf, impaling its brain on one of the protruding shelf supports.

“Thanks!” Cherry said, as she picked up and reloaded her dropped pistol. We had only been in the old store for a hoof full of minutes, but already we had encountered four of the Ghouls, not an intelligent one among them. I had tried to fight like I normally did, keeping my punches distinctly non-lethal, but I realized very quickly that my tactics just didn’t work on them. Cherry’s pistol proved far more effective at dropping the first pair, and I struggled to defeat one of them. That was what had prompted me to swap in Buckshot rounds. I would have preferred slugs, but Shady had kept those for herself.

Cherry covered me as I finished loading in the lethal shells, and then took another moment to swap out the ammo in Cobalt for traditional lead bullets. It was the only one of my revolvers I could use currently, seeing as my other wing was still wrapped in bandages. Cherry had been diligent about cleaning the wound, and hopefully in the next few days I would be free of the meddlesome bandage.

Once I was locked and loaded, we moved deeper into the grocery store that we had begun scavenging. Shady had dug up some lore, finding that it had been relatively untouched due to the high Ghoul population. I didn’t see what the issue was though, there were a few weak ones, but other than that we didn’t come across anything that seemed to be much of a threat. Perhaps the stories Shady had heard were overly exaggerated.

I heard the crack of Rogues rifle somewhere deeper into the store, then silence. It seemed the alicorn had also found a ghoul and dropped it easily. Cherry and I shared a look of minor concern, but we knew he could handle it. I stopped a few yards later and scooped a can of prewar chips into my bag. We weren’t looking for food stuffs currently, we had been pretty well stocked up, but it never hurt to have more. Cherry was on useable scrap duty; she was tasked with picking up anything that would be useful.

No sooner than we had both taken our eyes off the aisle, than no less than six ghouls swarmed us. I jumped back in shock as one had climbed over the shelf and flopped on the floor beside me. I reacted purely on instinct and fired my revolver into it’s brain pan. I clenched my eyes shut as a wave of decayed sludge washed over me, coating me in disgusting slime that had at one time been a pony’s brain. I gagged but couldn’t allow myself the opportunity to throw up. Cherry had seen the others, and was busy shooting the ones she could, but if I’m completely honest, she wasn’t that great of a shot.

I picked off two with well-placed shots to the head, but when Cherry paused to reload, I leapt in, letting myself fall naturally into the whirlpool of spinning death to these monsters. I threw one foreleg out, punching one of the creatures in the nose. Buckshot tore its face to ribbons and splattered the wall with its slimy ichor. I then spun under the ferocious bites of the remaining pair and shot out both rear hooves, catching each in the chest with a power hoof. I felt the actuators shoot out, caving in the chest of one and launching it back against the customer service counter, where it would forever wait for service that would never come. To my horror, my hoof blasted into the other one, its chest had been a lot squishier. The power hoof retracted, and I squirmed as I felt my leg sink to the knee in its chest cavity.

“Ewww.” Cherry said, her tongue sticking out in disgust as I danced around, placing a foreleg on the counter and kicked out wildly.

“Get it off! Get it off! Get it off!” I shouted; the now dead monster stuck to my back leg. The sensation of its gooey center around my knee was all too freaky and gross. Cherry. Despite the grim nature of what had happened let out a heartfelt laugh at my dismay, before taking pity on me and used her levitation to tear the corpse away. I cringed and shook my head as I tasted bile rising in my throat, I didn’t even want to imagine how disgusting my back leg looked. Good thing I had Cherry there to do it for me…

“Oh, you look like you shoved your hoof into one of the latrines back in Black Pony Mountain.” She commented, and I gagged. Cherry just couldn’t let it go and began laughing even harder at my distressed face while I, meanwhile, did my best not to puke. I shook my leg again trying to dislodge the goop that clung to it and reloaded my pistol once again. While it had proved effective in killing the zombie ponies, it suffered horribly in ammo capacity. Five shots were all it held, so every time I fired it, I would have to reload the weapon in case we came across another group of the damned things.

We continued on yet again, this time being more careful in our scrounging than we had previously and covered each other when we stopped to load anything that looked useful into our bags. As we walked, I tried to help Cherry conserve her ammunition by giving her advice on aiming the pistol, go for the head, if you can’t cripple the legs. Don’t just pour molten lead down range in the hope of hitting something.

But I had to give her credit where it was due, she didn’t typically use the pistol offensively, she typically relied on her fire spells to do the work, but Shady had explicitly banned her from using magic in here. The last thing we needed was having to evacuate as the building burned down around us and destroyed any useful items we could dig up. I knew she hated it but recognized the necessity and took it stoically. But she still was a pretty lousy shot. Not that I would say it to her face though. I liked sharing a bed with her, and if I didn’t want to sleep on the floor, I would have to be careful.

Five blasts from Shady’s shotgun came from a few aisles to the right, and we were close enough to charge in and lend support where we could. As we came close, I heard Shady swearing past the bit in her mouth, followed by another slug tearing through one of the shelves near us. Cherry dropped to her belly, and I leaped aside.

“Goddess dammit Shady! Same team! Same team!” I shouted over the racket. I knew she couldn’t respond with the gun in her mouth, but I knew she heard us as she fired in the direction opposite where we were. I knew she was taking a risk, turning her back on whatever she had been shooting at, but she knew we were there and would keep her out of trouble.

I jumped around the corner and came face to face with three of the bastards. Shady was firing at four more that had flanked her as Zakk danced nearby, evading the chomps and bites of two that he had distracted. I ducked down, not wanting to have my face ripped off, and spun around, throwing my legs out, catching all three of them in the knees. I heard bones snap followed by three figures hitting the floor, crippled. I leapt aside as I saw Cherry beside me, and with her magic holding her dual pistols, she unloaded on the ghouls. I watched in amazed horror as she double tapped each one in the head, coating the floor and shelves in the foul gunk that had rotted in their skulls.

Shady wiped her face clear of the goo that had coated her features. Apparently, a shotgun was most effective at killing these things, but it always made one hell of a mess. I traded Shady a box of buckshot shells for a few slugs, I was supposed to be the pony packing all the punch in our group anyway. Once I was reloaded, and Shady had wiped the majority of the gunk out of her eyes, we separated again. We had all divided into three groups of two to cover more ground but knew that we would occasionally run into one another.

Once we were split up again, Cherry and I had found ourselves by the pharmacy, and what kind of idiot wouldn’t stop and scavenge up some healing items or other supplies like Chems for trade. I hopped over the counter and began looking through the register when Cherry gave a pointed but demure cough to get my attention. I looked up, expecting another group of zombie ponies to be shuffling around, but instead she was standing at the half door, looking at me expectantly. I rolled my eyes and moved over, unlocking the door and pulling it open for her.

“Ya know you could unlock it and come through at any time.: I quipped as I returned to my looting, but Cherry shook her head and gave a small smile. Saying something about explaining proper manners toward mares after we were out of here. I smiled, and dumped prewar bits into my bag, followed by a few caps I had found in the trashcan. Apparently, the pony who had worked back here was a bit of an addict for sparkle cola.

Cherry moved behind me, searching through boxes and bottles. We didn’t think there would be much use for some old buck’s heart medicine. She then had found two medical boxes, a soft pink butterfly on each, but they were locked. So, I helped her strap them to her flanks, kind of how I imagined Velvet Remedy had in the past. We would have plenty of time later to try picking them open.

Finishing my cleaning of the counter, I joined her, checking the shelves and drawers for anything useful, but it seemed like we had grabbed the important stuff. Everything else was old paper and other more mundane things that just wouldn’t net the profit for their weight. We gave the room another quick once over, and then left as swiftly as we had come.

I admit, I felt a little bad, there was a lot of stuff in here that could have been useful to so many ponies in recent years, too bad no pony had bothered coming this far east to clear out the nests of monsters. I would continue to write down everything we had scavenged, but it’s pretty straight forward, enter a place, kill the monsters, profit. Besides, I don’t think any pony would be interested in reading a glorified shopping list.

I had been busy letting that thought flit through my mind as Cherry and I had found ourselves in the camping section, and with more supplies entering our packs, a few knives included, we heard more shuffling, but these hoof steps sounded heavier, and squishier. I froze, and Cherry did the same, levitating her pistols as she backed closer to me, away from the noise. My ears fell back as we faced the shelf, the only barrier between us and whatever hulking monstrosity was on the other side.

Then, it just stopped, and the only remaining sounds were those of the wind outside, and the scattered shots of the others deeper into the store. From the sound of it, they would be hard pressed to get to us in time if everything went to hell. I gave Cherry a silent look, then I jerked my head to right, and then nodded to the left. She gave a curt nod and we both carefully went our separate ways. I went right, she went left.

Cherry could move quieter than I could, her leather armor and soft boots padding the sound of her steps, making her nearly silent. I on the other hoof, had a lot more weight with all of my gear, and I suddenly hated the fact that I had looted so many prewar bits earlier. I winced as the coins clinked together in my bag, a dull sound, but still different enough I was sure anything with even the smallest perception could hear it. I pressed a wing against the pack, if only to keep things from shaking around as I turned the corner and moved to peek around into the adjacent aisle.

I craned my neck, and finally caught a glimpse of whatever it was we had heard, and I froze. We had faced ghouls before, but not like this. It was a ghoul alright, but it looked like it had spent nearly a decade in water, and it had bloated heavily. It looked disgusting, sections of its flesh had sagged, and the one eye I could see looked to be the size of a kickball.

On the other side, I could just make out Cherry’s face, her eyes wide in horror at the bulbous monster we had stumbled upon. I had no idea how we were going to deal with the thing. Any bullets we shot would only serve to piss it off. Or we could get lucky and it would pop like a water balloon. Either way, it wasn’t going to go down cleanly.

I was just in the process of trying to figure out how to deal with it, when it turned and looked right at me. I froze in fright as it let out a wet sounding scream and charged me. I barely got my wits back enough to try leaping out of the way. The damn thing was faster than it looked though, and I caught the full brunt of the beast as it tore through the shelves and into me.

I rolled, coming to a stop against a collapsed tent. My revolver had been knocked from my wings grip and I heard it clatter to the dark floor, well out of my reach even if I could see it, I couldn’t get to it in time. I glanced back at the beast, which let out yet another howl. I didn’t even get a chance to attempt getting to my hooves before it barreled into me again, trampling me with its massive hooves. I cried out, feeling my armored barding squeeze around me. The only thing that kept me from getting crushed was the fact that its hooves were soggy.

I did my best to roll away from where it had crashed into a wall, but one piece of tenting had gotten wrapped around one of my back legs, and all I managed to do was roll in a small semi-circle before it pulled taught, bringing me to a stop, my back on the ruined floor. My eyes widened as I realized I was trapped, and I seriously doubted I could free myself before the monster returned its attention to me.

“Hey! Soggy mother fucker!” Cherry shouted before twin reports from her guns punch small holes into the things hide. I watched as small rivulets of rotted flesh bubbled, and small rivulets of nasty water poured from the wounds. I gagged, my eyes watering at the fetid stench coming from it but held my breath as it turned to focus on the new threat.

As soon as its attention was off me, I did my best not to smell the monster as I sat up, trying desperately to get my hoof free of the tent. I panicked as I realized the material had tangled itself in the weapon, and no matter of prying would free me in time to help. I thought about calling out to Cherry to send me one of the knives he had scavenged, but she was fully engaged with the bloated beast in full now. I heard more than saw her pouring bullets into it, but it still somehow stayed up.

I struggled and snarled in pain and rage as I kept trying to get my leg free, but all I managed to do was tear the tent from the floor. I could move, but the whole damned thing was now stuck to me. I shouted in frustration; I couldn’t even get at the clasps that held the weapon to my leg. Finally realizing I had no other choice, I bundled it up as best I could, and tucked it under my bandaged wing. It flared in pain at the pressure I put on it, but I grit my teeth and used the tie down ropes to wrap around my body and keep my wing pressed to my side.

Cherry was doing admirably, keeping the monster focused on her, but she was out of her depth here and we knew it. I was one wing and two weapons down and a tent wrapped around my hoof, what better time than now to improvise?

“Nothing like the present” I sighed, before breaking into a full gallop. Cherry had switch tactics, staggering her shots and trying to reload one pistol, still firing with the other. I watched the rounds punch holes in its hide, but she just didn’t have the fire power necessary. I began closing the distance, but I had no clue how I was gonna get the speed I needed for a powerful hit. Typically, I would let gravity do most of the work, accelerating toward the ground and adding my speed on top of that, but I couldn’t even fly right now. I snarled in anger at what I had done to myself, and now Cherry was in danger because of it.

I watched Cherry fumble, a fresh magazine falling from her magic one pistol now empty. She was in trouble and the monster knew it. It lunged at her, spitting as it howled. I yelled with it, rage flaring up inside of me at my own stupidity, both for hurting my wing, and for not being smart enough to save her. I didn’t realize until later that Spitfire’s Thunder would have been pretty useful right then, but I didn’t have it.

Still screaming I leapt onto one of the intact shelves, running along it, using my one good wing to help me balance on the narrow pathway. Cherry managed to leap aside in time, but I could fear in her face, both pistols now empty in her magic. I spared a glance as she dodged powerful swipe of a bloated hoof, debris and shelves being shoved away without much effort. One long yet jagged shelf flew right at me, and I reached out, biting onto the rusted metal, and dragging it with me.

Cherry saw what I was doing and rolled under another swing of its hoof, guiding it where she knew I was going to want it. I snarled and bit down so hard on the shelf I felt it bend around each tooth before I flapped my good wing and punched into the top of the shelf, causing both ballistic hooves to fire, twelve gauge slugs tearing into the metal and propelling me into the air. I summersaulted, doing a front flip in the air, the shelf rotating with its own mass. And like a cracking whip, the jagged edge swipes down, cutting a massive gash in its neck. I land on my hooves, but stumble as the slick tent material slips on the tile.

Cherry took the opportunity to draw the other revolver on my flank, letting her pistols drop to the floor as she fired a shot at the beast. Unlike the small punctures her guns made, mine tore large chunks from its hide. And I know… I had it with me, but I couldn’t draw it seeing as it was strapped on the side with my injured wing.

I regained my footing and kept applying pressure, slashing at it again and again, the jagged edge acting like a saw as it sliced and cut whatever it touched. Cherry chose her targets more carefully, knowing she didn’t have time to reload if she ran out. Just as my impromptu weapon tore across its chest, Cherry’s next shot blew its eye out. I cringed as I was coated in slimy ichor, but I put it out of my mind as I kept hacking away.

The bloated ghoul knew it was in trouble now and tried to shift it’s bulk into a more defensive pose, but I wasn’t about to give it the chance. I grabbed the shelf in my mouth with my wing and spun it around before jabbing the sharp end into its eye socket.

“Cherry hold it in place!” I shouted over the roar of her next shot. She didn’t blink and dropped the pistol before wrapping the shelf in her telekinesis. I didn’t need her to hold it long, just keep it from moving. She knew what I needed, as always, but spared a look to me as I rolled on my back, gaining some distance from the struggling and wounded beast. With my one unhindered powerhoof I stomped back, letting it shove me forward. I grit my teeth as I gained some height from it, and added yet another front flip, building up my own momentum.

Cheery later told me she was amazed at what I was doing, having never seen anything like it, but in the moment, she could just look on as I completed my rotation, both forelegs punching out. As soon as they made contact with the shelf, all four barrels fired, slugs slamming into the bent metal. A heartbeat later I was rewarded with the shelf shoving through its eye socket with a sickening squelch, I flopped onto my belly, not having the aptitude to land safely, but it was a damn sight more graceful than the ghoul falling to the floor, its brain having been impaled as a reward for my efforts.

I slumped, my chin resting on the floor panting for breath. I hadn’t even realized the extent of my exertion until It was finally done. Cherry sat on her haunches beside me, her gaze on the dead ghoul but her voice silent as she levitated over our dropped weapons and reloaded them. We both said nothing, just taking a moment to rest, looking at the bloated monster as it seeped greenish water from the gashes I had hacked into it.

“Are you alright?” Cherry asked, finally breaking the silence between us, and I nodded. Nothing a little rest wouldn’t handle. I pushed myself onto my butt, grunting with the effort as I held up my tent wrapped hoof so Cherry could see it. Her eyes widened, and I smiled sheepishly as I let the folded-up material fall from my wing, which I noticed was weeping blood into the bandage. Apparently, I had strained it harder than I thought. Cherry just shook her head, not sure what to say that would be either profound or teasing, before levitating out one of the scavenged knives and cutting my hoof free.

I gave her my thanks, before taking the blade and its sheath before attaching it to my chest plate. I had been quietly been bothered about not carrying one anyway. Cherry stood and went about collecting anything we had lost or dropped in the fight, and I went back to where I had been knocked down to search for Cobalt. I rummaged through the collapsed shelving, and after a minute of searching, I located the weapon. I smiled softly and replaced it in its holster, before my eyes settled on what it had landed beside.

There was an old wrapping for an inflatable raft laying in the debris, a picture of smiling and excited ponies, three of them. One mare, one stallion, and a young foal wearing a bright green pair of floaties. It took a minute for me to realize I was staring at a family having fun in Celestia’s summer days. I wasn’t sure at first why the image provoked such an angry note in me, and I turned away, pointedly stepping on the scattered trash as I returned to Cherry. Seeing the blood colored mare, it struck me how much I cared for her, and I was finally able to put some context to my emotions.

I loved Cherry. I’d do anything to keep her safe, in fact I had many times. But the smiling and happy family I had just seen had struck an emotional chord I didn’t know existed. I was angry because no matter what happened, that was something I would never experience. I mean sure, Cherry made me happy, and always would. I wasn’t looking at the picture from the perspective of a parent, I was imaging myself as the child, and it infuriated me. That amount of fun-loving innocence had been stolen from me long before Littlepip had come to Arbu. My mother had died during childbirth, and my father… well, he wasn’t some pony that cared to smile much.

I checked the load in my weapons, making sure they were properly loaded. This time I kept one revolver in my wing, and the other in the holster I could reach. Cherry, having finished her scavenging noted the dour look on my eyes, and immediately latched onto it.

“Hey, you sure you’re alright?” She asked and I looked to her as she set her bags back across her withers. I nodded softly, before glancing back in the direction the image was, then sighed and shook my head.

“No, I’m not.” I said before turning and walking out of the camping section. Cherry turned her head to the side before trotting to catch up, falling into step beside me.

“Ok, I know that look, what’s on your mind?” She asked, looking at me with her soft hazel eyes. I looked back to her, then faced forward again as we walked a few aisles down, returning to our looting.

“You know how I was brought up in Arbu?” I asked softly, before spotting a few old candy bars sitting on the shelf, and I stopped to scoop them into my bag. Cherry thought for a moment, then paused and shook her head. Apparently, this was part of my back story I hadn’t told her about. But between the picture I had just seen and the dream back in the hospital wing, I couldn’t hold it in anymore.

“My dad… he used to beat me. I told you that he had when I refused to kill a mare and eat her heart, well that wasn’t the first time.” I began, the words sounding cold and hollow, but they rang with truth. Cherry blinked, her eyes softening as I continued.

“When I was born, my mother died. Unforeseen complications or something, I’m not sure. Anyway, my dad took it pretty hard. It’s a miracle I even survived being a newborn. I guess the only thing that saved me was our neighbors making sure I was fed at least.” I said somberly, and Cherry winced.

“When I was old enough to talk and move around on my own, he would leave for a day or two, drinking heavily. He rarely brought any food home so there were days where I didn’t eat. But I preferred that to when he was there. No matter how hard I tried to get him to smile, or show me any love, he would just beat me. Any time I fumbled, or made a mistake, he beat me. If he fell over and I tried to help him up, he beat me. If I didn’t have supper ready when he got home…” I paused, not needing to finish the sentence. Cherry looked at me sadly, but I continued, un-daunted.

“The only solace I had was my friend Clear Glass. Her and I would get into trouble, but her parents were nice enough. They even made sure I had at least something to eat from time to time. But one time my father found out, and not only banned me from seeing them again, he had beaten me worse than ever before. But do you want to know the worst part of it?” I asked, sparing her a glance and I could see the tears brimming in her eyes. I knew she probably didn’t want to hear, but I pushed on, my teeth clenched together.

“I still fuckin’ loved him. He was my only family, the only constant I had. It wasn’t until Shady had taken me in and shown me things, taught me how to read and write, how to fix things that were broken, that I learned how fucked up my life had been in Arbu. Now, I have nightmares about that from time to time.” I admit, still seething as I finally let my built-up thoughts and feelings flow freely.

“Then the attack on Arbu happened. And I had been sleeping in my little room, not much more than a closet really, when Littlepip broke down our door and shot my father three times with her Zebra rifle. I close my eyes and I can still smell burnt hair and cooking pony flesh. That’s why I struggle to sleep even to this day. I’m afraid that something like that would happen again, and this time I have ponies around me that I can’t afford to lose.” I said softly, letting my head hang low.

Cherry then grabbed me, hugging my head into her chest. I didn’t know how to react to the bundle of emotions that I was right then. So of course, that was the time no less than five shambling ghouls decided to attack. I snapped out my wing, still holding Cobalt in its feathery grip. I barely even spared a glance as I managed to plug all five rounds into the brains of the zombies. Cherry jumped, letting me go as she drew her weapons, but they had all been slain by my high caliber bullets.

*page break*

We didn’t spend forever in the store, a place called Kusco’s. “For all your groovin’ needs!” Advertised under the sign. I didn’t get it. But anyway, we finished up pretty much soon after Cherry and I had been so rudely interrupted by the ghouls. We all met back up at the wagon, which we had left outside, and piled what we had salvaged before separating into useful stuff, items for trade, and scrap that we would keep for later repairs or projects. Speaking of which, while Shady and everyone had done so much, they had neglected to put a radio in. so part of my scavenging had been to pick up a derelict radio that I would repair on our long trips between looting locations just to have something to do.

Shady seemed to have the same mindset, her bag filled with so much junk I doubted she could repair all the abandoned alarm clocks she had gotten, but it would help time pass. Cherry and Rogue were going through the food items, looking for things we would eat, when Gemengde stepped in, looking over the discard pile, before scooping a few items up for herself. We cast her dubious glances but decided over the two days it took to get this far, that we would let her prove herself.

Zakk had scavenged a collection of coloring books and crayons, Luna knows why, but he seemed to like them. As long as it kept him busy, I didn’t care. Rogue and Gemengde had scrounged around the hunting supplies, and managed to get a few rounds for the rifles, even a few for Cobalt and Quartz my dual N.C.R. pistols. I took the ammo happily, though was dismayed to find that they had been the traditional lead slug rather than rubber, but with dangerous places we were going to scavenge, the regular ammo made more sense to have.

Having stowed and separated our treasure, we all loaded back into the wagon, this time Zakk hooking up and slowly beginning to drag us all along down the road. Shady had sat down at the table and crossed off the Kusco store, marking it as cleared, before planning how long it could take us to get to the next stop on the map.

Cherry let out a small yawn, only barely stifling it with a hoof, before planting a small kiss on my cheek and making her way to our shared room. I knew she was still recovering from her stressful recovery, and was not inclined to bother her, if only to let her rest up between salvage locations. I dropped my bags on the floor, and took a seat at the table with Shady, looking over the map with her.

“Looks like we have about a day of travel before we get to the stable, I wonder what we’ll find inside.” Shady mused, her hoof moving under her chin. I just shrugged, having no idea what a stable even looked like, let alone what they contained. As Shady mulled over the map, I lit up a cigarette and let the smoke curl from my nostrils as I relaxed.

“Maybe it’ll be a lifetime supply of angst and hormones.” I offer with a small smirk, making Shady roll her eyes sardonically.

“Oh yeah… I could only hope.” She says with a dead pan tone, before allowing her own smirk to split her lips. The dumb humor was about all we could muster in terms of proper energy, the whole store debacle took quite a fair amount of work to accomplish. With my cigarette letting out one last puff of smoke as I snuffed it in the ashtray, I stood and stretched, my muscles a little sore but otherwise uninjured, before I move off, trotting slowly down the hall and into the room my Mare friend was currently occupying.

Cherry was flopped onto the bed, her pillow pulled under her chin, her eyes closed and breathing steady. I gave her prone form a small smile, before closing the door, and moving to take a seat beside her, my hoof moving to her back. She didn’t jump in surprise, or try to push me away, instead she smiled softly and cracked open an eye, looking at me sweetly. I gently rubbed her back, giving her comfort and companionship as the minutes passed, just the silence and the gentle rocking of the wagon as it rolled over cracks and small rocks in the road. I let the motion do most of the work, letting my hoof brush her coat lovingly.

“You know, don’t you.” She whispered, not a note of accusation, but I knew it wasn’t a question.

“Yeah. I had a feeling.” I responded, just as quiet, but more reassuring in my inflection. Cherry then raised her head and looked at me, and even though I didn’t see any tears in her eyes, I knew what I had told her was hurting her.

I smiled softly, despite my mare friends’ current emotions. I may have just stumbled on to the one thing I could say to her, though I’m sure she already knew it. So, I lifted her head, and kissed her building tears away, looking into her eyes as I told her my feelings. She listened as I poured out my heart. Whatever she felt she was losing, I would replace, even if it cost me everything I had, I would fill her heart with so much love I would drown out anything that could hurt her, including that parasitic bitch that threatened Cherry.

Fresh tears fell from her puffy eyes, but she coughed out a laugh, then wiped her eyes as she looked at me, a small smile on her lips.

“That was so damn cheesy.” She spluttered, but I chuckled and kissed her under her horn.

“Good thing you aren’t lactose intolerant.” I replied, adding a little levity to the moment. It was a dumb joke, but I felt the tension in her melt, another laugh coming from her before she playfully shoved me. I laughed and then laid atop her back, using my weight to pin her to the bed. She giggled, and tried to shove me off, but then my one good wing lashed out, and lightly began tickling her side. She laughed fully now, squirming under me as I attacked her ribs with my feathers.

I finally did show mercy, only when she complained that I was about to make her pee. I giggled and still lay across her, before kissing the back of her neck. I then slipped off her to lay on my belly beside her, and with a gentle look, I placed my hoof atop hers, giving the limb a small squeeze of affirmation that I was going to be here with her through this.

She looked at my hoof, then at me, her eyes still puffy, but the tears had dried up. I smiled softly, before kissing her. I knew there wasn’t much more I could do, but the little I had seemed to make the difference for her. She kissed me back, and we fell into comfortable intimate silence, my wing wrapping around her side as she flopped her head back onto the pillow, sighing contentedly.

We remained like that for a good time, long enough for her to fall asleep, her breathing calm and gentle. I remained by her side for another hour or so, long enough to be sure she was soundly asleep, before carefully sliding away and covering her with the blanket. I didn’t go far, just to my little work bench, where I pulled out the busted radio from my bag and set to tinkering on the old appliance.

It had been too long since I had taken the time to just sit and work on something, and I forgot how much I had missed it. While it was simple work, it was enjoyable in the same sense as I remembered. Taking something destroyed by time and giving it new life. Almost as if I was in a small way rebuilding Equestria, one broken radio at a time. I didn’t even use my wing, just doing it like I had before the attack on Respite. I twirled tools with my teeth, taking the old circuits apart, cleaning and repairing what was damaged by age and abuse.

Vacuum tubes and wires sat in an orderly little row as I tore it down to the base, clearing dirt, rust, and detritus out, before replacing the circuits, cleaning terminal ends, rewiring, and fine tuning. Radios aren’t exactly complex systems, and this was no exception. It only took an hour or so of tinkering, before the little dial on the front flickered to life. A dim yellow light illuminating my face, waking from Celestia knows how long. I let out a little squee of delight as I slowly spun the dial, until the sounds of Sapphire Shores filled the little room. I punched the air in victory, smiling as I put the cover back over the top, and screwed it back in place.

I sat the radio in the corner of my workspace, leaning back on the chair as I let a wave of accomplishment wash over me. I even managed to pull a cigarette from my pack and lit it with the gold plated lighter Cherry had given me so long ago.

“Good evening Children!” Cried out the voice of DJ-Pon3.

“This is DJ-Pon3 coming at ya live from good ol’ Manehattan. I got some news for my good friends heading up the old dusty trail north. Rumor has it that a group of them Alicorns went and turned raider in the last year. They don’t turn up very often, only hit one wagon every few days, but thought y’all might wanna steer clear. Or, if you’re feeling a touch adventurous, take a poke around, might find something your good pal might wanna know about. In other news, I got word about a shipment of clean water, all contained in bottles, coming right outta the north, so if you all see the supplier out that way, give them a big hug from all those out in the waste still drinking dirty water. If you do still have dirty water, make sure you boil the hell out of it. Seriously, boil the HELL out of it, Luna knows what’s still living in it.”

I sat upright, my tools clattering to the floor as I jumped up. I didn’t even bother collecting them as I pulled the door open and stepped back into the living room, where Shady was dozing, her head resting on the table. I moved up and shook her wake. She jumped, looking around for a bit, trying to understand what was going on before her eyes fixed on me.

“Moonshine, wha…” She said tiredly, but I pushed past it, shaking her awake. I told her what I heard on the radio, about the Alicorns, and how someone from the north is starting to send shipments of clean water. Of course, Shady and I knew who it was.

“That’s…faster than expected.” She said, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. “But, not a problem. He may be shipping, but I don’t think he has the means to ship more than one wagon at a time. But Homages broadcast just escalated our timetable. If ponies in the trade market find out what’s going on, wagons and brahmin will be coming from all over to capitalize on the open market.” She said but didn’t seem worried about it.

By now Cherry had woken up and climbed from bed, wondering what all the commotion was. I filled her in while Shady set about making us some coffee. I was wondering why Shady wasn’t bothered by the news more than she was, but then told us as she set the cups before us and took a sip of her own.

“Our timetable may be shorter, but, we were already going there. We’ve got days of a head start, and unlike most ponies, we are prepared for it.” She said confidently, but Cherry raised an eyebrow curiously.

“Oh really? Then where are our coats and scarves?’ She asked, making Shady choke on her coffee.

*page break.*

That night, the sun having just fallen below the horizon, painting the sky in hues of purple and orange, we pulled up by an old collapsed cottage, finding it suitable to stash the wagon and set up camp. I was on the roof of the wagon, holding a flashlight in my teeth for some added lighting. Cherry was doing her best to navigate, but the darkness creeping in had made it difficult. But finally, we were there, and what I saw didn’t surprise me in the least. The shack was old, constructed out of dry timbers and sheets of corrugated steel. The windows had been shattered, and the door had been blasted from the frame, leaving a gaping maw leading into heavy darkness.

“Zakk, Rogue, you two scout around for enemies. I’m gonna set up camp for the night. Moonshine, Cherry, can you two go gather some firewood?” Shady asked, and we all nodded, but Gemengde looked around, feeling left out. It had gotten to be habit for Shady and was going to have to get used to having a new companion.

“Gemengde, would you mind starting dinner for us? I asked politely, and the odd mare nodded enthusiastically, before moving back into the wagon to gather the supplies she’d need to begin. Zakk and Rogue moved off, the only illumination coming from the Alicorns horn. Cherry and I moved to the other side, staying close to the camp as we went about gathering wood that we could use to start a cook fire. Cherry was unusually quiet, but I could understand why. The whole area felt creepy.

Cherry helped me gather wood, and I bundled it under my wing. When we had a sizeable amount for the evening, we returned to the wagon just as night fell entirely. Shady had set up the campsite, opening up the rear section, and was helping Gemengde prepare our supper. Rogue and Zakk were already back, sitting on the ground, where Rogue had levitated over several rocks, making a ring for us to dump the old wood. I dropped it in the center, and without more than a thought, Cherry ignited it with a burst from her horn. I plopped onto my haunches, lightly coaxing Cherry to sit beside me, holding her hoof in mine

“Why is everyone quiet?” Gemengde asked as she came over and started cooking the stew she had made over the open fire. I guess since Gemengde was only half pony, I guess it made sense for her to say everyone instead of everypony. Shady cleared her throat, gathering our attention as the smell of the stew made our bellies grumble.

“Why don’t we all share stories about where we came from, give Gemengde some context as to why we are a bunch of mismatched idiots?” She said, with a goofy grin splitting her lips. All of us shrugged, not bothered by the possibility, in fact it had been a rather stressful time lately, so being able to just tell stories sounded like a good time.

“This sounds like a good idea! Who shall start? Our Zony friend asked, to which Cherry surprised me by raising her hoof first.

“I was born in Thunderhead, an Enclave city above Hoofington. But when Thunderhead was destroyed, my family and me moved to the surface. By now, most of you know that taint mutated me. It gave me alicorn magic. But with it, came something darker. Only Moonshine and Rogue know for sure what I am talking about, but I will come clean.” She began, her tears filling her eyes yet again. I tensed, not sure now was a good time to bring this up, but the train was rolling, and it had no brakes.

“The mutation brought out something, or brought it in, I’m not sure. But either way, when I lose control of my emotions, or when I overexert my magic, I lose myself. There is… another me, kind of. It’s hard to explain so just follow me on this. The other me, she goes by Justice. And typically, a transformation. Moonshine and Rogue have met her, and they know how dangerous she…I am.” She tried to explain, but it only left more questions. She fumbled for her next words, but I wasn’t going to let her do this alone.

“Justice takes over Cherry’s mind. Like she said there is typically a transformation that occurs. Her magic pours from her horn and condenses into a larger pony shape around her body, kind of like a pony shaped shield. She is incredibly strong. When we fought at the Hoofington dam, Cherry was in the middle of charging a powerful flame spell when Eucalyptus Grunt knocked me off the catwalk. At that time, most of you know, my wings weren’t fully developed. She thought I’d died from the fall, and it caused her to lose control.” I added for her, but Cherry knew I could explain what she looked like, she let me continue.

“I saw Justice bitch slap a power armor clad pony across the dam and treat him like a ragdoll. She almost killed him, but then the magic failed. I guess that kind of transformation taxes Cherry’s magic reserves heavily, and the form can’t last long. But…” I pause, looking at Cherry wondering if I should continue. She nodded, biting her lip.

“…But recently Cherry and I discovered a new way she can manipulate Cherry. There was no transformation save Cherry’s eyes turning red, and it lasted a lot longer.” I said softly, not getting into the specifics of how I learned it.

“Back when I first mutated. Justice took me over, and torched our house, burning my mom, before fleeing into the night. I awoke the following morning in an exterminated raider camp ten miles from home. Every raider that was there had been burned alive, their structures blown apart. Justice had massacred every pony there. At first, I think it was due to her sensing wrongness nearby, but I think that now, they just happened to be the closest to anything she could unleash her wrath upon.” She concluded, her tears falling freely down her face.

“Alright, so if you can turn into the equivalent of a balefire bomb, why haven’t we seen more of her?” Zakk asked, but Rogue and I slammed our faces into our hooves.

“It doesn’t work like that. Cherry has to maintain her emotions in a careful manner. If she slips up it’s only possible for Justice to show up. It’s never a guaranteed thing.” Rogue said, and Cherry nodded.

“Wait, you grew wings?” Gemengde asked, looking at me, wondering how that fit into the story. I sighed before Shady offered the abridged history.

“Cherry had taint, they fucked, he got taint, then he got wings.” She said, and once again my hooves met my face, though this time it was Cherry who matched my motion.

“Very eloquent Shady, you have such a way with words.” I growled, making every pony and zebra chuckle despite the grim nature of the conversation.

“So, basically, you’re a fire breathing powerhouse of badass judgement? That sound about right?” Shady asks, ignoring my jab. Cherry hesitates, before nodding solemnly, her emotions a complete mess right now, but I supported her, physically and emotionally.

“Why didn’t we just let her out at the first sign of trouble, we could have gotten off that boat, or a hundred other things easily.” Shady said, an edge creeping into her voice. Cherry made to respond, but Rogue cut her off, glowering at the grey mare.

“She can’t control Justice, you just heard that. And that magical bitch passes judgement around like your mom was at any party. Can any of us here say that she will ultimately spare us if she loses control? Hell, she already tried to kill me.” He said coldly. I raised an eyebrow at the insult to Shady’s lineage, but she let the insult pass, thinking, then sighing in understanding.

“Why do you think she tried leaving the group Shady, she was trying to protect us. But when we caught up with her at Black pony mountain, I told her that we could handle it if she lost control again, Rogue and I already fought her, so we know what she’s capable of.” I insisted. I was worried that it would end up with some pony wanting to cast her out of the group, but they knew that would mean losing me too. But I needn’t have worried.

“Glad to know I’m not the only super powered freak!” Zakk said genially, shocking Cherry, unsure whether that was a good thing or bad. But based on the chuckles of every pony here, she decided to let it go. I smiled and wrapped my wing around her back, pulling her close as Gemengde served up the stew, which smelled amazing.

Zakk then took the moment to share a bit of his own story, for the first time opening up about his past. “When I was a child, I was a little asshole, terrorizing my pour mom and generally acting like a dumbass. Even going as so far to make her call me a little speed demon. Funnily enough, I began to not only believe it, but embrace it. I took pride in being a little monster.” He said, a small but weirdly sad smile on his face, his eyes looking nostalgically.

“Well, one day, Mom and I were walking around the woods, foraging for berries, when I stumbled on a patch of small blue flowers.” Zakk said, then paused, either for effect, or gathering his thoughts.

“It was killing joke wasn’t it?” Shady asks, and Zakk nods.

“Yeah. Long story short, it changed me into a literal speed demon… and mom… well, that’s a story for another time.” Zakk says before pausing and shrugging. While it wasn’t a ton of information, it was still more than I had expected. Maybe that’s was why he liked coloring books, reminded him of his stolen childhood.

Rogue then cleared his throat after taking a bite of his own stew, and likewise begins to tell a small bit about himself. “After Unity was broken up by… We all know who, many of the personalities that made up the Goddess were split up and dumped into the drone bodies. But many were split in the action, some getting mismatched personalities. I am one of those alicorns. Part of me used to be a security guard at Maripony. I think he was married, but I’m unsure. The other part used to be an interior decorator. She was there that day working on Twilights office.”

Some of this I already knew, having been the only one of us to see his room back at Ten-Pony. “Well, after I became self-aware, I found myself alone, scared and confused. The first year of my new life was one of learning and struggling to survive. At one point I was getting harassed at a town, I had been digging through the trash, looking for anything useful, but some kid saw me and raised the alarm. Before I could tell them I wasn’t dangerous, they all began shooting at me.” I could tell that remembering this time of his life was painful based on his expression.

“Obviously, I survived, but I wouldn’t have if it hadn’t been for the Followers, Velvet Remedy and her group. They found me, offered me a place to rest for a time. When I displayed interest in regaining some of my… well.. Stallionhood, they helped me. They had a series of potions derived from killing joke that could help change an Alicorns gender. After that, I was offered a job at Ten-Pony, using my larger size and the fact that Alicorns had a reputation for being dangerous, it was a clear choice for me to be a security guard. Though that often led to me being shot at. You all know the rest.” He said, gesturing at me, Cherry Shady and Zakk.

“Wait, not everything!” Cherry piped up, her eyes wide with realization. Rogue looked confused, but Zakk just nodded eagerly for her to continue.

“You didn’t tell us why Zakk would be there for revenge, or why you and your other security guards shit themselves at the mention of his name.” Cherry pointed out, which Shady and I perked up at. Her observation was true, we never did learn that little nugget of information. Rogue just shuddered, and no amount of coaxing him could get him to keep talking. Zakk would only just shake his head when we asked him instead, telling us that the story had to come from Rogue.

((I already mentioned in my journal my own story, probably in greater detail than most of you wanted, but hey, it’s my journal.))

“Gem, what’s in this?” Shady asked, after helping herself to another spoonful eagerly. Dodging having to talk about her history all together. The young Zebra smiled and made herself a bowl before sitting and joining us around the fire.

“Carrot’s potato’s, radishes, as well as an assortment of medicinal items I mixed in to bolster a pony’s healing.” She said, and every pony looked to her, varying degrees of surprise in their eyes, except Zakk, who had his face buried in the bowl.

“What.” She asked looking at us all, and I remained silent, not really bothered, just surprised.

“You should tell us when you make something that will have effects on us. Rogue has to eat a lot to get the calories he needs, and so does Moonshine, last thing we need is them overdosing on anything you might mix in.” Shady said, not scolding the young mare, but letting her know that it wasn’t alright for her to put things in our food without consulting us.

“Gemengde wouldn’t do anything that could be harmful, even if they ate all of the food. She just added minerals and vitamins most ponies don’t consume when eating two century old food.” She said, but I could tell she felt bad for doing it regardless. I gave Shady a look, before smiling at the zebra mare.

“It’s alright Gemengde, the way you phrased it sounded like you added other zebra alchemy to it. If it’s just minerals and vitamins that we need, no pony is going to complain about it, after all, you only had our health in mind, and I can’t say thank you enough. However, if you do decide to try adding zebra potions, just run it by us first alright?” I ask, doing my best to do damage control. She looked at me, smiling gratefully as we dug back into our food.

After that we turned in for the night, but I stayed up, taking first watch. Rogue and Zakk had worked hard pulling the wagon and they needed rest. Gemengde was still too new in the group for every pony to sleep soundly, so that left Cherry, Shady and myself for watch tonight. I set myself on a small log, keeping my revolvers close by, one with regular lead shot for monsters or critters intent on chewing on me, the other had rubber bullets in case a pony stumbled upon our camp.

Cherry stayed with me for a short while, cleaning my wing and rebandaging it, scolding me for leaving it as it was after the events at the bulk store. I had just shrugged, not pointing out that things had gotten rather busy, so it was safe to say every pony had forgotten. She leaned on my shoulder for a while, but as the night grew longer, I gently urged her to bed, telling her we needed her at full capacity in the morning when we checked out the house properly.

As soon as she was back in the safety of the armored wagon, I sighed and relaxed a touch as I poured a cup of coffee from a scavenged thermos Shady had procured earlier. I sat, keeping my ears up as I sipped the hot drink, then lighting a cigarette and letting the events of the day wash over me. It had indeed been a busy day, and I hadn’t taken the time to fully process what had happened.

Aside from the abuse I had taken at the store, Cherry’s frail emotional state had me worried. I knew she could handle it, but it didn’t stop me from worrying that Cherry could snap and Justice would rear her head again. I sighed and rubbed my wing across my face as I exhaled a puff of smoke. I know I had talked up the fact that Rogue and I could handle her, but that was in a dream world. In the real world, I didn’t have the power I would need out here.

I could only hope that my wing was properly mended by the time that happened, if it even did, but knowing our luck, I was sure it would eventually. I just had to be prepared, maybe have some magic distortion grenades on hoof just in case.

Then, that left Gemengde, the sweet zebra mare had proven her cooking skills adequate, but we had yet to see her in a real combat situation. And while I knew she meant well, it was troubling that she was putting things in the food without telling us. I was reminded of Xenith and Littlepip, how the zebra had made a potion to augment Littlepip. I wasn’t sure if that was a talent Gemengde possessed, but I couldn’t dismiss the idea. I would have to pair up with her in the near future just to see what she could do. And while I wouldn’t mind an alchemist on our side, I wasn’t going to rely on her for that.

I let these thoughts filter around in my head for the duration of my shift, four hours passing by slowly as I turned these thoughts around in my mind. By the time Shady came to relieve me, I hadn’t found any answers or ideas. I yawned softly, letting Shady take over as I moved to the bathroom to empty my bladder, before washing up and falling carefully into bed next to Cherry. Even in her sleep, she recognized my presence and wrapped her hooves around my middle.

I sighed contentedly as I nuzzled into her and pulled the blanket around us. I gave her nose a small kiss, before closing my eyes. Even though I was understandably tired, I still struggled to sleep, but having Cherry’s warm body next to mine made it a lot easier. I felt the tension leave my body, and the last thought I remember going through my mind, was that I really should ask Gemengde if she could make a magic disruption potion or something.

*page break*

The next morning, I awoke, the bed empty and cold without Cherry in it. I hate to admit it, a wave of panic washed over me, making me wonder if she had left to check out the house alone. When I staggered out of the bedroom, I saw her in the living room, sipping on a cup of coffee, a book levitated up in her magic. I paused, my brain finally starting to piece together the simple puzzle that revealed a picture that she was the last pony on watch this morning. I pressed my head to the cold wall, letting myself regain my composure before moving over to her, trying to pretend nothing was wrong. Turns out, I’m a horrible actor.

“Hey hon.” I said too innocently as I fumbled with a coffee cup, looking like a total idiot. Cherry glanced up; her eyebrow raised as she witnessed my failure.

“Hon? Since when do you call me that?” She asked, a tone of amusement, and curiosity in her voice. I sighed as I set the cup on the counter and hung my head. I then told where what had gone through my head, and my surge of panic. I felt bad admitting it, I knew I should have had more faith in her than that. But she didn’t seem angry, instead she let out a small laugh that made me lift my head to look at her.

“Dummy, I wouldn’t do that, and you know it. But it is funny to see you try and play it off like it’s no big deal.” She said, before levitating my cup over beside her, and filling it with coffee for me. I groan and shuffle over, flopping beside her as I rubbed the sleep from my eyes with my wing. She smiles and leans her head over and lays it on my shoulder, a sign that all was well between us.

Now that the panic subsided, I recognized my tiredness, but could do nothing about it now except ingesting loads of caffeine. I smiled as I downed the warm beverage in two large gulps, and Cherry chuckles before pouring more into the cup. This time I sip it slowly, not wanting to get jittery later on.

“What time is it?” I ask, and Cherry gives me a flat look, before gesturing outside. I looked through the open door, seeing just the barest hints of dawn approaching. I groaned and flopped my head on the table. I had only been asleep for a few hours, and I knew today was going to be another rough one. Cherry patted me on the head sympathetically as I pouted, but I knew there was no way I was going to be able to sleep now. Instead I decided to change the subject and give the coffee time enough to work in my system.

“What are you reading?” I asked, and I felt Cherry tense, before setting the book down, a leather-bound journal that looked very familiar. I sat up; my eyes wide as I realized what she had been reading.

“You were reading my journal!” I exclaimed in surprise and a little irritation at having my private thoughts gone through like this. I looked to her, seeing her expression change from innocence to a sheepish grin.

“If it makes you feel better, I like how you write our more…intimate moments.” She said sweetly, and I felt the blood drain from my face. Admittedly I didn’t keep secrets form my friends, I was pretty open with them about what I was thinking, but even then, there were just some thoughts and feelings that needed to remain private, and this felt like a grave violation of it. I loved Cherry, and if she had asked, I wouldn’t have questioned it, but this felt…wrong.

If anything, she had wanted to grow closer to me, wanted to know me even more, as much as I wanted to be closer to her. She may have done it the wrong way, but I couldn’t be mad at her for loving me so much that she did what she did. Like I said, emotion doesn’t follow reason and logic, and what stronger emotion is there than love?

I let these new thoughts wash over me, making me feel a little better. Not perfect, but better. I didn’t get to think on them long though, as Cherry, concern in her eyes lifted my chin with a hoof. “Cherry, I would have let you read this had you asked. I have no secrets to keep from you. however, I have thoughts and feelings written down in there that aren’t exactly ideal. The only reason I wrote them at all are because they happened. I was upset because some of them are… not great. if you had asked, I could have braced myself to answer or explain why I wrote what I did. These are my private thoughts, we all have them, and not all of them are good.” I explain, my voice level, not angry or hurt.

She looked back at the journal, holding it gently, then looking up at me, an apology in her expression. “Don’t start apologizing or crying, Celestia knows there’s been enough of that the last few days. Just… promise me you won’t think less of me for any damning words in there.” I say, and she nods, a single tear falling down her cheek as she hugs me. I hug her back, kissing the top of her head.

“Right then, this is all well and good, really, touching stuff, but we have a little time to look the house over, and then hit the road again.” Shady said, her eyes bleary and her mane disheveled from having just woken up and stumbling upon our little moment. We nodded, before going and getting our bags and weapons. We didn’t anticipate much danger, but it never hurt to be prepared. I holstered my revolver and slung my bag over my back, wincing as the strap snagged my injured wing, making it start to weep blood and soak the bandage. I said nothing about it though, deciding I would clean it after we had a look around.

Sadly, there really wasn’t much left behind, whatever was valuable had been taken years ago, or burned down when the house had caught fire. I found Cherry standing near a small bit of bent steel, a nostalgic look in her eyes as she remained silent until she noticed I was there.

“I used to sleep in a bed like this. My dad made it for me when I got too big to share the same space as him and mom, took me years to realize it was because they had been wanting to give me a sibling.” She said sadly and I moved up to hug her. She didn’t move for the longest time, and it finally dawned on me that maybe she had been missing her family. I didn’t know how long it had been since she’d seen them, but I gathered that it had been a while.

“We’ll find them one day.” I offer, and she nodded, and together we walked back toward the wagon, where every pony had been waiting for us, Rogue already strapped in, and ready to go. We loaded up, moving to our individual rooms to remove our bags, Cherry beside me.

I then heard her gasp, and I turned to look, but she was staring at my wing, and the dried blood, apparently, she hadn’t seen it earlier.

“Yeah, tore it open when I put my bags on.” I replied as I finished stowing my belongings. Next thing I knew, I was wrapped in Cherry’s magic, her levitation dragging me into the bathroom. I didn’t even fight it, I just hung there like a limp rag doll until she set me down. I sighed as she stripped my wing of the ruined bandages as she inspected the wound. I didn’t even try moving away as she slowly unfolded it to get a better look. She then grumbled to herself as she went back to the door and opened it.

“Gemengde, can you come here for a bit, and bring some thread and a needle.” She said loudly enough for every pony to hear. I slumped, laying on the bathroom floor, my injured wing splayed out beside me at a weird angle. Moments later, Gemengde entered the bathroom, a small cookie tin on her back as Cherry closed the door. To the zony’s credit, she didn’t even have to look at the wound that long to know what she needed to do, she was a dress maker after all, and there wasn’t that big of a stretch between sewing cloth and sewing hide to her.

“Here bite down on this.” She said, holding a wooden handle out to me, which I immediately took in my mouth. If she thought I needed something to bite on, this was going to hurt. I looked behind me, seeing Cherry use her magic to heat up one of Gemengde’s needles, sterilizing it as the zebra pulled a small flask from her sewing kit, and holding it out to me.

“Take a drink, it’ll help.” She said and I rolled my eyes as I spat out the wooden handle and took a small swig of the flask. My eyes watered and my throat burned. I wasn’t sure what that was, but it didn’t taste great. I bit down on the handle again as Gemengde dunked the glowing needle into the alcohol, and then had Cherry spread my wing out awkwardly. I groaned out in discomfort, but a second later, I would have traded it a thousand times over for what was happening.

I had been sewn up before, most ponies had. But this hurt like hell. I bit down on the handle hard as I felt the needle penetrate the sensitive flesh of my wing, the needle still hot. I did my best to hold still, but it was very hard as I felt the needle pierce my wing again and again. Luckily Gemengde had skill, and it didn’t take long for her to sew me closed, but it was still incredibly painful.

Cherry then applied the little bit of weird goop Mozarta had given us to the wound and re-bandaged my wing. I spat out the handle once more, rolling onto my good side, groaning.

“That sucked!” I complained, my body all kinds of shaky from the pain I had been in while they stitched me up. I wanted some med-x, but I knew it wasn’t something that should be used lightly or often. Instead I took another sip from the weird zebra drink Gemengde had shared with me. I hated the taste, but it did help dull some of the pain.

“Maybe if you hadn’t ignored it and let your bag rub it raw, we wouldn’t have to do this.” The zebra mare said, taking pity on me as she patted my shoulder gently. After we had finished up and cleaned the bathroom floor, we moved out, and into our room, Gemengde wisely choosing to shrink into her own as I flopped down on the mattress, my eyes heavy. All I wanted to do was get some rest, the events of this morning passing like a blur. Cherry sat down beside me, her hoof on my back. It didn’t take long for me to recognize this as a reverse of how I had comforted her the day before. I sigh contentedly, wanting to take a nap, and I knew she did too. Both of us had been on a crazy rollercoaster of emotion the last few days, and it left us all tired.

I felt myself relax as her hoof rubbed between my wings, a sensitive spot, but her motion was gentle, and while it raised goose bumps under my hide, it felt good. Something in my body language must have told her I was enjoying it, before she nudged me over on the bed, and I complied silently. I was expecting her to wrap herself around me like she usually did, but this time, I shuddered as she did something no pony had done.

I shifted my gaze back to her, seeing her gently preening my un-injured wing. She could have done it with magic, and it would have felt just as good, but her lips tenderly worked, realigning my feathers, and soft nibbles on the sensitive flesh made me shiver more and bite my lip to keep from moaning out. Cherry just giggled past one of my feathers, her tongue lightly running along the quill. While this wasn’t sexual, it felt intimate. I could go into some deep philosophy about it, but with my lack of philosophical poetry and the intense pleasure her ministrations were causing, I think that poetic part of my soul had been seriously weakened. However, this felt really good, and I couldn’t help but struggle not to moan again as my sensitive wing was treated with love by her.

She giggled again, her hoof still rubbing between my wings. Just what was she doing, was this some kind of weird punishment for acting like an ass earlier? If it was, it felt too good to be torture. I didn’t want any moans to escape, so I did the only thing I could, and bit the pillow as she continued, the gentleness of her mouth as the hoof rubbing my back was driving me insane. This continued for many more minutes, and I couldn’t stop from squirming a bit as she persisted. Then, like a hot shower, it was over in an instant, the red mare flopping onto the bed beside me, looking me in the eye with a small smile.

“Hmm, I’ve always wanted to try that.” She said softly, and I released the pillow from my teeth before looking at her.

“What…Was that? It felt good, but it was driving me crazy.” I whispered back, still shivering from the excitement it brought on.

“That was preening, my dad used to do it to my mom when he wanted to tease her in public. It’s not sexual but highly intimate. It’s hard for a Pegasus to trust any pony to preen them like that, because the wings are so sensitive to gentle brushes of air.” She explained, still smiling as I felt my ears flop against my scalp.

“Well you could have warned me.” I replied, feigning grumpiness. She just giggled and kissed me on the cheek.

“And miss the cute noises you made? Not a chance.” She replied, her normally sultry tones returning to her voice. I grumbled before pulling the pillow under my chest and propping myself up on it.

“You’re evil you know that.” I whisper, making her poke her bottom lip out in a pout, her hazel eyes wider than usual, giving me the puppy dog look, which made my heart flutter as I turned to look at her with a small smile.

“But, that’s why I love you.” I said, before a hint of mischief crept into my voice and eyes as the wing she had just preened wrapped around her back and pulled her closer to me. She smiled and kissed my cheek again, but I wasn’t about to be deterred from a little pay back. I held her in place, before using the tip of my primary feathers to tickle her between her ribs and flank, the sensitive spot I knew was her most ticklish area. Immediately her eyes widened as she realized what I was doing, and I felt her tense as she instinctively tried pulling away, but I held her firm and kept at it, ticking her playfully.

If she was the type of pony to enjoy tormenting me with pleasure like that, then I was the type to return it with playful torture. I grinned widely as I continued, pressing my advantage as I rolled her over and I straddled her belly, my wing continuing it’s evil work as I put my hooves to good use, ticking any bit of her I could get to like the side of her neck and fluffy chest.

“Moonshine…. Stop.” She said loudly between giggles and snorts as I continued, not heeding her words. This was pay back, and I was going to enjoy it. I laughed with her, smiling devilishly as I tickled her more.

“Stop…you’re gonna make me pee.” She whined though tears in her eyes, but I didn’t care. She had made her bed, and she was going to sleep in it. I pressed on, laughing at her laughter and tears as I switched it up, leaning in and playfully nibbling on her exposed neck, still driving my feathers into her side.

Then I felt her magic surge as she grabbed my body in telekinesis and throw me to the other side of the bed. I landed on the cushioned softness of the mattress as she leapt up and ran out of the room toward the bathroom, and I lay there, laughing loudly, not caring who heard. When Cherry did return, she was scowling, but it was fake, the corners of her mouth betrayed the hint of a smile.

“And you called me evil. If I am, then you are truly wicked.” She teased, before closing the door, and making sure it was locked. I smiled and lay on my side, using one hoof to prop up my head as I studied her. I knew that face, I knew what was on her mind. She smiled and joined me on the bed, laying like I was, facing me as I wrap a wing around her side, not tickling her anymore.

“Are you thinking what I am?” I asked, a smile appearing on my lips as I looked into her eyes. She smiled just as much as I did and nodded.

“Indeed, I think we both could use it.” She said softly, and I leaned in to kiss her.

“You couldn’t be righter.” I reply before flopping down and pulling her belly against mine. She returned the kiss, and her horn alit, pulling our blanket over us. I placed my hoof around her, holding her lovingly, her heart beating steadily against mine. With another shared kiss between us, we laid our heads down and fell asleep.

((I know I know, you expected her and I to get all freaky. Seriously, if you did, then you hadn’t been paying attention so far. We were both mentally and physically exhausted, why would we push ourselves even harder when neither of us had the strength. Get a hobby you pervert.))

*page break*

Napping wasn’t really my thing, typically when I was up there were things needing to be done, but between the beating we had taken yesterday at the store, and the emotional wrecking we had both suffered, it couldn’t be helped. We had both been at a level of exhaustion that was beyond normal for us, so yes, a nap was definitely in order.

When we both woke up, neither of us were eager to leave the bed yet, it was warm, and safe. It was the one safe spot we had that pain or hurt wasn’t allowed to persist. And while the two of us were strong enough to handle it, I think both of us were weary that more emotional hurt would prey on us again. This wasn’t a place to hurt, this was a place of healing, a place of love, and we both knew it.

I placed my hoof against her cheek, my eyes half lidded with exhaustion. She smiled at me, pressing her face against my hoof tenderly. As usual we had no need for words in these situations, just the close proximity and our breathing. Even the subtle rocking of the wagon was adding to the calmness we were experiencing, and as much as I wanted too, I had to get up before it put me back to sleep. Cherry groaned as I shifted, sitting upright and rubbing my face tiredly.

“Awww don’t get up, it’s cold.” She complained, before pulling herself against me and wrapping us in the blanket. I smiled and pulled her against me, loving her warmth.

“I know you have fire magic and all, but you’re like my own little heater.” I said jokingly, before kissing her lightly on the nose, making her cross her eyes cutely. She giggled and wrapped her hooves around me, and I just couldn’t stop loving this mare, no matter what happened, I loved her, and she knew it. I was such a dumbass in moments like these, the times I could let my guard down and just act like myself.

I look down into her eyes, and I didn’t need to speak, her expression told me that she knew, and always would. But I did it anyway.

“You wanna know something?” I asked softly, my muzzle inches from hers.

“What is it?” She questioned back, her tone soft and sweet. I couldn’t help but let the smile return to my face.

“I really need to pee.” I said, trying to make it sound all sexy, but she snorted loudly, laughing before pushing me away and taking the covers for herself.

“You are so horrible!” She exclaimed, and I laughed, flopping out of bed and crawling to the door.

“Oh, kicked out of bed by the mare I love! How can I ever carry on now?” I feigned sorrow, my hoof reaching for the door handle, before falling as I flopped on the floor, fake crying. Cherry giggled, but I blubbered like an idiot, before turning my head to look at her, my eyes wide and sad looking, my bottom lip trembling as I returned the puppy dog eyes.

“Oh, that, that’s true evil” She said with a laugh, before levitating up one of our pillows and throwing at me, smacking me in the nose. I winced as it fell to the floor, then my jaw went slack as I saw her levitating up every pillow we had.

“Run.” She said with a wicked grin, and I had barely managed to get to my hooves and wrench open the door, ducking out as several pillows flew at where I had been. I heard them slam against the door as I pulled it closed behind me. I lay against it, panting and smiling, before moving to the bathroom to do what I needed to. By the time I had made it back into the room, Cherry was up as well, smiling sweetly as she worked on making the bed.

I joined her, helping tuck the blanket in, before suddenly a pillow slapped me across the back of the head, then reversing and slamming into my nose. I stumbled, falling onto my ass as Cherry laughed loudly, before replacing the offending pillow back onto the bed as I sat there, stunned. I really should have seen that coming. Cherry laughed at my expression, before throwing herself at me, and kissing me happily.

“Sorry, I couldn’t resist.” She said softly and I nodded. I probably would have done the same were I in her spot. But that didn’t mean I was just going to let her off the hook after all. As she hugged me, I hugged back, trying to wrap my wing around her, but then inspiration struck, and I slapped it across her flank playfully. Truth be told I didn’t get the response I hoped for, instead she moaned in my ear, making both of us blush profusely.

We both separated, unable to shake that little moment for a while as we set about cleaning up the room. Once we had gotten our heads together, I grabbed our gear, and sat down at my work bench. I know Shady typically took care of our weapons, but tinkering was something I loved, and up until recently I hadn’t had much of a chance to work on anything. Cherry joined me, levitating her pistols to the table, and I picked one of them up. Like most of our gear, it was already pretty well maintained, Shady had been doing remarkable work, and sadly there wasn’t much for me to do beside reload the magazines Cherry had for them, and make sure all our weapons had been reloaded properly.

Cherry joined me, helping load my revolvers and stagger buckshot and slugs into my ballistic hooves. We didn’t know what our next location would be, but we wanted to be ready in case anything happened like last time. Cherry set about emptying our saddle bags, removing anything not important to scavenging the next stop. I was busy gleaning ghoul from my power hoof when Cherry paused and pulled the wooden box Whisper had given me full of little carved figures of all of us, though I wish Gemengde had been with us at the time. I felt bad she didn’t have one. That’s why I didn’t pull them out for every pony to see.

“These are gorgeous!” She said as she pulled each one out and set them up on our dresser. I nodded and smiled as I set the weapon down and joined her as I helped her set them up, looking closely at the one of Cherry. She didn’t have a particular order set up, so I set about putting them in an order, stallions on one side, and the mares on the other with Cherry and I in the middle. She smiled and kissed me on the cheek. Nothing could possibly ruin how I was feeling when I was with her.

* Page break*

“Oh fuck.” I exclaim, sitting down on my haunches. We were all outside the wagon, having gotten to our next stop hours later. I wasn’t ready for this, now that I was here, I completely understood Cherry’s apprehension about Stables. We were all geared up, standing ready. What lay before us dwarfed any preparation we could have made as I sat staring at the stable door. Rather the side of one as it had fallen backward into the main room long ago, wrenching the catwalk at an odd angle.

Shady had insisted I wear the Enclave armor, and I wasn’t about to argue after seeing this. Even though my wing felt uncomfortable in the armored wing plates, I was willing to push the discomfort aside for this. Zakk was willing to help me get used to moving in the armor with a quick spar, and we all knew I learned best by just doing. Our wagon was parked just outside, and every pony moved off to relax around it as I set about removing what I wasn’t going to need. Zakk likewise stripped off his bag as I removed all the ammo I had stored up, not wanting to accidentally shoot Zakk, or miss and hit one of my friends with live fire. Cherry helped, gathering all of the ammo in a pile and keeping it safe as I trotted in place, trying to get a bearing on the change in my height.

It’s hard to explain how weird it is being lifted like this, even though your knees bend where they should, it just feels off. Try strapping paint cans to your hooves and walking around. It’s really fucking weird. I groused about it internally as I slowly navigated my way through a few of my typical moves, hopping and spinning as I do in a fight. Then I was on my side, the armor absorbing the hit, but it still rocked me as I was in the middle of getting used to it.

Now before I go much further, I feel like I need to write a few things down here. The Eyes Forward Sparkle, or E.F.S. was different than that of Steel Ranger armor. In the middle of the visor was a round hologram with a line bisecting it in the middle. I pretty quickly recognized it as a Horizon line and as I was laying on my side, the line was in the vertical position. I growled and pushed myself back to my hooves, my eyes narrowed at the stallion who had so intimately introduced me to the ground. One other important difference, was the cardinal directions, indicating which way I was facing, and a bonus that the pipbucks don’t have, is a friend or foe viewer that does change depending on the height of the enemy.

I used that feature immediately as I registered that Zakk had leapt into the air, and was falling toward me, his back leg extended as he aimed a kick for my head. I dodged the lazy attack, my head whipping to the side as I lash out, sending a punch right at his exposed belly. But it was sloppy, and he was able to slap it aside. I felt myself jolted to the left as he collided with me, but I had somehow managed to roll onto my hooves.

Zakk was back on me in an instant, his hooves flying rapid fire at my face, but I back peddled, keeping him from making contact. I knew he could clobber me a million different ways and I wouldn’t even know it, but he wasn’t trying to hurt me, he was helping me get comfortable in the armor, and as I leapt back, landing close to how I normally would, I knew it was working.

I didn’t have time to notice that all however, as Zakk was back, his hooves flying at my face again. I was managing to dodge well enough that I felt confident in trying to attack. As one hoof came in, I lashed out, knocking it aside as he had done to me earlier, then stepping in and throwing a punch with my outside hoof into his ribs. The attack didn’t land, but it was close. However, it didn’t feel as close as it was. I still couldn’t grasp how different the extensions felt when I attacked, but I was determined to figure it out.

I tried pressing the advantage, stepping in toward the side-stepping buck, but my hoof got caught on the grass and I stumbled, falling onto my face. Zakk didn’t attack, just hopping from hoof to hoof as I pushed myself back up, frustration flooding me as I shook off the dirt that was clinging to me.

“See, imagine if this happened inside in a life or death fight.” Rogue said. But I lost Shady’s response as I focused on the fight right in front of me. I took up my defensive posture before nodding at Zakk to continue. He obliged and stepped in again, repeating the same attack pattern as before. Like last time I knocked his hoof aside, stepped in with a punch to his ribs, and this time connected.

He let out a soft snort of discomfort, but I didn’t let him back off, and this time I kept my balance as I pressed the advantage, throwing my other hoof at his face. He ducked under the swing, and barreled into my chest, pushing me back. I dug my back hooves in, stopping him pushing me back as I drop my forelegs onto the back of his head. He grunted again, and I repeated the motion, before backing off, trying to gain some distance between us.

I stomped after him, trying to stay close, but he turned and began running in circles with me keeping pace behind him. As we circled, the pace increased, and soon I was at a full gallop, trying to close in. and of course I would happen to find the one goddess damned rock nearby, and trip, falling onto my side again. This time, I tucked my legs against my belly and rolled back onto my hooves.

So far it had all been pretty light, but I was going to be damned if it stayed that way. Every pony knew I learned by doing, and I was getting fed up with this bullshit play time. So, I charged Zakk, the pony getting into a defensive pose, but I kicked off hard, my power hooves thrusting down, and propelling me toward him faster than I could have normally run.

Zakk hadn’t quite gotten his hooves up in time as my foreleg slammed into his chest, staggering him back a step. Three of my hooves touched down on the grass, and I went in again, kicking off once more, the pistons pushing out the extension on my back legs, sending me at him faster still. He ducked the first punch at his face, but his chin caught the second from underneath as I upper cut him, lifting his head into the air as I bore into him, my superior weight shoving him back.

He rolled with it, flopping onto his back, and kicking me in the belly, rolling me over to land on my back as well. He then rolled over my head, sitting on my chest, both of his fore hooves coming down at my face with a powerful hammer blow. I reacted purely on instinct, wrapping a foreleg around both of his, catching the attack as my uninjured wing lashed out like a whip, catching him in the side of the neck. He flopped to the side, surprised at the blow, before I turned onto my side, facing him like I would Cherry in bed, and throwing my back leg out, catching him in the stomach. The power hoof activated again, and propelled him away from me, where he slammed into a tree, the impact cracking the trunk.

I rolled over, pushing myself back up. The armor was very durable, even if Zakk was holding back, those hits still would have hurt if I wasn’t wearing it, but it felt lighter than even my saddle bags. I cracked my neck as Zakk pushed himself back up, not showing any damage, but that was to be expected. We both took a moment to get our bearings, and I took the opportunity to leap from hoof to hoof. While the added height was weird, it was manageable enough now. I’m sure I would stumble again, but I felt more confident wearing it.

Zakk applauded me, stomping his hooves on the ground, clearly impressed. I thanked him for helping me, and while I wasn’t even close to mastering the suit, it was within my capabilities now. I gave him my thanks, trotting in place a moment longer, before turning and moving back to my friends. Cherry was smiling as I came over, and I chinned the control on my armor, letting the helmet retract behind my head. I smiled back to the red mare, before leaning down to kiss her cheek gently.

“Moonshine, you’re gonna be on point, you’re the only pony here with an Eyes Forward Sparkle. We’re gonna be relying on you to give us a heads up if something is coming.” She explained, giving out our roles and how we would enter with the maximum amount of safety we could afford. But every pony still looked nervous about it, Cherry even crossed her forelegs and furrowed her eyebrows.

“C’mon, it’s just an empty stable, it’s not like we’re gonna encounter any big monsters in there.” She said, and I slammed my hoof aagainst my face. I may have gotten used to moving in the armor in combat, but it was going to take a lot longer to adjust to doing the simpler things.

“Alright, if we do this, we do it slow and careful. If things get crazy, we skedaddle.” I said, showing more confidence than I felt as I looked at the toppled Stable door. Cherry still looked upset about it, and I couldn’t quite figure out why, but I figured that would be a conversation for later. Shady nodded in agreement, before giving every pony a supply of healing items while Rogue checked the load on his rifle. I had originally thought about letting him borrow Spitfire’s Thunder, but with us going into such a confined area, he wouldn’t be able to use it effectively, and neither would I.

Gemengde was pulling her ghillie suit on, and making sure her compact pistol had ammo, while Cherry did the same, making sure her pistols were clean and full on bullets. Zakk was trotting in place, his empty saddle bags flapping against his side, I elected to ignore him though, and sat comfortably as I waited for my friends to get ready. I then looked to Shady, who was playing with Grace, the combat shotgun I had given her at the beginning of our journey. It pained me to realize that the heaviest weapon we had was one shotgun, and an idiot blue Pegasus that punched things.

I sighed internally, wishing we had better weapons, but I knew we couldn’t just go buy them, anything good would be horribly expensive. Our best bet was to find one or two in places no pony could scavenge. That’s why we were there, stables, while death traps, typically held good items that weren’t in disrepair.

When every pony had their gear in order, I stood and cracked my neck, before, as one we entered the Stable. I took point, leading the way in with Cherry guarding my flank on one side, and Shady on the other, while the other three watched our six. I toggled the built-in lamp of my helmet, the visor lighting up and bathing the dimly lit interior with a hazy blue light. Cherry and Rogue likewise lit up their horns, creating a little circle of light around us. I focused on my E.F.S., seeing no red blips, just the soft green ones indicating my friends.

Slowly we walked across the catwalk leading into the welcome room, only the echoes of our hoof falls and the darkness around us for company.

“Alright, Cherry, stick with Zakk, Gemengde, stay close to Moonshine, Rogue, you’re with me. Stay close to your partner, they are the source of your light, and back up. I don’t expect us to get separated, but if it happens, stick together.” Shady ordered, drawing nods from each of us in turn. Gemengde moved close to me, her ghillie suit already sporting some rusted metal and chunks of concrete, but if it hindered her abilities, it didn’t show. I could tell Cherry wasn’t thrilled about being separated from me, but she understood that it was important to divide the light sources.

With little words exchanged, we moved as a group into the first hall. Rusted pipes leaked water here and there, punctuated with signs pointing us to the different facilities available here. But the first place we hit was the orientation room, where several chairs that had collapsed with age and rot, sat around a projector pointing at a tattered screen. Shady moved in, tools coming from her bag as she stripped down the old projector for any useful scrap, before we turned our attention to the file cabinets and trash cans. There wasn’t much of substance here, just a few caps in the trash and some pencils. We took it all anyway and moved back into the hall.

We all moved as quietly as we could, ears perked for any indications of danger, but so far, the whole place had been eerily calm. We found a staircase moments later, and decided to move down toward maintenance, if there would be any good salvage, it would be there. I led us down, following Shady’s freaky knowledge of stables, guiding our troupe into the bowels of the shelter.

The first place we hit was the resupply closets, lightbulbs, fuses, tools, even packs of cigarettes found a new home in our bags before we moved even deeper, passing the generator room, and picking it clean of a few spark batteries, and smaller parts from the generators themselves.

When we got to one end of the hall, there were two rooms adjacent from the other. One was the pip buck repair stall, and the other was a much larger room for water purification. Feeling more comfortable, we split up to search each room, the girls went one way, and me and the others moved into the pip buck stall. I fell to the side, letting Rogue look over everything, seeing as he was the most tech savvy of the three of us, Zakk meanwhile, just flopped down, and was secretly doing something, and I ignored him, thinking it would be something dumb, as usual.

“Hey Moonshine, check this out.” Rogue said, levitating up a discarded pip buck, but it was a variant I had never seen. It looked older than the typical models, a small mesh grate was on one side of the screen, showing off vacuum tubes. On the other side was a clock, rad counter, and a power button. I gently took it from Rogue, looking it over, and noticed it didn’t require the normal tools to remove, instead it had a simple hoof operated clasp on the back. That alone made it rare, the ability to put it on and take it off at will was impressive.

I then flipped it back over and looked at the screen, noticing the first time, elegant green script under the curved glass designating it as a Lil’Pip 3000. I rolled my eyes at the name but had to admit it fit the device. It was also smaller than a normal pip buck, the screen was close to half the size I was used to seeing.

“Can I keep this?” I ask, looking up to Rogue who nodded with a smile.

“Sure, I couldn’t wear it anyway, my leg is too big.” He stated, and I offered my thanks as I slipped it into my bag. I wasn’t sure why I wanted it, but I had an idea that I could fix it up and give it to Cherry if she wanted. I smiled, thinking I would have something cool my marefriend would appreciate. Rogue even managed to pocket quite a few pip buck associated tools, which I knew I’d need later, who knows maybe after this is over, I could become a pip buck certified pony… nah not my thing, some pony already did that.

Once we had finished our unceremonious looting, we moved out of the pipbuck room and into the water treatment room. The girls were pilfering anything they could get their hooves on, and Cherry turned to greet us with a water talisman hanging from her horn, making her look like an old Hearths Warming ornament hanging from a pinecone. I couldn’t help but snicker at the sight, but I buried it as she moved up to me, the talisman jingling against her face as she walked.

“Moonshine, we got a good amount of stuff here, this talisman will let us have pure water anytime in the wagon!” She exclaimed, and I nodded, glad the helmet could hide my smile. Shady then moved over, her bags loaded with stuff that clanked and jingled, though I knew we weren’t done yet, we still had the clinic, atrium, and residential quarters to hit, but that was fine, we had more than enough room for whatever we could pilfer.

“Alright, lets hit the clinic next, I’m eager to see what was left behind.” Shady said, and I nodded, likewise eager, but only so we could get back on the road and I could tinker with Cherry’s pipbuck.

“Actually I wanted to ask something.” Gemengde whispered, the only pony among us who still found that stealth was our friend in unfamiliar environments. We all looked to her, and Shady motioned for her to continue.

“You said that these stables are death traps, but so far we haven’t seen a single pony or even a corpse. How come?” She asked, and I hate to admit that I hadn’t thought of it, but now that she pointed it out, I suddenly had a nagging feeling in the back of my head.

“That’s because we cleaned the place.” Came a feminine voice behind us, and we whipped around, but no pony was there. I froze, unsure what was going on, even my E.F.S. wasn’t picking up anything aside from my friends. I raised an eyebrow in curiosity, but Rogue groaned loudly, and placed a hoof on his face. I spared him a glance, worry seeping into my mind when a motion to the side captured my attention again.

Three lithe forms shimmered into existence in front of us, and I felt my stomach drop. Three blue Alicorns had appeared before us, and immediately I took stock of their gear. Though it wasn’t exactly hard to identify the raider barding they were all wearing. The leather was streaked with dried blood, and they had patchwork armor covering their joints. My eyes widened as I noticed that two of them were carrying spiked clubs, while the one in the front was wearing a battle saddle with two beam rifles, and a third pulled from its harness by light blue telekinesis.

All three of them looked haggard, their manes and tails unkempt and they all sported bags under their eyes. But for all of their similarities, there were also differences. The one on the left was twitchy, her eyes flitting about and it looked as if she hadn’t eaten in quite a while. The areas where her sides were exposed showed her ribs in sharp relief. I wasn’t an expert, but even I could tell she was addicted to some chem or another.

The one on the right though bothered me the most, where her counterpart was twitchy and high on something, this one was just plain creepy. She wore an overly predatory grin, her eyes locked on Cherry. I winced as she licked her cracked lips and blew a grotesque kiss at my mare friend. I bristled, but I wasn’t about to do anything yet, if only because her belt was adorned with multiple sharp implements and a cruel looking whip.

The last one was the most frightening, only because she was in complete control of herself. I felt the confidence radiating from her, and I knew without a doubt that she oversaw this motley crew.

“Hello brother. It’s not often we see another of our kind, especially one who has… changed.” The creepy mare purred, and I shivered at the tones in her voice. Rogue looked shaken, but narrowed his eyes at the trio, his rifle coming to bear.

“Yeah, hello sisters, who are you?” Rogue asked, and I kept glancing back and forth between them.

“I’m Missy.” Said the mare with the beam weapons, and then she gestured at her two comrades.

“The twitchy one is O.D. and this is Gristle.” She said, pointing at the other mares respectively. Rogue nodded, but I could tell he wasn’t happy to hear the news.

“’Ahh this little one is an Alicorn too.” Purred Gristle, making me cringe as she leaned down to look at me. I took a step back, but kept my mouth shut. If they thought I was another Alicorn, they may just let us go if the odds were even.

“Easy Gristle, no need to spook our guests. Even if they were stealing from us.” Replied Missy, who stared at me coldly, and I had a sinking suspicion that she didn’t believe for a moment that I was one of them. She didn’t get to question it though as O.D. piped up, asking why I wasn’t talking in her own quivering voice. Rogue looked at me, his eyes calm, but he clearly wanted me to answer. I did so, by fluttering my one good wing, and pointing at my throat with a primary feather, then crossed it across my neck, like how I saw the mute bat-pony at Black Pony Mountain do.

“She had her throat cut and can’t talk any longer.” Rogue added simply, and I wanted to call him out on calling me a female, but I figured he had a good idea what he was doing.

“Ah I see. Is she your mare friend?” Gristle asked, and Rogue nodded. I felt Cherry bristle behind us, but she was smart enough to keep quiet for now. I hated the bold faced lies Rogue was telling, and how we had all gotten roped into it, but there had to be a reason why he was doing this.

“These are all my friends as well, the grey mare is Iron Wood, the grey stallion is Righteous Authority, the red mare is Campfire.” He said, gesturing at every pony, but I noticed he had left Gemengde out. I casually glanced back, but the mare was nowhere to be seen, and I wasn’t about to ask where she had gone. I had to hoof it to Rogue though, being able to come up with false identities like that on the fly was incredible.

“What about her name?” Missy asked, gesturing at me with the butt of her rifle. I held still, looking to Rogue, wondering what my fake name would be. Maybe it was a bad time to be curious about such a dumb thing, but I liked his quick wit.

“Oh sorry, I forgot to properly introduce you all. Her name is Pistol whip.” He lied, and I gotta admit, I kinda liked the false moniker. I then bowed my head politely, not wanting to arouse any further suspicion from the Alicorn raiders.

“Oh, cut the shit.” Missy grumbled, drawing the attention of every pony in the room.

“How long do you think we’ve been watching you all. I know your real names, and I know he isn’t a she, and I haven’t once seen him use magic.” She snarled, pointing her weapon at me.

“Fuck so much for niceties.” Cherry grumbles, and I knew shit was about to go down. I ducked down as Missy fired, the beam of energy slicing over my head. Cherry blasted out a gout of flame, targeting the drugged-out mare. I was shocked when she wheeled around, and matched her, a telekinetic blast sending her flames wide, and impacting my mare friend in the horn. She screamed and fell to the side as Shady lunged in past her, pumping of several consecutive shots from Grace, slugs and buckshot flying at Missy. The mare brought up her rifle, batting aside Shady’s slugs while the buckshot only slammed into her armor but didn’t penetrate.

Rogue levitated his rifle, firing a shot at Gristle, who lunged aside to dodge, the round passing by cleanly, but it wasn’t meant to hit, it was only supposed to put her in range for me. I leapt at her, my hooves lashing out with a flurry of punches. I was dismayed however, when no shots were forth coming. All I got for my effort was a click from both weapons, and I realized we had forgotten to reload them. The mare dodged, her magic grabbing a few of her knives hung on her belt and came at me. I had never fought a blade wielding enemy before, and it was even tougher with them held in her magic. I had to stay on guard because she could move those weapons in any direction quickly, and I was suddenly thankful Shady had insisted I wear the armor.

I ducked under the knives and charged into her reach, keeping close and grappling with the mare to throw off her use of the blades. Cherry was back on her hooves again, her magic surging as a wave of fireballs slammed into O.D. taking their toll on the alicorn but doing little more than singing her hide. The drugged-out mare snarled, as her magic flared and several injectors flew from a pack on her side, and jabbed into her body, injecting the cocktail of Luna knows what into her system. I spared a glance to her, seeing the twitchy mare shift to that of an enraged beast.

Cherry balked as the alicorn charged her, her hooves denting the metal floor with each step. Cherry back peddled, trying to keep some distance from O.D. and I couldn’t blame her. Zakk was beside her in a flash, his typical antics of being a distraction were gone now, and he stood his ground beside my mare friend, taking the hits and blocking those he couldn’t. I knew my pacifist friend wouldn’t lash out to injure, but Cherry would. She abandoned her fire magic, and switched to levitation, drawing her pistols, and bashing one against the mare’s horn. I knew it was the most sensitive spot to get hit for magic users, so I didn’t blame O.D. from shouting in pain and rage.

Shady was engaged with Missy, the two trading shots, but neither one taking lethal hits. But I knew just one shot from those rifles in just the right spot can turn a pony to glowing ash. I had seen it first hoof. Missy yelled in pain as a small shot stung her flank from somewhere in the room, but even I couldn’t tell where it had come from. My guess was it had come from Gemengde, who was camouflaged somewhere in the room.

My attention was dragged back to my opponent, who had snarled loudly, and jabbed one of her blades against my back. I winced but felt little more than the impact as the implement glanced off my armor. I growled in response, not wanting her to get a lucky hit between any of the plates. So, I did the only thing I could think of, and head butted her, my artificial horn slamming against hers, making her magic implode and her wicked knives to clatter to the floor. I reeled, feeling like I had bashed my head against the wall as Rogue charged in, his rifle butt slamming into Gristles side, knocking her off me.

I fell onto my haunches, shaking my head to clear it. Rogue had Gristle pinned, his rifle pointed at her head, and I winced as his horn flared, pulling the trigger. She screamed as the shot shattered her horn, the tip landing near my hooves, the arcane energy contained within sparking and dying out. I winced, unsure but betting that hurt like hell. Whatever had happened, clearly had an effect on the others as well, because they too screamed out and O.D. flopped to the floor, her hooves going to her horn.

“There’s a green one somewhere!” I shouted making every pony tense in alarm, but the signs were clear. If all three of the alicorns had felt it, there was certainly some telepathy involved. I stepped up beside Rogue and looked down at the trashing alicorn mare on the ground. I hated her for her behavior, and I knew she had done a lot of evil things, but I couldn’t help but feel bad for her. So, I did the only thing I could do, I punched her in the face hard, knocking her out.

Rogue looked pained, seeing one of his kin acting like this, but I placed a hoof on his shoulder, and he nodded, we did have two others to take care of before he could worry about what to do here. He shook off his sour attitude, and charged back into the fight, joining Shady in her conflict with Missy, and I joined Cherry in her battle with O.D. The mare had pushed herself back to her hooves, and Cherry looked tired, her breathing ragged as she fought just to hold her ground. I must have missed something in the fight for her to look so tired, but I didn’t know what it could have been.

“You fuckers killed Gristle…” O.D. snarled, and I made to correct her, but she was so far beyond reason, the chems in her system making logic fly out the window, I knew there would be no reasoning with her. She pulled more pills from her bags with her magic, downing them dry in one swallow, and I could tell they were affecting her almost immediately. Her magic flared up, forming a crystalline sword from nothing, and I took a defensive posture, positioning myself between the alicorn and Cherry, so she could take a moment to catch her breath.

With a scream of rage and pain O.D. Charged me, her magic blade swinging clumsily at me. I may have gotten lucky with Gristle, but I knew how to counter magically wielded blades, and ducked under the slash, leaping in near her. I knew as long as I stayed close, she wouldn’t risk slashing at me without hurting herself. I threw several rapid punches into her ribs, not carrying as much power as I would like, but the weight of the armor and the extended ballistic hooves made the impacts much more potent. She howled incoherently, trying to turn and face me, but I kept the pressure on, five more blows slamming into her side before I both felt and heard a rib crack under the abuse.

I thought I had dealt a sufficient blow to her, hoping it would slow her down enough for the fight to be more even, but I was shocked out of that thought when O.D.’s blade struck my back, causing sparks to fly from the armor and me to scream in pain as well. I lashed out with my good wing, knocking the blade back, and distancing myself from the alicorn once more. I felt my back flare in pain every time I moved, but It wasn’t more than a superficial wound. I was worried however that it had opened a weak point in the armor, and I wasn’t about to present my spine to her again.

Cherry was by me in an instant, her own face pained, and dripping sweat as she joined me, her pistol held in her mouth and her horn alight with a readied spell. I hated myself for not reloading my ballistic hooves, knowing they would have greatly turned the tide of battle, but that left only one ranged weapon at my disposal, and I used my wing to open the latch on my flank and pull Quartz free. I winced as I remembered I had it loaded with lead rounds, disliking the idea of possibly having to kill another pony, but I would if I had no other alternative.

Cherry knew something was wrong as well but didn’t bring it up if only because her mouth was occupied with her own gun. I shared a look with her, before leaping in at the mare, who swung her blade menacingly to keep me at bay, but it was a farce, and she realized it too late as Cherry charged around my flank, letting loose with her pistol and a blast of fire from her horn. O.D. couldn’t keep her sword up and defend herself from the heat at the same time, before dispersing her magic blade, and conjuring a bubble shield around her. I blinked, not knowing that the blue ones could do that, but I should have remembered they were their own ponies now, and who knew what kind of magic they had come up with over the last few years.

I switched methods, not sure how to proceed, but Cherry did, her flames licking at the shield, bearing down on it. I knew what Cherry was doing, trying to smoke the mare out of hiding. I spared a glance at Shady and Rogue, who were battling intensely with Missy. Rifle and shotgun barked, peppering the mare with rounds that barely penetrated her thick armor and hide. But I was left wondering why she didn’t create her own shield to protect herself and realized she probably didn’t know how too.

“Rogue, switch!” I shouted over the noise, catching our friends attention, who nodded, and took another shot at Missy to distract her before moving in to assist Cherry, while I ducked and rolled to move beside Shady and Zakk, who were distracting the beam rifle wielding mare. If it was gonna be a brawl, then I was in, there was nothing I could do against a shield after all. Zakk spun around her, drawing her fire from my direction as I leapt in, punching hard against one of the beam rifles, causing something to spark and smoke as something critical broke inside.

Missy snarled as she rounded on me, her weapons pointed where I had been, but I was already in motion, charging toward her with my head down. Her next shots glanced off my armor, something about its creation in prewar Equestria rendering it immune to magic beam weapons or something, I wasn’t sure. She swore and changed tactics, trying to bash me with the butt of the rifle in her magic. I winced as it thudded against my skull, making my vision flash, but it was too late.

Our chests made contact, pushing me up against the heavier mare. What happened next will always haunt me, as the horn attachment on my helmet gored the underside of her jaw, and punctured all the way to her brain I felt myself come to a teeth hurting stop as it bottomed out against the top of her skull, and suddenly I was holding a very dead, and very heavy alicorn mare atop my head. She slumped, now dead weight, her hooves crumpling and pinning me to the floor.

I heard a scream, but couldn’t identify it, and I shuddered, in shock as Missy’s life blood coated the face of my helmet, dripping down the visor and turning my vision crimson. I was so wrapped up in what had happened, and just how fast it had, that I was still in shock when Zakk hefted the mare off me and dropped her to the floor. I was frozen in place, the blood coated helmet masking my wide eyes as I saw what I had done.

Missy had a hole under her jaw. Blood and brain matter leaking from the wound. What hit me the hardest, was that her legs twitched, the last remaining energy in her body as she died, and I just couldn’t accept what I had done. I had killed before, but that was in situations I didn’t have a choice, it was kill or be killed. But here, I would have been able to knock her out or something. This wasn’t something I was prepared to handle.

“Moonshine are you hurt?” Shady said, concern in her voice and face as she knelt before me looking me over, but unable to see me past the armor. I was unable to answer, her voice sounding like it had come from underwater as I stared at the dead alicorn. I felt the helmet removed from my head, but even still I could do and say nothing as Shady tried to get my attention. But I was staring at the injury, and I felt it sucking the life out of me like one of the mythical black holes out in space.

Then I caught a hoof across my cheek, and I blinked, snapped out of it by Shady as she pulled my head to the side, averting my gaze from the dead alicorn.

“Get yourself together! We still have the other one to take care of!” She screamed at me and pulled me to my hooves. I shook my head, trying to refocus on the here and now. There would be time to deal with the repercussions later, for now I had to make sure every pony got out of here safely. I looked to where Cherry and Rogue were fighting with O.D, the alicorns shield was still up, but Cherry and Rogue both looked haggard and tired. My mare friend had a deep gash on her cheek, bleeding profusely, but it didn’t bother her as she tried to break the shield with her hooves. Rogue was firing shot after shot, but whatever chems were pumping through O.D.’s system had also super charged her magic, allowing her to maintain her shield and pick up Gristles fallen blades.

“Cherry put your horn to the shield, your magic will appear inside. Rogue, Zakk, block those knives.” I shouted, joining in as Shady and I tried distracting the drugged-out mare long enough for Cherry to do what she had too. I hated it, but this mare was too powerful with her drugs to take down non-lethally. I would say luck was on our side, but it really wasn’t, the alicorn was so dosed on chems that all we would have to do was wave a small flag in a lack luster manner. Zakk and Rogue played there parts, stopping the blades in their tracks as Cherry limped up and pressed the tip of her horn to the shield, and with a grunt of pain, possibly from her wound or what she was about to do, she began.

With a spark her magic appeared inside the bubble, a gout of intense flame that cooked the mare alive on the inside. Her scream was inequine as she fried. I winced and averted my gaze and closed my eyes. But nothing would protect me from the sounds and the smells of her cooking meat, and I retched. Too many memories were flooding my mind, Arbu chief amongst them. When the shield dropped, rogue fired a single shot, hitting her in the head and silencing her screams as she collapsed to the floor, becoming her own funeral pyre.

I retched, then averted my gaze from the emulated mare. I felt nausea creeping up on me, and all I wanted to do right then was puke my guts out and cry, but I couldn’t, not when we were still in the heart of a raider den. “Rogue, tie that bitch up!” Shady barked, commanding our alicorn friend. I shook my head to clear it, choosing to deal with what had happened later when our lives were not in jeopardy.

“Moonshine, get your shit together, you said there was a green one, right?” Shady snapped, her face suddenly in mine as my helmet and revolver were thrust into my hooves. I grit my teeth, trying to force my stomach to behave as I slipped the helmet back on and the pistol gripped by my good wing. Cherry limped up beside me, her cheek bleeding profusely and a sickened look on her face. I assumed I wore the same expression under the helmet.

Our newest friend was there suddenly, mysteriously appearing out of my shadow with a fist aid kit already in her mouth before she set about trying to help clean my mare friends wound. Rogue then joined us, dropping Gristle unceremoniously to the floor, bound and gagged with an old sheet. “Zakk, you and Moon go see if you can track down that Green one, the rest of us will recover quickly and be right behind you. Zakk you are on point, Moonshine, you handle her as you see fit.” Shady commands, before giving me a hooffull of shotgun shells

I suppose it would go without saying that at this point I wasn’t exactly heading out of the room in high spirts. Zakk picked up on it too, which was saying something for the socially awkward stallion. Rather than try and goof around or do anything to distract me, he was unusually somber and attentive to our surroundings. I let Zakk go on ahead for a minute while I chambered several shotgun shells into my gauntlets, and as much as I wanted to use my normal non-lethal variety, any alicorn would be too powerful to stop any other way.

However, that old thought, its better to have something and not need it, than to need something and not have it seems to have some merit, as only after I was ready for a fight did one not present itself. Zakk and I roamed the halls of the abandoned stable for some time, and other than the groans of old and rusty metal, nothing else came for us. And believe me, I had my eyes locked on the compass instead of the blood splattered visor just millimeters from my face.

When the others finally did catch up, we had explored most of the stable, a fair amount of salvage filling our bags, but my heart just wasn’t in it. Cherry had a bandage on her cheek, and her rear leg wrapped up, the others had an assortment of smaller injuries, but nothing a little time wouldn’t fix. Rogue had Gristle slung across his back, still unconscious and hooves bound tightly. “Moonshine, kneel down so Gemengde can look at that slash across your back.” Says our Zebra friend, and I comply wordlessly, pulling off my helmet and pushing it away as I lay on my belly.

“The injury is shallow, the armor took most of the energy, but will need to be repaired. Moonshine, you really shouldn’t let alicorns play pin the sword in the pony too often.” She said, trying to make a joke to lighten the mood, but she was still trying to get to know us, and was instead met with a blank expression for her efforts.

“We need to get out of here, if there really was a green Alicorn here, the last thing we want to do is be here if she gets back with reinforcements.” Rogue suggested, and Shady nodded in agreement as Cherry and Gemengde helped me get to my hooves. As much as I really wanted to break down right now, I just couldn’t, this just wasn’t the place for it.

After scooping up my helmet once again, all six of us began weaving our way through the rest of the stable. Scrap and salvage were unceremoniously dumped into our bags, but our main goal was getting back to our wagon and getting as far away from here as possible. It didn’t take too long, the lay out of this stable was on the smaller side, maybe only able to house around forty ponies in total. Once we had filed our way past the stable door laying on its face.

*Page break*

The wagon was where we had left it, but Zakk made us stay back as he looked it over really quick for booby traps or mines, but declaring that it was clear, I stripped off the enclave armor, letting Shady stow it for now until we could get somewhere safe to repair and clean it. Rogue shrugged off Gristle inside the wagon before he hooked up to the wagon wordlessly, and I knew he was as torn as I was, if not more about what had happened.

The girls made their way into the wagon, both to go through our salvage and to heal their wounds better. Zakk turned scout, using his immense speed to scout the area around us as I unpacked Spitfire’s Thunder, and loaded it with regular bullets as I took up a post on the roof of the wagon. Rogue began pulling us along, urgency in his stride and Cherry’s pistols within easy reach. If we were going to have more Alicorns come for us, then we were not about to be blindsided. I kept finding myself switching between Spitfire’s Thunder and Rogues rifle, making sure again and again that they had full magazines. I knew it was pointless fidgeting, but it was better than letting my mind focus on the fight we just had.

Hours passed, and as we grew more and more distant from the Stable, the others had begun to relax a little at a time, I however wasn’t ready to accept that we were safe. I had been proven right mere minutes later, when the suspected green Alicorn appeared from the brush right in front of us, a lever action rifle held in her magic, but not aimed at us. The same could not be said for Rogue and I. Pistols and an Anti-magic rifle cocked and aimed right at her exposed form.

“Drop your gun!” I shouted, my wings primary feather hovering over the trigger, the scope sighted right at the base of her horn. If she so much as twitched, she was a dead Mare, and with her being of the telepathic variety, she knew it too. Through my view, I watched her magic fizzle out, and the rifle clatter to the ground. Other than that, she made no action, only to scowl at me angrily. I felt her thoughts flit through my mind, words like Murderer and Killer coming from her presence. While I Felt like she was right, it had been self-defense.

“What do you want?” Shady shouted next, her shotgun held in a hoof as she stared down the larger Alicorn.

“My Sister!” She shouted, both with her mouth and her mind, making me wince.

“We do have her, but we are taking her to the nearest town to give to the NCR for her crimes. In case you didn’t notice, your other Sisters paid for theirs.” Shady responded coolly. I however was anything but. If she did anything I didn’t like, fifty caliber rounds would turn her head to jelly.

Rogue then unhitched himself from the wagon, Cherry’s pistols floating beside him as he moved toward the Mare.

“Zakk, hook up to the wagon, take everyone down the road. I’ll catch up in a bit.” He said, a tone of command in his voice that was unusual for him. Even Shady noticed it, perplexed and confused as Zakk did as he was told, the wagon slowly beginning to move down the road, Shady stepping back aboard as Rogue got within inches of the green Mare’s face. They stayed like that as we rolled past, Shady and I keeping our weapons trained on her incase she made a move for our wagon. She didn’t twitch a muscle however, keeping her eyes locked with Rogue’s.

Minutes ticked by, until the point was reached that even Spitfire’s Thunder couldn’t keep the duo in its sights. Once we crested a small hill, Zakk brought the wagon to a standstill, before unhitching himself and hopping up to my level, concern evident in his gaze. “Do you think he’ll be ok?” he asked, and I shrugged, unable to wrap my head around anything currently, except that if I see her come again, I will plug her full of holes.

I didn’t get to dwell on it further, the sound of Gunfire and shouting could be heard, a maelstrom of bullets being fired, as well as the flashes of emerald and amethyst magic appearing over the hills edge. Just as I was about to spread my wings and take off to help, it all went quiet again, eerily quiet as it were. The girls flowed out of the wagon, weapons ready just in case. Then a figure appeared on the horizon, and all of us trained what weapons we had, but I was the only one with a proper scope. But all I saw was a purple figure slowly flying its way toward us.

“Hold your fire, its Rogue.” I said, before lowering the rifle and hopping next to my friends. We didn’t have to wait long for him to arrive. But when he did, all of us were shocked. Blood coated his entire body, the green Alicorns rifle slung across his back, “Sweet Celestia, Rogue you’re bleeding” Gemengde said in shock, her sewing kit practically materializing in her hooves. Cherry reaches out and stops our latest companion and shakes her head. “it’s not his blood.”

With that, he pulled a bottle of water from his bag and washed the blood off his face. Sorrow, rage, pain, all these expressions mixed to make the one he wore currently, and with a somber shrug of his shoulders, the rifle fell from his back at Shady’s hooves. “Keep it, fix it up, throw it away, piss on it, I don’t care.” He said, before hooking himself up to the wagon, and in almost automatic fashion began walking, possibly not even aware we hadn’t loaded up. Quickly, Shady ushered everyone aboard, before the wagons pace grew to quick for her limping gait. I was the last aboard, the door closing behind me as we all slumped. The events of our day leaving us all drained in more ways than one.

End of chapter, New weapon added.

True Grit: This lever action rifle, named after its previous owner, capable of housing five total shots of .45-70 rifle rounds, similar to Quartz and Cobalt. What it lacks in capacity, it more than makes up for its superior fire rate and improved damage.