Perhaps things would have gone smoother had the Ministries done things a bit differently than they had, perhaps things would not have gone so far as to blow each other off the map.
But alas, we will never know as the war had been over for nigh over 250 years and here I stood, a young filly facing the wasteland for the first time after losing everything I had ever had or wanted; In case you need to know I am a light blue unicorn with a white mane and tail, my cutie mark is a lily although I had no idea what that meant.
I had lost my mother and my father, and I watched as tears fell from my face as the raiders tore them apart, leaving nothing but bodies in their wake; I had hidden myself when this had happened and I could do nothing as they finished their gruesome job and left thinking they had killed every-pony, sobbing I dashed over to them knowing but not acknowledging that they were gone forever.
I fell to the ground in anguish blaming myself for running off when they told me not to and now they were gone and it was all my fault, I stayed there covered in blood for days it seemed.
“For bucks’ sake, come here Flower; Those raiders were, here again, look at this mess.” I just lay there still mourning and afraid that they would hurt me, I didn’t get a good look at them until I felt myself being picked up by magic.
“Looks like they left one alive, poor thing must have been watching or something; What should we do?” I looked up as to who was speaking and I stared wide-eyed at the alicorn, she was a dark blue with a rose as a cutie mark.
“We should take her back to Friendship City, she would be safer there; who knows when the raiders will just show up.” The one speaking this time was a white unicorn with a notepad cutie mark, he looked at me and motioned for Flower to let me down.
“What’s your name sweetheart?” He asked me in a gentle voice as the alicorn set me down gently on the ground.
I felt safe with them even though I was still scared, but it didn’t seem like they wanted to do me any harm. “Um, my name is Aqua Lily,” I said shyly and quietly, I didn’t know them so was kind of nervous.
“It’s ok Aqua, we will take you to safety. Who were these ponies?” The alicorn asked quietly as if she already knew.
On hearing the question asked, I fought my tears and it was a few minutes before I managed to get control, “My mommy and daddy. I said in between tears, the unicorn swept me up in his hooves and held me close letting me cry on his shoulder.
“You poor thing, would you like us to bury them?” He said softly and I nodded and he smiled sadly and began digging a hole off the road and gently buried them before looking at me.
“Would you like some time alone? We will watch and keep you safe, I know you need this.” I nodded when he said this and they walked away and I knelt beside the grave nearly overcome by sadness.
“I’m going to miss you, mommy and daddy. I’m so scared and lost without you; I don’t know what to do…” I fell sobbing and promptly passed out from exhaustion.
When next I woke, I was in a comfortable bed and it was a sunny outside from what I could tell from the window, I wasn’t quite sure how long I had slept but I was awake now and there was no going back to sleep due to the emotions running rampant.
I got out of bed and opened the door with my magic, I had only learned some magic from my parents a week before the incident and I knew I would need to learn more if I was to avenge them; Being only a filly meant that others wouldn't really take me seriously which was a blessing and a curse, but I needed this for closure, no matter how hard things would get, as I left the room I heard the sounds of voices coming from another room and me being curious as I was listening to see what they were talking about.
..."We can't keep her here, we are struggling enough as it is; We barely have enough food to feed us all." The voice speaking was a gruff male, I couldn't see who it was but I had an instant dislike for him.
"We can't send her out into the wasteland, she's just a filly! There must be something we can do!" I knew this voice as it was the alicorn who had helped me when I was lost.
"Fine, we will figure it out. For now, she can stay, but I expect that you will be taking care of her?" The gruff voice spoke up again and I tilted my head curious to see what the alicorn would say.
"Of course, she is my charge Bingo. I would not expect anyone else to take charge of her." I felt a tear fall down my face as I listened to her grateful that it was she and not some other pony who found me.
~Hours Later~
In the wasteland, there is no partiality, no favorites, and no innocents.
Something every pony learns is that the wasteland doesn't care whether you are a foal or an adult, it doesn't care where you're from or what you've done; In the end, we are all just play toys to this cruel land. This is something a little filly was just now learning, what I was learning along the way. I may have been a filly when I started out, but one must grow up if you wanted to make it.
My innocence was gone, it had been killed the day my parents were killed by raiders leaving a little foal devastated and still determined to live, no matter the price. They stole something from me, and I would take their lives in getting even.
Such is spirit in the war-torn Equestria...
I awoke from a deep slumber after having been beamed backwards to bed after they had found me crying outside the doorway and they glared at the griffin who had told Flower that they could not keep me due to food shortages, I yawned and for a moment there I could almost draw a blank that recently I had lost my parents but it quickly popped back into my head and yet I could not call out anymore crying, but instead started down off the bed and maneuvered into the room where my newfound friend had been at a few hours before.
She was not there, but the black unicorn who had been with Flower when they had rescued me was, and he gestured for me to go to him and I walked over to him and he granted me a squeeze and I sat down beside him. "How are you doing Aqua?" He asked softly and I just put my head low on the table where we sat and covered my eyes with my hooves. I felt him place his hoof on my shoulder and I looked up at him unhappily.
"I recognize it's going to be rough Aqua, but we have determined that the best way to make it out here is to teach you; We won't always be there when you necessitate assistance, and I'm afraid we can't bank on any pony else to protect you." He said in the firm yet kind note and I nodded, I would do anything to get back at the ones who took my parents from me and I was done with being a weak pony who had to have others take charge of me.
"When do I embark on learning?" I asked softly as I glanced about the little room we were in, it must have been where Flower and Hard Study had stayed as it had two beds and along the table near one of them was a box full of little oval things. I didn't quite recognize what those were until now, they were known to be memory orbs.
"Well, Flower went out to see about getting some guns and bows and we are going to also give you some pointers on how to survive. We are going to start by figuring out what suits you better, we have set up some targets in the courtyard, and so we will begin teaching you today." He told me and I nodded.
He gestured for me to follow him and I leaped down off the stool and took off after him down the hall a ways and he guided me into the courtyard where three targets were set up.
