Chapter 3: Upbringing
“The most oblivious people are often the happiest”

14 years later…

My adolescence passed with surprising ease, as I adapted to post-war Equestria quite well. It was really different though. The rulers were all long dead, killed by the bombs that were unleashed upon Canterlot, and now many independent factions controlled different pieces of the wastes. The Steel Rangers were an order of ponies who had a large stockpile of guns, ammo, and power armor. They were the alleged good ones, but they were so caught up in attempting to hoard technology and bullets “for the good of the wasteland” that were sort of regarded as thieves, but they wouldn’t murder or rape ponies who were in their way. Eulogy, or Dad as I called him after some months. He and Zara both became my adopted parents.

The real menace to the surviving ponies were the raiders and slavers. These ponies were all divided into a bunch of little groups and outlets, but the biggest one was lead by a pony named Red Eye, and most of the groups were linked to him in some way. He is described as being so evil and cruel that if he had an aura, it was be darker than the night. He worked ponies to death in mines and in mills, all while having an army that competed with the Rangers.

Perhaps scariest of all was the “Goddess”. The rumors were that she was an all powerful being, stronger than Celestia and Luna combined. She sends “fake alicorns”, ponies that had both wings and a horn, to do her bidding, They captured unicorns who were foolish enough to wander alone, and no pony sees them again. But these are all rumors, as no pony in the Baltimare ruins has seen this “Goddess”, and her goons are an incredibly rare sight.

Lastly, of those worth mentioning, is the Enclave. They are situated in the clouds, of which permanently cover the wasteland. The weather controlling pegasi closed off the skies when the zebras launched their megaspells against us, and they hadn’t opened them in over 200 years. The lived in secrecy, rarely coming to the surface, and they're far from friendly.

However, I had very little interaction with any of them, except for raiders on a few occasions. Most of my time was spent scavenging with my new dad and mom. Dad used to be a Steel Ranger, but retired after meeting Zara. However, he still had friends in the Rangers, and they gave me my cybernetic hoof, which was attached right where my old hoof ended. It was mostly bulletproof, it was what my battle staff was stored, it had the hitting power of a pony in power armor, and had little extendable hooves at the bottom, which made grabbing things really easy.

Dad trained me in the use of power armor, as he had found and fixed an old set, but we never used it. He also showed me how to shoot from a battle saddle as well as a gun from my mouth, which is how most were made, even though I preferred to use my telekinesis. I was also shown how to hack into a terminal and repair weapons and armor from items in the field.

Mom taught me zebra potion crafting as well as some of their hoof-to-hoof skills on top of how to fight with a staff. I actually really liked these zebra skills, they were fun for me to do, and she even helped me understand the zebra side of the conflict between ponies and zebras. The interesting aspect of it all was that I called this zebra mare my mother, but she really was. She was kind and understanding, always taking the time to talk to me and ask how I felt about things.

Scavenging was actually fun, because it was like that nature of a really young pony to grab and collect random things. The only real difference was that we sold most of what we found. One thing that always came off weird to me was how everypony used Sparkle-Cola bottle caps as currency now. Our little family lived in a quaint yet cozy shack on the outskirts of the ruined Baltimare. However, scavenging meant we were all over the equestrian wasteland, far North and to the deep South, so we weren’t exactly sitting around our home for long periods of time. When we did stay there, we trained and recovered, built contraptions from the junk we scrounged up, and just talked. They started showing signs of illness during one of our breaks at home.

Mom was coughing and sputtering horribly, and her voice was becoming increasingly raspier, all while Dad was becoming weaker by the day, hardly able to support the weight of his saddle bags when full. I was continuously instructing them to rest as much as they could, that I could handle the responsibilities of the house.

“I may be sick, but I am not a frail elderly pony, Topaz. You’re going to age faster than we are if you continue with all of this worry.” Mom assured me. I didn’t care, as I just wished for her to be well again.

“Please, Topaz. Stop fussing over me so much.” Dad asked as I set a bowl of a special healing brew I made in front of him. His mane had streaks of grey in it now, his age finally catching up to him.

“No, I refuse to just let you two being sick while I know I’m capable of helping you. Now drink your broth try to sleep, or I’ll make you.” I flashed a caring smile towards them to show that I was joking about the last part. I may have grown much taller than Mom, but I was still scared of that mare like nothing else. Point a gun in my face, I won’t even break a sweat. Threaten me with death and I could care less. Yet, when Dad had that look in his eye, and Mom had her staff, I quivered in my hooves.

“You’re going to make a mare very happy someday, Topaz. I know you will.” Mom always wanted me to have offspring of my own, but that was my last concern right now. I could find a mare later, because what did it all matter if M0m wasn’t alive to meet her.

“I’ll worry about that later, Mom. I need to go do some trading, I should be back within a few hours. Please, don’t wait up worrying about me.” I slipped my saddlebags on and looked to her before I stepped out the door and set off for town. On my way off of the property, I waved to our helper, the ghoul Moonlight Lily. Ghouls were ponies who were exposed to too much radiation, which caused their fur to rot off, their manes to fall out, and their minds to waste away. However, some don’t go insane immediately, if at all, and Lily was one of the lucky ones. She worked for us after we freed her from slavers, and took care of the house while we were away, but she was especially helpful with Mom and Dad sick. She waved back and I continued on my way to the nearest trading post.

As I trotted down the road, the distinct clanking of my metal hoof eliminating any chance of silence, I wondered if what Mom and Dad were stricken with was something normal. I was hopeful that it was, although I had never seen nor read about anything such as this. Even Mom’s recipes had no remedy for awful coughs, constant unrest, and no need to sleep. They must have contracted it two weeks ago, when they went scavenging in some abandoned town near an old mine without me. However, the fact that I hadn’t also become ill is what perplexed me. Was it spore based? If so, then why hadn’t it infected Lily and I? This sickness left me dismayed on multiple levels.

As I came up to the outer wall of the trading post, an expansive settlement constructed around an ancient Equestrian monument, I took note of the extra menacing ponies all standing outside the gate. Upon moving closer, it was easier to tell that they were mercenaries. Better armor, weapons in exceptional condition, and they most likely didn’t reek of death. Probably hired to move with a caravan, but the only ones who made enough money to afford that kind of protection were slave traders, and they always put ponies on edge, which made bartering difficult.

“What’s your reason for bein’ here?” The gatekeeper questioned as I walked up to the entrance.

“Same as everypony else. Trading.” It wasn’t megaspell brewing, especially since I showed up with saddlebags full of miscellaneous wares.

“The slavers are here. Ya sure you want to trade?”

“I’ve walked through coals before, they don’t have shit on me. Now are you going to let me in or am I going to have to kick your precious gate down?”

“Well I’m not gonna buy you back if’n they nab ya.” He fruitlessly volunteered. His accent irritated me. The front gate swung inwards as two earth ponies pulled it open. The twin doors creaked and moaned, their weight bearing down upon the hinges on which they sat. I rushed in, not wanting to strain the earth ponies any longer and nodded to each of them. Their entire lives were opened shutting this gate, so I hoped I could help them feel a little better.

I turned to walk over to a nearby stall. Only to be greeted by the barrel of a large caliber rifle pointed at my head. I stared down the barrel and to the owner, a bright fuschia unicorn mare with a scarred face, pink eyes, a light green mane with vibrant yellow highlights and a “don’t fuck with me” look to her.

“Stay right where I can see you, scaver. Don’t try anything, I’d hate for these settlers to have to scrape your brains off the walls.” She spoke with a confidence that I hadn’t heard in many ponies, and judging by the scars on her face, she’s been through a few shit storms in her life. Which meant she had actions and skills to back her words.

“Okay, alright. I’m no thief, just wanting to do some trading for my family.” I had no reason to lie.

“Why isn’t your family doing their own trading?” She jabbed.

“Because they’re both terribly ill with something I’ve never experienced before, so I want to purchase supplies to attempt to remedy whatever has befallen them, even if I must sell my own hoof.” A look of compunction flashed in her eyes as. Her gaze held for a few more moments before lowering her gun and letting me move past her. I began with bartering with the weapons stall, able to sell three 10mm pistols and the ammo for them for a quaint 280 caps. After transitioning from vendor to vendor, I wound up at the stall that mare with the rifle was at: the medicine salespony. As I trotted up, I was greeting by a look of disgust on the pony’s face. I walked away with three fresh bandage wraps, supplies for more medicinal brews, and some stitching needles and salve. My disappointment was from the fact that the stallion refused to sell me some prickly cactus fruits, which were used to make some of my remedies, despite his crate of them being in full view.

I began to walk away when I heard the fuschia mare ask the pony for some cactus fruits, to which he happily obliged. She immediately looked to me and asked the stallion why he wouldn’t sell me the fruits, to which he responded by saying “He looks like a scavenger. Probably wanted the things for drugs.” She simply scoffed at him before saying he should sell to anypony who wants to purchase something if he wanted to stay in business.

The mare walked over and gave me the cactus fruits before apologizing for the pony’s rude behavior. I wasn’t interested in her sympathy, as she had just waved the barrel of a gun around in my face for the exact reason the salespony refused to sell my the fruits. I gave a quick “thanks” before continuing on my way. I looked around the other stalls that were stationed around the settlement, but took note of one new one away from the others. The mare behind the stall counter only had one eye, but a short cropped mane and an exceptionally mean look to her. She had two guards standing on either side of her, one in power armor that seemed to be a combination of the armor that belonged on the suit and makeshift replacement limbs, while the other pony had a grenade launcher battle saddle and a rather nasty Ironpony shotgun leaned against the wall. Along the back wall of the shop sat four beaten and chained mares, while outside the shop two cages had anywhere from five to seven foals and fillies in them. There was a tent near the cages with “Trials - 100 caps” written in crude red paint on the side above a bucket presumably full of caps. I could hear a mare crying inside and noticed the guard with the shotgun eyeing up that mare with the rifle as she walked besides me, her attempted conversation suddenly becoming relevant.

“...hate these fuckers. If it wasn’t for my own experience with it, I wouldn’t believe that ponies are able to do that to each other.” She was quiet for a moment. “And if that pony doesn’t quit staring at me, I’m going to shove my rifle up his ass.” I was starting to like this mare.

“Then why don’t you wage a one mare war against them?” I figured it was a legitimate question.

“You’re a scavenger, and you’re probably around my age. So you tell me why I’m not waging a war against Red Eye or any others.” She sensed my stare and just averted her gaze, seemingly uncomfortable now. This mare was certainly odd. She carried herself with confidence, but shriveled under a pony’s direct gaze. She spoke with a certainty but a good portion of her words seemed to not have her spine behind them. However, she was intelligent, which was obvious due to the way she calculated every mannerism and observed nearly everything going on in the settlement around her.

“Hey, what’s your name?” She seemed lost in her thoughts, oblivious to my question. “Hey, Taffy!” I said as I nudged her. She looked to me with a face of genuine fear, which caused me to ask her what was wrong. She said nothing and turned away, after which I carried on my way. I suppose calling her “taffy” set her off, which is an odd thing to get triggered by, but I had my own problems without taking her into account as well.

My thoughts were interrupted by a loud mrrrraaaaaahhhhh of the bombing siren the town used as an attack siren. Ponies quickly began to run into homes or to defensive positions along the perimeter wall. Then the mare who ran the slave stall was running around, shouting incoherently to different ponies.

“The fuck is going on?” She questioned menacingly to the gate keeper.

“Raiders are attacking! It’s the fire-” His response was cut short as a bullet from a rifle took the top half of his head off, showering the mare in red and bits of gate keeper.

“What’s the play boss?” Her guard in power armor advanced towards her.

“It’s the fuckin Firewalkers. We’re gonna stay here and kick their asses, show ‘em to not encroach on Chainlink territory!” She spat.

“With pleasure.” He and Shotgun rapidly ascended the battlements, opening fire upon the approaching raiders. I began to scale another set of battlements when one of the guards screamed “Get down!” right before that portion of the wall exploded, raining wood and flaming debris over everything.

“They’ve got a fuckin’ sentinel! Run for ya lives!” One of the guards jumped from his post and began running before being shot by Chainlink.

“No pony runs or you die! You’ve got the numbers here, you can beat these Firewalkers!” Her attempt at rallying the defenders worked surprisingly well. I moved onto the ruined battlements and shot at who I could with my pistol. I still had the one Dad had hidden away in the closet, and it still proved effective against any raiders that moved within range. Of course, it was hard to land every shot when I was getting shot at as well. A bullet hit my cybernetic hoof as I looked upward towards a griffin with a battle saddle flying down towards me, firing rapidly. This was it. No way the beast could miss as he closed the distance, and my gun was out of bullets.

BANG! The griffin was ripped out of the as I turned towards the source of the sound. That fuschia mare stood at the bottom of the battlements, the scope of her rifle hovering not far from her eye.

“H.. holy shit!” I stammered. I couldn’t believe she landed that hit.

“Best shot East of Manehattan! You’re welcome, asshole.” There was that cocky attitude again. I turned back to deal with the advancing raider threat. The mass must have been 50 ponies strong, enough to take this settlement if it wasn’t for the extra guards from Chainlink. I didn’t like that mare for her business practices, but she was helpful. I was scanning the battlements to see how many defenders were still standing when the barricade I stood on was suddenly engulfed in flames, followed by a Robronco Sentinel plowing through the wall and knocking me down. The robot was covered in all kinds of welded on metal plates, then painted to look like flames were rising up the machine’s body from its dual arm mounted flamethrowers. It began to raise one of its legs to crush me, however, my hoof was quicker, smashing into the leg actuator before it could fall, rendering the limb useless. To my disappointment, this didn’t slow the bot at all. The contraption swung its arm into me, throwing me 15 steps away with ease.

I landed with a thud, luckily nothing breaking in the process. I attempted to stand before the machine batted me aside again. How did this thing move so quickly? I rolled over in time to glimpse the mare with the rifle line up a shot at the fuel line of the flamethrower aimed at me. The round hit the hose as the flames began to spew from the weaponized dragon, spraying the fuel onto the light at the nozzle, causing the weapon itself to explode in a fireball.

Sadly, again, this barely hindered the Sentinel. It turned its heavily armored torso to her as she fired again, the round ricocheting off and grazing the side of the slaver guard with the shotgun.

“You stupid cunt! Watch what you’s shootin’ at, bitch!” He screamed out in pain. She fired at the bot again, gaining the machine’s full attention now. I used the opportunity to observe the opening in the back of the contraption, which was beginning to glow red hot as the battle progressed. This machine wasn’t created by Robronco. It instead was a crude construct built by this Firewalker raider clan. That explained why the flame weapons used fuel instead of a talisman, like most of it’s type did. Dad taught me a lot about weapons and robots. This machine’s core was becoming hot and unstable, which meant it had a weakness.

I stood quickly, ejecting my battle staff from its folded and stored position on my hoof, and jammed the end into the opening on the Sentinel, while simultaneously pulling two grenades off of a nearby pony’s corpse. I pulled the pin on each with my hoof by standing on the pins and pulling on the grenades with my magic, then jammed each one into the exposed motor of the machine. I screamed “Get clear!” as I pulled my staff back and jumped behind an overturned cart stall for cover.

BOOM! I peaked over the cart to see the machine begin to shake violently as it turned further red hot.

“It’s going to explode! Let’s throw it back!” The fuschia mare ordered. Collectively, her, I, and three other unicorns lifted the overheating robot and heaved it into the onslaught of raiders being kept outside the ruined wall by the power armored pony’s machine gun fire. The machine erupted into a grand fireball, incinerating any raiders within 10 hoof prints of it. Next, the ensuing expansion of the explosion killed or wounded many more. When the fireball cleared, the once mounting force of 50 raiders was reduced to 12, with those who didn’t immediately surrender becoming subject to a hail of bullets from the victorious defenders.

After looting the dead attackers and cleaning up the bodies, I noticed the fuschia mare oddly missing from the victory festivities. Shotgun pony was missing too. When I was certain that Power Armor and Chainlink were accounted for, I broke from the crowds and made my way towards the slaver stall. With my staff deployed, I peaked into the “trials” tent and was greeted with a rank smell but no pink pony or slaver. I looked around the back of the tent to see the mare tied down, muzzled, and stripped of her armor. With Shotgun about to mount her.

“Gonna make ya pay for hitting me with that bullet during the fight. I got plenty of scars, don’t need stupid whores like you giving me more.” He spat onto her face as he rose to mount her. However, my staff connecting to his skull first sent him rolling quite a few steps. He frantically and angrily searched for his shotgun, only to witness me smash it in half with my hoof.

Using the tip of the staff, I propped his chin up to look at me as I closed the distance. “Look at me. See my face. Remember my face. If I see you near another mare again, I remove some.. Choice bits.” Satisfied with the fear in his eyes, he was knocked out with one quick bash from my staff. I removed his armored leather coat and wrapped it around the mare as I freed her from the restraints. After giving her back her gear and making sure she was okay, she thanked me.

“What’s your name?” She asked in demeanor worryingly calm for a pony who was almost raped.

“Topaz. Mind if I ask yours?” I replied as I sat beside her.

“Sparktrail. ‘Best shot East of Manehattan’.”

“Huh. I believe that, too. Never seen a pony snipe a diving griffin out of the air.”

“Well, I’m the best for a reason. I’m good at shooting things, much better than anypony else. It’s basically my job. At least it was, until the caravan I was supposed to protect got shot to pieces. Now all I have is my rifle. What was is again that you were here for?”

I thought briefly about what she was saying. She had no job now, I had a saved her life and her insides, so now she wanted to help me with my mission. She hated having debts owed, therefore she wanted to work off her debt to me.

“I’m looking for medicine for my sick parents. They’ve contracted something that not even our doctor friends know how to combat. I was purchasing supplies to make more special brews, as it seems to be the only thing slowing the progression of this disease.” I wondered how long I had been gone. Surely they heard the gunfight and must be worried.

“Hold up. The way you speak, the staff, the way you walk, special brews.. Are your parents zebras?” It shocked me that she had narrowed it down so easily.

“One of them. My mother. They adopted me after mine were killed..” I trailed off towards the end. I realized how long it had been since I remembered my real parents.

“Sorry to hear. I understand if you say no, being that we just met and all, but could I travel with you as ya look for some sort of medicine for your folks?” She was incredibly desperate to pay off this debt she thought she owed. Truthfully, I didn’t feel she owed me anything. She saved my life just as much as I’d saved hers.

“You feel like you owe me, don’t you?” I quizzed her.

“I don’t owe you anything. If any pony owes something, you owe me for saving your flank back there!” She angrily contested. “I just want to do something else than stand around here all day waiting for my boss to tear my head off. I hoped I could go with you and watch your back, help you around the ruins, what not. Maybe you’d find something valuable to give me as payment.” I couldn’t understand why she wouldn’t admit it, but I suppose I’d play her game.

“Alright, fine. You can tag along. Just try to not get in my way” She visibly perked up as I said, but tried to disguise it as “somepony stepping on her tail”.

“Where to next?” She buzzed. Something really was odd about her.

“First, I need to go check on my parents. They no doubt heard the battle and are probably worried about me.” I responded.

“Cool. Let’s go before that stallion wakes up and tries to get the one in power armor involved.” That wouldn’t happen, but I appreciated her worry. As we made our way out of the settlement, I noticed that she kept up that same cocky demeanor all while walking uncomfortably close to me. We made good time, considering we didn’t have to duck and hide from any raiders or slavers on the way there.

“I suppose I should mention that my parents get really.. Enthusiastic whenever I drag another pony around. Just don’t freak out on them, okay?” I commented.

“You act like I’m a heartless bitch.” She scoffed.

“You shot a diving griffin out of the air. I am completely terrified of you and the rifle.”

“What’s your point?”

“Just saying.”

“I hate raiders and slavers, and will kill them on sight. But I don’t shoot innocent ponies.” I hoped she didn’t, but those scars all over her face weren’t assuring. There was something so off about her, but I couldn’t quite put my hoof on it.

“Topaz! You’re okay!” My thoughts were interrupted by Lily as she sprinted up to me and hugged me, the geiger counter on my Pip-buck ticking slightly due to her ghoulishness. “We heard shooting and then a bunch of explosions, so we feared the worst! Eulogy tried getting up to go look for you, but he can’t even stand now, and these weird boils have been forming on Zara. Hurry, they’ll feel better knowing you’re alive and well.” She ushered me forth into the house.

The sight before me was disheartening. Mom was curled up on her side of their old bed, shivering so violently that it shook the old screws and bolts that barely held their bedframe together. Dark purple boils covered her body now, and her eyes, once she opened them to look at me, seemed much more grey than their usual emerald green. Dad looked physically weaker, despite me being gone for barely two hours. His mane was matted with sweat, and he struggled to lift his head, let alone get out of bed. Dark purple spots were beginning to appear on him as well.

I stumbled over to Mom as she lifted her head to see me. Seeing her so weak and powerless like this.. It angered me. She was my mother, and she was horribly sick, but I could do nothing, which replaced any other emotions with a seething hatred.

“T-topaz? I-is that you?” Her teeth chattered as she shook. I got my blanket off my bed and wrapped her it around her.

“We heard the shooting and the explosions, we were so scared.” Dad managed. He seemed to be having opposite effects from whatever plagued them, but he could at least speak. “What happened to you? There’s dried blood on your face.”

“Firewalker raiders attacked the settlement while I was trading. They had built a Sentinel which they used to assault the barrier. It beat me around for a bit before Sparktrail over there saved my hide.” I explained, motioning to her as she meekly waved at Dad and Mom. “But we were able to beat the raiders, and she wants to help me find something to help you two.”

“S-so you w-wait until we’re d-dying to bring a m-mare around?” Mom asked jokingly through her spasms. I absolutely had to find something to help them.

“Don’t say that, Mom. I’ll find something to help you, I promise.” I pleaded with her.

“What’s the plan, son?” Dad wanted to know.

“I’m going to search for a cure for whatever you have, and I’m not stopping until I have it.” I declared. I wasn’t actually sure how I would accomplish that.

“If you’re running off into the wastes, take the armor. Neither of us can use it, and you’ll need everything you can get if you’re gonna survive.” I didn’t want to take it, but he was right. I leaned down and nuzzled Mom before wiping a tear from her eye and saying goodbye.

About an hour later, the power armor had been loaded with gear such as food, ammo, and bedrolls. I also loaded the weapons mounted to the armor, a slow firing large caliber machine gun designed to hurt ponies and robots, and the missile launcher which we had salvaged. The gun had standard ammunition while the launcher was loaded with high explosive missiles. I stepped into the armor, told Lily bye, and with a confirming nod from Sparktrail, set off to find a cure for my parents.

Author's Note

Level up! Toughness - your long time as a scavenger in the wastes has toughened your body and mind, giving you a 10% damage resistance increase.

Massive thanks again to Kkat for inspiring me to write! I also want to thank and notice my 6 close friends who have been helping immensely with this project, from making sure I used proper grammar to creating characters and even tweaking and planning an end for this story. You all making this possible by being the backbone of this whole story. Thank you so much!